fly away with us

Fearless

2012-02-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

Our zoo recently opened a new Sky High Safari Ropes Challenge. Josh and Lily tried it out while Charlotte and I nervously watched from below. I figured they would do the lower level and be done. Not quite. 30 minutes later they finally made their way down after doing the WHOLE challenge. That girl has absolutely NO fear...not going to lie, I'm a little worried about how brave she is!

January Celebrations

2012-02-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

January can sometimes be a bummer of a month, but not for our family this year. Between Josh's 30th Birthday and our 6 year anniversary, we did lots of celebrating!

Josh's birthday was on the 25th. Lily was so excited about his big day. She was set on having a "surprise party" for her Daddy. So at 6am that morning Lily and I quickly filled our living room with balloons, presents and a birthday banner while Josh was walking the dogs. It probably would have really surprised him, had she not told him as he was leaving that we would be jumping out to surprise him when he got back. She also informed him of his gifts the day we got them. We're still working on the whole "secret" thing with her.

We also celebrated our 6 year anniversary on the 28th. Josh's parents graciously volunteered to watch the girls so we could enjoy a night out.

Charlotte - 18 months!

2012-01-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

Our baby girl is growing so fast. She had her 18 month check-up today - with NO shots! She is 26 pounds (75%) and 36 inches long (75%). I just can't get enough of this spunky toddler that definitely has a mind of her own, and I'm so thankful to have two happy and healthy girls!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-12T18:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year. All the magic and excitement I felt as a little girl was back. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so excited. I got up at 4am, made a cup of coffee and snuggled up by the tree to watch A Christmas Story. I was surrounded by Santa's gifts with a fire in the fireplace patiently waiting for my girls to wake up...it was one of those perfect moments.

They were finally ready to come downstairs around 7am. I don't think Lily really got the awesomeness of Christmas morning before this moment. I'm pretty sure she's got it now, and she'll probably be up with me at 4am next year!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

We went to the children's service at the girls' preschool on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Josh ended up working most of the day and wasn't able to go with us. I was a little worried about the girls behaving during the service, but they did wonderful.

Afterward, we headed home to make cookies for Santa.

Twas the NIGHTS before Christmas...

2012-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

We made our second trip to see the lights at Saluda Shoals the Friday night before Christmas. It was PACKED full of cars filled with excited children hanging out of windows and sunroofs. So fun!

Santa Reindeer brought the girls each a little surprise on his last morning with us before heading back to the North Pole.

The milk snatcher...

A Christmas Playdate

2011-12-31T05:39:00.000-08:00

A few other moms and I put together a little Christmas playdate for the kids. They did a Christmas craft, had Christmas tree waffles for brunch and did a little dancing to some festive music! As always, the girls had a blast with their little crew :)

We finished off every night this month will a little snuggle time by the tree and an 8pm showing of Lily's new favorite Christmas movie, "Pep and Wanding".

One of Lily's friends has a sneaky elf, too, that toilet papered their tree one night. Lily thought this was so silly and she just knew her elf would do the same thing. What do ya know...she was right :)

Oh what fun!

2011-12-31T05:07:00.000-08:00

We headed to Altanta for a few days before Christmas to meet up with my sister and her girls, Olivia and Emily. We spent a full day at Stone Mountain/Snow Mountain, did a movie night with chinese take-out in the hotel, went to a puppet musieum to see a fabulously done Roudolf the Red Nose Raindeer Puppet Show and had several delisious meals - indluding a stop at the American Girl Cafe to dine with our baby dolls. We packed just about as much as you can into 2 1/2 days! The girls were completely exhausted but it was so much fun. My sister and I are definitely thinking this is a new "week before Christmas" tradition!

Oh by the way...3 days in Atlanta + 0 trips to a mall = 1 very proud husband :)

Back to the Zoo...

2011-12-11T16:44:00.000-08:00

Lily informed us this morning that we would be going back to the Zoo today because she didn't get to ride the merry-go-round or see the gorillas last night. Since she pretty much calls the shots in our family (not really, but we like to let her think she does every once and awhile), off we went!
I learned two new things about my family today:
1. If I ever need Charlotte to be perfectly content in a stroller for over an hour, all I need is a bag of baked lay's
2. My husband of almost 6 years is secretly a bird whisperer!

The girls found Santa Reindeer goldfishing

in the bathroom sink this morning:

Lights before Christmas

2011-12-10T17:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight we went to Lights before Christmas at the Zoo. Most of the animals were hiding or sleeping, but they had marshmallows so the girls didn't seem to mind!

