A Picture Update

This past week as been pretty low key for the most part so I will just share a few pictures that I took.

If AR hears something outside, like a big truck or Tucker barking, she thinks she's suppose to go and see it.  Well, the city people were cleaning up leaves across the street and she heard the truck.  I wasn't about to hold her up to the door window to watch the whole time so I just put her in her highchair and let her look out the window.  She loved it!

Looking so loooong!

On Wednesday I found her in the infant carseat that belongs to the little boy I keep.  She was playing quite contently until she flipped over trying to get out.

Notice her two favorite "toys" of the week.  One of her spoons and a sour cream bowl.  She will carry them all over, especially the sppon.  She'll even "stir" the spoon around in the bowl.  For those who don't have kids yet, real toys are sooo overrated!

Peek-a-boo!

I also made a cake this week for a church friend's daughter.  It was a first for me b/c it was a cake made out of cupcake so you can pull them apart.  I will have to do this type of cake again one day for AR.

That about wraps it up!  Next week will be spent figuring what all I need to do to prep for a busy June and *hopefully* starting on a curtain for the bathroom. I'm not having much luck in finding fabric though!

Some New Recipes

I'm pretty sure the last time I shared some recipes with you was before AR was born or right afterwards.  But I do have 3 recipes that I want to share b/c they have really impressed me.  I will just be linking up to where I got the recipes.  I also realize pics would help but they have them on the links so you'll have to look at theirs!

First, if you are on Pinterest then you have seen this Green Monster Spinach Smoothie pinned everywhere.  I pinned it a while ago but never got around to making it and I finally did last week.  Let me just say that I'm a fan!  I have since swapped out the peanut butter for strawberries and it's a little better in my opinion.  I hope to try more green smoothies in the future.  AR loves it too and that makes me happy b/c I get more fruits and veggies, which are harder, in her little body!  I have even made some popsicles for her out of them.  Oh, and frozen fruits are the KEY to a smooth smoothie... no more ice for me!

Second, I made this Sweet and Sour Chicken last week and it was sooo good.  It really does taste like takeout and I even heard my husband telling his family about it!  Will be making this again in the future!

Lastly, yesterday I made these Crockpot Chicken Tacos and can we say E-A-S-Y?!  Yes, we can.  We both really liked them too.  I even used frozen chicken breasts for the same time and it came out just fine.

Enjoy!

Cousins and "Cousins"

This past weekend, we headed to Mimi and Papa's house for the weekend since the Hayes crew was coming up.  We love to get the girls together any chance we get, not to mention we love seeing everybody else too!  Things are quite active now with a three year old boy and two walking one year olds!  And yes, the girls did wearing matching outfits at all times with the exception of pjs.

It was quite obvious this wasn't AR's first time at the piano with Mimi. 

Sweet Caroline

The girls getting some snacks from Grandmama

Riding the "horsey" with Uncle Chad

The girls

AR and Grayson beating up on Uncle Willie/Daddy

Somehow he missed her!

The girls taking a bath... Caroline wasn't happy about something!

Grayson was cracking me up with these marshmallows that he carried around and wanted us all to smell!

Daddy getting AR all ready for bed.

Attempting to take pics of the girls in their matching dresses.

A little better!

AR carried this purse that belonged to Aunt Mollie all weekend long.  This is exactly how she wore it too.

Grayson swinging

These girls love their shoes!

Speaking of "cousins", a couple weeks ago, my friend Jennie was up for her sister's graduation.  We were able to meet up with everybody downtown and they snapped a few pictures for us!  We hope Jennie and her husband will move closer to us one day!!

Me and Jennie

Love these girls... I used to go to the beach with their family during the summers.  Miss those days!

Sorry for the quality, but here we are in 2003 - 9 years ago!!!!!!!

Jennie's mom, Julie, dancing with AR!

Life in the Dark Ages

The good news is that I no longer have a flip phone and therefore my husband can't make fun of me for that... the bad news is that I actually don't have any phone until Monday right now.  My phone broke into 2 pieces earlier this week with the exception of the electrical cord that kept it so that I could at least use it if need be.  Well, leave it to me to leave my phone within grabbing reach of AR... when I saw her grab it yesterday I flew over there and took it and somewhere in between it became 2 separate pieces... as seen below.  So we are living in the dark ages over here without a phone!!!!!!!!!  Well, I still have the internet... and tv... and a microwave... so I guess life isn't over yet!

