Baby O

My sweet neighbor asked me to come over and help her with pictures of her new little one, Olivia. Photography has always been my passion and I absolutely love it, so I was thrilled to help her. Here are some sweet pictures....

Big Sister, Elena

No need to call CPS

Chlody (nickname for Cody and Chloe) are back at it again. I tell you these two are something else. I walked in the room to find him and Chloe in Layla's crate. Layla I think may be the smarter one in the bunch, she never seems to be on the losing side of Cody's creations.

This was done 100% (CPS does not need to be called) by Cody. Although I was tempted to lock it, I did not. For some reason CPS gets pretty uptight about children being locked up in dog crates. The positive side was they had fresh water and puppy chow, Cody had developed a nice taste for dog food. I figure if it is good enough for my dog, then it is good enough for Cody. At least he gets some protein! :)

These two are earning a fabulous reputation for getting into trouble together. Chloe is such a good sport for putting up with him!

Bear-B's Big Day!

Happy Birthday Barry!

It was Barry's (my step-dad's) birthday last week and he was kind enough to take us out on the boat for a great time. Did a little tubing, a little swimming and of course a little eating! It was all good! I say this every time but I am so amazed by Cody on the boat. He is my little wiggle worm who likes to be on the go....at all times. But, you put his life jacket on and sit him on the boat and he sits back and takes it all in. He never fusses, cries or whines. I'm hoping he rubs off on the girls some! :) Once we got to our destination and anchored out we all go in the water and just floated around. Cody had his floating baggie of goldfish ....could life get any better? They did turn out to be a bit soggy but it didn't seem to bother him much.They just purchased a golf cart to help in making all the trips to the boat dock easier. But, it is turning out to be the best toy all the grand kids have ever had! The kids have all these paths that they ride around on and will ride until the battery is gone. We now know that the battery will last for about 6 hours...how do we know this? Well, the other day they spent a total of 6 hours riding around...straight! My mom officially earned 'MeMom of the year'! What great memories they will have. Their driving gives me great insight to how they will drive on the 'real' road when they turn 16.....lets just say that Ashlyn will be 16 in 5 SHORT years!

Bad Hair Day

Layla is the newest member of our family but she fits right in with that 'bad wet hair'. I've heard the old saying that owners and dogs start to look alike after a while.....this is about what I look like with wet hair. My hair is very curly and the slightest bit of moisture turns my flat ironed hair into a frizz ball. I should just let it be but for the sake of everyone around me I will continue to flat iron it!
Poor thing looks more like a drowned rat when she gets wet.....like mother....like dog!

Same song, second verse.....and third

Friday my mom came over to 'watch' Cody while I took the girls to see the new American Girl Movie. It is always nice to have mom come over because she will go through my entire house and rearrange all my decorative things. You need that every once in a while to 'freshen' up the house and change it around. ANYWAY.....I called when we were leaving the movie and was on the phone with her for a total of 2 minutes...max. She called right back and this is how the conversation went....


Mom: When will you be home?
Me: In about 10 minutes. (thinking....she is worn out from Cody and will meet me at the door)
Mom: Call when you are on the street.
Me: Why? (a very nervous why)
Mom: Just do it. O and does Chloe have a problem with getting sunburned?
Me: (thinking....this is not good) No, why?
Mom: Just asking.

I hung up....lean over to Ashlyn and tell her that something didn't sound so good at home and it has to do with Chloe. When we walk in I see Chloe and a flash back to her and the white-out episode comes back. But, instead of being a Skunkadoodle she is now a dalmationdoodle. She now has nice white spots all over her....fabulous. So, here is what happened......


When I had called my mom and taken her away from her Cody duty (remember 2 minutes...max) he had gone to decorate the utility room. He pulled poor Chloe (not sure why she is always in the middle of all his creations) hostage and got a hold of a bottle of sunscreen. He had gone to town and squirted the door, wall, floor, washer, dryer, cabinets, Chloe and basically anything that is about as tall as he is.

This was much more funny then our white-out episode....sunscreen wipes up a whole lot easier then white-out. As you can see from the pictures, Cody is not new to making messes and I make him clean them up now. I handed him a rag and he without a whine or cry took it and began to clean up his mess.









I joking said I am going to have to find a better more attentive babysitter that will keep a better eye on him. You just can not find good (free) babysitters anymore! I did give her a hard time about how I'm glad it was not on my watch......well, that always comes back to bite you. Not but 5 hours later my sister came to pick up her girls and Cody was gone for 5 minutes.....yep, you guessed it....round two! Fun times!

