18 months

Dear Mimi,

We can't believe we have had you for a year and a half. You've made our house messier than it's ever been, but you've made us happier than we've ever been. You make people who used to be grouchy in the mornings smile when we wake up and see your smiling face. You make holidays more fun. Really, you make every day more fun.

We love the way your hair curls up in ringlets after your bath. We love how you like to snuggle with us before bed at night and right after you get up in the mornings. We love it when you throw your head back when you want us to keep tickling you on your neck. We love it when you say "tickle tickle" and try to tickle us back. We love how happy you are to see us when we pick you up from school or the church nursery. We love how silly you are.

We love it when you say "uh-oh" just as you are about to throw something on the floor. We love it when you pick up the camera and say "cheese" or pick up a cell phone and say "hey!" We love how much you love Dora and Jay-Z and the theme song to "The Office." We love how much you love your grandparents and your aunts and uncles. We love to hear you call us Mama and Daddy.

We love how much you love your Lovie the lamb and how dirty and worn he is from all your loving. We love to hear you say "paaaaci" in the saddest, most pitiful voice when you want us to give you your paci, even though I totally planned on taking it away by now. We love hearing you repeat words that we say, and watching you learn new things so quickly. We love to pull you in your wagon, and to watch you play with other kids. We love how much you love to read books, and how you will actually be still and listen to a story now when we read. We love that you are obsessed with the words ball and baby and duck.

We love to see you growing up from a chubby-cheeked baby into a cute, precocious little girl. We love your independent, sassy nature, even though it tells us that there are more difficult days ahead in our parenting journey.

Really, we just love everything about you. The "new" has still not worn off, and every day we just marvel over how cute you are and the fact that you are ours. You are the light of our lives, and we are so thankful that God has trusted us to be your parents. You make us so, so happy, and in case you didn't know it, we love you.

Love,

Mama and Daddy

Fun in the tub

I've been slacking a bit on videoing everyday Mimi cuteness, and I've been trying to do better the last couple of weeks. She is doing all kinds of fun new tricks like when you ask her where certain body parts are, like her eyes, she will squeeze them shut. If you ask where her nose is, she blows it, etc. I was trying to get her to show me while she was taking a bath last week, but instead she instigated a wash cloth fight. I got soaking wet in the end, but it was hilarious to her!


Washcloth Fight from Angela Furr on Vimeo.

More fun new pics!

Gallery from our fun little shoot with Lindey and Pailyn is up! As always, to view them, go here, click on the photography site, then client viewing, and the password is 'mimi0410.' I just love them! My early faves are easily 5, 6, 8 and 15. Which ones do you like best?

A fun weekend

We were so excited to have a weekend with absolutely no plans! I know- times have changed, right? Friday we spent the evening with our friends, Chad and Anna, and their sweet daughters. Chad and Cliff have been best friends since they were six, and we are so fortunate that they live right around the corner from us. Before babies, we used to spend every Friday night hanging out with them. Now that we both have small children, and Cliff is gone a lot during basketball season, we haven't gotten to spend as much time with them as we used to.

They have a fabulous back yard for the kids to play in, and Mimi and Ella had fun running around, swinging, and jumping on the trampoline while the grown ups ate and chatted. I also spent a lot of time holding this precious girl.

I'm not gonna lie, snuggling her makes me slightly entertain the thought of doing it all again. YIKES! I quickly snap back to reality when I hear Amelia throwing a fit because Ella took her sidewalk chalk. No, I am not interested in going there for quite a while. But I should probably tone down my Lily cuddling for a while though. It was snuggling her big sister as a newborn that made us decide we were ready to start our own family.

After the girls got totally filthy and wore themselves out playing, they each got baths and in PJs and the grown ups got to hang out for a while longer. Oh, and I got to rock a freshly bathed and PJ clad Lily. Seriously I need to get away from that sweet baby!

Saturday we did some chores and played outside around the house. That afternoon, we decided to go for a ride in the jeep (not ours, we borrow it from my dad sometimes to play in). We rode over and got snowcones and went to the park. We swung by and picked up Katie to come with us, and she of course took some photos. In fact almost all of the pics in this post were snatched from her, except for a couple of blurry ones I snapped. I can't take a good photo to save my life, ha!