This phone lasted me a good 2 1/2 years at least... waiting on my new basic phone to arrive now. 

On Tuesday evening, AR got bit my a mosquito on her forehead and the next day it looked awful!  It was worse than any bruise or knot she's ever gotten from falling or anything.  I tried to take a picture of it, but it doesn't do it justice!

There was a bruise already there that you can kind of see (a little yellow), but the knot was huge from the bite!  AR looks as though she's about to attack the camera with her spoon!

I can't believe AR will be 13 Months on Sunday!  Maybe it's b/c she's my first, but I have found it really  amazing just how much information she is retaining and learning.  I just love seeing her learn and do something new.  I can ask her to do something like "drink your water/milk", "you do it", or "where's the ____ " and she responds correctly.  Now, it's definitely not every time and I know my daughter's not a genius... it's just so neat to see her responding.  I can also work with her on something like giving kisses and she picks it up fast... and who knew those open mouth, wet kisses could be so sweet?!

We are also up to 11 teeth!  Like her first few teeth, she never let me know.  I managed to get a peek in there, which is hard to do these days, and saw that two more top teeth had popped through.  I do think that she has another one coming in due to running nose and fussiness this week.  Some give her more trouble than others.


Just a few more pics for you:

One of AR's favorite things right now is straps... she loves the Wii remote, bags, and anything she can stick her arm into and carry around like a purse.  Is this a girl thing?!

Entertainment comes in all sorts of forms these days and it never ceases to amaze me what she finds to play with.  Here she has a place mat that she was taking all over the house and sitting on. 

Eating some chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries.

Bananas and cheerios for breakfast this morning.  She's teething again and therefore won't eat anything from a spoon such as her normal oatmeal with either applesauce or banana in it.

Ready to go to the neighborhood covered dish on Monday night.  Check out my new bird earrings from William and AR that I got for Mother's Day... love them!

Back to Normal

     Guess that depends on how you define normal!  Last week I was really feeling overwhelmed and scared AR was becoming more attached.  Little did I realize that she still wasn't herself after having the stomach bug.  This week has been sooo much better.  Our little girl has her smile back and is back to having better independent play time, not that I don't play with her some throughout the day.  So glad to have my sweet girl back!
     Yesterday was Mother's Day and of course I forgot to get a picture with AR.  Maybe today?  Doubt it.  But I did have a very nice day.  William got up early to fix AR's milk and get her out of bed for me.  They had a card, peanut M&M's and earrings waiting for me at the table.  We then went to church and ate leftover Low Country Boil that William had cooked for me the night before.  I didn't want to fight any crowds on Mother's Day so this was perfect for me!  Later that day, William did dishes, swept, vacuumed, mopped, AND cleaned the bathrooms, which was the best part!  I had a great day and I love being a mom to my little girl.  I also love being a daughter to the best mom and a daughter-in-law to the best mother-in-law.  The Lord has blessed me with such wonderful women in my life!  Happy Mother's Day to them and all my other mom (or soon to be) friends!
    Well, not much new is going on so I'll leave you with what you were waiting on anyways - pictures!

Thanks Aunt Mollie for the onsie!

Playing with her kitchen container items.  She loves this stuff!

Ready for a "swim"

 

She finds flowing water fascinating!

And now for our latest form of entertainment... an infant bouncy seat.

She gets fustrated after climbing in because she can't always get out so easily.

But she figures it out and then she repeats this process over and over and over.

