Party Over Here, Party Over There....

Now that summer is officially here (praise the Lord), we've been partying it up lately!! Along with our Clairy's 1st birthday party (see last blog), we have had many other reasons to celebrate this summer!!

Annabelle's 6th Birthday
In late May, we celebrated a gymnastics birthday party for our sweet friend, Annabelle. Those kids stayed in the "pit" the entire time!! 

LOVE these sweet girls:

Haley Rae's 1st Birthday

In early June, we celebrated Haley Rae's first birthday!! Haley Rae is the daughter of my long-time friend, Lauren, and she was born 9 days before Claira. I'm sure they will be great friends in the future!

Claira kept flirting with her boyfriend, Gavin (5 months old).

Some Beulah babies:

 Haley is trying to calm Claira down (Claira must have been jealous of all of Haley's gifts!) ;)

Slumber Party with Lilah
We also recently had a slumber-party at our house with Lilah!! Baby Matthew, Grandmommie, and Paw-Paw came over for a bit, too, to have dinner with us before the "big slumber" (Matt and Anna were in Charleston). We decided to place a plastic tub out in the yard for and instant outdoors-playpen......BEST IDEA we've ever had!! ;)

Matthew and Ella really love each other.....she calls herself his "babysitter." :)

He's a cutie....it's so different to finally have a little BOY around!! :)

Paw has to teach him all the "manly" family traditions.... :)

Paw also helped Nora with some of her piano tunes:

Here's a video of them doing a rendition of "Jolly Ol' St. Nicholas" ~ they are preparing for the Nesbitt Christmas festivities (only 6 months early!!) :)

And of course, the littles are into EVERYTHING!!! They are at an age where you can't take your eyes off of them for a second. :)

But after a fun day of playing, it was finally time to watch some "Brave" and go to bed. :)

Rhett's 4th Birhday
Our BFF, Rhett, turned 4 this month, so we headed back to the gym to celebrate his big day!! Again, the "pit" was a favorite!!

The trampoline was also a favorite, for kids old and young....

(please note the holding of the hands in the next procession of pictures)

The slide was also a enjoyed by all. :)

Claira thought it was really cool to be a gymnast like her big sisters.

Barn/Picnic/Pool Party
We also recently had a picnic by mom's barn after swimming for a bit. Good summer fun!!

Josh made the girls "take a break" by making him some strawberry cupcakes (one of his favorite).

We waited on the cupcakes to bake by watching a little "Kung Fu Panda" (one of MY favorites!!)

Josh's 33rd Birthday
We finally got to celebrate Daddy's birthday this Sunday. Every year on his actual birthday (June 19th), something happens.....it's pretty much an omen. For instance, last year, I went into false labor, this year, all 3 girls decided to get a stomach virus.....but Josh never complains, only takes care of everyone else on his special day. Maybe next year, we'll get to actually get to celebrate on his true birthday!! Love this big goober!!

Our divas....

More of the littles....

And just so you know, this is Claira's new "cheese" face. I don't know if she's anticipating the flash from the camera, or if she thinks that's really how you're supposed to smile for a camera....either way, it's pretty darn cute. :)

And she's still pretty crazy about Paw :)

Here's Daddy blowing out the candle on his "Nanner Puddin.'" (I'm glad that I captured the infamous "Happy Birthday Banner" in the back. Grandmommie has put this banner up for everyone's birthday for the last 35 YEARS!!!) Happy Birthday to the studliest 33-year-old I know!!! :)

So much to celebrate this last month!!

Party over here...
Party over there...
Wave ya' hands in the air...
Shake ya' derriere!!!

Sweet Summertime!!!!!!!!!!!!

Claira's 1st Birthday!!!

