Who Wore It Better?

This is gonna be a close one...

  OR...

She Wore An...

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!!!

Tea Party

Last Sunday Madeline went to Brynn's birthday party. I thought it was SO sweet that Brynn invited her and really wanted her to come. The party was at a local bakery that does tea parties. They served the girls food and let them decorate a ton of cupcakes to take home. It was so cute and surprisingly Madeline didn't tear anything up or break anything! She did, however, torture these stuffed rabbits the entire time we were there. She loved them! We had so much fun! It was such a cute party!

Today's Post Brought to You By the Letter S...

Sunshine....I LOVE THE SUN. I am sure I will pay for it later but I love laying out in the sun and just being outside. We have had gorgeous weather this year so far. It's not even 100 degrees yet!

Spring...As I type I can hear birds chirping and the sun is on my face. My grass is green and the breeze is cool and light. I am so thankful for the rain and cooler temperatures this Spring. It's making San Angelo grow on me...a little.

School...I have 5 weeks of school left and I could not be more excited. I always get burned out at this point in the semester. I am ready to be done. Also speaking of schools, we are looking at another potential daycare for Madeline. It has a Christian based curriculum and I really love the idea of sending her somewhere like that. We are going to check it out tomorrow.

Sleepover...Madeline had her first sleepover Friday night. She spent the night with Jaylei and Brynn while Terry and I went to a Bed and Breakfast. It was so nice to be able to get away knowing that Madeline would be taken care of and loved. I got her a little suitcase for the occasion.

I would've packed her room if I could have fit in her suitcase...



Look how cute they are...

Scams...One of the reasons Terry and I decided to go away is because we got a call from King's Point Cove in Brownwood that if we came and listened to their sales pitch to buy a piece of property then we would get all of these free gifts.  Well, it was totally worth it. After an hour and a half tour around a beautiful golf course with a guy that Terry and I both thought was super cool, we got a Taylor Made driver, a $25 gift card, 2 free rounds of golf, a vacation for two nights and three days of our choice (kinda), and free lunch. I actually had fun listening to the sales pitch and touring the property. If we had any ties to the area we might have considered buying. Stephanie and Adam got the same call and met us up there with their kids and Madeline. Terry and Adam got to play a round of golf and Stephanie and I got to go shopping in Abilene so it wasn't a bad deal. It was so much fun!

Star of Texas Bed and Breakfast...is where Terry and I stayed Friday night. I loved it! It was way back in the woods.  For Brownwood to be not too far away from San Angelo, it is much greener and prettier than San Angelo. The B&B was so quiet and they had a nature trail. The nature trail had all kinds of animals on it, including donkeys that you can pet. Right up my alley! Our room had a balcony and an awesome jacuzzi. We wanted to try a local restaurant but the people who own the B&B only recommended two and one we couldn't find and the other had about a million people waiting to get in. We went into this place called Underwood's but when I saw the food we left. So we ended up getting a pizza and taking it back to our room. There really isn't much to choose from in Brownwood.

This cat lead us the whole time we were on the nature trail. I am not really a cat person but this cat was pretty cool! 

Awesome God

I tend to worry a lot...I really never worried until a few years ago. I developed a tremendous fear of flying. I also worry about any number of things on any given day. The closer the time comes for me to quit work, put Madeline in daycare, and start school full time, the more I seem to worry. About everything. I know it is a sin but sometimes I lose sight of how awesome the God we serve truly is.

I came across this article on Fox News and really thought it was blog-worthy. The pictures in the article are indescribable. Here is one...

Photo used is from FoxNews.com

I just am in awe that the same God who is responsible for this magnificent creation also knows the hairs on my head. What an awesome God we serve...

Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 NKJV

15 Months

My Sweet Madeline, 

You are almost 15 months old. I can't believe it! You are growing up WAY too fast. You weigh 21lbs 1 oz -- you lost almost a whole pound while you were sick. You are two feet six inches tall. You are tall and skinny on the percentile scale with a medium sized head! You wear a size 4.5 shoe, size 4 diaper, and size 18 month clothes. I just bought your summer wardrobe in size 18-24months, and I don't believe it could be my baby that wears clothes that big! 

You have 6 teeth now with more coming in. I guess that's the pattern until you get them all. You smile a lot and think you are a real comedian. You do things on purpose to make us laugh. 

You climb ALL THE TIME! ON EVERYTHING! You climb from the floor into your high chair, on top of the back of the couch, into the baby swing, and pretty much anywhere else where you can get higher. You can now climb the ladder and go down the slide on your little play thing in the backyard.  It scares me but thankfully you are pretty coordinated for your age and don't fall too often. 

