SEVEN months....ALREADY!!!

Time is a flyin' and Miss Taylen is now officially SEVEN months old!!!

Little Miss...you are nothing but an absolute angel and I seriously cannot get enough of your giggles, smiles, and adorable little cheeks. You are rolling all over the place and sitting up big and tall. Your two bottom teethers are all the way through and it takes you an entire day to get through a half a jar of baby food. You love your bottles and any type of toy you can get into your mouth. The binkie is still one of your favorites and you are LOVING your high chair!! You "talk" to your toys and like to yell at Mommy to get her attention! (It's the cutest little baby yell, so I don't mind at all :) You just started clapping and can't get enough of anyone and everyone singing to you. You've had a horrible battle with a case of the coughs, but have smiled through all the hacking and your big blue eyes still are absolutely precious!!! We LOVE you to the moon and back!!!

Happy 7 Months!!!

Houston! We have a.....

CLAPPER!!!

Taylen Jae learned a little trick of her own tonight and I just can't get enough of this little gal!! She's absolutely hilarious and by far, the CUTEST thing ever!!!

Hope the video isn't too dark...I took it while we watching the good old Cardinal game!!!

Way to Go, Tay-Tay!!!

We love you and seriously cannot believe how much JOY you bring to us each and every second!!!!

I'm on a Roll...

LOL!! And, you can start laughing now too...don't worry, I already know that decorating and design is NOT my middle name!!

No, seriously...just wanted to capture my new wall "art"....LOVE this and I was secretly stalking it at Gordman's! I wasn't sure it would look good, but I'm happy with the way it looks and am glad to see some things going up on the walls around here!!!

How true is that?!?!

Happy Friday night...I've finished the cleaning and am off to make a few Hello Kitty things for Tylee's celebration and my version of a "table-scape"....wish me luck ;)

Night all!!!

Polar Bear?!?!

I LITERALLY have been waiting all day to sit down write this blog....

To many of you, this won't make sense, and you won't find it nearly as awesome as I do, but to those of you I was LUCKY enough to get the OPPORTUNITY to play college softball with at SIU-C....you will TOTALLY understand and SMILE!!

I definitely LAUGHED out loud in the card aisle at our local grocery store yesterday morning. I was searching for a birthday card for my grandfather, who is celebrating his 80th birthday tomorrow, and came across this.....

Two oldies about ankle bone deep in water....(and, no this wasn't the card I chose for Grandfather!!!)

Here's a close-up just in case the previous pic wasn't zoomed in quit enough.

The card obviously represents a variety of "facts of life,"....possibly including the idea that our sense of hearing fades as the years roll by, or maybe the fact that men always have you know what on their minds....

BUT, to me...this card doesn't represent either of those, but instead a snapshot in time of my good old SIU days and the WONDERFUL, LIFE-LONG FRIENDS I was able to spend a majority of my time with. I FOREVER will laugh out loud when I come across a Polar Bear....and, there are many types of Polar Bears, including the one my 5 year old said the other day as he jumped out of the mini and headed into school.....

"Wow, Mom! That was a JAR FRUMP!"

I laughed (with) him and secretly inside made a little wish that hopefully one day he'll be lucky enough to cross paths with people that will forever touch his life. Friendship, laughter, and unconditional love really are things that no amount of money can ever buy.

To all my SIU girls....

I will forever LOVE you all and absolutely CHERISH the times we had together....I know we don't get to see each other often, but I want you to know that not one day goes by that I'm not reminded of just how lucky we all were to have developed the friendships we have!!!

So, to the lady who stared at me and actually gave me a funny look...I had a WONDERFUL reason for laughing out loud (BY MYSELF) in the middle of the card aisle at 7:00 AM!!!

Life. Is. Good.

I think it's PERFECT!!!

And, that is all that matters!!

After a month and a half of searching high and low for the "perfect" laundry room decor, I'm FINALLY happy!! This new house has many bare walls and I've been looking for wall decor for a while now...for the kitchen, the living room, our bedroom, bathrooms, and, well, you get the point. I've seen friends with the most ADORABLE decorations, countless "must haves" in magazines and, of course, all those fantastic designs on HGTV. If only it were that easy....

Then, tonight, after looking through a bunch of pictures, I realized that it was THAT easy!! I decided to create my own little version of a "centerpiece" above my washer and dryer. After all, I am the one who does a majority of the laundry around here and I am the one who has to look at whatever it is I decide to put up time and time again....

SO......

I used a wall saying that my mom sent me in the kiddos Halloween package and decided to surround it with my MOST FAVORITE sights in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD.....

MY MUNCHKINS!!!

It may never be featured on a designer show or make it's way onto the cover of a Better Homes & Garden mag, but I think it's PERFECT and I can't think of anything else, trendy or not, that I'd rather look at while washing, drying, and folding all of the clothing that our family of five manages to go through!!!

Who needs an interior decorator anyway?!?!



And the Homework Fun Begins....

for Miss Tylee Jean....

I know she's only 2 (well...8 1/2 days until she turns THREE) but Tylee enjoyed her own little version of the homework experience tonight....She's seen Trey do a few things here and there and was all about the cutting, gluing, and coloring that her "All About Me" poster required tonight!!

What a proud little girl....

Holding her poster and all ready to share with her teachers and friends at school tomorrow...

A close-up of her work!

I really think her bike drawing is super cool and she was really proud of all of the friends she drew. The five things she cut out of her High Five magazine represented her favorite things to do: sidewalk chalk, put money in her piggy bank, swing, ride her bike, and go swimming.

(Note to self..SAVE the Highlights and Hive Five magazines for future cutting out use!! They have the BEST stuff for kids to cut out. My kiddos LOVE those mags and I can only imagine what she she would have cut out if she had to use one of my magazines....Hollywood gossip pics and the latest article in Cosmo or Glamour just really aren't things a 2, almost 3, year-old should be showcasing on her preschool poster!!!)

By the way...we later filled in the height section and she's just mm away from the 40 inches tall mark! Someone's growing up tooooooo stinkin' quickly!!!

Woo-Hoo, Miss Ty! You do phenomenal work!! I hope you always have such an excited attitude about whatever it is you bring home from school.

XXX's and OOO's, Big Girl! (PS...I cannot believe you are going to be three in less than NINE days!!!!!)

My Grocery List was....

HIJACKED!!!

....by a funny little fellow who has really been working on his letters and numbers in kindergarten. Can you tell what he wanted me to grab at the store?!?!

Great job, Trey J!! You know this Momma couldn't ignore your request!! Love you!!!

This definitely made my shopping trip a little more fun...I may or may not have gotten a little chuckle and grin as I roamed the aisles looking for the few things we needed :)

I LOVE the Little Things ;)