He's Back. . .

It's that time of year again! "Tickles" (our sweet little Elf on the Shelf) has arrived straight from the North Pole! And this year, "he" is actually a "she" with a brand new elf skirt to prove it.

Anna was so excited this morning to wake up and see where Tickles was hiding. . .right on the shoulders of the angel topper on her very own Christmas tree!

Every day in December until Christmas morning when she goes back to the North Pole with Santa, Tickles brings Anna a little treat in her advent calendar (if she's a good girl, of course!)

Here's hoping for a December of no naughty and lots of nice!

Halloween Fun

Wow. So it's been a few months since I've blogged. Hopefully, I remember how to do this! Fall is my favorite time of year, and I have lots of Halloween fun to share. . .

We started things off in mid-October with a visit to Dewberry Farm, our favorite pumpkin patch. The cool weather wasn't quite here yet, but we had a great time despite the heat. Maw Maw and Paw Paw came with us, and we took full advantage of all of the great activities that Dewberry has to offer: pony rides, jumping pillows, hayrides, pumpkin-picking, bouquet-making, pig races and a corn maze!

We took a ton of pictures at Dewberry. It was really sunny, but this one of Anna in the pumkin patch is still one of my favorites. . .

This is the little cutie that we picked fresh and brought home with us. . .

Next up on the Halloween line-up was Anna's friend Charles' costume birthday party last weekend. I wanted Anna to have a cheaper costume that I wouldn't have to worry about getting ruined by all the things kids do at birthday parties, and she picked Spidergirl (which perfectly complimented Charles' Spiderman!)

Then there was the Halloween Parade at Anna's school on Friday. She brought Halloween cake balls (Thanks for helping, Maw Maw!) for her teachers, and cute little treat bags for her friends. And she was so excited to deliver it all in the morning. After nap, all of the kids changed into their Halloween costumes - Anna wore Jessie, her "real" costume. . .

Saturday morning, Anna got to dress up for her dance class, and she chose Cinderella from her dress-up collection. She also wore this one to gymnastics earlier in the week, but we were too rushed to get a picture.

Saturday evening, we went to Anna's friend Arianna's Halloween-themed birthday party, and she wore Spidergirl again. Ari's little sister Emma was a pink Spidergirl, and they looked so cute together. . .

And then for the main event on Sunday: Halloween! After church and a long nap to recover from all of the weekend's other activities, we went to Maw Maw & Paw Paw's house for some yummy vegetable soup, treat bag-stuffing, pumpkin carving, and trick-or treating!

Anna made the cutest little Jessie. She was so excited to put make-up on, so we did some glittery gold eye shadow, some brown freckles, and lip gloss.

She trick-or-treated for a little while, but we hit one unexpectedly scary house and she was ready to call it quits. She already had plenty of candy, and had more fun handing out our treat bags anyway. . .

Now, all of the Halloween fun might be over, but we still have the great memories - and the candy! Until next year. . .

A Few of My Favorite Things

Messy hair. Saturday mornings. Fluffy pettiskirts. Pink fingernails. You.

All my love forever.

Mommy

First Dance Class

Now that Anna is three, I was finally able to enroll her in dance classes this fall!

Very soon after I enrolled her, MawMaw and I took Anna shopping for her dance basics: black leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes, black tap shoes and a dance bag. She liked the "buh-lay" shoes, but was immediately enamored with the "noisy shoes" and could not wait to put them on. So it was no surprise that she chose them for her pictures when given the choice. . .

Here she is proudly modeling her new gear and her sweet little bun before her very first class today. I was able to get her to wear the bow for the pictures, but she only agreed because I promised she could take it out when we were done. Sadly, I think her bow-head days are numbered. . .

There is a huge windowed wall with a viewing area into the studio. The blinds were open today, so Daddy, MawMaw and I were able to watch the whole class. Anna was a great listener, and tried everything that was asked of her by her new teacher "Miss Amy".

She was the youngest in her class by a good year and the only new student, so she has some catching up to do. But I have to say she did really well considering!

I think it really helped, too, that her little friend Peyton is in her class. Anna was very much looking forward to seeing her, and kept asking over and over if she was going to be there. The admiration is apparently mutual, because I heard that Peyton was doing the same thing to her mommy :)

At the end of class, everyone got a sticker for being good. Anna is a sticker fiend in general, so she was very proud of her green, glittery happy face.

But not nearly as proud as we were of her!

For Ava

I've been following the blog of the very talented photographer Sheye Rosemeyer for several years, and was so deeply touched by the story of her Beauty Full daughter Ava. I wanted to do a tea party for Ava last year, but never made the time. This year I did, and I'm so very glad I did.

Beauty Full friends.

Beauty Full laughter.

Beauty Full afternoon.

Beauty Full life.

If you are interested, you can read more about Ava on Sheye's blog & Ava's Memorial Site, and more about Ava's Tea Party here.

Note: All pictures were processed with "Toy Camera" & "Fairy Floss" from Sheye's Eye Candy Actions for Photoshop (The Beauty Full Set).

Let's Play Pretend

I had been telling Anna that she was going to have a tea party all week long. And it rained. All week long. Every day when she'd get home from school, she would ask if she was going to have her tea party, and I'd have to tell her no.

But on Friday - finally!


So MawMaw helped me cover her from head to toe in bug spray (the rain had the mosquitoes out in full force) and lug all of our goodies to our tea party spot. And she was so excited, it definitely made it worth all the trouble and all the waiting.


I thought it was kind of neat because Anna's tea party guest "Abby" was a bear that I bought for her while I was pregnant, and the tea set was a gift that I received for her from our neighbors while I was pregnant as well.


Abby's dress and tiara are even the same dress and tiara that Anna wore for her princess party this year.

We brought some yummy cupcakes with pink icing (does any other color exist in the eyes of a 3-year old girl?!)

Anna had a really good time eating the icing off the cupcakesAnd she washed it down with some pink lemonade, poured all by herself from her pretty teapot. She was really sweet about filling both her own cup and Abby's cup every time.


But I'm pretty sure there was an ulterior motive, because every time she'd finish drinking her lemonade, she'd empty Abby's cup into hers and polish that one off too!

Eventually, we got run off by the mosquitoes, but it was so much fun while it lasted. Anna talked about it all weekend long and keeps asking when we're going to do it again.

Maybe next time we do it, we'll do it with a REAL friend instead of a bear - although I'm thinking a REAL friend wouldn't be quite so passive about Anna licking the icing off their cupcake or swiping their lemonade. Bears are generous like that ;)