Anniversary Weekend

Monday, the 27th, was our 7 year anniversary. Boy, where have the years gone? They have been really good ones I have to admit. Thanks Chip for all the wonderful years (13 total). You are the best husband, father, and friend I could have ever dreamed of.

Now to stop the sappy stuff...

My mom and I headed to CityFest with Karlee Saturday morning. It was an extremely hot day, almost miserable. Karlee jumped in a few inflatables before we headed off to see what vendors were there. I ran across the cutest hand-made dresses. I purchased 3 dresses and 2 hairbows for $40. I was so excited! We left around 12:00 and Karlee fell asleep before we hit Hwy 14 from Keisel Park.




Chip and I woke up kind of early Sunday morning and decided to spend the gorgeous day at the lake. Karlee had spent the night at my parents because we helped give a shower Saturday night for Jon Kirk and Beth Williams. We picked her up and all (including my parents) headed to the lake.

Karlee loved the boat. She was a little timid at first with the wind in her face. It didn't take long before she was running all over the boat and looking out the side at the water. This summer is going to be so much fun!!





Write this down in the history books. I actually cooked dinner Monday night for our anniversary. We have always used this day as an excuse to pay way too much money for a nice meal. I decided we would spend the night with the newest love of our lives and have a family meal together. Karlee helped Chip open his present and kept putting everything back in the bag and then taking it out again. That was her new game for at least five minutes. Chip gave me a new camera that I will have to take classes on how to use. He knew I had been wanting one since Karlee was born. He actually gave it to me the weekend we went to Callaway so I could practice on such a beautiful scenery. I still need more practice!!

Mommy's Free Time

Now that I have my Monday mornings back to do what I want, I started back on my little projects. Here are a few of the recently finished summer shirts. I have just monogrammed several more of Karlee's outfits but they are in the laundry basket right now from wearing them this past week.





I have some really cute boy applique patterns too (trucks, tractors, planes, tools etc). If anyone has some plain t-shirts they want to spruce up for the summer, just send them my way. Cutie Pie had some plain white boy shirts the other day that would be perfect for a change from Walmart and Target brand ones.

Weekend fun in the sun

Man, I love this weather. Tax season is over and I get to enjoy it with my little munchkin. Friday was a much needed house cleaning day. I started bright and early before Karlee woke. I can't get any cleaning done when she's awake because she pulls everything out of the cabinets as I put things in them. Karlee must have been in the cleaning mood too because she pulled out her vacuum cleaner from the toy corner and started "cleaning" her way.



Saturday was another fishing tournament for Chip so Karlee and I headed out around 9:30 to the A-Day festivities by ourselves. Um, not a good idea to go into a crowd of people by yourself with an active toddler. She wanted nothing to do with the stroller when she saw all the other kids running around. Mommy decided it was enough and we came home! I really wanted her to see Aubie but he was a no show while we were there. Karlee did see the Chick-Fil-A cow and was excited about that (from afar!). She just got comfortable in the stroller and took it all in. I can't wait to see what's in store for those Auburn Tigers this year.




(I found these cute shoes at Fun and Fancy. The boy shoes are just as cute.)

Saturday afternoon Karlee and I headed to Stirling's birthday party. What is more fun than a big bounce house followed by eating yummy cupcakes? Nothing in Karlee's eyes. She loved every minute of that birthday party. Mommy was exhausted after running after her all day!




Sunday, daddy was home. After church and a nap, Karlee spent time teaching her daddy how to really drive a boat in the driveway! She saw the boat when we went out to play and said "boat, ooh, boat". She only wanted to be in the boat and nowhere else. At least she was contained and it kept me from running all over the yard with her. Who needs a gym!! Just have an active kiddo to run after.


(Future Team Baker)

Show me the money!!

I finally emptied out all of Karlee's eggs and put away her basket for the year. We decided to let Karlee put the money she found in her piggy bank herself. My family includes money in some of the eggs for the family hunt and the prize egg Karlee found had $10 in it! She ended up with 13 $1 bills and a whole lot of change. After showing her how to put one penny in the slot, she was hooked. She had the look of total concentration on her face the entire time. I'm just glad the change went in the piggy bank and not her mouth!

Happy April 15th!!

I'm wishing everyone a happy tax day. I can finally get back to my life!!

Funny story from this morning. Karlee always takes her shoes off shortly after we put her in the car seat. I always say, "Karlee, no, no. Shoes stay on your feet." I end up having to search for them under the seat whenever we get to where we are going. Well, this morning when I got in the driver's seat, I looked back at Karlee. She already had one shoe off. She held it up and said "no, no" and smiled. I just had to smile back at her and say "yes ma'am, that is a no, no." What am I going to do with that little stinker?

Lots of egg-tivities!

We started our Easter festivities on Saturday afternoon at Parkway's Easter egg hunt. They had it really organized with cupcake decorating, face painting, and flower the cross stations. Then, each age group had a special section for their hunts. Karlee learned very early on that what was on the inside of the egg was the best part. That's probably because she sat with mommy last Monday and filled her eggs with candy for the family hunt.






We enjoyed a beautiful service at church Sunday morning with a capacity crowd. Chip thought it would be a good idea to stop by the memory gardens and get a few pictures of Karlee on our way home. Karlee didn't think that was such a good idea. She immediately pulled her bow out of her hair and headed back up the stairs.




We came home where Karlee found her basket left by the Easter bunny. She loved the chocolate and her new sippy cup. But, her favorite thing was the singing bunny with flopping ears. She kept playing it over and over and over once she figured out squeezing its hand made it sing. She also received another inch on her pearl necklace we gave her last Easter.






