Birthday Party #3

Eliza's third and final birthday party was SO MUCH FUN!  We only had a couple weeks to get the house ready (with Mike going back and forth to Canada!) and I was exhausted.  We had a huge turnout and had such a great time.  Olivia used to say, "E for elephant and Eliza".  So when I found this invite, I thought it was perfect for our little lady.

 Her 1 bib :)

 All of our favorite photos from our smiley girl's first year

 Our new table and chairs arrived the morning of the party!!

 Delicious elephant shaped cookie party favors made by Sweetish Hill

 Olivia and Pong Pong

 Let the fun begin!!

 All of the Stobaugh cousins enjoying lunch

 Olivia having a butterfly painted on her face by the face painter

She LOVED it!

 Emery is such a great big cousin!

 Olivia showing Margo her butterfly face...she doesn't look too sure about it :)

 Auntie Eileen drove up for the party and turned right back around!  It was so great to see her

 Colin's spider

 Carrie, Baby Charles, and Jamie

 Uncle Matt and Talia

 Rebecca, Hunter, and Cousin David

 Getting ready for cake!

 Big sister helped Eliza blow out her candle

 All the girl cousins

 Uncle David, Uncle Timmy, and Pong Pong

 Ross and Baby Charles

 LOVING the Sweetish Hill carrot cake!

 Jolyn, Colin, Ryan (Fancy's fiance), and Aunt Tish

 Jake's awesome Spider Man

 Sucking on a latex balloon, made my SLP heart skip a beat

 Outside fun!

After the party and some swimming, dinner with her cousins

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We went to delicious Hugo's for brunch to celebrate Mike's birthday.  The food there is incredible.  Everything is so fabulous.  We were so excited the Rhodes Family could join us.

  Eliza, Olivia, and Elizabeth

 The Chaser

 Chase making Eliza belly laugh

 Uncle Fife

Chase reading Olivia a book before bed :)

Happy Birthday, Sophie!!

Olivia and I had so much fun feeding the horses at Sophie Leedy's 3rd birthday party!  This is at the HPD horse stables. We left Mike and Aunt Murf at home to receive all of our furniture from Canada :)

 The birthday girl feeding the first horse

 Three little ladies having so much fun together!

 Olivia was so much more brave this time and actually fed them instead of watching me feed them.  This one had an injured eye and this mask was to keep the flies out.

 Their star horse showing off

 Happy Birthday, Sophie!

Clearly, she had so much fun!

Last Name

One thing we had never thought about working on, was writing Olivia's last name.  Apparently, she had thought about it.  We came into the playroom at Nonna's and found this:

First Swim

Before our furniture arrived and we officially moved in, we went over to the new house for our first swim in the pool!  What fun.  We couldn't believe this was OUR pool!  Olivia was thrilled!  Aunt Carrie said she felt like we were pool crashing at someone's house :)

 How lucky is Olivia's placement :)

 Mike's first jump in the pool!

 Taking a swinging break

 Enjoying her picnic table

Pushing Daddy!

Birthday Party #2

The first weekend we were back home, we went to El Patio to celebrate Eliza's (and my) birthday with our family.  We took Olivia there for her first birthday and we figured we would continue the tradition.  It was really fun and the girls really enjoyed the Mariachi band!

 Aunt Murf brought a singing balloon!

 Cute birthday girl!

 Loving from her Nonna

 Mariachi!!

 Kissies from Aunt Murf

Opening the bear that Nonna got in London before any grandbabies were even born :)

GTT

We have officially "Gone To Texas".  So long Canada and thanks for three great years.  It was truly unforgettable!  It is amazing to me that Olivia knows nothing else but living in Canada.  We will miss it (well, not the 6 months of winter, really!).

Saying Goodbye

No doubt, the hardest goodbye of my life was saying goodbye to Carolyn.  I feel incredibly lucky that we met, as it is not often that you meet your kindred spirit.  My only regret is that I wish we had met sooner.   While we were so excited to move back home, there was this huge cloud over leaving Canada.  My heart still hurts because of her absence in my daily life.  It took Olivia a couple weeks to really get that she was not going to see Mimi everyday anymore and she went through a grieving process.  Amazingly, these two little girls love each other just as fiercely as their Mamas do.  Thank goodness for technology and iMessage so we can keep up with each other!