My first Mother’s Day present/craft that Bailey made herself. Her Sunday School teachers put together this cute little flower craft for them to make. I almost cried when she gave it to me.

And the little girl who made me a Mommy!

She felt warm and just kept asking me to hold her. She looked miserable, and fell asleep in the car on the way home. We carried her to bed and she slept for about an hour, My parents insisted that they still wanted to come over so once she woke up, the whole family came over. Which was especially awesome when she ended up puking after lunch. They made a quick exit. We got a few pictures before church though:

Here are a few after the family came over…

And here you can tell she’s really starting to not feel good-

My parents let me bring Taylor over to their house and hang out the rest of the day/evening so that hopefully he wouldn’t get sick. It worked! Plus the coolest thing- my parents have a big jacuzzi tub and my mom was like “bring your bath stuff and I’ll watch Taylor while you relax” so I got to read for an hour in the bath. I haven’t relaxed like that since before he was born. Just a few shots of my mom with him

Under the tree she had a new sled, some books, and her stocking filled with presents. She was a little tired and overwhelmed at first…

but she woke up and got excited quickly!

The first thing she got out of her stocking was the Reeses Pieces candy cane. It was the only candy we put in there and she was pretty sure she needed to eat the whole thing right. that. minute.

She opened all her stocking presents in about two minutes- necklace and bracelet, tattoos, sunglasses, water colors, bath paints, chapstick, stickers…

Then Jonathon and I took turns showering and getting ready, and supervising her with her new paints.

By 8:30 a.m. we were all dressed and ready to head to Grammy’s house!

More later!

Afterwards we didn’t get to have the Jesus Birthday Party because my parents decided to go to the late service instead. We came home and ate snacks and let Bailey open a few presents. We decided that as a tradition our kids will get a new ornament and pajamas on Christmas Eve, and that we will get a “family gift” like a game or something we can all do together.

This year she opened the Mr. Potato Head (one of her favorite gifts) that our neighbors brought over for her. She became almost irrationally obsessed with him, wanted to keep talking to him and hugging him and bring him to bed.

Her ornament was a princess castle, all pink and sparkly, with her name and the year on it. I thought that would be a good representation of this year and this Christmas, since she has been asking for “A castle with a princess and a princess and a princess and a princess and a king and a dragon and a dinosaur!” She has also recently gotten really interested in her Beauty and the Beast book, her new Tinkerbell room decor, and playing dress up in general. I have been looking forward to this stage!

She got a Disney Princess Memory game which we attempted to play. Really she just wanted to keep stacking and organizing the cards- but at least it was something we could do together! I know one of my friends got her daughter (who is a few months younger than Bailey) the Candyland game for Christmas. I’m wondering if they had any luck with that.

These are her new snowman jammies that she got to open and wear to bed. I don’t know that I am going to do any sort of matching jammies for the kids in the future, since we’ll have one boy and one girl. I might just try to get ones they will each like. I knew Bailey would love the snowmen and I was happy to avoid “character” pajamas this time. She has one pair of Dora jammies and they are enough for now!

The one regret I have about Christmas Eve is that I completely forgot to read the Christmas story to her! I was going to read it from her Jesus Storybook Bible and then we got all busy at bedtime and she was so wound up and kept running around her room and jumping from her bed to the beanbag chair. It completely slipped my mind. I am going to have to be more intentional about that next year because I don’t want this to just be a “gift holiday” and nothing else. We have been talking about the Christmas story and Jesus’ birthday etc but I was just disappointed.

I think we are going to have to layer it with a shirt and pants underneath. It’s supposed to be chilly but that’s not going to keep us home. She was so excited to put her jammies on and go to bed so that we could wake up and go to the zoo sooner. Let’s cross our fingers that she doesn’t get up at 3 a.m. now. She keeps saying “It’s a holiday Mom!”

Here she is all jammied up and ready for bed. Nite nite, princess Bailey.

We may or may not try again next year. Thank goodness tonight when they were going off outside, she thought they were drums. Silly kid.

