Mission: accomplished!

I think you'll be glad to know that I took photos yesterday AND today! (Well, I'm glad anyway...not as much mommy guilt!!!) Here's one of my favorites from yesterday. I think I'm going to print it big, even though he's not smiling. It's so him, and I love it!

Hibernating in August

School starts back and it takes me a while to get back into the routine. So I disappear. For almost a whole month! If any of you are keeping up with my little 365 day project, I just updated it (4 whole pictures...whooo! and all from July.) I would have posted some photos from August, but there's just one small problem: I have ZERO. How is that?! Don't get me wrong...I have picked up my camera this month, but only for the 4 or 5 sessions I've had. So this month of my childrens' lives is not documented. Granted we haven't been doing much, but I need to take some everyday shots here at home. So that is my goal when we get home from church tomorrow. Pictures. Of my children. Doing whatever they are doing.

There are still 2 days left in August.

And what's a post without a picture? Well, as you know I have none from this month (other than the ones I shared of my painting projects in the previous post) So my school website picture will have to do. At least you can see my "new" (has it been a month? Really, where did August go?!?!) haircut:

Completed

Okay, I finally finished my two big projects: the desk chair for the kitchen & the chest of drawers for Gabby's room. I actually finished the chest about 2 weeks ago. The chair got the finishing touches today.

Here's a look at both:

Chair Before:


Chair After:


Excuse the messy desk..that's another project!! ;)



Gabby's chest of drawers (+ canvas that I need to hang)


It was fun (but a lot of work) but I think I'm done for a little while. I do have a headboard to paint for Gabby girl's room but that will be later!! Now on to the wall....ahhhh! We are very quickly approaching a year of being in our house (one month from now) and I think I have ONE thing on the wall. Must.change.that.SOON.

Ten on Tuesday...the late edition

1. Officially one week left of summer. What a bummer! SO much left to do in a short 7 days.

2. I got the garage cleaned out yesterday (with the help of my mom & dad - thanks!!) I feel 110% better walking through it now. We took almost everything out, organized it, swept/dry-vac'd/mopped (it still had dry wall dust on the floor in some parts!!) Then put everything that was going back in neatly. We can almost park 2 cars in there now!

3. I'm working on painting Gabby's dresser (chest? whatever!) It has 3 coats right now: 1 primer & 2 paint. It's going to need at least 1 more coat of paint...maybe 2. That will be finished by the end of the week. I'm determined. Then we'll be able to park both vehicles in the garage...at least I think we can!

4. We went to Panama City Beach last Tuesday. I don't think I've ever seen the water as beautiful as it was that day. It was crystal clear! I could see the little fish swimming at the bottom. I could have stayed in the water all day!


5. I got my canvas of Carter last Friday. But had to send it back today. :( It had a few small spots that the company needs to fix. I hated to send it back because I wanted to get both prints on the wall. I guess I can wait a little longer (as if I have a choice!) It turned out PERFECTLY though!

6. Carter still isn't taking many steps. 5 or 6 at a time. He could totally walk if he wanted to. He's content to crawl. He's faster that way. He'll be making his way around on his feet soon enough!!

7. Gabby has had a summer full of friends! We got to see Lily again (we weren't expecting that!) and Ella came to swim that day too:
We've played with Lizzie & Kyle several times. We've been to Landmark a few times. One Friday morning we went to learn about moths & butterflies. Gabby was terrified of the live catepillars. She did like making a butterfly out of a coffee filter though. Here are Lizzie & Gabby's beautiful butterflies:


We got to see Joseph & Jacob...I took their pics @ Landmark...(we met Lizzie & Kyle again that day too) We enjoyed some ice-cream from the old general store!

Maybe we'll get to see more friends before summer is over!

8. We're headed up to Portland in September. Just the girls (me + Gabby!) I'm excited! I've never been to that part of the country AND a bunch of us girls (Emily, Jennifer & Kara) are going together to visit Tim, Laura & Lily. Laura will have a new baby by then, and I plan to take lots of pics!! Gabby hasn't ever flown before, so that will be an experience!

9. We're going to try to head down to Destin for one night this weekend. Chad has some days off next week, so we're going to take Gabby & Carter to the water park down there again. Hopefully we'll have some good weather!

10. My hair no longer looks like this:


But you're going to have to wait to see what it does look like! I just got it cut today, and haven't had time to take a picture. I will say this: it's short again!

Guess what's happening....

in this series of photos??? (click on it to make it a little larger)


Carter has been taking a few steps since last Monday!! He still isn't walking far, but he's definitely making progress. I guess he's going to beat Gabby after all. :)

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all enjoy the day with your family & friends! I'm thankful that we live in a country where we have freedom. Thank you to those who serve to protect that!

