Tag: pictures

Happy Father’s Day

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June is a busy month around here – Baylor’s birthday, my birthday, father’s day and our anniversary. Generally by the time we get to our anniversary, we are so partied out and broke, we are happy to have frozen pizza to celebrate!

And true to form, PW bought himself a little present and requested we didn’t spend any money on him. Done and done. Instead, he got to spend some time at the shooting range while B and I recreated the breakfast from her favorite new book Tyler Makes Pancakes! . The book comes with a recipe for blueberry pancakes and calls for cantaloupe and bacon on the side. I happily take my demotion to sous chef when Chef Wand is in the kitchen.

 

Baylor also presented  Peter with her gift she made at school. How cute is the frame with nuts, bolts and washers?? And I love that she has tools and a hard-hat. Such a great pic for dads!

The pancakes were delicious! And we had a lazy morning around the house after breakfast followed by family nap time and then swimming (thanks Missa!). It was a great day not deterred by the “soul crushing heat” (direct quote from a meteorologist). And as I write this post, the Wildcats are winning in the college world series. Life couldn’t get much better.

Happy father’s day to all the dads in our lives!

 

Zip It or the Doll Gets It

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I was woken up early Tuesday morning by loud shouts for Mommy. As soon as my heart started again, I realized the shouts were demands for me to come to Baylor’s room and help her favorite doll, New Baby, put on her hat and find her pacifier. I ignored the first shout, but the second one infuriated me (Momma doesn’t like being woken up, even more so to help out inanimate objects). I marched to her room declaring either New Baby comes out of the crib or her accessories do, but either way, waking Mommy and Daddy up to dress a doll at 2 freaking am was completely unacceptable. There was more shouting, crying, a brief tug of war and then finally an agreement which lead to everyone except for me going back to sleep.

I laid awake for the next two hours unable to get comfortable and also thinking about when Mr. Man is here and he is sharing a room with Bay. What am I going to do when she pulls something like that and wakes the real baby? Or vise versa? Which is why I tossed and turned for the rest of the night leaving me oh-so-friendly on Tuesday morning.

The end result is that New Baby either gets put to sleep in her own bed OR her accessories do not go to sleep with her. Either way, the doll’s on notice.

That’s right New Baby, I’d sleep with one eye open too…

Birthday Recap

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I planned to post about my birthday yesterday, however, I was severely sleep deprived due to Baylor’s favorite doll, New Baby, loosing her hat and pacifier in the middle of the night. More on that tomorrow. If the doll makes it to then.

Anyway, I had a lovely 30th birthday. It hasn’t quite sunk in just how old I am, but I’m sure as my back gets achier and the cost of my face cream continues to increase, I’ll get a good dose of reality.

I treated myself to a lovely pedicure, breakfast with the sister (including presents!), a nap, phone calls from family and friends, endless FaceBook well wishing and dinner with B and PW. It was a fast, but totally relaxing day. We dined at one of my favorite places, Cowboy Ciao and then came home for some cake and presents – it was a fantastic day spent with the ones I love…I am however, looking forward to the birthday remix where we have cake AND cocktails in a few months!

 

And yes, that dress and hairdo do look familiar. It’s the only damn thing I own that fits right now and doesn’t look too horrible. Not to mention my hair is atrocious due to the need for a cut and color and hormones. Did I mention that I love the end result but hate being pregnant??

Hand Over the Camera

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When we were kids, my dad snapped pictures of everything and anything we did. He had a great camera and always had it handy. So I guess it’s safe to say I come by my need to document life via photos, naturally.

I invested in a Cannon Rebel T3 last summer after exensive research. I needed something that was fast, easy to use, small and didn’t cost us Baylor’s college fund. I realized that in order not to break the bank, I’d have to ditch the small requirement. I settled on the T3 because it wasn’t enormous and it got great reviews for newbies like me.

