the weekend....

We had a great weekend.  As expected!  Quick (yeah right!) recap with lots of pictures of course.  

Saturday morning Blakely woke up super early so we decided to watch some Mick.ey in the bed with Coll.ier and Sy.ble.  Terrible picture but it was such a sweet time.  This was the first time B had seen them because she was asleep when they got here Friday night.  She was so excited.  

We ate breakfast and immediately went out on the boat.  We took a long ride and then stopped to swim for a while.  B was getting very sleepy so we eventually headed back to the house for her to sleep.  Well, she fell asleep on the boat for a bout 10 minutes so once we got back to the house she refused to nap.  Yikes.  I was a little worried about her attitude for later in the day but she did great.  I think she was just distracted with so much going on.  

We hung out on the dock and in the water while my mother in law and her cousin, Andrea, watched B in the house.  My sister in law's friend and her family (husband, aunt, uncle and son) stopped by and hung out on the dock with us for a while.  

After a few hours in the water we headed up to the house to start cooking for the fish fry.  We had another couple and their 2 kids over for dinner and to let the kids play.  They are friends of ours but they also know my brother and sister in law.  We usually have them over when Marshall and Kristen are in town.

My {amazing} mother in law made real french fries.  And she brought all of the groceries...

This sexy guy fried 4 pounds of crappie.  If you are unfamiliar with this fish a) I feel sorry for you and b) you don't pronounce it the way it looks ;) 

one of about 6 trays....

The weather could not have been better.  It was high 80's and not too humid.  Let me just repeat that HIGH 80's!  At the beginning of July!  It is usually 100 by now and so humid you can't breathe.  Thank you thank you thank you!  We were able to sit outside without the mister or even our large umbrella up.  Perfection.  

All of the kids had a ball.  They built a huge fort in my living room.  At one point it was a 2 story fort!  Blakely was just trying to keep up with them and doing a pretty good job of it.  Jeremy was the builder of the forts.  We called him the fort engineer...

Blakely absolutely loved playing in the fort.  She did not want to come out.  It was adorable watching her take toys in there and play by herself.  Such a sweet girl.  

They also made a ton of paper airplanes.  Still finding these in random places...

After we stuffed ourselves with as much food as possible we headed down to the dock to shoot some fireworks.  I just took B down there for the first few because I knew she wouldn't like the loud noises and it was already 930.  

B and I came back up to the house and since she was so sleepy and snuggly I decided to let her watch a Mick.ey in our bed.  This girl didn't go to bed until after 10!  And with only a 10 minute nap.  She was such a trooper and she had an absolute blast playing all day.  The good thing about having bigger kids over is that it shows you that your "big girl" isn't really all that big yet.  Thank goodness.  

When I got back upstairs from putting her down, everyone had broken into the strawberry pie my MIL made.  It was, of course, wonderful.  I could have eaten the whole pie but, alas, I had to share.  

The next morning B did not sleep in.  Not cool my dear.  So we were up bright and early for another fun day.  Coll.ier and Sy.ble have been asking for a long time to see pictures of when my MIL was a child.  They also wanted to see pics of their daddy and uncle Lonnie as kids.  So my MIL brought her projector and slides (can you even believe that?) and put on a slide show for all of us.  It was so fun and the kids had a great time guessing who everyone in the pictures were.  Total hit NanaBob!  

Colli.er and Sy.ble wanted to take another ride on Big Mable before they left so Lonnie and I took them out...just the 4 of us.  

Coll.ier wants to ride really fast and turn in lots of circles.  Syb.le "just wants to ride, not all crazy, just a smooth ride"....her words.  We let him ride by himself first so he could go crazy.  He leans in and loves going outside of the wake.  I told him next year he will be begging Uncle Lonnie to try to throw him off the thing.  

Syb.le said Coll.ier could ride with her but only if we did what she wanted.  So we went slow and gave her a smooth ride.  :)

I love this one.  Look how bored he looks!

There it is!  Our fun summer weekend.  We are hoping they come back in a month and we can do it all again!  Happy 4th of July!

fun-filled family weekend ahead

Lonnie's brother, Marshall, and his wife and kids are coming this weekend.  My mother in law, Bob, and her cousin Andrea are also coming to stay.  We are going to have a house full and I can't wait!  

