Santa!

We took the trip to the mall to see Santa today. We were supposed to go to the TV station last Saturday, but ended up having the stomach virus (worst I've ever had it I think). Livee likes Santa when we walk by and on TV, but sitting on his lap was a different story. Oh well! Can't have a smiling picture every year!

Sunday Funday

Dave started his new schedule today!!!! He now works Monday thru Friday 3am until 1pm. I know it sounds grueling, but he was super excited because: #1-he is Monday thru Friday and #2-he will get to be home in the afternoons when Hayden is here. So yesterday we had Da-da at home for the first time in over a year. I took Hayden to have his hair cut and then he and I went to Publix and picked up a gingerbread house kit.

Hayden has been very excited about Christmas this year and at school last week they told the story of the Gingerbread Man. They made a Gingerbread Man and then he ran away!!! They looked for him all week (because he left little crumbly clues) and finally found him on Friday in another classroom. Too funny!

All that to say that Dave always wants to build a gingerbread house and this year it seemed like a very good activity for us. The Publix kit was great because all we had to do was decorate the house, not actually build the house. Loved that!

The finished project with a very proud little boy!

We also decided to get a real tree this year. I love the smell of a real tree and wanted a small one to go in front of our stairs. Below the trees is a picture of the dining room. I love having the table set and the poinsettia makes a cheap centerpiece, especially since I picked up the pot at Home Depot and it ended up being free! And we got a new stocking holder this year, so I changed up the mantle decorations. I am all about simplicity and decorating with Christmas cards seemed to be pretty easy. Can't wait to see all of them on there! Hopefully I can get a picture of the outside soon. We didn't go all out, but we did add an extra tree on the porch and a wreath on the dining room window. And of course the kids' trees are up so I'll have to include those in a post soon.







Livee and I spent the morning doing more Christmas shopping and then we had to pick up Hayden at noon because they got out of school early today. It's going to take some getting used to, but I think we are really going to enjoy Dave's new schedule!

Monogram Chick's Giveaway - Day 2

She's giving stuff away AGAIN! Isn't this a handy little bag?

Monogram Chick's Giving Stuff Away - Day 1!

Visit Monogram Chick for all things personalized! She's giving this away today:

The link is on the left!

The Turning Point

As you know, Livee is a little squirt. So little, as a matter of fact, that she still does not meet the full 20 pounds required for this seat.

BEFORE you gasp in horror...At her 15 month checkup she was 19 1/2 lbs, and since that was a full month ago she probably is at 20 lbs by now.

Anyhow, we decided to keep her rear-facing for as long as possible when she went for her 12 month checkup. She was still using Hayden's toddler seat and I knew I didn't want to buy another one like it. I wanted to buy the pretty one you see here because it is softer and cuter. :) The only problem was it was only forward-facing and only for a 20 lb child. You get the point.

In the middle of waiting, though, was our trip to Gatlinburg. Livee isn't the greatest rider anyway, but I could tell on the way there that it was getting to her. While we were riding around Gatlinburg she was fine because my dad and Dave were in the back to entertain her, but once we started for home it was back to cranky Livee. It was slow going anyway and somewhere between an hour and two hours from home Livee started screaming and then she puked. Yuck. We immediately found a Wal-Mart (they're everywhere, ya know?) and I went in with Hayden to buy a new seat. I was NOT riding home smelling puke the whole way. I left Dave with clean-up duty. I got back out to the parking lot to find Dave wiping down the seat underneath hers. That's right, the puke had gone EVERYWHERE. I was immediately thankful that I chose to go inside. Poor Dave. We left the old seat beside a dumpster and hit the road with Livee turned around. She loves it. She says "wheeeeee" every time we go down a hill. Bless her heart.

P.S. The picture is right after we turned her around. That's right, even after puking the "beauty queen" said cheese to have her picture made.

Gatlinburg '10

In October, we took our bi-annual trip to Gatlinburg. My parents are always there that time of year and this year, 2 of my great aunts and one of their daughters came to camp also. We stayed at a hotel just across the creek from the campground. Hopefully by the next time we go we will have a pop-up so we can camp. It only takes us about 4 1/2 hours, but I've discovered that having 2 children actually DOES lengthen driving time, especially when the 1 year old does not ride well (she was also still turned around backwards for part of the trip, but that's a whole other story).

Since we weren't really in a hurry, we stopped on the way at the Mayfield Dairy plant in Tennessee on Monday. We needed to give the kids a break and figured lunch and ice cream was a great choice. They also have a FREE 30 minute tour. Hayden LOVED it. He thought all of the machinery was so neat! He even pointed out the yellow containers at the grocery store the other day.

