Pinterest Baby Toy

Our pastor and his wife have a grand daughter that is only 2 weeks younger than Lyla. It has been fun having the girls together and whenever Ms. Linda (our pastor's wife) does something for Addi (her grandbaby), she usually thinks of Lyla and will do the same things for her. Several months ago, she made Lyla and Addi a toy that has seriously saved the day on MANY occasions. She found it on pinterest, so I wanted to share:

I promise is will bring HOURS ....

...AND HOURS....

....AND HOURS OF FUN FOR YOUR LITTLE ONE. 

All it takes is an empty wipe box and pieces of fun, colorful fabric. You tie the fabric together and stuff in the wipe box for them to take out. Most days, Lyla will choose this over any bought toy and more than likely you have all the supplies just lying around your house.

So, give it a try. I am sure even little boys will love this fun, DIY project!!! 

Thanks Mama Linda for this fun gift!!!!

One small step for baby, One GIANT leap for mama

I have been sick for the past week. I knew for certain it was sinus infection. Unfortunately, the over the counter meds were not cutting it and last night I cried myself to sleep because I felt so unbelievably miserable.  I needed to go to the doctor.

I guess I must back up a bit. A few weeks ago, Jeff and I decided that I would return to work part time by going back to my substitute position with the school district here. So, after MUCH prayer, a friend of ours (Mrs. Jenni-points already for having a killer name:)) agreed to let Lyla be a drop in whenever we feel like bringing her-no set schedule. People, this is UNHEARD of and she is UNBELIEVABLE! She does so much with the kids she keeps (including Lyla, there are 4) We went and visited last week and felt so so so good about it. I have not officially started back to work yet, but seeing as I was so under the weather and really wanted her to be with Mrs. Jenni before I started work (mainly so I wouldn't have the melt down on the job), we decided to bring her by there today for her first official day!

Since Jeff will be the one getting her ready on the mornings I work, I tried to stay out of the way and just let him do it. It will take some adjusting on all of our parts, but they got out the door without any major meltdowns (from either party!)

I must say, I did pretty well myself. My appointment was early this morning and indeed, I did have a severe sinus infection that was leaking drainage and acid into my stomach causing the nauseousness. One steroid shot and one z-pack later, I was back on my feet-well, not really. Since I was baby-less today, I took a fabulous nap and really rested. We have a weekend retreat with the students tomorrow, so I need to be in pretty good shape to sleep in a bunk bed and stay up late. You know how those events go....no rest for the weary! So, I took full advantage of my day off!

I went to get my sweet girl around 3:30 and could not have been more anxious/excited to see her and hear how her day went. Mrs. Jenni said she did great and the other babies loved her. They all played very well together and Lyla got a small nap in-we forgot tootles (her bear) and Mrs. Jenni did not know about the paci in her bag. We are learning-I told Jeff we will be more on top of things next time. Lyla also had her first pb & J. Once I had my sweet Lyla with me, I took her for ice cream and we headed home. She crashed around 7:30 tonight and would have a lot sooner, but we tried to keep her up.

I am so proud of her for being such an easy going baby. She really just goes with the flow and didn't cry and fuss. (that I know of-thanks Mrs. Jenni for making me feel like I have the best baby in the entire world) She did so good today. We all did good today!:)

First day of day care 8-9-12

Saw this tonight on an episode of the wonder years where the mom is saying this to the daughter. Thought it was MORE than fitting for today!
"Hunny, if you have to leave, we are not going to stop you. But wherever you are, we will never let you go!" 

Back to school

Today our youth kids went back to school-well, some of them actually started back last Friday. It's bittersweet for me, because we get to see so much of them during the summer and now they will have many other things to consume their time. We love our students so much, so in honor of them, today I will post some summertime pictures! (they were up to a lot more than this, but these are some of the pictures I took)

Church picnic

 VBS and Baptism

Mission Arlington

 4th of July Fireworks

 Medieval Times

Messy Games 2012

I hope all of you have a great first day back (or second or third day for those who are in different school districts!) We had a blast with you this summer:)

Catching up

A lot has been going on this past month and to say I am behind on blogging would be an under statement. We have actually just welcomed Jeff back home from being gone to Birmingham, England for 11 days. We missed him so much and while I usually hang out at the house when he is gone, I decided to take a little vacay myself. Lyla and I traveled to Georgia for a few days to visit with my family. I also had a pre-reunion reunion with my best friends from high school. Our 10 year reunion is this year and most of them will not be able to attend the actual reunion, so they planned a fabulous night for all of us girls to get together and reminisce.

While I was "home", we decided to take Lyla to the Yellow River Game Ranch- similar to the zoo, but on a much smaller scale. We used to go there when I was a little girl, so it was so much fun to be there again, but this time with MY little girl:) Mawmaw got to join in the fun! Such a special day!

Lyla was very excited to get the day started! She LOVES animals!

 I think we all enjoyed feeding them the most!

 

 It's over:) We have a video of Aunt Goo riding this exact same ride when she was around 3 yrs old! And yes friends, the thing still works! 

Who's a goat!?

 Trying to get some family photos...oh well, these will have to do:)