Celebrating #4 with Charlie

Ok before I start documenting Mikey's official birth story - I have to acknowledge that on July 31 my first born turned FOUR.  I still cannot believe it.  That means next year he will be FIVE.  That just seems so old I cannot handle it.

So Charlie at four years old.  

I have to say, the three year old year was full of ups and downs, but for the most part, I'm going to say it's been ups - because boy oh boy it has been SO much fun watching this kid grow up, become a little more of a boy, learn new things, make new friends, become more independent and be the silliest boy around.  

Charlie at FOUR:

- He loves super heros, legos (yes, lego superheros), cars, ninjas, star wars, you tube videos and riding his bike

- He's a mama's boy for sure :) (YES!)

- Best big brother to Maddie - even with some teasing and slight torture at times - he loves her so so much and I'm slightly terrified when they have to go to separate schools because I don't know what they will do without each other.  And he got an additional role of big brother with little brother Mikey's arrival and boy does he love that baby boy so far - I'm excited to see their relationship develop and grow in the years to come

- He can independently play cars, legos, ninjas for hours on end.  It's amazing and sad at the same time

- Preschool is one of his favorite things - he loves the structure, learning and his friends.  Montessori preschool has been great as he's learning all these new skills through "play" and doing great!  We love hearing about all the stuff he learns each day!  We are excited for him to be the oldest in class this year and be a leader (he's excited too!)

- He loves his cousins so much and can't play with them enough!

- He loves Nana and Papa and Grana and Pops so much - and I love seeing that special grandparent relationship develop

- Only still wears dry fit t-shirts and shorts (I'm interested to see how the fall/winter goes when we have to wear pants again - ha)

- Loves church and just got promoted to the Sonshine room and can't stop talking about it

- Knows and recites the Lord's prayer and insists on doing it before every meal (after Maddie insists on singing God Our Father 

- His heart is full of gold - I swear the way he looks at Mikey, rubs his head and faces, kisses him - it's honestly the sweetest thing ever

- Favorite foods are pizza and sandwiches!  He has been eating SO much better because he wants to get strong muscles - and we are all happy that he's eating (now if he could just teach his sister!)

- When I go in and lay with him at night, he takes his little arm and wraps it around my neck and tells me he loves me (Lord help me when he doesn't do that any more!)

I could go on and on how much I love this kid.  I'm just so proud to call him mine and have just loved watching him grow and learn over the last 4 years.  He couldn't be more sweet and handsome.

So how did we celebrate this sweet boy???  Well, every two years we seem to have a newborn on his birthday (ha!), but of course I can't have a celebration for him - especially now because we go to his friend's birthday parties, so he was very specific.  Ninja gymnastics party (he was jealous because Maddie did gymnastics this summer while he did t-ball).  Done and done.  Not at my house, they set up and do the work and burns off kids energy.  

And it was a success!!

Little sister showing off her SKILLS!

All lined up and ready to go!

So much fun!!!

We celebrated him on Saturday at his party and then did some special family fun on Sunday (his actual birthday).  Everyone deserved a little treat after somewhat cooperating for Mikey's newborn pictures!  So we went to Target and spent some of Charlie's birthday money (he bought new cars - his obsession still!) and this was our first time venturing out as a family of 5.  Jimmy loved it.

After Target, we went to a new shaved ice hut close by to try it out: Jarvey's!!  We missed their grand opening the night before, but it was fun and delicious!

Selfie's with my to older babes!

And really, how sweet are these two - Charlie sharing and feeding little sister!

When we got home that night he just played with his cars.  Such a handsome 4 year old!

While Mikey and I hung out watching him :)

And Maddie played with one of Charlie's awesome presents!

So so thankful for this adorable boy that came into our lives 4 years ago - hard to believe how fast time flies!!  Love you so much sweet Charlie!

Maddie is TWO

Before we add another one to our crew - a post dedicated to my SWEET Maddie.  Oh my goodness - the thought that this girl is actually two years old - literally blows my mind.  She turned two on July 4!

Two years ago on the night of July 3, I was sewing away to wrap up nursery projects after we put Charlie to bed.  We went to sleep late and then I woke up with BAD contractions.  They said hurry to the hospital and we got there at 1:45 and by 4:45 on July 4th, our little firecracker - Miss Madeline Abigail Carter was born.  Meeting your sweet baby for the first time is just the most amazing thing - but what I've found even more rewarding is watching this sweet girl go from an infant that needed us for everything to independent, young toddler (now TWO year old).  