Daddy and I call you "girl" pronounced more like "guhr". When I can't get your attention with Madeline, I always say "guhr" and you look  up. We are pretty sure you will go to kindergarten and tell them your name is "Guhr" Richardson. 

You still LOVE your bottle. Truthfully, I am so worried about how I am going to get you to give it up. I am hoping that one day you will just hand it to me and say, "Here Mom, throw this away. I don't need it anymore." Clearly I am a dreamer. Your pediatrician says you should be off of it completely by now but I have read/heard differently from other doctors so I am not going to freak out until closer to 18months. 

Your love for being outside has only increased since Daddy bought you a trampoline. You can say "jump" and know how to jump. I think you are a little spoiled...

Your eating habits are the same. You will eat anything. You love junk food just like Daddy but you will shovel green beans down just as fast as you will cookies so I'm not really worried about it. Yesterday Daddy gave you beef jerky, and much to my dismay, you loved it. Cheese is still your fav though. 

You have become very lovey. You give hugs and kisses like they're going out of style. You talk a lot and get loud when you don't think we're listening. You laugh a lot too, and think the dumbest things I do are so funny. We spent a good 10 minutes yelling into the fan this morning to hear our voices change. I love that you think I am funny. 

You sleep so good still. You sleep until 9 pretty much every morning, and go to bed at 9 almost every night. You take 2 naps still which amazes me, but you still go to bed easily. I figure when you're ready, you'll give up the other nap. 

You just learned how to do "ta-da" with your hands and you try to say it too. It is so cute. You know where a few of your body parts are, and you ask for more when you want more of something. You still love books more than anything else and will sit for a long time and let me read to you. You also LOVE Tangled. We watch a least part of it every day now. It helps me get lunch and sometimes dinner made! 

You HATE your car seat. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that to you but you have hated it since you were born. I really thought you would grow out of it, especially when we turned you around but you scream pretty much every time I put you in it. You just started doing the limp body, throw your head back and scream thing when I put you in it. It is so fun! :) You are also not a big fan of strollers and grocery carts - I think the theme here is that you don't like to be still, much less restrained. 

I want you to always know how much I love you. Sometimes I have these terrible thoughts about something happening to me and you never knowing how much I loved you. You have completely changed my life. I'll never forget the moment you were born, hearing your sweet cry and knowing that God had answered the prayer that Daddy and I had prayed for 9 months. You were here and healthy. I remember looking at you the first several weeks of your life and bawling because I couldn't believe you were mine. I still do that sometimes. I love everything about you. Your smile, your hands, your feet, your chubby elbows and knees, and your laugh. I love getting you out of your crib in the morning. You always rub your sleepy eyes and then hug my neck and lean in for a kiss. I can't think of a better way to start my day. You just recently started pointing to your eye, your heart, and then to me to say I Love You after watching me do it to you for months. You also nod your head "yes" now when I ask if you love me or Daddy. I love the way you light up and run to the door when Daddy comes home. It's another favorite part of my day. I love that you will just run back and forth across the backyard and then sit down and play with the grass. It is so fun watching you discover the world. I love bedtime when I rock you and read to you. I love that you smile when I sing to you. You always have even when you were tiny. Probably  because my voice is horrific but it makes you smile so that's all that matters. I want you to know that being your mom has been such a blessing and that I love every minute of it...even when you're sick or teething or just whiny. There is nothing else I would rather be doing than being with you and Daddy. After you were born, I got to see a side of your Dad that I had never seen before. He lets you get away with anything and loves playing with you. His whole face changes when you come around, and I have never seen him love anyone like he loves you. I know my words can't do it justice, but I want you to have something to know how much we love you. God promises to give us the desires of our heart, and He did when He gave you to me. I love you sweet girl! 

Suckers

Sucker is one of those words that has more than one meaning. Well, in this house we are full of suckers...

I bought too many suckers at Valentine's Day and this cutie has been reaping the benefits...

I also am terrible about leaving the pantry door open. Our garbage can stays in there...sounds so gross as I write it but there isn't anywhere else to put it except the garage, and while I love mice, I don't want to encourage them to live here. I digress...the dogs' food and water also stays in there so it's just easier to leave it open. Well, Madeline is smart enough now to know that's where the food is and this happens about once a week.

