This year Cambria decided she wanted a princess birthday. I never would've thought I'd be alright with throwing a princess birthday party, but it's what Cambria's into right now so we've all embraced our inner princess for her. ;) Her party was low-key {per request from the birthday girl} and included family and a few close friends. At first she wanted to invite only 3 or 4 people to her party, but she slowly came around and started "inviting" everyone else, myself included.
Cambria wanted balloons and flowers at her party.
Birthday mantle.
Food and pom-poms.
More foodies with princesses on the table too. Big shout out to my mom and mother-in-law Sibyl for helping with the food!
The princess getting into her Cinderella dress.
Princess Sophia came!
And princess Raya!
They argued for about 10 minutes about who had the cutest princess outfit.
Cambria's best friend and boyfriend, Roman. I was told there was secret kissing going on when they thought on one was watching.
Some of the party guests.
Casey and Raya.
Amber and Ezra. Ezra was thinking "I just woke up and why the heck are all these people here??"
Cambria's loot.
Opening presents.
Lots of them...
Spectators.
A princess rainbow cake, just what Cambria wanted.
Make a wish!
Inside of the cake.
Aunt Katelyn and the birthday princess.
"Get in my belly, cake!"
Kisses for Ray-Ray.
We took the party outside for a photo shoot.
Our whole family on my side minus Phillip.
My loves.
It wouldn't be a party unless we took a sister picture.
Daddy got a princess hug from Cambria Sky.
Happy happy birthday to the most amazing birthday princess!
Three years have passed since she came into the world.
It's almost as if my life is broken into two parts: before August 1, 2009 and after.
Nothing can prepare you for having a baby, that's for sure.
And nothing can prepare you for the incredible experience of watching that baby grow into a person and begin to learn, think, and perceive the world for themselves.
The two little beings I get the pleasure of spending my days with amaze me every.single.day.
I really find their questions, observations, and personalities to be just remarkable.
Cambria is Ezra's best friend and partner in crime.
She brings so much joy, laughter, happiness, and yes, sometimes stress to each person in our family.
And our family is made more perfect with her in it.
Happy 3rd Birthday my sweet and beautiful Cambria Sky!
I took this video the other morning after a night when both babies ended up in our bed.
Although we ARE a co-sleeping/bed sharing family, I had never even heard either of those terms until after Ezra was born. For us, having our children in our beds has never been something we've done because we think it's what we should do, rather, it's something that's happened naturally since becoming parents 3 years ago. Cambria slept in our bed sporadically until a year old and then slept in our room until 18 months when we moved into our house the day after Ezra was born. Ezra was in our bed full-time for the first 8 months and has only gone a few nights of being in his crib all night since then. I think having them in our beds at different times during their lives has made them feel more secure, connected, and comforted. Sometimes we don't mind having an extra body in our bed and sometimes we go through phases where we can't stand it and do everything to avoid it.
Right now, we bed share with both our kids for different reasons. Besides the emotional benefits, it's a lot easier to just bring a restless child into your bed at night instead of trying to get them back to sleep in their own bed. And when you're as sleep deprived at Kyle and I often are, it's the most appealing idea at 3 am. Although Cambria has been an amazing sleeper since birth, she's recently started waking up at night crying and upset and sometimes she will only be calmed by coming into our bed. Ezra winds up in our bed almost every night when he wakes anywhere from 2-5 in the morning. Plus, if we just left one of them to cry in their bed alone they would most certainly wake the other one up. Nothing is worse than having TWO crying children at 3 in the morning.
I love being woken up by Ezra climbing over me saying "Mama, mama, mama, mama" until I open my eyes. And on the nights when Cambria winds up in our bed it's nice being able to snuggle with her because she never lets me do it during the day. I oftentimes wonder if I'll miss these little bodies in our bed in 15 years and quite honestly, I'm not sure that I will. It's nice at times, but I think having 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night sounds really, really appealing too :)
A few weeks ago we finally took Cambria for her first movie theater experience. We've been talking about doing it for forever so we were all excited to finally go! To say Cambria was excited is an understatement. The girl let out several high-pitched shrills before we left the house and in the car on the way there. And when we got to the theater she was overwhelmed by everything: the posters, the treats, the lights, the seats, the "big, huge tv" and the people in the theater with us. But honestly, I think she was most excited about getting popcorn and coke :) This was the only time in Cambria's life that we've purchased a coke and allowed her to drink more than just a sip or two, it was a HUGE treat. We saw Brave and thought it was fantastic. I've had several people ask if it was too scary/inappropriate, but it was fine for Cambria and she actually liked the "scary" parts.
"Daddy, is that it?!"
The sight of the theater was enough to make Cambria scream again. She was thrilled to be seeing the movie and I think she was also happy about spending one-on-one time with us.
popcorn AND coke!
On the drive home Cambria had a pee-attack so she HAD to stop at Wendys to use the bathroom. Kyle surprised me with a frosty and we all sat in the front together enjoying it. Another treat! Taking Cambria to the movies made me realize two things: 1) spending time with my children individually is and always will be important and 2) experiencing joyous and exciting life moments with my child really is just as fun as being the kid yourself.
making paper link countdowns to August 1st, Cambria's 3rd birthday
washing the car. Ezra was the best little worker, Cambria not so much :)
picking tomatoes from the garden
randomly captured this picture, one of my new favorites
Ran the 2012 Peachtree Road Race, 2nd year in a row. I didn't train for the race at all, but managed a time of 01:00:14. I am a little annoyed that I missed being under an hour by 14 seconds. :)
So that's a little of what we've been doing.
Hopefully I can find the motivation (and time) to start updating the blog more often!
I've had this tutorial for sidewalk paint on my Pinterest for a while and finally decided to try it out with the kids the other day. The recipe in is simple; 1 cup of water, 1 cup of corn starch, and food coloring. Of course the best part for Cambria was making the paint. The girl loves to get in the kitchen to make anything.
Ezra liked eating it.
And painting himself.
It quickly became very messy.
All done and covered in paint.
dirty babies
We finished with some naked hose action. The paint washed off them, their clothes and the concrete easily. We'll definitely be doing this activity again!
Kyle and my dad playing a game of pool on my dad's new pool table.
Ezra on Grandpa Finnegan's shoulders at his birthday party.
I know I'm a little late, but I wanted to post a few pictures of the amazing dads in my life in honor of Father's Day.
Kyle is an amazing father to our children.
He listens to them, hugs them, feeds them, bathes them, plays with them, kisses them, reads to them, teaches them things, and most importantly, loves them.
I honestly don't think there is much else I could have wanted in a dad for my kids.
And our own dads are great men who've given us both an examples of what a loving, supportive dad can be.
