A Day in the Life...

Julia is such a little sweetheart at age 2 and 3/4! Here are some things that she likes:

- Very open-minded about food and trying new things. If she doesn't like some part of it, she will just spit it out. Last night, we were eating sushi at Edo's and she tried miso soup. She loved the soup, but didn't like the VERY tiny slice of green onion that was in the soup. So, out it came! She loves sweets, cheerios and raisins, frozen blueberries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, edamame, raw vegetables in dip, popcorn, oh.....did I mention sweets?

- Her teacher at wee school tells me that she is quiet/shy with other children in her class, very smart, very polite, and loves to learn. It takes her a little while to warm up to most other people (except JeeJee and PawPaw and then its an all out celebration!), especially if they are in our house. I have no idea why? She will hide somewhere or hide behind me if someone that she doesn't know very well is here. We are working on it. She is loving her wee school and asks me every night if tomorrow is wee school. She soaks up a lot from her teacher because she comes home saying things/quoting books/singing songs that she learned there.

- Does not like to change clothes.

- Loves books, art, music and her Dad best.

- Her favorite TV show is Yo Gabba Gabba, still. She likes to watch a movie before we go to bed. Lately, it has been the DisneyWorld trip home video. Before that, I usually pick up a dvd at the library every week when we go. She likes the Scholastic ones best, which are really short stories of popular books.

- Makes up jokes that are so funny. After scanning the room for inspiration, she'll say, "What do you call a picture that has a lamp on its window?" or "What do you call a stair that needs a table to sit on the candle?" Then, she comes up with some random answer after we have wrongly guessed about 15 answers. The answer is usually something like, "because it needs an etch a sketch," followed by a very loud laugh and slap on the leg.

- Likes repetition. She gets something in her mind and feels that it should stay that way......forever.

- Arthur is an imaginary friend that hangs out sometimes when its convenient. Like at bedtime when she has to get on to him and tell him to scoot over.

- Julia reminds me of an 80 year old woman most of the time. The other day when I was going to a sale, she told me that she wanted to sit in the car and listen to the birds.

Starting the day out with heart, J, and circle shaped pancakes.

Baking chocolate chip cookies with Daddy. As is sitting in front of the oven will speed up the cooking process!

At a very cute sprinkler park at Craighead Forest Park in Jonesboro.

Our annual outing to the Cooper Young festival with Emmy.

I just couldn't decide which picture that I liked best of these precious little girls so I narrowed it down to my five favorites.



John and I are celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary today. We tried to explain it to Julia last night over our very romantic sushi dinner in Memphis (with Julia). I said, "Julia, your Mom and Dad have been married for twelve years tomorrow!" She said, "Did you come back?" Yes, no doubt that she gets it!

Fall is in the Air

We had a great time at Solomon's 3rd birthday party! It was a superhero party.

So, when I asked Julia what superhero she wanted to be, she said, "a spot." What? I think that meant that she didn't know any superheros so we made up our own superhero and went as SuperJulia!

Spiderman and SuperJulia enjoying a pre-party sucker.

The best host and hostess!

Sweet Baby Rose

Julia, Caroline and Emmy in the rock climbing wall, I mean palace (that is what they named it!)

Emmy wore a WonderWoman costume that was her Momma's.

Julia is the last one standing at the cake table. You know she has to finish that cupcake before she can play!

The pinata was a hit! When we got in the car to go home, I asked Julia what her favorite part of Sol's birthday party was and she said, "putting candy in that bag!"

Love this one!

We have been spending a lot of time outside on a blanket now that the weather is getting cooler.

Julia is scared of bugs or anything that moves unexpectedly outside. We are working on that one.

Funny how much entertainment a dollar jump rope can bring!

Julia loves to paint, color and make things. She painted this picture and told me that it was a rainbow with Mommy, Daddy, Shyann, Sue (the dogs) and Julia. Not sure what the sixth color blob is. I signed her up for the Pre-Picasso art class at EACC on Tuesday afternoons. Last week was the first class and I think she liked it. They made grandparent's day cards and Julia spent thirty minutes on one card. She took each of the 24 crayons out of their box and colored about four strokes of color inside the card. It was a very orderly and structured process. Next week, is a plaster of Paris family tree. Fun!

Last Sunday, we took Julia to Build a Bear in Jonesboro. She picked out a Hello Kitty doll to make. Here she is putting her heart in.

Giving her a bath.....

She named her Jelly.

Jelly has become a permanent fixture in her bed. Julia loves to hug her!

Pardon this picture of us on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but I think we favor a little in this picture. People ask me all the time who she looks like and I say neither of us. But maybe, just maybe, we could pass for kinfolks in this picture!

A New Chapter....

Our little girl started wee school this week! She will be going on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-12 pm. We went to the get-to-know-you wee school picnic this week and had lots of fun hanging out with old friends and making some new ones!

