Shopping at Gardner Village

For the past couple of years, it has been a tradition in my family for us to go any enjoy the Labor Day Sidewalk Sale at Gardner Village. Each year, my mom, grandma, Elizabeth, and I meet at the village for lunch and shopping. We always have fun taking a stroll and enjoying the sun.


This year was no exception. We all met at Gardner Village, ate some lunch, shopped for a while and then went to watch ducks with Elizabeth. She always gets so excited when she sees the ducks.


Here she is walking with Grandma to go get a closer look. Elizabeth seriously has no fear. She would walk right up to the ducks and pet them if I would let her.


Elizabeth is such a happy-go-lucky girl. She loves people and animals...and there is no place she would rather be than outside in the sunshine.

Coffee Table + Elizabeth's Head = BUMP

Poor Little Elizabeth. She was having such a good time at Grandma's house until she tripped and hit her head on the corner of the coffee table. When I heard the "crack" I knew that it was not going to be pretty. Elizabeth is not usually one to cry when she falls...but this one was too much to handle.

Even before I picked her up, I could see the giant goose egg forming. Poor Little Thing...


I am sure that this is the first of many "boo-boos" to come...but it doesn't make it any easier. I guess I need to just count my blessings that she had gone the first 16 months of her life without any major incidents!

Sign, Say & Play Week Three

In class today, we learned about "Bath Time" signs. We learned how to sign "bubbles", "duck", "frog", "water", "bath", and "toothbrush". The teacher brought in a baby doll, a tub of water, water and bubbles, rubber duckies, and towels. It was so cute to see all of the children playing with each of the toys. For the most part, they played nicely...however, Elizabeth would not share the baby.

Elizabeth and I have really enjoyed taking these classes together. It is so rewarding to see her start to use a sign consistently and correctly. I love that she is not as frustrated and can tell me what she wants or needs without crying.

Elizabeth's First Swim

This weekend, while visiting MeMe, we took Elizabeth for her first swim in the big pool. She was so excited when she saw her swimsuit. She loves to swim in the little pool and play in the water table at Karla and Kelly's house, but she had no idea what we had planned for her.

MeMe, Uncle Bill, my Mom, my Dad, Matt, Elizabeth and I all headed to the pool in my grandma's condo community.





Elizabeth was jabbering up a storm as we walked along the sidewalk. She was pointing in every direction and had to stop to inspect every rock and leaf along the way. She loved having the whole group walking with her. Every couple of seconds she had to switch and hold someone else's hand. I guess she did not want anyone to feel left out.









I love this photo for a couple of reasons. First of all, I love the little cross-back swimsuit. I think that it is the cutest thing. Also, I love how you can see Elizabeth's shadow. Lastly, my little girl is finally getting hair...and you can see it in this picture!













This is Elizabeth experiencing the water for the first time. As you can see, she is not too sure about it.















I love this picture of Elizabeth and my mom. You can tell that Elizabeth loves her grandma. Even though she wasn't sure about the water, she was totally at ease in Grandma's arms.









Here are some cute photos of my mom and Elizabeth splashing and playing in the water.


Here is Elizabeth with Uncle Bill. She is so lucky to have an uncle that loves her so much.


For some reason, Elizabeth decided to lift up her legs and do the splits. It was so funny and she loved the reaction that she got from all of us. We all laughed...so she had to keep doing it. She also, kept grabbing her feet. She is a crazy girl!


I just have to say that I love my little girl. Look at how stinkin' cute she is! Just looking at that little face makes me want to smother her with kisses.

Better Late Than Never!

For a while now, we have been meaning to take pictures of Elizabeth with her cousins in their fourth of July dresses. Karla (my mother-in-law) mentioned that she would like to have a photo of her three grand-daughters together, in the dresses that she purchased for them. We were going to take the photos on the fourth of July but due to mismatched nap times and all of the fun activities we did not get them done. At the end of the day, and after the girls had gone swimming (which messed up their hair) and were already in their pjs...we thought "Oh No, we never took the pictures!"

Last week when we were visiting Karla and Kelly, Karla mentioned the photos again. She said that she really wished that we had taken a photo of her three girls together.

We'll today, we made it happen! Better late than never...I guess!

Here are the two best photos of Kena, Elizabeth, and Kate together.



It was quite the ordeal to get them all in the same picture. Kena wouldn't smile unless she was holding Elizabeth's arm...Elizabeth wouldn't smile because she did not want Kena to hold her arm...and Kate would only sit for a split second and then she would be off running around the yard.

Kate and Kena are such cute girls. Elizabeth is so blessed to have them as her cousins.


Karla wanted to try and get some photos of the girls individually too. Kena and Kate are so cute and fun. Matt did a great job of capturing their personalities in these shots.


By far Kate is the hardest kid to get in a photo. She will not sit still and constantly is on the move. Poor Adam was chasing her around the entire yard, trying to aim the flash at her so that Matt could light up the shot. Thanks Adam...for being such a trooper. Adam helped make these shots great.

As you can see, there are no photos of Elizabeth individually. About ten minutes into the photo shoot, Elizabeth decided that she wanted to eat. We plan to go back within the next couple of days to get some pictures of her. We figured why fight it that night, we would try to take some shots when Elizabeth was in a better mood!

