Busy, Busy Bees!

We are alive. ha! Barely, but we are making it! After getting a few price quotes on painting our house, we decided we would have to be crazy to pay someone what they were asking for something we could do ourselves. Thus, I have been spending most of my free time on the weekends and most nights painting... Can you say exhausted!? But I'm still smiling, so there! : )

In the midst of all of our housework we did some entertaining with some very forgiving friends who were kind enough to overlook the rolls and rolls of blue painters tape on our walls. Then Caroline went to Florence and on to Nashville for cousin River's 2nd Birthday. I'll post some pictures of these and our painting adventure later.... but for now, I have dishes, laundry, belated emails calling my name! It never ends... thank goodness! ;-)

ANNNDDDD... I would like to send out a very special shout out to my favorite Italian, Mrs. Katrina Iacobelli Stephens! Happy, Happy Birthday K!!!!! Thanks for letting us share it with you... you really are our favorite! : )

Complete Cuteness

I previously mentioned that my BABY will be starting to MDO in September. I have mixed emotions about being apart from her for a few hours during the day, but I am loving getting her ready for "school". Please bear in mind that I am well aware that this is an extremely, amazingly trivial post... I cannot help myself. : )
This is Caroline's new Backpack and lunch box that she will be carrying to school with her everyday. I am in love! Those are pink whales, just in case you cannot tell. I ordered it from The Preppy Princess and loved that both pieces came individually wrapped... Caroline had just as much fun unwrapping her new goodies as she did giving it a "test run" around the living room! And how cute is it that it came with a personalized thank you note?? Thanks Preppy Princess for making this Little Mommy's Day! haha!

Caroline prefers to eat with a table cloth!

Most mornings while Caroline eats breakfast I take advantage of the fact that she is contained in her high chair and do laundry, straighten up, empty the dishwasher, or get wild and crazy and grab a bite myself! Ahhh.... the joys of motherhood;-)

This morning when I was putting her in her high chair she said she was cold, so I put her cuddle blanket across her legs. While I was doing housework she apparently decided that she would prefer to use her blankie as a table cloth while she dined on her pancakes and sausage and bananas. When I noticed what she was doing, she was smoothing it out while showing me her "clofff"(cloth) so I'm preetttyyy sure she knew what she was doing there.
She also decided she wanted her food to-go. Think we go out to eat too often??? : )

Alright Caroline, now you are just playing with... Game Over, baby!!!

Look at what I found...

That feels like a lifetime ago!! Sometimes you never really know what you are missing until you find it. : )

Caroline's Favorites

Yo Gabba Gabba: She loves this show! She loves "yo, ba!" and frequently asks for it by name. They dance, sing, and teach new words through out the show... I'm not even going to comment on the scary guy on the far left. No idea who thought that was a good idea!!

Elmo: We have moved beyond our obsession with all things "Cars" and now it is all about Baby Elmo. Caroline sleeps with him, hugs and kisses him, serves him tea regularly, and takes him out to dinner with the family. He is practically a member of the family at this point!
Thumbprint Cookies: Purchased from Edgar's Bakery in Birmingham... YUM! Mommy is equally obsessed with these bad boys, but Caroline will stand and cry by the island and ask repeatedly for a "coooo keee" if she knows that we have a box up there. She says Yummmm over and over while eating them and savors each bite. Pretty cute stuff! I'm always happy to show her "no more!" once they are gone and she is usually very accepting of this. Until we have another box, that is!

Playing outside: If I would let her, she would play outside all day long! If it wasn't so extremely hot outside I would probably grant her her wish far more often. I am looking forward to fall so we can spend more time outdoors!

Bubbles: enough said:-)

Imitating Mommy: Caroline is absolutely my "mini-me". What I do, she wants to do. I cook, she sits on the floor watching with her own set of pans and spoons mimicking my every action. I read, she goes to get a book and sits in front of me with her face in the book....peeking around the edge to make sure that I haven't changed my position periodically. So sweet! If I try to take the book from her to read it to her, she has a fit. She just wants to be a big girl like Mommy!

The Shred

In May I decided to get on a fitness kick to be the best version of myself. I could feel myself getting older(who wants to do that??) and out of shape and that just wasn't going to fly for me! At the time, "The Sh.red" was the go-to workout and since it only takes about 20 minutes I could totally fit that in. Since uninterrupted time available to devote to things like "my health" are at a minimum these days, the time requirement was a major factor.

Ya know what?? I loved it!!! I'm not going to lie... I was/am so out of shape that I struggled the first few days, even weeks, BUT it does get easier and I love progress. I am NOT a Jilli.an Michaels fan personally, AT ALL. Not that she cares what little miss in Alabama thinks;-) She does annoy the be gees out of me, but the girl gets results so I am still on board. You can't expect to only spend 20ish minutes working out and expect it to be a walk in the park... so if you join in, don't expect it to be easy. It is addicting, though!

I did it for about a month in May and then I got busy with travel and a wild child;-) and seriously relaxed my effort for improved health and fitness. I'm an all or nothing kind of gal so starting today, I'm full out again! I'll let you know how it goes... I think. But don't expect any lb updates... I'm not necessarily trying to lose lbs, but I do like watching my BMI drop on my completely awesome scales. This is more about my energy level and keeping everything in check than pounds. Not that I couldn't stand to shred a few;-)