almost 3

i can't believe it, one week from today my lil livia will be 3. it's been amazing to watch her grow & help her discover her world. i can't wait to continue exploring with her & all the adventures it will take us on. i put together a slide show of all my favorite moments of the last year of livi & i to show you...enjoy.

mommy's blankets

i always love hearing that someone we know is having baby because i love lil soft baby heads & i get to help mommy make them a baby blanket... mommy is a really good baby blanket maker. one of my favorite things to do is go to the fabric store with her, nothing is better than getting to look & touch all the fabrics to get ideas. we'll spend hours in the store trying to figure out color schemes & how we want it to look. tomorrow mommy is giving one of her latest creations away & so am i. our friend loves "hello kitty" so mommy made her a blanket & i made her a painting to go in the nursery. i can't wait for her to see everything, i know she's going to love it!!! here's some of my favorites mommy has made & of course our "hello kitty" masterpieces!


mommy made this for me when i was still in her tummy



this is livis'



mommy hard at work



this one is so pretty

hello kitty

SPLAT

today at my church we had an art class for kids called SPLAT & it was soooooo awesome!!! we painted the most beautiful fall tree ever, it's my favorite piece so far!!!! we learned that...
~just like each person's artwork today was unique, God made each of us unique
~each of us is God's perfect masterpiece
~we were created to do a specific job
~God made us to share His light with the world

so tonight at dinner we're going to talk about...
~what makes each person in our family unique?
~how can my family use it's uniqueness to share God's light with others this week?
i can't wait to hear every one's answers!

 "we are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
-Ephesians 2:10

my wake up call

ever since livi was born her favorite thing to do is to wake me up every morning...every morning! usually she comes running into my room yelling "sissy, sissy" & pounces on my bed, takes the covers off of me, pokes/tickles me or when i really just don't want to wake up she jumps on me. but for some very odd reason the other morning, she just quietly crawled into my bed got under the covers, snuggled into me & fell asleep for about 7 mins. that was by far the best & sweetest wake up call i've had in almost 3 yrs.

mee-maw...a special message just for you

happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday to you cha cha cha, happy birthday dear mee-maw, happy birthday to you cha cha cha. have grrrreat day!!! we miss & love you so, so much.

one little monkey jumping on the bed

livi has a habit she has gotten into which often gets her into a wee bit of trouble... boinging (her word) on the bed. the other night mommy was just to worn out to fight so she let her.  mommy & i were laying on the sides of the bed & livi was "boinging" in between us. as we were watching her we got the giggles from all the funny faces she was making, so then the boinging turned into an all out jumping fest. then mommy & i were laughing so hard we were crying because her hair was so out of control. the way it would fly up & then completly cover her face, it was like she was playing a wacky game of peek-a-boo. then she stopped jumping and said to us "my hair is crazy, you see it? look i show you how." at that point we were goners because we were already laughing at it but then she was going out of her way to look even crazier! talk about a fruit loop... goofy girl!

muscles

 we got muscles, how bout you???

salsa time... ole'

look what we have fresh from our garden, aren't all the colors beautiful!?!? we were so excited by all the tomatoes daddy picked, because we finally got them before that stinkin' tomato stealing cardinal did... yay! so mommy got to work making homemade salsa, she made two batches because we had so much of everything. the coolest part was almost all the ingredients came from our garden... all the different peppers (5 kinds), tomatoes (3 kinds) & cilantro. next year we're going to try our thumb at onions too. if anyone would like some delicious salsa let us know, we have tons & it is good!!!

en plein air

today i started my new art session & i'm trying my hand (no pun intended) at sketching. my pop really inspired me when he sent me my sketching & drawing kit. so the class i'm taking is called "en plein air" & here is the description of my class... i'm so excited!

"en plein air is a french expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. in this class students will learn skills on drawing my observation. their portfolio will consist of a variety of quick sketches & long observational drawings that are created indoors & outdoors. students will also complete a final "en plein air" painting that is created in natural light & completely outdoors"

 doesn't that sound awesome, today i went outside & picked a beautiful yellow flower to start with. towards the end of the class i told ms.marjon i really wanted to add color to it because it was so gray. i really wanted my piece to be exciting & bright so i thought if i added yellow to the flowers it would be the perfect touch & she said "do it" & i looooove it!!!

my 1st piece & i'm still working on it

also we haven't had an art show  for the last art session & that's because we'll be having one big art show at the end of summer. instead of it being held at little wonders it will be held at an outside venue... yay! we're so excited because my friends & i's artwork will be seen & appreciated by the public!!!

26 pounds

today we took livi for her 3yr check up(I know we're a few weeks early) and guess what... she weighs 26lbs!!! she did it, she finally passed that stinkin' 24lb mark!let me tell you there was a lot of screaming & jumping for joy in that doctor's office! we are so super excited & proud of our lil livi!

more fun times at nonies'

well we finally came home this afternoon, after being gone for 2 weeks. boy was it nice to be home & it was even better seeing our daddy again... talk about lots of screaming, hugs & kisses! now that we're home it's easier for us to work on the blog, internet is much better & faster. so i wanted to share some more of our fun times we had at nonies...
every night we had the best time ever running through nonie's sprinklers, it didn't matter what we were wearing (pj's, clothes, swim suits) we were out there getting soaking wet. it was the perfect refreshing treat to have to help cool off every night before bed!