It's snowing at the Zoo!

Lily said the fire was "burning her eyes":

More please:

Our sneaky little elf, Santa Reindeer, has found

lots of great places to hide:

Under the Weather...

2011-12-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Lily has been fighting a little cold for the past few days. We've been stuck at home, mostly in the playroom, since Monday. Those four walls were starting to close in on us and I thought a change of scenery might help everyone feel a little better. So the girls changed out of their dirty jammies, took an early afternoon bubble bath, put on some clean jammies and snuggled up on our blow-up in the living room for yet another Christmas movie. I know - we watch a lot of movies!

Our elf, Santa Reindeer, got into the marshmallows last night:

Charlotte watched most of the movie from here:

Dinner and a Movie...and Christmas Lights!

2011-12-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

We decided to take the girls to Holiday Lights on the River at Saluda Shoals Park Sunday night. We picked up Sonic on the way and all crammed into the back of the minivan to eat and watch the classic Rudolf movie. The girls loved it and Lily has asked to do it again several times already. Looks like this will be a new Christmas tradition for our family!

Brunch with Santa

2011-12-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time this morning at an event our neighborhood put together for the kids.
Yummy food + storytime with Santa + hot chocolate with all the fixings = lots of Christmas FUN!
Once again, Lily was totally comfortable with Santa and Charlotte wanted nothing to do with him.

Macy's Pink Pig

2011-12-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

While we were in Atlanta visiting baby Mason, we made a quick trip to Lenox Mall to ride the Pink Pig at Macy's.

Deck the Halls

2011-12-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

We spent the morning decorating our Christmas tree:

This is what happens when you tell Charlotte she has to wait until we sit down for breakfast to have her special chocolate milk:

All done and time for some pancakes and BACON (we are a family of bacon lovers...including our pups)!

Patiently waiting...

Bacon tricks...

Good boy, Peyt!

Santa!

2011-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

As you can see, Lily and Santa were pretty tight this year. Charlotte and Santa - not so much!

Charlie's Angels

2011-12-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

It's no secret in the Sadler family that Josh's dad, Lily's Papa Charlie, has been hoping for a grandson. It's been a running joke that despite his desire for boys, Joannah and I were going to surround the poor guy with little girls. And guess what - that's just what we've done and I don't think he would have it any other way!
Mason Elizabeth Sadler is his newest "angel" and she is absolutely precious in every way!

I'm Back!

2011-11-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

After such a high response from my Halloween post, I decided to give the people what they want and return for another blog about my beautiful girls. This is Josh again if you haven't figured that out already. Today I have to blog about an issue that has stumped me since Lily was born - little girl fashion. Growing up in a family of all boys, I never learned the complexity of girls clothing. Most of my early attempts to dress Lily always resulted in Sara hysterically laughing at my choices, followed by her informing everyone we ran into that "her Daddy dressed her today." Anyway, Friday morning I was able to go into work a little later than usual and take the girls out for breakfast. I decided to help out and get the girls dressed while Sara finished getting ready. After a little stress and a lot of convincing to get Lily to wear what I had picked out, we came downstairs and Sara simply said, "good job." At Breakfast, the girls got several comments on how cute they looked, but that is pretty common regardless of what they are wearing! However, my day was made when we were leaving the restaurant. We walked past a table of ladies who were ooing and awing over the girls, and they commented to Sara, "good job dressing your girls, they look so cute," and she responded with "actually, their Daddy dressed them today."

Sorry, the girls were not in the mood for posing after our fun filled morning:

Also, Sara and I started a good behavior chart for Lily. She gets a sticker for lots of things: cleaning up, being a sweet big sister, listening at school, etc. Every 10 stickers gets her a small toy from Target. The great thing about it is she doesn't beg for toys when we go places anymore because she knows she has to earn them. This was her first choice:

TGIF

2011-11-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

Charlotte and I are supposed to be in Birmingham this weekend visiting Aunt Kelly. Unfortunately, we've both been feeling pretty crummy for the past few days. I'm so disappointed because two of my good friends from Rhodes, Aly and Rebecca, also live in Alabama, and we were going to meet their precious babies, Taylor and Hannah, for the first time. Lily was going to stay with Mama J and Papa Charlie for the weekend, and she's totally bummed about our change of plans, too. It's so hard to plan anything very far in advance with kids, inevitably someone is going to get sick!
On a positive note, Charlotte seems to be feeling a little better tonight:

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hijacked Halloween Blog!

