Easter / Birthday Weekend

Happy Easter Everybody! 

The Martins were in town and we went to an Easter Festival that my friend's church was hosting at this beautiful park.  Summer liked the Easter Bunny as long as Mama was with her. 

 This is her first Easter Egg Hunt. 

 And um...the learning curve is quite steep when the eggs are filled with candy!

 Summer can't take the candy out of her mouth even for a picture with Gramma.

 Daddy, let me down! I have got to go get "mo" eggs!

 She never quite figured out how to get the wrapper off of the Smarties candy!

 Jump house

 Summer and Daddy

 Summer and Mama

Summer getting a bunny rabbit painted on her arm. As soon as it was complete she pointed to her other arm and asked for "mo."

What a joyful day to have my Birthday on.  I am now 32! Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me life.

 Birthday celebration with a special dinner, dessert and even a pointed hat to wear!  

I got the funniest card from Sissy, the dog.  You're so funny Sissy, you shouldn't have!

 After Summer's reaction to the egg hunt at the Easter Festival I knew that she was going to love her hunt on Easter morning at home.  I had eggs hidden all over the house...except our eggs did NOT contain candy...rather stickers and panties!  As you can tell by her expression, she was not dissappointed!

 She was so proud of her sidewalk chalk...holding all 20 pieces at once while covered in stickers.

All of the excitement that I talked about above has kind of left our little bunny under the weather.  She was not in Easter photo condition after church and she actually had a tee tee accident on her smocked Easter dress and had to wear something different at the last minute.  Maybe a good snuggle with Daddy will make it all better. 

Neighborhood Boys

 Introducing Summer's neighborhood friend, Nicholas...a younger man.

I am proud that Summer is so willing to share!  She was quick to offer Nicholas an animal cracker.

She just turned to me and giggled...sharing is so much fun.  Next she offered him one of her favorite raisins.

Maybe it is because he is younger or maybe it is just a gender thing...but he didn't even try to take the food with his hand...he just ate the raisin from her hand.  Summer really thought this was funny! 

The feeding continued.

We have another boy, an older man-5yr, next door who is also catching Summer's attention.  Tonight as we were getting out of the car, about to go take a bath, he said "Hi Summer."  She grabbed her 3-wheeler and headed out to meet him immediately.  He came out on his 3-wheeler and showed her how fast he could go!  One thing led to another and he was inviting her over to play at his house...and the saga begins. 

Hey There!

Peek-a-Boo...Where's Summer been?

PS - This is Miss Piggy, Summer's #1 lovie

Here she is!  Summer loves her playhouse but she insists on privacy!  She always lowers the windows and keeps the doors closed.

Friday morning, milk and raisins in hand, sitting, waiting and watching for the trash men to drive down our street.  Last week they noticed Summer was watching and all 3 trash men looked and waived at her.  This week they were looking for her too! 

Since they drive by our house twice we came outside to get a closer look and waive at them a second time.  Big.Time.Excitement. 

We did other fun stuff this week but I didn't get photos...and I know a bunch of text without a picture is boring to read.  I'll do better this week.

Blessed Sunday

This past Sunday was surely the Lord's day!  I have just recently realized that in order for us to get in the car to drive to church and not have steam coming out of our ears, Mama needs to get in the shower earlier.  All you moms know that you have to get ready early so that you can take the time to chase down your little one who is running away from getting dressed, convince her to try to potty before we get in the car, pack a snack, and oh yes don't forget your Bible.  Summer heard me say that to Chad and she nearly lost it when Daddy only grabbed our Bibles and not hers!  In this photo, I am running around turning off the lights (and grabbing the camera to take a pic of how cute she looks) when Summer gets frantic because she just heard Daddy start the car...thinking he might leave without us.

Summer savoring her very FIRST POPSICLE (as you can see she has been playing in the soil from planting our herbs...then I squirted her with the hose, he he)

Seriously folks, this was the first moment that she realized she was "dirty." 

 The joy of being a kid.  Sidenote: no Sissy did not lick her clean.

Our very FIRST TOMATO/HERB GARDEN!  We are growing Husky Red Tomatoes, Sweet Basil, Cilantro and Mint.  Can't wait to eat my own produce!  Thanks Gramma for the upside-down planter.

Our neighbor gave Summer a pink garden tool set and together they planted this mint.  It requires less sun so I placed it next to the fence for some afternoon shade. 

Welcome Back Spring

We are SO happy to welcome Spring back to North Carolina!

 Summer and I spent time in the back yard picking my most successfull flower, the dandilion.

 Summer playing with Sissy

 Summer's pedicure

 Mama's pedicure

 Sissy's pedicure

Big Step

I am so proud to see my baby girl in this outfit...

 Because...this is the outfit I dressed her in this morning when she took her FIRST outing in big girl panties.  We went to MOPS and Summer told her teachers when she had to go potty and DID NOT have an accident.  I was fully prepared to come get her and see her in another outfit but she did soo great.  The teacher told me that she told them 3 times, "ooh ooh tee tee" and that she clapped for herself after going potty.  First outing (4 hours) in panties and no accident = proud mama!

 Silly Summer wearing Daddy's hat.

 I know I am stretching it here BUT I can see a little curl action in a few hairs in back.   

My Little Big-Girl

My Little Big-Girl is such a trooper!  Once we got in the swing of taking the 4 medications daily she sucked them down and actually asked for "mo," resulting in a much happier baby pumpkin.

Although she doesn't have a fever anymore she has been sleeping and napping so hard that her scalp sweats and wakes up with wet hair.  I seriously thought her hair was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s!  She was kind of amused too after I made it stand straight up.

I have been getting a lot of lovie time!  We snuggle together in the morning, mid-morning, afternoon...pretty much all day...in between potty breaks.  Speaking of potty, Summer has continued to do great at using the potty.  She still wears a diaper out of the house but she tells me when she needs to go and can hold it until we get to the bathroom.  In fact, last night she woke up at 3am going "ooh ooh ooh, tee tee" (I have the monitor on since she has been sick) and I debated whether or not to get up and take her to the potty or let her go in her diaper.  I decided to take her to the potty but was a bit late.  Then I went back to bed wondering if the next step in this whole training was to give her freedom in a Big-Girl bed??!!  

What makes Summer a Big-Girl:

• She flushes her little potty with her foot.
• At night I have started taking her into my bathroom to blow dry her hair.  While I am trying to make curls out of sticks she unties her robe and wipes deodorant on her underarms. 
• Today we were going to sign our taxes and I mentioned to Chad "grab your wallet in case they need your id."  She immediately went to her playroom and walked out with her shiny purple wallet!