The Annual Daddy Daughter Dance

Few things warm my heart like the Daddy Daughter Dance.  

What little girl wouldn't LOVE to get dressed up and be taken to a 

fancy date by the man in her life - Daddy?

We raced out of school to get home to start getting ready as soon as possible.

Really, it takes Victoria about 10 minutes to transform from a gym clothes wearing second grader to looking this adorable.

Gosh, sometimes she stops me in my tracks just looking at her.

She's so beautiful, inside and out.

I am so lucky to be her mommy.

While we were waiting for Daddy to finish getting ready we headed outside for some pictures. 

Our little dude was running all over the yard.

Uncle Guy and Emilee arrived.

When I was taking these pictures I had tears in my eyes.

It seems like just the other day (ok - not really just the other day but not nearly 30 years ago)

that Chrissy and I were in our Easter dresses posing in Grandma's yard.  

Gosh, I'd love to get my hands on one of those pictures!

 They are just adorable!

This little guy kept photobombing and I didn't mind one bit:-)

Daddy with his little girl!

Guy with his little girl.

Two proud daddies.

I don't have my good camera out often enough.

So I chased him around.

This kid is so damn cute it's ridiculous!

He's sporting his new shoes.

He's gone up a size each month for the last few.

Size SEVEN on a one year old!!

If it's like the paws of a puppy, he may be the biggest Humphrey yet!

Hard to believe this little girl was our baby toddling around this same yard...

now she's nearly 8!

During all the fanciness, these two were cruising around.

Having a ball!

One last look at these little ladies before they headed to Olive Garden for a fancy dinner.

Why not run down a driveway sucking on his thumb?

Pretty sure he's thinking, "Catch me if you can!"

What a wonderful night it was!!

**A text just came in - Victoria won the Hula Hoop contest.

Considering she tried to convince me to let her wear pants so she could hula hoop better

this is biiiiig news!

This night just keeps getting better!

How Times Change

My how times change.....

13 years ago tonight it was a Sunday.  I was out and about with my college roommate.  Way too late.

Good thing we were though.  I met my husband.  That night we were pretty much care free.

Tonight we are tired parents of three, including a sick baby.  (Yes, he's a baby when he's sick.)

Instead of uploading the 13 year old pic of us I had planned,  I've been worried about getting a sub for tomorrow.  Worrying about trying to get everything done for conferences with missing the day before conferences begin.

However, when I picked Brecken up from daycare and his nose was running and he was hacking with his head on Kris' shoulder I felt embarrassing guilt.  He shouldn't have gone today.  Tonight, he's even worse.  He needs to be home tomorrow with his mommy.

I know I will get everything done for school, one way or another.

It is amazing what a difference 13 years makes.  I wouldn't change a thing.

Brecken's First Birthday

Brecken's first real birthday happened two weeks ago.

March 17 fell on a Monday, following Spring Break.

It just about broke my heart to drop him off at daycare that morning. 

But we made the best out of the time we were together.

Victoria and Christian were SOOOO excited for his birthday.

He had him dressed and opening present about 2.5 minutes after he finally woke up at 7:00.

Christian got him baby friendly art supplies.

He enjoyed eating the paper!

After searching several stores for the most perfect gift ever...

Victoria finally found BLUE cleaning supplies fit for the baby who loves cleaning the most!

Here he is with his very own mop and broom.

Since then, there's been many mornings I give in and let him 

hold his broom in the car on the way to daycare.

He loves them!!

And how much do you love his shirt?

He has quite the birthday gear wardrobe!

We had to make the annual It's My Birthday trip to McDonald's.

He climbed in the Playland for the first time that morning.

He loves their hotcakes!

I've come to realize it's almost impossible to get a good picture of all three kids looking at once.

When my class was at music at the end of the day 

I went and snatched him up from daycare and took him to Christian's class.

It was choice time in K and Christian was so excited to show him off.

Clearly Brecken just wanted to fit in and not be held back.

One of C's little friends touched Brecken's arm and kept saying how C had a soft baby.

C said, "You think his arm is soft, you should touch his cheeks!"

Then we strolled into V's 2nd grade class.

Brecken sat in her chair like he was there to learn.

He was a hit.

Here's my empty classroom.

Birthday Boy is rocking his shamrock headband, my badge and my car keys.

When I left school half an hour later is was running.

Little dude loves my keys;-)

I had many ideas for the evening of his birthday.

However, since he goes to bed at 5:30 and Monday is the start of the week I decided to keep it immediate family only and not even go out to dinner.

St. Patrick's Day night out seemed like a lot for a baby one year old when he likes to go to bed so early.

We picked up Chinese food on our way home and couldn't wait to let him at his birthday cake.

We kept him far away from the flames.

One kid starting on fire at her birthday was plenty for us.

As you can see there's a lot of thumb action.

This was about 5:00 and he was fading fast.

Then he started enjoying his cake and the frosting!

He started really waking up and partying in his high chair!

Looking as cute as ever.

Getting everything covered in a nice layer of frosting:-)

 Again, hard to get everyone looking at once!

After his bath he went right back to his favorite gift.

Mopping and sweeping is so fun!

Just ask him!

The night wouldn't be complete without a game or twenty of hide n seek.

This is currently is most favorite past time.

It's the best when he leaves a foot or leg hanging out and totally thinking he's hiding.

Sweetest thing ever.

It was a great day to kick off celebrating his birthday.

Looking forward to celebrating with all of our families and friends this weekend!