2011-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hello, blog world, this is Josh. I've hijacked Sara's blog for two reasons:

(1) Sara was blogging about our crazy Halloween, when she accidentally deleted her entire entry. I thought she was going to throw the computer across the room, so I helped out and stepped in. I know, I know I am super sweet, but really I was just worried about having to buy her a new computer!

(2) I had so much fun with my girls this Halloween and I would love to share it with you.

This Halloween was packed with fun! We had several parties and several visitors (the girls love to see their Momma J, Papa Charlie and Tayta). Sara will probably come back and add some because I am being selective and only picking out my favorite parts of the Halloween festivities.

I found a Halloween haunted gingerbread house at William-Sonoma, and I thought it would be perfect to do with Lily because nobody loves icing more than my sweet baby! We had a blast making it and cleaning up after.

We didn't drop a morsel of icing!

The final product:

One morning the family loaded up and headed to Harmon's pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful fall day and the girls had a great time playing with all the pumpkins

My girls - nothing makes me happier

Finally, the last thing that I want to blog about is Boo at the Zoo. Boo at the Zoo is my favorite event of the Halloween season. The girls have so much fun dressing up and running around the zoo collecting candy. Momma J and Papa Charlie came in to see the girls and got in on the fun. Charlotte dressed up as a 50's girl and stopped traffic all around the zoo! She loved her costume and never took her glasses off all night. Lily went as a cat and had so much fun with her friends Mario (Jackson) and Dorthy (Savannah).

Charlotte's basket was heavy but she carried it all night

After a long night of candy collecting, nothing like a little dancing to end the night

Bugs was too pooped to dance, but she enjoyed watching everyone dance while sorting through her candy

Hats, Gloves & Scarves - OH MY!

2011-10-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Fall weather is finally HERE! I'm sure it won't be long before I'm missing the warmth of summer, but for now I'm loving pulling out all our cold weather gear. I had the girls ready for a BLIZZARD Thursday morning...I may have gotten a little carried away :)
After nap, we ditched a few layers and headed for the park before dinner:

Cheap Date

2011-10-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

Lily quietly disappeared into her room tonight while Josh and I were cooking dinner. About 15 minutes later she came down the stairs decked out in an entirely new outfit that she had picked out all on her own. Last time she did this she layered on multiple tops and bottoms creating an outfit that didn't make much sense. This time, however, a sparkly shirt, cute skirt, funky rain boots and rhinestone headband were her choices and, I must say, she looked super cute. I was very proud of my little fashionista! When Josh and I asked her what she got all dressed up for she said, "for my dinner date with Daddy to Waffle House." Josh, of course, ate this up. So, after our first dinner (that she barely even touched) they headed out for their impromptu date night:

I stayed home with this happy girl:

and this big mess:

I was a little jealous at first, but this sweet face made me feel much better:

Go GATORS!

2011-10-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

TGIF

2011-10-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Lily and Charlotte are loving having their friends, Emma Jane & Vivi, just a few doors down. We've been able to do lots of last minute get together in the neighborhood. This morning, the Street girls popped over for some Friday morning pancakes in their PJs. So fun!

It's PUMPKIN TIME!

2011-10-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

We made our first trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend. Oh how I love love love this time of year!

Falling into FALL

2011-09-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's still 95 degrees in South Carolina. I don't care, in my house it is going to feel (and smell) like FALL!

We're stuck at home today because Charlottte has a little cold. Normally I don't like hanging at home all day. I'm definitely more of an on the go type of girl :) However, my Halloween decor makes me happy and Lily and I had lots of fun in the kitchen while Char took her morning nap.

Dinner time...

2011-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

has turned into my most favorite time of the day. The older the girls get, the more hectic our days seem to be. Lily, Charlotte and I spend most of our time running from pre-school to Little Gym to dance class to play dates, etc. As soon as Josh gets home from work, I usually toss him the kids and head to the gym or out to run errands. Dinner is usually the only time during the week that all four of us are able to spend a little time together. Granted, most of our conversation consists of Josh and I trying to talk Lily into eating her dinner while constantly telling Peyton and Cole to stop begging for her food, but I still love this time :)

This particular night, Lily decided to turn her raspberries into finger puppets and Charlotte thought this was pretty much the funniest thing EVER. Oh, and I tried this recipe from Pintrest for Josh and I. YUM

Lily's 1st Day of Preschool!