 










one day helpa, nonie & i had a sketching class, it was really hard but we had a great time. nonie set up our scene with different types of plant leaves & the rest was up to us to interpret it however we liked. i have to say i never knew my helpa was such an amazing artist...wow!

 










since pop knew i was bringing all my art supplies that he got me to nonies', he decided that livi needed something too. so one day a really nice man delivered a big box of legos... score!!! livi loves legos & so do the rest of us, so we had tons of fun building things. our favorite was a house with a pizzeria next door, because we think that would be so cool!

you always have to have dress up time when you go to nonies'.  she has the funnest bag of  scarves, necklaces, bracelets, rings, belts & all other sorts of goodies!

and of course no trip to nonies' would be complete without taking our picture in front on the gun barrel city sign...

gone a fishin' & a catchin'

 one of my favorite things to do with my nonie & helpa is to go fishing!!! we haven't been in a really long time & since we're visiting for so long i thought this would be the perfect time to break out the rods & reels. we packed us a picnic dinner & we all headed off to a friend' boat dock to let the fishin' begin. soon after we got there helpa caught 2 lil baby catfish & then mommy caught a good size hybrid bass, i was getting kinda of discouraged because i really wanted to catch my 1st fish. we were using minnows & worms for fish bait, since i wasn't getting any nibbles with my minnow i decided to switch it up & try a fat juicy worm instead. boy am i glad i did, next thing i know my bobber is going under water & i almost got jerked off the boat dock. i knew i had a big one & i was doing all i could to keep my rod in my hands, i was spinning in circles (because that's what made since, if i was dizzy then the fish must be too), pulling, yanking & almost going off the other side of the boat dock... this fish wasn't coming in without a fight!!! thank goodness my helpa, nonie & mommy jumped in to lend a hand, we finally reeled him in & we all were in shock by how big he was... a 2lb catfish!!! he was a monster & i say he weighed at least 90lbs, he was almost half the size of me!!! livi was beside herself in the beginning, she was scared but by the time i caught mine she was screaming for me... she was so excited. talk about a 1st catch, i'll never forget! after that it was time for a pb&j break to give my sore muscles a rest & recharge. we had a really slow pace from there, but livi got a lot of casting time with her fishing pole, so next year she'll be ready for a real pole. we caught & released: 8 fish (helpa-5, mommy-1 & me-2), 1 tackle box (mommy) & 2 logs (me & nonie), but guess what... i caught the biggest fish of the night!!! all in all it was the best evening ever!

going in circles to get my fish

isn't he huge

pb&j break

animal rescue

since we've been at nonie's we've come across all sorts of animals that needed a lil help. one night a baby frog somehow got in the house & it was our mission to catch  it so we could put him back in the flower bed so he could rejoin his family. he sure was a hoppy lil fellow, every time we set our hand down he would jump over it, finally we caught him (well we caught him about 12 times) & hung on to him to get him back outside. then one night night nonie's neighbors came over with 2 little 4 week old kittens that they had rescued. they thought we would enjoy help bottle feeding the sweet lil babies & we did!!! oh my goodness, those kitties were so cute, i really wanted to take them home. i named one of them plumy because he had such a full lil belly & it was in the way it was so big. on another morning we startled a bird out of one of nonie's hanging plants & on the way out she dropped one of her eggs. so nonie picked it up & put back in her nest, then the nest there was 2 more eggs with it. we have a few more days here so who knows what we'll come across next...

happy 4th of july

thunder over cedar creek air show & fireworks

last night we went to the "thunder over cedar creek air show & fireworks" & i have to say it was the most amazing thing i've ever seen in my entire whole life!!! it was almost 4 hrs of non-stop excitement, surprises, beauty & really loud noises! the air show was spectacular, we saw so many different types of planes (warhawks, bombers, monoplanes) & jets ( delfins, mig-17, usaf f-16), to see a line up please see this link... http://www.tocclairshow.com/itinerary.php. i can't believe all the show off planes that was there, they would do loopty loops, fly upside down, spin in circles, go straight up till you couldn't see them anymore because they were lost in the clouds, fly so low they looked like they would go into the water! one of my favorite things was a sky diver that came down with the american flag, the flag was huge it was 20ft x 18ft! it was so awesome watching him float down... loved it! oh my goodness, one of the scariest, loudest & coolest things was a USAF F-16. when it came in, it flew in from behind us so by the time we saw it & it felt & sounded like the world was caving in. nonie & i were jumping & grasping on to one another frantically. it was so scary my poor lil livi pee peed a lil in her panties, so sad. he flew for over 10 mins & it was just crazy, he would fly by us & our whole bodies would just vibrate from all of his power. poor lil livi hung in there, but we were all very thankful when he was done!!! i even got to meet one of the jet fighter pilots & thank him for all that he has done for our country, that was really special to me. then after all of the planes were done it was time for the beautiful fireworks to begin. everyone loved those, especially livi- she was in complete awe of them, it was so sweet. we all took a vote on the way home & decided we would be back next year, but we would be prepared (major ear phones) since this year was a learning experience. i have to say it definitely got us in the spirit for 4th of july & can't wait to see more fireworks!