the perfect day

I wanted to tell you all about Maggie Claire's birthday. We had the best day celebrating her and just spending time with her :)

Here we are right before lunch. We went to Cane's and we ate yummy chicken, which is her favorite. I love how she has her hands folded in this picture. She is precious and she totally knew it was her birthday, she was acting so giddy!

Big girl, she is so proud drinking her milk in her sippy cup!

Enjoying lunch a little too much.... {notice the foot propped up}

After lunch we went and picked up Mimi Sherry from the airport. She had a lot of birthday surprises for the princess!

We hung out outside, {her favorite thing to do is go "side", which means outside}

Swinging with Mimi Sherry

Before we went to dinner, I gave her a ponytail. It was so cute!

She has the best time pushing her princess car around!

I still can't believe how fast this year has gone by. I think I only cried a couple of times that day realizing that my "baby" is growing up! We had the best day with her. It was perfect!

fun fall day!

Today was such a fun fall day! This morning I took Maggie Claire to get her picture taken in her cupcake halloween costume. Seriously, it was so cute. I have never taken her to get her pictures done by anyone, because I have just always done them, but this opportunity came up last minute and so I jumped on it. She did such a good job that the photographer gave her her first sucker. She loved it and sucked all of it gone! I can't wait to see how they turned out! Here is mags eating her lollipop with my mom who came with us this morning!

After taking pictures we went and ate at Chickfila. She has never really played in the playplace, so I let her play for a few minutes and she was acting like she could play in there forever! Crazy girl! {She had her legwarmers & bloomers on underneath her costume}

After Mags woke up from her afternoon nap, we went to the pumpkin patch at Boone Hall. I forgot my camera, so all of these pictures were taken on my phone! Here is our family picture at the pumpkin patch, We had fun taking pictures with all the pumpkins!

Maggie Claire even picked out her own little pumpkin. She was so sweet playing with it.

Maggie Claire with her Oma & Opa

I have been decorating my house for fall. I put my little pumpkin lights outside with our candycorn welcome sign! :) I think we will actually have lots of trick or treaters too because we have quite a few kids on our street! yay! :)

Happy Fall y'all!

Happy 1st birthday Maggie Claire!

Maggie Claire, you are one!

One year ago today, I held you in my arms for the first time. I couldn't stop studying your sweet little face, your teeny tiny toes, and kissing those sweet chubby cheeks.

the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen, your sweet smile just melts my heart.

Your big blue eyes and wispy blonde hair are just as precious as can be

{I prayed for that blonde & blue when you were in the womb}

We ask you how old you are and you show us the number one on your sweet little finger...

...then you clap with excitement because that is what we do and it just reminds me of how smart you already are. You are so proud of yourself for doing it too.

you are very outgoing, talking to everyone you see in any store we are in. You tell them "hi", and it makes me giggle. praying for you to be just as excited to tell others about Jesus one day.

you are as fast as can be when crawling everywhere, especially when you are going for the stairs or we are chasing you. Then I remind you that mommy & daddy are always faster. :)

You could stay outside all day long, especially if swinging in the swing is involved.

your last favorite thing of the day to do is read your books. You have about 20 books on your bookshelf and you like to look at all of them. I hope you continue to love reading books forever!

I am so blessed to be your mommy and I love you more than you could ever know. But I just want you to always remember that God loves you even more!

I hope your birthday is so fun, and I also hope you enjoy your party!

Happy 1st birthday sweet mags.

xoxo

"This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24

playdate with a purpose

Last week I hosted the first "playdate with a purpose" at a park that is about 1 mile from my house. The goal for these playdates is to connect with other moms in the community, build friendships with them and be there for them whenever the time is needed. I had a really fun time and was able to connect with a lot of moms. I'm praying that these moms that come will see the light of Jesus shining through me how I love on my daughter and live out my life. I am just trying to send the message out to all these moms that The Jesus died for them, and if hanging out with them will help them realize this, I am all for it! :)

The vision of these "playdates with a purpose" came from a sweet friend of mine Jenna, after reading the book by Helen Lee called Missional Mom. I am almost done reading it, and it is soooo good! you can get it here off amazon. It just has helped me to realize that serving the Lord is my top priority in life, and being a mom comes after that. It is great motivation on loving the Lord and putting Him first, and being a great mom.

I made these cute cards to invite other moms who were at the park and encourage them to come. My friend Julie, who was with me made cookies to pass out as a welcoming invitation! She made the best cookies and brownies!!!

This is Maggie Claire {in the white} with her sweet new friend Allie {in the blue}. They were so cute swinging together! I went to school with Allie's mom, Lindsay, and was very excited that she was able to come. I think we are already building a great community here! :)

Here is my sweet baby girl playing on the slide, She seriously had the best time climbing up that slide! Thankfully my mom came and helped me with her while I was able to pass out some cards/cookies and invite some other moms who were at the park to come back to the playdate!!!

Our next playdate will be held on October 26th at 11:30, wannamaker park playground, and we are doing a little costume party for all the little kiddos. This will be another excuse for Mags to dress up in her adorable cupcake costume that we got her! umm... cuteness!!! :)

If any of you are in the Charleston area and would love to come to any of our playdates here is a list below of all the ones that a group of my friends from Seacoast Church are offering! Also, if you have any questions please feel free to email me hilarysurratt@gmail.com

Last Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. – Wannamaker Park
2nd Monday at 11:00 a.m. – Park Circle
2nd Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. – Park West Playground
1st Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. – Park West Playground
2nd Thursday at 11:30 a.m. – Pirate Park on Daniel Island
1st Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. – Hibben Playground in Belle Hall
1st Monday at 5:00 p.m. – The Gates, Dunes West

"Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

11 months old!