After we got home from the park, we hosed Mimi off in the (slightly cold) sprinkler and my parents dropped by for a bit. Just when we were thinking we'd rent a movie and hang out at home for the rest of the evening, Chad and Anna wanted to know if we wanted to do a repeat of the night before. Um, yes, please! So we went over there again for yummy grilled food and more fun grown up conversation. Katie lives a few houses down from them, and she and Sweet Pea walked over and joined us.

Here's one of the few pics I took of the girls playing. I always put my camera away when Katie's taking pics because I know hers will be better and I will just steal them when she posts them on facebook. Ha!

This one cracks me up! Ella had been being a little bit dirty and tried to snatch things away from Mimi. You can totally tell what each girl is thinking here!

Amelia loved baby Lily, and actually didn't freak out when Cliff or I held her, as she has been known to do when we've tried to hold other babies in front of her.

Then yesterday was church, as always. Mimi had on such a precious yellow seersucker dress, and this is the best photo I got of her in it. This is actually post afternoon nap. I've gotta work on getting us ready earlier to get photos before we leave for church.

We were invited to a Sunday afternoon crawfish boil, but Amelia wasn't feeling great, and we were all pretty worn out from all our socializing, so we called it a day, and hung out at home. Great, low-key weekend, my favorite kind!

New favorite photos!

Yesterday, Mimi had a little play date/photo session with her friend Pailyn and her mom, Lindey. It was originally planned to be a mini-session in her Easter dress, but of course I was tired of the Easter dress by now and decided to put her in something a little more fun.

And what's more fun than wearing a turquoise tutu skirt and a polka dot bow while playing with another tutu-wearing pal? 

Can't you just tell how much fun they were having together? Lindey, Katie and I had fun playing with them too! I had low expectations for a great shot of Mimi since it was late in the day and she was tired, but I should have known Lindey would get something beautiful as she always does.

Do you love it? Doesn't she look more like a big girl and less like a baby here? It makes me a little bit sad. Don't you worry, these will not be the last photos I will share from this shoot. Thanks for a fun afternoon, girls!

Easter

We have enjoyed our Easter weekend so much! Friday night Amelia stayed with my parents and Cliff and I went out on a rare date. The next morning we went to pick Amelia up and take her to the Easter egg hunt at my home church. (Sadly, we missed the egg hunt at our own church Wednesday night because I had to go to the funeral home).

Here's Amelia practicing hunting eggs at Grammy and Papa's. She was fascinated with opening the plastic eggs to see what was inside.

Here she is helping herself to some other kids' baskets. You know Mimi, always hoarding.

                                                                                                    

Almost all of my egg hunting photos look like this. She was just so busy and would not look up to smile at my camera. Yet I still felt I had to take a photo of every single egg she found. You're welcome for me not putting them all on here.

Here she was finding the egg Bro. Chad had hid in his shirt pocket.

Sunday morning checking out her loot from the Easter Bunny. She got a cookie pop, a marshmallow pop, some other assorted candy, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and a set of golf clubs.

I think she was confused here that a cookie was on a lollipop stick. Love that bed head!

We got ready for church as quick as we could and dropped by Memaw and Papaw's house to let them see Mimi in her Easter dress before they left for church. 

                                     

Funny sidenote: I always, always, get a new dress for myself for Easter Sunday. Ever since I was a kid, Easter Sunday meant new clothes for church and I have a hard time letting go of that even though I'm an adult. So I got a cute dress at the Banana Republic outlet during Spring Break. It was one of those situations when you try on your size and it's a little big, so you get a size smaller, and it's a little tight, but you go for it and convince yourself you can lose a few pounds to fit into it. Well I totally forgot about losing weight and just hung it in the closet until Sunday. Oops. I could actually get it on, but it was totally uncomfortable so I just wore the same dress I wore last Easter. How tragic! I doubt anyone even noticed, of course. I had nursery duty and missed the service anyway. Bummer. But it was fun watching Mimi play with the other kids in the nursery.

Anyway... after church we went to my grandparents' house for lunch and we had another little egg hunt there. Amelia found a few eggs and then decided she was over it. Cliff was having a pollen allergy attack and Mimi was grouchy, so we got out of there pretty quick. Bummer again.

Today was another day off work, so we made the most of it by playing outside with the new chalk and bubbles from the Easter Bunny. I cleaned the house like a mad woman during Amelia's nap and while she went on errands with Cliff and now I'm finally enjoying a quiet, clean house while I blog and watch TV.

I hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend! I'm so thankful for the time I've had to spend with my family, but I'm even more thankful for the Reason we celebrate.

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

Matthew 28:5-6