And of course it wouldn’t be a post without sharing some pictures…

My dad, Jonathon, and my grandpa- a.k.a. Papa

Daddy gets hugs from his girl

Here she is in her new Mother’s Day outfit. She always wears a new dress for a special occasion before it goes into the clothing cycle. I know I am weird about her clothes but I love dressing up my little girl!

My mom and my grandma… yes they are wearing the same shirt in different colors… not planned that way. I love them both and I am so blessed to live so close to both of them.

This was our dessert. I thought it was such a cute idea. Little votive holders for flower pots, chocolate ice cream, and silk flowers. Very simple but it was fun for something different. My mom is always crafty and comes up with neat food ideas. She used to sell Pampered Chef back when it was first popular (like early 90s maybe).

Bailey and Daddy They surprised me with a sweet card that they made together, and breakfast in bed on Sunday morning. I even got to sleep in late! And for dinner I was surprised again- with stuffed crust pizza and cinnamon sticks! My favorite. My gift is, um, still being decided upon. Don’t ask, it wasn’t worth the fight.

Silly monkey face girl! I love her!

Jonathon’s parents were in town, and my grandparents and my parents came over as well. We had ham, deviled eggs, stuffed celery, potato salad, and beans. Then for dessert I bought an apple pie and ice cream. No time for baking but you will see why in my next post.

Here are a few pictures of Bailey opening her basket. She didn’t pose for any pictures- we couldn’t get her to settle down and do “nice” Easter pictures because of the chaos.

She was so excited about the egg hunt. We used real eggs which maybe I shouldn’t have. It was fine, but she wasn’t exactly gentle. We heard lots of eggs cracking as she threw more into her basket. At least it was funny.

Mom, Dad and me

Happy Easter to everyone!

-Bailey says “Timey-nine” instead of Valentine.
-She loves Barney, Baby Bop, and “B.G”
-Her favorite food is a Big Bird Bar (Earth’s Best Organic Fruit Bars) but she slurs it together and calls it a “Bee Barn” now.
-She loves to remind people about their manners. She says “Please… Nice… Manners!”
Her favorite phrase is “Look at that” said in a really high pitched voice

And just for fun, some pictures from a Valentine party earlier this week:

Bailey gave out Dora and Diego valentines with lollipops this year. She loves lollipops only pronounces it like “le-poop!”

We partied like rockstars on new year’s eve. All the way until 9:00 pm. We went to a party at Mae’s house.

There was a little time to chat with friends, and we spent a lot of time chasing Bailey around and helping her remember how to share.

They had an early countdown for the kids. All Bailey has talked about since then is the “dance party” and “happy happy happy.” Check out the countdown madness:

After that, we had a cake for Mae’s daughter Boo’s fifth birthday. They had a cool candle from China on top, it opened up into a flower and played music. Apparently, it’s still playing the music in the dumpster behind Mae’s house…

We also had some adventures this morning. We went to see Nana and Papa (my grandparents) and this was the first time they saw her in her costume.

Then we went to the grocery store and a lot of people were trying to talk to her/touch her/give her candy… So we figured out that she does much better in this little grocery cart car, because people can’t get so close. She was getting a little overwhelmed.

After that, we went to see Daddy at work. He works at a school and all the students just loved Bailey. Some of the oldest kids kind of intimidated her because they were all screeching and crowding around her. But she loved the preschoolers and younger kids. Here is a preschool class who stopped in the middle of the hallway to see her. I just had to take this picture because all the kids were crazy about Bailey, and she was loving it.

Anyway, she is napping now so that we can trick or treat tonight! I hope you have a happy Halloween, and we’ll post pictures again this weekend!

“Hey, I wonder what’s under here…”

Raisins are her favorite snack. She likes having the “Fun Size” boxes because she can eat them all by herself. I think half the fun is digging them out of the box.

Helping Grammy get dinner ready

Outside while Grampa grilled our dinner

Apparently at that point I quit taking pictures. But I promise you aren’t missing anything exciting. I wish we had more family in town to get together with. It’s always the same people. But I guess it’s better than not having any family around at all.

