first bike

jean dress

I've been thinking about sending this black and white picture into a "Cutest baby in the World" contest.

Swim lessons

Annual Boat Trip

Dad's Birthday

July 3rd was my dad's birthday. It was also the first full day of our annual Houseboat week. Along with getting everything else ready, I decided to use my left over cake balls and make my dad's birthday treat. While I was dipping chocolate, my hubby was super sweet and took our babe to her room to get her ready. After a couple of minutes I hear him tell her "go see what your mom thinks of your outfit." I look up to see this standing in the hall. I didn't have to say anything, my laugh was enough to tell him that he needed to change something about her outfit. (read this and you might laugh too)



These cake pops turned out a little better than cake pops the week before (but not much better, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong). I was planning to decorate them really fancy with stars and strips and all sorts of fun things, but then my babe asked if she could help me. Instead, I let her decorate most of them. She loved squeezing the melted chocolate out of the bag. Hers turned out much more fun than mine.

Her hair really bothers me. It was so much easier when she was bald! She really prefers to wear it down, but usually ends up looking like a street urchin with her hair in her eyes or some sort of 70's movie star (or Janete from So You Think You Can Dance, cute girl, dumb hair). Her hair is also so thin that it's really hard to keep a clip in her hair. When I tell her we are going to the "Beauty Parlor" (her bathroom and I talk with a silly accent) she usually chooses to have "one pony tail down low." It's a good compromise, but still not my favorite. I love it when it's up in a Mary Jane or in two pony tails. Both of those styles seem to keep her hair out of her eyes.

She got in trouble by her dad this particular morning for ignoring me when I came home from exercising. As part of her punishment, she didn't get any treats. Having her help me make the cake pops was really difficult, but I made her a deal. After we finished decorating, I would let her have some chocolate chips, if she would let me put two pony tails in her hair (at one point in my life I was above bribing, not any more, it happens almost daily). She was quick to take me up on her offer. We went to the "beauty parlor" and she got her chocolate chips. BUT, she found a loop hole. Once she was done with her chocolate chips she pulled her pony tails out. Now the bribes are much more specific.

Flashback-June

I love Mrs. Hobby! She loves to spoil our babe and buy her cute things. This is the third time she's dropped a package off at the office. It's always so fun to see what brings!

Flashback-June

CAKE POPS
I invited Talia (my 10 year old friend) over to make cake pops. We had a wonderful time even though I forgot to dip the sticks in chocolate before we put them into the balls. That made dipping the pops into chocolate really difficult since they fell off the stick or slid down the stick once they were dipped. The second batch went much better. My babe was out to lunch for most of the time with her grandparents, but once she came home she was ready to help, too. I wish I had taken a picture of all the fun colored pops. I have to admit, they were a little...spastic looking but they tasted great!

Flashback-June

She got to choose her outfit this morning. At first it was the skirt and the shirt, then a little later the hat was added. She also spent the morning reading books to her dolls. Now, I wish I had a picture of that!

This is our first attempt at growing vegetables and....they are thriving. I didn't think it was possible! We've had so much fun watching it grow. So far we've only had cucumber, but pretty soon our tomatoes will be ready. Notice what a fantastic mom I am by getting my child to eat carrots AND cucumbers. Well, this it rare. I wish it was an everyday event, but it's not.

Flashback-June

Father's Day Weekend

We went to the cabin! My Hubby went to two days of continuing education classes while I played with my parents.
Thursday night my dad was busy so we took advantage of his absence by going to Sushi. We were surprised when we drove into the little town and saw it packed with some sort of bike race! Luckily we found a random parking lot in the train yard. We had an entertaining evening watching this crazy bike race go round and round and round the downtown area.
Friday while my hubby had class and my dad and I went golfing. Then we went shopping. I tried out new beds. Oh, I would love to have a king bed. At one time I was adamant that we shouldn't have a king (I'd never get my husband to cuddle with me) but now, I'm all for it! Especially these new beds! They are made of latex. One of my biggest complaints about our bed now is it's like sleeping on a trampoline. Every time my hubby turns, I bounce. These new beds barely bounce (and they aren't memory foam, that stuff is novel for about 10 seconds, but sleeping the whole night on a memory foam bed would never happen.)
Saturday my hubby went to class again and we went golfing again.
Sunday we did the Church thing and the hung out.
Monday my hubby went golfing with us. Then we went shopping! This time on the way into the city our babe puked. We were so lucky to have an empty cup, paper towels, a water bottle and I had just bought her a shirt at the local thrift store. After she puked, she seemed fine. She puked 5 more times. We had the cup ready and had a great day (so did she, other than the puking.) By the evening, she was done puking!
Tuesday we went golfing again. Four days of golfing! Whew! You would think that I would have gotten better. Nope!

Flashback-May

I am pathetically behind on my journal. Here's my lame effort to do some catch-up. Oh, it's so much better to just get it done.

Why is it impossible to get a group of kids to all look at the camera at the same time?
This night we our babe's first attempt at having a sleep over at Sweetheart and Granddad's house with her cousins. She lasted about an hour and then was ready to come home and see her mom and dad. Hum! That reminds me of....me. I used to go home in the middle of the night when we'd have sleepovers at my grandparent's house.

Flashback-May

We went to our friends house for a bar-b-que. It was so stinken hot outside so we sent the kids out to play while the adults enjoyed the air conditioning and mixed drinks. It's always fun when someone leaves you alone with their camera. While my friend was busy doing something else, we took this masterpiece picture. I'm sure she has it up on her computer as her screen saver. While the adults were laughing inside and the older kids were playing video games. Our babe and her cousin were outside discovering a mud spot. Luckily we found them before they were totally immersed in it.

Our babe's favorite book in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD is The Little People-On the Farm. We read it everyday. Not long after the mud adventure were reading the book. She noticed Micheal and asked me "does he have muddy hands?" Ooops, I think we need to get out more.

Flashback-May

You never know what you will find when you leave them alone together. They are more like siblings than cousins. They play so well together 80 percent of the time and 20 percent of the time the fight, argue, annoy each other.

Flashback-May

I am soooooo glad we have a Rumba (and it works great). Vacuuming like this wore me out!

Flashback-May

She fell asleep while I was reading to her. Getting her to cuddle and sleep on my lap happens....once a year.

Flashback-May

On Mother's day my great aunt Louise game over for family dinner. Our babe instantly noticed her cane and wanted one of her own. A few days later I found my baton in my room at my parent's house. She was thrilled to have a cane of her own and spent several days wanting to take it everywhere.

baby outfit

She has two sides to her closet. One side is for clothes she wears right now. The other side is for clothes she will grow into. I love to shop seasonal clearance and have bought a lot of clothes (mostly dresses) for her to grow into. Since there are quite a few little outfits on that side, I sometimes overlook an outfit she could wear now. I've had this outfit since 2005. When we found out I was prego, we went shopping at Fred Meyer and bought one boy outfit and one girl outfit. I tried this outfit on her last summer (when it should have fit), but it was way to big. I almost forgot all about it this summer until a couple of weeks ago. When I saw it I was a little disappointed she might be too big for it now. Nope, my 2 1/2 year old fits into this 18 months outfit. She's HUGE. She's now 33 inches and 27 lbs.

pancakes

Sometimes she likes to have pancakes for breakfast, but her favorite part about pancakes is the batter. Ewe! Yuck! That's my least favorite part. Eating pancake batter is on the top of my gross list. Since I am such a nice mom, I'll let her lick the fork while I try not to dry heave.

One of her favorite games to play is driving. Usually we get bucked into her make-shift car and she drives us places. Yesterday, she let me know we were driving to the poop store.