The twins haven't seen B since January.  They live about 2.5 hours away.  Lonnie's mom lives in the middle so we usually meet at her house.  But once or twice in the summer they come here for a long weekend and we all look forward to it so much.  I just looked back at the last time they were here and B looks like a BABY.  They are going to be amazed at how much she has grown up.

We are planning a weekend spent on the boat, in the lake and just outside in general.  We bought "Big Mable" for them for their birthday a few years ago and I am sure we will spend a lot of time on it.  Pulling it behind the boat, jumping off of it and trying to throw Uncle Lonnie off of it.  

I have set up our baggo and ladderball (birthday present last year..) in the back yard and the kitchen is soon to be stocked with all kinds of fun summer yummies.  

We were in Florida for the twins' 8th birthday in May so we are giving them their gift this weekend.  We got them a boatload (and I mean A LOT...I am having trouble finding a gift bag big enough) of fireworks so they can put on a show for all of us on Saturday night.  With Lonnie's help, of course.  :)  We are having a fish fry on Saturday and another couple is coming over with their kids.  It should be fun and I am sure by Sunday we will all be worn out...if not sooner.  We all usually end up falling asleep before even making it to the bed.  

I love weekends like this in the summer.  This is what it's all about.  I'll be sure to update with all the details on Monday (as usual!).  

I hope everyone has a great weekend too!  

Wordless Wednesday

Are these ever actually wordless?  I think not.    

The other night Lonnie brought home some BBQ from a pretty famous local place.  It is called McCl.ard's and it is somewhat well known.  It has been featured on the Food Ne.twork a few times and anytime you come here everyone will tell you that you have to go eat there.  Pretty sure Bi.ll Clin.ton is who starting spreading the word about McCl.ard's.  He was raised in my hometown ;)

Anyway, we haven't had it in a while and I was having a serious craving for their tamale spread.  It is a bed of fri.tos with a tamale on top, covered with shredded beef and beans and then covered with sauce and shredded cheese.  Um yeah.  It is amazeballs.  This was Blakely's first time tasting the awesomeness that is a tamale spread.  

Pretty sure she approved....

day date with my girl

Last week I took Blakely to Little Rock (about an hour away) so we could go to The Won.der Pla.ce.  I had heard great things about it and after how much fun she had at the birthday party a few weeks ago I just knew she would love it.  

It is designed for kids ages 8 and under.  So, just like Younger Years (where the b-day party was in my town) it caters to toddlers and smaller kids.  

We spent about 3 hours there and B would have stayed all day if I would have let her.  Here are a few highlights...

The ginormous water table.  She wanted to climb in it and I had to tell her no probably 30 times.  

The sand table.  I kept trying to steer her away from this.  Not because of the mess (oh the mess!) but because there was a group of 3 older girls that were meticulously building a sand castle and I could tell by the look in Blakely's eye that she wanted nothing more than to knock it down.  

They have a different type of art project each day and it was dot art on the day we were there.    It was also messy but she really liked it.  I wanted to buy the markers because they were so great but then I pictured dots all over my walls and thought better of it.  

She loved this little activity on the wall.  Different shapes with pegs on them that you can put in the little holes.  We spent a lot of time talking about shapes here and it was great for her fine motor skills.  She actually loved the lego wall next to this as well.  

Velcro wall.  I think the sound it made when she ripped them off the wall was the funniest for her.  

They also had a bunch of puzzles, a tree house with a slide, grocery store with all of the grocery items, a stage with dress up clothes and a vet clinic with all kinds of fake animals.  

When I finally got her to leave without a huge meltdown (bribed her with promises of macaroni and cheese and strawberries) we went to a local cafeteria to eat.  I love this little place and I remember going there by myself when I was in college for a change of studying scenery.  And yes...the food!  She ate her weight in mac and cheese and then forgot about the strawberries.  

She slept the whole way home and then went to bed early that night.  I guess I wore her out!  I love spending days like this with my girl and taking her to these fun places.  I can literally see her learning new things right in front of my eyes.  I look forward to going back very soon!  

New 'do

So Blakely has never had a haircut.  She hasn't really "needed" one until recently.  Now her bangs hang all the way down past her nose but I still refuse to cut them.  If we cut her some bangs then we are stuck with them forever.  Ok fine, not forever.  But until we grow them out and that is a pain in the ass.  Not doing it.  

