Waiting for the Easter Bunny

Now that St. Patrick's Day is over we are getting things ready for the Easter Bunny to make his/her arrival. In doing so we made our ornaments for Easter. It's a simple yet fun thing for a 2 1/2 year old to do. We took some plain pastel colored plastic eggs and decorated them with Easter stickers. How fun!



Here she is so proud of her tree & she didn't want to let go of her sticker book. Lucky for her there were more than just Easter themed stickers in there so we can definitely use them in the future.

Here is our tree for Easter.

It's March already!

So, I can't believe that February is over. With March comes St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of spring. This month for the pink tree we decided to incorporate both into one. I had found these shamrock pieces at the dollar store and decided to decorate those with spring foam stickers. It's a simple idea yet fun for a 2 1/2 year old who is becoming in love with stickers.

Here are the ornaments we ended up with.

Here is my little munchkin decorating her tree...she was trying to hide some in the back. I made her move them.

Here is our final product. I was really worried with how the green would look on the pink, but I don't think it's too bad.

Now off to figure out what we are going to do for Easter since it's right around the corner.

One month into the new year

So when the new year began I made a resolution to become more crafty. In trying to achieve this goal one thing I decided to do was to get Kayli involved too. With that said this year before Christmas she found this pink Christmas tree she wanted so we got it for her and put it in her room. She had it decorated for Christmas and had to plug it in everyday. When Christmas was over she really didn't want to put it away so I decided she would have a holiday tree. My goal is to make ornaments for every holiday and decorate her tree.

Here is her January tree....

Needless to say we didn't make these ornaments because it was so soon after Christmas. We just used some store bought star ornaments.

This is what we used for a topper - I thought it was fitting for the month of January even though we really didn't have any snow.

Now here is our Valentine's Day Tree....

We made some heart ornaments and I found some wired heart garland at a dollar store. The pink tree fits in perfectly with this theme.

I am pretty excited about this and so was Kayli. I can't wait for our next craft project which will be this weekend. We will be making her Valentine's gifts.

Happy New Year 2012!

A new year, a new start. A lot of people make resolutions, some that they don't keep. Why?!? Why say you're going to do something and then not do it?

Each new year is a chance to become a better and you and make your life what you want it to be. This year I have decided instead of the usual lose weight and exercise resolution that I never keep I am going to really try to do something different. My resolution is to become more crafty. I'm pretty excited about this. One of my projects this year is to make holiday ornaments. We've decided to keep Kayli's pink Christmas tree down becuase she loves it so much and that her and I are going to make ornaments for all of the holidays. She now has a seasonal tree. This weekend we took all of the Christmas ones off and now have a pink tree with silver stars for January (and of course we left the Hello Kitty & Mater ornaments on there). This is to celebrate the new year. (These ornaments weren't made.)

So our first project will be Valentine's Day ornaments. I'm excited to see how this turns out.

But anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful 2012 and I'll keep everyone updated!

Something I just don't understand

Okay, so the other day we received in the mail a wedding invitation. We were expecting this invitation, we knew it was coming. As I read the reception resonse card it says it's an adult-only reception. Really?!?! You mean to tell me that I can't bring my daughter to a wedding. I don't understand because I know there are kids in the wedding party. When we had Kayli we knew that she was invited to go where ever we went. How can I deny her that? I know she's too young to understand it but I just don't get. They know people have kids and now I can't bring her with us. She is going to miss an opportunity to see some of her family because they don't want kids at their reception.

I just don't get it!

Oh tattoos

Why do I love tattoos?!? Let me count the ways.....no really, why are they addicting? Some things I read say there is an endorphin in the ink that some can get addicted to. Really? That's some powerful ink.