I truly cannot BELIEVE that 1 year has already gone by. Our sweet Clairy-Berry (or "Clarence J. Wackus" as Paw-Paw and Daddy call her) has made it such a precious year filled with many smiles and laughs, and she has truly completed our little family of estrogen!! It was her birth one year ago that inspired me to begin blogging about our family experiences and memories (and just for kicks, you can view that very first blog at http://thenezzibean.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html) :) Here's our sweet "Clarence" on the night she was born:

And now that it is one year later (unbelievable!), we are celebrating our girl!! We decided to have somewhat of a last-minute pool party at Grandmama's with just our immediate cousins. :) Grandmama has had a pool for 12 years, and this was the FIRST time we could actually have a birthday-pool-party!!

Here's our "impromptu" invite:

Turned out to be a PERFECT day for a pool party!!!

Nora couldn't stand it....she had to jump in and get the party started before anyone arrived!!

But before long, we had a pool-full of kiddos (and "big kids") :)

Ella really loved playing with her cousins. Ethan is her newest favorite!!! :)

After swimming for a bit, we had to take a break or two. Here's me and my birthday girl!!

Most of the "old folks" had to stay under the shade. :) :) :)

Clairy enjoyed playing with Mary:

Paw-Paw kept calling this "the old folks' corner" because it was about 20-degrees cooler under the apple trees. :)

So, after grubbing on a little pizza......

....and enjoying the dynamite, home-made slip-n-slide...

IT WAS TIME FOR CAKE!! Claira THOROUGHLY enjoyed her first taste of icing!! :)

Next up, PRESENTS!! I think Claira liked her cards and tissue paper best of all!! :)

Then, we got back in the water to show-off our "tricks." Lilah was "king of the water." :)

Then, she found her co-king.... :)

(side note - the best part of these photos is Josh's and Matt's faces. They act as if it pains them terribly to lift small children in the water. Big pansies.) :)

We goofed-off until it was time for the party to come to a close:

Once everyone left, Claira immediately came up and took a nap in Grandmama's bed (partying wears her OUT). But, she eventually got up and had fun playing with some of her new toys!!

I can never say enough about our Claira. It's such a neat thing to watch a little person learn and grow. It's also amazing how you think you can never love a child as much as your others until you lay eyes on them....the love just GROWS!!!! Claira has the sweetest little smile and the funniest facial expressions that make us laugh out loud everyday. She also has the biggest, bluest eyes that I love waking up to every morning.....and she is always so happy to see me after a full-night's rest!!! She is so pleasant and wonderful, and I'm so thankful that God chose us to be her parents!!

Happy 1st Birthday, my Berry!!

Thank you for making this last year so beautiful!!

xoxo

Farewell Tooth #7!!

Here's just a brief update on Nora's tooth-excavation: She lost her 7th one last night....pulled it right out without any help at all!! In fact, Josh and I had no idea that she was even attempting to pull it out - she just came in our room and said, "SURPRISE!!" Little trickster... ;)

And just in case you missed the first six "tooth-removals".....

She's a cutie!!

Even with all those holes in her mouth!!!

Father's Day 2013

Father's Day was yesterday, and Josh and I were heading home from the Bahamas (full blog to come later). While we had a PHENOMENAL time, we COULD.NOT.WAIT to get home to our babies!! We have never been without them for longer than one night, so while we really enjoyed our time together, we RUSHED home to get our arms around them on Sunday. This was Daddy's BEST Father's Day gift of all time!!

And to make this day even more precious, CLAIRA TOOK HER FIRST STEPS ON FATHER'S DAY!!!! Here's a video of Daddy helping her out (and bopping her on the head, which he thinks is hilarious....)

Anyone who knows Josh understands what an amazing person he is. He is loving, hilarious, supportive, FUN, hard-working, wonderful (along with being a genuINE kind of FINE!) ;) It takes a very special man to be a daddy to all of these girls, and God knew what He was doing. I have HONESTLY never seen a better daddy than my husband. To say that our girls adore him would be an understatement. They are "Daddy's Girls" to infinity and beyond!!

When I count my blessings, Josh is always #1.....he is the GREATEST blessing in our lives (well, except for our 3 precious gals, of course!!)

Josh - I can never express how much I love you.

Happy Father's Day, my love.