So little time left

Bethany has only days until her 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe that in less than 2 months I will have a bonified 2 year old on my hands.
Now what to do for the party and all that jazz.
Bethany has only 1 or 2 little girls as friends that are closeby so it's hard to think of a real "party".
I do really like these though:
http://www.birthdayexpress.com/LadyBugs-Oh-So-Sweet-Basic-Party-Pack/58160/PartyKitDetail.aspx?REF=AFC-cedatafeed&AID=10645522&PID=658973
I tried to include images but the site would not permit them. Sorry about that but hopefully the link works.

Festival, Festival, Festival!

I am so excited.

One of the committee members for our school's festival has asked me to put together a basket of bows to give away in the "Big" prize raffle. I am going to shoot for 16 bows. I think I am going to mount the bows onto cardstock squares and then squewer those with sticks and put them in a vase so they look like a flower arrangement.

If anyone has any other ideas feel free to leave a comment. I am looking forward to your fun ways to display the bows.

Don't forget that Sept 10 will be the last day to enter the Bow Giveaway.

Just leave a comment or become a follower or even better do both!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/scoutsmom11

Check out my etsy page for the latest bow creations.

My little terror

I left the room this morning for less than 3 minutes. When I returned this is what I found:

The picture was taken with a cell phone in a slightly dark room. Sorry about the crappy quality.

Success!

After a week and a half I am ready to say, Bethany has successfully transitioned to her toddler bed.
We transistioned her after finding her bed at a local Kids Consignment store for a great price.
Bethany had made it clear over the summer that she was ready. On more than one occasion she would go upstairs and stand by her crib, call out "Nigh Nigh" She would scream this until we would come and put her to bed.
I have always been in marvel of how much of a self-motivated child she really is.
In honor of this amazing news, we just had to take a picture...

or two..

Silas was "sad" to see his little girl growing up so fast.
Now just to take down the crib.

Bow Madness

In an effort to have cute bows for Bethany I have come to accumulate WAY too much ribbon. So my maddness is yours to share.

BOW GIVEAWAY

Become a follower of this blog and post a comment.
On Sept 10th I will draw 2 people at random and you can win 3 sets of matching bows.
If you look back at any of the pictures of Bethany you are bound to see evidence of the bow's cuteness.
I will post pictures tonight of examples of what I can do.
I have a vast array of colors and can customize the bows to your liking.

Don't forget there are 2 ways to enter:
Become a follower
Post a comment

Have a great morning everyone.
ETA: a Picture of some of the bows I currently have.

Back to School here we go!

School is back in session. The busy days of summer are over. Only to be replaced with the hectic days of Fall. Check soon for a few pictures of the last few weeks. I have been horrible at taking pictures but I promise I will soon.
Here are a few from our trip this summer to Colorado.
Silas's Aunt and Uncle have an inground trampoline for their daughter Taite. Bethany had SOO much fun playing on it!

Bethany thought Silas's hat was funny.

Lastly is a picture from the park this summer. Bethany seems to really like to swing.

Long Time No See...

Sorry, it's been awhile.
 Bethany has learned many new words and is forever becoming the most ornry kid on the planet.
Here are a few pictures of our latest exploits.







More to come...

AHHHH New camera is awesome

We went to the park today, Bethany is so funny in the swing, she loves looking around as much as swinging.

We had as much fun walking to and from the play area as anything else. Bethany is enjoying her ever building confidence in her walking/ galloping. Still working on running but I am not to worried, it's already hard enough to chase her.

So for the summer I have a feeling Bethany will really enjoy spending time at the zoo, if for no other reason than having plenty of room to walk and run. I may need to invest in a kid leash before long.

Bethany is slowly coming into her own with her words. She likes to listen in on conversations and then randomly screech to let you know she is there. I swear I have heard her say Grandpa and Grandma a few times but she is very selective about when she will say them. Some other words she has muttered recently have been, again, open (in sign) and door. I am surprised that I haven't heard bath yet. She really likes playing in the bath and would spend hours in there if she could.

No new pictures...

So I have been a bad mommy these last few weeks and have hardly any pictures to show.
I will post some newones as soon as I have them.
I really hope that the next ones you see here will be with my NEW CAMERA.
Hopefully that will be very soon.

Florida in a nutshell

The pictures uploaded backwards so I will do my best to take you through them. This was our last morning in FL. Bethany was still figuring out if she wanted great grandpa to hold her. I wish we could have had more time for them to get comfortable with each other.

We went to the beach on Sunday and Bethany and I had some fun looking for shells, or should I say I had fun looking for shells and she had fun exploring and walking around.

First time in the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully it won't be so cold next time we go. Whenever that will be...

Below: First time in the sand. Told ya these were all backwards. She was not sure about this at first but really had fun once she figured it out. I think she liked walking around barefoot.

Grandpa and I ran to the store one night and my dad watched her for us. She had fun dancing to the TV. Not sure what show this is as we don't have cable at home but all the same it must have been a good one.

An orange tree that still had oranges on it. Remember it's February...

Bethany's idea of Night Night... LOL

Look at those eyes... You could almost get lost in them. I love how blue they look here.

Mommy's idea of nap time... Much more productive. Maybe not as much fun.

Peak-a-boo. It was chilly most days we were on Vacation but we made the best of it and explored the mall play area. Bethany loved the slide and playing with the various toys and climbing things.

What a trip. I was a bit scared to go at first because I knew that this could be one of the last times I get to make the trip before my grandpa is no longer with us. I really wanted Bethany to meet him. He is such a great guy and though I never got to see him as much as my cousins I know he and my grandma loved us dearly and I will always be grateful for that. As a step-kid it would have been easy to brush me away but I NEVER once felt that from anyone in the family and that is an amazing thing to fell. I hope Bethany will always feel as loved as I have.