Jonathon is so good with Bailey. From the beginning, I have trusted him completely with her. Which is saying a lot, because I am seriously a control freak. I have learned that daddies don’t always do things the same as mommies would, but their way is okay. Bailey loves Jonathon so much. He plays with her whenever he is around, and talks to her, and teaches her things. He even reads to her, and he HATES reading. I could not ask for a better father for my daughter. I am so proud of him and love him so much.

Just a few pictures of Jonathon and Bailey…

We got Bailey’s Easter basket ready the night before, so that it would be there when she woke up… but then we decided not to give it to her before church when we were rushed. Also I was yelling at Jonathon at the moment, so it was better to wait. But here was her basket, before she dug into it:

Obviously she can’t do candy or little toys yet, but I knew the Puffs would be just as good. The animal crackers were something new, and the eggs were an idea that I got at Parents as Teachers. We I put different items in each egg to make
shakers, and then hot glued them shut.

Easter was a weird day, weather-wise. It was actually snowing, big fat snowflakes, off and on during the day. So Bailey did not get to wear her sandals that I had searched the entire world for In fact the dress we had for her to wear, was sleeveless and seersucker, so she had to wear tights and a sweater with it. There was not a chance of going outside for an egg hunt, but we weren’t really planning on doing one anyway.

We got ready in the morning and went to church for Easter service. I tried to get a few pictures of Bailey in her dress, but she was not cooperating. My mom held her while I took some, but I still didn’t get any great ones. She does not seem to want to look at the camera anymore, and she tries to run away. She’s just too busy. I just liked this first picture because you can see her sparkly shoes.

Here she is in the nursery; another attempt at taking a good Easter picture.

After church, we went home and Bailey took a nap, while Jonathon and I finished getting things ready for the big meal over here. I got a ham at Honeybaked Ham and it was really good! Although I have to say that for $35 for a mini ham, I should not have had to pick a speck of fat off. Those things are overpriced for what you get, I think. When she woke up from nap, we let her open her basket before everyone arrived. I know they wanted to watch, but I figured it would just get too crazy and then she wouldn’t care about it. You can see what she grabbed for first…

I just love the look on her face here…

Here is Bailey with my parents. They gave her a sparkly Easter egg with money for a Grant’s Farm season pass in it. We love Grant’s Farm and can’t wait until it opens in April!

And doing what we do, sitting around and watching Bailey…

And just because this is one of the least icky pictures I’ve seen of myself lately, I thought I’d share

Taking a bath in Grandma’s sink on Christmas Eve. Let me tell you we had to seriously scrub that sink before putting her in it. Their kitchen makes me want to vomit.


Checking out what Santa brought- Christmas morning- this was her first gift (from Mom and Dad obviously).



Yay, Mommy!

Opening our presents on Christmas Day




Stopping to check out the Christmas tree

Opening more Christmas presents


We spent Christmas afternoon/evening with Jonathon’s cousins and aunts and uncles. They are all much more normal than his parents. In fact his parents are really the only weirdos in the family. I don’t quite understand. Anyway here is Bailey’s cousin Grace and great uncle Marvin.

Bailey with cousin Isaac, who was one in November.

My big gift to Jonathon was a new hard drive… how terribly exciting. But it was a good surprise for him because he had been bugging me for one and didn’t think he would get it because I said that was a boring Christmas present.

It was a very long day. I think everyone had a good time. My dad and grandpa got into a little tiff at the end of the day but overall, there wasn’t any major bickering or anything which is kind of rare with my family! Anyway, here are a bunch of the pictures in no particular order. I am tired and this is the best I can do.

Today and tonight I have been running around trying to get things ready for our “real” Christmas celebration at my parents’ house tomorrow. I had a few things left to wrap, and I have been trying to unpack and get the endless loads of laundry done from our trip. Our downstairs is still a mess and I feel like I haven’t gotten a whole lot done. I took Bailey to my parents house to play for a little bit because they couldn’t wait to see her. I listed a bunch of stuff on eBay tonight.

Jonathon has been talking about what he is going to do with the Best Buy giftcard from his brother. He really wants to get some sort of flat panel tv for downstairs. He also wants a plasma mount thing to put it on the wall. I told him we should at least get it carpeted before we worry about stuff like that.

Big news: WE ARE GETTING CARPET FOR THE DOWNSTAIRS ON TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!