Happy First Birthday Piper!

I can't believe our baby turned one yesterday. It just doesn't seem right that she will be walking and talking soon and out of the "baby" phase and into being a toddler! I remember like it was yesterday her coming into the world...but I digress. Her birthday was pretty laid back and spent with family and friends that were fortunate enough to join us. Her PaPa even made an appearance, which was a great surprise for all of us! We ate KFC to our little hearts content and the kids had great little meals that Josh put together for them. I think they were happy with it because they were fairly quiet and eating! After trying to fight with Piper to sit in her seat at the table, I finally held her for the ritual of "diving into the cake". I think she did a great job after she realized what she was doing, all it took was smearing a little frosting on those little lips of hers :-) From then on she went to town covering herself and Mommy in chocolate goodness. We then proceeded to open gifts with all the kids helping! In my opinion, I think it was a great birthday celebration! Just being able to spend time with family and friends is a plus for us! I'm pretty sure she enjoyed every minute of it because she promptly passed out face down in bed--a sure sign of a good party. Thanks to everyone who made it a great day! We love you!I thought I would also post a picture of Piper the day she was born...

Piper's Baptism

We had Piper's baptism yesterday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Ballwin. Its so funny because she was about the same age as Emaline when we christened her and myself when I was, therefore we used the same christening gown that I wore and Emaline wore! It was kinda neat that my girls were able to wear the 32 yr old dress :-) I'll have to put it away for safe keeping! Pipers godparents are my sister, Stephani and Josh's brother, Todd. She did really well and despite being pretty tired, she made it all the way through the service and through lunch at our house! The family came over and ate and we also wished Todd a Happy Birthday, since it was!

Every was out of the house by 2pm and Piper was out. Me, Dad and Emaline passed out on the couch (well at least Josh and I did). Then when we all got our second wind about 4:30, we were off to Target for a family shopping trip. Ah, the highlights of our lives... All in all, it was a fantastic day and was glad those that were with us got to share this special day with Piper.

Annual RYN Party-2009 Edition

The annual Rob Your Neighbor party was held again successfully at a new venue this year, our buddy Tim's house (Josh had to unfortunately work) in our neck of the woods. It was so awesome because ALL my Aruba girls were there (you know who you are ladies). It had been probably since the summer that we all had a chance to talk and be together. Kudos to Tim and Amy for doing such a great job hosting and their basement is the perfect place for this sort of party. We ate, drank and were merry until we played the game...I gave an unsightly throw we had laying around the house and I received a 7-11 Gift card! I was truly surprised. Still not sure if there is anything on it, but hopefully I'll be enjoying a Slurpee in no time. There were lots of fun gifts given out including costumes, handmade items and liquor. It was a nice intimate gathering and I'm glad that we all got to spend some much needed time together :-) I was just sad that Josh missed it...

Happy New Year!

I was a terrible mommy/friend/wife yet again this holiday because I was too busy eating and drinking to take pictures! We had a modest little gathering at our house with a few friends and beers. Piper and Emaline were real troopers and stayed up fairly late. Emaline finally crashed around 11ish, I think. She did wake up the next morning saying, "Happy New Year Mom!" because she didn't get to do it the night before. I did get a few pictures from my friend Robyn--thank you! After the kids went to sleep, we played some games and popped open the champagne and toasted to the new year. We unscrewed the cap to the sparkling grape juice for Katy though...congrats! It was very laid back we enjoyed the company who came to share it with us. Thank you all! Hope everyone has an exciting and healthy new year!

Piper was teething! I think...sneaky, sneaky. :-)

Merry Christmas Morning 2009!

We survived another Christmas at the Little household this year, with the added joy of having Piper in our family. The girls were great and Emaline was bubbling with excitement every time we talked about Christmas and starting new traditions we thought she was too young for last year. Like making cookies and leaving them and veggies out for Santa and his reindeer. We even shook things up by leaving chocolate milk out...Emaline is always thinking outside the box. Thankfully we had no problem getting her to go to sleep and Piper just goes down for the count cause that kid really loves sleep. She definitely takes after her father. In the morning, around 8:30am (I was just as surprised as you are at that one) we all got up and ran downstairs to see if Santa had come and sure enough there were special presents left for both the girls and even Lt. Dan. We exchanged our gifts and enjoyed some time with them before heading over to my parents' house. We exchanged gifts and had dinner with Josh's family the night before where the kids got a carload of gifts. Then on Christmas day we headed home from my parents' house with another carload of gifts! These girls are pretty lucky...I think we all are :-) Here are some more shots of our mini celebration at home!