That would be a brand new bag of BBQ chips that she and the dogs are enjoying. She likes to grab whatever she can reach, dump it out, and eat it off the floor. I happen to think it is kinda cute so I just go with it and take pictures. Sucker. (or bad mom, could go either way)

Finally, the BIGGEST sucker in this house by far is Terry. About a month ago, he went to Academy with a friend. Well, PetSmart is in the same shopping center and on this particular snowy day they were having dog adoptions. It was a last chance type of thing where if they didn't get adopted, they were going to be euthanized. Let me introduce our newest family member, Zoe. 

Her haircut is a little scary looking but she is SO sweet. She was so bony when we got her. It was really sad but she has packed on some weight and is now just as crazy as the other three dogs. That's right we have FOUR dogs now. Total suckers! 

Fighting...

Madeline and I are in a fight. We made a deal a long time ago that as long as she wouldn't grow, I would feed her. Well, this morning she woke up and I am pretty sure she grew overnight. Check out these high-waters. (They are size 18month...not cool!)

And this one just because she is so cute. She almost knocked me down running to me with this huge smile on her face!

My baby is growing up too fast. We visited a daycare today that we love. So we're all set for her to start in August. I am so sad but a little excited at the same time. I think she'll do really well and she'll be old enough to really learn a lot. 

Gettin' Down...

Check out these moves...

Lucky Charm

We had a pretty great St. Patty's Day! 

We started with my failed attempt to make green shamrock pancakes...they were more of a yellowy-lime green because I was almost all out of green food coloring and it was neon green to begin with. Anyway, the thought was there. Oh and I definitely need a shamrock cookie cutter to even have a prayer of getting them close to the right shape next year...

After breakfast we headed out to the mall to celebrate a girls day with one of Madeline's best friends Brynn. Brynn's birthday is today so we had a girls day to celebrate. Brynn is 8 but she adores Madeline and requested that we spend her birthday with her. I thought it was so sweet that she wanted to spend her day with us. Her real party is next week. It's a dress-up tea party and she invited Madeline. So cute!  I forgot my camera but the girls both got their toes done. They got the same color with glitter. It was so stinkin cute. 

We ate dinner out for Brynn's birthday and then went to get ice cream. Then we went back to their house so Brynn could open presents and have cake. It was such a fun day! 

Here's my little lucky charm last year...

And today...

She looks SO big to me in this picture. :(


Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Overhaulin' Part 2

A couple of weekends ago Terry and I decided to rip up the carpet in our bedroom and replace it with wood floors. Well, it turns out hard wood flooring is ridiculously expensive and since we know for a fact that this won't be our permanent home, we decided to go with something cheaper. So we got these floating floors and they actually look really good. I have to brag for just a second too because Terry did a phenomenal job installing them which saved even more money. Gotta love a handy husband! 

I dont have a before of our bedroom but here it is now...It looks so much better!

Here is our living room before...btw I took this to post on how messy my house gets if I don't clean every day. I mean it is really ridiculous how fast it gets disgusting...

The living room now...it looks so different to me!


I have to say, though, of all my projects, the one below was by far the worst. Have you seen hoarders? Well, my closet could have had its own episode. I'm not kidding...ok maybe not quite that bad. I didn't find any skeletons of animals or food or anything like that but it definitely needed to be cleaned out. So five bags for goodwill and 2 bags of trash later, here is the finished product. Its actually a pretty big closet -bigger than it looks in this picture --  just in case you were wondering how in the heck I got rid of so much stuff and still have so much in there! 

I know what you're thinking..."How could she do that after working and school?" Before you get too impressed (haha), I will show you this. 

That would be my daughter the night we redid the office. And that would be a piece of cheese, a banana, some broccoli, and a little debbie snack cake. Yeah that's right a Spring time butterfly snack cake with dinner. Because we are awesome like that! :) 

Loves

Love them more than I could ever tell them...

Overhaulin'

Since I am on Spring Break this week, Terry and I are trying to tackle some projects around the house. The office is the last room in the house we haven't done anything to since we moved in. I have hated that room since we moved in. It just seemed so junky and ugly. If I were a good blogger, I would have taken before pictures but I think most of you who read have seen the office in all its ugliness anyway. Well, we turned it into a playroom/office. We moved the computer and printer into the closet - -I know that sounds weird and the picture isn't that great but it's actually a nice little space and it keeps certain 14 month olds from climbing all over the computer desk and tearing everything up. We painted the walls and ripped up the carpet. Terry laid a new floor and it looks so much better!

From the doorway 

Side wall

Across from the futon

The closet with the computer...it looks tinier in the picture but it's actually not quite so panic-roomish in real life.