Happy Memorial Day!

What a wonderful weekend we were blessed with!

Alex and I checked out our first NASCAR race this past weekend. It was quite an experience! There were people of all walks of life and all states of dress; lots of "hospitality" vendors passing out free samples of all sorts of treats. We had excellent seats, right across from the first pit box and the big "scoreboard". The parachuters came on the grass right in front of us too. We had a great view of Turns 1,2, and 4 and the start/finish line.

I donned a Jeff Gordon Tee to support my hubby... it has already been dropped off at the Goodwill! :)

Speaking of T-shirts, there was one fella who put a new spin on recycling! (For those who are not familiar with racing, Kyle Busch drove the #5 car last year, Casey Mears took his place this year.)

Ivy had lots of fun outside this weekend! She hung out with her papa in the hammock...

And she had a BLAST on the "new" slide that was a gift from our awesome neighbors! For our little climber, it was the perfect addition to baby beach!

Thanks Amy, Tim, and Samantha!!!

Oh, I almost forgot... new words for the week are "Dos," "out," "pease" = please, "Sharon" now that we're calling her sissy, "shake," and "Potty" which she said when she needed to go yesterday... that made Momma very happy!

LUV YOU!!!

It is worthy of a mid-week blog update... Ivy said "love you" this morning! My heart could sing! It is every bit as precious as the voluntary kiss I got two weeks ago!! What a wonderful gift! :)

18 months and climbing!

Monday evening, Ivy and I were out in the backyard. I was weeding around the flowers, and she was playing here, there, and everywhere. Then, I looked up and she had climbed from the porch into one of the chairs, stepped over on to the built in seat, and climbed up the porch rails... and she thought that was GREAT fun! I was a little worried, but when I put her down and she zipped right back up, I decided a photo was in order.

Incidentally, I need to be more vigilant about sunscreen everyday. She has her daddy's really good skin that tans in a heartbeat, but this week her first freckle appeared. A little reminder for mommy that even if her skin tans well, it still needs protecting!

On Tuesday night, my school had our Spring Concert and cookout. Our family of three went early so that Ivy could make an apperance before her bedtime, and oh, I'm so glad we did! She had the best time! I guess the theme of her night would be "Up and Down" because that's all she wanted to do (more climbing). She wanted to go up the stairs...

all the stairs... and then back down!

She wanted to go up the slide that's probably 8 ft. high...

all the way up...(I was there to catch her, but I didn't help any of the 10 or so times that she made that climb.)

and then down to her papa's waiting arms!

Over and over, rinse and repeat. Up the stairs, down the stairs, up the slide, down the slide, up the stairs.....

Friday night saw us Downtown on the Square. Ivy was really curious about the rocks that she couldn't pick up! It was too funny!

She checked out the painted park benches...
and hung out with dad. (She's actually having more fun than the expression shows!)

Saturday morning it was time for 1 1/2 year pictures! That really tuckered her out, so she crashed on the beanbag.

Then we headed to the mall and Ivy took an imaginary spin on a lawn mower...and then her first real spin on the carousel. She liked it, I think...

After the mall, we stopped in at a friend's graduation celebration. Ivy moved nonstop for two solid hours. Her papa says she's like the Energizer bunny, and I'd have to agree!!

Here she is all dressed up on Sunday morning, ready for church. Just too sweet...

Ivy's new words for the week are "Sissy", "uno" (when her papa holds up one finger!), "Shir-she" (No kidding, she finally started saying Aunt Shirley's name on Aunt Shirley's birthday! The best gift, I think!) and "See-Saw" (which she sings while draped over the rocking footstool).

Mother's Day!

Have you ever had that feeling of just being stuck?

Today we celebrated a lovely, if rainy, mother's day. Ivy crawled into my bed this morning to say "Hi" and then Papa took us both out for breakfast. We had to skip church so that we could clean the house and get ready for the cook-in to celebrate Mother's Day and Aunt Shirley's birthday. Ivy was glad to have Sissy here...that meant another truck to play in! (Playing in vehicles (they're all trucks to Ivy) has become one of her most favorite pastimes!)

Even though today was dreary, yesterday was so bright she had to wear shades!

The new word for this week is "pa-pos" which means "zapatos" or shoes. Here she is with one flop on and one flop off...

At least she kept both flip-flops on to go down the escalator like a big girl!

Miss Independent

Ivy is really asserting her independence these days. We almost never feed her anymore. Sometimes this means great success, sometimes it means great mess. This morning's yogurt was no different...
When we went to church this morning, Ivy let me do a ponytail! Of course, it was out by the time we got to church, but it's a start! (Thanks for another super cute dress, Madrina!)We've had a beautiful week to spend outside. Tuesday, Ivy learned about wind...Alex had a great idea to create a bigger sandbox for Ivy (to keep her original sandbox from killing the grass every time it was moved) and her covered sandbox became a splash pool. Conceptually I had my doubts but the result, "Baby Beach," has actually been a lot of fun this weekend! Ivy used the potty at school for the first time this week!! To celebrate we bought her some big girl undies. We're still several months away from true potty-training, but potty-learning is going well! (Yes, I understand she'll be exasperated at me for this picture one day...)