Ladybug lady party

before the holidays, i came across the cutest invitation that lead me onto the theme for miss.O's big celebration party.......Ladybugs. not super original, but oh so very cute i must say. i love planning parties and decor and had the most fun with this one!! red, black, white and lime green oh my and some polka dots thrown in for fun. surprisingly, a while ago i had found olivia some clothes with smocked ladybugs, so once i decided on this theme, i saved them for her big day. The find of all finds was a super talented 16 year old girl who makes unreal cakes. It was the "icing on the cake" for the decor...see below. all in all, it was wonderful to be surrounded by all of our dear family(near and from far away) and friends on her special day....i can only hope she feels this loved for the rest of her bdays and more. thank you mom, aunt joan, maren and a few special others for putting so much time and help into making it such a wonderful day and for offering up your help. miss o appreciates it so much!! all i can say to you aunt joan....never forget scallops, hehe

miss o all cleaned up at the ending of her party (outfit #2, my girl of course had more than one thing to wear...like the oscars for her, haha)

my lovie

ready to get her cake on..thank you Ms. T for the adorable bib!!

oh..yummy yummy

work it girl!!

after enjoying the cake...needing to get "prettied" up again

4 lovely ladies

some of the decor

a 16 year old girl made this cake and mini cake for Miss.O, super talented Kaitlyn!! many thanks

playtime with the Muchacho clan before the festivities began.

Little Birthday Girl!

As stated in previous entries...i have been a bit emotional this week of celebration. mostly because my littlemama is One!!! and because we were lucky enough to have my mom and aunt visit for the big day. I cannot believe that a year has passed so very fast and that olivia is ONE! i look at how much she has accoplished in such a small amount of time and yet, i want more time with her as my baby.....she is so very funny, on center stage from the time she wakes up in the morning. too much......Daddy, you are so in trouble. Get the armor oiled to protect her!!

We have enjoyed time with aunt joan and mom. My aunt has not been here since our wedding 7 1/2 years ago...so much has changed. we just kept the days as low key as possible and had fun in the simple daily duties.....laundry, cooking and cleaning are so much more fun (bearable) with my family here! We had to have a cake on miss O's actual bday, thursday. we invited nathan's parents over for the famous "braid" and cake. it was a wonderful time and i think we could have posted olivia eating her cake on america's funniest home video (and probably won some $$) see Below. Happy 1st Birthday Miss Olivia...we love you. x0x0x0x0x

wearing the cake

come on brother, you know you want a lick

here you go....

never mind hands...lets just bite the cake...face first

she could not get the cake to her mouth fast enough

hmmmm...what is this?

with both grandmas, granny (left) and kiki (right)

love you babe

o'brien women

sissy love and aunt joan

oh, daddy-o

aren't i so cute!!

a year gone by, oh my!!!

ok, so Miss O turned the big one and since i have posted these pics of her from her big day, i have been at a loss of what to write. i find myself almost avoiding the idea of putting into words what is rushing thru me at this moment in time. I keep reflecting back to where we were just one year ago and where we are now. one second it feels like it was yesterday that she was born and on the other hand it feels as though we have experienced a lifetime of things in 12 short months. see, can you tell i am a bit emotional?!?!?! I cannot even begin to write about the things we have gone thru since your arrival because i think i will break the computer with the tears.

Olivia...i will keep this simple. You are a ray of sunshine in our lives and a light to all that come to know you. You are the most amazing, sweet, happy, silly girl and we are so very blessed to have been given such an amazing gift from God. You captivate me every day and i can say that every time i look into your sweet little face, i am filled with love beyond words. thank you for bringing such joy into our hearts and lives! we love you to the moon and back (and then some)

tickle tickle

walking with dolly

taking her first real steps this very week

ready for some yummy cake

dear God, please give me that yummy cake, now!!!

fab four

Happy 4th birthday miss Wesley!! wishing you a wonderful day full of fun, laughter, and sweet treats....seems like yesterday we were visiting you at the hospital for your birth-day. xoxo

wes as a princess...time flies

a new year to ring in

we celebrated the end of 2009 out to dinner with a wonderful group of friends at a great new restaurant.....the evening was filled with good times, lots of laughs and hopes for a better year to come. Thank you to the McAtees's, Vogt's, Hunt's and Hughes families for a great ending to the old and fresh start to 2010!!!

The Smith's in 2009

The whole Smith family in 2010....Happy New Year to all, may this one be better than ever!

christmas at kiki's

after wrapping up the morning at our house...we headed over to kiki and wayne-daddy's house for the annual breakfast in jammies and round two with gifts....the kids were in over-drive, but found much happiness in all that santa and everyone had for them there! we tried to get a pic of all the kids together, but at one minute or the next, someone was melting down for not wanting to sit for it....guess the best pic ended up showing jackson in full mood swing, haha!

christmas 2009-wesley(almost 4), olivia(11mos), alyce (2) and jackson(3 1/2)

attack of the tree, by miss.o

ear to ear grin on littleman...with new scooter

more wrapping paper flying!!

wesley and jackson playing with the new b-ball hoops

Christmas Cheer

getting ready for christmas this year has been a whirlwind to say the least...but the moment christmas morning rolled around, it made the craziness ALL worth it!! this was olivia's very first xmas and this year jackson really got the big picture. it was an amazing morning to share with our small, sweet family. Just watching both of them...the excitement, the newness, the light in both of them was the best blessing and gift nathan and i needed. we hope all of you enjoyed your day as much as we did. may we all have as many blessings and twice as much fun and laughter in the coming year.

olivia and her very first toy stroller-aka, walker!! she was in love with it

wrapping paper flying

olivia unwrapping her gifts

the only pic i could get of both together xmas morning...both too excited about all the toys to sit still

merry christmas sissy-love...she slept in later than brother

jackson and his favorite toy of the moment...transportation transformer

jackson checking to see if santa in fact ate the cookies he left and reading the thank you letter santa wrote

oh look.....see what santa left?!?!

one side of tree with gifts

twas the night before christmas.....

and all through the house, jackson had meltdowns and refused to go down!! the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that st. nick will soon be here (maybe with coal for jman)......may jackson and olivia get snug in their beds so the visions of sugar plums will dance in their heads!!! (and mommy, daddy and Santa can get busy setting up).....merry christmas to all, and to all a good night!

our little sugar plum on the eve before her first christmas...jackson already crashed before i could get hi min the pic

Bah Humbug

this expression on Miss.O pretty much sums up how i have felt about the holidays this year....came on way too fast and not enough time to get caught up!!!

sneak peak

ok... thought i would give you an update from the work done over the weekend. plumbing and backsplash!! full size pics for the grand finale. thanks josh and tiff for all of you hard work and time given to our reno!