Happy 1st Birthday Maddie!

Haircuts by Mommy

After the last painful experience getting Anna's haircut, I decided to try to cut it myself. Friday night I put Anna in the chair on our back deck, got out the scissors and started cutting. My husband had to help me keep Anna's head still but it only took two minutes. Thankfully Anna's hair has some curl to it so you can't tell if it is slightly uneven :). Here's Anna showing off her haircut.

The Cupcake Progression

We had Maddie's family party on Saturday to celebrate her upcoming first birthday. I think Maddie's favorite part was the cupcake.

I want it...



Then there was a breakdown because she couldn't have the cupcake with the burning candle.

Cupcake at last...



And I want more...

Barrettes

Yesterday at Target I bought some Goody's Oval Comfort Gel Barrettes for Anna and I really like them. Anna still has really fine hair and so barrettes usually do not stay in. I am constantly finding barrettes all over the house and car and of course I can never find two matching ones. So far so good with these. It's the small things that make like easier :).

Spring Pictures

Over the weekend we took the girls to Portrait Innovations in Durham to have Maddie's 1 year pictures and a few spring pictures of the girls taken. My mom joined Erik and I to help out. We had a good experience at Portrait Innovations - they were prompt (we had an appointment), took plenty of photos (~75) and didn't get frustrated when the girls wouldn't smile or when Maddie had a brief breakdown. It is also hard to beat their promotional package at $9.95 which includes tons of photos.

In most of the photos the girls are holding some scruffy animal that belonged to the store, but it helped get them to smile. In the end we had some very cute photos. Here are a few of my favorites of the girls together:

My Little Walker

It's official - Maddie is a walker. For the past 3 days Maddie has preferred walking to crawling. It's so cute to watch her toddle around the house. What's not so cute is how she likes to slide chairs over to tables and counters and then try to climb up on them :).



Maddie got her first fat lip last name from a face plant and I suspect there are many more bumps and bruises to come.

The Girls on the Beach

The weather in Jacksonville, Florida was absolutely beautiful over Easter weekend. It was sunny and in the 70's. We spent a majority of the weekend out on the beach. Every afternoon at low tide, there was a tide pool which was great for the kids. The water in the tide pool was warm and only came up to Anna's knees. The girls splashed around and played with their sand toys. Anna enjoyed collecting purple shells and Maddie enjoyed trying to eat them.



I am already looking forward to our next beach trip in June.

Happy Easter!

We just returned from a fabulous trip to Jacksonville, Florida with 16 other members of my family. This is our annual tradition of meeting at the Ponte Vedra Inn for some family time. More pictures to come, but here the girls are in their Easter attire made by Mimi.

A New Look at Walmart

I don't mean this in a snotty way but, I don't do Walmart. I have never had an enjoyable shopping experience there (I'm thinking of long checkout lines and raw meat sitting open in the middle of the floor). The parking lots are always insane and at least the ones I've been to have never been exceptionally clean. I prefer to pay a cent or two more and go to Target. That being said, Mimi has found some really cute $6 dresses at Walmart lately and it has me thinking maybe I should swing by there. Check them out:



The embroidery was done by my mom at R&W Designs. She charges $5 so you end up with an adorable $11 outfit. I haven't washed the dresses yet, so we'll see how they hold up.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

It was another enjoyable year at the annual Falls River Easter Egg Hunt. The weather was beautiful and Mimi came with us for the festivities. Maddie enjoyed crawling around in the grass and playing at the playground; Anna did a great job filling up her easter basket (even "found" the gold egg), rode a pony and petted some chicks.