Daddy's Girls

I can't believe my "baby" is three years old today! Time really flies.  We had a great day of celebrating.  Matt went to work about an hour late so that he could see her when she got up and we could give her a present together.  She always loves it when Daddy is here in the morning so that was a great way for the day to start.  After her 3 year old check up at the doc (which she didn't mind, no shots and they gave her a cupcake) we met Yaya and Cara at Ta Molly's for some lunch.  The waiters sang to her and gave her a sopapilla so that was fun for her too. She and I went to see Wreck It Ralph in theaters this afternoon.  When I asked what she wanted to do for her birthday she said "go to the movies and eat popcorn" so that's what we did.  After that we met Daddy back at the house for ANOTHER meal.  We went to Horseshoe Casino and ate the seafood buffet.  Matt and I love going there and it was a perfect birthday meal for her too.  Cheese pizza

Sunday afternoon was Josh and Hailey's gender reveal party.  We couldn't wait to find out if their baby was going to be a niece or nephew! She had an ultrasound almost a week before but only her sister knew if Baby McCormick was a he or she so we had had a long wait.  Even Josh and Hailey themselves had to wait for the surprise.  The crowd gathered outside of Hailey's parents front door and Josh and Hailey while Josh and Hailey stood in the foyer.  Her sister and sister-in-law threw confetti on top of them for the big reveal! Everyone was so excited to see that blue paper falling. It's a boy! They were both so excited, what they were hoping for. Now we have 2 boys and 2 girls in the McCormick family.   Lilli making "snow angels' in the confetti

Kathleen Jane will be here in just a little over 3 months.  I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is flying by.  I'm definitely feeling her every day now and you're starting to be able to see it when she moves too.  My cousin, Brandi got a good belly shot on Saturday so I thought I'd share.  This may be the only belly pic I post during this pregnancy so now it is documented. :)

We had the best weekend! My Dad, both sisters, brother-in-law, nephew, nieces, 2 of my cousins and their baby all came to spend the weekend at the deer camp.  My Dad, brother-in-law and cousin were all coming up to duck hunt with Matt and Cap'n and we decided it would be more fun for their whole families to come too.  And, since it was only 6 days before Lilli's 3rd birthday, we decided to have her party on Saturday afternoon while they were all here.  Saturday morning was relaxed.  The girls and kids hung around while the boys were hunting.     Dan teaching Lilli to play soccer   Chillin' When the guys got back Lilli had to show her cousins all of the ducks and how she likes to help clean them.  I think Anna was a little freaked out by it.         We got a good family pic before the party started too. At 3:30, the "Mickey party" began! We were joined by most of the rest of the McCormick family (poor Austin was sick and

My 2012 blog book arrived today! The reason I started this blog last year was because I saw Yaya's books from the last few years and wanted to do the same. It's a 227 page, hard cover book full of pictures and my thoughts about our year. It's going to be so neat to be able to look back at what we did years from now.  Lilli and Matt already spent about an hour today looking at the pictures and remembering the year.  Just what I wanted.  It will have a different title next year though.  I guess I will have to rename this blog Lilli and Katie's Life!

I took Lilli to her first (non-family) birthday party today and she had blast! Lily's Mom originally had a bounce house rented but there was an 80% chance of rain today so she had to reschedule.  Instead she had Toy Story coloring pages and all of Lily's toys out her playroom to play with while the adults talked.   The good thing about kids this age is that was just as much fun to them and they didn't miss the bounce house at all.  I wasn't sure how today was going to go because this was the first party Lilli has ever been to where it wasn't ok to "help" open all the gifts and blow out the candles.  We had a talk on the way about how she won't want any help at her party next weekend and she did great! Of course she was right up in the mix and helped by handing Lily each of her parents and taking the wrapping paper for her.  It was cute.     

Today is our sweet Yaya's birthday and of course we had to go out to celebrate! Me, Lilli, Hailey and Sandy met Yaya at Wine Country this afternoon for a girls lunch.  We ate cheese, pasta, soups, sandwiches... of course more than we needed. :) But a great way to celebrate her day!  I did get a picture of Lilli and Yaya at the table but for some reason it will not upload today.  Will try again later.  Happy Birthday Yaya!

Life is going back to normal today after a crazy couple of weeks.  We are finally home with no plans to go out of town in the near future.  Out of the last 15 nights we have only been at home for 6 and those weren't all in a row.  We spent a night in Vivian for Christmas, made two trips to Baton Rouge for a total of 6 nights and spent 2 nights at the hunting camp for New Years.  In between the first Baton Rouge trip and New Years at the camp Lilli had surgery to have a birthmark removed so part of our time at home was for her recovery. She got very silly after they gave her medicine to relax.  Matt and I were laughing so hard.  She didn't even look back when they rolled her to surgery. She handled it so much better than any of us adults would have.  She was jumping on a trampoline 2 days later.  The pathology report came back yesterday too and everything was benign so now this Mama can rest easy. We just got back from our 2nd three night trip to Baton Rouge yesterday.

I'm a day late writing this post but I hope everyone had as great of a New Year celebration as we did.  It has gotten a lot more low key over the years but getting to watch my daughter experience some of these things for the first time is so much better than the late night parties ever were.  Our tradition the last few years has been to spend New Years Eve at the deer camp.  It's great place to pop fireworks with lots of room for anyone that wants to join and Matt gets to hunt in the morning.  Works out for everyone. This year it was me, Matt, Lilli, Shanon and Alex on Sunday night and Yaya and Cap'n came up and joined us for Monday.  Lilli's New Years Eve was spent picking cabbage for lunch the next day, watching us shoot, playing for hours with "Uncle Shanny," and SPARKLERS! She went to bed and we watched the LSU game (that I won't talk about), ate it's a good meal when 2 things on your plate are wrapped in bacon and then po