Zoo Day with Daddy!!

We had a WONDERFUL day at the zoo yesterday with Daddy! He was off work and it was his BIRTHDAY!! So we had to celebrate even if he didn't want too (He thought if he slept through the day he wouldn't actually turn a yr older)! LOL

We were going to try out the Delta Fair but it didn't open until 2pm and Craig had class starting at 5pm.... so we decided to go to the zoo!
I must say it was PERFECT weather! It ended up being like low 70s with a little sun! Oh man, oh man come on FALL!! Love love love this weather! Too bad it isn't here to stay long :(
We put Emery in the baby bjorn so she could actually see the animals this time around and Max walked the entire time. It was so nice to NOT have a stroller!

We came up to the giraffe exhibit just as the zoo keeper was finishing up feeding them.

And the giraffes kept coming up really close to us because she was standing there talking to us. It was really cool to see them up so close. And it was so sweet to see the little baby one that was just a month old!

Next up was the BIRDS!! Max's favorite!!

It was especially fun today because the birds were STARVING!!!

We had up to 5 birds on the stick at one time! I am guessing the little birds are missing all those kids that went back to school!!

Emery enjoyed seeing all of them too!

And I am so glad that Craig got to experience it with the kids! I feel like he misses out on so much working all the time...but hey someone has to do it!? Right?!

Max was super excited that he had 2 BLUE birds!!

It was so precious watching him talk to the birds. I am pretty sure he is an animal lover!!

Right before lunch we took a ride on the train!!

This was Daddy and Emery's first time! The train goes around the farm area of the zoo!

The kids loved it! Such a fun refreshing day at the zoo!!

Emery's FiRsT Birthday Party!! (part1)

Today we celebrated Miss Emery's FiRsT Birthday with family and friends!! I will start out with the sweet little details...her cute party hat I made for her!

And her t-shirt! I LOVE how everything turned out!!
Her bloomers!

And the whole ensemble together! The tutu was really simple to make and I added some ribbon to it for a little added cuteness!

We had the party at our house at 11.

A friend of mine Melanie Powell with Maddlilly Cakes made this for me! I loved how it turned out too! I just told her to work her magic and make it cute. I did give her the invitation to coordinate it with but I must say she did a GREAT job!! You can find her here http://maddlily.vpweb.com/

I also got cupcakes for the guests from her! Her delicious STRAWBERRY cake!! Just melts in your mouth!!

The SWEETS table...the cake, some strawberry candies, strawberry marshmellow, all the red and pink starburst, strawberry twizzlers, and some strawberry wafers!

I got all the invitations and signage in a PDF you print format from Dimpleprints on ETSY. You can find them here http://www.etsy.com/shop/Dimpleprints

They were super friendly and very easy to work with. I highly recommend them!

Tried to get the "whole" picture of the sweets table. It is just so hard to get it with banner in the background and the balloons. I tried my best. It really was so much cuter in person! The little polkadot boxes were for the kids to fill them up with sweets to take home!

The food table: Chickfila nugget platter, chips, goldfish, potato salad, cole slaw, and fruit kabobs!

This was a little thing I threw together at the last minute to showcase the monthly chair pics!

Love the napkins wrapped up with a tulle bow!! Too cute!

This banner was in the living room above the gifts! I forgot to take a picture of it with all the gifts underneath....tear...tear....

These are little strawberries that I put together and put the strawberry hard candies inside for the adult guests to take home with them.

Our lil BiRtHdAy GiRL!!!

Okay how adorable is that!! LOVE IT!!!

And then I took her ensemble off so she could eat a little lunch! Some of her favorites I might add...chicken, goldfish, strawberries (her absolute favorite..she gets giddy when she sees them) and grapes!

I had the kids all set up in the dining room.

Craig and Uncle Gregg!

My dear friend Kim (of 15 years)...WOW!

Nana!

and Pawpaw!!

I tried to get a picture of everyone there but I think I still missed a few...

Emery's FiRsT Birthday Party!! (part2)

Present Time!!!

Emery wasn't really into her presents like her guest were.
She had lots of "help" from all her cousins!

Especially with unwrapping this big one!

I love Laney and Max's faces in this pic...they were really trying hard to get the ribbon off! LOL
And then we brought out the Laugh and Learn House from Mommy, Daddy, and Max!

Emery was so excited! She crawled right over and got to playing!

And so did all her cousins! This really is a toy for ALL ages!!

I am pretty sure this was her favorite...I'm just saying!

All her goodies....

The grocery cart was from Grandmother and Granddaddy, Elephant ball popper from Uncle Michael and Darren (actually they got her the fisher price pink puppy but since we already had that we did a switch-a-roo), the clothes are from Uncle Gregg, Aunt Lulu, Linley and Laney, the monogrammed plate set from Kim, Clay, Madison, and McKenzie, the play food from Aunt Nicole, Uncle Taylor, Sam, Ethan, and Wesley, and the rest of the goodies (the chair, books, ladybug toy, and little people toy) were from Nana and Pawpaw!