Complete Randomness.

Nearly one month has passed since my last entry and I'm not even sure how that's possible. Time. It flies. Too fast, sometimes.

Our summer was jampacked with fun and exciting "to-do's." And now, it's Fall and the Holiday season is fast approaching. Our home is already bursting with reds and oranges and leaves and pumpkins and scarecrows and...candy corn! My fireplace mantel is covered with Halloween decor and as always, I'm reminded of my "ma-maw" (she loved Halloween)! The crisp morning air makes it necessary to wear a jacket; and the afternoons are full of bright blue skies and 75 degree weather. Ahhh!!! I love this time of year! I'm sure that most of you will disagree...but I also love that Hobby Lobby already has Christmas decorations displayed!

My husband and I may or may not have signed up to play on our church's co-ed softball league. I may or may not have been sore for an entire week after one practice. I may or may not have struke out twice already. But I may have made up for that by my awesome fielding skills (in which I may be joking about...or not). My husband may have hit an in-the-park home run. And I most definitely may have a huge crush on my husband and especially enjoy watching him play sports. Overall, I must say that we're enjoying our time spent at "the diamonds!"

Rylie's 2nd birthday is this Friday!!! And her Elmo-themed party is set for the following Sunday. I have most of her decorations created and can't wait to see it all put together. I do realize that what took one month to prepare for will be over in two hours. But hey...I'm a girl who loves to plan parties!!! And one who will spend thirty minutes in the dollar section at Target, trying to find the right sizes of a particularly cute item just to complete a few party favors! Yep. That's ME! :)

Party Planning!

One of the most memorable and fun times in my life happens to be when I was...planning our wedding day! I enjoyed every step to that 9 month planning project! :) But regrettably, I really don't get the chance to host a party but once or twice a year. But when I do...it simply thrills me! With that being said, I had such a wonderful three day weekend. Rylie's second birthday party is my current project. And I'm having so much fun with it.

When planning a party, I try to find a theme that is relevant to the "guest of honor's" stage in life. And the party planning grows from that. Rylie's bestfriend just so happens to be Elmo right now...so he was an obvious choice this year.

This weekend...Amanda and I went to work. And we finished Rylie's birthday banner and the cupcake toppers. Last night, I finished making the balloon wreath and today...I finished making her birthday invitations. I still have quite a bit to do...but I'll leave you with a picture of her invites. I'm SO happy with the way they turned out!

Tradition.

Rylie's birthday is nearly a month away! Her second birthday!! My first child is turning two!!!

We will no longer refer to her age in "months"...but will begin using only "years." She will lose her binky. And hopefully, before too much longer, I will buy my last pack of pull-ups for her. It's possible that she will experience her first weekend spent away from home this year (she has some very eager grandparents who are wanting her to spend the weekend with them...sans mommy and daddy). We recently graduated from using her diaper bag and she now sports a very fun and trendy back-pack. She is beginning to talk in full sentences and has already started asking "what" and "why" questions...over and over and over again. She enjoys watching Elmo, dancing, playing with her dolls, and coloring. She really is growing up!

It literally feels like yesterday when I was planning for her one year birthday celebration. And here I am...one year later...planning her second. And this year, I plan on starting a few family traditions. I don't really know why...but I LOVE the idea of a fun tradition that grows to be expected. Even though the traditions I am planning are simple...I'm still eager to establish them this year!

Introducing...

the birthday wreath:

I plan on hanging up this wreath on each of our birthdays. And I'm hoping that when our kids see the wreath, they instantly feel the birthday FUN and the memories that are about to be created!

Also...

the hidden cupcake:

Each birthday boy/girl will wake up to this ceramic cupcake sitting out. But sometime throughout the day, the cupcake will disappear. And when it comes time, the birthday boy/girl will get the chance to look for the hidden cupcake; which now hides a "special" birthday gift.

Call me cheesy. And I'll admit. :)

(I'm super excited about Rylie's birthday theme this year. And I'm attempting to make a lot of the decor myself...with help from my awesomely talented scrapbooking fanatic friend, Amanda. Stay tuned for pictures.)

~Gramps~

Rylie absolutely adores each one of her grandparents. And I've mentioned this before...but it's so neat to see how she interacts with each of them so differently.

She tends to be very lovable around Grandma. Peaceful around Grandpa. Ornery around Ma-maw. Lively around Pa-paw. Playful around Granny.

And...

adventurous around Gramps!

This is a typical weekend spent at Granny and Gramps' house...

And this is Gramps' alpha dog, Ace...

He's a pretty awesome dog. Who likes to hunt! And who tilts his head like this every time I raise my camera. :)

"Gramps" happens to be my daddy! And I proudly declare that I have the best dad in the world. Really. It's that simple.

Gramps- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: A Gramps is someone who spoils and loves his grandchild wholeheartedly. Worldwide, there is only 1 who wins the "Best Gramps" award and he belongs to Rylie. The term can also be defined as brave. Courageous. Spirited. Determined. Adventurous. Hard-working. Outdoorsy. Loving. Accepting. Fun.

See Also: Fishing. Hunting. Camping. Canoeing. Pigeon Catching.

Training: 201

Do I dare say that we have a potty trained little girl?!

I think to say that she is completely potty trained is a bit premature. But...we have made great strides this weekend ("she's" actually the one making great strides...but this is definitely a family effort- potty training takes a lot of time and patience from the parents, no doubt).

The last time I wrote, I was a bit discouraged. And now, I laugh at myself because once again, like many stages throughout parenthood, I find myself looking back and realizing that what I thought was going to last forever, only lasted three (fast) weeks. :) And by now I'm sure you've guessed that I didn't give up after that first night. However, I did change my approach. And instead of going straight to panties, we started with good ole' pull-ups!

I'm sure that you working moms can attest to the fact that children behave much differently for their babysitters, right?! I don't quite understand why they do this...but Rylie is proof that they do. According to "nana", Rylie hasn't had one accident since the first day I dropped her off wearing only her pull-ups. But for three weeks, I could not get her to "go" consistently at home. And to be honest, for the first week...I couldn't get her to "go" at all in the potty. But, persistent we became. And although she continued to have accidents...we continued to take her potty chair everywhere!

And now, I proudly declare that she has not had a single accident (during the day, anyway) all weekend long. And this is huge...considering we spent four hours at the zoo yesterday!!

...and if you want to witness two very mature adults going crazy over poop in the potty...come visit our house!! :)

Great job, Rylie!!

Your daddy and I are so proud of you.

Grace.

Today was such an awesome day!! But since it's nearly midnight and my eyelids are starting to get heavy...I figured I would summarize it by a quick list of "grace". :)

1) 4 hours of fun at the zoo with the McAlisters
2) 3 hour nap (for both baby and I)
3) 2 mile run on the treadmill
4) freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (which totally counteracts item #3)
5) Rylie has gone THREE days without having ONE accident (we're potty training)- Go Rylie!
6) we GET to go to church tomorrow morning
7) settled on a theme for Rylie's 2nd birthday party...which is about one month out...whoa!!
8) heard some fantastic news from a friend (yep, I'm keeping that one vague)
9) perfect weather to relax outside this evening...which we did!

And even though it drives me crazy to end with 9 items instead of 10...

Number 10 isn't coming to me fast enough so I've decided to be strong, ignore my OCD tendency, and go to bed now. :)

Good night.

Anniversary

Not only is August the month that Brian "gets" to help me celebrate the day that I was born. But August is also the month when we celebrate our anniversary! And August 12th, 2010 marked 4 years!

Happy Anniversary, Brian!