sip-n-see, slushies, shush

on saturday morning o and i headed to a sip-and-see for a sweet friend and her new baby girl. jodi had kate about a month ago and she's just precious! olivia hung out in joanna's playroom while the big girls hung out in the kitchen over mimosas. good time had by all! every few minutes o would run into the kitchen, touch me and then run back to the play room. it was so cute; she was just checking to make sure i was still there!

after lunch and nap i thought it'd be a great idea to go do some shopping. 1st stop was hallmark to pick up a few ornaments. that was a disaster and it ended with me hauling o out of the store kicking and screaming. lesson learned. from here on out we only shop with a stroller to contain the little one. we needed a breather after that experience so we went to sonic. o loves smoothies from smoothie king so i took a chance that she'd like a slush from sonic. i was right. LOVED it.

later that night we were playing in the floor and o laid down, "pretending" to go to sleep, and SHE SHUSHED ME! she put her finger to her mouth and shushed me. she's been repeating that to me when i do it to her but i had no idea she could use it in context!

today we went to church and 4 outfit changes later we finally got outside to play. yes, 4 outifts in one day. the church outfit; the after church outfit that she decided to spit her milk all over; the after after church outfit that an explosive diaper put an end to and the after after after church outfit that i swore would be her last today if she had to go naked for the rest of the day! i am in love with the dress she wore to church today so we took pics afterwards...

gobble gobble

we had an awesome thanksgiving! it started wednesday with lunch with jackie and merideth. jackie and i had a gift for mer so we invited her to lunch! i can't wait to meet baby molly; i hope she and olivia are great friends! then me and o headed to monroe for some shopping and then on to the 'boro. we got to w'boro about 3 and o was non-stop from then on out. that child....she has some energy!

playing with the dogs...

then thursday we got up and watched the parade while o ran around like a crazy child! i swear i don't know where she gets this from. the rest of the fam started arriving around 1 and thanksgiving was on! we watched the saints game and ate way too much!

she would run up and down this ramp all day long if we'd let her. it's so fun to her!

after eating we loaded up and went downtown to the old post office museum. the original w'boro post office was built in the 1930's and really is a neat building. the city has spent a lot of time and money fixing it up and now it's a museum. the current exhibit is "toys in the attic". all toys donated had to be at least 25 years old. the lady in charge of it had her daughter in town and they were going to see it and called us! so glad they did - we got the special treatment! o seemed to enjoy it but she was very tired so the pics don't do it justice! they had some really neat old toys there - i got pics of them all but i'll spare you since this post is already long enough! there was an original 1930's shirley temple doll; original pepsi characters; old school ragedy ann and andy dolls and so much more. it was so fun!

some of the decorated cat fish - we are the home of the catfish festival!

touching an old toy...

mom's old cash register that we always played with at mamaw and papaw's!

playing with the etch-a-sketch with pops

i just thought this pic was funny - it's like, "really?"

she got to go behind the ropes!

mine and jenny's cabbage patch dolls!

dad's toy president collection from when he was little!

a great ending to a long day with gg and pops!

cheerleading

o and i had a blast at the basketball game tonight! we only made it b/c i'm off work tmrw so tonight's bath was optional. :) we had to leave at halftime but she made the best of the short time we were there - she danced, stomped her feet, clapped, ran, and just had FUN! i say this all the time and people think i'm crazy but i absolutely LOVE living in a small college town. there is always something "family friendly" to do. football, basketball, baseball games; parades; kid functions put on by different student organizations; etc. we're so lucky to have these things to do! sometimes i wonder how my parents entertained the 3 of us on long winter nights?!? thanks dewanna for the cheerleading outfit - it's precious!

the dirty thirty.