With me having 5 myself and planning on getting another one soon (hopefully this year) I can only speak through my experiences. My first was a guardian angel on my lower back. Yes some call this place a "tramp stamp" but I nothing of the sort. I got this in memory of my grandmother who passed away in 2002. My second is a small flower on my left ankle. This is something I got while in Tennessee and a way to bring a piece of it back with me. The third is a cupcake where only one person can see it. It's just for him! My fourth is a butterfly with the stars and a moon on my foot. The butterfly symbolizes change, which is exactly what I did in 2007 and my last one I got is Kayli's footprints and with her name, all of which resembles a butterfly.

None of those were very painful. But each has a meaning to me and I believe a meaning should be behind every tattoo everyone gets. I'm sure some people disagree with me but you shouldn't alter your body just because it's the "cool" thing to do.

Tattoos are beautiful and individualize everyone. They make us different than others because we all have the same body parts but we don't all have the same body art.

I am my father's daughter...

So, we are going to be donating some things to the Salvation Army and who know they did pick ups?!? So, I need to figure out what all I have that I can give to the less fortunate. After talking with Shawn about this, it has come to my realization (again) that I am a pack rat just like my dad. He saves everything!!! He has a whole closet full of nothing but t-shirts that have been given to him by different groups from the safety patrol, girl scouts, different elementary schools, etc. from his job. Me, I still have clothes with tags on them. My dad saves birthday cards, anniversary cards, Christmas cards. Me, I have a lot of cards to from my husband, Kayli and myself. Now, if only you could see his attic and several garages. Wow! He has a lot of stuff. Anything from tools to holiday decorations to my old toys when I was a little girl (which are good to have since I now have a little girl) and boxes of his old clothes from the '60's and '70's. I can't say I'm any different than he is, my collection of things is growing too. But I am glad to have traits of his, he is a wonderful and very sweet man! I am so glad that I can call him my dad.

Where to begin again....

Where shall I start....it's been a while since I've blogged but here is to a new beginning of me doing this for me. It's a good place to vent and just share things in my life with anyone who would like to see.

So, here's to all of you followers out there (I am one myself).

Laziness......

I hate to complain about others work etiquette, but some people just seem to get lazy over time. Why can't they do their job? Why can't they take on the responsibilities of their position? I don't understand. Don't they want that fulfillment of working for their paycheck or would they rather just do what they can to get by?!? I do understand in a customer service based industry there are going to be issues that arise and customers who aren't 100% satisfied but once the complaint/problem is passed on, why do I still get the negative end of it all when it isn't taken care of by the appropriate person.

I'm just so frustrated!!!!!

Oh - the weekend is coming....

So as I sit here wondering what the weekend will bring (other than the plans that are already made) and I realize what weekends mean to me. Weekends are a time to sleep in, a time to get caught up on all of the things I couldn't get done during the week and most importantly a time to spend with my family.

My family means the most to me and I try to spend as much time as I can with them when I can. I don't want to feel like I am missing out on anything with the way that time gets so busy and rushed. Unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't always go as planned which makes me a little upset but I know that we have to do what we have to in order to get by these days. I just hope that the efforts that are made to do what we need to is noted and appreciated and in some way compensated for by others.

Fall Activities

Sunday we had a nice day out and it was beautiful weather for it. I took Kayli to a corn maze/pumpkin patch. We went with my mom and my nephew and niece and sister-in-law.

This place was amazing. We did the large corn maze. During this maze there are stations to go to and answer 18 questions and take approximately 2 hours!!! Yes, 2 hours!!! Well we went it and made it out in 30 minutes. We only found 3 stations. We let my nephew lead the way.



They had a barrel train ride, which was these barrels painted with cow print. I rode with Kayli.



At the end of our long day there, Kayli picked out her own pumpkin!

Oh What a Day!

Where to begin.....

After having such a wonderful weekend, like usual, Mondays always seem like a reality check for some reason. Is it because I want to spend every moment I can with my family or is it because I wish we had more holidays from the office?

