More Sickness and A Whole Lot of Nothing....

We're coming off yet another round of sickness around here.

First me, then Shelby.

Nasty..Nasty stomach bug that has been making its way around Charlotte.

Thank goodness we're both over it, but let's just hope it stays away.

The weather is warming up and Spring is in the air so it has to!!

So, the last 2 weekends we've been sick around here.

Of course, that means one of us misses work.

It was my turn this past Friday.

Our day consisted of reading books...

 

And, more books.

Getting outside for a few minutes before the rain set in.

And, playing with toys around the house.

 That pretty much sums up our weekend despite a few errands.

 Oh, and we met friends for brunch on Sunday afternoon.

That was truly the highlight of the weekend.

Well, for us.

Shelby's highlight was feeling better and 'cooking' us some Sunday dinner.

 You gotta love getting 2 years wear out of these smocked bishops.

This was her Easter dress last year.

Love it!

 That's really all I have for today except that I finally attempted this fun toddler meal that I saw on Facebook last week.

Octopus hot dogs and pasta.

So cute and fun!

Let's hope this week ends better than the last two!

Happy Monday!

Displaying Children's Artwork

I love Shelby's school.

Since day one they have been doing art projects with her class and some of it is so creative!!

I've kept it all(this is just some of it), but my question is -- what to do with it?

I would love to display it somewhere, but where?

One of Shelby's friends has hers hanging by a wire thingy in her room that was bought at Pottery Barn Kids, but there isn't any wall space in Shelby's room to do such a thing.

Do you all have any ideas?

What do you do with all of your children's artwork?

Right now, I have a designated drawer for all of it and share some of it with the grandparents.

HELP!!!

if you really knew us...

Today I'm doing a different kind of post.

An idea that I'm stealing from another one of my favorite bloggers, Courtney, who has a daughter just a few weeks younger than Shelby.

The post is titled, 'if you really knew us'. I'm hoping this gives you a little more insight into who 'I' am and who 'We' are.

 

If you really knew ME.

You would know that I love making memories, things pretty and special and most of all, I love going overboard. I don't do these things to impress anyone, but simply because it's who I am, and who I always have been.

That I love to be busy and on the go. My cousins one time named me 'fruit fly' because I can't stand to sit still and just let life cruise by. I have to be in the middle of things.

That I love to talk on the phone. Most of my friends live out of state and my favorite 'night in', is a bottle of wine, cheese, crackers and my phone.

:)

Watch almost nothing but reality TV and news.

You would know that I do laundry every single day of the week, can't stand dishes in the sink at any point in time, and have to make the bed every morning.

That I put my role of wife before that of being a mother.

Both of our parents will soon celebrate 50-years of marriage and I hope we can follow in their footsteps.

 

If you knew BRAD...

You would know that he loves making memories as much as me and loves being a Dad more than anyone I've ever seen.

He's Mr. Frugal McDougal himself. The man is a finance guy and makes a spreadsheet for every last thing we do.

He irons his work clothes every.single.morning.

Thinks that only he can load a dishwasher properly.

Drinks whiskey but only Seagram's 7 and nothing else.

Isn't big on eating out, thinks we can make better meals at home.

Thinks Sundays are sacred and should be for being lazy and eating whatever you want.

Dreams of having a lakefront house where Shelby can grow up.

Has no real desire to travel abroad.

If you really knew SHELBY....

You would know that she likes to sleep in but is known to get up in the middle of the night and play with the toys in her crib.

Loves to be outside. Her favorite is a wagon ride.

Can't stand bows on her head and will only wear a hat if it's 'tied' on.

Doesn't watch TV, could care less.

Starts taking her shoes and socks off the minute we get in the car.

Says 'Mama', but hasn't mastered any other 'real' words except for bye-bye.

Eats just about anything we give her but prefers veggies and fruits over mac and cheese.

Obsessed with Buddy. Shares her meals with him and gets giddy when she sees him in the afternoons.

Loves to smile and be tickled.



If you knew US...

You would know that we love to snuggle in the bed on Saturday mornings.

Have sit down family meals together as much as we can make it work.

Love going on adventures as a family of 3. We have an entire list of things to do and places to go in the next few years.

Eat pizza at least 2x's a week.

Try and take pictures of every little moment in an effort to capture the evolution of our family life.

Love being outside.

 Love to laugh, smile and enjoy every little moment.

I probably left a few things out, but you get the idea.

Brad and I both try to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.

Let's just hope we're doing it all right!!

Happy Wednesday!

New Saturday Tradition and First Boat Ride of the Season!

This weekend started out rough for me as I was home sick on Friday and really worked to recover all weekend.

Even so, I really tried to rally and still be a little bit of fun for both Brad and Shelby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, here it goes.

Our weekend started out with a new tradition at our house on Saturday mornings.

Egg in the Hole!

I posted this on Instagram and Facebook and found out there are several different names for it.

Bird in a Nest

One-Eye

Egg in a Basket

Cowboy Breakfast.

Cut a hole in the middle of a buttered bread slice and drop an egg in there.

Shelby loved it and we're making this our new Saturday morning tradition!!

