Karcie Turns 2!!

It's no surprise that Karcie's 2nd Birthday Party was an Elmo Party.  She is still in love with Elmo!  Each night after bath she grabs the IPad and says, "I watch Elmo!"  And, you better not try to stop her.  :)

I'm not a fan of character parties usually, but I didn't see that I had much of a choice with Karcie.  I had to girly Elmo up.  I'm not a primary-color, party-throwing, kind-of-person since I have girls.  So I decided on pink and orange with a splash of Elmo red and I do mean a SPLASH of Elmo red.  In fact, you have to look pretty hard for the red.  

I also left off all of the Pinterest finds this year.  I didn't print a thing from Pinterest not even an invitation!!  My invitation was a pink and orange Evite.  (It's hard for me to believe, too.)  BUT, I'm trying to adhere to my new "I don't have a paying job" budget!  Right, sweetie??  I think I did okay on $ with this party and the result was the complete same!!  Our Karcie had a terrific time and I think the rest of the crew did, too. 

We needed to take a trip back to the Upstate and it made sense to have Karcie's party there.  It's where most everyone is anyway....except for us!  :(   Nanny graciously agreed to have us over and had her house looking spectacular.  The yard was in tip top condition with lots of new plants (which I just learned got stolen from her yard!  How sad is that?), a raised garden bed, and a freshly mowed yard.  The inside was clean as a whistle.  Well, clean until the two Terry girls were let loose.  :)  She grilled delicious burgers and made her yummy  baked beans.  Thank you Nanny for the superb hospitality.

The cakes were delicious.  Karcie had her own chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling.  The other was strawberry cake with strawberry filling.  They were delicious, but I am partial to strawberry!  The rest of my family LOVES chocolate.  That's why we needed TWO cakes.  *wink, wink*

The best part was sharing the day with family and friends!  We got to see Potter and Carrie's new angel, Baby Jillian.  Everyone in our family lovingly refers to her as Baby J.  Karcie carried her birth announcement around our house for days saying, "I hold Baby J!"  You can imagine how excited Karcie was to actually meet her!!  She tickled Baby J's little toes, rubbed her precious cheeks, and just stared at her!  This baby is gorgeous and I'm not just saying that.  I mean, she ranks up there with the Top 5 cutest newborns that I have EVER seen. I got some Baby J loving, too.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on her.  She didn't even cry and I got to change her diaper.  :)  We sure do love that sweet Potter family and can't wait for them to visit us in Apex in July.

Georgia surprised Kamdyn by bringing Jacob along.  We all knew he was coming except for Kamdyn.  I thought she was going to flip her lid when she looked in Georgia's back seat and saw him.  She was much more subdued than I thought she was going to be, but she was excited never-the-less.  I think she was trying to figure out how/why she didn't know that he was coming.  Kamdyn enjoyed every second that she got to spend with him.  She misses him so much and still calls him her best friend whenever she is given the chance.  

Bubbles were a BIG hit this year as far as gifts go.  I gave a few hints.  (Read: I was tired of running around our driveway with a bubble wand making bubbles for everybody!)  So, the mere mention of a bubble machine had Nanny running to the store.  Aunt Kathy purchased the princess bubble carriage that I suggested, too.  Karcie was highly irritated with me when I suggested that she put down the said bubble carriage for a family photo.  How dare I?  You see, she partially won that battle!  She is still holding the carriage in the photo.  :)

We were able to spend Thursday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend in the Upstate.  It definitely got our wheels spinning about where we would like to be long term.  I even searched realtor.com.  Someday.......I HOPE!!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful, spunky, witty, tough-as-nails, fun-loving Karcie!  Our family was made complete when you entered this world on May 27, 2011 as a 7lb. 14oz. baby.  We love you more than you could ever comprehend!!

This was the extent of my decor....tissue paper puffs!  Cheap and cute! 

Took this off of Kamdyn's wall and changed the ribbon.

The strawberry "big" cake.

Kamdyn noticing that Jacob was in the back seat!

She had no idea what to do!!  Complete happiness!!

Karcie ran right to Georgia and so did Nanny!

She would not leave Georgia's arms for a LONG time.

The dress I had made for her with a BIG bow.  Larger than I wanted, but cute anyway.

She never smiles on demand.  I have to catch her!

Treats!

Aunt Kathy and Jacob playing "Heart and Soul."

Poppy taking it all in!

Karcie had a good time playing ball with her Georgie!

Love this photo!

When Baby J got there, Karcie couldn't stay away from her.

Karcie was all smiles watching Baby J.

Potter tried to get Karcie to touch Jillian's hand, but she wouldn't.

She sure did enjoy tickling those sweet toes though.  We had to remind her to be gentle.

Kamdyn and Jacob had a friendly bet going as to who would get the big ball in the basketball hoop the most times.

Karcie would not sit in her high chair to eat. Only Georgie's lap would do!

Enjoying the yummy lunch!

Karcie loved this sweet prayer bear that Mama Lucy gave her!  WE got to listen to it the entire way back to Apex.....that's four hours!!  :)

Georgie gave Karcie this precious book with her voice reading it.  It gives me tears in my eyes every time we read it!  Karcie loves hearing her voice.

Cheese!!

MORE Elmo cards???

A Dreamlite from Nanny!

I love how she wanted to look at each card!

Playing with the Bubble Machine.

Karcie calls them "Bubbies!"

LOVE this face!!

Sweet Angels!

Checking out Potter's new truck!  Awesome! 

Sweet Jillian and her beautiful Mommy whom you can't EVEN tell that she just had a baby!  She look great!

The Grandparents were taking in all of the fun from the porch!

I abosolutely LOVE this one!!

Looks like Uncle Jim and Karcie were in a serious discussion!

She seriously loves this thing!!

Aunt Kathy was trying to help me get the princess carriage away from Karcie.

We lost and the princess carriage had to be in the photo with a mad Karcie.

I couldn't decided which photo I liked best!

I just wish that Karcie was smiling in ONE of them!

At least I got a smile from my big girl!

Best Friends!

Silly Best Friends!!

Karcie was so cute when we were singing to her!

This was her very own "mini" cake.

She didn't quite understand what blow the  candles out meant, so she had some help!

Who love chocolate cake?

Ruthie loved on Baby J, too.  Baby J just took in every word that Ruthie said.  Something about eating cake if no one was looking!!

Potter and Kamdyn being silly.

Somehow they corralled her for a smiling photo!

Four of my MOST favorite ladies!  Where's Ruthie?

The sweet women in our family minus a few.  We are so blessed to be loved by each of them!!

Then, we got Jacob in there, too.

We can't wait for our next get together!!