I snap pictures all the time with it – which means I’m never in the pictures. PW will take over periodically, but then there’s never a picture of the three of us. So this past weekend for Baylor’s party, I grabbed a friend that I knew took great pictures and asked them to snap a few shots of the important moments so that I could actually be present and enjoy. And the result? Awesome. The pictures are beautiful because they’re done with someone else’s eye so the light is a little different, the zoom is a little closer, everything is just different enough that it’s fantastic. And the best part is that I get to help blow out the candles on the cake, eat it and have the picture to remember it for a lifetime.

So next time you are busy snapping away, hand over the camera and see what happens. At the very least, you’ll be able to prove you were actually there!

Case in point? I love the flowers in the front of this pic.

I love catching me mid song and B’s sweet smile!

Happy Birthday Baylor!

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Phew, what a weekend! We spent the entire weekend celebrating Baylor and the amazing fact that she is now three years old!

The festivities kicked off with some presents from mom and dad – Dr. Barbie, Hello Kitty everything and pancakes for breakfast. The morning quickly ran into her party for her buddies. PW and I are suckers for backyard shin digs – when we remodeled our house, the phrase “oh, that would be so awesome for a party” came up many, many times. Therefore we spent the last few weeks planning the best splash party any kid without a pool could ever ask for. I started a Pinterest board and had a blast collecting ideas. The best one though was the Kid Car Wash. Peter was pumped for a new hands on project and his creation was amazing. There was also our (ghetto) water slide that consisted of a small pool at the bottom of the swing set slide. Add in some big buckets of water (which turned out to be a hit all on their own), some water balloons and giant squirt guns and we had a hit on our hands!

Sunday afternoon was the family get together which consisted of actual family and also our close friends who we consider family. It was so nice to catch up with all of them, eat Baylor’s favorite food – quesadillas and open presents. All in all, it was amazing and totally exhausting – everything a birthday should be!

Pancakes and Dr.Barbie

Either craftyness is contagious, or PW’s been holding out on me. I showed him this free printable website and he nixed it as being too much work – then surprised us with this Saturday morning!

The Amazing Kid Car Wash – complete with bubble machine. Even the parents were considering a run.

Splash down!

Serious squirt guns.

When buckets become fun…

It’s official when the candles are blown out.

Momma and her girl.

Ready to blow out the candles, again.

Finally a picture of the three of us!

Eating her cake in her new “doll” high chair. Thankfully Grandma thought ahead and bought a sturdy one!

Bear was so tired, his butt didn’t make it all the way into bed.

Schooool’s Out For Summa

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Holy moly. It has been one jam packed school year and yet it’s hard to believe that it’s over! And my how much B has grown this year – just look. Here’s her first day of school:

All chubby cheeks and finally getting some hair!

And on the last day (btw, it’s pajama day at school):

Look at how long she is! And finally hair!

It’s hard to believe in just a 9 months how fast she’s gone from “being able to get her point across ” to talking like a teenager, hand gestures and all. The chubby cheeks have thinned out and her hair can no longer be described as baby curls… I know that the teachers have a present for the parents that is a collection of pictures from over the school year…I’m getting my box of tissues ready now. What am I going to do when she’s graduating high school?!

I Heart TJ’s

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Despite really really liking it, I don’t shop at Trader Joe’s that often (I know, I know, I know). It’s really out of sheer laziness. I like Safeway, it’s close and it has it all. But I don’t always love the prices there and TJ’s does have great stuff so I’m making a bigger effort to split the groceries up and maybe save a little cash in the process.

Yesterday afternoon after nap time, I persuaded Baylor into the car for a grocery run with the promise of a mini cart at TJ’s. She was intrigued by going somewhere new – this kid has a memory like an elephant. She knows where all her friends and relatives houses are, which street we turn for school and which street leads the way to our favorite restaurant. She also knows where we get our hair cut, where Safeway is and where the pet store is and points them out as we drive. It’s a little scary what she remembers sometimes (like how to get to the airport after not driving there for 6 months…). As we drove, I was relating where the store was in relation to where we get our hair cut. This satisfied her that it wasn’t “real real far” and so she turned her attention to the mini carts.

