Monday, June 30, 2008

3 Milestones for Layla!

This weekend, Layla Bean hit three big milestones:

1) She's crawling forward (instead of just backwards)!
2) She's waving hello and good-bye!
3) She's using a baby walker and truckin' along behind it, taking about 1 or 2 steps here and there!

She's growing up right before our eyes... exciting and bittersweet. On Sunday, she'll be 10 months old. Only two months until her 1st birthday. I can't believe it. She's such a peach, smiling and laughing all the time!

I'll post pics tonight, or, if Jake sees this, maybe he'll post them this afternoon (hint, hint babe)!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Layla Is a Peek a Boo Machine

Beepa Go Bot

Bean's gettin' around like nobody's business these days!! Here are some shots of her shooting around the living room last night. She loves pulling herself up on stuff!




Layla Get Around







And one of my favorite Layla and daddy pics... Layla and daddy, lovin' summer time!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Birthday Boy Pics





As promised, here are some pics of the bday boy on his bday. He had a great day yesterday at daycare with his buddies. Was then spoiled with Bday wishes and pets all night and got to play with his best friend, Rocky for a while before bedtime. He worked up a sweat and had to ask dad to get him some water ASAP before he collapsed, so there's one here of him just pounding the H20 right out of the faucet.

The pic of Layla bean, Hudson and daddy is from this morning. Layla's favorite thing in the world lately is Hudson. She wasn't even interested in eating this a.m. because she saw Hudson right away and had to start talking to him about stuff. We're about 98% sure that she says his name when she sees him. It's just a slight variation of it and sounds more like, "Hud - sah!"

:)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Summer Celebrations





My lack in posts is due to my irresponsible ways with our camera. I finally remembered last night to charge up the battery, but haven't done well with chasing Bean or the rest of the family around with the camera. So, there are just a few here... one of Layla trying to take a pic of herself ;). First "self portrait" I suppose. Another from her hot day at the "garbage sale" and another from this a.m., on our way to daycare.

Jake's first Father's Day was a good one. He managed to roof his parent's house in two days and was home by Saturday night. That was a great surprise since we didn't expect him home until Sunday night. Sunday we went for a long family walk and out for a dad's day breakfast. Then a cookout for dinner and out for ice cream! Thanks dad, for all that you do, you're a great daddy and a wonderful husband!!

Today is Hudson's 3rd Bday. If Mr. Pete Best is reading this post right now, he's likely smashing things and screaming profanities because there are no new pictures of Hudson - Old Iron Guts, Speed Goat, Round Head, Stretchy Bones... I could go on and on. And yes, all of these quirky names are tied to some random incident we've had with the world's most high maintenance dog on the planet. I learned today that I need to go out and buy him organic dog energy bars to help prevent his overheating / collapsing issues that he has when the temperature rises above 60 degrees. Seriously? On Sunday night, Jake was on couch while Layla, Hudson and I played on the floor. Jake decided he wanted to join us so got up off the couch to come down on the floor with us. When he decided to get back on the couch for a nice relaxing Sunday night, Hudson POUNCED up into his spot. Jake almost laid on top of him, that's how fast he jumped onto the couch. Spoiled dog.

Mr. Best - we'll take some bday shots of your hero tonight and will be sure they get posted soon. ;)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

First Tooth & 9 Month Bday

Well, our little "late bloomer" has cut her first tooth. She's getting her first bottom tooth in the front. It has already cut through her gums and is in plain sight. I am not entirely sure when it came in, suprisingly. Layla's been in full on "mommy mode" for the past couple of weeks, and I have to think the tooth coming in had something to do with it. Over the weekend, her nose started running like Niagra Falls. Then Jake noticed a little tooth that had sprouted! I wanted to post a pic today, but my camera's battery is dead. Oops. Stay tuned.

Also, on Friday, Layla turned 9 months old!! Happy 9 month old bday my little beepa bee, Peanut Pie, Stinky Layla Bean. You're getting so big, so fast. You've developed a sense of humor over the past month or so and love making people laugh. You play peak a boo, and clap your hands, you love to stand with very little help and have recently started pulling yourself up so you can stand. You log roll across the floor instead of crawling (you think it's faster) and are oh so close to crawling. Instead of moving forward in the crawling position, you like to move backwards and sometimes play peek a boo while you're getting ready to crawl! You've also gotten so tall that It's hard for me to put you in your crib while you're sleeping without one of your giant giraffe legs that hangs down getting caught on the side of the crib!!

:)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Garbage Sale

WARNING: This post is rated "M" for Mature audiences only. It contains strong language, derogatory and sometimes prejudice statements about those who live or have lived in a small town, and brutally honest opinions on what most refer to as "another planet", also known as: Hartford, Wisconsin.