 

Other highlights of our weekend were the first boat ride of the season.

Thanks to LuLu and Keith for inviting us out.

It wasn't as warm as we had hoped but it was still fun.

We had to buy Shelby a new life jacket and surprisingly, she was a-okay with it.



She loved riding even more than last year.

She would squeal and smile the faster we would go!

LOVE!

Just can't wait to see how she eases back into camping this Summer.

We're planning on DE-winterizing the camper/trailer very soon.

Good times all around Saturday with neighbors and new friends.

The rest of our weekend consisted of getting a few things done around the house.

Brad is working on a new top for the table he made us last year.

The wood he used didn't hold up.

I did odds and ends around the house to get ready for the week.

Sunday is my big day for that.

Grind up coffee beans, do laundry, make a salad and prep meals for the week.

Does anyone else do that on Sundays?

I would really like to start a tradition of a 'family meal' on Sunday evening.
Make it every week, and something Shelby will look forward to.
I have a college friend whose family has always done that and she use to invite me over every Sunday when in school(her family lived in Baton Rouge).
It was something I always looked forward to.

Hope you're Monday is going well.
It's turned cold here again.
To be honest, I'm a not a fan of Spring because of the constant back and forth weather.
I'm ready to bust out the sundresses!!

Growing Into Her Own

I know for a lot of you my updates on Shelby get B-O-R-I-N-G.

So, I'll make this quick but wanted to share and document it here because I love looking back at how much she's grown and what she has done month to month.

So, at 15-months Shelby has really grown into her own and you can really see her little personality.

It's quite funny at times and at other times, not so much.

For the most part she's pretty independent. 

I try not to coddle her too much but I know I'm guilty just as most moms are.

One of her new things to do is be a little daredevil.

She loves to attempt(and sometimes she's successful) in standing on toys and showing us how she can let go and be hands free.

This night, she wasn't successful, we scolded her because we knew it wouldn't work, but we don't always do that.

A lot of times we are letting her figure things out on her own.

For instance, when she turned the shower head on while in the tub.

She freaked.

LOL.

I haven't revisited the biting issues we were having with Shelby here at home.

Well, we nixed her trying to bite us, but the school situation has gotten BAD!!!

In mid-January we had to take her in for a blood test because she broke a child's skin.

She's probably been written up 6 times since then and every time it's because a child has taken a toy from her.

Granted, there have been instances where she has been bitten as well.

We're told it's just the young toddler age.

It's been frustrating for both Brad and I to find 'naughty' notes on her clipboard when picking her up which why today was so bittersweet.

Not naughty notes, but HAPPY GRAMS!

I guess I didn't notice them last week or the week before(I'm guessing they were hiding under another piece of paper), so I discovered them today.

Of course, I have to share!!

Shelby was so excited to see her best friend McKayla back after vacation she ran up and gave her a big hugs all day.

#SWEET

 And, this note made Daddy happy!!!

He's been working with her for months on trying to kick a ball.

Who knows, maybe we'll have a soccer star??

Or maybe a soccer and ballet star.

:)

Simple, and probably boring post to most, but to me it makes my heart SING!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

People far and wide celebrated the holiday over the weekend with green beers, parades and Irish food and music.

For the second year in a row we went to Charlotte's St. Patrick's Day parade with Shelby.

This year, she was much more aware of what was going on and loved it!

Of course, it doesn't look like it here because she had just woke up from a nap when we first got there.

 The parade is such a great family friendly event.

Of course, afterwards the bar crawl people come out in full force.

 We me up with several people there including our friends Katie & Josh, and Keith and LuLu along with our SIL and Shelby's cousins.

 Trying to get a good picture of Shelby with her cousins Paige and Reed, proved to be tough.

Especially with this crazy old lady in the green hat that pushed and shoved her way in front of kids to get that spot.

My Mother hen came out in me, and I let her know that the parade is for the kids to enjoy.

 Typical people in the parade.

Schools, politicians, dance studios and tons of pageant queens.

 We love getting Shelby out and about enjoying different types of events.

We love being a family!

 And, Shelby loves to sit on her Daddy's shoulders.

 Of course, when she was out of the stroller she wanted to be on the go.

 For some reason she was obsessed with the park benches.

 It was a gorgeous day.

 There was a woman there carrying her French bulldog around.

The kids were really into him and he was one of the friendliest dogs I've ever seen or met.

 Lots of schwag was to be had...

Of course, Shelby is way too young to understand.

Only in time..

 We went to lunch at Heist Brewery with SIL and the kids after the parade and it was delicious and NOT packed!!!

Then, home for a nap and back out again last night.

Whew.. 

I overindulged in too many vodka/sodas and green beers and was feeling it today.

Even so, I rallied this afternoon and made a 2nd batch of key lime chocolate chip cookies for Shelby's teachers and school directors.

8 bags in all.

I think they turned out super cute and the cookies are seriously to die for.

The recipe is here.

I found the printables free at this blog.

She's got a ton of them on there for all occassions.

All it has done is rain, rain, rain here today and more is expected for tomorrow.

Hope you all enjoy your St. Patty's day!