All day long I've heard "Columbus Day Holiday" but yet here I am working or should I say trying to find motivation to work so this day will end. I hate days when I feel like this becuase I feel as though I don't earn my pay. But then I think what about those people who come to work and do what they need to do to get by, that always makes me feel a little better because I try to do more than expected.

So, looking for motivation...I found these....

Happy Easter!

As all of you know, this was Kayli's first Easter. I was able to take pictures of two of her baskets that she got. We got many more than what is pictured below but I took these the night before Easter.

The first one is from her mommy and daddy. We got her hair clips, forks/spoons so she can learn to self-feed, a new sippy cup, two little toys and a pair of sandles to wear with her Easter outfit.


This is just a close up picture of the main subjet in her basket from her Godparents. There were three outfits, an easter bunny hat and a huge catepillar -- which might I say she loves!!!

Now, Sunday morning I was so glad to be able to take some pictures of Kayli in her Easter outfit. I was even more excited to be able to take them outside. Below are just a few of them, believe me there were many more.

Kayli's Room

So, over the weekend I was updating our daughter's baby book for her 9 month milestone and realized I am missing some pictures that they are asking for. The ones that I worried the most about weren't the pictures of her mother and father but....

Her first home...



Pictures of her room...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since this is Kayli's first St. Patrick's Day - of course I had to take some pictures. Enjoy!

Away we go...

Now at 9 months old, our baby doll is growing right before our eyes. She's crawling so fast now and even pulling herself up to stand. Last night she stood up using the coffee table and started to walk around it. Amazing!!!

She's now found an interest in table food, so we've started to give her some here & there. Now that has made her less interested in her baby food and more and more interested in our food. So, we are adjusting her food to give her table food since that is what she wants to eat. I am still able to give her fruit, but other than that, it's table food for her meals.

So, since yesterday Kayli turned 9 months old, I, of course, took plenty of pictures. I have put a few below to share.

Just Because

So, I am still waiting to get my new camera since my other one broke. In the mean time I am using my old 5.0 megapixel camera. Which doesn't take the best pictures in the world, but at least it catches the moment.

Last night after we got home, and I was getting Kayli's things ready for today and she found our dogs treat jar. She decided that she wanted to play with it and I was just thinking and hoping that she wouldn't figure out how to open it. Luckily she didn't.

Here are some pictures of her that I was able to get.

A whole new view

So, now that our little angel is pulling herself up and standing I have come to realize a couple of things:

1. She's growing up way too fast.
2. This is a whole new view of the world.

She's gone from crawling around to standing whenever she gets the chance and I've realized that this is a new view of everything for her. Her eye level isn't just limited to maybe a foot from the floor, it's way beyond that now. She uses whatever she can to stand up, even her exersaucer toy. Instead of playing in it, she stands up against it and plays with the toys now.

She is so amazing and continues to surprise me every day with what she has learned on her own.

Our Little Mover

So, our little darling is now 8 months old and very mobile. She started crawling a few days after she turned 7 months old. But now she has started to pull herself up to stand and may take a couple steps when she does it. It's amazing to see how she learns what she learns on her own. Everyday she amazes me one way or another.

It was very hard to get a picture of her for her 8 month birthday because all she wants to do is move. So, after giving her a tubby I figured the best way to get a picture was to take it while she was standing in her crib. I couldn't get her smiling because all she wanted to do was chew on her crib - she doesn't have any teeth yet, but we are hoping soon they will pop in.

Now, after much work after taking the pictures in her crib, I called in her daddy to try to get some of her crawling around on the floor smiling, but all she wanted to do was go, go, go. But I did get one favorite from that.

Icicles Galore

So, this weekend I was outside with my dog while my daughter was sleeping and I noticed this huge icicle hanging from our roof. It's a wonderful sign of the snow melting, but unfortunately a sign of the freezing cold temperatures that won't seem to go away.

Just looking at it makes me chilly, but thought it was a good time to show the positive side of all of this since I'm not a huge snow person.