Lego Tower

I'm not really sure who's enjoying Meghan's gifts more, Meghan or us.  Ryan built this huge tower tonight with her new Lego's.  He was really impressed with his talents.  I'm a big fan of the Tigger that does cartwheels.  It's like being a kid all over again, which is lots of fun!

Another Princess Pic

This is another princess outfit.  She sure does love those beads!

Dressing Up

Aunt Lisa and family knew just how much Meghan loves to dress up with Claire's clothes.  Meghan now has her own clothes, with high heels even!  WOW!  As you can see, she sure is proud of herself being dressed up as a princess.

Jim has a face!

Dean and Diana went to Build a Bear and stuffed new bears for the girls.  This is the softest bear I've ever felt and they even named it Jim for Meghan.  HA! 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was at Mom and Dad's this year.  It was a great and as always, I stuffed myself silly with all the good food.  The girls sure enjoyed all the attention!

The Whole Outfit

Here's the pic of the whole outfit, including that pie..... that we are going to give to the baby lamb's soon.

Potty Elf???

So many title ideas for this one:

The Queen Elf on Her Throne

Santa's Little Potty Pooper

On Donner, On Vixen, On....the Toilet????

Posing on the Porcelin God

That's enough...I won't continue with the bad jokes.  Someday this picture may help us to scare away a boyfriend of Meghan's!  HA!  We got these Christmas pj's and they came with the silly hat, like many of them.  Well....Meghan has attached herself to this thing. She's rocking with Ryan right now and is STILL wearing it. I truly think she's going to sleep in it tonight.  She's nuts I tell ya!  She, of course, had to go potty tonight before her bath, while wearing the hat and I just had to capture the moment.  I was able to coax it off of her for bath time, but for a short while I thought she was going to insist on wearing it in the tub.  Ahhhh....I can just picture it now when she's sixteen! 

Papaw's Lil Elves

Here are the girls in their Christmas jammies from Mamaw and Papaw.  A pretty good looking, bunch don't ya think?  Getting a decent picture of all them wasn't too easy.  They are a very busy bunch! 

Meghan and Emily

Just had to post this pic too!  This is "Emmy" as Meghan calls her.  Anytime we see someone who has long hair, MEghan yells out to them and calls them Emmy.  We even find that Emmy hangs out at our house along with Jim....Meghan's other "friend." 

More Halloween

Well...I'm a holiday behind in posting these, but they say better late than never!  I actually didn't get any pictures over Thanksgiving, so I won't have any to post.  Bad Mommy...I know!  These are some pics that Emily and Dean took when we stopped at their house for trick-or-treating.  Keep in mind this is the house that whenever we pull in the drive, she starts yelling, "No, Mommy!" because the only time we ever go there is when I'm going to drop her off.  I find it kind of amusing, just because I know that as soon as I leave she's having a ball.  They always take her to see the kitties and sheep which she just loves!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a nice time.  On Wednesday night we were at Mamaw and Papaw's house to de-bone the turkey.  That's becoming a tradition and every year, it's funnier and funnier.  Some sick humor is definitely involved! HA!  Thursday early morning we ate our first dinner there.  I unfortunately ate so much I made myself ill.  Ugh...maybe it was the entire plate of dessert I ate after the second helping of dressing????  Who knows..anyways, in the late afternoon we went to Papaw Reed's house.  Meghan enjoyed playing with Kamryn, although for some reason Uncle Robby still scares her.  Who knows what goes through her head sometimes!  Saturday we went to get our Christmas tree and had yet another family dinner at Annie and Uncle Rich's house.  Meghan was not herself, but I chalked it up to there being too many people.  Well....I was wrong.  She's been sick all day today with a fever.  (((SIGH)))  Ryan and I are doing half days tomorrow to take care of her.  I'm sure I'll be taking her to see Dr. K. tomorrow, which is always lots of fun on a Monday and even more fun considering the holiday weekend we just had.  Hopefully, we'll get some medicine and back to normal soon. 