Sometimes it takes trips like this to remember these things.

Yummm

What a smile. She has really been in a good mood most mornings recently. Bethany seems to really like Frosted Mini Wheats and Quaker Oatmeal Squares soaked in a bit of milk. It gets a bit messy at times but she likes feeding herself so we don't mind. I like that it allows me to finish my breakfast in peace and get ready without a shadow.

"Here mom, want some!"

Check out that mess. She went straight to the tub after this but man did she enjoy her dinner. Totally random but I love that her bib says "priceless" it's so ironically true. What else could be said about that beautiful face and that smile. She is such a happy baby most days.

While Silas was reading to Bethany last night he swears she mimicked the words "square" and "circle". They also had fun playing with her sorting animal thingy from Parents.
http://www.target.com/Battat-Parents-Wacky-Willa/dp/B001ANXTVI/ref=sc_qi_detailbutton
Otherwise known as Wacky Willa!

Only 9 more days till Bethany and I get to go with my dad to Florida to see my Grandpa!!!! We are so excited!

Trolling around at Daddy's work!

We had a blast trolling the store. Bethany is getting so much stronger and can walk for much farther these days. The picture above shows Bethany running from Silas as he was trying to say good-bye.

Blurry but cute: Both pictures were taken with my phone. As you can clearly see though, Bethany had fun. Waking her up this morning was a bit of a chore. She was WIPED out.

After visiting the store we stopped over at the Reding's house and she proceeded to eat a second dinner. She really liked Sam's chicken from the chicken fried rice. We were able to finally exchange gifts from Christmas and Bethany is enjoying her new dress and tights today. I will get some good pictures later tonight. She REALLY likes all the books they gave her. We had to take them out of the bag last night and look at each individual one. She likes the Bambi book the best so far.

Thanks guys for a great evening. I hope things calm down for you guys a bit! We are praying for you.

Goofy Baby

Too Cute not to add!

Found my Counters Last Night!

After much scrubbing and cleaning and washing I have succefully found my counters. The dishes are finally caught up and put away. I am so proud. I will not be doing any baking for awhile because that is always the beginning of the end in terms of keeping my kitchen clean.
Ta Da!
Now to tackle the table. If you have tips on how you keep your house clean feel free to leave a comment. I am always looking for new ideas.

Towers Towers Everywhere

Bethany loves to build towers.

The tower below is of her own creation. And yes, she is sitting on her block tub. This is a step up from sitting in the drawer!

Please forgive the crappy picture. It is from my cell phone. Camera was hiding inthe diaper bag.

After bath fun!

Gotta love the curls. They are so darn adorable. I hope she keeps some wave or curl as she gets older. I have stick straight hair and hate it.

I imagine she is thinking something along the lines of "Momma are you gonna do my hair?" She was playing with her hair tye case at this point and got so pissed when I took it away for a sec.

See... But still so cute!

We played for a bit more and then it was off to bed. Night night...

Wishlist Wednesday

1. A Nikon or Canon DSLR- I feel I miss SOOO many great pictures of Bethany because my little camera just doesn't cut it. I hope to save a small amount each month and if I get a summer job or teach a summer seminar that I can afford one by my birthday.

2. drawers for my kitchen. Right now our kitchen is in a neverending state of remodeling. We have been "working" on it since we moved in almost 3 years ago. Again, this is one of my priorities to get finished this summer.


3. Lastly, I would love to figure out a great (more efficient) way to store Bethany's never ending stash of toys.

A New Favorite

It seems Bethany is taking after me a bit more. Her new favorite breakfast food is Frosted Mini Wheats cereal. I soaked the squares in a bit of milk and as she ate the milk continued to absorb within them so there wasn't too much of a mess. If anyone else has any ideas for some quick and easy ideas for breakfast I am all ears.

update

So Bethany is an offical walker soon to be runner. She is growing up so fast.

Bethany likes playing tea party and likes to cook in the kitchens both grandparents have at their houses. She recieved a slide for Christmas and has fun slidding down it. I think this will be a great reason to go outside come spring. Right now it is stored in the sunroom and we carry it out to the living room every so often.

Bethany has learned a few more words recently and can say "done" and "here" with success. She has been saying Corry more and more when talking about our dog. Hopefully soon we will be able to tell when she is talking about other things that currently sound like daddy. Right now it all sounds the same. She still talks to herself in her own language that we refer to as the "dickle dickle" language because she says random variations of "dickle dickle" as she is talking.

While she may be as cute as a button she also has a wicked temper.

If anyone has any tips on how to help her stay calm leave a comment. I would love to hear any ideas. For now I try to talk to her and say something like " I understand you are upset but please do not scream" Sometimes this works sometimes not. When she gets really upset she balls up her fists, shakes and screams. It is actually kinda funny to watch.

I am including a few pictures to showcase her growth. These are purely random and encompass the last few months.

A rare family picture. This was taken at Reba's graduation. Congrats again Rebekah!



Bethany loves to pretend to blow her nose. It is so cute. She even sometimes succeeds to get something out. Now if she would only do this instead of picking her nose. When I can catch her in the act I will post a picture of that too.

Not a huge fan of the snow just yet. Hopefully when it's warmer this weekend we can get her out again and see what she thinks.


Bethany and her friend Lucie playing in Lucie's bed. Bethany learned how to jump on the bed from Lucie.

This is one of my favorite Zoo pictures. Our local zoo has a huge penguin display with a bubble to look into it from the side. Bethany loved watching the pengiuns swim around her.