2011-09-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind because we've been out of town (Josh and I took a trip away from the girls for the first time...will blog about that soon!), but I wanted to make sure and share a few pictures of our big girl on her first day.
Lily and Charlotte are definitely two very different little girls. Lily loves being around lots of people and has always been very comfortable leaving me to play in certain situations (preschool, the gym, church nursery, etc). Charlotte - not so much! That being said, Lily's first day of 3-year-old preschool went a lot more smoothly than the day before had been with Charlotte.
This year Lily has Mrs. Elizabeth and her classroom is upstairs - very exciting to a 3-year-old! She has "homework" to complete each night (learning to write a new letter to go along with the color they talked about that day -for the first day it was letter "R" for RED day), and one of her BFFs, Emma Jane, is in her class. It's sure be a fun and exciting year!

Charlotte's 1st morning of PMO

2011-08-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our baby girl's first day at St. Stephen's Preschool for their PMO program. We have her signed up to go one day a week from 9-12 to give her a chance to meet new friends and to give Lily and I some special time together.
Here are some pics of our exciting morning:

Good morning, big girl!

So excited!

New dress for the first day, of course!

And new shoes, too!

Second thoughts about her outfit, maybe??

This girl lets you know when she's not happy...

with real tears :(

Looking way too big with her backpack on...

A little nervous...

but still very excited!

While Charlotte was at school, Lily and I headed to Barnes and Noble. Lily loved having some alone time with me. She kept saying, "Mommy, you're my best friend. Well, you and Emma Jane, and Kaitlyn, and Addie...,"and the list went on. At least I made the cut!

So, How did Charlotte's first day go? Well, her teacher said that she was "pretty sad today" when I asked that very question. She said that she would cry, then play for a few minutes, and then start crying again. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me that this poor child naps every morning from 9:30-11! It honestly never crossed my mind and I have no idea why. She could barely keep her eyes open when I picked her up at 11, and I wasn't even out of the parking lot when I looked back to see her fast asleep in her car seat. I moved her into her crib when we got home and had to wake her up for a late lunch at 1:30!

So, not sure if this PMO thing is going to work out for Miss Charlotte just yet. I will be a little bummed about losing that solo time with Lily, but I'm totally fine with keeping my baby girl home with me everyday another year.

By the way, I don't think I ever mentioned that Charlotte is walking now. She started about a week after her 1st birthday and has pretty much mastered it now. Can't believe I didn't blog about it...I'm going to blame that one on summer!

Our Little Family

2011-08-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

We recently had pictures taken by a photographer friend of mine. My wish is to hopefully have this done around this time every year since it's close to both girls' birthdays. Lindsey did a great job capturing Lily and Charlotte's sweet little personalities despite the heat and bugs that night. You can see a few of the images on her blog: http://lindseypacephotography.blogspot.com/2011/08/sadler-family-columbia-sc-childrens.html.

Lazy Days of Summer & Playroom Remodel

2011-08-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

I love summer. I love the long days full of nothing, letting Lily stay up late to watch movies with us, daily trips to Yumilicious for yogurt & the list goes on and on. Well, summer is quickly coming to an end and the only thing keeping me out of a mild depression is knowing that Fall (my most favorite time of year) is just around the corner. Thank goodness for Pumpkin Spice Lattes!
Josh and I have always loved to go to movies together, and it appears that Lily has inherited this from us. She's been to several movies in the theater this summer, and we've rented quite a few, too. I even purchased a little popcorn popper to spruce up our movie nights at home. Lily thinks it's tons of fun and the popcorn tastes so much better than the microwaved kind. Plus, it's HOT PINK...bonus!

Lily has also enjoyed going with me to the "big gym" to play while I Zumba. My classes are late, so this is a special summer thing for her. Yesterday was a particularly lazy day, so Lily was still in her PJs when it was time to head to the gym. I decided to let her go upstairs, pick out her outfit and get dressed all by herself. She was beyond thrilled with the idea. After about 10 minutes of silence, Josh and I decided we should go check on her. She was half way through her very thought out ensemble and it took everything in us to not fall on the floor laughing. She had picked out 3 skirts: one with polka dots, one with built in shorts & a ballet skirt, of course, and tennis shoes...no top yet. I said, "Lily, aren't you forgetting something?" She sat there for a minute thinking and said, "oh yeah, a hat!" Here is a picture of the final product. She was so darn proud of herself I didn't have the heart to tell her that 3 skirts and a long sleeve top might be a bit much for the 95 degree South Carolina heat!

