Catching up: a walk, haircut, and more.

This past week has been busy!  Between trying to rest more, saying good bye for now to CGR's "sEE-Pa" aka my dad, and working...I haven't had time to post much!  So instead of a this moment post, your getting a catching up post with LOTS of pictures!

Let's begin with Friday night of last week.  CGR, some of my family, and I did the Jingle Bell Run aka Jingle Bell Walk because none of us ran it.  This is an annual event and it's always a fun time!  I wasn't sure I could walk the 3 miles this year as my belly gets tight when I walk and doesn't release until I rest.  We brought the wagon for little miss Carmen, who never wanted to get out of it, and that helped a lot!  It was so fun to see the lights, people, doggies, and walk with everyone.  We had a great time!

Saturday, was spent baking, cleaning, and trying to convince a little girl who had just said bye bye to her bobo(pacifier) that it was time for nap!  Then we went to get her very first haircut with the hairdresser that my whole family has been going to for over 15 years!  I was really worried about how this would go as on the way there we had quite the little tantrum but as soon as we got there she was ready for us.  Once Carmen sat on her daddy's lap and Shawn started cutting her hair she was GREAT! 

And then some pictures I got of her new bangs!  I was originally hesitant about giving her bangs but I LOVE THEM!!  She can see!! Especially since she won't let me put her hair up anymore!

Sunday morning before my family's wafflepalooza, I had to make more cookies for my family holiday cookie exchange.  I tried a new recipe and well...first batch I burned and had a hard time forming them.  I used this recipe I found on pinterest for caramel chocolate cookies!  Special K went fishing with his dad, so I had a little toddler running around as I tried to make the cookies.  She saw the flour I seemed to be having a great time playing with so she wanted some of her own!  I set her up next to me with her own flour and she had a blast playing with it!  She made a huge mess but it was worth every speck of flour on her, the floor, and the pups!  She has been asking to do this again so we're already planning more baking with her this weekend!

Sunday night, the family went to dinner and then headed downtown to see the lights!  Carmen had to bring the wagon again, which was fine with me as my back can't handle holding her for a long time and she loves her momma.  It was great to see her expression when looking at the lights and the horsie!

 

The sad part of the week was having to say good bye to my dad, who flew back to Panama this week after spending 3 weeks with us.  Every morning, Carmen and I would pick him up from my sister's house and we'd drop off Carmen and then my dad and I would go get coffee on my way to work.  He borrowed my car.  Carmen loved to see her "see-Pa" as she calls him everyday!  I'm so glad they got to spend lots of time together.  We are going to miss him a lot but he's already planning to come back in May to meet the baby and be here for my nephews' graduations. YAY

 And just because I can...a couple extra cute pictures of CGR!

Hope you enjoyed this pretty long picture filled catch up post!

Happy Friday!!!

PS...Don't forget to enter the Giveaway, today is the LAST day!!

Weekend Love: Birthday Party!

Carmen's birthday weekend was a huge success!!  We got a good nap and the party went really smoothly!  I'm happy that all went well!  Thanks again for all those that came and helped celebrate my baby girl turning 2!!  Now for some pictures since that's the best way to show off the birthday fun!

Her party was a Tinkerbell party!  We bought all the decorations since honestly this year I have not had the energy or motivation to make them.  My sister's MIL made the cake and it came out beautiful!  And since we were doing Tinkerbell and Miss Carmen's Halloween costume was tinkerbell we put her in her tink costume for the party and she loved it!  How cute is she?!?!

We had to stop at the grocery store that morning and since it was her birthday I let her pick out a balloon...even though they had a Tinkerbell balloon, she saw this HUGE Minnie Mouse and had to have it instead! :)   We had several crafts for the 2 kids that came.  I cute out little paper crowns for them and they got to decorate them, as well as some other drawing activities.  I wish I had planned a couple more game type stuff but the 2 girls still had a lot of fun together!

Her daddy and I have been practicing her signing 2 for weeks now and just this past week she really got it!  She was so cute saying and putting up her 2 little fingers!