Her personality literally blows me away and how she has emerged into this adorable toddler.  I feel like she has grown up SO much faster than Charlie did.  I'm not sure if it's a girl thing or the fact that she has an older brother to look up to and wants to do everything that he does - but she's not my little baby any more.  

She's gone from this as a newborn:

....to my sweet one year old with minimal hair...

...to this spunky little TWO year old with an amazing personality AND a full head of curly/wild hair (oh and did I mention her knack for accessorizing....haha - we obviously haven't had her 2 year old professional pictures taken - hopefully Ali can snap a few when she's in town for baby #3's newborn pictures!)

Once she started talking - she has literally never stopped.  Which is good and bad.  She adores her big brother, but doesn't at all put up with his sh*t - seriously.  Or really anyone's for that matter - at school she loves her friends and teachers but one of her teacher's told me verbatim that "Maddie C., she doesn't put up with anyone's sh*t".  Like for some reason I found that hilarious and scary all at the same exact time.  Haha.  

Even with that toughness in her personality, she is absolutely the most adorable and loving little soul.  She can melt your heart one minute when she goes on and on saying who she loves (she literally has a list that she says over and over again) and then the minute you tell her "no" - watch out!  Toddler temper tantrums in full swing.  But then if you distract her, she does forget easily.

I'm in love with her bedtime routine and she's a better sleeper than Charlie ever was.  We read books, lay her in her crib (with like 70 things/stuffed animals/tags/blankets/wipes/books/bows - you name it).  Then she asks to pray and tells you who she wants to pray for.  And we kiss and she usually goes to sleep - or is at least satisfied.  It's MUCH worse when she's over tired...but it melts my heart giving her a sweet kiss and walking out.  However, she is quite the daddy's girl and most nights insists that he put her to bed.  Quite different from the way her brother was, but there is truly nothing like a father/daughter relationship and I'm just loving watching it emerge between her and Jimmy.

A few more things about our girl.  She is already a good independent player, which blows my mind.  Must be a second child thing - but there are times when I'm looking for her in the house and find her in the playroom on the floor "reading" her books or in the hearth room playing kitchen.  She loves to color - anything and everything - and read.  Her attention to detail on some of the tasks she does amazes me at her age - one time our kids were having a slumber party at Jimmy's parents house and my MIL sent a picture of Maddie and the crayons that you roll up - she had rolled every one of them out, which my MIL said took forever and she was just impressed she sat there for that long doing it.  She loves doing activities at school (they are in a Montessori school) and talks about them on the way home - as well as all of her friends and teachers.

She loves her family to the core.  And her big brother.  So much.  I cannot wait to see how this girl takes on her big sister role.  I have high hopes for her, so we will see how it goes!!!

In terms of growth, she is still kind of living up to her nick name that she's had for awhile "Pot Roast".  She was 91% for height and 87% for weight at her 2 year check up - and just blew me away at how good she was at the doctor's office.  Sometimes she is good - haha.  But really, I love her so much.  While our personalities are SO similar (already, yes) - it's frightening to think 15 years from now as a 17 year old..but for now, I'll just relish in her littleness and let her be young and spunky.

So really quick - we did do a small birthday party for our sweet girl the weekend before Fourth of July (as most of our family goes out of town that weekend) at the Olathe Community Center.  They have an awesome pool - we were there for Arden's birthday party and loved it - and on top of that all I had to do was book, show up and then swim - count me in as one pregnant mama.  Maddie LOVES swimming and minions, so that was exactly what we did.

My sister is my go-to baker and didn't disappoint with the awesome minion cupcakes and display - there were minion gummies on top which everyone loved so much!  So we sang happy birthday to our baby girl, opened some awesome presents (her favorite I think was the fruit snacks my sister threw in her bag - hahaha), and then swam.

I was having a ROUGH pregnancy day that day...but the pool felt good.  Unfortunately, with how I felt and the fact that I was in the pool too I got absolutely zero pictures of everyone swimming.  It was a great thing we chose an indoor party because halfway through our swim time a massive storm came through KC, but we didn't even notice!  Maddie, Charlie, cousins and a few friends had an absolute blast and we were so glad!  We thought about going out to dinner after, but it was Sunday and by the time we got out of there - we decided to just run through McDonald's instead because #tiredkids but no one minded.

