Literal Casualties

Growing up, books were very special to me (and still are). My library card was magical.

Carly already has tons of books. I can't stop myself from buying them for her.

And every time I read one to her or watch her play with one I think, "Please don't tear that beautiful book. Please don't chew it or rip it or destroy it. Please don't ever write anything other than your name inside that book. Let that book stay beautiful."

I literally get a sick feeling in my stomach every time I think about a book being ripped or torn or mangled. I once borrowed a book from my friend Sarah. When I finished it, the corners of the cover were ugly and I had accidentally creased the front. I couldn't return it to her like that. I had to buy her a new one.

So you can imagine my horror when Carly did this to her pop-up books:

Can you see Slimy the worm on top of that purple hat?

Nope? See. That's him right there. Without a head (?).

Do worms have heads? This one doesn't... anymore.

And Grover's horse?

Headless.

All pop-ups have since been taken out of circulation until a later date (tbd).

Fingers crossed that Carly grows up to love and treasure books.

Carly's favorite hangout

She has tons of toys and countless places she wander to in our house.

Where does she AWAYS end up?

In Lola's "room".

Good thing they are besties and Lola doesn't seem to mind.

Landri's bouncing birthday party

Happy belated birthday to Ryan and Kristi's little sweetie, Landri!

Holy cow! I remember when she was born and can hardly believe that she is already FOUR!

Landri's Minnie Mouse party was at one of those bounce places. Since Carly isn't walking yet (I am NOT pushing that), we knew that bouncing would not go over well but thought that a slide might be a hit with our little dare devil.

It was not.

Neither was this box thing that all of the other kids liked so much.


Daddy (and mommy) holding her was a hit.
Here are some cute pics I snapped of my loves.

Like I said in an earlier post, she is actually keeping her ponytail holders and bows in ALL DAY! This is quite an accomplishment.

At the end of the day. when the ponytail holder is out, this is what her hair looks like.

Pure awesomeness.

Sara's birthday cocktail party

My good friend Sara had a birthday recently and I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to host a cocktail party and cross another "task" off of my thirty by thirty list.

I decorated, tried some new recipes, dressed up and hosted a very nice cocktail party if I do say so myself.

Jodi and the birthday girl!

Carly even got dressed up and attended with her date (and mine) - Daddy.

Lola made an appearance, of course.

Is anyone surprised that the boys ended up playing poker?

No? That's what I thought.

Us girls definitely got in to it a little more than they did.

Carly's cocktail was PURE MILK.

New truck

Freddy’s new old truck came equipped with a whistling sound that could be heard EVERY TIME you pressed on the gas petal. Five trips to the dealership and countless phone calls to countless people and here we are with a new truck.

No whistling. Four doors. We both agree that we love this new truck.

And so do Carly and Lola!

side note: Please exuse the wild woman ponytail. She is actually keeping ponytail holders and bows in her hair ALL day. The trick is to get it in quickly and then get out of there. Sometimes they aren't pretty, but at least we can see her pretty eyes now! I can't wait for her hair to "outgrow" (hee hee) this stage.

Easter

Carly had a GREAT Easter!

She talked Nana in to assembling all of her new toys

which included her very first pony


Nana also brought confetti eggs tp play with

Friends and family joined us, we ate great and took horrible family pictures (I'll spare you).

Sorry it translates into a boring blog. Maybe next year will be more egg-siting.

Besties and Babies

Here are some recent pics I took.

This is my best friend since high school, Lesley, her two boys Hudson and Colton, me and Carly.

Of course we had to encourage Hudson to give Carly kisses. Aren't they too sweet?

Conclusions

I have recently come to the following conclusions:

1. Megan was right. Don't break the bank on an expensive crib (no matter how beautiful), because your child will just EAT IT!

Thank goodness I followed her advise. These pictures were taken over a month ago. Carly has dug even deeper in to the wood. We even found a wood chip in her diaper the other morning.

Yes, I know that we need to invest in the plastic covers. Hopefully they have ones for the sides of the crib and not just the front and back.

2. I am in fact a baby gate kind of mom.


3. Carly did a great job of transitioning from bottle to sippy cup AND from formula to milk.

4. This light has GOT to go!

5. Carly's hair isn't ready for pigtails yet.

Heels and Hills

I did it. It's done.

I'm registered. Paid up. Signed up.

But am I ready?...

I guess we will see on Sunday, May 2nd when I run my first (and quite possibly only) HALF MARATHON!

This comes just 8 days before my 30th birthday! It was a "task" on my Thirty by Thirty list, so I'm cutting it close. Oh, well. At least I am finally doing it, right?!

I will be taking part in the Heels and Hills race, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters.

If you care to join me, bring it on! You can run a mile, a 5K, a 10K or a half marathon.

Not a runner? You can always come cheer me on. Freddy will be there with Carly D.

I am now accepting encouragement in the following forms:

Blog Comments (or facebook wall posts - you choose)

Phone Calls or texts filled with words of inspiration

Running buddies

And, of course, DONATIONS!

You can financially support me on this journey by clicking here and visiting my personal page.

Donations of ALL SIZES are welcome.

Wish me luck, blogging friends. I will let you know how it goes!

Habitat for Humanity

Over a month ago (sorry for the blog-slacking) I completed another task on my Thirty by Thirty List. I'll update ya'll on that later.

Freddy, Austin, Sara and I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.

When we registered online the description read "landscaping". Yard work is not my strong point, but you can tell by their yard that Sara and Austin enjoy it.

Freddy commented that we would probably end up painting because he HATES painting and that would be his luck! I assured him that we would be landscaping because that is what the job description said.

When we got there, what do you think we were assigned? Painting! Apparently a group of high school students had finished the landscaping earlier that day.

The experience was fun,but also very humbling. Nearly every other volunteer there that day had helped with countless other houses. Just for fun. Just for the feel-good pay-off. I felt like such a slacker. Other than volunteering as a Big Sister (which ended recently), my volunteering is limited to registration at our Big Brothers and Big Sisters Galas, Taste of Fort Worth, Clay Shoots, etc. - all of which come with the added bonuses of free food and drink, pictures with my favorite radio personalities from The Ticket, auction items, etc.

I definitely want to do more volunteering. Get ready heart because I am about to bring on the feel-good pay-offs!

Here are some pictures of us at the house we helped to paint.

My husband the great gift-giver

Freddy has been on a great-gift-giving-streak lately. I thought that I would blog-share and let everyone in on the awesomeness.

For Christmas he gave me this wall-hung, full-length mirror that opens to become a jewelry cabinet.

And for Valentine's Day I got this single-cup coffee maker. I was a little skeptical at first, but now I don't know what I would do without it!