Wheeeee!!!!

  We've been spending lots of time in the yard. Partly because the weather has been great but mostly because the little one is destroying the house....Heaven forbid he have idle time! 

 I'm not one of those worry-wart moms...sometimes I feel like I need to be with this rambunctious little man but I like to let him explore and kind of do things on his own. He's fairly agile and his balance is great considering he's a fairly new walker!

One of these things has been letting him follow Sissy up the ladder and down the slide. At first I just placed him on the slide and held him as he slid down, squealing the whole way. Eventually, he kind of pushed me away and wanted to go down alone. And after another day or two, he followed Maddie up the stairs....so I let him go. Alone. And he did it! 

 I've got this Mommy!!

 He flips himself onto his tummy and goes!

I can't believe how big he's getting and all the things he's able to do on his own. I think the old rumor about second and subsequent kiddos doing things faster has been true! It's kind of sad cause "baby phase" has gone by much faster with him. I love the little boy he's becoming though! So sweet and yet such a stereotypical, wild  boy!

Sweet little Leprechauns!

My cute Lil' Leprechauns! We did our 2nd annual hat-crafting this past weekend! Last year, Bella wisely suggested we make pigtails since, as far as she knew, "leprechauns are boys!". Ew. God. Forbid. So, pigtails and embellishments were added. Oh, and make-up and freckles (the only time my child gets to wear anything on her face!!)

Also last year, sweet and pleasing little Gavin left his "beard" on and humored Mamma for a few photos. This year? Um, nooo....

 

The Fair is back in town!

The Fair is back!! I love the fair....I was one of the losers that never went in High School when I first learned about it (the kids went to "midnight madness" and me, the goody-two-shoes would never go out that late ;) but we have taken Maddie every year since she was born and I can't believe I missed out for so long!! It's really fun...even if we DO need to take out a small loan to go...sheesh! Gavin went last year too but he was just itty bitty so he slept through all the madness! This year, I figured he could ride some stuff....albeit with Mom or Dad at his side. Yeah, not so much. I took him on the carousel and as soon as I set him on the horse, he immediately cried. As I was considering taking him off, round and round we went. And cry and cry he did!

I took him to one of the benches and calmed him down...I considered jumping off but at the fear of risking certain death a wailing baby seemed the wiser option.

 Maddie, on the other hand LOVES her a carousel!!

 Once he got off, he was a bit happier...ish.

 He never quite completely snapped out of his funk...the whole thing just kinda freaked him out! Poor buddy...at this point I kinda stopped blaming the rides and figured it was all the weirdo carnies...

 Yet again, Miss Maddie had a BLAST! She loves rides! Little Daredevil!

 We also met the family so the girls could ride some rides together...found 'em at the petting zoo!

 Uncle Rob was a trooper and went on all the rides with the kids since the rest of us get pukey on spinny stuff! BARF!

 Bella's classmate and bestie Kennedy came too...she's a doll! She was my little babysitter the whole time! She and Bella are such natural little Mammas!

 The crazy lil kiddos! Love these nutballs!

Another great year at the fair...maybe next year Gavin can hold it together ;)

Fun weekend!!

We had quite the weekend...there was so much going on! All fun stuff cause I'm in simplifying mode for this new year!
Garret's Aunt and Uncle visited from Ohio and we spent some time, mostly eating and drinking with them!
I worked on my dining room (part of my make-over, organization project).
I sent off my dear friend Georgia who is leaving me to move to Pennsylvania. Boo.
We went to the beach for another gorgeous day!
I painted with my friend Christy as a belated gift for her birthday.
We celebrated Dr. Seuss and Grayson's birthdays! Grayson is Maddie's pre-arranged future husband. Heaven help him :)

Oy. Vey.

I LOVE that my baby is walking, I do. Buuuuut, this little mister refuses to do anything but walk now! He hates to be held, directed, confined....so, he's turning into his big sister. Heaven help me.

He has also refused to wear shoes. He becomes like a cat with tape on its paws...either shakes them off or freezes altogether. Finally I found these Robeez things that he will tolerate! They're soft and leather...I just wanted some protection for his little piggies!

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to rotate this video....will do and fix ASAP!