October

Once again in October we went camping. This time we went camping/ATV riding. The weather was much cooler this time but it was still really, really nice.  We basically rode trails all day and played by the camp fire at night!

 The trails were absolutely beautiful. The was an old railroad shed.

 

 

 trails + mud = happy kids!

 

EXHAUSTED!



Throughout the month, we spent most weekends at friends houses watching our Vols play! One night Lydia wanted to dress just like daddy!

 

 

 

Then Halloween week came, I'm not a big fan of Halloween but I do enjoy some of the traditions of Halloween; my favorite being pumpkin carving. Layton thought it was so cool that we could cut them and pull their guts out!

 



 

And thanks to Pawpaw this year, we had "yard art"!

 

 

 I always tell my girls to pick something out to dress up in from home or come up with something we can make. (With the exception of last year, Pawpaw instisted he buy them a costume!) Layton decided to be an India girl and Lydia decided to be a Diva! We actually decided to go "old fashioned" trick-or-treating. The girls thought it was fun to walk around a neighborhood and knock on people's doors for candy.

 

 2009

 

I have no idea why I'm not able to get a picture without one of them throwing a peace sign up. But I thought it was somewhat appropriate that the India offered peace... 

 

Again, after trying 3 separate times, I gave up.

 I might miss the "peace sign" days! 

 

 

                                                                            Lydia

 

Layton



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



September

I don't know why I am such a bad blogger these days. I still read blogs daily, I just have zero energy to update mine! I take tons of pictures with my phone, having all intentions on blogging about them. I even write out paragraphs and include the pictures with the documents, I just don't actually blog them!

Warning...overload of what has been happening!

September started out with us taking our (new to us) camper out for the first time! I can honestly say this was the first time I was really excited to camp. I love the idea of camping, just not the sleeping in the tent part. I can't locate my pictures right now but we bought an old 1974 model Shasta camper. It is so ugly on the outside but it wasn't too bad on the inside. After a good cleaning, a new paint job and our own little touches to it, it is now super cute on the inside!

 Unfortunatley I didn't take one picture all weekend! :(   We went camping with a group of friends from church. We try to go every Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect, warm during the day and a (little) cool at night. Saturday we floated the river in rafts and had a great time. Sunday we woke up with severe thunderstorms. It scared us but thankful the camper held up well and we stayed cool and dry!

The end of the month we celebrated our cousin Kathryn marrying Gibb. Layton was asked to be the flower girl. She has been so excited. I’ll admit I’ve been a little anxious about my spunky, loud, little girl being involved in something that is quiet and elegant but she did great. We started Friday night with the rehearsal.

 

 

During the day Friday and throughout the night, it rained 4 inches and the rehearsal dinner was outside. Obviously, we had a tent over us but still...outside! To say it was muddy is a complete understatement but we made the best of it and had a wonderful time, despite the mud. Layton immediately found entertainment by catching the biggest worms I have ever seen. Thankfully I was able to talk her into letting them go and sitting down and enjoying dinner. The dinner was wonderful and I was excited that (my picky eater) Lydia tried several new things and liked them. She even ate meat without ketchup – GASP! After dinner, it was time to dance. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures. My girls rocked it though. They danced their sweet little legs off! The band actually left a CD with Kathryn “for the little girls who had such a good time”.

Wedding day, we slept in, ate breakfast and then went for manicures/pedicures. It is SO nice being pampered. Layton asked the poor lady doing our nails 5,246 questions. The lady was so patient with her! By the time we finished getting out nails done it was time for Layton to be at the church for pictures. She had to be there 3 hours before the wedding, so I was super anxious how I was going to get her white dress to stay WHITE and her to stay OUT of trouble! Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and we were able to walk around when she wasn't needed.

 

Beautiful! 

 

Her and the ring bearer. He wouldn’t hold her hand, he would only hug her. And when he hugged her, he would hug her tight and long! She didn’t mind though! Unfortunately, he fell asleep about an hour before the wedding so he didn’t get to walk with her down the aisle.

