A wonderful 8 years

Happy anniversary to my best friend, the best husband, and the best father I know. I honestly don't know what I would do without you. Karlee adores you and I love to see you two play and laugh.

I love you and look forward to many, many, many more years to come with our growing family.

Weekend Getaway

We left Friday afternoon for a weekend getaway to Gulf Shores. It was after dark when we arrived so Karlee didn't get to see the beach until Saturday morning. She woke at 6:00 a.m. saying "I go beach. I go beach." We new the storm was about to come in so we ate a quick breakfast and headed down to let Karlee put her feet in the sand. I left my camera on the kitchen counter so these few were taken with my phone.

It didn't start raining until about 12:30 but the wind was steadily blowing and it was a little chilly. So, we headed for Zeke's marina and walked around the docks looking at all the boats. We then just got in the car and started driving. We ended up at a place called the Oyster Bar Restaurant and Marina in Perdido Key for lunch. Karlee liked watching the water and seeing more boats.

We headed back to the condo after lunch since the weather was getting a little rough. We relaxed for about 2 hours until the rain stopped. The place we were staying had an amazing pool for kids. Unfortunately, the water was absolutely freezing. Karlee just sat on the side with her feet barely splashing the water. She then braved it and scooted in. She headed for the water slides and got about half way there and decided it was just too cold. We headed back to the condo to change clothes and go find something else to do.



Look at that curly hair. Poor thing doesn't stand a chance in rainy weather with me as her mom!




We ended up at the Pirate Ship putt putt golf after dinner. This was Karlee's first time to play so we were excited. Chip and I love some putt putt! Chip taught Karlee how to hit the ball and she did that a few times. Then she decided it was more fun for mommy and daddy to hit the ball and she run after it. We would hit one time, she ran after it, picked it up, and put it in the hole. It was probably the fastest round of 18 hole golf ever played! We ended the night with ice cream from Scoops and I think that was Karlee's favorite part of the day.




Sunday, Karlee woke at 6 a.m. again (this is totally not her normal routine) saying "I go beach today. I go beach today mommy." After breakfast, we were sitting on the beach at 7:45 a.m. We were the only ones out there for a long time! The day was beautiful and Karlee had a ball.

Coming to pour ice cold water on mommy's legs!

I found a seashell!

Chip told Karlee that finding seashells was just like hunting easter eggs. She took off down the beach picking up every shell she saw.






We didn't have a check out time so we stayed on the beach until 2:00. Karlee told the sand and the water "bye bye see you later" when we left. We took showers, packed the car, ate a quick bite at Lulu's, and headed home. Karlee was asleep about 2 minutes after we pulled out of the parking lot and slept the entire way home. She played hard on the beach all day. She woke up this morning and asked if she could go swimming again! I can't wait for another beach trip. Hopefully the water won't be as cold the next time and we can play in the waves. Looks like Chip will now have two women begging to go to the beach from now on!!

Swimming lessons!

After all the labor of planting flowers, Karlee decided she wanted to clean off in the pool. We had put clean water in earlier that morning, so by 1:00, it was nice and warm from the sun.

Chip decided to teach Karlee how to slide on her tummy. My no fear child was more than happy to cooperate. The tummy sliding happened over, and over, and over, and over.....




And, Karlee decided to teach herself how to do something all on her own!

Karlee's Green Thumb

Chip is trying to see if Karlee's thumb is greener than mommies. We all took a trip to the new farmer's market on Opelika Road Sunday to let Karlee pick out some flowers to plant around the house. She has a huge vegetable garden that she loves to play in at her grandmomma and grandaddy's so Chip thought she would have fun watering plants at home too.

Karlee picked out the ones she wanted and daddy picked out some tomato plants and off to the house we headed to plant them. Karlee kept saying "look, my flowers!" the entire time she was helping her daddy. She was so proud of what she called the flower tree. It is definitely her favorite. (I sure hope "we" can keep it alive.)