 Blowing out candle is fun! :)

 

She got a lot of great presents, including the adopted Teddy Bear Genna she is sitting next to that was from her friend Miss Thea and the new apron her Aunt G made her!

That morning before her party, we hung out with her Grandma up in OH and she got to open her first present which was an awesome kitchen!  Carmen was so excited to both see her Grandma and to open the kitchen!  She had fun playing with it all weekend and I see this being one of her favorite toys.

I really enjoyed watching Carmen celebrate her birthday! She has grown so much in the last year and she is such a sweet loving 2 yr old!  Can't wait to see what this next year brings for her and watching her learn to be a big sister!  Love her and feel blessed that I get to be her momma!

Happy Weekend Love!  Thanks for stopping by!

PS...an awesome giveaway will be posted tomorrow!  Come back and check it out and then pass it along!  So excited to share this giveaway with you all!

This moment: Our week in moments!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo(or a few)– no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

Organizing and prepping for garage sale this weekend has been taking up a lot of time!  Posts will return next week!  Have also been knitting up a storm for a fiber arts show up in OH!  I will share what I am sending and what I've knit to sell as soon as it's all blocked and before it's sent out!  Hope you are all having a great week!

Happy Friday!!!

Weekend Love: more beach!

Another great weekend!  This weekend was almost an exact replica of last weekend.

Saturday morning, we hit the beach but this time with my sisters, cousin and their families.  My cousin, her husband, and my niece all brought their paddle boards and I got to try it out for the first time!  I don't have a picture of me or them on them as all I had was my iPhone and that wasn't going anywhere near the water.  So, you'll just have to imagine that we all had a great time paddle boarding and swimming!  Carmen even got on the paddle board a couple times.  We didn't take her out very because I didn't have a life vest for her and it was my first time trying it out.  We just held the board and let her play on it. Maybe some day I'll feel more comfortable paddle boarding with her.  I know she LOVES it!  She would get on the board and point out to the ocean like Let's go!

I also got some pictures of me this time!  My sister Aunt G took some great pictures of Carmen and me while we were waiting for the rest of the family to get there.  I'm usually the photographer so there aren't always a lot of pictures of me and her together.  My absolute favorite picture of Carmen and me right now is this one!  

After a fun morning at the beach and a nice long nap, we went over to Carmen's Papa's house for some afternoon swimming with her daddy and Papa.  Her daddy and Papa had spent the morning fishing and were just getting back around the time we got there.  She had fun swimming with them again, while momma got some knitting done.  A picture of their catch...we fried and cooked up some of the fresh catch on Sunday for dinner and it was DELISH!

Sunday again was a repeat of last week.  Started with some shopping, a quick trip to the park for some golf practice...it was JUST too hot though!  And then we napped, colored, watched Lilo and Stitch, had a quick dip in the baby pool while her cousin Flower girl visited us, and then ate dinner with Grandma Shari thanks to Google+ hangouts!  I didn't get many pictures Sunday but Special K and I both agreed Sunday night that it was another great weekend!  Here we are at the park trying to stay cool in the shade.

And my first try at french braiding Carmen's hair.  I feel it was a success as that little girl never stays still!  The trick was Lilo and Stitch!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy Weekending!

Weekend Love: Beach, pool, boating, and some golf!

This weekend was one of those great weekends where we packed it full of fun things, but also got time to rest and clean the house a bit.  Saturday was FULL of water play and awesome!  We started the day with a meet up with our friends K and T at the beach!  The four of us gals had a blast playing in the sand and water!  The weather was perfect and company even better!

Carmen then passed out on the way home and took a nice 2 hour nap and then was ready to head to her Papa's house for more water fun!  She swam with her daddy and had too much fun being silly!  We then went on a fun boat ride, but no pictures because I am too nervous to bring my iPhone with us.  She had a blast on the boat and said hi and bye to other boaters and liked to make noises as we sped through the water.  After all the fun water play, she had dinner and cuddled with her Papa and her dollies.

Sunday morning, Special K, Carmen and I headed to Walmart to pick up her first set of golf clubs.  Special K had seen them there for around $5!  It was worth every penny!  Watching the two of them play with these clubs, was priceless!  It was another warm day but we chose a park by the water so there was a nice breeze!