i turned 30 today. oddly enough i don't feel 30 although i did wear all black today to mourn the loss of my 20s. it was a great day and i have great friends and family to thank for that! i got to work and saw a sign on the door "jessie is 30!" and then i walked in and saw my cube decorated with streamers and a balloon. thanks co-workers! then emery took me to lunch at my favorite, log cabin! i got olivia (even though it's thursday my bday trumps a normal day so i got her) and ran home to find rett waiting with my gift from o. he helped her make it but from all accounts she painted it herself! then a fab dinner with jenny, john, jackie and o at RAW. o had phad thai for the first time (sans peanuts) and seemed to like it; what little she ate. but don't worry, she made up for her lack of dinner with dessert! cookie cake to the rescue! hey, you only turn 30 once; might as well let your children celebrate with you! when leaving john saw santa in railroad park so we took o for a quick pic. she didn't cry but she definately wasn't too sure about this! i had a great day and am looking forward to our party tmrw night at portico! if you're reading this you're invited so come join us!

celebrating office style

handprint in clay. thanks o!! i love you!

waiting on dinner. jenny, john and jackie had a ball watching her do the "washing machine". i wish i could get in on video (i could but then i wouldn't know what to do with it so...) it's SOOO cute!

thanks for the cake, jackie! it had a crown on it for the "queens"!! ha!

and then we saw santa outside! oh my, it's not even thanksgiving yet!

happy thanksgiving!

it appears as though most people have received their thanksgiving cards so i'm finally posting this!


i had the idea months ago to forgo the traditional christmas card and to do a thanksgiving card. i know i'm not the first to do this but i just wanted to do something a little different. i also knew i wanted to incorporate football into the card. i mean, football really is one of the first words that comes to mind when i hear "thanksgiving". they are both SO american! but how do i do that in one card? i was at a loss. until i found this quote, "on thanksgiving day, all over america, families sit down together at the same moment - halftime." as soon as i read this i KNEW it would be on my card. so, about a month ago we headed to the field for our official card photo. see that post here. i got the one i wanted but then had the delima of incorporating tech's red/blue scheme with a more fallish/thanksgivingish color scheme. gah, this card was really starting to stress me out! then we had our annual pumpkin patch pics with crystal garcia and i couldn't not put one of those on a thanksgiving card. omg. really stressed now. to the rescue was a piece of pope. i sent her the 2 pics and the quote and told her i liked "whimsy" and "fun". the first copy i got back was full color and i just couldn't grasp the red/blue with the fall colors. just looked funny. so i switched the football pic to a black/white (which really is my fav anyway) picture and TADA - we have a thanksgiving card!


now, i'll admit that once i had approved the final copy and ordered it i panicked. i wondered if this was entirely too cheesy; if anyone would even get that the pic was taken on the field since it was black/white and you really couldn't tell. wondered if people would make the football/thanksgiving connection. but it was too late; the cards were ordered and they were being mailed! but they came in and i LOVED them. it's what i had pictured and i couldn't have been more happy!

front of card

back of card

if you haven't gotten yours yet; it's in the mail (or in my purse to be mailed tmrw). some went out before others b/c i'm the most impatient person alive. i can't help it! it's my one flaw... :)

and i can't believe i just wrote an entire post about the makings of a card. i'm obviously low on blog worthy material...and bored. happy thanksgiving a week early!

18 months!

olivia is 18 months old today. a year and a half. where did it go??? she has the sweetest voice and i LOVE to hear her talk. she drives me crazy with doing what i tell her not to do but this too shall pass! :)

one year ago, today

stats:

words - duck (du), ball (ba), mama, daddy, bye bye, book (bo), bear, gg (my mom), pop(s) (my dad), and her newest nasty (na-neee). every once in a while she'll attempt to repeat other words but these are the ones that she knows and says on a consistant basis.

clothing - mostly 18 month, some 12 month dresses and 24 month or 2T leggings.

weight - at the doc on oct 30 she was 25 lbs and some odd ounces so probably somewhere around 26 lbs.

length - no clue

about 10 teeth but i'm pretty sure we've got some back teeth (molars maybe???) coming in.

