Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Happy Birthday to me!  I had a pretty good day!  It started off with breakfast in bed.  And since I don't really trust Chris or Cortney in the kitchen (Cortney just turned 4 and Chris has been known to burn Ramen) they made me a delicious toaster strudel instead :)

I also was privileged to do a newborn session today for my photography - it was so much fun!  And she was a super cute little baby - very little baby, only 12 days old!


Cortney gave me Hungry Hungry Hippos for my birthday...good idea getting me a game, I love games - but we might need to work a little bit on your present buying skills my love!

 I tried to take some pics of me and Cortney and she kept closing her eyes - on  purpose!

 So I had her give me a kiss instead!

 Chris bought me some pretty tulips - my favorite flower!

 And also Parcheesi - which is a good addition to my collection!

 After Olive Garden we came home - instead of cake I had cheese ball and crackers (kind of over super sweet things after Corts party) - but I only had a bite because I was too full from dinner.  It was still yummy and it is a treat I don't eat very often.

 All in all it was a pretty good day!  Now I am ready to enjoy a relaxing evening!

Cortneys Under the Sea Birthday Party!

Cortney loves Ariel lately and wanted to have an Under the Sea party for her birthday!  Still cannot believe she is 4!  Anyway I love putting together parties and do a lot of things from scratch to cut costs.  It was a ton of work, but I think it turned out great!

This was the present table (before anyone came - it is kind of hard to see but we put a fishing net over the table cloth, it was cute, and super easy way to dress up the table.

 Here was the party table - I tried to give it a "Under the Sea" feel. 

 I made some candy sushi - which was rice crispy treats with candy fish and fruit roll ups - they were a big hit!

 These were my "bait buckets" :)

 Here is her cake - it is sandcastle cake!  What I did was layer 4 cheese cakes on top of each other and put a lot of extra gram cracker crust on top.  I also made some white chocolate / milk chocolate shells to decorate it with!  The end result was awesome, and I think really looked like a sand castle you would see at the beach!

 I brought in a couple purple things - one of them was flowers.  I just love flowers, I was very excited to see they had tulips, sometimes they can be hard to find!

 Another view of the cake!

 "Turtles" - I thought it was a cute candy that went with the theme.

 I made these clam or oyster cookies with "pearls" inside that I thought were really cute!

 And of course cannot have a party without making some marinated shrimp tortellini, yum!

 Made some mini cup cakes - in case kids didn't want cheese cake - and one big one on the top for the birthday girl!

 Picture of the birthday girl in her costume again!  I am so glad we got to use it more than once for Halloween.  She loved putting it on again, and I loved it too!

 Another shot of the table.

 And a shot of some more of those shells made out of chocolate, they came out pretty yummy and pretty!  They even have some swirls in them to make them look like real shells!

 This was Cortney right when we started singing the song, we had to hold her back until the end!

 This is her waiting during the song

 She did take a quick break to turn to me and give me a little kiss during the middle of the song, love my baby!

 The ballons were a big hit!  They had ballon fights all the time, for the first half hour or so all the girls hair was all frizzy and sticking up!

 Blowing out the candle...she got super close to the flame, watch out Cort!

And that was all the pictures I got of the party, the rest of the time I was busy keeping things in line.  We also had a little treasure hunt that the kids loved, where they found hints all over the house to find a little treasure chest at the end with gold coins inside!  She also got some pretty awesome presents from her friends.  There were probably a little more than 10 kids there all together so it got a little crazy and loud at some points but all in all it was tons of fun!  Thanks to everyone who came and made it a special day for my Cortney!

They Like To...

Cortney asked me today, "why do phineas and ferb build so many things?"
Me: they like to honey.  Why do you play with ponies?
Cortney: Because I like to!
-pause-
And why do you laminate things?


Haha...busted!  I am a laminator junkie:)

Happy Birthday Cortney!

 Cortney turned 4 today...holy cow when did that happen?!  The day started off with breakfast in bed!  She wanted crepes for breakfast or as she calls them rolled up pancakes.  She got four candles - blue since that is her favorite color!  I loved that she chose crepes because that is what I had my mom cook for me when I wanted breakfast in bed!  For the longest time she said she wanted french toast but the last couple of days she has been saying rolled up pancakes instead!

Singing happy birthday!  And in case you are wondering, yes the bed is getting a little small - I bet some time this year we will need to get her a bigger one, she only has a couple of inches before she is too tall.  Totally my mini me except for her height! 

 Then we surprised her by bringing in the present she has been asking for for months...

 A hula hoop!  She loved it!  I like how it is as big as she is :)  Anyway all day she has been telling everyone that she got a hula hoop from her Dad this morning.  Not Mom and Dad - just Dad, good thing we had another present set aside, so we just said the other one was from me!

 Cortney telling me how old she is - I like how it looks more like 3 1/2...still need to get used to holding up four fingers instead of three!

 Picture of my little big girl!  She has been saying things all day like "When I was a little kid _____".  She thinks she is basically a grown up now!

 We went to Red Robin for dinner (her choice) where we gave her, her other present a pony.  After we gave her this one she said "Mom I think I have enough ponies"  I said ok if you think so.  To which she answered, "Yeah I really think so."  I guess if your child says they have too many ponies, they have too many ponies.

 Picture of Daddy and Cortney!

I was sitting on the other side of the bench and forgot to sneak me in a picture.  But don't worry I will post some more pictures next week for my birthday and will make sure to include some of me too!

Cortney loved it when the people came and sang to her at Red Robin, but got pretty shy when they started singing.  She had a happy birthday and I am glad :)  Happy Birthday sweet girl!  Can't wait to see what this year brings for you!

Sunbeams!

Cortney is loving Sunbeams!  It is hard to believe my baby is not in nursery any more, but she is loving primary - which makes me happy.  She is the oldest in her class, since she is turning 4 in a couple days.  I have had many people come up to me at church and tell me how cute my daughter is in primary (I never get to see since I am in senior primary now).  But I did hear a story I really liked and wanted to share!

Last week she volunteered to do the first article of faith.  She knows them all the way to number 6 (just got six down!) so she knew what the words were, but she was letting the leaders help her say the words.  I guess the leader forgot or didn't know the last couple of words so Cortney leaned over and told the leader what it was!  Smarty Pants!

It makes me happy to know she is learning the Gospel and that she is not afraid to speak up when she knows the right answer - even in front of all those kids!  She sure looks like me, but I am glad she isn't as shy as I was when I was little!  I also love that she has her own Book of Mormon now and likes to carry it to church with her in one of my old little purses!

Trickboys

I love how every time Cortney says turquoise she says trickboys instead!  That is all :)

Cortney + Audrey = Best Friends!

One of the best things about being a photographer is I can take an awesome photoshoot when ever I want!  And when we found out Audrey, Cortney's best friend, was moving I decided it was a must!  This was the first girl best friend Cortney has had.  Within weeks of moving to Medford we found out that they added each other to their prayers!  They even had ballet class together, and call each other Sleeping Beauty and Ariel after their Halloween costumes!  It was a sad day when they moved, not just because Audrey was moving, but her mom was moving too, my friend Carrie.  The will be missed so much, and I am so glad I have these pictures to remember them by!  PS - Just in case you didn't know Cortney looks just like me and Audrey looks an awful lot like Carrie did when she was little - so that makes the pictures even cuter!

 This next one is my favorite!

There are more pictures from the session HERE on my photography blog!