Happy Birthday Alyvia

Happy Birthday Alyvia. It brings me to tears just thinking about my babies growing up. Alyvia turned two this past weekend. We had a wonderful party for her at the house with all of our family in attendance. It was so nice to have everyone together for a short period of time to help Alyvia celebrate her birthday. This year she knew exactly what was going on and was super excited to open her presents. I of course started blubbering during the birthday song but that was to be expected, I do that ever year on both of the kids birthdays.

These past two years have truly been so much fun. Being able to watch Aly grow and pass different milestones is amazing. I have been very blessed to be able to be at home with her for the majority of this last year. I think I will always think of her as my baby no matter how old she gets. Below are some of my favorite pictures from the last two years.




A little inside on what Alyvia is up to....

- She is completely into books. If the books have pictures then she will sit down where ever she is and just flip through the pages.

- Her vocabulary is just incredible. She can say up 7 word sentences and majority of the time you can understand everything that she says. I think it helps having an older brother to look up to because she is his little parrot.

-If you take her to the park expect to be there for a least a few hours. And when it is time to go be prepared for the tantrum of a life time. If its one thing this little girl can do, its throw tantrums.

-Any thing princess makes her happy. She loves to dress up and be all girly.

- Her brother is still her best friend. Brock and Aly have a love/hate relationship but at the end of the day she will just want to grab a blanket and curl up next to her him. When he is not around its fifty questions on where Brock's at.

-She is most definitely a water baby. Once she gets into the bath tub there's no taking her out. She usually starts to prune and the water will start to turn cold before we can coerce her out. By the time bath time is up I'm just as wet as she is.

-Her favorite cartoon's are Sesame Street, Dora, Mickey Mouse Club House, Handy Manny, and some dinosaur show on PBS. She actually just recently starting watching T.V. but she will only sit still and watch about half of the show that is on.

- She dislikes almost all green vegetables.

- Pizza, cheese, apples, and spaghetti are her favorite foods.

- Tractors and motorcycles top her list for favorite toys to play with.

- She loves to cuddle and just sit in your lap when she isn't so hyper and she recently learned how to say "I love you".

- When she is upset or mad or hurt everyone within a block can probably hear her yell. That child was blessed with a healthy set of lungs and she most definitely knows how to use them.

I am so excited to see what this next year brings for us with her. There is still so much that she is learning how to do and I can't wait to be around to watch her grown.

Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs seem to always be a party favorite. Personally I can't stand them, I think they are gross and the smell makes me sick, but everyone else enjoys them so I don't complain. I however have absolutely no idea how to make them. I honestly wasn't even sure of the correct way to hard boil an egg until today. Alyvia's birthday party was in just a few short hours and thankfully my sister-in-law and her younger sister came over to help cook, bake, decorate and set everything up. We only had 4 hours to get everything ready. Now luckily everything got done right on time and I couldn't have accomplished it all without them. So Shelby and Harley I love you guys so much and thank you for all your help!

They are both going to be embarrassed and maybe a little upset with me but I must share this story. So, the only thing that I didn't know how to make was devil eggs so Shelby and Harley took that responsibility on themselves. After Shelby boiled the eggs she let them cool and we all got to talking about what ingredients were used to finish this recipe. I told them to call someone in which Shelby tried calling her Aunt. She couldn't get a hold of her so then Harley went on some website to get a recipe. It seemed easy enough for them and I left them alone. After they were finished I made a comment about how the yolk part didn't really have enough texture in which Shelby replied that she probably used a little to much mayo. OK that made sense and who was I to question them when I had no idea how to make them in the first place. So we put them on the table as everyone starts to show up and I'm told a few people were making inquiries about the devil eggs like something just wasn't right.

Well, it turns out that Shelby and Harley followed the recipe but because it didn't tell them to keep the yolk after they took it out of the egg they threw it away. So the insert of the egg white was just the mayo and mustard and few other ingredients. Needless to say they both turned red and I absolutely laughed my ass off! I even got them to pose with there eggs!!

Times like these are absolutely priceless and a huge lesson learned! So girls thanks for the most memorable devil eggs ever!

I have the best wife

I love when you get something new and a little pricey you always say your spouse is the best! Well, this past weekend James and I went shopping for a new T.V. because our old had stopped working. Now spending money on a new tv was definitely not something I had foreseen us doing, so it was a little hard to take in the cost that we were looking at. When all was said in done we did get a fabulous tv with a wall mount and a few shelves at R.C. Willeys. James has been telling me a lot now that he has the best wife in the world LOL. I did feel like I was having heart palpitations towards the end of the sale but when I took a step back and looked at the big picture I saw just how happy James was and how hard he works to provide for our family so in the end I was completely ok with how things turned out.

Fun at the park

The things we do for our pets

One thing I love about James is that he is Mr. fix it. There really isn't a thing that man can't do! We recently had to find a new home for our dog Canon due to how he was with the kids. Its a long story but needless to say I found him a great home which he is doing very well and super happy. The kids were devastated but I don't think it was because we got rid of specifically our dog but because they didn't have a dog anymore. James mom had two basset and really anyone who has ever owned a basset knows that they are really a one dog household pet. So we adopted miss Daisy into our home and she won the kids and James and I over. Anyways she is a great dog and the perfect one for us. So because she was so well trained she doesn't need to be crate trained which meant we needed to get a dog door for her. The way our kitchen is set up with our sliding glass door to the backyard we had to invest in getting a sliding glass dog door and not one that you put into the wall. Those things are ridiculously expensive but I found one on craigslist! I love that website and we were so excited to find one for $30 when they are priced new for $190 and up. Now I thought it was a one size fits all so I assumed this would be a very quick and easy project for James. Well, I assumed wrong. This thing was a nightmare to put in. James ended up having to fix it to be the right size because it was a few inches to tall and then getting the door off to put the dog one is was a pain. What we both thought would take maybe 10 to 15 minutes took over an hour. But in the end it all worked out and Daisy was so excited to be able to go outside when ever she please.

Just so everyone knows all the credit for this little project goes to James. All I did was find the thing on craigslist and he did everything else and I sat back and watched. Again I am so happy I married him, especially for his knack of fixing things because I really don't know a lot of people who would have known what to do! Thanks James!!!

Tomboy extreme!

Alyvia is such an amazing little girl but growing up with an older brother and tons of friends in the neighborhood who are boys have turned my sweet little girl into a attitude tomboy. What ever the boys do Aly is right there with them. She gets just as dirty as them if not dirtier and loves it. The other day though just topped of our list of things she does that makes her a tomboy.

We have been potty training a lot lately and Aly has done remarkably well. She usually walks around in her panties at night and its so cute. The other night though she came downstairs giggling. When I looked up from cleaning the dishes I notice she is wearing her brothers boxers. Upon further inspection she informed be she is wearing Brock's underwear and no more panties!!! I couldn't help but laugh because it is so cute how she looks up to her brother but she refused to take them off and wore them the rest of the night.

Here are the picks right before bed time of when I had to bribe her to get a diaper on under the boxers.