There's No Place Like Home

The saying "There's no place like home" is SO true! While I have a home and family of my own, there is just something about going to my mom's house. I don't know what it is ... but I LOVE it! And even though she doesn't live in the same house that we grew up in, I guess it's just being around her or in Searcy ... or something!

We went to Searcy this weekend and just had a good time, like always! I love being able to go and relax and Lydia loves playing with Granna and all the fun stuff that she does there!!

She was checking out a praying mantis in the new waterfall fountain in the back yard! She was so cute watching it!

I'm sure it made her Daddy proud! He loves when she finds interest in outdoor stuff!

Helping Granna water the plants!

"I help water!"

This is what Lydia's hair looked like when she woke up Sunday morning! She was so tired after playing in the beach ball sprinkler ... looks like she slept REALLY hard!

Eyeing Daddy's waffle! She always wants a bite (or 2 or 3) of whatever he is eating!

Her hair was SO tangled!

It took A LOT of water and detangler, but we finally got it looking cute for church!

Lydia didn't take a nap Sunday afternoon (we've had some major sleep issues the past week!) and passed out before we got to Beebe! She has not fallen asleep in the car in the longest time and she's done it twice in the past week! Praying that she will start sleeping better soon! It's been hard on all of us!

"New Toy"

We bought this Beach Ball Sprinkler @ Target last week to bring to Searcy for Lydia to play with. She's been saying since we bought it "Play new toy" ... over and over and over again! She finally got to play with it yesterday afternoon. She wasn't too sure about it at first and kept telling me to turn the water off!

Can you tell she just woke up?!?

My cousin's little girls Mary Evelyn and Caroline came over to play and once they got here and started playing in it, Lydia was all about it!

She and Mary Evelyn ran ... and ran ... and ran some more! Lydia LOVES to be chased!

She was having so much fun!

She didn't stop moving for the longest time!

Here the girls are dancing around the sprinkler! It was so cute to hear them make up songs and giggle!! Something about little girls and giggling! I love it!

Not only did they giggle ... they also squealed!!

Lydia was worried about all the grass and dirt on her. She's such a clean freak! Thankfully she got distracted and went on playing!

They had so much fun playing together! Lydia loves these girls and enjoys any time she gets to play with them!

She had the best time playing with this! I think we may have to try to find another one to keep at our house! She was WORN out when she got done! She was moving so slow and was in a daze! Needless to say, she went to sleep as soon as we put her in bed and slept 12 hours straight! I'm thinking we may let her play in it every night if she goes to sleep that easy! =)

ABC's

I started using ABC Flashcards with Lydia yesterday and she did so well with them! I knew she knew most of her letters and their sounds when we ask her, but wasn't sure how she would do with the cards. Well ... she knew every letter and what sound they each made! I was so PROUD of her!

She really enjoyed going through them and has wanted to go through them anytime she thinks about them.

It's crazy how much she is learning now and how quickly. It's like her brain is a little sponge and she is taking in EVERYTHING she hears and retains it.

Sometimes it scares me how fast she is picking things up and repeating them, but it makes me realize how much we need to take this time and teach her all that we can!

"Mmmmm"!!

I'm so glad that she enjoys doing educational stuff and can't wait to start working on her numbers, making words and learning bible verses!!

************************************************

One happy little traveler ... shades, fruit loops and a movie! Doesn't get much better! =)

Thursday

Here are some random pictures from today ...

Lydia reading the "Auto Buyer" magazine Jeff picked up outside of McAllisters!

She was looking hard! Shopping for a good deal! =)

Daddy and Lydia drawing! She loves playing with him!

We got this fun sprinkler tonight @ Target to take to Searcy. I can not wait to see Lydia play in it! I've had my eye on it for 2 summers now and finally found it on sale!! Looks like it will be a lot of fun!

Just Another Day ...

First, let me just say how thankful I am that I can stay home with Lydia every day. Some days are very stressful and I second guess our decision, but then there are days like today where I know there is no where else I would rather be or any one else I would rather spend my day with!

Today, Lydia and I spent the whole day at home! I spent the morning cleaning and playing with her and loved every minute of it! Here are a few pictures of our day!

Lydia had cereal and milk for the first time this morning! She was so excited! She ate what I gave her and then wanted some more!

She did very well eating it! Figured there would be a huge mess to clean up with the milk, but she barely dripped any! She's getting so big!

While I cleaned, she introduced her new kitty to "Tad"!

I had told Lydia that if she went to sleep like a big girl that she could go swimming when she woke up. She went right to sleep and when I woke her up she was ready to get in the water!

Playing with her new floatie from Mimi and her bathtub Dora and Boots! She was so excited to see them in the pool!

Dancing with her turtle!