We got another laugh before bath time when we realized she had a pair of pinks short hidden under all her skirts, for a grand total of 5 bottoms!

One last thing in this random post is our newly "remodeled" playroom. I decided to reorganize and rearrange on Sunday to make the space more usable for the girls' current interests. Lily is very into Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies at the moment, so I wanted to create a special place for her to play with them. Also, Charlotte loves to play with their kitchen so I wanted to make it easily accessible for her. Just a few changes and two cute new rugs from Target made all the difference. Lily took one look at it after her nap and said, "I love it, Mommy, it's so perfect! Thank you so much!" Probably one of the nicest thing she's ever said to me :)

Dance Camp

2011-08-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Lily did a week long camp at Turning Point Centre for the Arts with two of her good friends, Kaitlyn and Natalie. The camp was from 9-12 everyday and they did both tap and ballet. Lily seemed to have lots of fun despite the fact that she always looked like she had been through a tornado when I would pick her up. Seriously, I would drop her off each morning in her cute little dance outfit with her hair in a nice and neat bun with a sweet pink ribbon in it. Then I would pick her up three hours later and without fail she would have a huge hole in her tights, snack all over her leotard & her hair always strongly resembled her "just out of bed" look with no pink ribbon in sight. What in the world did they do for those three hours?! She was having fun, so I guess that's all that matters :)

Happy Birthday to LILY!

2011-08-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our little baby girl turned 3 on July 23rd! Two of Lily's most favorite things are swimming and sugar, so we decided to celebrate the day with a Candy Land Pool Party with our friends and family. The party was lots of fun and the "sweet shop" candy bar was a hit with the 3-year-olds!

Lily,

I have had so much fun watching you grow this year. There are way too many things that I adore about you to list them all, but here are just a few of my current favorites:

How you tell me every morning that you had sweet dreams and that it's a beautiful day.
How much you love your friends and always greet them with a running jump hug, shouting out their names and giggling till you reach them!
How you still rub my ear every night at bedtime while we read stories.
How you are so funny sometimes without even trying to be.
How sweet you are to your baby sister.
How you are never in too much of a hurry to "stop and smell the roses"...literally!
How you are constantly surprising me by how smart you really are.
How much your quite observations remind me of your Daddy.

Seeing your cute scrunchy smile and fun loving personality is my favorite part of each and every day. I know being your Mommy makes me a better person. Thank you for being you!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.
I love you up to the sky!

Mommy

Florida Friends Visit South Carolina

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have the most amazing group of girlfriends from my hometown. There are six of us that all grew up together in Leesburg, Florida. We like to call ourselves the BGs (Burg Girls - get it..."LeesBURG - BURG girls" - super creative, we know!) Anyway, we all went our separate ways after high school and several of us still live out of state, but we are all still very close and I'm so thankful for each and every one of them.
Four of us already have children - there are eight BG babies to be exact! 7 of those 8 were together in South Carolina for a weekend of summer fun! Annie and Lauren made the seven hour drive with their 5 (Ava (5), Preston (4), Cole (3), Rhett (15 months) & Eli (10 months)) to visit us for a few days and we had a BLAST!

Next up for the BGs - a trip to Napa to celebrate Heather's 30th birthday in September!!!

The BGs (& baby Lily) October 2008

Me, Lauren, Kelly, Lindsay, Annie & Heather

1st Birthday Girl

2011-07-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today is our sweet Charlotte's birthday. I can't believe our precious baby is one year old today. Where oh where has the time gone!
We started the day with special birthday pancakes. Charlotte was not a fan of her birthday hat, but she quickly calmed down thanks to some bananas and whipped cream. Lily was more than happy to help her little sister open her presents. After breakfast and presents we headed to the Little Gym for some tumbling fun!
After a quick stop home for her morning nap, we headed to Chick-fil-a to meet up with friends for lunch. Everything was going great until I tried to put that silly hat back on the birthday girl. Again, NOT A FAN! Hopefully I'll remember that at the girls' party next weekend...
Charlotte and Lily are both napping now. Tonight we'll be making Charlotte's favorite dinner - hamburgers, macaroni and cheese & green beans. Oh, and we'll have some more cupcakes, of course!

