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 ;)

Tea for Two

More coming soon. . .

A Summer Day with Seth

A couple of weeks ago, my nephew Seth spent a week in Houston with my parents. This was a particularly nice treat for Anna, because she completely adores both of her cousins, but doesn't get to see either of them very often since they live in Louisiana. So while Seth was here, I decided to take a day off in the middle of the week so that Anna and Seth could spend a very rare, whole day together.

My mom and I won a session with Nicole Denae Photography as part of the silent auction at the Taste of Cy-Fair event a few weeks ago, so luckily, we were able to schedule that session quickly enough to coincide with Seth's visit.

We were supposed to meet with Nicki first thing in the morning when the kids were wide awake and fresh, but the weather had other plans - the bottom completely fell out of the sky the moment we arrived at the location! So we were forced to shuffle the rest of our plans for the day and stall a bit until the weather cleared up.

First, we decided to go get some breakfast at IHOP. Anna & Seth both got the Create-a-Face Pancake, which has strawberry eyes, a whipped cream nose, a banana-slice mouth, and comes with a tube of strawberry yogurt for decorating. Anna gave hers hair, and Seth gave his a nice, big moustache.

Then we killed a little bit of time at Target, stocking up on Toy Story 3 goodies to bring with us to the movies later. Each of them got their own Buzz pillow and Toy Story blanket for the ultimate in movie-going comfort.

It wasn't quite time for the movie yet, but it was too rainy to do anything outside, so we hit the most obvious indoor killer-of-time for kiddies: the McDonald's playplace (or as Anna calls it: "Old McDonalds")! It was a good way for the kids to burn off some energy before having to sit in a chair for a couple of hours for the movie.

Then it was finally time for the main event - Toy Story 3! Both of them were so good during the whole movie, and the movie itself was absolutely adorable. I was a little surprised when I was holding back tears at the end. Not too shabby for a kids movie!

When we walked out of the theater, the skies were nice and clear (hallelujah!), so we re-connected with Nicki, who was so great about accomodating us around the weather. By then, it was already after 2PM, and the kids were not so nice & fresh anymore. Had Seth not been leaving the next day, we probably would have rescheduled, but we had no choice but to press on.

So instead of getting a nap, Anna & Seth were asked to pose and smile for a complete stranger in the apres-rain muggy heat. And all things considered, I think they did a great job given the situation. Despite the challenges of two young & tired children, Nicki got some great captures and I know we'll treasure them always as much as we'll treasure our day together.


After some downtime, we took them to the YMCA pool and splashpad for some more fun, then to EJ's for some pizza after they had worked up a healthy appetite. Everyone slept really well that night - and I don't mean just the kids!

If You Can't Beat 'Em

Friday afternoon after she got home from school, Anna wanted to go play at the playground really badly. She kept asking over and over again. Normally, I'd be more than happy to oblige her, but not only was it rainy - it had been raining all. day. long. And the playground (along with everything else) was soaked!

So I figured if you can't beat 'em. . .

She had so much fun splishing and splashing in all of the puddles. I'm quite sure that we can now look forward to her asking (begging) to do this every time it rains!