Monday, May 21, 2012

Another weekend has come and gone and I am back a work.  Only three more weeks until Summer Break and I am looking forward to it!  I've had one of the best years of my teaching career so I'm sad that part will be over, but I am looking forward to a summer full of my sweet Babycakes.
This past weekend the Hubs send me out for a Girls Day.  While not everyone could make it (Boo!) I still had a great time with my Mom and sister-in-law.  We spent the day shopping at the Green Valley Book Fair. It is a wonderful place for a book lover like myself.  My only advice is to take a cart or wagon to haul your books around.  They do get heavy after a while! 
After getting mucho books, we headed to a consignment store for some clothes for Babycakes.  Got a supercute Harley outfit for her.  Brand new with the tags on it for $8.50.  Original price was $38.00.  SCORE! Then we hit what my sister-in-law called the GW Boutique (a.k.a. The Goodwill Store).  We found a couple of things there but most importantly, we had some excellent girl time.
That evening the Hubs, Babycakes, and I went to Mayfest - a local festival that is small town fun at it's finest.   We had "Fair Food" for dinner with Babycakes trying her first french fry.  I'm afraid she liked it as much as her Mama does!  After eating we walked around but all of the displays were closed for the day (we went in the evening to avoid the sun) so we decided to walk through the town.  I recently purchased a new gardening book and I am ALL about looking in people's gardens now.  So we took a stroll through town.
Babycakes seemed to enjoy our stroll as we toured the neighborhood.  There was a really sweet kitty who reminded me of a cat my family used to have back in the day.  She came down off of her cozy spot on her porch for a rub behind the ears.  I tried to get a picture but wasn't successful.

 I loved the roses and the stone wall in front of this house.  So I gave the camera to the Hubs so I could get in the picture for once!
After our stroll, we loaded up and headed back home.  On our way, we saw three hot air balloons.  Like the dorks that we are we followed them so that I could get these pictures:

 Amazing, right?  These were taken just up the road from where we live.  Even though hot air balloons are a fairly common occurrence around here I still get so excited when I see them. 
 When we got home Babycakes posed with her Daddy for this picture.  Then it was time to head inside and get ready for bed...
 I have no idea what she was looking at but I was trying to get a picture of her standing on her tippy toes peering over the side of the tub.  She was so darn cute doing that.  But as soon as I took the picture she wanted to know what I was doing.  That's when I got...

this picture.  I love, love, love the little "wings" of hair that stick out behind her ears.  And that face - OH I just love it!

I hope all of you had a weekend as fabulous as ours!

Monday, May 14, 2012

My First Mother's Day

This past weekend marked one of the most significant events in my life.
My very first Mother’s Day. 
To some, this may not seem like a very significant event.  But when you have waited nearly 40 years to celebrate Mother’s Day as a mom, it is a very big deal.
I don’t think I had unrealistic expectations.  I knew breakfast in bed and sleeping past 7:30 were about as likely as a trip to the moon.  I wanted a nice lunch with my amazing husband and beautiful daughter, a nap and a cook out for dinner.  I got everything I dreamed of and more – including a dose of reality.




 This rather unattractive photo was taken after wrestling Babycakes into her church clothes.  She screamed the entire time.  This was my mommy reality check.


Taken immediately after church, the fam.  Babycakes is mesmerized by my beauty necklace.


One of my favorite pictures  ever. Me, the Hubs, and Babycakes.

 After church, my mom (AKA Grammy) met us for lunch.



Of all the wonders of my first Mother's Day nothing will top the fact that my beautiful daughter slept through the night (from 9:00 last night until I woke her at 6:45 this morning) in her crib.  This was the best gift of all.  Now if I could sleep through the night without wondering if she cried and I missed it...
Hope all the mommies out there had a day as wonderful as I did!

Friday, May 11, 2012

A Visit from My Texas Family...

Last weekend was full of family!  My dad, step mom, step sisters and niece all came in from Texas.  It was the first time Babycakes got to meet her Texas aunts and cousin.  It was wonderful to see them all - even if it was a brief visit.

When Dad met my future step mom (Gretchen) I was going through a pretty rough time.  I had just moved home and my personal life was what you could call turbulent.   I met Gretchen and instantly adored her!  She has been a great step mom and now Grandma to Babycakes!  Gretchen has two beautiful daughters, Sarah and Beth, who have become wonderful members of the family.  Sarah has a beautiful daughter I'm going to call Little Princess. :-)  Because she really is!  Anyway, I share an appreciation of all things Texas - including the wonderful Lyle Lovett - with my Texas family.

Here are some photos from their wonderful visit...





Grandma Gretchen, Aunt Sara and Little Princess with Babycakes

Babycakes gets to know her Aunt Sarah and cousin, Little Princess




 Beautiful Girls!



Babycakes is hamming it up for the camera!



The Little Princess is so sweet with Baby cakes!




So the pictures below were taken the next day at my sister's house.  When it was time to feed Babycakes, I asked Little Princess if she wanted to feed her.  She replies with an enthusiastic, "YES!"  So Little Princess took the spoon and went to work...

 Looks innocent enough...


 Babycakes wasn't too sure about Little Princess feeding her.



 Especially when Little Princess LOADED UP the spoon.



 There was baby food everywhere!
But it was so much fun!
 
 Sarah and Little Princess share look at some of the pictures from the dinner she helped feed to Baby cakes.




 Mommy took over after Little Princess had enough of feeding the baby.  (Yes, that's chicken dinner on Babycakes' forehead.)


 Little Princess was such a big helper!  She helped Mommy clean up Babycakes after dinner.





 My beautiful sisters - Sarah, Beth, and Karen.




And my handsome brother, Craig.


It was such a wonderful weekend and I was so sad to see it end.  I wish we were closer to one another but the time we spend together is always a TON of fun.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

May 10,2012

With so many friends and family spread across the U.S.  I decided I would start a blog to update everyone on our (crazy) lives.  I will try and update as much as possible so you can keep up with us!
Our little Babycakes is 11 months old now!  It's hard to believe in a few short weeks we will celebrate her first birthday.  Where does the time go?
Anyway...
Daddy had an interview for a job as an AP on the other side of the mountain today.  Saying prayers that God's will be done.  To be honest, I'm nervous about the prospect of this new position as it means even more time away from the family that he already is but I know it's what he really wants. 
Mommy is looking forward to the end of the school year so she can spend her days doing fun stuff with Babycakes.  Swimming, visits to the park, and her first trip to the beach are all in the works for a fun summer!
It's nearing the witching hour so I need to get my beautiful girl to bed!