Happy 1st birthday Tate!

My youngest nephew, Tate, turned 1 last week! His birthday party was so cute! My awesome sis-in-law does the best job with Tate & Jack's birthday parties! It was a blue & green polka dots theme... here are the pictures!

cute "tate is one" banner!

birthday cake!

He was so cute when we started singing happy birthday, he started acting all smiley & shy. He is seriously the sweetest little boy I know!

I can't believe that one year ago Beth was at the hospital having him- oh, he is so sweet! He is such a big boy now- Happy 1st birthday Tate!

Maggie Claire{in the orange} was giving Tate some birthday cousin kisses! They are so cute together!

beach vacation recap!

We had a wonderful little 2 day vacation to Myrtle Beach last week. We love going to Myrtle Beach, because they have so many hotels right on the beach, and lots of swimming pools too. We were able to take Maggie Claire in an indoor swimming pool in the morning and no one was there, it was so nice to have an entire pool to ourselves, for her to get use to the water. She loves the water, the pool and the beach!

Our view from the hotel room

Mike and Maggie Claire

my vacation cuties

Our setup at the beach

Her first time playing in the sand

Mama's gotta catch some rays!

We also visited my grandma, "Mama Nell" when we were there, she lives close by, it was so nice to see her and visit with her for a while. Maggie Claire was so sweet to her,

Day #2 at the beach- I love this tutu bathing suit thanks to my sweet friend Allison!

Eating the sand

I am so so so so so thankful for our family! After we left the beach, we went to my nephew's birthday party... that post & pictures will come tomorrow!

Have a great weekend everyone!

7 months update

Happy 7 month to our sweet Maggie Claire! {May 7th} I think I say this every month, but this is the best stage that she is in right now! She is so fun and I just can't get enough of her sweetness!

7 month milestones & stats:

• 16 pounds 10 ounces {50%}
• 28 inches long! {98%}
• had ice cream from her memaw and wanted more!
• sitting up
• clapping
• waving and saying "heeeeeeyyyyyyyyy"
• laughs so hard at her cousin Jack.... it really is the funniest thing!
• size 3 diaper
• size 6-9 months, 9 months, some 12 months clothes
• still breastfeeding- I think I might make my goal to a year! :) We do 5 feedings a day
• takes 2 {sometimes 3} naps a day
• sleeps 12 hours at night usually- she is her mama's girl sleeping in- ha!
• favorite foods- just about all baby foods- she's not picky!
• she really is so friendly- she smiles at everyone she comes in contact with

This month has been crazy fun with her because of all the fun new things she is learning to do! She learned to sit up, clap, and wave all within a couple of weeks, and it is sooooo much fun! We love watching her learn, as you can tell I love being Maggie Claire's mommy! I am loving taking her to the beach and the pool. We just got back from vacation and we were at the beach and she loved the water and eating the sand. She makes me want to have more kids sooner {but we're not planning on it any time soon!!}

Here are some cutie pie pictures of her clapping and saying "yay"

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

anything she wants...

The first weekend of May, Maggie Claire's grandparents came to Charleston to visit all the way from California. Maggie Claire was soaking up all the love from them. It was fun to have them here, we miss them so much since they moved in January! Here are some of the pictures that I captured of Maggie Claire with her Mimi and Papa. They are so sweet!

vacay, business & cuteness miscellany!

{*}Vacation here we come! We aren't traveling far, just 2 hours to a beach resort so we won't have to have Maggie Claire in the car for too long. I'm praying everything works out, and we don't have a vacation gone bad like last May when we missed our cruise ship. Keep us in your prayers as we travel! I am so giddy to just lay on the beach! This is our first vacation with Maggie Claire, so I'm hoping she'll do good sleeping some where else!

{*}If you didn't see my post yesterday... I've re-launched Paint, Bake & Create! yay yay yay! I'm in between jobs right now, aka: currently looking for a job! Sounds fun, huh? {if you know of anything, let me know!} Well, I've been working on my new Paint, Bake, & Create blog in the meantime & I'm open for orders. I love making handmade things... so head on over to the website and browse around! While you are there, leave me some comment love on what you like the best. Also, feel free to grab my button below! Thanks for your support & be on the lookout for a giveaway in the near future!

<center><a href="http://paintbakeandcreate.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="hilary surratt" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/hils4reals/buttonicon-2.jpg" /></a></center>

{*} I'm now considered a top mommy blogger! woot!

