Happy 4th Birthday Hannah Claire

Hannah Claire was adamant about having a rainbow party to celebrate her birthday.  We, well I, had planned on Strawberry Shortcake for a month or so but the birthday girl had other ideas.  Since it was her birthday I didn't put up too much of a fight.  Also thanks to Pinterest I was able to find all sorts of cute things to do for the party.  Some worked better than others.  We were so excited to see all of our friends that were able to join us for the party.  Sweet baby Lillian came to celebrate.

An idea I stole from my coworker was to buy the colored bubbles and let the kids catch them on a piece of paper to create artwork  The kids were running all over the place catching the bubbles.  A big shout out to dads that were our bubble blowers (Brad, Geoff & Tyree)!

The Carter kids were loving the balloons.  The balloons were suppose to be a beautiful rainbow.  Well, that didn't work so well.  Oh well, the kids loved it especially when they all started popping.  Hopefully no one was traumatized by the craziness and now has an aversion to balloons. 

Ms. Dampadoes got to come this year.  HC & Samantha have been friends since they were little bitty babies.  Now they are both big sisters to little brothers.

Next was time for food.  We had cake for everyone else and so Hannah Claire could blow out her candles, of course she didn't eat a bite of it.  I love that she finally wore her Birthday Girl hat.  We have attempted every year now!

I would like to draw attention to the super yummy, super time consuming rainbow jello cups.  I found these on Pinterest and was so excited to make them.  Plus it was something that HC would eat.  I knew they would take some time but wow, I was so not prepared.  You had to do a layer of jello and let it firm up, then a layer of cool whip and let it firm up (or there was white floating all in the next layer) and keep repeating.  Everyone that set foot in our house before the party helped with these crazy things.  They turned out really cute and they were super yummy and refreshing on a hot day!  Plus the birthday girl like them!  Success!!!

Wyatt spent most of the party hanging with Aunt Janet and Pawpaw under the tent.

The cake was yummy and not that time consuming compared to the jello cups.  Haha!

Hannah Claire got lots of great toys and we have enjoyed playing with every single one of them.  She was very excited about the princess dresses.

She also loved her baby, Jojo!  Jojo sleeps right beside HC every night.

Hannah Claire had fun playing with her friends from school, the neighbor kids, family friends and cousin Wendy Lynn!  Wendy Lynn even got to spend the night.  They played so well together and had a blast.

Some kids got away before we got a group picture but here are the ones that were still hanging out.

Sleeping Beauty!

Snow White, along with her new purse strapped over her shoulder and new baby Jojo.

The last 4 years have flown by and have been filled with joy!  We are so thankful for Hannah Claire and her silly, tender-hearted, thoughtful, smart, beautiful self.  She is so funny and makes us laugh all of the time.  We are so proud of the little girl she has grown to be.  

Getting ready for #4

Can it be possible our little girl is almost 4!?!  Where does the time go.  We planned a big party at the house.  Nana came down on Friday night so Hannah Claire got to open a few presents early.  But first I loved this picture, HC feeding Wyatt with her play spoon.  Of course he loves to eat so he was all about it.

HC showing off her new Cinderella Tag book.

Quick, grab the wrapping paper!

One toy Hannah Claire has had her eye on for a while now is a guitar.  Nana and Pappy got her a princess guitar.  She was so excited.  She is so talented, she immediately started playing and singing for us.  We get to hear lots of original songs!

Destin Day Three

Since there were so many pictures and I am so behind I just divided the trip up by days.  We had so much fun and it was a great relaxing trip away from real life.  Wyatt had a blast, especially playing inside the motorhome.  He is no dummy, he likes the AC.

We had a nice family next to us, even if they were LSU fans.  They had a little one just a couple of month older than Wyatt.  They checked each other out a lot so we finally put Wyatt in his pool.  Can you see the look the camera is getting for putting him through such torture.  I mean how dare we let him play with other kids?  

He warmed up a little and was maybe starting to enjoy himself.

Until...

And that was it for the play date. 

I tried to push him back out there but he was not having it.

We went out for one last dinner together Saturday night at the Crab Trap.  The food was yummy but we forgot to take any pictures before dinner.  That means tired kids for pictures after several days in the sun.  There were tons of pictures taken but we did get a few keepers.

Since our trip was over 3 months ago remembering the fun stories is hard to do.  However there were two big ones that must be shared.  First off when we checked into our condo it was super cute and perfect for our family, other than it was at the top of the stairs with no gate and we had a crawling baby.  Needless to say there was some furniture moving.  The condo had bunk beds.  Hannah Claire loved them!  She climbed right up to the top and began playing.  What is it about kids and the top bunk.  When it came time for bed she begged to sleep in the "over bed".  She informed us she would not roll off and did not want to sleep in the "under bed".  Haha!

The second story revolves around Hannah Claire too.  This one played out after we got home however.  The last night we were there we went "Crocing" which is also know as shopping for Crocs at the Croc store.  After we picked out some new shoes for HC, Nana and I were shopping and trying on shoes.  We made our purchase and left.  The following weekend I went to get something out of Wyatt's diaper bag and found an entire collection of princess jibbets (the little things that go in Crocs).  I was speechless.  I mean are we raising a little klepto here?  When I asked HC about it you could tell she had really not thought a thing about it.  In fact I don't think she even realized she had taken them.  When I told her she had stolen them she immediately melted down.  She is so tender hearted and can not stand when she has done something wrong. We wrote the Croc's store a letter that HC signed and mailed them back.  I pray we learned our lesson there and we do not have deal with this type situation again.  It did make for an interesting beach trip story though.  

Day Two of Destin

Our second day at the beach was all fun and sun.  

This pool was one of the coldest pools I have been in.  It is amazing how kids just go right in no problem.

Nana jumped in.  I think you can tell by her face when she came up how cold it was.

The pool had a cool slide that Hannah Claire was all about.  Her first trip down was not too good.  There was no water on the slide and she had to scoot down.  Once she made it down she stood up and jumped off.

Pappy resolved the issue and watered the slide.  After that HC was in business.

Whoops, forgot to hold our nose.

She was prepared on this trip for going under.  

Pappy had found a special surprise for HC.

Goggles!

Sun bathing in the pool.

I didn't know places still had old school playground equipment.  I just assumed they were too dangerous these days.  Not at Camping on the Gulf.  They have the old metal and wood merry-go-round.  HC took a few spins courtesy of Pappy.

The ladies heading back from the pool.

Once sleeping beauty woke up he was ready to play.

During the afternoon hours the campground has the most ginormous water slide I have ever seen.  Fearless when it comes to water, HC wanted to go down it.  Dad got the privilege job of going with her.

They came down smiling but the term one and done comes to mind.  

Hannah Claire was d.o.n.e. so she and Nana headed back to the motorhome. 

Wyatt was a little skeptical about the water.  He is usually pretty laid back but the waves freaked him out.

Nana makes everything better.

If you notice in this picture how Hannah Claire is sitting.  She does everything in her power to keep any part of her body from touching the sand unless it is absolutely necessary.  She loved playing in the sand but she is not a fan of it.