The Sippy Cup Struggles are over!

We have been trying to get Elizabeth to take a Sippy Cup for a couple of months now. Every time we would give her one, she would throw a fit. She would cry and scream and would not even try. She would not let us put the cup near her mouth. She just shook her head "no" and cried every time it got near her.

We'll this week, I gave her a sippy cup and she just started drinking out of it. No issues, just placed it in her mouth and started sucking. Now when we show her a bottle, she shakes her head "no" and won't take it. When given a choice, she grabs the sippy cup.


I guess Elizabeth just wanted to do it when she was good and ready. She is getting to be so independent. Each day I am reminded that she is no longer a baby...she is a big girl!

I love being a..."Mama"!

Elizabeth has officially started to call me Mama. I say officially, because she has been saying "mama" for a while, but I was not sure that she knew what she was saying. At this point, I am convinced that she knows that I am "Mama"...and I could not be happier. It totally melts my heart when I walk into a room and Elizabeth smiles and says Mama.

Just when I thought life could not get any better...aaahhhhh...I love being a "Mama"!

Sign, Say & Play Week One

Today was our first Baby Signs Class at Gymboree. Elizabeth was a little confused as to what we were doing but I had a blast. We learned signs based on the theme "Mealtime". We learned to sign "eat", "drink", "more", "done", "bib", "cereal", and "milk". Elizabeth was a pro. I was so proud of her. She already knew "eat", "more", "done", "cereal", and "milk". It was so cute to see Elizabeth showing the teacher each sign.

Croppin' with the Girls

I just had a fun-filled night of scrapbooking. Thanks to Shyloh and the girls at A Page 4 All Seasons, I got a relaxing night out. It was so great to socialize and scrap! Best of all, I got six layouts done, and even more planned.







Here are some photos of the cute girls in attendance. I cannot wait for our next crop!


If you haven't heard of A Page 4 All Seasons, you should check it out. It is an online store that specializes in scrapbook kits. They have the cutest layouts and make it really easy for you to get layouts done fast. All the Kits come with everything you need and it is all cut out for you. All you need to do is glue it together and add your photos...brilliant!

If you are interested, check out their website at apage4allseasons.com

A Day at Wheeler Farm

Matt and I decided to take Elizabeth for her first trip to Wheeler Farm. It was a nice, cloudy day so we thought that it would be perfect. Matt and I had not been there for a while, so we wanted to go and see how it has changed. Plus, Elizabeth is obsessed with animals right now. Every time she sees one, she has to stop...wave hi...and then blow it a kiss. She does this even if the animal is on tv. It is the funniest thing. Once it cools down a bit more, we will be taking Elizabeth to the Hogle Zoo...where she will be in animal heaven!

Anyway, we arrived at Wheeler Farm and started walking on one of the paths. Immediately, a goose started following us. Lovely...I hate geese. We had some nasty ones that lived in our apartment complex and since then...I cannot stand them. Matt was so amused by this goose because it is a "goose with a goose egg on his head". Matt thought that it was the greatest thing. He must have mentioned it ten times to me that day and he says it every time he shows someone the photograph that he took.


As we were walking around we saw this really cool wood shed with a wagon bench in front of it. We thought that it would be a great backdrop for some photographs of Elizabeth. We are so excited with how these turned out. As we look at these photos, we are reminded that our little girl is growing up. She doesn't look like a little baby anymore...she is a full on toddler. It is amazing to see how much she has changed in just a year and a couple of months.


Elizabeth had so much fun running around. She is such a crazy girl. She is all over the place now. Once her little feet touch the ground, she is off in every direction.


I think this photograph is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. While she was running around like a crazy person, I stood behind Matt and called her name. For some reason, she looked at me, tilted her head, and placed her arms under her chin. We could not have posed her better ourselves. I guess we just have to call her name and she know to get into position...should we take it as a sign that we take too many photographs?


When we came across this saddle, I had to have Elizabeth's photograph sitting on it. I think it turned out great. It was a little difficult to get this shot because the saddle is right next to the duck ponds and Elizabeth was very distracted. I think all of Matt's patience and hard work paid off...this is my favorite photograph from the entire day! Thanks Matt!!


Matt and Elizabeth had so much fun watching the ducks, while sitting on the saddle. You can tell that Elizabeth is really excited because she is doing the double point with her arms.


I wanted my photo taken with Elizabeth, but she wanted to get down and run around. Since I am the mom I decided that she had to be in the photograph...BUT since she is a stink...she decided to have a grumpy look on her face. Oh well!


Elizabeth loved the animals. She would point, jabber a whole bunch, blow kisses, and laugh. She thought they were the greatest thing that she had ever seen. We got to see some geese, cows, horses, bunnies, roosters, sheep, pigs, and ducks. Elizabeth's favorites seemed to be the cows and the bunnies.


It started to sprinkle a little so we did not go on the tractor ride. We will have to do it next time. Instead, we went to Cold Stone for a little bit of ice cream. It was an amazing day. I love my little family. I am so blessed to have time to make these wonderful memories with them.