I keep her hair down most of the time but it has gotten to the point where it looks so scraggly because the front is so long.  It is almost long enough to put behind her ear and I have been showing her how to do that but we aren't quite there yet.  The other day Lonnie said why don't we just trim those "front hairs" so she can see?  I calmly explained that if he cut her hair then I would cut him.  He hasn't mentioned it since.  Good boy ;)  Also, front hairs? 

As you all see on this blog and if you follow me on Insta.gram, my go to 'do is the ponytail.  I just think she looks so adorable in it and it is really easy for me to do.  Takes about 10 seconds.  I also do the pigtails sometimes but that takes a little more bribing because it takes longer.  Well yesterday I discovered a new 'do for B!  (Thanks Mom!)

Presenting the "get the bangs out of the way" hair do!  

No pictures of her looking at the camera because she hates the camera.  She needs to get over that quick.  Anyway I am loving this new 'do.  It is super easy and it keeps those darn "front hairs" out of her face!  Win!

Bonus!  She will actually leave a bow in like this.  

Double bonus!  It shows off the bit of curl she is starting to get in the back.  

Sad bonus....she looks five.  :(

Happy Monday!  

Mommy made me a smoothie..

AND I LOVED IT!!!!  Y'all please send all yummy smoothie recipes her way.  I may only eat things out of a straw from now on!  

20 months

On June 13th my Blakely turned 20 months old!  The countdown to her 2nd birthday is on and I can't even believe it.  (I may already be planning...)

Get ready for a long post.  20 months means full on detailed post!  


A few things I don't want to forget about her at this age

She loves ice.  She calls it "eyesh".  She pronounces all c's and s's with a sh sound.  Anyway, she always wants the ice out of our cups.  Her favorite thing (and ours too) is putting the ice in our mouth and then giving it to her.  This started because we had to break it up before giving it to her.  Lonnie and I both say we will do this until she doesn't want to anymore because it is the best thing ever.  

She has learned how to fake sleep.  She lays down, says night night and then pretends to snore.  She even does this with her little princesses.  Kisses them, lays them down for night night and then makes the fake snoring sound.  

She got her first trophy this month!  At gymnastics they gave them out at the end of the spring session.  Hers was for awesome on the trampoline and gym cutie! 

She wants us to kiss her boo boo's.  Even the tiniest little thing she comes over and says "mom-meee boo boo" and points to her knee or whatever hurts.  

She will say I love you if we say it to her.  It sounds like "ahl-veeee".  Music to my ears :)

She loves to put on my socks.  She likes to run around the kitchen in them.  Since they don't have the grippers on the bottom she falls a lot.  This is hilarious to her so she repeats.  It is pretty silly.  

She absolutely loves playing in my make-up bag.  With my socks on...

She hates the bath.  This started a few weeks ago and I have no idea why.  She is slowly getting better.  At least now she will sit down for 5 seconds instead of trying to crawl out constantly.    

This is what I get when I say "bath time"...

She wants to play with her water table every day.  I had to hide it so we didn't have meltdowns every morning when she saw it on the deck.

She can fake laugh, fake cough, and fake cry.  All very fun things to do!  

Mick.ey Mou.se Clubh.ouse is the only show she will watch.  I have tried to turn her on to another show (because my ears want to bleed at the sound of Mick.ey's squeaky voice).  She will watch a few minutes and then start yelling Mi.ckey!  Mi.ckey! 

because this looks comfortable...

Coloring has become a favorite activity!

EATING:  Blakely is still a pretty good eater.  She definitely has her favorites that I know she will eat but she will try some other things as well.  I try to mix it up and keep giving her new things because I think she does the best when she doesn't get the same things over and over.  You can get her to try anything if you give her something to dip it in.  Dipping is a major thing around here.  We dip things in ketchup (pup-pup...her favorite for sure), BBQ sauce, mustard, honey mustard, and greek yogurt.  Really anything that will get her to eat!  

A few of her favorites
-greek yogurt with the fruit on the bottom
-pasta...her favorite is dipping it in alfredo sauce
-any and all berries...strawberries being the top choice
-peanut butter...just like her daddy
-corn-gross (If you have ever changed a corn diaper.....)
-eggs any way
-crackers or chips of any kind
-apples
-green beans...mostly because she can dip them too.  