"Choo-Choo"

She's still not sure about the floatie ... but at least she's touching it now!

She even stepped in it ... maybe next time she will float on it or pull it around her waist!

Stomping the water and splashing!

Just like her momma ... watching people! Our neighbors were outside talking and she was intrigued by them! She sat there for the longest time watching them!

Love this little blue eyed girl!

Water Baby

Lydia and I went swimming with Mimi yesterday morning and she had so much fun! I love watching her in the water. She is getting more and more brave! Need to get her some sort of floatie thing so we can work more on swimming and getting more comfortable in the deeper water. She did let me pull her around some while she kicked and floated and had a blast! She laughed and squealed the whole time!

Every time we go, she gets closer and closer to the waterfall on her own! I'm hoping that by the end of the summer she will be going under it on her own! We'll see what happens! She would get as close as she could and made some of the funniest faces! She kept us laughing!

She found this toy that squirts water at the pool and had the best time playing with it!

She was "shooting" water to the top of the waterfall! She couldn't quite figure it out, but she was sure she was hitting it!

"Look Mommy ... swimming!" She would hold her self up with her hands and her legs and feet would float while she wiggled her feet!

Then she decided to put her face in the water! Such a big girl! =)

She came up smiling!! =)

One tired girl! We went and ate lunch then headed home for a nap!! She was worn out!! We can't wait to make another trip to the pool! Wish we could go every day!! I don't think she would ever get tired of it!

Operation Bye-Bye Paci!

Jeff and I have been DREADING the day that we had to take away Lydia's paci and have probably put it off way too long!! She only used to sleep, but when I figured it up, she had it about 15 or 16 hours a day!! That's quite a bit of time! We finally decided that it was time and just did it!! Here is how it went ...

Daddy and Lydie before we headed out for our BIG night!

1st Stop-

Build-A-Bear Workshop!! She was completely overwhelmed when we went in and didn't know what to do! She had been telling me that she wanted to make a kitty when we've talked about it, and sure enough, that is what she picked out! She didn't want to help fill up the kitty, but she did enjoy watching.

She put a little red/white gingham heart and her PACI inside! If you look closely at the picture, you can see her paci in there! I wasn't sure how she would do with it, but it didn't seem to phase her. It was already breaking (almost half in two), so we told her it was broken and that her kitty was going to keep it for her.

Closing up the kitty!!

There were SO many choices when it came to picking out clothes for her kitty. We walked around several times before she finally decided on an outfit that she liked. As you can tell from the picture below, she didn't want her kitty to wear the outfit! She wanted her to be naked!

Daddy and Lydie walking (love this picture!) and having a little talk about her paci being gone. She didn't really know what to think and asked for us to open her kitty!

Lovin' on her kitty in the car!

2nd Stop-

Wings Stop for "chicken and fries"! Lydia loves to eat the ketchup plain ... I guess that's normal for a 2 year old! She is adorable while she's doing it!

3rd Stop -

Cold Stone Creamery!! It was Lydia's first trip and as you can tell she loved it! She got Cotton Candy ice cream with M&M's!

She is SO much fun!

She's so funny when she eats ice cream ... she does it so daintily!!

Of course, she had to have her napkin to wipe her mouth off with!

Cuddling on the couch with Daddy and her new kitty reading before bed.

Next came ... BEDTIME!

I was so nervous about how this would go, but was praying that God would help her and us too! After we brushed her teeth and went in her room, she immediately looked over on her bookshelf to see her if paci was there. She was not to happy when it wasn't. We prayed with her and her in bed ... and the crying/whining started. Once when I went back she said "Mommy open kitty"! Poor girl!

She did really well though, and finally passed out about 2 hours later. We were so proud of her ... and prayed that the rest of the night would continue to go well! She woke up 3 times between 12:15 and 2:30 crying, but I just went back and told her it was okay and to love on her kitty ... would surround her with all her "friends" (ducky, piggy, bunny, mollie, blankie, kitty, and lots of blankets!!) and would play with her hair for a few minutes and she would fall back asleep. She slept until almost 8:30 this morning!! We are SO proud of her!

She's such a big girl now ... and was so excited about her "reward" for being such a good girl the night before ...

4th Stop-

Krispy Kreme Donut!! This girl loves donuts and love sprinkles, so she was so excited!

Mimi came to meet us to help us celebrate!!

I think part of me is sad that her paci is gone because it means that she is growing up! When she had her paci in her mouth, she still looked like a baby girl and I loved it! But, Jeff and I both knew we had to just do it and get it over with! She great at nap time today and we are praying that the hardest part is over!! This is just the first of many changes coming to our house ... next potty training and then "big girl bed"!! Cant' believe she is old enough for all of this!