This weekend, I took part in the Hartford City wide rummage sale. Oh yes. I said it. I was "brave" (STUPID) enough to take on all that comes with preparing for and executing a "rummage sale". First, let me say this; I truly believe that rummage sales across the world (primarily in small towns where the cohabitants of that town were born there, raised there, have never left and do not feel the need to ever leave for fear that if they do they will undoubtedly be consumed by a dragon or simply fall off the face of the earth - because it's flat) would be far more successful if the term "rummage" was replaced by the word "garbage".

Let me tell you, the audience we had at 1580 Foxtail Drive - street address has nothing to do with it... if you fall into the 53027 zip code, you got the best of the best, wife beater wearing, marb red smokin', jail tattooed, inbred, linguistically challenged, cheap skates - wanted nothing to do with some of the top notch items we (we being my sister and I, bless her heart) were selling. Ohhhhh no! They wanted nothing but GARBAGE. In fact, I believe at one point I saw one of my patrons take the lid off of one of our large garbage cans in the garage and pull out two bags o' crap. He was happy as pie and sauntered off into the hot June day and said, "That's it! I've got all I need!"

What boggled our minds the most was that the items we were selling - never used fondue sets, pier 1 dishes, swarovski crystal ornaments, baby clothes up the wazoo, antique rocking chair, good as new dresser, never used cosmetics from every major cosmetics line you can name, were items that I would do back flips over had I ever come across such sweet gear at such a steal. Not the case in good ol' ho dunk Hartford. In fact, if anything had a price of $1 or over, it was not wanted. Noses were scrunched, sighs were exaggerated, F bombs were dropped over the ungodly irrational prices we were advertising. My rationale for this is as follows:
- Hartford hillbillies do not know what Pier 1 is. For all they know Pier 1 is a pier at Pike Lake available to all Hartford and Slinger residents for fishing and lounging. It's called Pier 1 because you're only allowed to keep 1 fish that you catch.
- Harford inbreds do not know what Swarovski Crystal is... for all they know (or care) Swarovski is the new swastika (however, if that were the case, I'm sure they'd snatch the ornaments right up and hang them from the rear view mirrors of their souped up Ford's with "Get 'r done" stickers streaming across the back window, screaming, "Check out dis hear swastika I picked up at dat rummage sale over dare! Dare's one left... ya outta head over dare and getyer self one")!

To top off this fun filled, glorious day, most of which was spent looking at our clocks begging the good lord above to make the day be over, was that at the end of the day after we'd realized we'd barely made a profit, the real looters came out of the woodwork. Toothless wonders, families of 10 or more crammed into what may as well have been card board boxes on crutches with wheels. They crept down the street, slow as molasses, waiting. Waiting. Waiting. What were they waiting for? Lindsey and I thought they could only be waiting for one thing. A warm smile and an invite. Right?? So we smiled (as painful as it was), waived them in and told them all that everything was 1/2 off. The stares we got back were the same stares that O.J. Simpson got as he was leaving the courthouse after receiving his not guilty verdict. How dare we offer ONLY 1/2 price??? It was 4:30 p.m.!! Rummage sales end at 5:00!! We were sinners, atheists, wastes of humanity for NOT putting everything at the end of our driveway for free. When the others in our neighborhood started yelling, "Everything is free," it was like someone had cut the gates open at the zoo. Monkeys flying everywhere. Pictures of Jesus and Elvis in velvet, flower pots with dead flowers in them, rocks, used Kleenex, you name it. It was all gone within seconds.

Not our stuff. Our stuff went untouched... until the tornado hit. No seriously. A tornado hit. Sirens started blaring, people starting running and Lindsey and I were pitching items into the garage like we were trying out for "A League of Their Own, Part 2". We managed to escape the funnel cloud and ended the night in our basement, laughing at the unbelievable day we'd had and drinking Honey Bears.

God Bless America. And while you're at it... could you drop an A-bomb on good ol Hartford, WI???

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Sunday's Best




Some pics of Layla bee-boppin around on Sunday in one of her favorite dresses (thanks Liz)! As you can see, she's even got enough of that curly blond hair to put in a bow now! So fun! I can't wait to start putting pig tails in her hair. I have a feeling the only way she's going to be able to wear her hair is in a pony tail or pig tails as it is getting SUPER curly and you know what that means... snarls!!! Since the weather has started to get more humid, her hair is sort of a nappy mess. Cute, but it's nappy with curls flying everywhere!

The pic of Layla and Hudson makes me laugh. Layla was actually trying to scoot towards me but Hudson had laid down on top of her foot and she was stuck. The best part about it was that it didn't bother her. She just kept pulling her foot and then would tap Hudson with her hand as if to say, "Hey, you're on my foot."

I've been getting complaints about not appearing much on the blog... so here ya go!! Layla and mama before heading out to breakfast at the Perc Place on Sunday a.m. Layla has lots of fans there!!