Some things that she doesn't like are
-carrots
-tuna fish...I keep trying because I eat this for lunch a lot.  
-red sauce

This child loves milk.  She would drink it all day if I would let her.  Our ped said 2-3 sippy cups a day is about what she should drink.  Well she gets about 4.  That is as low as I can get her to go.  She likes water also but wants milk with her meals and before nap and bed time.  

SLEEPING:  Blakely sleeps from about 730 to about 730 every day.  I can tell with the long summer nights that we are starting to put her to bed closer to 8.  We have been spending so much time outside in the evening that we don't put her in the bath until close to 7 so everything gets pushed back.  But that is what you are supposed to do in the summer right?  Stay outside until the sun goes down and just skip the bath...  Personally, I love it because it usually mean she sleeps until 8 in the morning!  

It is funny what she likes to do for bedtime routine with each different person that puts her to bed.  She only likes for me to sing certain songs to her (row row row your boat, I'm a little tea pot, ABC) and she likes Lonnie to sing other songs (itsy bitsy spider, ten little indians, ants go marching).  If I try to sing one of his songs she yells NO NO NO!  Or she likes for me to read certain books to her but different books if Lonnie is reading.  Then if you throw my mom into the mix she likes totally different things.  Very particular.  

She sleeps with a pillow, a small Min.nie mouse, a doll (baby Dotty), and Jaffy the giraffe.  We always kept soft bear in the crib with her but a few months ago she started throwing him out every night.  A few days ago she wanted him in with her so she has added him to the crib also.  

She still "sucks" on the back of her hand when she is sleepy.  She doesn't really suck on it anymore she just puts her lips to her hand.  She also twirls her hair when she is sleepy.  That used to not be a big deal but now that her hair is getting long she twirls it into KNOTS.  And they aren't easy to get out.  

She takes one afternoon nap each day at 1:00.  It lasts about 1.5 to 2 hours.  She sometimes has a hard time waking up in the afternoon...again, just like her daddy.  

TALKING:  Honestly, I have no idea how many words she can say.  50?  100?  No way I could count.  She can communicate pretty much anything to me.  I understand her pretty well and it is rare that I can't figure out what she is trying to tell me.  She will put 2 words together occasionally and I know she probably does it more and I just don't notice because she talks all.the.time.  Like all the time. 

Some of her favorite words (that I hear all the time) are :

• "chashe" or chase.  She looooves to play chase so she says it all the try trying to get someone to chase her around the house.  I think she likes for Lonnie to chase her the best.  
• "off".  Shoes off.  Shirt off.  Socks off.  Anything and everything off.  She jsut started with the diaper off.
• "shoes".  Still obsessed with shoes.  I'm not sure this one is ever going to go away.  
• "eye-sh".  see above.  
• "out".  She means outside.  
• "moke".  Milk...  

This month has brought the "NO" stage.  She says no a lot...to everything.  Sometimes she even says no but does what I asked her to do.  I think she is testing me but hearing no 50,438 times gets old fast.  I know...get used to it Kelly.  

POTTY/DIAPERING:  I sit her on the potty occasionally.  No pressure but she goes sometimes.  Sometimes she tells me she wants to go potty so we go and nothing happens.  I still think she is a bit young but maybe closer to the end of the summer I'll get hard core about it.  Or maybe not.  Whatever.  :)

She wears cloth diapers everyday and about half of the time at night.  I hadn't tried cloth at night in about 6 months (just lazy) but we went to stay at Lonnie's moms house and I forgot to bring a disposable.  So cloth was our only option.  I put 2 extra inserts in and she woke up dry.  It isn't bullet proof and she is still wet some mornings but it was getting to be an everyday thing with the disposables.  When she does wear disposables she is in a size 5.  

CLOTHING:  She wears mostly 2T but sometimes 3T in certain brands.  She wears a 5 1/2 shoe but I think those aren't going to last much longer.  

TEETH:  She has all of her teeth and we are just waiting on the 2 year molars.   She has always been a really good teether so I am hoping that continues when those bad boys come in.  

Here is a little video that I just love.  It is nothing special just a conversation between us while she eats her favorite snack...strawberries.  But she does say I love you and she is acting so silly with her little laugh.  She is getting so grown up!  And I know y'all love to hear my accent ;)

Happy 20 months sweet girl!  I know I say it every month but you are just growing up and becoming a little girl so fast.  Very bittersweet for mom-meeee.  

Here is a little comparison pic...  She looks like a BABY in that 12 month picture.