Look Who's 2 - Baltimore, MD. - May 2012

2 years ago at 12:31pm our little Monkey arrived

A tiny 4 lbs 11.7ozs and 17 inches long. 

Our world has been forever changed by this ball of joyful energy.

Thank the Lord! Happy Birthday sweet girl! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

You Know It's Almost Your Birthday... - Baltimore, MD. - May 2012

You know it's almost your birthday when you find the actual date on the milk jug... 

And it's EMPTY!!!

Only 7 days till this little lady is TWO!!!

Till next time

Bon Voyage!

Pie...? - Baltimore, MD. - April 2012

Notice anything odd about this scene from our little lady's kitchen?

A closer look....?

Yes, those are people baking in that pie...

Hmmmmmm...?

I guess that's all I have to say about that.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

The Destroyer of Books - Baltimore, MD. - April, 2012

We have a problem!

This sweet, beautiful little lady does this...

to just about every book she gets her hands on.

She use to eat them, now she destroys them.  I'm at the end of my rope!  I've been hunting on line to find other parents that have dealt with this but really haven't found much.  I think this is so exasperating for me because I LOVE books and to see my daughter making quick work of dismantling all the pages, peep-a-boo flaps, spines, and covers just breaks my heart.

PLEASE HELP!!!  How do you stop a 2 year old from destroying her books?

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Father Daughter Night - Baltimore, MD - February 2012

First off, I really have a feeling that the baby is coming soon, meaning the next couple of days. I have no scientific evidence to back it up, it's just a feeling. That having been said, I wanted to let you know that if I disappear off the planet for a week or two, that's what's happened, but I WILL BE BACK with lots of pictures and stories of "Little Miss MJ" or "Little Man J".

Yep, after 40 weeks of waiting the gender is still a surprise!

Also I have a GIANT announcement about an amazing thing that is going to be happening right here on this blog over the next few months!  We're talking MAJOR!!!

And now, on with the show!

Wednesday night at our house is "Father Daughter Night". I have a regular meeting on Wednesday evenings. A few Wednesday's ago, because of the weather, I had the privilege of being a fly on the wall for this house hold favorite.

I normally leave our 21 month old daughter home with daddy and just hear about their adventures when I return. From the stories, it’s my understanding that dinner kicks off the night. On the menu, our little lady’s favorite, breakfast for supper; pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs with cheese, and ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert. Everything, except the ice cream of course, was prepared on the griddle. It was fun to see them chatter back and forth over the kitchen island while my husband made dinner. I love that about 70% of their conversation was in a language all their own and when the table was set, bibs were in place, and our short and sweet dinner time blessing was said, it became very clear that the reason she loves this meal so much is because on “Father Daughter night” she is allowed to eat it entirely by herself! What a mess, but they had a great time!

 The evening continued with a Beatles dance party...

With a few country favorites thrown in for kicks.

Then, as it gets closer to bed time, they slow it down and do a little "unplugged".

The best part of the evening is when she's in bed and the hub is settled in beside me on the couch. I can tell, without even asking that they've had a fabulous time and neither of them can wait till next week.

What a treat to be a part of their special night!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

I LOVE Packing - Baltimore, MD - February 2012

Let me start by saying "I LOVE PACKING"!!!!

One of the things that's been on my "To Do" List for the last couple of weeks is to pack this little lady's bag. She'll be staying with our good friends Katie and Kyle and their girls while we are in the hospital for "Little Sticks".

I finally checked that one off my list. The bag is packed!

(Katie, I promise I'm not crazy!)

My sisters say I'm the most hysterical packer on earth because I'm so meticulous and organized. The Hub swears that it's impossible for me to pack before 10 o'clock in the evening the night before we leave, regardless of where we're going or how long we'll be there. For the most part, both are speaking the God's honest truth.

When it comes to packing, I'm a closet obsessive compulsive. Everything needs to be able to be found easily, regardless of who the hunter is and if they've ever seen the bag before.

(Each outfit is individually packed in a bag containing everything needed.)

I honestly can't remember the last time I've packed with out a packing list or without labeling mostly Everything.

(Each bag is labeled with what's inside)

But it must be said, thanks to my lists and labels, it's been a long time since I've forgotten something or been without something we've needed. Unfortunately, I'm NOT this way in every aspect of life, but packing just makes me giddy!