she still doesn't watch tv no matter how hard i try! still LOVES to play outside! funny story from today - she stayed with my parents last night and at some point this morning mom saw her trying to get out the doggy door. it took her a while but she did it. and then mom stood inside at the window and watched her make her way down the steps. again, it took a while but she finally got down them. and then she ran up the deck ramp (in the rain) and raised her arms and jumped around squeeling! mom said it was like she had a taste of freedom! i so wish she was able to get pics of all this but she didn't want to "lose" her so for that i'm thankful!

i guess all kids go through this phase but she gets a kick out of doing the opposite of what i tell her. if i catch her doing something and tell her no she looks at me and smiles and goes right back to doing it. i spank her and she doesn't care. i'm kind of at a loss on this one....

i think she's starting to remember things. one of the songs we do at kindermusik has very distinct movements (crossing arms and bouncing - it's the washing machine) and o walks around doing that! it's my clue that she wants to sing that song/do those movements. and she can't get enough of it!

she is NON-STOP all day, every day. no kidding. she doesn't stop except to eat and sleep. it kinda wears me out just watching her! i really have to plan stuff for us to do every weekend that i have her b/c she will not stay inside all day long. i have to let her run out some energy!

when she's not being sneaky she really is the sweetest little girl. she loves to kiss and give hugs. i just can't get enough of her. i think she hung the moon! :)

david scott's 1st bday party

david scott rainwater is a very special little boy. he and i share a bday and his mama and i have been friends since birth. seriously. so, when olivia got the invite to his 1st bday party i knew we'd be there even though they live in gonzales! luckily another friend was driving down for the party so we carpooled. 2 mamas and 2 kiddos and it was a successful trip! neither cried on the way down and o cried for about 1 1/2 hours on the way back (just couldn't go to sleep) but i really do consider that successful! thanks betsey for letting us ride with you and stella grace! the party was fun and the cake was so good o ate 2 pieces. and the best news - o slept until 8:45 this morning! SCORE!! i'm not sure if it's the air at gg and pop's house or the fact that a day trip to br just wore her out but i'm hoping to figure out this little secret soon so our saturdays can start a little later!! o is spending another night in the 'boro with her gg and pops so i can attend a sunday school party tonight. she's a lucky girl to have grandparents close by (and some willing to bring her back home after staying with them!!)


ok, so last thursday one of my bunco (well, social group, really b/c we don't play bunco) groups decided to have a paint party for our monthly gathering. we painted baby Jesus in the manger. hope i did him justice!!

candy

i'm not a big sweets person. i prefer salt; which i've mentioned more than once on here. well, o obviously gets her sweet tooth from her father. this is how i found her this morning when i got out of the shower...

standing in a chair playing in the halloween candy. and she crunched the last reece's cup. i was gonna share it with her until she did that. her punishment is going to be not getting any! :) happy wednesday!

update

not a lot to report from this week. it was pretty uneventful! o had a rough night at kindermusik tuesday night - she just didn't want to participate and would have preferred to hang out over by the door (that she can reach and lock...) i left thursday night headed to jackson for a fun friday of shopping at the jackson junior league mistletoe market. i spent way too much money but it was fun! this weekend rett took o to a bday party at a petting zoo in wm. from what i've heard she wasn't digging the actual petting zoo but LOVED riding a full size horse! i'm patiently waiting on pics... i attended the tech football game saturday and that was a bust but afterwards i made my christmas wreath so that was fun. as you can tell it's been a pretty boring week but i was able to keep busy with various obligations. do you ever wake up on sunday and think, "really, what'd i do last week?" and then you realize you were so busy with just random everyday activities/duties/obligations that you didn't take the time to really enjoy the moment. that's my new goal. to enjoy and fully engage in my duties/activities/obligations and this includes olivia. i hate that i don't get enough time with her and the time i do have with her is spent running and gunning. we're going to start playing more!

o at kindermusik last tuesday

my christmas wreath! i've got to make a few adjustments but i like it so far!