Audrey's Big Girl Bed

A bitter sweet moment transpired in our house over the weekend. My little sweet potato is totally out of her baby bed! She's been out of her crib for a while. We turned it into a toddler bed, which was fine for her, but I wanted Audrey to get her new 'big girl' furniture well before the new baby arrives so she doesn't feel like the baby is taking 'her stuff'.... even though I bought that dark wood furniture knowing it would be used by any baby, boy or girl, that lives in this house. The plan was always for the bigger kid that's outgrowing it to get the new stuff. Like the Brady Bunch and their denim. Poor Cindy. She probably never had a pair of new jeans.

No more babies in cribs in this house, well, not at the moment at least.
And yes, I'll admit, I did cry. But just a little. The fact that there will soon be another baby here cushioned the blow. And that's one of the reasons we always planned on spreading out our children, so I can have sweet babies in the house for as long as possible.

She was actually excited to see the furniture be taken apart and moved out of her room. No issue with it. She was not at all territorial or jealous. She's the best!

And she was excited to go shopping for a new 'big girl' bed. I don't like to use the phrase 'big girl' because I don't want her to feel like she's not our baby, that she's being replaced, or that she's large. You just never know how words will affect little girls. I tried to call her toddler bed her 'special bed' but she coined it her 'big girl' bed so if she's ok with calling things 'big girl' this and 'big girl' that, then so be it.

The baby furniture is now all stacked up in what used to be the upstairs guest room/ball pit room. I know where we're moving that bedroom furniture, but I haven't figured out what I'm supposed to do with the huge ball pit yet. It will just stay like this for a while. When we learn the gender then I'll have Barker paint the room and we'll put the crib back together and find the ball pit a new home. Maybe our huge bathtub? Audrey might like that!

I've been thinking about A's new room for a long while and had everything decided upon except for the color of the walls, which I had narrowed down to 4 colors. And I just today finally made my decision. We'll prob go buy it in the next few days. But the furniture I've had in mind for a while. Well over a year. I've compared colors, prices, sizes, storage, etc a thousand times so when Barker said "Let's go get her furniture" I knew it would be a quick trip.
We got her a white trundle day bed with 3 big storage drawers on the bottom. We're already planning sleep overs. She got a new big book shelf so that she can keep her older kid books but the baby will still have the board books and other infant/toddler books on his or her bookshelf. She also snagged an 8 drawer dresser. I'm big on optimizing storage space, can't you tell? I don't know why. I'm not a hoarder. Really. You should see how many fraternity t shirts of Barker's I throw away ever year! I still have to buy her vanity. I can't find exactly what I want and I don't want to settle. I 'think' I might find what I want in Canton, I just can't guarantee it will be the bright white of her other pieces. But- I do remember that they had 2 other complimentary colors that I happen to be doing her room in. So I'm fairly certain I can pick up her vanity there. Until then I'll continue to scout out antique malls and shops. And I'll leave her big chair in there for the time being. And I'm thinking about having Barker build her a window seat/toy box with a hinged lid for even more storage. But I want to do everything else first and see if I still have the room. I don't want it to be too cramped for the sake of storage.


When it was assembly time Audrey was stoked to help her daddy put her new white bed together.

She got her tools and ran around the room like a crazy person.

She tried to help every step of the way.

And her tools came in quite handy.

I totally busted Barker using her plastic hammer when he realized he hadn't brought his upstairs! ha!

She was in the game room when he put the finishing touches on it and the look on her face when she walked in and saw the bed completed was worth every dime we spent on her new room. She gasped and pointed, then ran and jumped up on it.

She was so excited!

And very grateful. Her daddy got several huge squeezes!


She wasted no time getting her sleeping crew in her new bed. Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Sheep, Oliver, little baby, big baby, Rapunzel, Max, Eugene, yellow ball and a book all have to be accounted for at lights out. She's like a warden. And she'll notice if one is missing.

