Better late than never, right?

My birthday was a couple weeks ago. I turned 29, and apparently I am starting to develop a bit of a complex about my age. I know it's totally stupid, but I have some strange fear of turning 30. I've heard so many people say that their 30's were the best years of their lives, so I'm looking forward to what the future brings, but I'm just nervous about the big 3-0.

Anyway, off on a tangent again...so, my hubby took me out for a wonderful dinner at Maggiano's because Italian is my fav and then the next weekend, my in-laws were in town and wanted to take us all out somewhere for my birthday. We went to a local Italian place I had never been to and it was awe-sum! After dinner we went to my brother-in-law's for cake. He knows someone that makes amazing cakes. Let me stress that again...a-mazing! This cake was beautiful, and tasted even better than it looks. I totally forgot to freeze some, so we were forced to eat the entire 1/2 cake in a few days...bummer! Man, it was good. These pics don't do it justice, but it was Strawberry with white chocolate icing. Sinful I tell you, just sinful.

3 layers of mmmmmmm.....

The next day was Mother's Day & we had lunch with my parents here at our house. The weather was beautiful, so we grilled out steaks and spent some time in the sunshine. Later that day, the little one took a nap & I found myself with time to myself. What to do, what to do...sit on the patio with a glass of lemonade and finish the book I was reading won out over cleaning. It was the perfect end to a wonderful Mother's Day.

My big girl helping to set the table for our yummy lunch.

Posing with Gammy & her "fancy" Picture Frame

3 generations on Mother's Day!
I'm SO blessed to have the best Mother on the planet that taught me what being a Mother is all about, and continues to encourage me daily. I also have a wonderful Mother-in-law that I am SO incredibly thankful for and couldn't have asked for a better family to have married into. My little one is very blessed to have these remarkable women in her life. Hey, maybe their influence will counteract all the damage I do to her. I heard a comedian say once that he feels like part of his job as a parent is to give his kids something to tell the therapist one day HA! I'm doing my part :)

A little frustration

OK, can I just say that I am a big fan of TV and I really do think DVR is one of the best inventions of all time! With that said, I think the media full on stalking every person that's on a TV show has hit an all time low. I mean, I know they wouldn't do it if the public didn't buy magazines, or watch "entertainment" tv shows that just blast pictures of them or tell stories from "unnamed sources close to the star" Come on! If they paid me enough, sure I'll be an unnamed source...please!
Enough of my rant, I just am so frustrated with the media stalking of the Jon & Kate plus 8 "marital scandal". I really love their show, and I think although she's bossy & neurotic (who wouldn't be with 8 kids?) she doesn't deserve anything she's having to deal with right now. The entire country shouldn't know what her marriage is going through, whether he cheated or had an inappropriate relationship, whatever. That is for them to deal with and work through alone. I know they kinda signed up for it with going on national TV for their show and all, but I mean does America have no respect for family anymore? I just hate that their kids will either find out what is going on with their parents, or will be subjected to their parents getting a divorce because the media won't let it die & come up with new and bigger stories everyday about the situation. I just feel really bad for them & my husband is tired of hearing me talk about it, so there's my random vent!

The ONE time I leave my camera...

my child has so many picture worthy moments. Of course, isn't that how it always is? Now, you must understand that I am NEVER without my camera, or too far away to get it quickly. On this particular Saturday, we were heading to the Geranium Festival, a yearly occasion that I greatly look forward to. I was packing a small bag, and made the conscious (yet very hesitant) decision to leave the camera because it was kinda heavy & I knew we'd also be lugging bags, a 3 year old, and lots and lots and lots of "festival food". So, I tell myself there aren't any pictures I'll really have to have, right?!

The first thing she wants to do is get her face painted, no picture...well, ok I'll take one later. Then, she decides to be a big girl and ride a pony! Oh.My.Goodness, I was going crazy. This child has an obsession with horses, and wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up (which is comical anyway), but has NEVER been able to muster up the courage to actually ride a pony. She wants to so bad, but when we go to put her on it, a blood curdling scream like you've never heard before erupts and we're done.

This particular day (the day that taught me a huge lesson on leaving the camera) she rode a pony not once, not even twice, but 3 times! Yep, lesson learned, Thanks for the tip!

She also rode a lot of those blow up giant slides, and did a few obstacle courses and had so many photo opportunities of sheer joy and excitement that I'll never be able to share. Sorry!

We wasted no time, however, snapping a few pics as soon as we got home of some of the festival food we brought home, and making wishes on her balloons before letting them go.

It's not the same, but it's better than a boring long story post with no pics...you know you hate those, too ;-)

What can be better than fresh squeezed lemonade & a bag of Kettle Korn as tall as you are?

As soon as we got home she wanted to "make wishes" on both her balloons!

There it goes...hope her wish comes true!

Evidence of a great day: Face paint peeled off, snow cone juice down shirt & cotton candy for lunch!

The Makeup Artist

Saturday morning, the little one woke up bright and early (as always) and wanted to DO something. She's always got something in her mind as soon as she wakes up that she just HAS to do, and it usually doesn't involve quietly playing in her room, doing anything by herself, or not making me watch a cartoon *sigh*.

So, this particular morning she wanted to put on some makeup all by herself. I got out the makeup box that stays on a top shelf, behind a locked door (or else little 007 that she is, she would find a way to get into it) and let her put some makeup on all by herself.

