how we spent our week...

$8 blow up pool from walmart + $16 picnic blanket from bed bath & beyond= new ways to enjoy our backyard (okay so its really just a patio with a patch of grass, but we're workin with what we've got)
jayme has decided she looooves her pool, just not going in (couldn't pull her away from splashing) 

soakin up some rays (fully spf 50'd up first of coarse)

"milk in a cup?! whhhhhaaaat is this?!!'

week in review...

things i've learned this week:
~teething never happens at a convenient time, and as soon as you think a tooth through the gums means a break in teething- its time for another tooth to start the process all over again
~expect the unexpected... no matter how simple the plans for a birthday celebration may be, you can trust that something/someone/or circumstance can affect your best planning efforts to simply celebrate a loved one's birth
~a new dishwasher is surprisingly a life changing kinda thing
~the messier and more colorful the snack/food... the more a child enjoys it (especially red stainy type foods- i.e licorice and strawberry fruit freezes)
~my child has more clothes than both her daddy and mommy combined (blessed meets overwhelmed)
~sprout is a sanity saver when needy, fussing, teething child needs a distraction from mommy making dinner
~my version of organized-chaos-craft-catchall-area was not as organized as i thought until hubby encouraged a michaels trip for "crafty organization things"

things i accomplished this week:
~surviving (a mentor teacher/colleague once told me, "all you can do is take each day as it comes and survive it")  teething, sleep deprivation, and hormonal mood swings were enough for me to tackle this week
~birthday invites
~shower invites
~homemade decorations for shower and birthday
~oreo truffles (who knew i could "no-bake" something tasty?!)

Sunday Funday @ Grampas (she thinks she wants cantaloupe for lunch)

watching daddy make us all lunch (love that she loves tuna!)

i am pretty sure i spent more time prepping her for the pool  than the amount of time she was actually in the pool (undressing, dressing, lathering the SPF...)

my 2 favorite whitey's

telling me off

a fabulous hand-me-down to add to her already abundant wardrobe

  

yes it always looks something like this (shamed party of 1!)

annnnnd 2 days later!

obviously having a separate craft room/desk/hutch would be ideal, but at least in the meantime i'm organized and we now have a proper kitchen table again

my poor fussy teether enjoying a post nap snack

i just love this!

ordinary friday...

i feel that it is important at this point to mention in every "ordinary day" blog post how much i truly appreciate ordinary days! and i can not say it enough how blessed i am to have a husband who works his tail off so i can stay home and raise our child... in order to cherish my daughter's childhood (or is it babyhood right now?) i like to have my camera ready (yup. i am oldschool... no iphone, blackberry, etc. to upload in the moment, just a good ole' fashion digital camera) to capture "ordinary moments" as they unfold...

i had to include some thursday night bathtime with uncle buck pics... what can i say... they're priceless!

if you're gonna bathe with baby, you gotta towel off like baby

friday morning, 80 degrees @ 10 am... time to explore the back patio

making laps between the door and the grass...

settling in for snack time on her "snack-time saucer"

i like to call it organized chaos... ryan has other choice words for my craft/office/dining area... i spent all of 2 minutes trying to make sense of my "projects" before miss. teething-fuss-alot demands my undivided attention again...

so we switched gears to make lunch (grilled sourdough ham and cheese sandwiches)- which she inhaled!

post-nap fruit chiller snack... thank's aunt tay for the suggestion! she <3's these!

annnnnd so do i :-)  

 after snack time, someone (hint: it wasn't me at first) was cranky... enough to the point where i gave in to the paci and turned on sprout for about 3 hours while i gathered my sanity (note the lack of pictures at this point- not my finest parenting moment)... by the time ryan got home @ 7:00, she was fed and ready for bed, and i was ready for anything but a home-cooked meal for dinner... after once again giving in, princess fuss bucket got rocked to sleep, dad ordered pizza, and mom finished the day with a beer (we were out of chocolate ;-)

Something worth sharing...

My dad sent this to me in a forwarded email, and it makes me sad that while this may not hold true for ALL kids, it will be the sad reality for a majority of kids who don't have parents to teach them otherwise... Growing up in a sheltered bubble called "private school", my parents (my dad in particular) made a point to keep us grounded in reality (I believe this to be the reason all 4 out of 4 kids turned out to be decent citizens with no record, drug/alcohol problem, and a college education)... Its my sincerest hope that Ryan and I can teach Jayme (and future children we may have) to be a grounded, genuinely good  and respectful person who doesn't give up on life when it gives lemons, but instead finds it in herself/themselves to make the best lemonade out of any lemons and encourage her/their peers in a positive way...

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about eleven (11) things they did not and will not learn in school.

  He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings

created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and

how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

 

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem.

The world will expect you to accomplish something

BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school.

You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.

Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping:

They called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so
            don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as
            they are now. They got that way from paying your bills,

cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about
            how cool you thought you were.

 

So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but
            life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades

and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer.

 

*This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few

employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF.

 

*Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life.

In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds.

Chances are you'll end up working for one.

  

  

If you can read this... Thank a Teacher.

If you can read this in English... Thank a Soldier!

And for life and everything else you have... Thank God!!

  

Now... think about this and smile; if you agree then please pass this on or post it to your own blog...

weekend wrap-up

 Friday we had a girl day with Uncle Buck and Aunt Tay... Saturday we drove down to Murrieta to see great-gramps who treated us to a delicious lunch, then we headed over to grampa's to hang out with Aunt Tay and friends for the afternoon/evening... Sunday was a homebody kinda day complete with a trip to Walmart and cartoons and a visit from dad's friend Boydo....

showing great-gramps how she plays with Freddie-the-firefly

cheesin' with great-gramps and her hideous looking naptime binkie

she's not happy with him following mom's orders on bink removal...

the water looked so inviting, she had to join them!

the jury is still out on whose watch tasted better, uncle buck's or aunt tay's???

perfect weather for a poolside afternoon (actually it looks perfect, but 68 is still too cold for most of us normal people to go in)

catching up on the latest gossip

over the gossip, back to the watch tasting

snuggly nugget catching uncle buck's cold

Aunt Tay is back!

Since she is only in town for the weekend (boo), we made the most of our time... first was a quick visit @ Uncle Buck's office where everyone loved a happy baby girl! Uncle Buck treated all of us girls to some El Ranchito before we dropped her back at work... then as we were headed home, we took a detour and headed for the beach! It was too beautiful of a day to pass up our favorite swing set and  fresh ocean air (there was a break in the scattered rain showers- I think God arranged this just for us since Aunt Tay doesn't have a beach to visit in Texas- and the Gulf Coast doesn't count! ;-) 

beans and rice and my favorite aunts

seal beach

kicking her legs to make it go higher (my lil' adrenaline junkie!)

checkin out the other kids on the swings

one day we'll have to teach her its not polite to stare :)

how a steak knife washed ashore we'll never know, but the fact it was the 2nd knife that washed ashore in the same area in the same day is enough to keep me out of that water (other than the fact the water is ice cold)

aunt tay washing sophie off after a seagull tried to take off with j's favorite teething toy

snack time back at home

so excited she got to see aunt tay AND uncle benny benny boo bear (U4B)