Hayden is a great photographer! Not sure why I look like the leaning tower of Pisa, though.

Hayden with one of "the cows".

During lunch at the diner across the street. Really good food!

During lunch :)

I can't even remember what we did all week, except for some of the highlights. Monday night we went to the pizza place to eat (our favorite). Tuesday I think we went back up to Gatlinburg and walked around. Dave and Hayden went to the car museum, which they both LOVED while the rest of us just shopped and looked around a bit. Wednesday we went to Dollywood with our free media tickets (there are some perks to Dave's job) and enjoyed that a lot. It is a nice little theme park. Thursday we drove up to the artsy area and looked at one of the shops that we like the best and then went to eat at a fantastic place for dinner that I can't remember the name of right now. I do remember that it is at the top of the mountain, literally. You can't go any further. Gorgeous view, although a little creepy because it is haunted. :) Friday we stopped by the Old Mill area in Pigeon Forge to walk around and eat lunch before heading home. In the middle of all that we still managed to find time to have a campfire one night and make smores. It was a fantastic week and we always enjoy our time with Grammie and Deeda!

Finally remembered to get a picture of the 4 of us on the day we were leaving!

Piggies

Halloween Pics!

She had to go up the steps, of course.

Uncle Charlie came to help us trick or treat since Dave had to work. Yes, I am a redneck fat or pregnant woman. I thought it was a fitting costume. But look - isn't Livee the cutest butterfly you have ever seen????

Hayden wanted to take the picture, but didn't understand that we wanted a picture with him in it. He got over pouting pretty soon though. He was a zombie, by the way.

This was for Villa Rica's trick or treat downtown on Saturday. They are so cute!

Go Bama!

Field Trip!!!

Hayden had a school field trip at the end of September to the Marietta Fairgrounds. It was a great little trip! Hayden was super excited to ride the bus there and Dave, Livee and I met his bus there. When we got there we got to ride a trailer to the animal area, got to see lots of great animals, and have an ice cream sandwich snack.

Loved this picture!

Hayden kept complaining that it stank in there!

He really liked the rabbits.

Livee was just happy to be running around loose!

15 months old!

Livee is 15 months old! And what a ham she is! She can say just about anything that you ask her to. On average, she says one or two new words a day. She surprises us so much. She loves to push her baby stroller and the grocery buggy around the house and carries her chair around so that she can sit in it wherever she wants. She always follows me into the kitchen whenever I'm sitting at the desk or unloading the dishwasher or cooking. She also loves going to watch Hayden play soccer and actually dribbles the ball really well. Anytime she sees a ball or balloon she has to point to it and tell us it's there. She also likes to wrestle with her daddy and big brother. Yesterday she pointed to a Cinderella costume hanging in her closet and giggled, and also made me put a hairbow in her hair. We love her so much!

Soccer!

This fall we finally enrolled Hayden into organized sports. The first one we decided to try was soccer simply because it didn't involve physical contact and Hayden likes to run a lot. Well, as far as coaches go we got the short end of the stick. We only had 4 practices while the other teams had at least 6, and our team has no clue about what they are supposed to be doing. It doesn't help that Dave and I don't really know either. ;) His team has lost EVERY game and has only scored 2 goals the WHOLE season I think. Sad, huh? Good thing that they don't even notice! Hayden's favorite position is goalie. I personally think it's just because he doesn't want to run after the ball, but he's good at goalie...so whatever. Anyway, here are a few pictures of him in his uniform. I don't have any action shots because, honestly, he has only gotten into the action a couple of times. Maybe we'll try karate next.

Shoes

Hayden's never been a hard one to dress. We don't fight over what he's going to wear...he usually just puts on whatever I lay out. Don't get me wrong, he does have certain t-shirts that he has loved more than others and the kid is a sucker for patterned socks (toy story in particular), but when it comes to shoes he definitely has his favorites.

And they are known as his "super fast shoes". Why is this? We have no idea. I guess because they are totally psychodelic looking or something, but who knows really. He has to wear them to school every day and if he has it in his mind that he needs to wear them somewhere else, then sometimes we have issues. I honestly don't get it because I bought him a new pair of low-top Converse's for school this year and he says they are girl shoes. Say what?

Pineapple Upside Down Pancakes

Hayden wanted pancakes for dinner tonight and I wanted to try something different. These were delicious, especially with a little cinnamon butter on top and a tall glass of cold milk.

Yummy! Here is the recipe:

Pineapples:
Melt 2T butter in small skillet. Stir in 1/3 C brown sugar and let caramelize. Add 1 C diced pineapple and cook until juice is evaporated. (I also added around 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.)

