Happy 2nd Birthday Aylin Jewel Bug!!

Our sweet little 2 year old!  You are such a fun, sweet, loving kid and I can't figure out where the random tantrums and misbehaving come from! LOL!  Your daddy and I love you so much and just can't believe you are growing up so fast.  You are trying to do more and more on your own and want to do everything that we do.  The thing I love the most about you is the way you give big, tight hugs and sweet, little kisses.  The funniest thing you do right now, at least I hope I will look back and think it is funny one day, is strip off all your clothes including your diaper.  I'm not sure why, but you sure love to be naked :) Okay I feel the need to reminisce, so here is a pic of you on the day we brought you home, followed by a pic from your 1st birthday party, then some shots we used for your 2nd B-day party invitation:

I can't believe how much you have grown!

 

 

 

 

 

This year's party theme is "Our Little Bookworm."  You love to read so much and seem to never think we have read enough "goodnight" books.  So you, daddy, and I picked out what your favorite books are and we based your party after them.  They are Heads and Moo-Ha (picked out by you), Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (picked out by Daddy), The Very Busy Spider and Lily's Twinkly Bedtime (picked out by Mommy).  Your party will be Saturday, the 7th and we are hoping everything will go smoothly.  As much as I love the following picture taken at your 1st b-day party, I really don't want a repeat ;)

Actually, I still really do love this picture it just makes me laugh.  But that is just you, you always bring a smile to my face! Love you sweet girl and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail (a story song with pics, of course)...

Hopping through our living room

Leaving a trail of yummy goodies...

Tessie ran up the stairs...

 Buttercup acted like she didn't care...

Then down the stairs comes Aylin Jewel

Following the trail of eggs...

 Until she spots her goodies

Over to them she did run

Squeeling and hopping

Oh, what fun,

Oh no, Buttercup, you can't have any...

Her favorite thing was a bag of gummies

About 20 went into her tummy

Before mommy had to hide them away!

Oh the fun of Easter morn

Movie, ball, and PJs galore

And this is the end of our story :)

Now, I also wanted to share our 2nd Annual "Cousins" Spring Pictures done by J & B Portraits with the live bunnies.  It is a fundraiser for Lebehonour Children's Hospital, and we just love the couple who takes these pics; I also love that they remembered us from last year!  I did this years side-by-side with last years so you can see how much the girls have grown.  It makes me sad to think how fast time really goes by.

(My scanner is broken, so these pics are actually pictures I took of the pictures; sorry about the quality.)

COUSINS: Aylin Jewel is 23 months, Macey Jo is 1 month, and Payton Renee is 2 years old.

 

As you can see, we also chose a more traditional background this year :)

Squeaky Shoes

A little while ago we spent a family day downtown.  Before we left, I found an outfit that "the squeaky shoes" matched so we put them on Aylin Jewel for the first time.  This was her reaction when we sat her down outside in the driveway:

I know, I know, we were those crazy parents that day! :) 

Decorating Easter Eggs

Last weekend we were having our egg hunt at church, so I decided that we would let Aylin decorate her very first Easter eggs!  I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself!

 

 

 Daddy even got in on the fun and painted an egg his favorite color: green :)

 And the finished project: treat filled plastic eggs for the hunt, decorated hard-boiled eggs for the games, and yummy cupcakes for after lunch!

We had a great time at our egg hunt even though it was 88 degrees and we all ended up a little sun burned.  The Easter Bunny even came...

 Didn't you know the EB liked to ride 4 wheelers?

This is one of the crafts Aylin Jewel bug made:

Hoppy Egg Hunting everyone!

A Day Off with Jewel Bug

Our babysitter had to go out of town today, so I took the day off from work to hang out with my Jewel Bug.  We had plans to do some birthday shopping/planning for her upcoming party, but the day was just too beautiful to spend in doors.  So we made a playdate with Aunt Julianna and Cousins Payton and Macey.  The plan was to meet at 11:30 at Chili's for lunch and then go to the park, but Aylin had a little accident.

