Big Girl Class

Well, I think I might officially be an adult now!  What caused this big change?  I taught adults at church, which means that I have conquered my greatest fear of all time.  I know it probably sounds crazy, but I have always been intimidated at the thought of teaching adults. Babies, kids, teenagers?  Piece of cake!  Adults?  Instant panic attack! 

All week long I kept getting the nagging feeling like I was going to be asked to give a talk in church.  Those also make me super nervous, but I have been there and done that.  So, when the president of the women's organization at church called me late Friday afternoon and said that she needed a substitute at the last minute I accepted the challenge.  I used Friday as my freak out day and then Saturday morning I planned and wrote my lesson in no time.  Dare I say that I felt fine?!

Sunday morning came and the Hubs and I were dressed for church.  I got Lo's ensemble out to put on her, Hubby brought her into the nursery to get dressed and as soon as he put her down he looked green.  Then he ran to the bathroom where violent vomiting ensued.  Hmmm, so now the Hubs is down for the count...what's a girl to do?  I called my mother whom was running late to her own church service and she came to church with me so that I didn't have to bounce my baby on my hip while giving a lesson.  Okay, there would have been plenty of eager women wanting to hold Lo, but the last thing I wanted was an inconsolable baby with a strange new person.  Needless to say, all went well.  There was a lot of class participation which was greatly appreciated.  I had a page and a half of information that I didn't get to cover and that was my ideal situation.  Bottom line?  Greatest fear = CONQUERED!

Independence Day 2012

We had a fabulous 4th of July celebration at our home.  This year we decided that we were taking over the 4th as our holiday.  All of my siblings have "their" holidays so we chose our first one.  We had a delicious spread- we went with BBQ as the main event.  We also had some wonderfully patriotic food too including salad with blueberries and strawberries, red white and blue dipped strawberries, truffles and pretzel rods, red and white pina coladas (a.k.a. Hawaiian lava flow) and blue corn chips with queso and salsa.  We also enjoyed red white and blue cake with homemade strawberry ice cream and s'mores.

 Everyone enjoyed the outdoor games- golf toss and corn hole.

 A kid and adult favorite-the slip and slide.  Pappy even took a couple joy rides down the thing.

 Red, white and blue eats.

 Roc making the ice cream

 Nell tasting the Hawaiian lava flow drinks

 The slip-n-slide champ J-Man

 Gigi, E and Pappy enjoying the swing

 Some of my crafty decor.

Our little family.

We bought a plethora of outdoor games that everyone enjoyed.  We also tried to do water balloons but that was an epic fail!  Apparently we bought the worst water balloons ever made.  The slip-n-slide will definitely be making an appearance next year.  The kids made everyone s'mores over the grill and the day ended with a pretty sweet fireworks display put on by the Hubs and Roc.  There was only one grouping that went astray and sent the entire family running for their lives.  It was also the first fireworks set off so that Lo could experience some.  She was unfazed by the fiasco but her Mama wasn't so calm as she bobbed and weaved around the yard like she was in a war zone.  Good times!

Gigi Turns 5

Gigi had a little "garden party" with a few of her little friends.  She chose the theme so there were lots of "garden" related games, flower pot painting, flower and butterfly decor and dirt cups instead of birthday cake.  This was seriously the best kid birthday that I have ever been to and I consider myself an expert at this point in my life thanks to 6 nieces and nephews!  These children were so well behaved- there wasn't ever a disagreement and no adult ever had to raise their voice.  That's a birthday miracle!

 Baby made some adorable snacks that had crackers and grapes but looked like butterflies, there were veggie cups with ranch for dipping, popsicles and "dirt cups" that each child got to customize to his/her liking.

 The kids all seemed to enjoy painting little flower pots.  Incidentally this is the only picture that I seem to have with the birthday girl in it and it's of her backside!  Oh well, she had on a really adorable outfit!

 Munchie came up with an inventive way to paint the bottom of her pot.

Little bit enjoyed all of the attention that she received.  She stayed up for the entire party and loved getting passed from person to person.