Pancakes:
1 C all purpose flour
1 T white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 C milk
1 egg
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. Combine milk, egg, oil, and vanilla in separate bowl. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture. Beat with whisk until smooth and do not stir again (this is the key to fluffy pancakes!). Scoop by 1/4 cup-fulls into hot skillet or griddle. Spoon desired amount of pineapples onto pancakes. Flip when they become bubbly. Serve warm with cinammon butter and leftover caramel sauce, if desired.

Wish I had a picture to share, but we ate them too fast! :)

What you missed over the weekend...

Or for the past 2 weeks. We've been busy busy getting ready for school and being sick (blech). Hayden and Livee both had fevers 2 weekends ago and then I had one this past weekend (which made getting ready for Hayden's party so much fun). I tagged clothes for a couple of weeks and worked on the house to get it picked up really well, along with the usual errands and dentist appointments. I've also watched my neighbor's little girl a few times for her to go on job interviews.

Chillin' at home on one of their "sick" days. You can't say we're not casual at home. Check out those bear feet paired with Spiderman jammies and a sword. :)

We gave Hayden his big gift from us a little early, mainly because we wanted to play it with him! It is soooooo fun, too!

Last Thursday Hayden started Georgia pre-k up the road from us. He goes 8-2:30 every day. He has a morning snack and eats lunch there. The first day he was gone Livee followed us around like she was lost. She is still doing that, but today she did entertain herself for a little bit so I am looking forward to this fall with her when we get a routine down pat.

His first day of Georgia Pre-K. He was so excited to start his new school!

Last Friday Grammie and Deeda came and brought Uncle Brandon and cousin Carson with them for Hayden's birthday! Carson and Hayden had a great time playing together and we actually were able to let them play in Hayden's room without worrying about them killing each other. What a difference a year makes!

They came down from his room on Saturday night dressed like this. So cute!

On Saturday we got up bright and early for Hayden's party. I scheduled it at 10 am for the pool because I didn't want it to be too hot for all of the adults. The weather was really nice! After all the kiddies swam for a while we chowed down on nuggets, chips, dip, pasta salad, and watermelon. Then Hayden blew out his candles so we could eat cake and ice cream. After that, Hayden opened his gifts and the kids swam some more. Then it was time to go! Two hours flies by quickly when you have swimming to fill it up! We had a great day with family and friends!

The Luau Spread

Caught Jack with his mouth full of watermelon! Hayden didn't even eat any cake.

The beach cake + Buzz and Woody (as requested). It was so good!

Swimming with his buds was fun. Oh wait, where is he? Off swimming with Uncle Chris!

Hayden is 5!

Here is a glimpse of the cake when everyone sings to him!

A Cure for Boredom?

I've been kind of bored at home over the weekend because Dave has been at work. And, today I have been doing lots of stuff around the house, but that is still kind of boring sometimes.

Well, I was complaining about it earlier and do you know what the cure was?

#1 - I asked Dave to lower the crib mattress and #2 - I fixed spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Dave has been working on the crib for 2 1/2 hours and now has to get a metal cutter to cut through one of the bolts because it is stripped and we can't get it out. The crib is flipped over sideways and everything is a mess in her room.

We had our spaghetti dinner in the midst of that and Livee had it all over her, so I decided to go ahead and give her a bath. She has had a rash on her bottom so I've been letting her "air out" quite a bit in the last several days and decided to do that tonight. Right after I got her lotion on her she peed in the floor. No biggie, I've been cleaning up pee every now and then for a few days. But then she got "the face". I asked her if she was pooping like she was going to answer me or something and when I got up to rush her to the potty it was already out. When I picked her up it plopped down on top of one of her books in the floor. Gag.

I will be thinking more carefully before I complain about being bored again.

In case you missed it....

Here is another video of Livee walking. Since she practiced all afternoon yesterday and all day today, she is getting better!

*Please ignore the woman blabbing in the background.*

And...she walks!

Here is a video of our little baby walking in LifeGroup this morning! She actually walked by herself at my friend's house one time yesterday and then went back to crawling. I think she may be lazy!

I don't think she walked anymore at church this morning in the nursery, but now we know for sure she can do it and won't be cutting her any slack! Ha! She has been "cruising" around furniture for weeks and I will definitely be glad to put the crawling behind us. I find it absolutely disgusting! Yay for Livee!

VACATION!!!!

