{Evette's 2 year old Photo Shoot}

My baby turned 2. I'm kinda in denial. She's pretty much a full blown human now - you know, has her own personality, is talking, expresses a full [FULL] range of emotions, and gets more fun to be with every day!

Sean and I took these pictures at the Houston Temple this weekend.

This face - pure joy.

Always studying....

This is what we call her Sassy Face.

In case you can't tell - she is flapping her wings and jumping away.

Squinty face but great angle.

We should submit this one to go in the church magazines - hold to the rod - go to the temple - yada yada....

I am in love with this face.

Studying leaves....

And a couple outtakes because we're real people with a real 2 year old.

This was her face when we told her we couldn't go inside the temple.

 Hot, tired, and sweaty - ready for nap time.

I'm so proud of my Baby Girl. Proud of the girl she is growing up to be. Proud of how brave, and strong, and excited she is. Proud of what a good friend she is learning to be. Proud of how hard she works at things. Proud of it all.

Proud of my Baby.

1 year old photos

{Mid-Week Date Night}

Sometimes leftovers don't sound appetizing and neither does staying at home all evening. So sometimes you gotta turn your Wednesday night into date night so you can make it through the week.

So you go to dinner at Hopdoddys - the best burger place in town.

 and then drive up to the temple to walk around a bit. Evette was so excited - she loved it. Loved it so much she cried and threw a fit when we couldn't go into the "tem-po"

After the temple we went to the mall to play on the playground.

Mid-week date nights are awesome.

{First Haircut}

Evette's hair has been growing and growing and getting kinda scraggly at the ends - almost mullet-esque. So last night she got her first haircut!

We turned on Veggie Tales and she did pretty great!

 I cried just a little bit...

 All that baby hair gone...

 She looks so grown up now!

 It's a cute little bob and looks nice all evened out!

 cheeser face.

 I can't believe we have already reached this milestone - and I can't believe how big of a deal it was for me.

She's growing up too fast and it's freaking me out.

[yes I saved some of her baby hair in a little baggie... no idea what to do with it though so I only blog and don't scrapbook... hummm....]

{Babies, Babies, Babies}

There must be something in the water down here in Dallas - everyone is pregnant! I have 5 friends who are having babies in the next month or so - it's pretty crazy. So we've had baby showers up the wazoo.

I co-hosted a shower for my friend Emily and we had a lovely little brunch at my place. It's her first baby and it was a fun shower. When she opened a present filled with little baby girl pjs I started crying. I'm super emotional right now, being pregnant myself lol

We also had a girls night for another friend who is expecting her second boy. It was so so so much fun.

 But we got a couple sideways looks since literally half of our party was pregnant lol.

While we were having our girls night some of the daddies and babies met up for a little swim date.

Babies babies everywhere - I'm getting close-ish! 25 weeks this week!

{Looking in a Mirror}

Once upon a time I had a child. 

And she looks just.like.me. 

Sometimes it freaks me out. 

It's like I'm looking in a mirror.

Squinty eyes, flyaway hair, and scrunched up nose. Yup, that's us.

And she acts like me, too. Stubborn, independent, and headstrong.

Looking at a miniature version of myself is terrifying. 

But it inspires me to be a better person so that she has something worth growing into. 

{Mommy School}

This Fall Evette started "Mommy School." A couple Mommy friends and I put together a little joy school for our babies. There's 7 mom/kids involved with the kids right around 2 years old. We meet 2 days a week for 3 hours a day. One mom is in charge of teaching and one mom is there to help man the kids - the rest of the moms get a little break :) It's great. We built our own little curriculum where each day they focus on one letter, one color or shape, and one overall theme like "farm animals" which lasts for a couple weeks. 

Evette LOVES school. She's only gone twice so far but has cried the entire drive home both times. She likes to talk about all the fun things she did like songs, and painting, and all her friends that she played with.

She's such a big girl and is growing up so fast! I'm hoping that through this Mommy School she learns how to get along with other kids, to share, grows her vocabulary, has lotsa fun, and hopefully some of those shapes/colors/abcs, too. 

I may have sat in my car after dropping her off and then cried for a little bit for how grown up she was!

Then I went to Target and looked at everything without a toddler crying at me - it was awesome.

{Friday Five}

1. Labor Day festivities! Movies with the Babs [EPIC!] and delicious food! [Yes, we took our not-quite-2-year-old to the movie theater - judge away!]

2. Watching my daughter learn her letters! She is fascinated by the ABC song and she's starting to recognize a lot of letters. She enjoys this new game where I write out a bunch of letters and she circles whichever one I tell her to - she's best at the letter E. She can also pick out her name among a bunch of other words.

 3. I have been super enjoying this cooler weather! Ever since I rained on Monday the weather was been so much nicer - especially in the mornings! For a while I was just tired and sick and very first-trimester-esque that I hardly ever left the house. Then by the the time I started to feel better the weather was just nasty hot and I would have melted if I stepped outside. But this week - it stays below 85 in the mornings [a miracle] so I've been able to get out! Evette and I have gone running every morning this week [feels so good to stretch and use my legs - I've been so lethargic lately] and then we head to a park where she can play and I can dry off [obvs still sweating weather] and do some yoga/stretching. It's be quite lovely.

4. She likes to do dishes AKA she likes to play with the bubbles

5. She has recently discovered her love of cooking or "cookies" as she calls it. Her specialty is salt and pepper sometimes mixed with butter left in the pan from our scrambled eggs. This can keep her entertained for a long long time. Love this child.