4th Anniversery

Four years has really flown by quickly...

We've had some fun, traveled a bit....

and collaborated on some pretty amazing projects.

Happy Anniversary, Lloyd!  Thank you for always being such a great husband and father to Ellen.  Remember, "the best is yet to come"...

Love, The Little Bee's Momma

Wordless Wednesday

How to Keep a Bee Busy

One thing I learned from Pooh Corner was that water and a brush can keep a kiddo busy for hours.  Little Bee was very busy painting the fence...

and the rocks while Mommy and Daddy got some things done around the yard.  Cece and Gramps brought her this outfit and many others from Hawaii.  They all seem like perfect breezy options to help us keep the Bee cute and cool this summer.

When she was finished with painting the fence, we went on a bug hunt.  We found a doodle bug, an earthworm and a tiny frog.  What a fun afternoon.  Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Takin the Birthday Downtown

Mommy and Ellen took the day off on her birthday to spend some fun time together.  We went and had some birthday portraits made, had a big girl hair cut and then headed downtown to meet Daddy, Aunt Muffy and Uncle John for a lunch date.  First we stopped at Discovery Green and Ellen informed the other children that it was "her turn" to go down the slide.  She totally gets the concept of "my turn" but it's "your turn" that is still a bit difficult to grasp... 



"My turn, Mommy!"

 Prior to our lunch date, Ellen picked out some happy cakes to share. 

Blowing out the candle

She asked that we sing "Happy Birthday" until we couldn't light the candle any more.  She let Aunt Muffy have a turn and we sang to her too.

"I love em my shoes"

After licking the icing off of the pink happy cake, Ellen opened her birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy.  She thought her new Laura Dare nightie looked like a "tutu" and couldn't wait to get out of her "parkle shoes" so that she could strut her stuff in her new heels.

That evening we met Daddy and our church friends for dinner.  Ellen wanted us to sing to her one more time. 

Of course we happily sang to our birthday girl, one more time...

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

The After Party

After we sufficiently celebrated Ellen's birthday party at the zoo we took the party to our house for an impromptu after party.  We ordered pizza and some family joined us to watch Ellen open her presents.  We had asked for our friends to make donations to the zoo on Ellen's behalf and were excited to make a nice donation to the zoo. 

I didn't get that many pictures of her with her presents because by this time I was a bit partied out...  Aunt Muffy brought Ellen a wooden make up set and she knew what each piece was for.  She gave Daddy a killer blow out, smacked on some "whipstick", and painted her dolls toes.

Another big hit was a block set from her Grandfather and Wendy.  She built a very tall castle with it and had a great time knocking it down too!

You don't even want to know how hard it was to convince our birthday princess to take a nap after so much excitement...

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Zoo Party Recap

Cece and Gramps ended up having to be out of the country (in different countries!) on the day of Ellen's birthday.  We were sad that they missed out but Aunt Muffy and Grandma Janine filled in to help us get through it!  Also, special thanks to the recent A&M grad, Maudie, who has become our official family photographer!  Cece, this post is dedicated to you.  We hope you are "minding the gap" in London and can't wait for you to be home soon. 

Doesn't Ellen's cake look super cute with the chevron runner and vintage animal cracker tin?  Thanks for saving that tin for 30+ years, Cece!

Ellen's friends loved the animal mask and lollipop favors and I loved that we found such sweet ways to display them.  The animal cracker table decorations made for easy snacking!

Aunt Muffy's glitter tattoo station was quite popular with our tiny guests. 

As I've shared previously, Ellen's favorite moment was having her friends and family sing to her while her happy cake sparkled away!

She even blew both candles out all by herself but won't share what she wished for...

The animal experience was great and the zoo keeper was super friendly and great with a swarm of toddlers.  Ellen "love 'em chinchilla" so she was in heaven with this first surprise animal. 

She was less enamored with the second surprise animal at the time but she has been talking about it a bit since then. 

While we packed oodles of presents into the cars Muffy and Maudie spent some time in the Children's Zoo.  Muffy is quite good at Urban Rooster spotting. 