Go Colts

I saw this Peyton M. jersey at Wal-Mart and just couldn't pass it up!  She quite a cute little Colts fan, don't ya think?  Her hair is also getting nice and long. It's much easier to put up in pigtails these days, especially when I tell her we're going to do her hair like Claire's.  At this point she'd do ANYTHING Claire does!  It's so cute to watch them together. 

Trying again

I guess when I posted this pic earlier, it didn't show up so here's our lil indian!  We had lots of fun tonight trick or treating, although our indian was kinda grumpy at times.  Bad mommy and daddy forget to take the blankie with us!  Who knew she'd wanna eat fuzz when she had all that candy??????

Fall Break-Great Getaway

Wow!  What a great time we had in Nashville.  We left Thursday morning and came home today.  Our campground was a Jellystone, so Meghan was introduced to Yogi Bear, who as you can see below, she was a little skeptical of at first.  Friday, we toured the Hermitage and spent plenty of time on the playground at our campground.  Papaw even spun Meghan so fast on the merry go round, that he spun her right off!  No worries though, I caught her, she laughed and hopped right back on!  Mom and I had a great time playing tether ball.  Too bad no one was there to video, we were quite amusing, especially when I about broke Mom's glasses!

Ryan came in Friday night and on Saturday we toured Lynchburg...see below for details. When we returned back to the campground, there was a Halloween party for Meghan.  She got to dress up (see her costume pic below), paint a cookie, have some punch, play with baloons, and even take a ride in a wagon.  Saturday night, we went to the Opryland hotel to look around.  They now make you pay $10 to park, but we were not going to pay that!  So.....we decided to park at the mall and make our own path there.  At times like that, I always get this feeling that we were meant to be on some reality tv show....The Hilljacks Take on the Big City!  HA! 

Sunday morning, was a big breakfast and then we headed home.  Our big finale was a visit to Ritter's in Shelbyville (You're jealous, aren't you Marcia?)  Mmmmm....I just love ice cream, so what a way to end a great vacation! 

Papaw and Meghan

This was taken at The Hermitage which we visited on Friday.  It's the home of Andrew Jackson.  I love that educational stuff, and Meghan was somewhat interested.  She kept asking to see "eeeeemos" (animals) and we did see a couple of horses.  She and Papaw also discovered some cotton plants.   She like the cotton, but for those of you who know about her fuzz addiction, we couldn't allow her to keep it.  She'd have eaten the whole thing! 

Off to the Whiskey Factory!

Yeah, yeah, yeah....maybe taking your 18 month old to the Jack Daniels factory isn't what everyone dreams of for family vacation, regardless, we took Meghan and boy was it fun!  First of all, it is located in a "dry" county, so no alcohol can be sold in the county! All we got was a sniff!  We took an hour tour all through the factory, learning the history and process of how the whiskey is made.  It was very interesting and Meghan, of course, was happy as can be being carried around by Papaw.  Our tour ended with a refreshing glass of lemonade (whiskey free) which Meghan enjoyed very much as well.  Oh....one last note....we figured out how to get a great smile out of Meghan for pictures...she says her new word.....WHISKEY!!! Ha, ha, ha!!! 

My Mamaw

Mamaw was lots of fun on the playground too!

And just who are YOU?

Not too sure about Yogi the first day we saw him, but she warmed up a little bit!

Mommy and Me

Mamaw snapped this pic while we were playing on the playground.  Think she'll look as much like me as I do my own mom?????

Our Lil Indian

I guess to be politically correct, I should say Native American!  This is her Halloween costume.  She was fortunate to have a Halloween Party over the weekend while camping so we were glad to get an extra day of use out of it! 

Hail to the Chocolate Hand

Messy Bessy

This is the look we get now when she thinks she's doing something she shouldn't be.

Sweet Tooth

After two helpings of vegetable soup tonight, I decided to let Meghan have a cupcake all to herself as a little treat.  Even though an icing covered kid isn't my idea of fun, I let her have at it!  We had had a battle earlier in the day because I tried to feed her a bite of a cupcake.  <<<gasp>>>  These days she basically refuses to have a bite of something, instead it must be the WHOLE thing.  Ahhhh....I can already see what joys toddlerhood is going to bring us.  Anyways, she thoroughly enjoyed having the WHOLE cupcake as you can see.  She couldn't figure out how to attack it first, but then decided to hold the top (icing covered part) in her and nibble from the bottom.  Ahhhh....what fun! 