It was a stress free celebration that Maddie LOVED - which was all that mattered.  And it was so fun to celebrate our sweet and sassy TWO year old.  I am looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and take on the roll of middle child in style.  Happy (late) second birthday to our Maddie cakes!!!

Here was some pictures of our Fourth of July weekend celebrating this girl (and her love of PIZZA).

Charlie turns 3 - Minions and water fun!

Here's the thing.  July is BUSY.  Next year I keep telling myself I will be more prepared.  I will start planning for July months in advance next year.  With both my kiddos having birthdays, throw in a national holiday and usually a vacation or two - there doesn't seem to be much down time in July.  Hence, why this year I did not get around to even thinking about a birthday party for Charlie until AFTER Maddie's was over.  Which gave me less than a month to think of a theme/event, get the invites out and enjoy the three year old.

On the flip side?  Charlie didn't even like minions until we went to the lake with Jimmy's family (I am in the midst of finishing that fun post!) and he watched Despicable Me 2 about 45 times with his cousin Will.  So I guess it's good that I procrastinate because his obsessions seem to change quite frequently, so it's hard to keep up!

With that said, last Sunday afternoon, we had ourselves a little Minion party for our 3 year old.  His friends from school/daycare came (which was fun!) and a few old friends and family.  I actually didn't want to have it at our house for multiple reasons, but of course by the time I got around to even thinking about his party, all the places I could think of to reserve were already booked for the time we could have it.  So I sent out the invites saying that we would just have a splash bash (aka run in the sprinklers) in our backyard.  Then the next day I remembered one more place to look at (the Rainbow playset place that you can rent out for parties - would have been perfect and so much easier!); live and learn, right?

So a backyard party we had.

Minions theme was decided on a week prior when this mama asked Charlie what he wanted while we were perusing around Target.  DONE.  Minions were so easy because they are everywhere right now because of the movie.   And I actually loved it!  Just a few small purchases and throw together some snacks and I was done!

Fun party favors were the item that I prepped the week prior - $0.75 tubes of bubbles from Walmart that I put electrical tape around, stuck a white circle sticker on, colored the silver around and put an eyeball.  Then the week before the party, Price Chopper had Despicable Me 2 fruit snacks on super sale for $0.99 a box - DONE.  I was going to give them chocolate, but this seemed even better.

Party City came through with some easy Minion decorations.  And I've deemed this area the new "party set up area" for the time being (before it was in the dining room, which was ok but this seems to make more sense...)

Party was at 3:30 on a Sunday (I know, but we had the Kenny Chesney concert the night before!), so I wanted some light snacks for the kiddos + cake.  Skinny cheddar popcorn, applesauce (both courtesy of CostCo) and then some fun minion chex mix and we called it a day.

The best part about this mix is the minion graham crackers!!  Oh and the fact that Jimmy's party prep job was sorting M&Ms and mowing.  Thanks Jam!

And some easy minion looking lemonade to drink.

Of course, I still had "Happy birthday Maddie" up on the chalkboard wall - so I had to change that up and show off my artistic ability to draw minions.  Ha.

Ok - onto the cute kids.  The best part.

We had a few fun sprinklers set up on each side of the backyard, so kids ran around in those and then put the new playset to good use.  We also had a baby pool down by the patio (which of course the older kids loved!) and then a bubble machine that seemed to be a hit too.  The main issue?  The concrete patio was SO hot and if the kids didn't have any water shoes on they were dying when they walked on it.  Another issue?  There is a leak from a sprinkler underneath our river rock and it was like a moat.  Not good and people/adults got their feet dirty.  Our contractor has to come back and dig up under there to find it.  Sweet.  

But the highlight of the party??  My mom and dad brought a BUNCH of cans of shaving cream and they played "find the minion" with the kiddos.  It was in theory supposed to be a tower, but Jimmy had put water in the baby pool already, so we just made it work.  The kids LOVED getting their arms in the shaving cream and hunting for little minion characters and some farm animal characters.  

Oh and getting dirty and getting hosed off by my dad!  I wish I had a picture of that!!

