81 years and counting

My beautiful, amazing, kind beyond comprehension, nor words, grams celebrated 81 years of life today.  If I am able to be 1/3 of the person that she is in my lifetime, I will consider myself blessed.  I love her more then words could describe and I am so very, very proud to call her my grandma, and for our kids to call her their great-grandma.  

This picture captures all that she loves about life -- her family.  Does she now favor her great-grandchildren over her grandchildren?  I would never dare to say a negative word about this lady, but I'm sure you could guess. ;)  Jk.  She loves us all equally.

In honor of her turning 81, I found some treasures that sum her up nicely.

This was my grandma and her late husband (he passed away in a car accident when my grandma was pregnant with my mom).  I once asked her why she never got married again and she responded, "No one compared to Jimmy."  broke.my.heart.

roarrrrr

The three amigos all looking at the camera -- something we don't often get.  And the range from serious to shocked to silly is the icing is on the cake.

An adorably similar top (with pocket) is here.

My favorite feature of his highchair is the recline.  Pop him in that sucker, lean it back and let him feed himself a bottle while I get some things done in the kitchen is my idea of amazing.

James loves to play dress up, even if it's with my mom's boots and my grandma's scarf.  My favorite thing about this picture is Declyn in the left corner, reaching for him.  Brent, next to Declyn, knows better then to pay attention to these games.  

Ask politely (or not) for James to smile for a picture, and this is what you'll get.

Spending a little time in Aunt Kate's bed watching Bubble Guppies, eating goldfish and crackers, and straight chilling.  Life is good.

coinci-phant? I think not.

I loved the way this exhibit was set up -- very art gallery-esque.  

My aunt loves elephants, so I had to snap this one for her.  Cheers to you, Aunt Sally!

National Geographic Museum had a cool tool where you could type in your name and it would spit it out hidden in other words, as well as with an image of an animal.  I tried Mike's name literally 6 times (before the line behind me got to be too much) and it wouldn't spit it out, so the poor guy was left out of our little activity. 

The picture of a picture doesn't do it justice, but this was one of my favorites.

Ms. Goodall could not be more true.  Both of my dogs have more personality then I know how to handle.

After drinking a bottle, peeing his pants, and taking in every picture, movie, or spec of light he saw, this one was too tired to even comprehend what was going on by the time we were ready to leave.

Jacket is found here.

do I know you?

We were getting ready to go downtown and I plopped Declyn in front of his mirror -- can't you tell how much he loves it?

Non-hooded similar version of the top found here.

Jeans are here.

Shoes :: colorblock sneakers from baby Gap.

If you've ever watched Ellen on TV, you would know she has a segment called 'Clumsy Thumbsy'.  I had to submit this one to her -- beautiful autocorrect is at it again.

free entertainment

PetSmart is the perfect place to go for some free entertainment.  Lots of neat animals to see, just like the fish we saw today.

Toggle coat :: Carter's 

Similar sweatshirt (minus the hood, plus a new color) found here.

This poor dog (and I use the word poor lightly -- she's the troubled one out of our two boxers) is constantly being tormented  by Declyn.  If he's not pulling on some part of her body, he's shoving things in her face.

NFL pajamas found here.

He could sit and watch this mouse run on its wheel for hours.  

full of tricks

I was getting ready for Supper Club and when I looked over, this was happening.

First popped out the left arm, then he pulled the sweatshirt over his head.  Finally, he just tugged at the right arm and out it came.

Once he was shirtless, and loving life, he tucked both arms inside his exerciser and leaned forward with a look of content on his face.

JMU sweatshirt found here.

Bath time is constantly changing.  Now, he takes a legit bath full of bubbles, and insists on standing up for a few seconds (without holding onto anything) and ending with his grand finale of landing butt-first into tub, which of course makes many waves and splashes Mike and I.

Bath toys (alphabet and numbers) found here.

Just a little #tbt.  Our friend Mayela sent this to me from her wedding.  How beautiful is the color?

This picture doesn't even do justice to what I found in the backseat when we got home from running errands.  He had pulled the hood of his sweatshirt so far that all you could spot were two baby blues peering out.  

Take away the hoodie, change the color, and here's the sweatshirt.

cabin fever

…still trapped in the house.

This lady is over it.

Nesting took over and I decided to switch things up.  I took our rug from the basement and decided to add it to Declyn's room.  Give him something 'fun' to play on while he's in there.

The video I took to go with this was hilarious -- he was literally screaming "Ah" and trying to climb through the window.  Someone wants out, and I can't blame him.

Too much time on our hands = new discoveries.  He only goes for the cabinet under the sink.; time for some locks.

Top, in a different color, is found here.

Pants are from here.

Socks, here.

snowed in

I was reaching to shut our bedroom curtains and this was the view I saw.  Beautiful.

Our love has had a stomach bug, so after three days of being quarantined, I decided to bundle us both up and take him out to enjoy the snow.  I mean come on, we can't miss playing snow that was good enough to cancel school for a week!

The weather has made them super lazy, and I'm OK with that.

always reaching

Poor Cali … she never catches a break.

Zip-up is here.

Resting those cheeks before we headed to Uncle Drew's house for football playoffs.

Set of four here.

Housing a banana.  nbd.

Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on.  I wanna dance with my baby.

I wish you could zoom in on Declyn's face.  One word -- pissed.

Colleen was kind enough to send me this.  He, nor his rolls, seemed to care that the playoffs were happening.  Instead, he was all cozy-ed up with his Dad where he stayed for almost two hours.

behind bars

Caught trying to escape. 

Shirt & Pants from Baby Gap. 

He was not a fan of the tunnel.  Luckily, Kristen was able to document me literally pushing him through it, whether he liked it or not.  Hey, we all have to conquer our fears at some point -- mine as well start young before he can get mad at me.

Caden babe.  Love that smile.

Just a couple boys hanging out in a circle.

Sweater is here.

matchy match

Nowhere is off limits now that little man crawls all over the place.  This includes under our dining room table, which lately seems to be a favorite of his.

It's hard to see, but Dec and CC were matching in their blue and white pinstripes.  Planned?  Perhaps.

Nanny singing lullabies to her chunky great-grandson.  Not a flattering angle for Declyn, clearly.

His bed head was so uncontrollable, and I loved it so much, that I didn't even bother to try and mat it down when we left for our playgroup. 

little ones sunday funday

Mike and I got the new iPhone 5, and I am OCD about having a case on it.  Unfortunately I always crack the plastic ones, so the only ones I will use are the soft, rubber ones.  J.Crew always has a good one, so I popped in to pick one up.  Three stores later, I found this beaut.  Clearly she's not super attractive.  No offense, but a dog … with a bow?   It's almost so ugly that it's beautiful.

Clearly neither of them were into me taking their picture, nor were they really feeling each other at that moment.  Too confused as to why they were being lined up on the couch while 16 pairs of adults eyes made faces, noises, anything to get them to smile / not cry.

Similar shoes are here.

Jeans are from Target.

Top is here.

Our play group had their Secret Santa exchange-- Declyn got a really neat wooden peg set that when you hit one peg, another one pops up.  I would post the picture I took, but it doesn't capture the amazing faces (that you can barely see) of these adorable little ones (so I 'borrowed' this off of one of the mom's Facebook posts).  Each baby had a pissed off / serious look on their face when this was snapped.  As someone pointed out, at least none of them were crying.  touché.