*I took this picture at a parade we went to last November (of course it's cropped here :)

The Gardens: Revisited

I made some progress on my #3 from yesterday's post by taking over 200 pictures today! Some of you may remember when I made my whole 2nd blog post ever (okay, yeah right..no one read it then...or maybe even now for that matter!) Look what I got earlier this afternoon (the one of Carter) and how I plan for it to look on my wall:

I already have a 16x24 gallery wrap canvas of Gabby that I have never put on the wall, and have been wanting to take Carter out to the local botanical gardens to get the right shot of him to put them up side by side (which will help me with yesterday's #5.) I'm happy with the outcome. I can't wait to order the one of Carter and display my two sweet babies on the wall!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Wow, 2nd week in a row!!! Can you believe it?! Another ToT post. :)

2. Head over to www.SpanglishBaby.com for a fun Spanish DVD giveaway. I don't have these DVDs, but they look like fun! Actually it's a whole week of giveaways, so if you miss out on today's be sure to check back tomorrow.

3. I don't think I've picked up my camera from last Tuesday 'til today. It sure doesn't help my little project! I'm going to have to change that tomorrow.

4. Gabby went to the public library for the first time last week. She was so excited, and wanted a card of her own. Unfortunately you have to be 4 years old to get a library card, but she still had fun browsing the children's section! We're actually headed back tomorrow to return our borrowed books and get more! I signed her up for the summer reading program, and set her goal as 20 books. We're almost halfway there, and will probably reach her goal at the end of the week. Maybe next year her goal should be 30.

5. My summer vacation is officially HALF OVER. How did that happen?! I haven't even finished my furniture painting projects (chair & dresser), put ANYTHING on our walls, OR cleaned/organized the garage. Where did June go? I guess I still have July to finish my goals.

6. I bought a pineapple today and cut it up this evening. It's in the fridge along with some strawberries & watermelon. I can't wait to have a yummy fruit breakfast in the morning. Both Gabby & Carter like fruit, but Carter devours it...as in can't.get.enough.

7. Carter has just about stopped drinking milk. I thought he was going to be my milk drinker, but he seems to have develop a dislike for it in the last 2 weeks. I did put a tiny bit of chocolate in it yesterday, and he drank that a little better. So I definitely have to keep juice with calcium around. Do you know how difficult it is to find juice with calcium that isn't orange or grape (the staining purple kind)? VERY. I was very happy with Mott's Kids Plus, but now I can't find it ANYWHERE! So now I have found Old Orchard, and their White Grape Juice...thank you juice makers for adding calcium for my non-milk drinking children!!! (If you visit the link you can find a few printable coupons! :)

8. Check this out. Okay. Strange that someone would do that, but that's besides the point. Pretty gross, huh? We don't eat it often, but it sure will make me think twice before fast food again!

9. We went on a walk with the wagon around the neighborhood tonight. We need to do it more often. Gabby & Carter really enjoy it.

10. I love that it doesn't get really dark until after 8 pm!! I just need to get outside & enjoy it more (although it also seems to be the mosquitoes favorite time of day too!)

I'll be back soon...with photos I hope!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Okay, so Ten on Tuesday is rare for me. I've only done it once or twice, but I haven't blogged much, and we've been doing a lot!

2. We've been to two different beaches in the last week and a half. First we went to Cape San Blas, FL Look at the beautiful sunset we saw:


3. Then last Monday we headed down to Destin to stay until Thursday. We hit the water park, the crowded beach (for a whole hour!), lots of good eating, and of course the pool!! Gabby & Carter both loved the water, and we enjoyed the time together.

4. Carter still isn't walking at 13 months. I'm not too surprised since Gabby didn't walk until 15.5 months, but he was acting like he was going to walk before he was 1! Oh well, I just get to chase his super fast crawling!

5. I can finally announce potty training success! Gabby has been doing great. It wasn't that she couldn't do it before...she just didn't want to! I was told that when she was ready she would pretty much do it on her own, and quickly. That proved true! She hardly has any accidents, and she had ZERO on our trip (including in the car!) Hopefully Carter will be much earlier, though.

6. Gabby is a big scaredy cat. She is afraid to go down slides, afraid of the dark...just scared! Sometimes she'll surprise us, but usually she just says "I'm scared," til she trys something and realizes it's fun! Any suggestions for helping to her branch out and not be afraid to try things?