(All the air is pressed out of the bag

so it takes up less space in the big bag)

As for the "10 o'clock in the evening..." part, I can explain! First, my peek times of efficiency are between 6 and 10 in the morning and 10pm and midnight. My excuse, this is how God made me! The hours between 11am and 9pm have always been a struggle for me. Good thing there are 2 meals in there otherwise that'd be a LOT of down time! Then there's the "...the night before we leave" part. There's always the inevitable last minute laundry I'm waiting to finish up and most of the things I'm packing I use in any given day, so if I pack them early I'll just have to unpack and then repack them. and that makes it more likely something will be forgotten because you've already packed it, right?!

Makes since to me. My "GO BAG" is next on the list!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Fun with Bubble Wrap and Minnie Mouse - Baltimore, MD. - January 2012

So we spent a lot of time in our PJ's over the Christmas and New Years holidays for a couple of reasons. 

ONE - We were all sick so were therefore entitled.

TWO - PJ's are so much more fun!

I'll spare you the adults in there PJ's but isn't that the cutest PJ'ed fanny you've ever seen?!

It was great to have the Hub home for a few days before he started a pretty crazy rotation. We played with all our new toys from Santa. El and Mini Mouse became fast friends and you can see her new kitchen in the back ground of some of these pictures.

But as always the packing materials proved to be the most amusing occupiers of our time.

Introducing Bubble Wrap Wings!

What will we come up with next?!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

A Ponytail FINALLY!!! - Baltimore, MD - November 2011

I was mentioning to the Hub last night while playing with the Monkey's hair that I really thought it might FINALLY be long enough for a ponytail. I don't quite remember what his response was, but I'm sure it was something like,  "okay?".

Anyway, this morning, at her first peep, I rushed into her room, scooped her up and said something like "guess what today is? It's your FIRST PONYTAIL DAY!!!"

I must say, by far, I was the most excited about this milestone... 

Is this not the cutest, tiniest, little ponytail you've ever seen!

(NOTE TO READER: Those cute barrettes came out just after I took the pictures, as they're small enough to end up in her mouth, which I'm SURE would be the first place they'd go.)

I've been asked by SEVERAL people how I keep her still long enough to fix her hair?

That would be... iPhone Bribery! =)  Just kidding!

The truth is for the most part she sits pretty still and "reads" books, but as I said in my pig tail post, this has been  a bit of a process and my suggestion to mama's of little girls is, "START EARLY"!!!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Candy... STAT!!! - Baltimore, MD - October 2011

Last year, for Halloween, even though we didn't go door to door trick-or-treting, I couldn't resist dressing our little monkey up for the occasion.  She had two costumes...

A Monkey...

 I LOVE the tail!

And a Frog!

 

I LOVE both costumes and she wore them both from when they swallowed her up, until she was literally about to pop out of them.  I can't wait for "Little Sticks" to be able to wear them.  Dressed up babies are too cute!

This year she was a doctor.

When I was little we always went to our church's carnival for Halloween so I've never actually done door to door trick-or-treating, so we were really excited that Daddy was able to join us for our first trick-or-treating adventure!

It was really funny how quickly she caught on to knocking, saying "thank you"...

And then checking her bag for goodies,

She was great at sharing!

When we got home and dumped out the candy she was very cautious about if it all was hers, as I don't think she's ever even seen that much candy all in one place.

Daddy inspected all her candy and after going back and forth between Reese's Pieces and a candy bar, she finally decided that her first Halloween candy treat would be a Hershey's Cookies & Cream mini. 

Our little girl has good taste!  What a fun time!  Who knows what she'll be next year...

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Pig Tails - Baltimore, MD. - October 2011

We've been a wandering family for the last couple of months, so the next few posts I'm going to work my way through our late summer and early fall travels, but for now, Here's a quick post of something that makes me smile every time I see them.

About the middle of August her hair was finally long enough to do something with.  I was so excited! 

 I LOVE her pig tails!

Even though she isn't always happy about the process ...

 (Her tears have gotten significantly less since this first tearful event.  SOMETIMES there's no crying at all!)

 There is much dancing after they're up!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!