Fun With Sidewalk Chalk

Here are a few pictures of Lydia playing with her new sidewalk chalk. She had SO much fun and I have a feeling we will be spending MANY hours outside playing with this stuff! I had a blast watching her!

Lining up the chalk ...

Spelling/Writing her name!

She is one flexible little girl!

Does this stuff work on my legs?!?

"Hi, Mommy"

Checking out the bottom of her feet ...

She was filthy by the time we got done!

Needless to say, I carried her straight from the sidewalk and her right in the bathtub! Thank goodness it all washed off!

L-Y-D-I-A

Lydia loves when I help her write her name when she's coloring. It's something we've been doing for a LONG time and now she is spelling her name all on her own! I couldn't believe it when I heard her one day do it all by herself! I was in the kitchen and she was coloring ... blew my mind! I made her do it again so I could make sure I wasn't hearing things! Hah!

Here is a little video of her outside playing with sidewalk chalk. She threw in an extra letter towards the end of this, but for the most part she has it! Almost the whole time we were out there she was "writing" her name! I'll have to upload more pictures later! She had SO much fun!

As you can see, we still have to learn how to actually write the letters! =)

America's Next Top Model?!?

Lydia loves to go in Old Navy and see the puppy and the little girl mannequin! It is adorable and I finally got pictures of her with them. She just lights up when we get anywhere close to the store and says "Puppy ... Puppy ... Puppy!"

Checking out his collar!

She kept looking at me and would say "Cheese"! It was the most she's wanted her picture taken in a LONG time! Maybe I need to get a plastic puppy dog and little girl for the house!

She loves the puppy!

Is she not too cute?!? She loved that this little girl so much tonight! It was so sweet!

Random

Here are some random pictures of Lydia from the past week. We've had a pretty quiet week at home, which has been nice. Lydia's been a little fussier than normal this week, and we think we figured out why. She's been putting her fingers in her mouth A LOT this week, and tonight I felt around and felt that one of her 2 year molars has started to come through. I know it has to hurt! Hopefully she'll get some relief soon!

She is such a sweetie!

When I saw this picture it almost made me cry! I can't believe how big she has gotten lately!

After playing HARD in her bed one afternoon for 2 1/2 hours, she FINALLY passed out! I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a picture!

Decided to lay down in the floor and fuss a little!

Peek-a-Boo!

One of her favorite things to do ... Read!!

CHEESE!

We love this little girl SO much! She is such a blessing to us!

Follow The Leader!

My niece Eden came over to play last week while her mommy went to visit a friend that just had a baby and the girls had SO much fun playing together! I love watching them interact with each other. One of their favorite things to do is to walk or run in a circle. Seems like wherever they are, they find a circle they can go in and will do it over and over and over again. It's so funny ... they do it at Granna's, at our house, Leanne and Michael's, and even did it at Jeff's mom and stepdad's at Lydia's birthday party! Last week it was almost like they were playing "Follow the Leader".

They are too stinkin' cute!

Lydia would jump and then Eden would jump.

I didn't get a good picture of Eden being the leader ... they were too quick! They took turns though!

Here they are both playing in the princess tent!

Are they not too cute?!? They love to hug each other!

Here they were discussing their pretty necklaces and bracelets! Can you tell they were deep in thought and conversation? =)

I am so thankful that we have family close by and that Lydia will get to grow up close to Eden! They have a lot of fun playing together and I pray that they can stay close as they get older.

Lydia was WORN out after playing! As you can see, they played really hard!

Boots and a Sno-Cone

I asked Lydia a simple question before we ran Walmart last night ... What shoes do you want to wear?

This is what she picked out! =)

We had several people looking at us funny, but I think she pulled the look off!! =)

After we went to Walmart we stopped to get us the first sno-cone of the summer!! She was calling it "ice" like she does ice cream. She L-O-V-E-D it! I think next time we might try a different color!!

Look at those RED stained lips!

What pouty lips!!

We can't wait to go back and get another one! One of our favorite summer treats! It's so much fun sharing all of our favorites with Lydia!

Oreo Cookie

Lydia had her first Oreo cookie this week when we went to Fire House Subs for dinner. She has never seen us eat an Oreo, so I'm not sure how she knew EXACTLY what to do with it. What is the first thing that everyone does with an Oreo cookie????

Twist it in half ....

And lick the cream side first!!

Jeff and I couldn't believe that she did this! Guess it's just something that's automatic!

She was a little freaked out by the BIG mess that she had all over her hands ...

But as you can tell, SHE LOVED IT!!

Mother's Day Surprise!

Reedee came and picked Lydia up a few weeks ago to go on a surprise adventure. It was the first time that Lydia has gone some where with out me having a clue where she was going! She's growing up! =)

She took her to "The Painted Pig" up in the Heights to paint a plate for me for Mother's Day!!

She did such a GREAT job on it!

I can not wait until we get moved into our new house (more on that coming SOON!!) and I can get a stand and put it in the kitchen!!

She's getting so big!!

This is what she did!! I put a completed picture a couple of posts ago ... I LOVE it! Thanks again, Reedee! I know that Lydia had a blast with you and I can't stop looking at my present! Love you!

Wild and Crazy Weekend!

We went to Searcy for the weekend to celebrate Craig's graduation and also Mother's Day. It was a CRAZY, but very fun weekend! It was so good to be around family and spend time with one another! I'm a BIG family person, so any excuse for us to get together is fun for me!

Don't you love the cookie mouth?!? So thankful for this little girl! Because of her I get to celebrate Mother's Day! =) She is so full of life and joy and brings so much happiness into my life. I've always felt like my purpose or calling in life was to be a mommy and the minute I first held Lydia that was all confirmed! I love spending every day with Lydia and watching her grow and learn. Yes, there are days that are exhausting and tough, but the good days totally make up for it!

So sad that with all the craziness I didn't get a picture with me, mom, and Lydia. Oh well ... guess there is always next time! I love you, Mom and I'm so thankful for the example that you set for me. Because of you, I have an amazing example of what a mom should be. You've always put us kids before you and I pray that I can be half the mom that you are.

We had so much fun visiting with Grandmother over the weekend. Lydia loved the special one-on-one attention she got at lunch on Friday. Grandmother had her FAVORITE ... baby lima beans!

Uncle Craig with all his girls! They love Craig SO much. They are really going to miss them!

Craig and Tiffany opening some of their cards. Love these two!

My silly, silly girl!

Eden being silly!

Lydia LOVES her Uncle Mike! She talks about him all the time and had the best time playing with him this weekend! He even taught her to "pound it"! So cute!

She loved going underneath Michael's legs!

We are going to miss Uncle Craig! We are going to get as much lovin' in as we can this summer! You better get ready! =)

We met Mimi and Papa at Olive Garden on our way home Sunday night. We had some supper yummy food and a great visit. Lydia loved helping Mimi open her mother's day gift. Not only did God bless me with a wonderful mom, but also with wonderful mother-in-laws. I could not have picked better ones if I had picked!! Love y'all!