She loved putting the dirt in the pots. She would just get one handful at a time and put it exactly where she wanted it to go in the pot. She was full of concentration! I then filled her watering can and said her job was to keep them watered everyday.






We all then moved to the front yard to plant a few things in the empty beds. Karlee was her daddy's shadow. Everything he did, Karlee was doing it soon after. I hope DHR doesn't consider shoveling child labor! She even had the foot on the shovel look like her daddy to get it to go down into the dirt. This child cracks me up!





P.S. This is also Karlee's first real ponytail. I can't get over how fast her hair is growing. I'm not cutting or trimming it again until after my brother's wedding in June. She is the flower girl so I want it long enough to curl!

Friday Fun Day

AHHHHHH! Tax season is over! I feel so refreshed and not so tired anymore. I woke up Friday morning trying to think of something fun for me and Karlee to do since I didn't have any tax returns to work on. Well, an 8:30 am quick trip to Walmart turned out to be a not-so-quick trip. Karlee picked out which swimming pool she wanted and then had to help me carry it. When I say help, I mean all 21 pounds of her wanted to actually carry the pool with me. It was quite a sight! Well, no one was working in the garden area to check us out. So, we SLOWLY walked to the cash registers to find that the only ones open were in the grocery section (nope, not even self checkout was open in the general section). I was not about to continue this snail walk process all the way to groceries and back to the car. I found a nice lady putting out items in the pharmacy section and she opened one of those registers to check us out. I think she saw the frustration on my face!

The early morning trip to Walmart when no registers are open was not my only "bright idea" of the day. I thought Karlee would have fun sliding into the pool. So, my pregnant self drug her slide downstairs from the playroom and then down the back deck stairs to put it in her pool. I was about ready to lay down in the pool myself and cool off!

In true Karlee fashion, the fishing pole had to be used in the pool. She told me she was trying to catch and alligator!

Once the water was in and Karlee was playing and laughing like a hyena, I knew it was all worth it. She had a blast and I did too watching her face light up like a Christmas tree. Welcome spring and summer, the Baker girls are soooooo glad to see you.

Little Fishergirl

You've heard the phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Well, what happens at grandmomma and grandaddy's usually stays at grandmomma and grandaddy's. They have been keeping Karlee on the 3 days that I work for 2 years now and have never taken a single picture of the fun they have. We gave them a camera the Christmas before Karlee was born and it's still in the box. They claim they don't know how to use it. It's a simple point and shoot! Well, that's not the case now that daddy has a new fancy phone. I worked a rare Friday last week (since I took Thursday off for egg hunts). Around lunch time, I received a text from Chip and this is what it contained:

Karlee trying to get the fish off the hook.

Chip usually eats lunch with his parents and Karlee. When he got to the shop, he found Karlee down at the pond with grandaddy, uncle Neal, and cousin Brady. He immediately started taking pictures. When I got home, he showed me all of them. All I could think about was "look at the dirt on her face, and her shorts are falling down below her diaper." To say that Chip was excited is an understatement. Fishing is his ultimate passion and the thought that Karlee might love it too just brought him pure joy.

Holding the little fish.

Thinking hard about putting the fish in the bucket.

Okay, I guess I'll put him down.

It brought Chip so much joy, that last Saturday after an Easter egg hunt, we stopped by Story's to buy crickets so he and Karlee could fish in our backyard. Those little brim must have been hungry because Chip and Karlee probably caught 20 and 1 little bass. Karlee (and her daddy) were full of grins from ear to ear!

Keeping a tight grip on the crickets.

Reeling in the first fish.

Chip trying to teach Karlee how to hold a bass.

Karlee decided she just wanted to kiss it!

I asked Chip the other night, "if this next baby is a boy, what are you going to do?" His response was, "he'll just have to stand by me and Karlee." Karlee is definitely a daddy's girl and I can't wait to see her fish more with her daddy at the lake this summer. I may need to read up on how to remove a fish hook from body parts!