 

I tried so hard to get a picture of my girls but Layton wouldn’t cooperate. This picture is so funny to me, it represents a typical day in our life: Lydia being herself (sweet, calm, obedient) and Layton being herself (silly, loud, sneaky)! Right before I snapped the picture, Layton would pinch Lydia. Layton swore she was NOT pinching her but I think this picture proves her wrong!

 

Layton did great walking down the aisle. She placed one petal by each pew. It was time consuming but very cute. Once she got to the altar, she took Ali’s boutique of flowers and ditched her basket! She did great through the wedding, just a little talking!

 

Notice her ditched basket! 

The wedding was short and sweet. And afterwards, it was time to party again! The girls enjoyed dancing and visiting! Layton told everyone she seen that she was the flower girl, before and after the wedding. She took her “job” seriously. About two hours into the reception and Layton was out. The band was so loud and my sleeping beauty slept through it all. We feel so blessed to have been a part in the wedding and are proud for Kathryn to have met such an amazing husband. We wish Kathryn and Gibb many years of happiness.

After sleeping in on Sunday, we got up and went to Reelfoot. Our Mimi & Papa celebrated their 58^th anniversary, amazing. We had lots of fun seeing the eagles and walking out on the piers.

The food was wonderful and the weather was perfect.

 

My very own chicken whisperer!





This little girl can catch a chicken! How uncomfortable does this chicken look?!

 

Our Mimi has had chickens for about a year now. And of course, my animal loving Layton loves them. She especially loves when they lay eggs. She will sit and watch them while they are laying and the minute they come out, she runs in and gathers them. 

Over the course of the past several months, Layton’s chicken catching skills have improved! Dave told me a couple of weeks ago that she could catch them now but honestly I didn’t believe him. Now, I have seen her with my own eyes. As I was watching her, I was simply amazed by her motivation. She never gave up! I love the smile on her face in this picture; to me it shows pure happiness.  

Happy Birthday to my spunky monkey!

My baby isn’t so much of a baby anymore…  

I’m reminiscing a little, by looking through some of my favorite pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

These past four years have been the most energetic of my life but I wouldn’t want it any other way! She bring SO MUCH JOY to my life. In trying to determine the best adjective for her, I could only think of the word spunky. When I looked at the definition, courageous and determined, I am most certain this describes her best! Happy Birthday to my spunky Lay Lay. You have brought SO MUCH FUN to our lives. I feel so blessed that I was choosen to be your mama!

 

Doesn’t seem possible…

My first thought is that I’m not old enough to have a 3^rd grader, not that having one means you are old but it seems like yesterday she was looked like this...

 

Now she is this…

 

WOW! Watch out 3^rd grade, here comes my sweet Lydia!

She started school last week. She starts changing classes this year. Her homeroom teacher will teach 3 subjects and another teacher will teach 2. She was really nervous about having a man teacher. His class is right beside her class last year and she said that she knew he was mean because last year she could hear his voice through the walls!! But after meeting him last week, she admitted that he is “very nice and really funny”. She was really excited that a lot of her girl friends are in her class but kind of sad that not many of her boy friends…um, what?!! I was shocked to hear her say that and when she seen the look on my face, she tried to cover a little and said “not boyfriends, just boy… friends”! I chose not to mention this to her daddy! I’m sure she will have a great year. She has already come home telling us about the 7 continents and singing songs about Nouns and Pronouns. I’m thinking this might be the year where I have to Google a couple of things to help her with her homework!  

 

Sneaky (Sleepy) Layton

Years ago, this started happening…

 

Lydia would get up, in the middle of the night, and get into Layton's crib with her. It was sweet but I was scared that someone was going to get hurt, so at 15 months old, Layton moved into Lydia’s bed with her. They had plenty of room and both were super happy. And to be honest, it melted my heart seeing my girls cuddled up together at night!

