American Girl Birthday Trip

We multipurposed a trip to Chicago for a wedding with a trip to American Girl to celebrate Cara's 7th birthday!  Grandma and Grandpa Fox have treated Cara to an American Girl celebration since she was 2. 

 Ready to shop!

 posing with the display for Saige, the doll of the year

 Cara chose Caroline Abbott to accompany her on this trip

 Will at our birthday lunch, doesn't he look excited!

Birthday cake!  Happy Birthday Cara!

14 Months old!

August 5th, 14 months old! 

Our happy smiley guy!

and I'm done posing! Thanks!

Happy 14 months William!  He is walking and running.  Talking up a storm (if only we spoke the same language, but we usually know exactly what he means.wants).  He is wearing 12-18 month clothes and about ready for size 4 diapers but we are finishing the last of the size 3's that we have.  He wears a 5 1/2-6 size shoe.  He loves to eat and feed himself with a fork.  He still breastfeeds 2-3 times a day and drinks whole milk for lunch and dinner.   He is growing up so fast and I wish it would slow down just a little bit because my baby boy is gone and I feel like it passed by with a blink!

State Fair 2013

One of Cara's favorite things to do at the fair since she started walked was going to the Little Helpers on the Farm

Ready to go farming!

Will participated this year and he was very cute

Cara pushing will on the tractor

and a nice cold drink was the perfect treat for helping on the farm

I forgot my camera so I didn't have very many pictures this year but we had fun.  A little food, carnival rides, sweet treats, and a lot of fun!

Birthday Cookout

In the evening after her salon party we had a big birthday cookout and invited friends, family, neighbors to come have a relaxing evening and enjoy some fun and outdoor activities! We had about 35 people over and had a blast with everyone!

 Dessert table (the ice cream cake balls were almost gone before I got this picture)

 Time for cake! (note outfit change..for some reason she wanted a different outfit, a fancy party dress)

 And presents

Hope this was a magical birthday party for you!  It will be hard to top this one because everything was so fun and perfect (except for the fact that the queen of decorating (aka Aunt Cyndi) sliced off a chunk of her thumb on the scissors and had to leave to go to the ER :(  while we were decorating in the afternoon before her salon party)!
My poor daughter's husband, she has been so spoiled and we make such a big deal out of birthday, he has a lot to live up to!

Cara's Birthday Salon Party

Cara really wanted a small party with her best friends so we had a "Girls & Curls" party at EM Salon

 Cara getting her nails done

 And her hair

 Look at those gorgeous curls

 Cara and her lifelong friend Ali

 Present time

 Ada and Kitty

 cousin Charlotte getting her hair curled

 Each girl posed in the butterfly wings

 Ella

 Pacie

 Mary

 Alison

 Grace

 and Emily

 All the girls looking so cute and beautiful

All the girls had such a great time!  it was a really special party and I would highly recommend it to anyone trying to plan a small girl party.  em Salon took care of the party favors, cupcakes, drinks, and most importantly making each girl feel special and beautiful!  

1st Day of 2nd Grade

First day of school! Thanks to the balanced calendar Cara's first day of school was August 1st this yeat!  Her teacher's name is Mrs. Horein.  Cara has no friends in her class but she will have no problems meeting new friends and at least she can have lunch and recess with her besties!