{*}high fashion leopard baby sandals. These are too cute for words! We were at target this weekend and I saw these and loved loved loved them. I was with my mom, she got them & will be wrapping them as one of Maggie Claire's 1st birthday presents. {The smallest size they had was a size 5... so she'll wear them later on!}

{*}Oh yea... I had to show a Maggie Claire pic of her in her adorable strawberry dress! I love this dress & I bought it right when I found out I was pregnant and I didn't even know it was a girl yet! {Of course I made her a matching hairbow!}

Happy Monday! Link on up to Miscellany Monday over at lowercase letters.

open for business!

I just got finished with the new Paint, Bake, & Create design on the blog! Head on over to check out all my wonderful handmade goodies! In case you've never visited my blog before I make everything from hairbows{headbands too!}, name canvas', hairbow holders, ribbon chandeliers, diaper cakes, princess hairbows, tutus, cupcake hairbows, and so much more! Plus, you can grab my cute button! Keep me in mind for baby shower or wedding gifts!

<center><a href="http://paintbakeandcreate.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="hilary surratt" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/hils4reals/buttonicon-2.jpg" /></a></center>

ray of sunshine

There is something about the color yellow that just makes me smile. I love love love the color yellow. If you didn't know before, my bridesmaids wore yellow in my wedding. When you see someone in yellow, it should just brighten the mood. Especially when you see a cute baby like this in yellow. This is probably one of my favorite pictures of her ever. She lights up my life!

She is just like a yellow ray of sunshine. She will make you want a baby, she is so cute! ha!

"Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music."

Psalm 98:4

miscellany monday in may!

I had a fabulous 1st mother's day. I have the cutest, happiest baby around town, so this momma is happy! :) Here is us yesterday: me, Maggie Claire, and my mom! I am so blessed to have a super mom who I love and can hang out with all the time. Maggie Claire loves her too! :) We got my mom a handstamped charm necklace with the grandkids names on it. I got it from the silver sunshine shop on etsy! I love her stuff, I would love to get a necklace for myself now! :)

My adorable friend Brittany graduated from college this weekend, and I was able to make her some sparkle garland for her party! Congrats Birttany! Here's the sparkle garland for my friend brittany sparkle! {Everyone knows her by sparkle b/c she loves glitter like nobodies business!} You can follow her on twitter @sparklespice. I love her!

This is what my house looks like after every weekend. We are in Mount Pleasant{about 20 min from where we live} about 75% of the weekend, which means I am always carrying stuff in and out of the house, and by the time I get home on Sunday afternoon, I just want to put it all down and crash on the couch. so this is what my house looks like every monday morning! haha- and it still looks like this and it's almost 3pm! I better get to cleaning b/c my mom is coming over to watch Maggie Claire tonight, and I need to cook some food to take to small group!

Happy Monday everyone! Link on up with other Miscellany Monday posts!

More post coming this week on Maggie turning 7 months, paint bake & create relaunching, and MC getting spoiled by her grandparents from California!!! :)

30 minutes

{This was written on Thursday, but as most of you can relate to, being a mom and blogging means being interrupted 20 times and never being able to finish & publish a blogpost. hehe}

Today I was able to get 30 minutes of peace by the pool. It was much much much much needed, and I am so thankful that I was able to at least get 30 min. It would have been nice if it was an hour or 2, but you get what you get, and that 30 minutes was bliss! I read a little from Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen after attending my first discipleship huddle today w/ other pastor/ministry wives. Meeting with a group of people that you can be real with, let your guard down, and be full of high challenge is so refreshing. What a great Thursday it has been!

Maggie Claire's baby dedication

On Saturday, we had a special baby dedication for Maggie Claire and her cousins Jack and Tate. We had family come from all over the United States, and this weekend worked out perfect because so much of our family was able to be there. My in-laws were in town from Orange County, California, and Mike's dad, who officiated our wedding, was able to officiate the baby dedication. It was so cool to have Maggie Claire's Papa pray over her and dedicate her to the Lord during this ceremony. Here are a few pictures from the big day!

Sitting on mommy's lap during the dedication. Oh, those sweet cheeks are too precious!

My brother Brad & my sister in law Bethany with Jack and Tate

{PS- Beth just announced she is pregnant with baby #3!!!!! Yay I get to be an auntie again!!!}

Me & Mike with Maggie Claire.

Papa bragging about his baby granddaughter :)

Our sweet family of three

Us with Mike's family

{Mimi Sherry, Papa Geoff & aunt Brittainy}

My dad, us, & my stepmom

Afterward, my mom hosted everyone over for a lunch and we took some family pictures in the backyard!

Me & my baby girl!

This picture is us with my mom's dad's side of the family

{we have a lot of family!}

4 Generations: Maggie Claire, me, my mom, and my memaw!