nana it is your special day!!!

today is nana's birthday! nana is a super special lady to everyone in our family. she is a wonderful example of a supportive and caring wife. she shows unconditional love as a mother. she is a proud and precious "nana" to her 2 grandchildren- o&j. she loves her son-in-law like one of her own. she is helpful, organized, happy, thoughtful, generous, and genuine. she is also a loyal and dependable friend.
so today mom, nana, nancy, nanc (whatever you might call her) we celebrate you! we hope your birthday is a wonderful as you are to each of us!!

here are some pictures from our "july birthday dinner" at arthur's. it was a fun night out and some really tasty food.

mom and mark enjoying and posing with their birthday creme brule.

the blanchette fam- chris, steph, mark, sean, dad, and mom

my cute little brother, sean sipping a cup of coffee to end our evening.

thanks dad for a fun night to celebrate mom and mark!! it was lots of fun!

florida family fun

our family from florida made the LONG trip to texas for a little visit. we did some dallas sightseeing and then headed to cedar creek lake for some fun in the sun.

olivia, timmy, and p.j. at the bronze cattle drive in downtown dallas. (i have lived in dallas most of my life and never knew this existed- actually pretty neat!)

olivia loved playing with her cousins, p.j. and timmy. p.j. and timmy loved meeting the newest member of our family- baby jack. of course aunt laura and uncle pat were really fun to hang out with too(we just didn't get many pictures of them- sorry:)).

the cousins hanging out on the deck. what a view!

timmy and olivia became fast friends. here they are watching the sunset.
jack bonding with his big cousin, timmy. p.j. and timmy loved holding baby jack.

uncle mark came up from houston to see the florida folks, but he really ended up bonding with jack. look how relaxed they are!



we had a super fun time! we are so blessed to have such a special family and especially those that will travel for days to come and visit.

up, up, and away

after two and a half years of depending the "passy" for comfort and security, olivia has finally given it up. just so you can understand what a BIG deal this was, here is a look back at Olivia and her love of "passy."









as you can see, she and the "passy" had a special bond.

i have know for along time that we needed to break this bond so, about a month ago we started having the conversation about the pacifier going away. i told olivia that when the pacifiers would be going away and when they went away they would be gone forever. her response was, "like balloons, mommy." "yes," i said, "like balloons." so the idea was born-- put the pacifiers in balloons and send them into the sky and out of our house!


after days of preparation, the day finally came, olivia and i went to the "balloon store" (a.k.a. party city). she picked a special balloon for each pacifier (red balloon for the red pacificer, blue balloon for the blue pacifier, and so on), and after some crazy looks from the teenage boy working the balloon counter, we left with a handful pacifier-filled helium balloons.

as soon as we pulled into the garage, olivia was ready and excited to let the balloons and pacifiers go- so without any further delay we launched the balloons. the pacifiers went
up, up, and away.

look how cute she is waving good-bye.

to many this may seem like a HUGE production for such a small thing, but i am really proud of olivia for being such a big girl and "letting go" of her "passies." so far olivia is doing great! just few sad moments before nap #1 with no "passy" and bedtime is getting easier every day.