Happy 3rd Birthday William!

We celebrated William's 3rd birthday this weekend. We had a party at the house with all of our friends who live here in Georgia and their kids. We were lucky enough to have Michael's Mom (Nana) join us too!
Michael and I decided to have a crawfish boil for the party. This was our (Michael's) first time boiling crawfish. We had them flown in from Louisiana. The crawfish were supposed to arrive Saturday morning to the Atlanta airport. The plan was for me to make the trek down there early Saturday morning while Michael baked the birthday cake. Unfortunately, our crawfish missed their connecting flight-- so to ensure that they made it here alive Michael & I drove to Air Cargo at the airport at 11pm Friday night.
Our crawfish survived and Michael did a great job! Everyone was also wowed by the birthday cake Michael made for William. The Cars movie and Lightining McQueen are William's favorite right now. Lightning was on the invitation, the balloons and of course the birthday cake. Make sure to check out the pictures below.
We had a wonderful day with everyone who came and celebrated with us!

William hung out in his chair with a snack while Michael started the boiling.

William wasn't so sure what to think of the crawfish.

Me, Matthew, Mindy (Matthew's Mommy) & Peggy

Me & Rona

The Hillman's

(Baby Mason is due at the end of June!)

My favorite business partner, Karen!

Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake!

Brian, Ron, Michael, Todd & Brian

A little baseball in the yard.

Hannah & Gracie

Emily & William

Some Extras

These are two extra pics that I've taken in the past few weeks that I thought I'd post. The first is William with his Uncle Mike. Mel & Mike were in town house hunting while we were in Disney World. When we got back we celebrated Mike's 30th birthday. The other picture is a shot of how I found William playing on the sofa. We had been back about a week and he found his ears in his playroom. (Notice the towel his is sitting on-- this was one of our first potty training days!)

My 29th Birthday!

My 29th birthday was last week. Ever since having William birthdays just aren't the same, but this year was wonderful! My desk was decorated at work and I had a wonderful lunch with my lunch crew. Even better was dinner with my family! Michael made a birthday cake for me and William had a potty party cake. William has had a very successful potty training week. The best present ever! (I'm sure you mother's of boys can appreciate this!)

Disney World

As most of you know we took William to Disney World earlier this month. I don't know who was more excited William or the adults? My Dad and Stepmom came with us--they were a huge help! Luckily the weather was beautiful so it helped make all the walking bareable. I didn't realize how tough the trip was going to be at times for a pregnant mommy.

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge resort on the grounds and it was great! The lobby is awesome and it is a very kid friendly hotel. We only had to take a short boat ride to the Magic Kingdom from the hotel too. I think William loved the boat rides, monorail rides and bus rides just as much as the parks!

We spent most of our time in the Magic Kingdom and MGM. William loved seeing all of the characters! He especially loved the character breakfast with Mickey and Minnie and lunch with the Little Einsteins. We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back! It's a scarry thought that the next time we go we will be a family of 4. Needless to say, we'll recruit more grandparents to help for that trip too!

Wilderness Lodge-- Highly recommended to all!

Day One on our boatride to Magic Kingdom

William & Mickey!

"Patiently" waiting for Chef Mickey's Breakfast

William & Minnie!

What vacation is all about-- too many treat and sweets!

I think it's easy to tell who had more fun on this ride!

William was too short to even see. He controlled how high Dumbo flew and it took a while for him to catch on that he could raise him up.

William, Meme & Papaw at our hotel.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE EARS!

We were so surprised that William actually kept these on. The ears have blinking lights--which is adorable unless you are holding him and there are flashing in your face!

Mommy & Maren Clare with her first ears!

Our last day!

We had a wonderful time!!

Girls Getaway

A group of us from our office have formed an Investment Club. We had our April meeting at St. Simon's Island. Two of our members have homes there and were very generous hosts! We had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful. We did a lot of eating, drinking and shopping. It was also the first time I saw the Atlantic. It was a great getaway!

Everyone on the trip also enjoyed sharing the news of our baby girl. They surprised me with a sweet baby gift-- a bathing suit and beach towel for next summer. (It was also a thank you for being the designated driver!) I also bought her a little something-- I HAD to get it out of my system.

It's a Girl!

Baby Girl Lipani - Long View (Head on left)

It's a Girl!

Today, we found out that we are having a baby girl. Needless to say, we are extremely excited. Em has been eyeing girl clothes for about 2 years now. I am going to have to ask for a raise to clothe this baby over the next year or so. Donations to the Baby Girl Lipani clothing fund can be made via direct deposit or cash contribution.

William seems happy to having a baby sister but has said repeatedly that he wants a baby brother too. He wants 2 babies. Unless I am pregnant, I don't think it will happen so the next few days will be interesting as I explain to him that he will have 1 sibling and not 2.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Emily and the baby are in perfect health and hope to continue that way through August.

Happy Easter

Here are some pics from the Easter Bunny's visit.

We used our new Easter Bunny cake pan to make this cake for William. It looked awesome until we attempted to icing it. It sort of lost all the details. Then the weight of the icing caused the poor bunny to lose his head! I wasn't too concerned-- it was still delicious!

Our 5th Anniversary

I got these beautiful flowers for our 5th Anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been 5 years-- time is flying by and I couldn't ask for a better husband and best friend!

Springtime in Georgia

Here are a few pics of my car. Last week we had the highest pollen count in Georgia's history. There was a lovely yellowish-green powder that covered everything! I think most lazy people (like me) waited almost a week for the rain instead of getting their cars washed. The pollen count went from over 6000 last week to a little over 500 this week. Despite the nasty pollen everything is in bloom and it is gorgeous here in Georgia!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hunt a few weeks ago. I'm a little delayed in posting these pics. Michael was out of town and I was a volunteer for the event so thank goodness Catrina was able to help us! William had a great time!

William was super excited to find a BIG egg!

Thanks for all your help Mrs. Trina!

William loves this slide and it always makes his hair stand up straight.

He was coming down the slide and fishing a yucky jelly bean out--- of course it went straight into my hand!

We still can't get the whole "cheese" thing right.

He says it but looks at anything but the camera.

Mickey Crocs!

Grammy sent William an early Easter package. He wasn't so excited at first when he saw that it was a pair of shoes and then he realized that they had Mickey Mouse on them. (And they are his favorite color.) He is thrilled! He's had them on ever since he open the package this afternoon. Thank you Grammy & Poppy!!

(Please ignore the atrociously messy play room--it's been a long week!)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We got a very sweet treat this afternoon from Nana!

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Ha ha, real funny to take a picture of the pregnant girl in front of the island full of snacks! For those of you I haven't been able to get in touch with we're due August 30th!