Julia in the jumpy at her HAPPIEST!

She requested a ladybug face paint. I suspect it is because she is so excited about her ladybug backpack.

Having a picnic and enjoying some popcorn.

This girl is serious about some ice cream. She asked me if she could drink it when there was nothing but liquid left. I convinced her not to.

Here she is going into her classroom for the first time. She was jumping up and down saying, "I'm so excited about wee school!" Her teacher is Mrs. Jeannette until her regular teacher, Mrs. Joanie, comes back from maternity leave in a few weeks.

Making friends.

Here we are Thursday morning on her first day of school. She got up with no problem and was ready to go! This is a little different from most mornings....she usually does not like getting dressed and wants to stay at home!

Leaving home and hugging her backpack. I am not sure why she loves it soooo much?

Julia was playing with the puzzles when I left. She didn't cry, but cuddled up to me and said, "Mommy, I thought you were going to stay in my classroom?!"

The wee school walls are painted with animal murals. It gives the whole place a very happy feel. John and I picked her up at noon and she was bouncing off the walls. Mrs. Jeannette said that Julia was a very good girl and that she was very smart. She reported that she led the class in singing their abc's several times. We knew is was a good day when that night while I was putting Julia to bed she asked me if Mrs. Jeannette was coming over to sleep in her bed. I told her that if her own mommy couldn't sleep with her in her bed, then Mrs. Jeannette could not either!

Baby Rose hanging on to her mom's legs outside of wee school. I am sure that she got a good laugh at all of us because we were all a bunch of bags full of nerves.

I got a to sneak off last weekend for a girls weekend in Knoxville. We got to stay at a friend's downtown loft and his sense of style is WAY better than mine. Ate some good food, saw Eat, Pray, Love, got in some shopping, and as always, some great conversation.

Celebrate!

Julia, John and I took a road trip last weekend to drop John off at the place he was playing in Hot Springs while Julia and I headed over to Arkadelphia to stay with my friend Shawnie. It was biker's weekend in Hot Springs and I have never seen more Harleys in one place! I realized when we dropped John off how lucky both of us are to have jobs that we love. I am thinking that he definitely gets the sweeter deal with his arrangement...stay home with Julia during the week, get dropped off at your "workplace" on Friday evening, free fillet mi non dinner with drinks waiting upon your arrival, play guitar to some screaming fans (ok, not always.....but sometimes!), then have a driver pick you after the gig and take you to your comped hotel room.

Julia and John enjoying some popcorn pre-gig at Odie's House of Blues in Hot Springs.

Loved hanging out with Shawnie and Lance in Arkadelphia....I miss that Scrawn! This night also marked the VERY FIRST night that Julia and I slept in the same bed! We have never even napped in the same bed.....no, not even when she was tiny. We both slept great and it was so much fun to wake up beside her. Julia and I also got to have lunch with my cousin (and mommy-to-be!!!) Leslie before heading home. Leslie is a sweetheart and Chickfila was the perfect lunch spot for us. Julia had a blast playing in the play area and got to get rid of some energy before our drive home. Leslie is going to be a great mommy and I look forward to our girls playing together soon.

Here is baby Rose after putting on a great show with her birthday cake! She has the prettiest blue eyes and I just want to kiss her all the time.

Martha Stewart, aka Becca, won the prize with the cutest ever party favors. This is a hand made chalkboard mat to that you can roll up and take to restaurants to keep little hands busy. Julia is very into writing letters (she can draw a T!), shapes, and drawing pictures and has put her chalkboard mat to good use.

Birthday boy Linton in the throne at PUMP IT UP!

We had a great time at Pump It Up Saturday morning. I am just mad that I didn't think of the idea of giant inflatable toys in a huge padded room.

It took her about an hour to get brave enough to try out the jumpies, but when she did, it was ON!

The first hour of the party, she spent hanging out at the air hockey table, the water fountain, and running and screaming across the floor.

Then she got really brave and decided to try out the slide.

Here she goes....

The whole way down, she was screaming, I'm SCARED, I'm SCARED! Then at the bottom she fell out laughing and ran back up to the ladder to do it again.

I think cake is the highlight of every party for Julia. Whenever I ask her what she would like to get Linton or who ever is having a birthday party for their birthday present, she always says, "cake!"

Speaking of cake, I celebrated my birthday this week too. Thanks to everyone for making my day special. It's funny how the simplest times are the best. John and I had big plans to watch a movie after Julia went to bed, but he was snoring when I got back upstairs. I loved going to bed before 10! Julia told John that I was three years old and so they put three candles on my cake.

We also celebrated Neall's birthday Saturday night. I love this picture of the triathlon stars in their custom printed tops.

Julia playing the blues for baby Rose.

My little glamour girl