Down on the Farm: Presley's 2nd Birthday Party

 The BIRTHDAY girl!

 The Invite

 The cake (made by my very talented friend, Truly)

The table

The Grub

Pigs in a Blanket, Duck Pond Punch, and Haystacks

Presley's Birthday Banner (made by yet another talented friend. Thank you, Heather!)

and a few other details

Cow Mantle, Balloon Wreath, and Party Favors

and now for the fun stuff:

Playing with her giant balloon arrangement that my Uncle, Aunt and cousins sent to Presley.

Family pic

Blowing out her candles

opening presents

 This is where Presley chose to eat her pig cupcake. Whatever floats her boat...

 Being silly in the bounce house that our neighbors so kindly let us borrow.

 Who needs a fork or a plate (for that matter) when you've got hands?!?

This is what we gave Presley and it was a hit! All the kids at the party wanted a turn.

Hayley trying to get Presley unstuck.

 Grammie, Poppa, Mimi, Brandon,  Aunt Melissa

More present opening!

Cousin Jackson giving Presley a ride!

Her party was so much fun! She is certainly a loved little girl. Now I need to figure out where I'm going to put all these toys...

TWO

 Dear Presley Elizabeth,

Today you are TWO! I can't believe it has already been two years since I first held you in my arms. You have filled our lives with more joy than I could ever describe in words. 

I love your sassy and spunky personality. I love your sweet, caring, and nurturing side. I love your big belly laugh and your mischievous dimpled grin.  I love your sweet sweet singing voice, and your love of music. I love your constant talking and our daily conversations. I love your big neck hugs and sweet little kisses. I love your "I love you's". I love too many things to write down!

Happy 2nd birthday to my big girl! I can't wait to see what next year brings.

Love,

your Mommy

Gingerbread House FAIL

Our decorating started out a little like this.

House intact and icing testing in full swing.

a little more decorating

and a little more tasting

and we ended up with this

Perhaps we'll have better luck next year...

Presley's MDO Christmas Party

Presley's Mother's Day Out had their Christmas pageant and Christmas party last Thursday. Presley's class was to young to be in the pageant, but Brandon and I stayed to watch anyway. It was pretty hilarious watching all the little kids perform. I can only imagine what P will do next year...

Afterward, we headed over to P's class Christmas party. She was so excited to see us when we walked through the door. She came and sat on my lap and refused to get up. I think she was afraid I was going to leave. Of course, that only lasted all of five minutes and then she was up and running. I love getting to watch Presley interact with her friends. 

I know that Presley can be rough and wild, but she is also the sweetest. A couple of the little girls were crying when their Mom's left and she kept going up to them and patting their backs. Then she would tell them, "It's okay, Baby".  LOVE her!! 

I took a few pictures from the party, but the quality is pretty crappy. Gotta love fluorescent lighting!

My sweet P

This is the grin I got when she was handed her cookie.

I love that they used their handprints as place markers. If I go back to teaching, I need to remember this idea.

Getting tired of sitting still

Giving daddy kisses. Lucky guy...

Playing with her friends.

The ornament Presley made for us at school.

back side

This picture was given to us at the party. I love it even though she is once again NOT looking at the camera. P and Santa look so sweet together though.

Merry Christmas from our Family

to yours...

Front

Back

I was only 6 weeks pregnant when we did these cards, so little miss didn't get to be featured. Therefore, I thought I would dress her up in her Christmas best, so she isn't entirely left out.

Wishing you PEACE in your heart, JOY in each day, and LOVE throughout the year.

Love,

Brandon, Ashlie, Presley, and baby girl Souders

P.S. Pardon the quality of our card on here. I just scanned it in. Also, photography and card credit go to the amazing Kelly Wills of Inspired by you photography.

Jingle Bells

Please enjoy Presley's rendition of Jingle Bells.

Just in case you couldn't understand, her version goes like this:

Jingle Bells,

Oh what fun to ride a horse,

HEY!

Weekend in Grapevine

*warning: This is the worlds longest post with a ridiculous amount of pictures. Believe it or not, I narrowed the pictures down from 200.
Day 1

Last Sunday, we met my Mom and nephew in Grapevine for a fun filled Christmas weekend. My poor sister was supposed to go, but her boss was being ...well... a jackass! And that's putting it nicely. If you live in Texas and haven't spent a weekend in Grapevine during the Christmas season, you are missing out.

The first thing we did was hop aboard the North Pole Express. You get to ride on a train in your P.J's, Just like the book,The Polar Express. Santa and Mrs. Claus even payed us a visit.

Waiting (not so patiently) to get on the train with our friends!

Chugging along

Presley looking out the window of the North Pole Express.

Her face when Santa came into our train car.

After the train made it safely back from the North Pole, we got pictures taken with Santa and free hot chocolate. Presley and Jackson must have needed to burn off some energy because they spent the next 20 minutes chasing each other around a Christmas tree by the hot chocolate stand. 

Then we walked into historic Grapevine and visited some of the shops on Main street. Shopping with a 2 and 3 year old is next to impossible, so our purchases for the day were 2 lollipops and a pair of pink fur crocs for P ( which we found in the candy store). Once again, we stumbled upon Santa and a few of his elves playing games, and my nephew joined in. He had a blast! Presley was a little leery of this Santa (he was very skinny and on stilts. Can you blame a girl?), so we walked her down the street where we found a life size Nativity. This thrilled the girl beyond belief. She hopped on every animal, talked to the Wisemen, and gave baby Jesus lots of kisses.

Finally, we ended the day with a pony ride and room service back at our hotel. We stayed at the Gaylord Texan which is a beautiful giant hotel and perfect for kids!

Day 2 

We woke up, got the kids dressed, and I took advantage of all the gorgeous photo ops in the hotel.

After I got my photo fix, we headed over to see ICE! featuring Shrek the Halls. Basically, it's lots of different scenes from the movie carved completely out of ice. It's pretty amazing! However, to keep the ice from melting it has to be super duper cold. They give you long parkas with hoods to wear, but it was still pretty chilly. Jackson loved every minute of it, but poor Presley was a little too cold to enjoy it. She made it through the whole thing and even went down the ice slide, but then she was ready to get out of there.

Right after ICE, Jackson and Mimi warmed up by snow tubing! Presley wasn't tall enough and this made her very sad. I missed out too because they don't let preggo's go tubing either. Poor us!

But, Presley cheered up pretty quick because we got to have breakfast with Shrek, Princess Fiona, and Puss in boots (who Presley thought was our cat, Rambo. This made her very happy). Mind you, Presley had no idea who or what this Shrek character was before our Grapevine adventure, but she is a fan now. Unless Shrek comes too close, then she cries hysterically!

Jackson with his Shrek ears on, looking just thrilled to have his picture taken.

Princess Fiona drinking her Shrek Juice.

Jackson in a much better mood now that Shrek is here!

 Presley blowing "Rambo" kisses

Finally, it was time to pack up and head home with two exhausted kiddos! It was such a special weekend for the kids (and the kids at heart). Thank you, Mimi!