She does love her sweets, just like her mommy.  Actually, the kid just loves food.  Today I was chopping up a green pepper while she stood on her stool next to me and "helped."  She kept sneaking pieces and saying "mmmmmmmm!"  I couldn't believe it, I don't even like green peppers!  Bleh!  . 

Cheese ball!

I asked her to smile and show her teeth for this picture.  It's a little over the top, but we sure did laugh at her!

Attitude

Meghan has apparently figured out yet another strategy in getting her way.  We get this look now....geez!  She's so demanding!! LOL!

Fun park!

Meghan loved this playground indoors, but she especially liked this Vrroom, vroom as she called it.  The only problem was she kept tipping it over and falling on her head.  She just stand up and laugh.  I swear she's got a head made of steel...it's probably because Ryan taught her to run head first into the wall to Donk it!  Wow....Daddy's tricks are goofy!

Which way to the barn?

She looks a little dazed and confused here..I think the heat was getting to her! :)

Funny looking farmer, eh?

Here's Meghan hauling a load to the sheep barn!  Daddy thought she looked best with her hat backward...I don't know if I agree with that!

Moo-cow!

Gosh...Meghan hardly fits on Claire's lap now.  Sad to think that just a little over a year ago, Claire would love to sit and hold Meghan on the couch.  Sniff, sniff....time sure does fly by!

Tractor time

Meghan and Claire climbed up in a tractor after catching "fish" in the pond, although neither one really wanted to pose for me!  Silly kids!

At the fair!

We went to the state fair yesterday and had a blast!  Meghan sure enjoyed being a farmer in this part. She got to harvest corn and beans, get eggs, pick apples, plant and harvest vegetables, feed animals, haul straw around and even get some wool!  The bad part was at the end when she had to sell her items at market.  She REALLY enjoyed having all that stuff in her basket and threw a MAJOR fit when she had to give them up!  Even earning a "dollar" to "buy" a container of juice didn't make her happy.  I guess she won't be a farmer, if she can't get rid of the goods!  HA!

She did enjoy eating a sno-cone with Mommy and she also like the cheese sticks and grilled cheese....oh...she enjoyed the ice cream too!  I guess it's a good thing she tolerates dairy better than her daddy! HA HA!  Mamaw and Papaw even got her a really cool Discovery Toy learning drum to play with, so all in all it was a fantastic day.  What fun we had (even though we felt like the roasted ears of corn we were so hot!)

Smile!

Such a cheesy little grin! 

Merry-go-Round

Meghan and her daddy rode on the merry-go-round together.  They rode the wolf and she waved at everyone saying "Hi! Hi!" as they went round and round. 

Which is it?

Is that a giraffe behind me or my daddy?

Rhino!!

Here's Meghan and her Daddy posing in front of the Rhino's, which she loves to say now.   She even calls her Uncle Ryan Rhino now!  :)

Zoo Time!

We went to the zoo last Saturday (along with every other person in the Indianapolis metro area!) and had a blast!  We also visited the Butterfly garden, which is where this picture was taken.  I'd never been there before and the butterflies all around were really neat!  Meghan didn't take much notice to them, but we sure enjoyed the photo op! 

Meghan did like looking at the animals, especially the baboons.  She did her funny little laugh she does when she's so excited about something.  We even got to see an elephant get a bath!  It was quite hot, so the animals weren't too active and the dolphin show was way too crowded, so we didn't wait in the line to see it.  We figure we're close enough to go back soon and see it. We did go into the new dolphin dome and that was really awesome to have the dolphins swimming around. 