We FINALLY got to go on a real vacation a couple of weeks ago! We went to Myrtle Beach with Grandpa, Aunt Gina and Uncle Heath. Grandpa took Hayden with him on Saturday for the 6 hour drive and we came with the baby on Sunday (of course we had to stop a bunch with her). When we got there around 8 on Sunday it was high tide so there was only a little bit of beach. But the next morning it was low tide and the below picture was the amount of beach we saw!

You can actually see the line where the tide got up to near the tents.

Family picture time!

Trying on Mama's sunglasses on the way. They kept her occupied for a little bit anyway.

One day we walked to the Cherry Grove Pier and rented a fishing pole and bought some bait. After about 10 minutes, Hayden caught a fish! The guy next to us was pretty peeved because he had been there for a couple of hours and had only caught fish bait. So, we gave him the fish. A little while later I caught a fish and then Dave caught one! Poor Grandpa didn't catch anything and he's the one that goes fishing all of the time. Hayden LOVED picking on him for that.

"Iceman" with his fish.

Livee was pretty interested in the fish. Especially after a quick snooze in her stroller on the pier.

That night after dinner, we had to go play putt-putt. We discovered last year that Hayden really enjoys it and we spotted a great place to play called "The Black Pearl" as soon as we hit the beach. As a side note, Livee was sooooooo good while we played that the people in front of us even commented on it! She is such a patient little thing and enjoys watching everyone else so much.

So glad we didn't get kicked out for this illegal maneuver!

Mr. GQ - fashionable as always.

On the Black Pearl. Aaaarrrghhhh! Notice Livee's golf ball. She didn't let go of it all night.

On Thursday our little family decided to visit Alligator Adventure on our own. It is home to the world's largest crocodile, snakes, frogs, birds, turtles, alligators (of course), and lots of other critters. We got there early enough to avoid the crowds and heat. It was still super muggy, though, so we were sweating by the time we got to the second exhibit. They had a mister spraying water not too far into the park and that helped to alleviate the heat a bit. The park is connected to a bigger area called Barefoot Landing, which is where Dave and I went to the House of Blues on Monday night to celebrate our 7th anniversary (big thanks to Grandpa and Aunt Gina for watching the kiddies for us!). Anyway, after we left the park we decided to grab lunch at one of the restaurants at the Landing. At this point the storm clouds were rolling in and we were booking it to find a place quickly. We got inside just in time! It POURED for at least 3 hours. We ate lunch, went to an ice cream parlor, and then got totally soaked while running for the van. Livee never cried! She thought running in the rain was really fun. Did I mention that it was flooding as we ran for the van? The water was up to my calves. By the time we got back to the condor (as Hayden called it), we were soooooo ready for our movie afternoon. Of course it dried up just as the movie was starting, but we ignored the sunshine anyway and stayed in.

The albino alligators were really fascinating! You can see one on the left through the fence.

Livee enjoyed herself, I think. This was our spot for feeding time. They fed the alligators like they were dogs! They held up pieces of chicken until the alligator they wanted to feed would come up enough out of the water and then they threw it in its mouth. It would not be my dream job, to say the least.

It's King Julian and Hayden as one of the penguins!

On Friday, Aunt Gina and Uncle Heath headed home to Orlando so we got some Grandpa time all to ourselves. We went down to the pool and beach for a while and went to a local restaurant that night. The food was delicious! After dinner, we went to play putt putt at Molten Mountain. Hayden actually got scared when the volcano started rumbling. It was kinda funny when he tried to run away!

We packed up Saturday morning and headed home. We stopped at a tourist trap on the way and bought some t-shirts for me, Dave, and Hayden and a hat for Livee. Hayden also got a balloon helicopter and Livee got a placemat with her name on it. We got home Saturday evening and unpacked everything. We went to church Sunday morning and then had VBS Sunday night thru Wednesday night, so the housework has been neglected a bit. But I hope to be back on par next week. And then Hayden starts back to school on the 5th and his birthday is the 7th!

Only 1 1/2 weeks of summer left. :(

Did you miss it?

Livee is 1!!!! It's amazing the way that this year has literally flown by! We had a great time in Muscle Shoals visiting with all of our family last week and celebrating Livee's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. She actually LOVED all of the music and general loudness and it was nice for Hayden and Carson to have something to do.

Birthday girl with her big brother!


Hanging out on stage. She was dancing up a storm!

Our big girl still isn't walking, but she could if she wanted to. She can take several steps by herself, but she just doesn't want to do it all of the time. I can't figure it out. I thought she was going to start walking on the 4th because she did it by herself, but after she took a nap she forgot she had done it. Whatever!

Giving Deeda some sugar!

Tomorrow we are headed to Myrtle Beach for the week and Dave and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday!!! We can actually do something together this year! :)

Livee at 2 days old. What a sweet face!