Jeep No More

After fifteen glorious years, the Jeepasaurus has finally went the way of the Dodo. Yes, that's right the Jeep blew it's transmission and we've decided that it was time for Josh to get a new car. It was actually a really hard thing for us considering this was the first car I got, brand new in 1994 and it was the second car that Josh owned. There are a lot of awesome memories held in that Jeep and they all came rushing back when I saw it loaded up onto that trailer. The process was very easy and we were surprised that it went so fast. Craig's List!! It went as is and we got a few more dollars than we thought we would. Now it is on to greener pastures for the 'ol girl. The man that bought it from us said he was going to fix it up nice and give it a good home ;-) Can't argue with that! So, farewell old friend, you have served us well. *sniff sniff*

Oddly enough, I found this old picture of the Jeep from the day it was given to me right after we sold it and I think its only right to post it. :-)

Annual Thomas Christmas Bash

This past Saturday we attended the annual family Christmas party at my parents house and I'd like to say it was a success! Friends and family all came together to chow on Mom's homemade dishes and enjoy some company. This year there were A LOT more kids dominating the party and I'm sure next year will be complete chaos... We were complete and total morons because we didn't take ANY pictures! Whether it was the constant visiting (or stuffing my face), I just didn't think to pull the camera out. I'm hoping somewhere that my Mom or Dad got a few shots of the kids, but let's not bet on it. :-)

Thanks to everyone who came out, especially those that had other commitments as well. It was just so great to see you all!

Katie's, Tyler & Abbie's Birthday Party!

About a week ago, we were invited to a big birthday bash for three of Emaline's friends, Katie, Tyler & Abbie at Gymboree in Webster Groves. I was so glad that we got to go. It was so much fun! Emaline loved every minute of getting to run wild with the other kids and climb all over everything. Above is a shot of her and one of the birthday girls, Katie. It really put a smile on my face to see her have so much fun and she didn't even have any tantrums, A+ in my book! She did some rolls, climbed and had fun with a parachute. Piper and I just hung back and watched all the big kids have their fun, although after about 20 minutes into it, she wanted to crawl into the fun as well. The kids enjoyed some pizza, juice boxes and yummy cupcakes. Thanks again the the Mackies, Minges and Hills for such great fun!

Christmas Tree Hunting

I should have blogged about this weeks ago, but finally decided to put up that we again went on the hunt for a tree to cut down this year. Unfortunately, we did not end up going with my family this year because Kellen made his debut a little early and I had a trip to KC the following weekend with my girlfriends. So...we drove out to Wright City again this year and luckily found one of the last good trees and chopped that baby down and brought her home. Emaline had a great time running around the tree orchard/field, she especially thought it was funny trying NOT to trip over all the stumps. Silly little lady. Piper really didn't have much to add, as she was bundled up and carried around by me the whole time. It wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be, but it was gray and gloomy and NO ONE was there. It was kinda sad, quite frankly. But, we found one and strapped it to the Equinox and we were on our way home.

I promptly pulled out the ornaments and lights once Dad and I got the tree upright and soaking up some water. Of course Emaline jumped right in and wanted to unwrap/unbox everything and place them all neatly on the two lowest branches of the tree. After I told her that they would all be touching the floor and end up broken, she was okay with me placing them all over while Dad and Piper looked on. It was a long day, but the end result was fantastic. One being that we spent a fun day together as a family and two a beautiful tree was born! Hooray for Christmas! I love it.

Annual Girl's Weekend 2009

With all that was upon us this year, as a last minute thing some of my girlfriends and I decided to have our annual girls trip in KC at our friend Sarah's house. Unfortunately, the gang was not all there and Erin was missed dearly, but Sarah's husband, Paul, gladly stepped in for her and helped us celebrate :-) So, three of us drove from STL to KC, picking up one in Blue Springs, MO on the way and ended up in KC, KS. It was a fantastic time! I always laugh so hard when I'm with these women and I'm glad that we did do something spontaneous. We did a little shopping and ate and drank to our little hearts' content! Then stayed in and played games and and talked and enjoyed each other's company. It was short-lived, but still wonderful. Thanks ladies for always making me feel like I have some the best friends ever. Spring Bake '84 rocked again!