Charlotte,

You have brought so much joy to our family this past year. Your sweet smile is infections and those big blue eyes simply melt my heart. Your laid back personality has made it easy to keep up with Lily's demanding schedule :), and your constant persistence in getting into everything you're not supposed to makes me proud. I love you so much and can't wait to see you grow into the beautiful person I know you already are. Happy birthday, sweet baby!

love,

Mommy

Happy 4th of JULY!

2011-07-05T03:46:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Pool Party + The Peach Festival =

Lots of 4th of July FUN!

Blueberry Pickin'

2011-07-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

We went blueberry picking last week with some friends. Lily ate her weight in fresh blueberries and spent the rest of her time making "blueberry soup" in her bucket using a stick as a spoon. Charlotte was happy to sample some of the blueberries Josh was putting into his bucket, too.
We picked a ton of berries for just over $5! I decided to freeze half of our stash, but my girls managed to go through an entire large ziplock bag of them in about 3 days! Looks like we may be making another trip to the farm!

Summer Vacation

2011-07-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

This year we headed to the gulf coast of Florida for a week of fun in the sun. We spend the first two nights at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and then joined lots of family in Water Sound at a beautiful beach house for the rest of the week.
I absolutely fell in love with this part of Florida. The beaches are amazing and the restaurants and shopping in Water Sound and the surrounding area were so cute and unique. We've been wanting to pick a place to visit each summer with the girls and this just might be it! We love Hilton Head for short trips, but the 9 hour drive is totally worth it for that crystal clear water and soft white sand!
Here's a peak into our trip:

The Little Gym

2011-06-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Lily recently had her last parent/child class graduation at The Little Gym. As you will see in all the pictures, she has really mastered lots of skills. She will be taking the summer off but will be tagging along for Charlotte's classes to give her lots of pointers! She will be starting back in the fall with her first drop off class, Sports Skills.

We love The Little Gym!

May 2009

May 2011

Charlotte - 11 Months Old

2011-06-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Movin' on up!

2011-06-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

Lily's teacher, Mrs. Clarice, put together a little party to celebrate the last day of 2-year-old preschool. I was so looking forward to this and quickly volunteered to bring the cupcakes, Lily's favorite, as soon as the list went out. I even told Josh about the party weeks before to make sure he could be there, too. Well, of course, I ended up getting a horrible cold the day before and Josh had one of the craziest weeks ever at work. To make a long story short, I somehow managed to make the cupcakes and survive the party solo with Charlotte on my hip. I honestly felt like I would fall over at any moment, but there was no way I was going to miss that party!

Monday mornings @ the ZOO

2011-05-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

For the past several months, the girls and I have spent most of our Monday mornings at the Riverbanks Zoo. As most of you know, my cleaning ladies (whom I adore!) come to our house at 8am Monday morning each week. Lily has The Little Gym at 11:30, so this leaves us with 3 1/2 hours of time to kill! We usually go out for breakfast (this morning was IHOP for the funny face pancakes) and then head to the Zoo. I have come to love this 3 1/2 hours. I no longer dread having to get both girls up, dressed and out the door so early after a long lazy weekend. It has become our special time together and I look forward to it each week.
Here are some pictures of our time together this morning:

Stylin'

2011-05-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Check out our new rides:

Tayta and Gido (my parents) got the girls these awesome new car seats for their upcoming birthdays in July! Charlotte was quickly growing out of her infant seat and is much more comfortable in her new toddler seat. Lily is loving the extra leg room and the pink accents in her new big girl seat, too!

These girls are constantly spoiled by their grandparents. Momma J and Papa Charlie add to Lily's impressive animal collection every time they visit and always have a little surprise for Charlotte. My dad never shows up without a HUGE bag full of chocolate and my mom is constantly finding the most adorable outfits for them. Not to mention the packages full of goodies that show up every holiday. Lucky little girls!

Charlotte - 10 Months

2011-05-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day

2011-05-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Our family went on a day trip to Greenville for Mother's Day this year. We went with our good friends, The Streets, and had a wonderful time.
It's still hard for me to believe that I have two perfect little girls. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day stresses of life and fail to slow down and appreciate how blessed you really are. I honestly do try to consciously think about this everyday. I don't want to look back in a few years and feel like I took even a second of this time with them for granted. I adore these girls and hope they both know with all their heart how much I love being their mommy.

