Fun in the Sun

Bailey and I have been getting the back yard ready for the summer. We put up the swing and cleared the yard over a month ago. We just got her playhouse in the mail Thursday so we have been spending more time outside in the beautiful weather. We have not bought our plastic pool yet but it will be soon. Another item on the list is a toddler picnic table and a nice big lay out chair for me. This is from Saturday (April 25th) before we went outside to play in the playhouse while I laid out. Her hair is so cute in a pony tail because she still has those loose curls so it gives her volume. Her bathing suit and sunglasses (Children's Place) were a birthday present from Ashley and James ~ she looks too cute in it. Before we go outside we load up her shopping cart with her babies: care bear, mickey mouse, ruh ruh(dog), mimi (pink kitty cat), and her bucket full of littlest pet shop animals.

Easter in Little Rock

This is an outdated post because I haven't had time to upload any pictures from Easter yet. For Easter this year we went to see Blake at training in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was not going to go unless my best friend was able to go with us because I didn't want to do a 7 hour driving trip by myself in case something should happen and I needed help. Her mom and brother live in Little Rock so she would get to see them and I would get to see Blake. Well it worked out and we were both able to take off that Thursday and Friday to go for the weekend. We left on Thursday at 5:30 AM and got in Little Rock by 3:00 PM so we made good time. Bailey was such a trooper. We only stopped for gas and to use the restroom/diaper change. "Santa" got Bailey a pink traveling DVD player for the car so she watched Barney, Dora, 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Sesame Street Sing-A-Long, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the trip there and back. So she was fully entertained along with snacks, snacks, and more snacks. We saw Blake Thursday night and had dinner with everyone and then he had to go back to the dorms. I stayed with Amanda at her moms Thursday night to save money and there was a tornado that night so I'm glad I was not alone with Bailey or I would have freaked out in a hotel room. The next morning (Friday) Amanda went outside to walk her dog and the neighborhood really had some damage. Trees were snapped in two and laying in the road, roofs had a lot of damage, and fences were down. It was crazy wind damage. Then we all got ready and went to Igibon for sushi and it really was the best sushi place I have ever been to...no wonder Amanda and Becca rave about it every time we eat sushi. We went shopping and then at 4:00 PM Blake, Bailey, and I met at the hotel for check in. The hotel was okay - there wasn't a mint on my pillow or anything but it came with free breakfast which is what I always look for because Bailey needs her breakfast and milk within the first hour of waking up. We didn't do anything too special the entire weekend but on Saturday we went to this church I found on the Internet that was having an egg hunt for all ages...so we went and Bailey got to hunt eggs and see the Easter bunny from a distance. She had a good time. This was her 3rd Easter but her first to be able to pick up eggs. They had a section for ages 1 to 4. They had probably 200 eggs in a 20 x 10 area so you could barely walk with out stepping on a plastic egg. At first Bailey didn't know what to do but then she got the hang of it. When she found out there was candy inside she really started picking them up. One of her eggs was made by Playdough and had a little bag of Playdough inside. I thought that was the coolest egg. Pictures are from the hunt and Easter morning in the hotel when she got her Easter basket from the "Easter Bunny". I ordered the bucket from Initials Inc. It was a really cute bucket but I could have made it for much cheaper.

Update: 12 pounds down

So 2 months ago I started on a weight program and I have lost 12 pounds. I went from not loosing anything for two years to loosing 12 pounds. I went back yesterday and got my apatite suppressors refilled because I still want to loose 15 more by the summer. My goal is to loose at least 5 or 7 pounds by my birthday which is May 22nd. I went off the pills for almost 2 weeks and had no problem keeping my weight the same...but I did notice how much I missed the extra boost of energy it gives and it helps me to workout because I'm not as tired at night to get on the elliptical. So I'm really excited about getting new clothes for my birthday. I have bought 3 shirts since I lost the weight (Wal-Mart...Only $5 each!), but I'm trying to not spend any money on clothes because I want to buy all new clothes at the Destin Outlets on a big shopping spree at the end of May.

Two years old

Photographer: Brittney O Roland
Place: Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery AL

Easter Bunny Rap

http://www.dougpatton.com/custom/flash/rapeasterbunny.swf

Happy Easter!

Projects!

I have not done any projects around the house or bought any new decor items all winter long. The last time I had a social gathering was at Christmas for my Avon Open House. I used to love doing projects and having people over, but being a mom has taken preference over a lot of things especially when I have to do it by myself. So my friend Aca who just got married in November has been talking about all the things she is doing around her new home and yard. It was so nice talking about projects and making things that I was so excited to do things myself. Every weekend I have done something productive around the home and I even had some friends over for dinner one night. The first weekend was the yard (see blog below) then it rained for like 2 strait weeks - it was hard to get out and about and do just about anything with a 2 year old -so I shampooed the carpets and did spring cleaning. The next weekend I re-upholstered my breakfast area chairs. We have a red kitchen with green accents which is connected to our golden yellow living room. I wanted to cover the white chairs with a bright color since the warm colors are starting to bore me. This past weekend I was on a search for a bed side table. Blake and I have been married for 2 1/2 years and we have used a chair as our bedside table to hold our cell phones, remote, and whatever else. I have priced bed side tables and they are quite expensive if you buy only one and I am not going to pay $300 for something to sit my cell phone on at night. So I thought I could find a cute accent table for around $100 and that way it wouldn't have to match perfectly and it would be decorative. I looked at a few websites at work and saw that Target had a few decorative tables so Bailey and I went there Friday night at 8 (yes, past her bedtime). We always go to the cafe first and get a drink and a snack. She got a small sprite with only an inch of liquid in the cup because she still hasn't figured it out that you can not lift the cup up like a sippy cup and some popcorn. We get to the aisle with furniture and there is was - a dark wood with honey accents bed side table AND it was on sale through the weekend for $80 AND it was the last one! I was so excited. I got it home and it literally took about 2 hours to put it together along with Bailey "helping". It looks so good. It is maybe a shade darker, but you would not be able to tell and even the feet match our bedroom furniture. Every time I added on a piece to the table Bailey got excited...she thought I was building a house for her babies. On Saturday I went to Hobby Lobby looking for fabric to make a headboard for the spare bedroom and to make 2 picture collages. I went in and found houndstooth fabric (which matches our football room/office perfectly) and this adorable pink and black fabric for Bailey's room. I bought everything there (boards, quilt stuffing, ribbon, pins for the boards, hanging tape, and fabric) and went home and started my magic. Everything turned out better than I thought it would. I'm so excited! So it was a very successful weekend of shopping and getting things done.

There are no pictures on the boards yet because I am getting them all developed after I get Bailey's 2nd birthday pictures back today! They turned out really good! Thanks to Brittney O! And we do not have bedding for the bed yet...I'm taking sewing classes next month so maybe I will learn to make something.