We get a few mice every time the seasons change, and so at night we lay out the traps.  Well I forgot to pick one up this morning, and of course, AJ found it.  So there she was with a glue trap stuck to her!  She pulled it off and dropped it on her clothes then got her hands stuck together!!  I stripped her down absolutely yelling every time she reached for her hair with those sticky hands, and we got in the sink and started washing.  Well let me tell you what DID NOT work:

(1) soap and water

(2) Peroxide

(3)Witch Hazel

(4) Germ-X

Admittedly, I am starting to panic a little because nothing is pulling off the sticky, thankfully NON-TOXIC, glue and now it is also all over my hands too.  Now before you ask, we had thrown away all the boxes so I didn't have an emergency section to read or I thought. Then I remembered I had hidden an opened box, I found it and read: "Keep away from pets and children." Well duh, and oops :)  "In case of skin/fur contact, wash with vegetable oil." VEGETABLE OIL!!! So we took a bath in vegetable oil and it WORKED!!  We then took another almost bath in Germ-X just for good measure.  Of course, I had to take a couple of pictures after the fact which you see above.

We finally made it to Chili's, only 20 mins late, and then to the park to play.

And now for a little catch up...I can't believe my baby girl is 23 months old and we are getting ready for her 2nd birthday party!  Here are a few pics of Aylin in the dog's cage with her "Es" and "Bubba!"

I wanted to share these because it was a gift from Pampers!  We have used Pampers diapers since her birth and registered all those "Points to Grow" Rewards.  We have earned over 4,000 and bought this with the rewards points; they shipped it for free!

 



To Great Grandma's House We Go

We went with the family to visit Aylin's only living Great-Grandmother, my grandma McCall, in Blytheville, AR.  It was a great trip for all the girls, and I think Great-Grandma really enjoyed it.  The picture below is Payton and Aylin having a snack at the ole' kid's table :)  I know somewhere there is a picture of Julianna and myself sitting at this table!

 Baby Macey napping...

 And, of course, a shot of Great Grandma McCall with her youngest son's grandkids:

Payton Renee, Great-Granny, Macey Jo, and Aylin Jewel.  Aylin's middle name is the same as Great-Grandma McCall and actually Macey's middle name is the same as Julianna's and is the name of Great-Grandpa McCall.

SPRING BREAK in the Middle of March

One thing about being a teacher...I still look forward to Spring Break!  We had a staycation and just did a few things around Memphis with family and friends. We visited My Big Backyard at Botanical Gardens with Kiki, Aunt Tessa, and cousin Payton:

 

We had our last SoccerTots class!  Thanks so much Mrs. Kim!

 

We had a great time at our friend John Stephen's 1st birthday party!!

Top left is our best friend at Nannie Chelle's: Mary Claire, and top right is our friend Rachel.  The bottom pictures are of the birthday boy and his mom and dad: Jennifer and John.

We also went on our annual Spring Break trip to the zoo!  We LOVE the zoo!

 The Williamses (Brian, Kristy, Anna Paige, Tyler, and Wesley) and the Risters (Griffin, Shannon, and Reed) came along with us! The Williams are below to the left and the Risters are to the right, minus David and Nathan.  We attempted a few shots of all the kids together, but I don't think we have a single one where they are ALL looking at the cameras. :)

 Aylin Jewel loves the Rister boys: Reed is a couple of weeks older than she and Griffin is 3 1/2.  I love the pics below because they show how much she loves them; I mean, AJ does not normally share her food and she doesn't try to give kisses to just anyone! :)  The funny thing is she loves their whole family! She loves Shannon and David, and even Shannon's mom and dad...I think she likes sitting with them more than anyone else at worship services!

 Some of my favorite shots of baby girl:

 A few more pics of all the monkeys, I mean kiddos:

 And wrapping up our day of fun a pic of daddy showing Aylin the elephants and the other three are of Jewel Bug enjoying her very 1st coke iccee!

We had a wonderful 2011 Spring Break!