Maggie Claire is 11 months old!

{9. 7. 2011}

Everyday Maggie Claire amazes me more and more. She is such an explorer! I spend most of my days chasing her around because when I turn my back she is into something else or headed for the stairs! She is very independent and would really like to do everything by herself. My mom told me I was the same way.

My new favorite thing about Maggie Claire is that she is signing "please." {in sign language} She melts my heart and I'll give her anything because it is the sweetest thing ever! The other day she was so tired and taking a bath, she looked up at me did the "please" sign and reached up for me to get her out of the bath. She is so precious and so smart! She does the "please" sign when she wants food or anything that we have we will say "What do you say?" or "Say please" and she will do the please sign. It's so nice for her to do this instead of grunting everytime she wants something, which is what she was doing before we taught her to sign please!

Her new favorite face! Making duck lips, so funny!

What Maggie Claire is up to right now...

• climbing the stairs and anything else she can climb!
• trying out whole milk (she thinks its ok)
• sitting in her new convertible carseat
• eating everything in site and everything she finds on the floor
• loves giving kisses to her friends and mommy & daddy
• favorite foods/snacks: goldfish, yogurt, cheerios, yogurt melts, crackers, cheese, black beans, mashed potatoes, and all the baby fruits & veggies she still eats
• wears 12 months clothes
• wears size 3 diapers, size 4 at night
• started making a clicking noise with her tongue. so funny!
• loves to dance
• nurses 3 times a day, weaning to twice a day (I'm making it to my goal of one year!)
• when she takes her hairbows out of her hair, she tries to put them back on top of her head
• loves playing "get the ball" with daddy and she likes when we chase her around the house
• opening and closing everything and pulling all my dish towels off the rack onto the floor
• sleeps 12 hours everynight, usually 8pm-8am
• she had her first ear infection :(
• first antibiotic which was amoxicillin (I took a picture of the bottle)
• she walks along the side of her crib
• caught her standing by herself a couple of times with out holding on to anything!
• loves to take EVERY SINGLE wipe out of the wipes case :)
• SQUIRMY

11 month stats:

19 pounds

She is a tiny little girl! But still growing great! :)

Everyday when I get Maggie Claire dressed, feed her, fold her clothes, buckle her in her carseat, give her a bath, I just thank the Lord for her. I would have no idea what my life would be like with her and we just love her so much! She really is the sweetest, cutest, and most fun baby in the world! :) She makes me want to have lots more babies! :)

"Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court." Psalm 127:3-5

Happy 11 months Maggie Claire! We love being your parents!! xoxo

productive friday!

Every friday is our big day off, so Mike and I always like staying busy and having a good family fun day! This morning we went for a jog at the county park and then let mags swing at the playground area. {She loves swinging at the park!} Came home and it was time for her nap.

We got ready, went out to lunch and on our way out I saw this yard sale {on a friday?!?!} and I noticed they had a lot of kid stuff. After we went to lunch, went by a friend's house, went to the store, came back home, and put Maggie Claire down for her afternoon nap, I ran by the yard sale. I saw they had this little tykes table and chairs for $7! What a steal! I came home cleaned them us with some bleach, a magic eraser, and the hose and they were as good as new!

All the while, Mike was working hard extending our back patio with these paver stones that my stepdad gave us. They look great in our backyard and give us a lot more patio space! We are prepping for Maggie Claire's big 1st birthday bash that is coming up! yay! :)

Have a great rest of the weekend! :)

weekend recap {on a tuesday}

I guess you can say I started my weekend on Thursday and well, ya know finally getting around to telling you all about it on late Tuesday night. So here's how it went:

Thursday: I get off work and head to Columbia with this lovely bunch of ladies to go to our friend's open studio and shop around for some lovely products! Talk about a fun car ride- seriously I think we need to go to Columbia more often together girls?!?!

Carrie, Katie, Jessi, April, Abbi, and me

We were all there supporting Jessi, over at naptime diaries :)

Friday & Saturday we just hung around the house because Hurricane Irene was coming! My goal was to get a picture for Maggie Claire's birthday invitations. She is such a squirmy girl so it is hard to take pictures of her! Here's a sneak peek- There were also balloons involved! :)

Sunday was Maggie Claire's 1st ever "girlfriend birthday party". So fun and so adorable! It was a baby pool party for Gemma! Gemma's mom is my friend Whitney and she throws the best and most beautiful parties and showers! Seriously! I was sad when we left and I realized I didn't take any pictures of all her cute decorations. I did get these little sweeties in the pool though. Gemma is in the yellow and Maggie Claire is in the pink.

We were inside cooling off and Maggie Claire wanted to hang out with her newest friend Elle. It was more like Maggie Claire wanted to kiss her! precious!!!

maggie claire, gemma, and elle- they haven't gotten the hang of "squeezing close to your best friends and smiling." They'll get it some day! hehe.

me and whitney with our babies- I can't believe they are turning one! Gemma is 6 weeks older than mc. I told Whitney that we have to coordinate our next pregnancies together so that we'll have babies the same age again! :)

That's all for now! I've got to tell yall about my double stroller story... that's another blog post! stay tuned! :)