Stylin' in her new Nikes

After Chip told me yesterday that Karlee played down by the pond and his dad wanted to let her run in the sand pit at the shop, I started to worry about her little feet. She has totally worn out her latest Pedipeds with all the outdoor playing she does at her Grandmomma and Granddaddy's every week.

We were walking off our dinner last night at Academy Sports and ran across a pair of Nike's in Karlee's size. They were too cute not to get. We tried them on Karlee's feet and she took off running. I haven't found a pair of Keds yet in a size 3 so the Nike's were purchased. This morning, I dressed Karlee in play clothes because I knew the Nike's would really get broken in today playing with her Granddaddy. I just hope they don't come back the first day with cow manure on them from the pasture walking!!

Laundry and Oreos

It's tax season and I feel like all I do is work. My house is in total filth mode. I worked all day Saturday like it was a normal week day. Chip was fishing as usual. My mom came over early while Karlee was still sleeping so I could get to the office early. While Karlee slept, my mom did all of my laundry. She even took some home with her when Karlee woke up to finish it. You people have no idea how good it feels to actually be able to see my laundry room floor. It's usually covered in baskets of clean laundry that needs to be put away and dirty clothes cover the rest of the floor. At least I keep everything washed, just not put away. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom. It truly was appreciated. Now if I can just get the rest of the house clean before April 15, I'll be doing good. Karlee's bathroom and room are the only things that stay clean these days.

I digress....

Karlee loved playing in the laundry basket yesterday as I put away the clothes my mom had folded at her house. I started pushing her around in the basket and she loved it. She even took her snack cup in the basket with her. (Why do we even buy toys?)




Last night after dinner, Chip brought out the Oreos and Karlee was in hog heaven. She loves them as much as Chip does. I swear, Chip's diet could consist of chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, and milk and he wouldn't ever complain. Karlee may be the same way. Like father, like daughter!



I found a little time to applique a few shirts over the weekend. (I know, I should have used that time to clean but a girl needs time to herself sometimes. I only get three hours on Monday all week long to myself and that time has been spent at work the past few weeks.) The butterfly is part of a birthday gift for this coming weekend and the chick is for Karlee. That chick may look cute but it was a nightmare to do. There are five fabrics and eight thread color changes. Karlee likes looking at it though and rubbing the feet. I did them in satin ribbon. I can't wait to do some more appliques next weekend. I downloaded about 50 patterns last night after Karlee went to sleep.

Snailin' Around!

Here is my first project on my own. (Click on it for a larger view.)



I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought a small amount of various fabrics just to piddle around with. I've had this little outfit from Cutie Pie for a while just waiting for an applique to put on it. I thought it turned out cute and it only took about 15 minutes.

While I was finishing up, Karlee decided to pull everything off the shelves of my computer table. She thought the box of envelopes belonged on the slide! I guess having my computer and work table in the play room aren't such a good idea.

Addicted to applique

I took my first applique class last night to learn how to do it on my new embroidery machine. Oh my goodness, I am hooked. It was so much fun looking through all the applique pattern books. We started out easy with the popsicles that only took about 30 minutes. Then, the lemonade was another story. It took almost 2 hours. Lee Sadler is the teacher and she said if we could do the lemonade pattern, then we were ready to tackle any applique pattern. Boy, I believe it.





I now have the cutest patterns for girls and boys, including an adorable set of Easter patterns. I have to start collecting scrap fabrics now. This part will be hard considering I don't sew (so I don't just have scrap fabric lying around!). Any donations will be much appreciated from you sewers out there.

I just installed a digitizing software that I have to learn to use. This program resizes pre-built patterns and allows you to change color stops. Wish me luck on this part, I have no idea what I'm doing!!

Serenity on Valentine's

Chip and I spent Valentine's in Highlands, NC with the Dilworth's, Galimore's, and Reaves'. It was so nice and relaxing up in the mountains. Here was the view from one of the giant windows in the living room.



And here is where we spent 95% of our time.





Cuddled around the fire talking 'til 3am was such a stress reliever. No schedule, no crying, no diapers; you couldn't ask for a better weekend. The guys fished for trout and caught a ton while the girls sat around the fireplace. I have no pictures of the guys fishing in the little boat because I was too lazy to take myself out in the cold to the dock. Michael's sister and husband, Caroline and Joey, drove over from Ashville to stay on Friday night. Caroline brought a hula-hoop (long story) and Michael was the champ!! I will spare him the embarrassment of the video I have. Trust me, it is side-splitting hilarious.