Sweet Perfection

2011-05-15T15:56:00.000-07:00

Charlotte - 9 Months

2011-05-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

We're BACK!

2011-05-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

I've been horrible about blogging lately. The last few weeks have been super busy for us. We were in Florida for my Dad's surgery (he's doing great, btw!), Ashville to spend some time with my sister and her family, I had dental surgery, Josh and I went to an Usher/Akon concert (I know, so random) and we had lots of family stop by Columbia for short visits in between. Things are finally starting to slow down around here and I'm ready to get back to my normal "blog-aholic" self. So...fasten your seat belt, it's time to play "catch-up"! Here is what we've been up to. Sorry for the randomness...

Lily hard at work on one of her many
so called "art projects":

Lily's dream come true:

Dinosaur week at preschool!

Spending some time with our Florida friends:

Ava, Preston, Cole, Eli & Ella.

A day at EDventure with Emma Jane and Vivi:

Josh and I before our big night out:

Easter Egg Hunt #3

2011-05-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Our last egg hunt was with Emma Jane, Kaitlyn and their families. The girls had a great time doing an Easter craft, decorated cookies and, of course, hunting for lots and lots of EGGS!

Easter Egg Hunt #2

2011-05-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our second egg hunt was all about Charlotte. Our sweet neighbors had the babies over for a "slower" version of the traditional hunt with eggs filled with baby-friendly treats! Charlotte was at a bit of a disadvantage (not being able to crawl and all), but I was able to snag a few eggs for her when no one was looking :)

Easter Egg Hunt #1

2011-05-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

Our first 2011 egg hunt was at my sister's house in Florida. Lily and Charlotte had a blast searching for melted chocolate filled eggs. Never underestimate the power of that FL sunshine...even at 10am!

Bye Bye Binky!

2011-03-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Josh picked up the new Tangled DVD for Lily. She was excited about the movie, but even more excited about the little booklet that came with it. The booklet was filled with advertisements for various Disney movies and toys. She was particularly drawn to the page that featured Rapunzel'sTower, complete with a bed, table, plates & utensils, a fireplace and of course, Rapunzel herself. She carried the booklet around for two days straight, even sleeping with it at night.
Josh and I knew this was the perfect opportunity to take care of something we've been putting off for several months now...getting rid of the pacifier. We decided to make a deal:
no more binky = awesome new toy
We told her that she really need to think about it because it was a big decision and there would be no turning back. She thought about it all afternoon and finally decided that she was ready and wanted to take the deal.  She scoured the house for binkies (they were EVERYWHERE) and put them all in a Ziploc bag. After a quick trip to Target and dinner at Schlotzsky's (Wednesday night is Kids Eat Free!), she was playing with her new toy in the living room, slowly starting to regret her decision.
The first night went pretty well. She is obviously devastated over the loss of her most prized possession, her comfort that has been there for her since the day she was born - literally. But she has been so brave and I couldn't be more proud of her.
Up next on my list of things to tackle...Charlotte and her swing...stay tuned!

I must admit, this moment is bittersweet for me. There is now no denying that my Lily is growing up way too fast. One thing is for sure, no matter how old she is, she will always be my bright blue eyed binky baby.

Charlotte - 8 1/2 months

2011-03-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Charlotte was not in the mood for her 8 1/2 month old photo shoot. Isn't she just the cutest thing ever, even when she's hysterically crying?! Don't worry, I scooped her up as soon as I snapped a few shots :)

Eww GROSS!

2011-03-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

Lily's new obsession...BUGS! SO, when I saw BOGO FREE bug fruit snacks at Publix it was a no brainer...two boxes went right into my cart! And just to totally drive home the fact that I'm the coolest mom ever, I surprised Lily the next morning with "bugs in her oatmeal" for breakfast. Needless to say, she was thrilled!

Charlotte's Secret Play Date

2011-03-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Miss Charlotte had a little get together at our house while Lily was at school on Friday. She invited two handsome boys, Evan & Bishop, and her girlfriend, Vivi. You know what they say - "while the big sisters are away, the babies will secretly PLAY"!

HAPPY St. Patrick's DAY!

2011-03-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

The girls and I had a BLAST at the St. Patrick's Day celebration at Five Points on Saturday. Josh ended up having to work all day, but that didn't slow down the Sadler Girls! We loaded up the car and followed Emma Jane and her family downtown.

Dinner Date

2011-03-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Lily and Charlotte had their friends, Addie and Carlie, over for dinner Friday night.