Travis' 10 year class reunion

After work on Friday we all headed out to Batesville for Travis' 10 year class reunion. Friday night was a meet and greet and Saturday was a family picnic and the formal dinner. We had a great time and Trav loved catching up with old friends.

First Day of Daycare..

Today was Essie's first day of daycare. I made her teachers little "back to school" gifts of mason jars filled with M & M's with a Sonic giftcard attached. I was hoping it screamed "be nice to my baby girl".  She was very excited for her first day of school.  She was even happy (well bribed) to sit and take a few pics. 

I wish I could say her day went well. I called twice and was told she was "fine". But when I opened the door to pick her up she saw me, fell to pieces, and bawled while running to me. It broke my heart. Her teacher said she had been crying on and off all day. Essie refused to leave her blanket there and has told me that she doesn't want to go back. She wants to stay at the "big house". That's what she calls our new apartment...I think she thinks the whole complex is ours! I know its going to be ugly tomorrow but I'm hoping with time things will get better.

Speaking of our BIG HOUSE...here are a few pics of our apartment. We've added more to the living room so I'll take more pics later of it.

And of our empty house. We went back this weekend to get it ready to show and list with an agent.

We've moved

Yesterday we loaded up the Jeep, a truck, and small trailer and headed to our new "temporary home" in Conway. We found (begged, pleaded) with some people to let us rent an apartment month to month. Most placed laughed at me since we are moving to a 3 college town during move-in season.  So we will be calling a very nice, surprisingly spacious 671 sq. ft, one bedroom apartment home for the next few months until our house sells! We are already unpacked and settling in. Essie's asked to "go home" a handful of times but has also thanked us for her "new house" too. She seems to be adjusting okay. We've just got to work on her not running/screaming all the time since we have people living all around us and below us. And the dogs to to not bark at every little noise...apartment living will be challenging. But our family is back together living under the same roof for the first time in 6 months! I will update pics of our new "home" soon!

2 Year Old Checkup and Stats

Today I took Essie to her 24 month checkup! They had to prick her finger to get her iron/lead levels. She giggled during that part!  She was also behind on her HepA shots so she got one shot which she did NOT giggle at.  It was awful. But she quickly got happy again when she realized she was getting a sucker and sticker.  She said she wanted a Snow White sticker and by chance she got exactly what she wanted! The DR said she looked great...we are really going to miss him once we move! 

She weighed 25 pounds (45th percentile).
She is 34.5 inches long (75th)
Her head is 19 inches (75th)

She gained 5 pounds and 5 inches from her 1 year checkup!

Can You Tell Me How to Get...

how to get....to Essie's 2nd Birthday Party???!!!

Today we had Essie's 2nd birthday party at Kindermusik. She loves Kindermusik and I loved the idea of someone else "running the show" for me! We chose to do a Sesame Street theme and I've been working the last several months on getting it ready and planned. Our life has been consumed with all things Sesame Street and Elmo since she was about 7 months old. She's starting to move away from Sesame Street and gravitate toward Princesses but I'm so glad we got to celebrate the Sesame Street Season of our life. I had a ton of fun with this party and I could've done so much more but time didn't allow it.

At Kindermusik there is a side room set up for parties that we got to decorate.  Travis' sister (Aunt Yaya) made the super cute cake. Aren't the characters just adorable?

 The Food Table: We served Oscar's DirtCake, Elmo's Goldfish, Big Bird's Teddy Bears, Counts 2s (jello jigglers), Abby's Wands (chocolate pretzels), Rosita's Mexican Layer Dip, Telly's Triangle Chips, Cookies Cookies, Bert & Ernie's PB& J Duckies. We found wooden pieces at Hobby Lobby to make the Sesame Street Lamp-posts and I used Photoshop to make the food tags.  I used wrapping paper from Target as my table runner and we made a banner using my Promethean (smartboard) at school.  I also made a banner using her monthly pictures and strung it along the table front. 

The gift table: I made a collage print of pics of essie and Elmo throughout the last two years. We also had guests sign the Little Goldenbook "The Monster at the end of this book".

 On the "eatin" table: I made gift bags to resemble the characters by cutting paper and gluing it to the fronts.  Each gift bag held an Elmo or Cookie Monster apron (made by the hubster), goldfish crackers, m&m's, an Elmo ring, and party blower thingy.  Each kiddo had a personalized Sesame Street Lamp-post place setting as well.


Mrs. Mac had planned an hour full of fun Sesame Street activities with the kids. They played drums in Elmo's marching band, played with scarves, bilibos, parachutes, stickhorses, etc. It was all set to Sesame Street songs! She even read an Elmo book that Essie loved! The kids had  a blast and were worn out!

 After that it was time to EAT, blow out candles, and cut the cake!!!

After that Essie got to open all her presents!

After the party she crashed and took a MUCH NEEDED 3 hour nap! Thank you so much to all who came and spent their Saturday with us celebrating!