Kaboom

This year for the Fourth of July we headed out to MeMom's and BearB's house for a afternoon of food, boating, more food and fireworks. I was so prepared with camera in tow ready to document the day and wouldn't you know it after 10 pictures my battery died, so I was able to get the first 30 minutes. Fabulous!

Ashlyn had not been feeling well the few days before but looked and felt better so we headed off while Dell stayed at home to let Cody nap. Once little Cody woke up Dell joined the fun but Ashlyn just was not her happy go lucky self.

After a full day of sun and water we headed back for some yummy brisket and all the trimmings. Ashlyn seemed to be declining but she was insistent on shooting off her fireworks. I had planned on taking her home and not going to watch the 'real' fireworks but she hated to miss all the fun. So, we (minus Dell and Cody, it was now past his bedtime) got back on the boat and drove out to watch the fireworks on the water. It was an amazing view, at all times you could see 15-20 different shows all around. After the finale you usually hear a lot of clapping, cheering and whistling......but when you are on the water you only hear boats honking their horns. It turned out to be a wonderful night.
Driving back to the dock Ashlyn (my night owl) put her head down and fell asleep. Turns out she had a really high fever. Took her home and gave her a healthy dose of Motrin and sent her to bed. Jump ahead to the next day....a nice case of Strep. I'm sure everyone that was around her is thrilled to hear that. Sorry!

A bottle of White Out + Cody = a Huge Mess

You know when your house is quiet with a toddler you should not wait a second and find them. FAST! That usually is a bad combination. I really and truly know better....go back and read my post titled "Busted'. When Cody is loud then for the most part all is good....when you don't hear him, something bad is happening.

Anyway....last week I was on the phone on doing a few things around the house. All was good.....then I went to look for my sweet little boy and O my! He had gotten a tiny bottle of white-out and painted the study. I say tiny because it is a small bottle but it sure does hold a lot. If I had been in a 'blogging' type of mode I would have taken some pictures but instead I went into panic/cleanup mode. For such a small bottle it made a huge mess....and all my words can not 'paint' the picture for you. There were 50,000 spots of white-out all on the wood floors, upholstered chairs, leather chair, desk and Cody. But, to top that off our Chocolate Labradoodle was pinned in there with him....yep you guessed it....she is now our chocolate skunkadoodle! Unfortunately she will be a skunkadoodle until her next grooming.....which will be several months away.

I called the girls down and got all hands on deck with wet rags. The big spots came up fairly easily but there had to be thousands of little specks that we had to scrap off with our nails. It took at least an hour to get it all cleaned up.

Cody is the type of kid that really does not like to get dirty. When we started cleaning the floors and not him he got all in a tissy. Here is a picture of him sitting on the desk screaming because he was a 'mess'....like it was my fault! Thank goodness I had not gotten my act together and put clothes on him....they would of been trash.

And, just to let you know white out does not come off of skin easily. When Dell got in that night we were able to scrub his legs, feet, toenails, head, chin and fingers with Goof Off. I can look back now and laugh but at the time it was not funny....just wish I had gotten a picture. It looked like the marshmallow man exploded.

Special Friends

Cody's little friend (aka...future wife) across the street celebrated her 2nd birthday today and the kids had a ball swimming at the pool. There were several from our playgroup so I was able to capture a few cute pictures.Birthday GirlSpecial Friends This one I will save for the rehearsal dinner! :)

TimmyXaela

What's for dinner?

Since Cody is not the most enjoyable diner for us and EVERYONE around us that we have decided to eat in for awhile.

What our dinners out are like....
I feel like a circus act...almost doing flips to keep him happy. Everything is great while we wait for our food then tragedy strikes....the food arrives and Cody is done. So, I try to eat with one hand while wrestling a tiny (but strong) alligator with the other. And top that off.....we have to pay! HA

I honestly love to cook and are always putting my family through the joys of new recipes....but I have gotten into a rut when it comes to find new things to try. So, I put my fingers to work and started looking for new recipes. Some were great, some were OK and others I threw away. I thought I'd share with y'all every so often the really good ones....I will update them in the right hand column. Leave me a comment (at the bottom of the post) if you try them and what you think. And of course....be a friendly neighbor and share your favorites! :)

This picture was from when he was one but the outcome is still the same. Happy Eating!