Luvin Summer

Well....Meghan and I are officially into our summer routine.  She's sleeping later and taking a nice nap in the afternoon for me (if we are home!)  She's attached to me like no other, which I enjoy.  She yells "Mama, Mama!" every time I"m out of her sight.  At times, a little privacy would be nice, but I love the fact that no one else knows her like I do right now.  Teaching is a great profession!  I get that bonding time, but then I still get to have my own career.   She's been like a little caged monkey for the past week or so because it's been so hot!  We can't really play outside and in the evening it's too sticky to go to the park.  She just gets stuck on the slide.  I like warm weather, but I wish it'd cool off just a bit!  She is much happier being outside. 

She is talking up a storm!  She now says Bye Bye to everything, so she puts two words together and she even has her first naughty word.  Shame on Mommy for teaching her that!  We struggle with not laughing when she says it, but we do our best to just ignore her.  We are off to SC with Aunt Jamie and Uncle Keith for the weekend, so I'll be sure to post pics when we return! 

Just Me and My Dad!

It was lots of fun splashing Daddy!

More pool pics....

Getting ready to go and sooooooo excited!

Swimming Time!!

Yeah...finally it was warm this weekend! Actually, it was HOT!  I heard on the news this morning at 6am (Thanks Meghan for being such an early bird this morning!) that it was the hottest day yesterday since August of '03!  Wow!  Anyways, we went swimming for the first time this season on Saturday and then went spent a little more time swimming yesterday.  I never realized what a chore it is to go swimming with a baby/toddler.  First we have to lube up with sunscreen and that sunscreen is sticky and thick!  Then we must chase Meghan around to get her swim diaper on her, which I might add leak!  I got peed on right before we actually got into the pool.  Then trying to pull a stretchy swimsuit on with messed up straps is no easy task either.  But anyways, as you can see it was all worth it!  Meghan had a blast and so did we! 

So I missed May?!?!?

Well....I have posted in forever. May was just crazy with the end of school and the weather getting nicer. Miss Meghan would prefer to spend every waking moment outdoors playing on her slide in the backyard or in the driveway watching the ball roll down to the street, with Mommy chasing close behind. Good exercise for me I guess!

Let's see....to recap the month. Meghan has started talking so much. She has a healthy obsession with bananas right now. Every time we ask her if she's hungry she says "nana!" and runs into the kitchen. Some days it's not uncommon for her to have two bananas. Oh well...at least it's not a Hershey bar she's wanting all the time. She also talks about the "Weeeegles" all the time. We have to read the Wiggles book at least five times a day. Books are another favorite of hers. Along with the Wiggle book, we read a book about a wagon that is being painted by Ojo quite often. I've already got that book memorized so I'm able to "read" to her and still do other things! LOL! Aunt Shelly's graduation was last week. (I'll post pics soon) Her party was Friday night and graduation was Saturday. Meghan sat for the entire ceremony, which I was surprised about. She was awake for most of it, but did take a short nap while the names were being read. It worked out just perfect. Meghan and I took off to meet Mamaw and Papaw while they were camping near Louisville. We had a nice, somewhat relaxing time, while Daddy went to the 500.

Next week is when Ryan and I leave for Las Vegas. I'm looking forward to the trip but know that I'll miss Meghan tremendously. I'm sure she'll be just fine though!

First Birthday Party

What a great first birthday party we had.  Meghan enjoyed her cake and wasn't even terribly messy with it, much to the dismay of some other family members present! :)  Her favorite part of the whole evening was being able to go back and forth between the laundry room and the garage, since that door was left open.  That one little step was just soooooo much fun!  I can't wait to start having you wear all those great clothes now!

After Papaw

Wow.....what a day!  This sums up what Miss Meghan is like after her day on Friday with Papaw!  HA HA!  Actually, this is a post pigtails pictures, that just happened to be on a Friday. 

Big time walker

Meghan has definitely mastered walking this week! YEAH!! She still crawls quite a bit because it's so fast, but she can walk all over the house and has even been able to turn around. She also now likes to carry things as she walks, but I don't encourage that, because I see a busted lip in the future doing that!