As we walked in the door, she spotted them. It was like nirvana. A real grocery cart in a real grocery store. She asked me for a wipe to get the handle (just in case there was any doubt about her being my kid) and we proceeded to the produce section. All the while getting smiles and nice comments from everyone she passed.

It was there that I learned that mini carts are not as awesome for the parent as they are for the kid. You know why? Because they are the perfect height to cut your achilles tendon. The third time I was flat tired by the little cart, I became terrified of it. I couldn’t let B out of my sight – it was less about her being kidnapped and more about self-preservation. Much much more. The carts come with a long pole attached to them (security? location? I have no idea) which I proceeded to use as a guide to keep her in my peripheral vision so that I could keep my ankles from being accosted. She was less than pleased about this, but was easily assuaged by a jar of enchilada sauce so all was well.

The kicker was the checker gave her about 2 dozen stickers at the check out. I was so proud when she sweetly pointed to one sticker in the bunch and asked if she could have that one, rather than assuming they were all for her. When the nice checker told her that they were all for her, there was a brief moment where I’m certain she thought about asking if she could move in. And really, who could blame her? The brilliant part is that now she’s asking me “do we need to go to the grocery store??”.

I couldn’t get her to open her eyes for the pic – any time spent taking her eyes off the stickers was a total waste, in her opinion.

Four Legged Trouble Maker

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Ah the Bear. 35 pounds of furry cuteness with just a hint of trouble (these days). But that wasn’t always the case. Bear was the “smart” one of the Bear and Travis doggie duo. Bear would start the tearing open of the trash bags, but slink away just in time for me to find Travis with a mouth full of shrimp tails and an expression that said ” isn’t this awesome?!?” which made it heartbreaking to inform him that no, no that wasn’t awesome.

But since Travis went to the big dog bed in the sky last year, the Bearmeister has slowed down a little. His competition for food and attention is gone and now all he has to do is keep that kid from pulling on him and convince her to feed him snacks (which he does very well). However, his need to be bad runs deep, just not as deep as the arthritis so his naughtyness has gone a little soft. Now his version involves drinking out of Baylor’s water table. Which really isn’t a problem. As long as he’s hydrated and it doesn’t involve the toilet, I’m good. But he needs that air of mystery – it starts with him slowly making his way to the dog door, constantly looking over his shoulder. He will then proceed to make his way across the yard stopping to pee, examine a toy on the ground and then to the water table. Next he will look over his shoulder, walk to the back door to peek in and then round aboutly make his way back to the table where he proceeds to dunk his entire face, nose included, into the water and drink deeply. He leaves a trail of water dropplets as evidence as he makes his way back inside. And once there, he’s happy as a clam. All wags and smiles – happy he’s gotten away with it yet again.

“just miiiinnding my own business…..”

“Girl really. I’m glad you think I’m cute and all but I’m trying to sleep.”

Mother’s Day Love

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We had such a nice Mother’s Day weekend! It kicked off with a celebration at Baylor’s school where her whole class sang and presented us with presents. They made plates (the melamine kind that they draw on and then cook), flowers in hand painted pots and a beautiful poem with her little hand print. It was stinking adorable. Any attendee would have been hard pressed not to smile at the level of cuteness going on.

My little gardener.

Guess who gets to eat off the plate the most? Thanks for the pictures Grandma!

We spent Saturday organizing the garage which is always a challenge, but makes me so happy not to trip over crap AND when I can get a roll of paper towels without unpacking an entire shelf.

Finally we enjoyed Sunday brunch with Grandma and Grandpa where they showered us with gifts – me, Bay and the baby too! My favorite part though is the card. PW said that Bay screamed “WE HAVE TO GET THE ONE WITH THE PUPPY FOR MOMMY!!!” so loud that people two aisle over were laughing. It cracks me up – exactly what an almost 3 year old would pick out. The gnome stickers are the perfect touch!