McClendon, Party of Five: A Big Week!

(This one is from last week...totally forgot to post it! Imagine that!!)
This is the last time you'll ever see this sweet face looking like this...

...because she got braces bright and early Monday morning!
Yep, that's right. And in 18 short months (we're thinking positive, right B?!) she'll come out looking like the cover of a magazine...even more so than she already does! :)
It's been a big week for Cate, too. For the first time in her little toddler life, she ditched the baby bed and opted for her big girl bed. She's been really attached to her crib her whole life. Most kids would be itching to leave it behind and move on to bigger and better things, but not her. She's the one I just knew would be jumping from the rails to the floor at an early age. That's why I've been shocked that she's hung in there for as long as she has. I wouldn't say I've been exactly pushing the big girl bed on her. If you know me, you know my feelings about keeping her my baby as long as I can. She still goes to bed with a bottle full of whole milk. And her paci. I know, I know. No ridicule, please. I honestly can't help it. She might be my last baby, and I just can't let go.
Anyway, here she is in all her big girl glory...

I took so many pictures of her that I eventually woke her up...

So she sat up and we had a ten minute conversation about how big she was. And I might or might not have asked her if I could crawl in bed and snuggle up with her. I stayed strong and left her, Elizabeth, and Lamby to themselves...but I couldn't wait to get her up the next morning. I felt like her hair had grown ten inches and she was a foot taller because she looked so big sitting up in the bed waiting for me to come get her. Oh my goodness...she's my heart!
Speaking of babies, Towns was looking at the Kelly's Kids catalog the other day and decided she'd circle everything she wanted. And I do mean everything. But this particular page caught my eye...

Can you tell that she's campaigning for a little brother or sister? She circled almost every tiny baby outfit they had to offer. Her Daddy nearly died when she showed him. His response? "Those little outfits would look great on the Davis twins!" In other words, it ain't happening.

We've partied a lot this week. Towns had a birthday party for her friend Hayley which turned into nothing but silly little girls running from one end of her house to the other while the moms pretended there was nothing else in the world going on except good conversation!

Squealing like crazy, destroying her room (that they later cleaned up without a single complaint), and changing clothes 16 times....all in the name of birthday fun!
And since B will be with her mom on Valentine's Day, we had to have a little party. Naturally! I made her a homemade pizza per her request, and then it was onto this...

She waited in the den while Towns got it all set up, and she put on the best surprised face ever for us so Towns wouldn't know that she knew what we were up to...

She dug into her treats at mock speed...

Which Cate was very happy about so that she could finally get her hands on the cupcakes! Or maybe I should say cupcakes on her hands...

As well as the rest of her body...

This isn't the first run-in we'd had with the cupcakes today. She and Towns got to lick the bowl after I made them. Which really turned into Cate stealing it and running, Towns getting pretty distraught about it, and then being happy again once she found out that the arm of the rocking chair in the den made a great vault. And when I say that Cate wasn't giving the batter bowl up, I'm not kidding...

She sat in one spot for a little while, then moved with her bowl to another spot...

And I caught her trying to wipe her hands on the couch. Nice. From this picture you can tell that it's not the first time. The couch has seen its better days...