We've been busy this week too! We went to Gymboree on Monday to play and it was a blast! There was all kinds of stuff to crawl on, in and around, plus bubbles and a big parachute. Tuesday, Miss Thing got her pictures taken, which she behaved pretty well for. At least until the end, when she got tired and very clingy to me! Yesterday was gorgeous so we went to the park. She loved the swing and the higher and faster she went, the louder her screams and giggles. Today's plans include tennis shoe shopping for me!! ( I worked at Chicago's last night, so I've got money burning a hole in my pocket!) Tomorrow we are having lunch with Michelle and Bryce and the newly married Krista. This week has really made me look forward to the summer. I can't wait to do all kinds of fun things!

Easter Fun!

Here's a pic of the family for Meghan's first Easter.  We went to church with Randy, Rhett, Jessica (Rhett's girlfriend), and Kamryn.  Meghan was fine for the beginning part, but then she got to entertaining the people behind us with a couple of yells and her little ornery laugh, so Ryan and I got up and took her to the nursery.  We actually ended up leaving her there.  When we went to pick her up, they told us she was quite a curious little girl.  HA!  "Curious!"  I figured she was into EVERYTHING and probably kept saying "ooooooohhh" which is what she does these days when she's got something new to play with!! Too funny!  We then had dinner at Randy's house and hung out for the afternoon.  The food was good, but of course nothing like Mom's cooking!  No homemade pies :(  I did make Robert Redford and a cheesecake though.   

Spring Break Baby!

Yes!! Spring Break is here. We celebrated last night with pizza and basketball!! Wohoo!! Miss thing was acting so lovey-dovey last night, it cracked us up. She kept walking back and forth between us and each time she'd give us a kiss or two. This is really funny, especially since everyday for the past two weeks or so she hasn't given out any kisses.

This morning when we went to go in to get her she was standing up chewing on the edge of her crib and gave us the biggest grin ever. I think she was pleasantly surprised to have Mommy and Daddy there to get her, rather than just her daddy. Little does she know she's got a WHOLE week with me!!! I decided to do some cleaning so I put on some cartoon channel and the Wiggles were on. SHe's never watched them before, but was pretty ethralled with them, so I got the kitchen floor swept and mopped and the downstairs bathroom cleaned. I always said I'd never use the tv like that, but you gotta do what you gotta do!! We are heading out this afternoon (after she takes a morning nap, keeping my fingers crossed on this one) and going to my parents house to help out Dad with Kate and Claire so he can get all ready for Florida.

Better be on my way....Meghan has been "reading" books, but I think I hear that it's changed to eating them. Oh-oh!

Chillin' on the way home

Just hanging out on the way home from Mamaw and Papaw's today.  She usually has a mouthful of fuzz because she tries to eat the fur off of the hood of her coat. 

Pigtails!

Wow...I used the computer to fix this picture, as you can see.  I was just attempting to get a good pic of her while she was standing at the window, but it came out all funny, so I doctored the coloring a bit.  Looks kinda professional though! 

Mean Face

Meghan makes this face all the time now. We call it her mean face.  Usually she gives us this look when we tell her no to something she shouldn't be doing.  We are gonna have our hands full, huh?

Miss Meghan and her Great Papaw

This is a pic of the two of them at Claire's birthday party today. 

Libby and Marcia.....please don't tell Grandpa his pic is on the internet.  I'm sure he'd freak out thinking someone would be stealing his identity through this!!

All Dressed Up!

Ta daaaaaa!!!  Here's Miss Thing all dressed up before Krista's wedding.  She even posed nicely so I could take her picture!  Yeah!!!!!

Time flies

Can't believe it was February the last time I updated here. Life has been nuts the past few weeks, but it's getting better now. Basketball is over and Spring Break will be here Friday!! WOHOO!! I can't hardly wait to spend the entire week with you! I have birthday money to spend and lots of things I want to buy myself, so we'll probably have some bonding time at the mall.

Finally, you are beginning to really walk! You just crack us up at the way you'll go back and forth back and forth walking between us while we sit on the floor. It's so funny to watch your wiggly little walk. How amazing is this...one year ago we were anxiously waiting your arrival and now you are walking around on your own. Man.....this year has gone by quickly.

