Playtime at the Park

Fun day at the Old Brownlee Park- Bailey absolutely loved it! Playground and Splash park in one!

Watch out world, here I come!

Splish, Splash!



Mommy said it's time to go, but Bailey has another idea!

Ain't no lie, Passy- Bye, Bye, Bye!

After a year and 4 months, we finally laid our beloved friend, Passy, to rest a few weeks ago. Passy has been a loyal companion and we would like to celebrate his time with us with these pictures!

1 week old- notice how big the passy is compared to her face!

3 months- Just chillin with my friend, Passy

7 months

13 months

14 months- Last picture of Passy on record!

I was so proud of Bailey! She only cried for a few times and now she's great! Of course, I still have a bag of pacifiers in my cabinet and have found it too hard to part with them yet... Who's doing better with this, Bailey or Mom???

Family Vacay 2009

Last week we went with our friends The Stones to their condo in Orange Beach, AL. We had a super time and it was a much-needed vacation for all. Bailey wasn't too fond of the sand to begin with, but she had a great time swimming in the "poo" (pool- like I would really let my child swim in poo!). She also had a great time playing with Caroline and Madison. We brought a babysitter with us- Miss Pammie- and she was awesome!!! We had a blast- beach, pool, good food, FloroBama, music, etc. One night (not documented on film) the "grown-ups" (yeah right!) went to a concert with Willie Nelson (who is so old he talked his way through all the songs), John Mellencamp (actually wonderful in concert), and Bob Dylan (we played games trying to guess what he was singing...still no clue). After the concert, we went and rode go-carts and bumper boats (which left us all soaked to the bone). It was a great time! Here are some of our favorite shots!

Bailey's 1st dip in the ocean

Admiring the waves

the best we could do for a family shot

going for a walk

The girls with Pammie

The gang

Our beautiful beach babe!

She's Walking!!!

Well, we thought this day would never come! Bailey is finally walking!!! She began taking her first steps on Saturday evening. We were very glad that Daddy was here to see it! She's pretty funny to watch- she gets really excited and starts smiling really big and laughing. She's very proud of herself. Right now, she can only take about 3 or 4 steps by herself, but I'm sure that will soon change! Watch out world... here she comes!

Two Hollys and The Donna = Craft Genius!!!

So here's the post you've been waiting for! The famous cardtable playhouse! Here's the backstory- my friend Holly who lives in Dallas is hosting a sip and see for her friend's baby girl in a few months. (actually I think it's in October, but Holly plans early!) Holly is the ultimate "hostess with the mostess" and has already planned an adorable cupcake theme. She came up with the idea of making a cardtable playhouse for a shower gift. (Both Holly and I had grandmothers who made these for us when we were little!) Enter: me! I was planning on going to Dallas to see Holly's new baby Nolan anyway, so she asked if I would help make the playhouse. I thought this might be a future business venture for me, so I agreed. Two days and mounds of felt later, here's the almost-finished product!

Details- The entire house is made of felt and miles of thread. (We now own stock in Hobby Lobby!) The major pieces are sewn on. Many smaller pieces are velcroed on so you can rearrange them. We still have not sewn the sides together and have not attached the cute scalloped roof. That job goes to The Donna (Holly's very helpful mother!).

Right side: Removable cupcakes and flowers so you can decorate the cake yourself.

Left Side: teapot and cup are removable so you can pretend you're having tea. All items in the cupboard are also removable for rearranging!

Back: Look out the window and learn about shapes and colors. Watering can is removable.

Front: Not finished yet. Mailbox opens up so you can put mail in. Door with heart window opens up for entering the house. We're going to add an address sign and some more pizazz to the front.

Some more random shots and crafty undertakings:

Nolan modeling the window- looks like fun, huh?

Drinking and sewing... a dangerous combination!

cupcake canvas

some absolutely adorable felt cupcakes

So the real question is, am I going to make these playhouses to sell? It's a possibility. I want to do one on my own and see how much time it takes. But we've come up with tons of great ideas and styles and I'd love to begin taking orders soon. Stay tuned...

Camembert or Gruyere? Just give me some plain, old cheddar!

(This post is dedicated to my friend Mindy, who I am sure would share my same opinion on Central Market. Oh, and she LOVES cheese!!!)

So, this week I went to visit my friend in Dallas who just had a baby. (Stay tuned for the next post for cute Nolan pictures) Let me preface this story by saying that I really like to eat, but am not the world’s best cook. My friend Holly, (yes, her name is Holly too!) however, is like the next Julia Child.

Holly knows I don’t get out of my Benton bubble very often so she decided to take me to Central Market. I felt like “country has come to town!” I have NEVER seen anything like this in my life! For any of you who have never gone to a Central Market- you should put this activity on your bucket list!

First of all, this place is HUGE! You walk in and there’s a receptionist at the information counter- like a concierge or something!!! Each section of the store is enormous and full of specialty foods and stuff I would have no clue what to do with. Perhaps I was most impressed by the cheese section because I like cheese so much, but this area was bigger than the entire refrigerated section at my grocery store! A cheese-lover’s dream! They also had microphoned chefs in different sections cooking stuff- I said that reminded me of the guy at Bass Pro Shop giving fishing lessons (at this point Holly told me to keep my voice down because I was embarrassing her!). We finished our trip by grabbing some dinner- I stuck with a simple chicken salad. Holly, on the other hand, got a variety of stuff from the salad bar that I had never heard of or seen- I’m not quite sure it was even food! Maybe I should call and check on her!

When it was finally time to check out, they had some automated robot voice that told you which cashier to go to- kind of like the airport or something! Crazy!!! So now I can die happy because I’ve been to Central Market. Can’t say I’d shop there, but I’ve been!

Fun on the Fourth!

We had a great fourth of July- full of family, food, and fun! Bailey's cousins from San Antonio came in and spent a week with us. They all really enjoyed playing together! I love looking at these pictures of the kids from last year and this year!

The more things change...

The more they stay the same!!!

Our little firecracker and her cousins on the boat! Believe it or not- this was Bailey's first time in the lake!

We also celebrated my dad's 65th birthday. Here's my wonderful homemade cake! Oh wait- do I hear the Food Network calling?