I took the following video and all I can say is could this be any cuter?

And how cute is this!  I could just follow her all day. :)

After the lesson, we sat on the sidewalk and ate snack with the squirrels and birds.  We kept the animals away from Carmen, but Special K couldn't help but try to feed the squirrels out of his hands.  He did get a little snip from the squirrel!  

 On our way home after her golf lesson, she fell asleep and took a 3 hour nap!  The rest of the afternoon was spent coloring, running around the house, and watching Despicable Me or ilo and itch.

We ended the weekend with a Google+ hangout with CGR's Grandma Shari while we ate dinner.    As I said, the weekend was full of awesome but relaxing.  I felt refreshed going into my work week, which is always a great thing!

Happy Weekending!

Catching up: High Tea, swimming, and the stomach flu.

Hi, everyone!  Sorry for more radio silence but between trying to avoid talking about the one thing I want to and getting a stomach bug Monday morning...I've been sort of struggling to stay afloat.  I have wanted to share some fun things about our weekend though.  So this is going to be a weekend update on Wed.  Yes, I know a little later than I had hoped.

This weekend was full of awesome!  Saturday afternoon, my niece Flower girl organized a girls high tea at my sister Fleas' house.  Other than having to wake up grumpy from her nap, which made her very grumpy, the tea was awesome!

The guests included my sisters, nieces, and two other little girls and their mommas.  One of them was my long time friend K and her daughter T, who I've talked about on this blog before here,  (It's also T's birthday today! Happy Birthday T!) and the other was a mommy and me friend, who was the first person I sat next to at my local Tuesday morning mommy and me group.  CGR was 2 weeks old and she was impressed I had made it out of the house!  My niece Flower girl takes care of her daughter a couple times a week.  The little girls all sat so cute at their little table and all drank lemonade out of some cute tea cups that K had brought. (The bow from the pictures is from Krapfl Girl, who is currently on vacation but check her out after Aug 1st when she gets back.  She's got some GREAT bows!)  Carmen also had her first Oreo, which is vegan, and she loved it!  Personally, I think she had too many but I'm sure if you asked her she would have signed more! :)

Sunday, we had an impromptu park time then spent the morning with CGR's daddy before he headed to go play golf with his dad and CGR went down for a nap.  After nap, we went shopping and stopped by K's house for a quick swim and then played with lots of toys!  CGR is a huge fan of little people so when she saw K's daughter's little people stash, she was in heaven! CGR also liked petting and giving kisses to K's dogs and kitties.  I am allergic to cats so I stay away but thankfully CGR is not.

The weekend ended with dinner with the hubby and then some quality time before he was fast asleep by 8:30.  I ended up staying up way too late and then waking up at 5:30 am with the stomach flu.  UGH!  Monday was pretty much spent sleeping the day away, trying to eat, a shower, and then slept all night as well.  This is my 2nd stomach flu this year and let me tell you...NOT a fan of it.  My niece Flower girl ended up sick the same day and then the following day my brother-in-law got sick.  Thankfully CGR and no one else has come down with it and praying it stays that way.

Lot's more going on, including lots of hexipuffs knit!  I'll talk more about those in a post soon!  And hopefully I'll be able to share some news after this weekend!  We are almost through with the details and once papers are signed, then I'll let you all in on what's going on.  If you can just send good thoughts and prayers our way that it all goes smoothly that would be great!

Happy Wednesday aka Catch up day!

How was your weekend? How's your week going? 

Weekend in pictures...

Great weekend of family, friends, crafts, swimming, food and lots of fun!

How was your weekend?

And this is just a Tropical Storm??

It has pretty much been raining ALL day today.  Started last night and it's suppose to continue until Tuesday!  Miss Debby is definitely doing some damage.  There has been flooding everywhere and a tornado did some damage over by Pass-a-Grille beach, which is the beach we usually go to.  And Special K just informed me that she seems to have stopped moving so this rain may continue for at least 2 more days.  Ugh!  Even with all the rain she brought, we had a great day.