She was so quietly keeping herself entertained that I just left her alone, and was checking on her every few minutes. When she was all done, she comes to the kitchen and announces "Mommy, look at me!!! Do I look beautiful?!"

"Wow, well look at you! That's...wow! Let me take some pictures" was about all I could say.

*please note that this was early, before her 'fro was fixed*

Then she promptly got her Barbie guitar to put on a concert. Hannah Montana style, what else?

Of course, next it was my turn for her to "do beautyshop" on me...No blush for me, thanks sweetie :) And, she HAD to take some pictures of her subject as well, 'cause she did such a good job, duh!

It was awesome trying to scrape makeup off her face as you can imagine. I couldn't get it all off, so we had to go out in public with her eyes looking like they were healing from being punched. Nice!!

Nastiness...

Well, since we've been working on Dave Ramsey's "baby steps", we have taken on a side job with my company. Not a pretty job, a disgusting, make you PAY for getting into debt job. I'm cleaning the townhomes after tenants move out (or are evicted) to prepare them for new move-ins, and my precious, dear husband is doing the painting. Let me just say, the money is helping us SO much to get where we want to be, and it's been a God-Send. BUT, it's beyond disgusting most of the time. Today I cleaned a unit that was dirty from ceiling to floor. Really, ceiling.to.floor! I spent at least an hour giving it a deodorizing like never before, because after the carpets were cleaned, it was still stinky. Then, I realized the baseboards were crazy nasty & had to pretty much clean them throughout the entire house...EWWW! How does that happen in a townhome that's only 2 years old anyway? I've lived in my house for almost 7 years and have only cleaned the baseboards um, well, let's just say not very often. It's not necessary if you don't live like pigs!
Oh, and who in their right mind would keep a dog in a rental property that chews on wood? Any wood apparently, window sills, base boards, door casings, whatever the stupid dog could find. That's what happens when people without home training try to get a puppy. How are you going to train a dog when you're not trained yourself??? I swear, I should teach a class...it's going to be called "Don't be stupid! If you already are, don't reproduce or get any animals"
I'm a little bitter, I'll be all better tomorrow.

"Can we paint Mommy?"

My little one LOVES all things creative. Painting, drawing, cooking, you name it, she's in. I love that about her, but sometimes find it hard to come up with ideas to keep her busy, and keep my sanity at the same time!

I saw an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 recently that I just loved, where Kate took her kids to some kind of artsy place and they all painted on canvas (in colors she chose to match their house) and they hung them on the wall. I'm all over that! So, we were a little bored on Saturday morning, and the only place I could get her to agree to go with me was "the paint store", Michaels, for some new paint. So, here's how the rest of our Saturday went down:

We picked all the colors, and I agreed to let her use the colors we already have in our paint box, (which is completely overflowing with color selections, might I add) and paint a canvas for her room to hang up. That way, she would agree to use the boring, grown up colors I picked for the ones going on the wall in the dining room.

We got started right away painting the base color, so no white would be seen

Then Mommy finished it, and it was time for a nap and a little down time for me before all the "fun" began.

Here they are, ready to be painted!

She did so good, and didn't throw any complete tantrums to do it her way. Maybe that was due to the nap?! Anyway, we did exactly what the art people on Jon & Kate plus 8 did, and used a fork, foil for layering, splattering, sponges, and coffee filters, all for the texture, layered effect. It was SO much fun, and I think she did great!

Here's the finished product! I love them, and even if everyone else that ever sees them thinks they're hideous, it was a great memory for us, and something that I can hold onto forever and remember these fun times when she was little...*tear*sniff*

A Little Down Time

Our family went to Orange Beach, AL for a few days recently with my parents. It was so nice to get away & have a few days doing what we wanted to do & eating some GOOD food, of course. The beach revives my soul, and I've decided that there's nothing I enjoy more than sitting on the sand, enjoying the sun with a good book & the sound of waves crashing in front of me...Heaven must be a lot like that.

Who am I kidding, we actually did what the Princess wanted to do the whole time, but it was nice to have my parents there because they actually wanted to make her happy, so would go from beach to pool 25 times per day if she wanted to. Me? I would only do one or two pack up and transfer all belongings from beach to pool per day. Vacations with a little one are just not quite as relaxing as they used to be, but seeing her have so.much.fun every day and be completely wiped out in the evenings from just playing her heart out is a great feeling. She really is a beach girl, wonder where she gets that from?!

We also got to spend some time with good friends that have moved to that area, and that was so much fun. It always seems that friendships drift apart some when people move away, and it's nice to reconnect, even if it's just for a short time. It's too bad I took Zero pictures with all of them. I know, I can't believe it either!

Oh, and of course, we had to have the pre-vacation pedicures...they really just painted her toenails, but she loved it just the same, and felt like a diva!

On a separate note, if you're ever in the Pensacola, FL area, you MUST go to this restaurant. To Die For! And, they have a huge sand playground in the center of the open air restaurant that's visible from almost every table. What could be better?!

"Why were we in Pensacola?" You ask? To take our child to the Greyhound track, of course! Yeah, I couldn't believe it either, but my Dad loves all things related to Greyhound racing, and has roped us in. It's pretty family friendly at that location, and we went during the day so it was relatively low key. We got Livi to pick the dogs she liked based on their name and what they looked like...let me just say, she is a natural! Luckily we don't live too close to a track, my Dad would probably take his "good luck charm" with him all the time!

Yep, just add it to the Mother-of-the-year list!