So for 3 years, they have been sleeping together. Then about 6 months ago, Lydia started asking when Layton was going to start sleep in her own bed.  :(  So, we explained to Layton that she was going to have to start sleeping in her own bedroom. This did not go well! Layton has never really LOVED her room. Until recently she wouldn’t even play in there by herself. Sadly, that night we made her get in her bed by herself. She cried a LOT. After about 5 minutes, Lydia (crying herself!) came to us and said she wanted her back in her bed, that she couldn’t stand to hear her cry. So, back to Lydia’s bed she went!  

So over the course of the past several months, I have been talking to Layton about her room. Things have gotten much better. She is excited about her room and she has started playing in there a lot more. Three weeks ago she was helping me clean house. While we were cleaning, I rearranged my living room and she asked if we could rearrange her room too. Of course, I said yes. After we were done, she was so happy with how it was all arranged and said she was going to start sleeping in her bed. Sure enough, that night she slept in her bed all night!  She is doing ok, not great but not horrible! Some mornings, I find this… Lydia in Layton’s bed!

 

Some mornings, I find her in Lydia’s bed and some nights she comes and gets in bed with us! Most mornings I find toys, babies, etc. in bed with her. This means that after I tuck her in, she gets back up and plays. Some nights, we see her crawling through the hallway, on all fours, trying to sneak into another room. I do believe that she will get better with time, so I try not to fuss at her too much! But last night, we found this…

 

We put the girls to bed last night around 8:30. At 10:00, Lydia came into our room laughing. Lydia originally came our way to talk to us but when she got to our room, she found her little sister asleep on the floor by our back door, which is right outside our bedroom. I guess she was going to sneak into our room but got sleepy in the process! Poor thing, however I am proud to say that after I put her back to bed, she stayed in her bed all night!

Necklace with special powers...

I love this picture! Layton is bursting with happiness and Reece looks scared! 

You see this little girl’s necklace? It has special powers… it helps her talk to Reece. She has worn it for almost a week now, without taking it off and has had regular conversations with Reece. I am amazed at her imagination (a little worried, just kidding) and very happy for Reece because of all the attention she has gotten recently! To my surprise, Reece sings a LOT. Every once in a while, I will ask Layton what Reece has been saying and 99% of the time, she answers in song! Also, surprisingly she sings hip hop songs…who knew?

I love this little girls imagination. It grows more and more every day!

Laundry queen

Every once in a while, I tell Lydia to do the laundry on her own. She really enjoys laundry (NOT) but as I have told her, she might as well grunt & get over it! Laundry is something that we all have to do no matter how much we like dislike it. A few weeks ago, I told Lydia to do the laundry. When the washer went off Layton almost tripped Lydia to get to it. She wanted to do the laundry too! Lydia did not fight her on this! When I looked into the laundry room to see them at work, I saw this…

 

 

True definition of teamwork! Layton got into the washer, handed Lydia the clothes and Lydia put them into the dryer! I was amazed that Layton had it figured out beforehand. Apparently, she had thought about it. I tried VERY hard not to think about Layton's dirty feet on the clean clothes, instead I took advantage of the help!  

 

Layton has become my little laundry queen. I am a huge procrastinator with the laundry, always have been. I will wash & dry quickly but then let the clothes sit there for a few days without folding & putting up. I would rather do anything else in the world, other than laundry. This is a bad thing because my husband is the exact same way! He, like me, will wash & dry but that's it! Recently as soon as Layton hears the dryer ding, she's on me to go with her to get them out, fold them, put them up! And amazingly, I have  kept my laundry up! How is it that I can fixed two dinners in one night, vacuum the house, clean out car, etc all in one night and feel like I haven't accomplished much but when my laundry is all done feel like Superwoman?!

Sweet Surprises

Twice this week, I have gone to lunch, opened my lunch bag and found these:

 

Notes from my sweet Lydia. It sure makes the afternoon better, having received a sweet note!