Little Miss CGR decided this morning at 3:30 AM that it was party time, so she joined us in bed where she proceeded to cuddle and beat me up all at once.  While it was adorable, I'm very surprised I don't have bruises.   (I'm mostly kidding.)  We don't often let her join us in bed.  Normally, she is a great sleeper and usually sleeps through the night in her crib with no problem.  I learned early on in her life that the 3-5 AM hours for me are the hardest and when it comes to waking up at those hours...I'm a zombie!  If she does wakes up around that time, much to her daddy's annoyance, I bring her to bed with us.  Last night was no exception.  It took her what seemed like hours to get comfortable but she actually slept in once she fell asleep.  I think the darkness from the rain helped. 

After we hung out on Google+ with her Grandma Sharimom during breakfast, we braved the rain and did a little bit of shopping.  It was great to get out, however, I am happy we only went for a short time.  The grocery store that has covered parking was packed!

Since it rained all day and we have 2 of the most spoiled dogs ever, we each have had to take those big stinky dogs on walks in this mess!  They refuse to go out in the backyard when it's raining.  Since I'm pretty sure they look at us when we do try to make them go out there and say "you first," we have to get our rain gear on and head out for a walk in the rain.  I keep telling Special K that I desperately need rain boots for this purpose but that's not a priority right now.  It will be if a hurricane does head our way.  I am glad I have my snowboarding jacket, which doubles as a rain coat really well!

Most the day was spent, watching movies, knitting, eating, cuddling, coloring, running around the house, and playing chase.  Even though it rained, I think today was a great day!  Here is our day in pictures.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be raining more and I'm a little worried about braving the rain and flooding on my way to and from work.  I will just have to say a prayer and drive super slow.

Happy Sunday!!

Is it raining in your neck of the woods?  What is your favorite rainy day activity?

Saturday Love: Yarn with Soup...

What a day!
As I have mentioned before, I love weekends!
Today was a great weekend day!

The day started out with my little girl being silly, especially when she feels the need to carry around my yarn bag like it's her purse.

I met up with my friend Tinyant for a yarnie adventure!  We started by stopping at our favorite bagel shop The St. Pete Bagel Company for bagels and some yummy coffee!  Then we headed over to Tampa for the 8th birthday party of Knit n Knibble yarn shop.  It's the most local yarn shop to me at 45 mins away and I rarely visit it but every time I do I think to myself how I should visit more often....just wish it was closer.

The shop was packed when we showed up and we were able to find our way to the person with the door prize tickets and grabbed a list for what the sales were and started our searches.  There were too many choices but I was finally able to pick something as close to what I wanted as possible. My final choice was Heritage silk in black.  I plan to knit the Spring Thaw Shawl and add crystal beads to add some sparkle to it.  The yarn is a 85/15 Wool/silk blend. I was sort of hoping for something with more silk in it but I didn't really like the other yarns as much as this one.  It's also a closer to a fingering weight but it's a nice round yarn.

Cascade Yarns was also there doing a yarn tasting. I've never been to one and it was pretty neat!  They had all their different yarns out for you to sample.  I'm pretty familiar with Cascade but there were some new ones that were pretty interesting.  When the shop gets them in and I get my hands on them, maybe I'll share more about them.

After we left the party, we picked up her husband and headed downtown to the Florida Craftsman, which had a coral reef project on display.  If you haven't been yet, you should go check it out!  It's amazing! We had both known about this project for months before it was set up but the holidays and this year have been so busy that it just slipped by and we never were able to enter anything. Let's just say we both kicked ourselves because it was so awesome!  Here are some pictures.

We ended our yarnie venture by stopping by the Craft fest at Art Poole and then grabbed some soup on this rainy day.

I got back home to a girl napping and her daddy resting as well.  She woke up shortly after I got back and we spent the afternoon much like we did the morning.  We played, cuddled, played chase, and had a great time.  As I said, I love weekends!  Hope you had a great Saturday too!

Happy Saturday!

What are you up to this weekend? Visit any yarn shops?