And don't mind Maddie - she pushed her way through and had shaving cream ALL over her.  Just wanted to be one of the big kids!

Then it was time for a quick change of clothes for the kiddos and to eat cake.  We ordered this cake from Target and Charlie was OBSESSED with it.  I was too considering I just had to order it and pick it up.  Done and done.  They did a great job!

Can I tell you again how much I love our table?  I love how big it is and the bench and everything.  Thank you Jimmy!

Time to sing!!  All the kiddos had some snacks of popcorn and minion chex mix and then sang to our bday boy. He was a little shy, but that's ok.  

Blowing out the candles!!!  Now it was time for CAKE!

After cake, it was the craziness of present opening.  Which actually went slightly better than I imagined because Jimmy stepped up and got the notepad to write down who it was from.  

Essentially Charlie had the best time of his life opening each present.  His face opening each one was like "OH MY GOODNESS" (he'd often say that).  But he loved all of them so much.  Ninja turtle bike helmet, lots of fun minion toys and games, some awesome Cars stuff, movies, etc.  This kid is in 7th heaven playing with all the new stuff. 

But one of the things he will not put down?  His minion light that sings and shines light on his ceiling.  The minute he opened it, he wanted to start playing with it because Kate got it for him.  And he loves Kate.  And guess what?  The newness hasn't worn off yet - this was him going to bed on Monday night, happy as a clam that I let him put it in bed with him.  So sweet!

Finally - after everyone made their exits (btw, it was SOOOOOOOOOO hot.  I wasn't wearing this weird shirt in the beginning, but was literally sweating so hard before the party as I was getting stuff ready that I had to change and this was what a threw on.  Weird and way too big.  Whatevs - I promise I'm wearing shorts!  But I had my mom snap a few family photos and you get to see 2 of them.  

One that everyone is looking at the camera.

And another of the birthday boy smiling.

Overall, we had a great time.  

I was hesitant to invite daycare/school friends because we don't' know their parents that well, but the ones that did come it was so fun to get to talk with them a little more and see our kids play (which they do all day long, but we don't get to see).  Too bad we are moving daycares next week - but I think the parent's at the new school will be just as fun and we will all get to make new friends!!!!

Thanks to everyone that helped celebrate our sweet 3 year old - it's hard to believe how time flies!!!

Our little firecracker turns ONE

I mean...this picture...sums up her firecracker personality.

We had so much fun celebrating Maddie's first birthday with a few good friends and family members the Saturday before the Fourth of July AKA Maddie's actual birthday.

And we had so much fun.

Well, at least I did. Because it was low-stress, low-key, low decor, an easy and AMAZING theme...and best of all the sweetest little birthday girl you ever did see.

Given her birthday is on Fourth of July, we went with "Our Little Firecracker" theme and it was so fun!  For so many reasons.  First was this cute cute invite I got off of Etsy.  Seriously.

invite courtesy of Party Monkey

That was probably the most work I did for the whole party.  And that was ordering it from Etsy and printing it at Costco.

I asked my dad to go and pick up some fun sparklers as party favors, tied them with string and put them in vases on the dining room table.

Then I asked my sister to make some cupcakes because she pretty much rocks at making any and all baked goods.  Check out that frosting!!!!

Then I asked my blog turned real life friend, Sarah, to borrow a fun patriotic sign and stars that she had posted on Instagram.

Are you getting the theme?  Haha - delegation and asking for help.  Yep!  I will be the first to admit in the midst of the last month of traveling to three countries...I had minimal time to plan this party and that was a-okay with me actually.

I thought to write on our fun chalkboard wall at the last minute and use some of my chalk pens to write Maddie's stats then and now.  (and her actual weight I listed on there was a bit much...today she was only 24lbs and 10oz at the doctor...but I swear they said she was 25lbs when she got her tubes!).  Oh and thanks to Target dollar bin for all my patriotic decor.  And a win because I can reuse it year after year right?!

My parents came over early because Jimmy and I seriously did nothing to get stuff ready for the party until Saturday morning.  With t-ball and last minute errands...and on top of the fact that it was supposed to be a "backyard BBQ" in our finished backyard reno...that was not so much finished (like not at all done), we decided to set up shop in the garage...we needed some extra hands at the final hour.  And they were it.  Thankful they didn't bat an eye when I sent an emergency text saying be here at 1:30 with ice!  But at least that meant I got some cute pics of Nana and Maddie!