Bab made this spider web game out in the driveway and the kids all wanted to do it over and over again. There was also a treasure hunt, the kids dug for buried treasures in the sandbox and then a game of freeze tag where E and J Man acted like bees.  If you got "stung" then you were frozen.



3 Month Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures from Lo's 3 month shoot. Little miss was quite sleepy and quite grumpy...thank heaven for a fabulous photographer. I still can't believe how many really good shots she got.

The flower dress that she is wearing in some of the pictures has a story behind it. When Hubby's Grandma died when we were 17 we started going through her sewing stuff. My Mom had the forethought to save some of her fabric and she made this dress for Lo out of one of those pieces.

As always, our favorite photographer, H. Alexandra Photography

3 Months

Lo doesn't go back to the doctor until her 4 month check up but I thought I would document a little about our girl.  I weighed her yesterday and if my scale is correct she weighs a little over 15 pounds.  She has always been a good sleeper at night but this week she has started waking around 2:00AM for a feeding.  It seems as though she's going through a growth spurt.  She brings so much joy into our lives.

 She loves to shop.  Hubby says we're in trouble because the more things we pile into the cart the more smiley she gets.  She even helped her Daddy shop for new glasses and these were the ones he ended up buying.  I guess she already has good taste!

 She's had a pretty big month on the toy front.  She is a lot more interactive now and enjoys time on her activity mat.  She's only done the exersaucer once but she enjoyed it.

 On her activity mat.  There are about 3 places that you can kick and each place plays a different song.  She is a very active girl so you never her more than 3 or 4 notes of a song before she's kicked a different spot and it starts a new song.

 She's very patient with her cousins antics...

 and with them learning how to help her.

 She's become quite the drooler!

 She is a very pleasant girl...as long as she gets her nap. She is very vocal about not getting her beauty rest although she fights it to the end.

 Loves sitting up all by herself in the bumbo.

 Water relaxes her as has been evident from her love of her white noise machine...she enjoys the rain,stream and ocean noises best.  She also loves baths.

 She's got a love of vintage cars...or at least her Daddy hopes!

She loves her Daddy!  However,with the growth spurt she prefers for her Mama to put her down for naps.

Treking

Since Bab and Roc had been away all week at the pioneer trek (week long camp where the teens reenact the pioneer trek out west. Meaning no electronic devices, sleeping under tarps, pulling handcarts, dressed in period attire, etc) I thought it would be cool for the kids to go on Saturday to see the end of the adventure. Roc labored over the planning of the trek for about a year and I thought they should go and see what he had been working so hard for.

Dad and I drove the kids the 2 and 1/2 hours to the upstate where it was held. We got there a little early and met up with Bab and then walked to the area where the trek was over. After a minor delay the carts rolled in a little after noon. I think the kids thought it was interesting.

On our way home we got lunch and stopped at a famous seed company...they make every type of seed imaginable and have acres of gardens showing them off. The kids thoroughly enjoyed walking the grounds.

Fathers Day 2012

This was a very special Fathers Day indeed. It was Robert's first official time celebrating and we tried to do it right! He got miscellaneous fun paraphernalia, some clothes, the Sleep Book by Dr. Seuss (it's sentimental) and I took pics of our little Lo with her holding the letters D-A-D and had it framed.

We stayed at my parents the night before to go to church with them because my Dad was speaking to the congregation. I made everyone stuffed French toast and even brought it to the Hubs in bed. Little Miss slept for 12 hours straight...talk about a good present! Then I was taking a bath with Lo before church and when Hubby came in to get her out she gave him her first ever giggle. The girl definitely knows how to make a guy feel special!

We had a good service at church and the Hubs was treated to "Doughnuts for Dads" afterwards.

Later we ate dinner with the fam at my parents. We had steak, Mac and cheese, salad, grilled squash and zucchini, corn in the cob and homemade yeast rolls with homemade jam. I made a diabetic coma style peanut butter chocolate pie. It was divine, but made the soda that we washed it down with seen like water...it was rich!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Dad, I truly couldn't ask for better. He's funny, loyal, sensitive and every other fine characteristic you would want in a man.

It goes without saying how great the Hubs is with his daughter, she absolutely adores him. She lights up when she sees or hears him and she looks exactly like him. We are very lucky girls!