Chip and I have decided to take Dave Reaves (aka "Buddy") with us on all trips. He was the first to wake each morning and cooked breakfast for everyone. This was no ordinary breakfast, I'm talking biscuits, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, blueberry muffins, pancakes, grits, and eggs and even made coffee. I think I gained 10 pounds from all the food we ate this weekend.

We celebrated Valentine's with Karlee on Thursday night and Friday morning. She loved the blueberry muffins we made her and her new stuffed animals. We dropped her off at Chip's parents Friday morning and she never looked back at us. She has so much fun over there. We came back to a stinkin' rotten little girl on Sunday. It makes it so much easier to go out of town knowing family is here to take care of her.

Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere

You have got to love this weather right now! After a fun few hours at school and a short nap, Karlee and I spent the entire afternoon outside on Monday. We took a long walk in the jogging stroller all over the neiborhood, rode in her little car to see the Cowan's when Will came home from big boy school, made many circles around the house on foot picking up every leaf and acorn she saw, and broke out the bubble machine. Karlee went to squealing and trying to catch them all. Will showed her how to open her mouth and catch them with her tongue. She just looked at him like he was crazy and walked around with her mouth wide open for a few minutes. I can't wait for more beautiful weather and days off with Karlee. Why does it have to be tax season when the weather is so nice???

Doctors, Parties, and Wishing for Summer

Karlee had her 1 year check up on Friday. She's healthy as a horse, weighs 18 lbs 10 oz and is 29 1/4 inches. Dr. Greer laughed at her chinese talking and said he wanted to take her home for a week. We are transitioning from formula to milk. I hope it's as much of a breeze as mamma's milk to formula was. All this talk about weaning from a bottle makes me sad. Bottles represent babies and sippy cups represent toddlers to me. Time just needs to stop for a little while!

Chip and I helped Brooke celebrate turning 30 Saturday night. It was a much needed adult socializing time. My jaws hurt throughout Sunday from all the laughing on the car ride to and from Hunter's Pub followed by a few rounds of Catch Phrase at the Reaves' house.

Sunday, we celebrated Rolley Len Kirk's 1st birthday. It is so weird that her birthday is after Karlee's because Christy's due date was ahead of me by a week and a half. Karlee enjoyed being pulled on the Thomas train by Rolley Len. The fussing didn't start until it was Karlee's turn to pull Rolley Len. Karlee wanted no part of being off the train. It being one hour past her nap time had a lot to do with that, I'm sure.




I made a trip to Target Saturday for a few things. I ran across the little girl bathing suits that they just put out. Target never has Karlee's size in stock when I need something so I decided to go ahead and get a few while they had her size. And, of course, I had to get matching cover-ups for each. I spent Karlee's nap time this afternoon designing and embroidering one of them. I think I will put a beach ball on one of the other ones.






Speaking of Karlee's nap time, I have read on a few blogs about sound machines. I didn't think anything of them because Karlee has always been a really good sleeper. After the loud (really loud) game of Catch Phrase with a sleeping baby in the house at Joanna's Saturday night, I began thinking. Maybe having one of these wasn't such a bad idea for noisy times around the house. And I thought about the company we will have this weekend that will be sleeping upstairs next to Karlee's room. I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond while Karlee was in school today just to see how much they were. $19.99 later, I have a sound machine.

Well, it truly does wonders. Karlee has been asleep for 3 1/2 hours and is still asleep. I have had the washer and dryer running like crazy, which is directly underneath her room. The phone has rang three times which is loud because we have one that speaks to you and tells you who is calling. I have talked on the phone and ran the embroidery machine in the room directly beside Karlee's room. Karlee hates cover on her when she sleeps. By the time I get downstairs and turn on the monitor at night, she has already kicked the cover off. We have one of those video monitors so I can see her when she sleeps. She has not moved during this nap. The cover has been on her the entire time.

I'm not sure if I will use it all the time or not. May main reasoning for getting one was Monday and Friday mornings. I don't work on those days and would love to sleep later than 6:00. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, I get Karlee up around 6:15 so Chip can take her with him to his mom's since I work on those days. She is used to hearing Chip stir around between 5:45 and 6:15 and usually starts to stir herself. If I can drown out that sound on Monday and Friday mornings, maybe she will stay asleep longer. She wakes around 6:00, takes a bottle and goes right back to sleep until about 9:00. I think she doesn't want to be awake, it's just new noise that makes her aware that someone is up. Granted, I'm only in her room about 30 minutes, but I can't go back to sleep when she does. I just lay there staring at the fan and decide to just get up. We'll see if the sound machine works Friday morning or not.