Times Like These

 I know I should be inside switching laundry, or scrubbing a toilet.

Or at the very least unloading the dishwasher or thinking about what's for dinner.

Or even just sweeping the back porch or maybe pulling a few weeds.

But times like these deserve my full attention.  I love lazy days.

Who am I kidding?!  They are all mostly lazy days. 

But I sure am good at enjoying them!

Who's Idea Was This...

 ...to give the baby something melty...

 ...and chocolatey and oooey gooey...

 ...and fully clothed, buttoned from head to toe and hooded too...

...who's idea was this anyway?!

Alaina Turns Two: The Party!

In true overwhelmed-frazzled mommy fashion, when Alaina's birthday was approaching I suggested no party this year and just cake with us four.  Josh's jaw hit the floor!  We talked about it more and having everyone over to celebrate our baby girl and all the memories and fun and I immediately knew he was right. What was I even thinking, anyway?!

Aunt Tammy, Uncle Michael and Great-Grandma having some snacks.

Baby Shawn (five months older than Alaina) saddled up on Josh's old school trike for this shot.  This is the cutest, craziest, sweetest kid!

It was warm and beautiful and we got to hang around the yard and visit.  Uncle Peter, Aunt Shannon, Cousin Lindsey, and Gigi are some of the more photogenic people I know.  Love this family!

We had fun running around the yard and munching and snacking the afternoon away.  Everyone was on best behavior! ;)

Of course the Birthday Girl would be looking away from the camera in the classic cake shot! Even though I let Kroger bake the cake and provide lunch for us (store bought birthday cake?! Ack!  I know I know...next year I'll do better! Ha!) I still had to decorate a bit and got to re-use the pink table runner I made for a baby shower one year.  I picked up cute bright owl plates and balloons since Alaina has really taken a liking to owls lately.  She is starting to get into princesses too....so cute!  She almost always lets me add a bow to her hair and she loves picking out her own outfits to wear.  I'm seeing some real changes from baby to little girl these days. 

Shy-pie as everyone stares and serenades her!

This is always one of the best memories...we light and relight the candles over and over so everyone can blow!  *insert CLAP and CHEER and light again!*  Alaina wasn't feeling it at first but after the other kids showed her how fun it was she eventually got into it!

She loved her new sandels from Bobie and had to wear them immediately.

Brother just hanging out!

And later when clean up had commenced and everything was winding down, I found her in the kitchen....

...stealing bites of cake!  And stealing my heart too.  Love this girl!  Happy Second Birthday!

Alaina Turns TWO!

We were out of town for Alaina's birthday weekend this year.  The following weekend we had all the family over for cake and a big sandwich tray.  So the morning of the party we had a special time for her to open her presents from Josh, Joseph and I.

 

Joseph picked out a super cute purple Zhu Zhu pet which she loved.  She always plays with his so now it's really fun to see them playing together with their hamsters.  They're fun little toys!

My big idea this year was to get Alaina her first Cabbage Patch doll, which were my favorite.  Joseph latched on to my Cabbage Patch Preemie named Antony Barry (Joseph renamed him Anthony (no 'h' in his real name)) when he was just a wee-thing and has loved it every since so no chance Alaina was getting that one! 

I noticed they are selling a Vintage Cabbage Patch dolls now which have the same yarn hair and design as the original ones from back in the 80's. We went ahead and got her one with the pretty silky hair that I'm sure will only be pretty for a week.  Good times.

She seemed pretty tickled with it.  And her doll has that delicious sweet baby powder smell!  Talk about nostalgia.

I hope and pray that the next year holds so much fun and adventure for this little one.  I hope that I can train her and raise her to be a confident, well-mannered, joyful child.  I hope that an mistakes I make can become a learning experience and that she can learn from me too.  I'm overwhelmed with joy by this gift of a sweet little girl that I've been given and I'm so excited to see what the next year holds!

Texas Relays

Our sweet and talented Jessie-bear was competing in the Texas Relays again this year, but this time on a collegiate level!

We packed up the kids and headed to Austin (home of the competition) to watch and cheer her on. We don't road-trip as much as we used to before the kids were here, and it always surprises me how well it goes.  This time was no exception!

Jessie didn't do as well as she wanted; she holds herself to very high standards - the way most athletes do, but we had a great time watching her and seeing all the family. 

The competition started early Saturday morning so we got up earrrrlllly and headed out.  It was no fun!  I thought, *hoped*, that the kids would go back to sleep after we got them loaded up but they were excited and wide awake.  They ended up sleeping a little on the way but not nearly as long as I hoped. That made for a long day!

Sleepy Alaina loved snuggling!  She was passed around and snuggled up by a couple of Aunts, a Gigi, and of course her mommy. 

 

After Jessie was done we all rendezvoused for lunch at On the Border - all 20 of us!  I know they have to cringe hard when they see us coming! We decided to rent a little house for the same price as a hotel room, and that way we had more space.  So we headed over to unpack after lunch and start our tour de Austin area friends from college.  

I'm SO glad I got to see Jessie compete and look so awesome in her Auburn blue and orange!  I know that girl is going places...you just watch and see.    

Imagination is king around here.  I swear, I can't turn around for one second without the whole kitchen table being taken over with pretend plastic food and monkeys.  Lots and lots of monkeys. 

Boy they look hungry.  They're licking their plates clean!  

Now someone clear the darn table so I can put our real dinner down.... 

For Me? You Shouldn't Have!

I love stopping by the discount flower section when I'm at the grocery store and seeing what they have.  I rarely buy fresh flowers, but if there is something that I just can't pass up then I'll treat myself.

These roses were speaking to me the other day and went right into my shopping cart!  The colors were just perfect to brighten up the kitchen.

I fixed them up in a sweet little vase that I found at the antique mall one day.  It's one of my favorite vases because it has a lid with a floral grid on top.  It makes a beautiful little arrangement.  Whenever I see floral frogs I always debate on whether or not to pick one up and I always pass them by, but I think I may pick one up next time since tools like that make arranging flowers so easy. 

I hope these beauties brightened your day too!

I had these pictures sitting on my computer from a fun winter backyard play day.  When it's that time of the season when there is lots of rain and cold cold temps, and you have two antsy munchkins, anything above 40 with low or no wind is a perfect day! 

I was thinking about taking Alaina to have pictures made for her 2nd birthday (in two weeks! agh!) but the more time I spend with my camera learning all about manual mode, the more I think I might be able to get some good shots without spending the dough.  Sometimes though it's just nicer to have someone else worry about getting the money shot, good lighting, and editing.  I would love to set up a tea party on the ground in the back yard and see what I can get though. 

And definietly dress her in red for it.  I am really liking red on her these days!  It's so bright, fun and kinda wild, but still sweet when paired with little flowers...just like her.  That little red bow in her hair with those big blue eyes just melt my heart! 

And this guy...this guy will not be invited to the tea party because I have a feeling he will Incredible Hulk-Ninja-Tranformer-Pirate his way through the sweetness of it.  Or maybe a special appearance at the end would be just perfect if we need to spice things up a bit. 

I wish I had sound effects to go with this picture.  I'm sure there were some good ones during the live shot! 

This day I am so glad I pulled out my camera and got a few shots.  These of the kids loving on their daddy are the coolest!

Lil' Punkin says 'Come on spring!'  We've got lots of exploring to do.