Since Barker sprung the shopping trip on us I hadn't bought the paint or bedding yet. So I just grabbed the only twin sheets we own and put them on so she could sleep on it right away. The next day I spent ALL DAY finding her bedding. And it's not like I'm even doing complicated bedding or having it custom made like I had contemplated. I just needed one thing to be a very specific color.

When it was time for bed she asked Barker to read her a book in her new bed. He just grabbed the first book on the stack he took off the book shelf when he moved it. I just happened to be, get this, a Bernstein Bears book about bringing home a new baby and giving the new baby your bed!

Her first night in her new bed was a success and I'll update when the room is closer to being completed. It may be a while before I get her vanity but everything else should be finished soon!

Birds of a Feather

I took Audrey with me to the salon. I grabbed a sucker. She had to have one, too. I was having my hair done. So naturally she had to have hers done, too. But that poses a problem......
You see, I'm not sure just yet because she's so young, but I'm afraid she may have inherited her dad's frizzy, brittle hair. His is like goat hair, poor guy. It's not soft and silky. If you know my husband, you know his hair is always exactly the same. It's not that he likes that style. Oh no. It's that you can't do anything else with his hair. Believe me, we've tried. Ugh.
So far Audrey's is at least soft but because it has some curls in the back, I'm so afraid for her that it will turn frizzy and brittle as she gets older :( And every girl wants good hair, not a big poof ball on top of her head. Nothing will start your day off wrong like fighting with your hair before you leave the house.
But I don't know a thing about curly hair. I have soft, thick, straight hair. So I asked my friends that know how to tame their gorgeous curls "How do I cut Audrey's hair?" Their answers were all the same "YOU DON'T!"
But if I'm having something done at the salon, she's going to want to as well. So today we solved that problem. I let her get a feather in her hair. (I love them! They're super cute but they're for girls much younger than me. I'd look like one of those ridiculous middle aged ladies that go to Cancun and come back with their hair in braids like they're 14! ha!) She asked for a light blue one that was probably as long as my hair. No way. So we compromised on a small one. I was rooting for hot pink, and expected her to go with purple. But much to my surprise she insisted on highlighter neon yellow! Who knows why?! So they attached the feather to a bead and slid the bead onto a few strands of her hair. It's so darn cute! And she was tickled : )

Oh they grow up so fast, don't they?

Fancy Nancy Story Time

I took Audrey to the library in Celina for a Fancy Nancy story time. Fancy Nancy is a character in a series of books for little girls. She dresses up in what she thinks are very glamorous clothes like tiaras, frilly dresses, feather boas, heels, sunglasses and lots of jewelry.

So naturally I let Audrey dress like a crazy person and we headed on over for story time.

She wore this hideous dress my mom used to make me wear when I was four, her Pinkalicious crown, my 70's style sunglasses and a copious amount of necklaces and bracelets. Hysterical! Oh- but no feather boas because I don't really want my kid dressing like a stripper. A crazy cat lady is one thing. But looking like we shop at Electric Boutique is another. Call me old fashioned.


There were so many layers to that dress I had a hard time getting her car seat to buckle.


For some odd reason, this day, of all days, several moms that each had 3 or more sons showed up for story time. I guess Audrey felt they probably didn't want to read Fancy Nancy books, so she took it upon herself to sit in front of the librarian and flip the pages of this dinosaur book to a few of the boys.

Jo's Birthday

Today we had a little fiesta to celebrate Johanna's birthday. Everyone went swimming before dinner, then we had a Tex-Mex feast. Yum! (vegetarian in her honor, of course)

Stacie made the cake.

The two teddy grahams fishing off the front and Grayden and Camden. Their uncle Stephen took them fishing in the back yard a few days ago, so Stacie thought this cake would be fitting.


The little ones singing happy birthday to Jo.


Audrey- done swimming, ready for cake.


Ashley and Evie


The kiddies and the birthday girl
(Audrey is pulling the sombrero off of some kid I don't know. Great.)


My sweet potato holding up the 'Audrey teddy graham'....it's the tannest one : )


Oliver, who gets prettier by the day.