Tonight was Krista's wedding. You slept through the ceremony and were an angel during hte reception...or at least what little of it we were there for. We of course couldn't stay too long because of the tournament games on tv. No way could Daddy miss much of those. Anyways, you were entertaining and making silly faces to everyone, and you even got to meet Maya tonight! I sure hope that you and her don't become roommates in college someday and act as crazy as her mommy and I did! You even offered up a kiss to a woman you don't even know. That's really funny because we've been begging for kisses for two days and you act like you have no idea what we're talking about. Silly kid! You must just be stubborn, but I don't know where you'd get that????????

I'll be posting pics soon.........

Sundays :(

UGH.....it's Sunday evening. I hate Sunday evenings, especially with Mondays like tomorrow. We've got a basketball game and it's an hour earlier than normal, so the bus leaves at 3:30. Nana will be picking you up from Miss Jessie's and then Aunt Shelly will be bringing you home for bed. I won't even see you at all. I really hate that. It'll make tomorrow such a long day.

You were quite fussy this afternoon. You refused to sleep this afternoon and instead chose to be a wiggle worm and crawl all over us. A new development though, you actually stood on your own for several seconds. Then you starting playing this game where you'd stand an then fall down and bounce around. Fortunately we were on the bed so there was plenty of cushion. You were having a ball, especially since we were laughing at you. I crack up each time you do something and then look at us just to make sure we saw you. What a ham!

Spring Break can't get here soon enough. I look so forward to spending an entire week with you, but I know going back will be hard. Not too much longer after that though and we'll have the entire summer together. I can't wait!

In my new overalls....

Yikes....I bought these at Christmas time thinking you'd wear them this spring/summer. They are 18-24 months, but they already fit!! Long legs.....just like your daddy! I pray you never grow much taller than 6'0. Hopefully, you'll be tall and beautiful like your Aunt Shelly!

Finally Friday

Whew.....this week is over and it looks like it's going out with a bang. Let's recap....Monday was President's Day so Mommy didn't have to go to school! WOHOO! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we had games. Three games in one week is just too much. Thank goodness for Mamaw and Papaw. They stayed at home with you on Tuesday and played with you during the first game on Wednesday. Because of the boring game, 42-15 (our whopping 15 points, UGH!) they brought you home early. Our second game went pretty quickly though, so surprisingly you were still up when we got home and we had a few precious minutes to play with you. Sleeping was pretty good this week...my memory is poor tonight, but I think you only got up one night!! That's my sleeping baby back! YEAH!

So tonight, all we had was practice then we planned on eating at home. It's the first non-lunch meat sandwich meal I think we've had all week. I called Mamaw from school to tell her I was on the way, but she told me you were running fever. Oh no! Since it was 4:20 and I didn't want to have to go to the walk in clinic at the doc's office in the morning I called. They figure your ear infection from a couple of weeks ago is back and gave us some more antibiotic. You already had an appointment scheduled for Monday to check them again, so that's a relief. Daddy will take you in for that appointment to see what's going on. You haven't acted too sick tonight, so I really don't think it's a big deal. A little medicine and Tylenol and you'll feel like a champ again.

Big progress this week in the pulling up department. You no longer have to pull up, you just need a wall and you can kinda climb up it. The first time I realized this was in the kitchen. You were standing and leaning against the dishwasher. I nearly flipped out worrying about you falling and hurting your head, so I sat you down. Of course, you popped right back up to standing again. I'm realizing that bumps and bruises are gonna happen so I just need to chill about. I just hate that cry of when it happens or evidence of it (like that tiny bruise on your forehead this week!) Where that came from I don't know.

Well.......Daddy just came in so you must be sleeping away. We are gonna watch our taped shows from the week and eat some freshly baked chocolate cake. Mmmm...just what Momma needs after a week of lunch meat sandwiches. LOL! Night sweet baby....love you more than you'll ever know.

posing for a pic....

gonna be walking soon...

Mamaw got me my first pair of kicks from Stride Rite.  They were quite pricy, but I can definitely stand much more balanced in them.  We crack up because after we take them off you just wiggle and stretch your toes like a crazy kid!!