 

April/May Goals

Time to see how I did on last months goals and update this month's... which is almost 1/2 way over :/.
April Goals:
1)  Drink at least 32 oz of water a day - I did a fairly good job of this, didn't always keep count, but my water intake was def. much better than previous months.
2)  Get at least 90 minutes of walking in each week - I did this most every week unless something just interfered.
3)  Clean headlights using this method - did and posted a picture in a previous post.
4)  Make a list of all family and friend birthdays for the "Notebook" - Typed but not printed... plan to keep adding to it for now.
5)  Clean out coat closet - Done!!!  I was able to get rid of just one coat, out of eight, which isn't too bad.  I do hope to replace it next cold season though with one I like.  I don't think eight is too excessive though, a few light weight, a few heavier, and a rain jacket.  If I had, say, 16 jackets, that might be a bit much.  I know, I know, who would have 16 jackets???  Oh, my husband, that's who!  And coming up with three jackets to get rid of was anything but easy for him.  Apparently he needs everyday jackets, work outside jackets, hunting jackets, and a few others.  AND each of those categories needs a light, medium, and heavy weight jacket of course.  I was proud of him for giving up three and I know how fortunate we are to have even one jacket each.
6)  Clean out basket under tv - I purged many items from this basket and am currently waiting on a cd/dvd notebook to arrive to that I can get rid of some cd/dvd cases.
7)  Complete "Your Girl" - Almost... only a few pages left and I usually read at lunch time so I only get about 5-10 pages read a day.  But can I say that it is a must read for mom's of daughters out there (Courtney, Meredith, and others, get a copy!).  I'm sooo glad I read it before having an 8+ year old daughter.  I will be pulling it back out when teaching AR (and other children, boy or girl) to pray, handle things at school, learn scripture, etc.
8)  Most importantly, celebrate my baby's 1 year birthday!!!! - A couple times!!  See previous posts!!

I'm happy with last months goals completion rate!

May's Goals:
1)  Clean out kitchen utensil drawer
2)  Clean out/organize the cabinet with all cake pans and random containers
3)  Clean out bottom of china cabinet
4)   Drink 40 + oz of water a day
5)  Walk 120 minutes a week
6)  Make picture magnets for AR

Nothing to difficult, but I also haven't really started on anything but the walking.  I blame the stomach bug. I am waiting/hoping for a big Memorial Day sale at Micheal's to buy some baskets for the cabinets... so I may be waiting to last minute on that one!

Birthday Fun (again), Walking, and More!

Sorry for the lack of new posts, but if I have to be honest the posts may be slowing down to one a week or even every other.  (Kirkley, please don't be mad).  Life is so busy and I just can't find the time to do anything anymore!  AR freaks out whenever I'm out of her site and sometimes just more than 2 feet away from her is enough to bring on the waterworks.  I don't know if this is normal or if I have somehow created this, but it's wearing me out.  I have discovered that an amazing amount of stuff can get done during naps though... well, if I'm motivated enough.  Let's just say I'm feeling a bit stressed and defeated lately.

Another reason for no post last week was due to the stomach bug that hit our house.  It's amazing how it can totally knock you out!

Now for the fun stuff!

Our biggest news is that we have a walker!  She has just taken off these past few days... though she's a bit unsteady, she loves to walk when possible.  It's so strange to be washing dishes and look up to see AR walking from the living room to me.  Here are some videos that I took last week, though she's walking way better than this now.

Video #1

Video #2

Video #3

On to more birthday celebrations!  This past weekend, we headed to Lovey and Grand Daddy's house to have another birthday party for AR.  Everything turned out very nice and I know she loved it.  I did however forget her tutu at home and though I remembered her birthday hat, I forgot to put it on her.  I'd like to blame it on being rushed after having the stomach bug but I really know it's because I didn't have Mollie there to rely on!

 

Visiting with Nannie

Aunt Heather (and Uncle Benjamin) were able to come!!

Looking confused

Though this wasn't her first time with cake, she still seemed a bit weary.

So mama helped out and shoved some in/on her mouth.

Then she remembered she LOVES cake!

 

AR vs. cake = victory for AR!

 

"Loving" her new frog

Every girl needs Clemson colored accessories for her...

New sandbox, which she LOVES!  She also loves her little jeep toy from Grand Daddy!

Just some more photos from the past week or so:

She discovered her table can be used as a walker.

William came out with AR and said, "I'm not sure if this outfit is on right or not."  I kindly (or so I hope) informed him that it was not and he said that the buttons always went in the back.  :)  We still love him!

Fun time with Daddy!

 I can't even begin to think about updating my goals... so I will try to get to that in the next couple days just so I can get it all in my head!