7. I'm working on a small project. I wanted a chair to put at the desk in our kitchen area. I didn't want to pay a lot, so I went to a few garage sales on Saturday. I almost didn't go to the last one, but so glad I did! I found the perfect chair for $5!!! Can't beat that. I'm in the process of painting, and looking for fabric to cover the seat. I'll share the after soon! Here it is before:



8. I still don't have much on the walls. We've been in this house for 9 months now. So it's one of my big summer projects. Have you seen any interesting decorating pieces lately? Do you have a favorite place to find stuff? Keep in mind I'm cheap!!! Decorating is NOT a big interest and definitely not my strong point.

9. I'm trying to be really good about using my reusable shopping bags. I've done really well this week, remembering them each time I've gone to the store. I hope to keep it up! My favorite bags are the two I have from Kohl's. They're big, and stronger than the other one I have. I found them on clearance for $0.79! I should see if they still have more!

10. It is HOT here. I mean like 100 degrees or more. When we got in the car to leave my MIL's house today (at around 1 p.m.) the temperature thing read 108! Stay cool, everyone!

First Haircut

I didn't want to cut Carter's hair before his 1st birthday. Since he was several weeks past that, I decided it was time to head to the salon (barber..whatever!) So on June 2, the 2nd official day of summer vacation, we made a visit to the salon. His Aunt Margot cuts hair, and she was excited to see us. She gave Gabby her first haircut last May! In fact, Gabby got haircut #2 (trim)the same day as Carter's first. As she was cutting Carter's hair, he started to look more and more like Chad. It was amazing what a little trim of the hair can do. He also gained some age! He doesn't look as much like a baby anymore :( He has a little boy look to him now! Okay, enough babble. I know you want to see it!

Carter's First Birthday

Since tomorrow Carter will be 13 months old, I figured I better get up a birthday post! I meant to do this a lot earlier, but May is such a busy month with birthdays and the end of school! We had Carter's 1st birthday party at home. It was our first time really entertaining since we've moved into our new house. We really got to enjoy our deck and backyard. It was a lot of fun!

I attempted to make Carter's birthday cake. I was planning on making Gabby's 2nd birthday cake, but a case of the flu got in the way! So this was my first attempt at making a birthday cake. I don't know if I'll ever order one from a bakery again, if I can help it! I think it's an extra special touch on their birthday. I was very pleased with how it turned out! I did use box cake, but the icing was homemade buttercream...yum! Here's how it turned out:


And here's the birthday boy!


And a slide show of the day:

It Can't Be.

Really? Already? A year? Am I seeing the calendar correctly? Friday is May8th, isn't it? But...that's impossible. There's no way that it has already been one year since our lives were blessed with Carter. But as impossible as that seems, it's hard to remember a time without him! This year has gone by unbelievably fast. We have enjoyed every minute of it! His little personality is really starting to emerge. He loves to laugh. I hope that never changes. Here's a small glimpse from the past year.

This is on the back of his invitations. It's amazing to see how they grow from month to month, isn't it?

A year old? But look, he was just a curled up newborn. ONE? Really? Nah, it can't be. Not just yet.

De Colores

I love this CD! It was one of the things I bought when I first started teaching Spanish, and I have used it ever since! It has so many great traditional & easy to sing children's songs on it. I have since bought a few other Jose-Luis Orozco albums, but this continues to be my favorite (though Diez Deditios is a close 2nd!)

Would you like a copy? Visit the Wanna Jugar With Migo blog to enter! She has 5 copies to give away:

http://wannajugarwithmigo.blogspot.com/2009/04/jose-luis-orozco-de-colores-cd-giveaway.html

Not to mention she always has great ideas for sharing & teaching language to your children!

Washing Our Spirits

This is Gabby's response to why Jesus died for us. We're not sure where she got it, but on Friday I was explaining to her what Good Friday and Easter are all about. I told her that God sent Jesus because He loves us so much and that Jesus died for our sins. We also talked about how Jesus rose on the third day and how He is alive. When I questioned her in review of our conversation I asked her if Easter was about bunnies & eggs. She said "No...Jesus!" Then I asked why Jesus died for us, and she said "so to wash our spirits." Very insightful for a 3 year old. Maybe we misunderstood what she said, or perhaps one of her grandmothers told her that...but wherever she got it from her answer truly made her daddy & me very happy.

We really had a wonderful Easter weekend filled with love, fun & family. On Saturday we did a couple of fun projects! First I made cupcakes from stratch. Yes, homemade! If you haven't heard of Bakerella you should check her out. Now, Bakerella I am not, but I still think my attempt at her latest idea turned out pretty cute.