My sister brought over some fun decor she got at Target too - some patriotic straws.

Everyone enjoyed them - even Granny!!!

I threw around a few more of the banners and called it a day.

Random side note: when I went outside to see where Maddie was and what she was doing.  I stopped to get a picture of all the adults in the garage and then I turned to get a picture of her as she was falling off the picnic table.  She landed on her bottom first (thank goodness) and then knocked her head.  I swear this poor girl.  I, of course, overreacted to the whole thing -but no one wants their baby to fall, especially at their birthday party!

Even with horrible lighting - I did get a family picture!

And cousin Kenlie wanted to get one of holding Maddie.  She just loves her!!!

(PS see our planters?!  Love them!)

Then it was time for CAKE!  Like I said, with our (my) minimal planning...I literally didn't even think of a smash cake (bad mom!).  But Jimmy and dad of the year to the rescue!  He has a new obsession with bundt cake.  For a guy who doesn't like sweets...I was rather shocked when I came home from a week in Europe and he had TWO bundt cakes in the fridge.  Who is this guy!?  But luckily...his obsession came in handy because he was like "how about I get her a red velvet bundt cake for her smash cake?".  DONE.  See, this delegation thing worked out well!

(He gets them from Nothing Bundt Cakes in KC)

And while girlfriend was a little hesitant, she REALLY liked the cake eventually.

I mean I just think she's the cutest!  And I was happy that we actually got a picture of just the three of us - that's rare!

But don't worry - Charlie wanted to get on the family fun.  He's a ham.

Diva with her sunglasses from Aunt Lulu on.

Everyone else enjoyed the cake - and ice cream...which that was courtesy of Grana.  Seriously, when they say "it takes a village"...it really does.

So months ago, I picked up these silly photo booth props from WalMart.  I had them out, but wasn't really intending on using them because it's hard to logistically set up a photo booth.

But this sweet, sweet girl.  My niece, Kenlie.  She saw them and instantly said "where is the photo booth and can I be in charge of it?!"  UM - yes please.  She's the best!

So she called people over, directed me when to take pictures...and we had so much fun!

Michelle was a good sport!

And then we got this family picture.  Hilarious.  Jimmy said this completely sums up our family "Maddie has no idea what's happening...Jimmy is angry for having to participate in my antics...I have way too much energy...and Charlie - well he's in his own world".

Yep, yep, yep.  I love them.

Nana B!

And then there is Jack.  He really wanted to make it work on his own - but then asked dad for help!

Carter cousins had to get one with Maddie too!!

And then Jack and Charlie got in Charlie's stool together.  And had a photo session.  They are both such cheesers.  They were hamming it up together.  I swear these two.  Ten years from now - watch out.  

Oh sweet, sweet Jackson.

Then most of the guests left, my mom and MIL were the best and I turned around and the entire kitchen was cleaned (like seriously they are the best!!  Thank you both!).  So we headed outside to play.  Did I mention the weather was perfect?  And the garage set up was too?  We had a fan and set up our TV to watch the Royal's, along with our patio dining set we bought for our backyard like 3 months ago....

Charlie and Maddie were being super silly and Jimmy was pouring water all over Charlie.  Did I mention Charlie never wears pants anymore?  #threeyearoldissues

This girl.  My sweet, sweet pot roast.

Her signature blowing of her lips. 

Oh DAD.

I just love her.  Everything about her.

And then the party officially ended - because this kid started streaking across our yard.

OH MY.

Then he went ahead and opened the present that he got Maddie.

While that was the end of the party - it continued into Sunday because some of our other cousins came over to swim and BBQ again.  So of course, they wanted to get in on the photo booth fun. 

Maren and a mustache!

Norah just loved the props!!

And then we put the boys to work - Charlie was filling up Maddie's Paris purse and Will was cooking up some grub!

SO much fun.

While it wasn't a pinterst perfect party, it was funny because when people asked me how it went the next week at work - it was fun because I could truly truly say I enjoyed it.  I wasn't stressed and it was just a relaxed party with our family and friends enjoying each other's company, while celebrating the first year of life of our sweet Maddie girl.  What a blessing she is!!!

So there you have it - Maddie's first birthday bash!!!