Stay tuned for tales from the after party...

Love, The now 2 year old (or as she says it "I too old") Little Bee and her Momma



POTW:JJ Cole Blanket

source

My product of the week is the JJ Cole Blanket. This compact, easy to clean blanket has accompanied our family on lots of fun outings. It is great for picnics, outdoor concerts, beach trips, and any other outdoor fun you can think of.

It folds up very nicely and has a great strap that makes toting it around easy peasy. It folds up to be smaller than our picnic basket! It also water resistant and wipes clean with a damp paper towel.

I imagine that it will even accompany us to the Little Bee's soccer games one day!

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Happy Cake

Over and over when I ask Ellen to tell me what she liked best about her birthday she tells me, "happy cake".  This makes me super thrilled because it was made with love by Mommy, Cece and even Aunt Muffy stopped by for quality control.  Ellen helped too!  In the above photo you can see her rolling out fondant "nakes". 

My mom and I tried our hand at making a cake with zebra stripes inside and a bright and cheery elephant and pearls outside.  Cece, the fondant elephant you made was a huge hit!

So was the sparkler candle Mommy found in New Orleans on Magazine Street.  I've been saving that sucker for two years!  When I lit it up Ellen started saying, "my parkler, my parkler"!  She was one excited birthday girl!

Ellen has been milking the whole birthday thing and has had us sing frequently to her.  It is so fun to see the magic of a birthday from her eyes!  Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Wordless Wednesday

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Bee!

Two years ago at 8:00 AM on May 21st I fell head over heels in love with the pinkest sweet baby.  Now she informs me that "I not a baby any more.  I a big girl.  I a people". 

She was so mobile so fast and continues to grow at the speed of light. 

At night, when I tuck her in, I tell her how much I love her and how special she is to me.  She usually returns these sentiments by telling me, "I love you more, Mommy.  You beautiful".  You have know idea how much that warms my heart.  That is, when she's not telling me that she loves shoes or chocolate. 

Last night she said her prayers completely on her own for the first time, "I see moon.  God besses me. Amen".  My sweet little growing like a weed, Bee!  Slow down a bit please in this next year so that Momma can soak up every moment.  Love, The Little Bee's Momma

Summer Time!

I am counting down the days until my summer vacation starts and I can have tons of summer fun with the Little Bee.  I have all kinds of great ideas for the two of us and she is always game. 

We have two whole months to spend together.  Little Bee thinks that warrants a "cheese face"!

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Wordless Wednesday

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Little Bee's Hero

Ellen's favorite person on the planet might be Caroline.  You should see the way she looks at her!  All big eyes and just taking in what it means to be a big girl.

She is up for pretty much anything Miss C suggests.  "Let me push you in a swing while I toss this ball at your feet."  "Sounds like a grand plan!"

We are so happy to have this sweet girl be one of her role models!

Love, The Little Bee and her Momma

Pinterest Project - Pop tarts on a stick

Have y'all seen these cute pop tarts on a stick on Pinterest?  I tried my hand at these recently and was really pleased with the results.  I have had mixed results with recipes I have pinned but this one is a winner.  To see the original post and recipe click here .

These cute little pies are stuffed with a great cherry filling of 1 cup dark cherries (I used frozen), 3 T sugar, 2 T cornstarch, 1/2 tsp almond extract, and 2 T water.  You pretty much dump it all it, mix it up and wait for it to get a bit thick.

While that mixture is cooling, cut thawed out pre-made pie crust into 1.5" by 2" rectangles.  I made a little blue cardboard guide and used my pizza cutter to make quick work of this step.  Then lay a popsicle stick on have of the rectangles, place about 1/2 tsp of the filling, and cover with another dough rectangle.  Seal it all together by pressing a fork around the edges and place on a cookie sheet.  I don't think I needed to but I did grease my cookie sheet as these were for a party and I had no room for error.  I continued to follow the recipe and made a simple glaze but I think you could leave it off for a more rustic look.

This was a Pinterest win for sure!  Love, The Little Bee and her Momma