They sure were yummy too! (I plan on using that buttercream icing on Carter's birthday cake which I'm going to attempt to make myself.)

Then we colored eggs! This is the first time I've done this with Gabby. She was looking forward to it for days! She was so excited and very patient while they sat in the dye. She would just sit and look at the cups.
This morning we got up bright & early to get ready for church. We had the nursery so we had to get there a little earlier than normal. I had to get a few pictures of Gabby & Carter before we left. Carter didn't really know what to think of his first Easter basket. He just wanted to take everything out.
After church and lunch we had an egg hunt at Nana & Granddaddy's (Chad's parents) house. All the cousins were there. Here's Gabby in action:

And here's what Carter did during the egg hunt:
Nana & Abuelita took turns holding him as he tried to escape. After the hunt was over he tried to attack everyone's baskets, but wasn't very successful. Don't worry, you'll be out there next year, buddy!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter weekend! And remember: Jesus came to wash our spirits! How can we not rejoice in that truth?

P.S. This is officially my longest blog post ever!

Spring Break & other fun

Spring Break was last week, and we got to have a short visit with some friends. Gabby & Carter enjoyed playing with Joseph & Jacob & Andrew. We're so glad that Julie & Andrew got to join us. I haven't seen her in years, and it's the first time we got to meet each other's children. I'll have to make a trip to Birmingham soon to meet Andrew's little sister who should be here next week!
Gabby liked Jacob & Joseph's stroller better than her own, even though it was exactly the same!

The week was rainy, so we didn't get to do many other outdoor activites. A week is so short! I had such a lofty "to-do" list. I didn't get nearly anything done on it. On Sunday, right before returning to work the following day, I decided to takle one big project on my list: paint a nightstand I had in the garage for Gabby's room. Here's the finished product:


I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I have a dresser that matches it. I'm not sure that I want to paint it...plus it will take up the coveted space in her room that is dedicated to toys! Of course I could...no... I should move some (more) of that to the playroom. Which was my other project! I'll have to take pictures and share that later. I still have a little more to do there. And why is it that the room that the least people see is the one that is the closest to being the way I want it??


Just for fun here is Gabby yesterday making cookies.

Snow Flurries!

We had snow flurries this morning. Chad was putting the diaper bag in the car & warming it up for us to go to chuch when he yelled to me it was snowing. I got the kids' coats on quickly and took them outside. Gabby was so excited. I ran inside to get the camera and I'm so glad we took the time to take a few pictures even though we were running late! Look at that expression on her face. It's priceless! On the other hand, Carter wasn't as thrilled. He wasn't upset, but he really didn't know what to think. Here's one of them together!

Officially Three

My three year old Gabby girl tonight before bed...watching Sleeping Beauty in new princess tutu pajamas. Click on the picture to see it bigger.

Really, is she three already? I could almost cry about her birthday this year. I had no problem with her turning one or two, but this year the fact that she has turned three has really made me emotional. Maybe it's because 3 sounds like such a little girl...not a baby, not a toddler, but a true little girl. I know this year holds much fun and excitment so I'm looking forward to it. But just for a moment I wish I could freeze time and keep her this age forever. Happy Birthday, Gabby!

Birthday Party Preview

Just a quick preview of Gabby's party. Check here for one more of the birthday girl herself! I'll have to post more later (promise!)

Daring little dude

"We're going to have a climber." I said those exact words to Chad that this morning after Carter & Gabby had their baths. Carter was all clean & dressed trying to climb back into the tub during Gabby's bath. An hour or two later he almost gave us a heart attack when we heard him crying. He had climbed about 6 stairs and was on the landing where the stairs turn. Daddy thought he was with mommy & mommy thought he was with daddy (& Gabby). Luckily he wasn't hurt, just a little scared. God was definitely watching out for him! We're getting a gate tomorrow. A few hours later I put him in his crib while I was doing stuff in his room. I turned around to find him like this.




I knew I would have to take the bumpers out and the mobile down eventually, but... I didn't want to. I actually didn't have to take Gabby's bumper pad out. She never stood on it. You can see that not only can Carter stand on his, he knows he has to get that other leg up to climb. I hope he's not able to climb out for a long time! So my words from this morning have come true MUCH sooner than I anticipated. As of today, we have a climber.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Okay, so I've practically disappeared. In mid-January I was sick (again!) This time I was on the verge on pnemonia. I'm much better now. No one else had anything like what I had, thank goodness! But I'm back now and here's 2 sweet smiles (plus some crazy hair) to make up for not sharing Gabby & Carter with you lately. Obviously I couldn't get one of the two of them together, so separate will have to do! :) Happy Heart Day!