I'm not sure if Jo really was surprised by her party...but there was Mexican food and swimming and let's face it... that's all you need to have a good time.
Happy birthday Jo!

Father's Day 2011

We had a wonderful time celebrating Audrey's beyond amazing Daddy this Father's Day weekend.

But first we started the weekend off right... shopping with friends! Jo and Clare came up with the girls and we all went to the trade days in McKinney. We bought the place out of super cute bows, corn dogs and lemonade! It was a lot of fun and I was so glad our friends came up to join us : )

When Barker got off work we headed up to Lake Texoma. We had dinner at a great little place on the water and then crossed over into Oklahoma where I rented a cabin for the weekend.

Audrey and Daddy checking the score of the Ranger game after we checked into the cabin.


On Saturday we had breakfast, then headed over to the state park to swim at the beach.

You can't tell from these pics but the water was surprising clear.


Audrey loved collecting rocks in her bucket. I enjoyed a good book.


Audrey showing off her wrinkled hands after playing in the lake for hours.

Then we went back to the cabin and Barker grilled us some lunch. Yum. Audrey played with some puppies, napped, and we got cleaned up for dinner. Later that night we checked out a steakhouse that looked like a total dive but got fantastic reviews. We were not disappointed! Really, really good steaks, no wait, and a kitten out front for Audrey to play with.

On the way home Sunday we checked out a little Cajun restaurant. Hooray for crawfish meat pies! However we had a hard time with Barker's gifts. He's so hard to shop for. So much of what he wants/needs/likes are things he'd have to pick out himself. But I did notice a week or so before that other than 3 pair of golf shorts, all his shorts are the same old cargo shorts he wore in college. And we're grown ups. So I bought him some big boy shorts, a new belt.... his current belt he's been sporting since high school. It's too big now so it must have been huge back then. He also scored some shoes and a Ranger's shirt. None of these items in any way compare to the diamond band he bought me for Mother's Day... but there's always next year.

Happy Father's Day honey. We're so beyond blessed to have you in our lives and we're grateful for all you do every single day.

Silver Lining

This Saturday didn't exactly go as I believed it would. I thought I had plans but sadly, as is life, you can't always get what you want. Luckily Prosper had a town picnic which served to distract me from feeling bummed out.

They provided every family friendly form of entertainment they could think of. There was kite flying, fishing, bounce houses, face painting, corn dogs, BBQ, funnel cakes, live music, and fireworks. Prosper knows how to throw a party!



Audrey quite enjoyed the ice cream.


Her balloon frog she quickly popped.


Having flowers painted on her arm.


And pointing out the moon while we waited on the fireworks on our favorite blanket.


My loves, sharing squeezes while watching the fireworks.
How blessed we are to live in such a great little town!

Girls Day Out!

Audrey has been asking for her teacher, Ms. Tracy, since school let out a month ago. So she was beyond thrilled today when Ms. Tracy came and whisked her away for a girls day out!
It was super sweet.

They had lunch and got pedicures! Being a girl is fun!

her purple piggies : )

Ready, Set, Go!

Wow! Summer is in full swing around here. So much so that I haven't even bothered to drag the camera along anywhere. We're always on the move. So what have we been up to? A little bit of this, a whole lot of that.

Now that school is out Audrey is back in ballet and so happy about it. She didn't miss a beat, it was like she never had to take a break due to the school year.

We're also in the pool nearly every day. She's a fish. I couldn't believe how much she remembered from last year's swim lessons. My little mermaid.

And of course craw fish boils. Feels like we've been to one every weekend for the past two months.

What else? A concert here, a Ranger game there. Barker's soccer games.

And Audrey loves going out on the boat, even if it means me slathering her down with her all natural sunblock and wearing a life vest. She's easy to please, luckily.

Also, we've both enjoyed having more time for play dates with friends!

However she's still too young for VBS. Bummer. But next summer when she's a big 3 year old I know she'll love it.