We headed to Trey and Tabatha's house for our family food fest and more egg hunting. Man does this family love to cook and eat. It's always astonishing how much food we have at a family function. But, I guess when you are feeding an army, it's to be expected. Erin's mom made the beautiful dress Karlee wore to church. They were in town and joined our family for Easter lunch. I had to keep Karlee in the dress until they arrived so Mrs. Kay could see her in it. Karlee didn't seem to mind being in a long dress because right up into the playhouse she went. The egg hunt was fun again and Karlee found the prize egg (she was only competing against a three month old!!). The older kids had a separate hunt when Karlee was finished. Karlee had a big day Sunday with no nap at all. I think she kept moving just to stay awake. She did everything from play the piano, to slide, to riding the big truck. She was asleep pretty much before we left the driveway. She had a quick bath and bottle and down she went until 8:15 this morning. Poor baby was slap worn out.







I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter and was able to celebrate the true reason for this holiday. He is risen! He is risen in deed!

Water Baby = So Much Fun!

Karlee had her first swim lesson last night at Health Plus. The class and Karlee's reaction totally exceeded my expectations. The little swimmers learned how to enter a pool correctly and go to their mommies, blow bubbles, float on their backs, and kick their feet while floating on their stomachs. The stomach floating was Karlee's favorite. She squealed and splashed water just like she does in the tub. Another favorite was jumping to mommy off the side of the pool.

You would have thought Karlee had done the swimming thing a million times before. She wasn't scared of anything, even the final dunk at the end of the lesson. The instructors said we could dunk them if we were ready to but it could wait until another class. Karlee had done so well with everything so far, I thought why not try a dunk. Karlee came back up out of the water with the biggest smile on her face. Mommy had a big smile on her face too so Karlee wouldn't come back up scared. She got lots of praises from me and then she put her whole face back in the water by herself. She did that a few more times before we exited the pool. The biggest problem we had over the entire class was keeping the bathing suit straps on her shoulders. I bought 18 months suits so they would last her all summer. I'm starting to think a 12 month would last all summer.



I guess my sweet Karlee will be part fish this summer. I can't wait to see what she learns over the next seven weeks. I've heard great things about this class so I'll keep you posted.

Why is it so cold?

I'm really bummed out about this cold weather we are having this week. How is Karlee supposed to wear her cute spring Easter outfits when it's 48 degrees outside? Oh well. I was bound and determined for her to wear the shirt I spent so much time making. I just bundled her up in a cute pink sweater before we headed out the door to school this morning. The rest of the week looks a little warmer but more rain is coming. Yippy!! Just in time for egg hunts.

Karlee's new thing these days is pushing chairs around. She pushes the kitchen chairs all around the table and pushes the dining room chairs out of the dining room. My poor hardwood floors. She kept putting her leg up this morning like she was trying to get in the chair herself. I gave her a little help and she thought she was mighty big sitting in a big chair by herself.



Karlee is so independent it scares me. I just know she's going to head dive off of something one of these days. She is already climbing the steps all the way to the top on the Cowan's playhouse next door all by herself. When we are at the park, she makes it up a few rungs on the monkey bars before I make her get down. Where does all that energy get stored in such a little body? It's wearing mommy out!

At Hudson's birthday party, she was right with all the boys trying to climb into the bounce house. Guess what? She made it all by herself. The squeals that came out of her mouth when she was bouncing were absolutely hilarious. She got to go "fishing" with daddy for the first time and even picked out a frog to get a prize from the pool. Later, Karlee ended up just getting in the pool of water to get the frog. Total wet mess but funny at the same time. Thanks Hudson for inviting us to your party. It was so much fun.







Karlee and Barrett played in the ball pit together and Karlee even went in for a kiss. Daddy wasn't quite keen on the idea of Karlee kissing a Galimore. Those Galimore's are trouble!!

Need a break

Okay. It's 10:14 in the morning and I already need a tax return break. Can't it be April 15th yet. I hate that time passes by so fast in Karlee's life but now I'm wishing for the next 14 days to fly by. I worked until 8:30 last night. Lucky for me, Chip had just finished Karlee's bath so I got to give her the bottle and rock her to sleep. At least I got to see her for a brief special moment yesterday.

Monday was Karlee's class picture day at Parkway. I know I am a sappy mom but I was excited. It was Karlee's first school pictures. We moms take probably 50 pictures a day of our precious children but it's something about school pictures that make a memory. Those are the pictures you always pull out years down the road and look (laugh) at. Lord knows I had some pretty laughable pictures taken of me! Especially year book pictures; those are the best!! In the spirit of picture day, I attempted to get a few of Karlee after her nap that afternoon. She wasn't too interested in looking at the camera.




We have had a hard time keeping Karlee in her highchair lately. She keeps standing up. Even with the straps buckled, she seems to still wiggle her way out of it. So, Monday night, I decided to give her the spoon and let her play/feed herself. The babycenter.com site weekly newsletter for a 14 month old said to start letting them do this. Chip looked at me like I was crazy knowing that there was a big mess about to be made. What did he care? I was the one that would clean it up with a little help from the dog Sable. Karlee was instantly intrigued and stayed in the chair the whole way through dinner and even on in to the clean the table off time afterwards. She was obviously ready to smile for the camera this time because she was all grins. She actually ate about 80% of what was in the bowl and the rest ended up in her lap and the floor. Maybe I will get home before dinner tonight to see what she does with the spoon next.





Alright, break over. Back to tax returns.