Memorial Day Weekend

Last Thursday, Mary Ella and I headed west to Hope to see my family. She was thrilled to see Mia, Super Uncle Cole, and Jenn. Friday we spent the day at Nanny and Pa's house. ME loved playing outside and riding the beat beat (beat beat= beep beep= gator)! Friday afternoon I left ME with Mia and went down to Shreveport to meet Brad and our friends, Bob and Rebecca, for some adult fun. It was nice to get away for a night and day! We stayed downtown, so we were able to just walk down to the river for the real reason we were there, Mudbug Madness, an annual crawfish festival. I like crawfish, but I'm not into peeling them, so I had my usual one that Brad peeled. Ha! I do enjoy the other cajun food they have to offer. Brad can eat boxes of them, and Bob and he did!

It's a very classy event.

We had a blast!

Saturday night when we got back to Hope we got the best surprise. Cole had proposed to Jenn...and she said yes! I am so excited about getting a new sister-in-law, and ME already loves her Aunt Jenn! It was a fun weekend full of good food and great company!

Water Baby

Ready to go!

Today Mary Ella got a private swim lesson...only because she was the only one in class. ;) Her teacher said she would love to try her in the pool on her own. I happily agreed because it meant Mommy got a little break. ;) And she did wonderfully! She looked and waved at me maybe 3 times, but she was zoned in on her teacher. She loves Ms. Natalie! I am so thankful she takes directions well from others and is never afraid for me to leave her at Bible class or the gym nursery. Anyway, I think she is going to be a good student. She has learned so much in swim lessons and comes home talking about it. We have whole conversations about "the pool." I ask her what she does at swim lessons, and she will say, "duck, quack quack" (they ride and jump off of a duck). She says, "kick, kick, kick," "bubbles" (they blow bubbles), "wee" (the slide), "elbow, elbow, knee, knee" (this is how they climb out). And she has picked up on and loves to sing the songs from swim lessons. I was so proud watching her today. She is acting so big lately! I wish the pictures were better, but I was taking them through the observation glass.

Listening very carefully
Kicking

Natalie trying to talk her into jumping from a standing position.

She plopped down on her booty instead.

She can swim underwater the width of the pool.

She did stand and jump for her!

Getting ready to slide

Wee!

Kicking on her back

And after nap time today, we got back in the water! Can't get enough!

She was dancing. ;)

Sharing an ice cream sandwich with Mommy

I'd say summer has officially started!

Addison turns 2!

We celebrated Addison's 2nd birthday today at Splash Park! Mary Ella had a blast with her friends! We will definitely be frequent visitors this summer!

Yummy cake!

Sweet Kayleigh Mae

Sleeping Emma Vaughn...she is the best baby!

Fun times!

Swing into Summer

I love our little town! It is so family friendly! Every Thursday night in May they have Swing into Summer in downtown Madison. There is a live band, free food and drinks, and tons of games and fun for the kids. Last night we met Sara, Addison, and Emma, Sarah and McLain, and Kristy and Miles for some summer fun!

Bubbles!

Riding the "choo choo"

Digging in the giant sand pile

And ME barely made it past the scary clown to come home with this prize! Fun night!

Home Alone

Well, Mary Ella and I have survived three days of being home alone....almost. Brad comes home tonight from Muskogee. I have to say it hasn't been too bad. Between going to the gym, swim lessons, playing at the park, walking to the pond to feed the ducks, and eating whatever we wanted (and having the remote to myself), we have stayed pretty busy. And I haven't gotten freaked out once. I think we may have stayed ONE night in Little Rock by ourselves, and I ended up putting ME in bed with me and locking the bedroom door. I feel alot safer in Madison than I did there. We lived in a very nice neighborhood, but it was off of a busy road and one of the houses on our street had been broken into. Plus until now, every house we have lived in has had windows looking straight through the house. If I was by myself I would be scared to walk through and find someone looking in the windows...eek! And I am even more of a chicken now with ME. But you can't see into our living room from the front of our house here. I didn't realize that at first, and then wasn't sure if I liked it. But we took the window coverings off of the three doors behind the fireplace, so now there is plenty of light. Anyway, we did it! And will probably be doing it alot as Brad will have to travel more with this job. But we'll just turn on the alarm and sleep soundly...who doesn't sleep better with a big bed all to themselves? ;)

This little one is ready to see her Daddy! She has looked for him in bed in the mornings and listened for him in the afternoons. Just to make sure he realizes how much we missed him and appreciate him, we made Na Na's chocolate chip cheesecake to surprise him with when he gets home. Love you, Dada!

Baby Bookworm

This is the stack of books that we read just before dinner tonight. Mary Ella brought each one, and the only reason I stopped her was because we had to eat. She LOVES to read! She will go in her closet and choose book after book from the bottom two shelves. She brings them to me and climbs up on the couch to settle in for each one. She can even go find specific titles. And tonight she wanted to read nursery rhymes instead of sing before bedtime. She can't get enough, and I'm loving it!

Swim School

Not swim lessons. Swim school, people. ;) Today ME started a 2 week class at Maley's Swim School. I was thrilled that she was just as happy and comfortable in the water as she was last year. You just mention pool, and she is good to go! Saturday, we got her a blow up pool with a slide for the backyard, and she says over and over, "I want pool." I love that she loves the water! She can already do everything they do in the class, so it is basically a review from last summer. But, I think getting her back into it will be good before we start spending our days at the pool.

London 2012, here we come!

Hangin' with the Dimons

Princess and the Frog?

So my friend Sara, mother of a 7-week-old and a 2-year-old, has inspired me the last 2 days on our outings. It makes me believe that I will be able to get out and carry on with a toddler and a newborn soon. Yesterday, Sara and Emma joined us for the Canton Flea Market. Emma was so good, and ME was patient in the stroller as long as I kept the snacks coming. It is the first time we have been because we are usually working, and I was really impressed! We got the cutest step stools for Addison and Mary Ella. I could have bought a ton more stuff, but this time we were kind of just taking it all in. We did grab a few cards of boothes we might want to contact...they made custom frames and birthday banners. Anyway, we learned a couple lessons. Even though the girls were great, next time we need to invest in a babysitter. And next time we need to make if off the square. As we were leaving we saw a whole street filled with vendors that we didn't even know about!

Then today, Sara brought both girls and met us at the Mississippi Science Museum for a playdate. Addison and ME enjoyed looking at the fish and reptiles the most. Mary Ella saw a snake and said, "Snake, ahhhhhh!" The funny thing is she was just joking. Me, I don't joke around with snakes. I couldn't even look. Poor Sara had to lift her up to see the two-headed...I can't even talk about it.

Notice the alligator behind her.

Playing a fun, new game

After we saw everything there was to see, we went outside and walked over to the park. Actually, they would have been just as happy running up and down this little hill.

Both days we were able to have lunch before we parted ways for the day. Sara, you are Supermom! I can only hope I will be able to bounce back as quickly as you have!

P.S. I'm not seeing ME's 20 month post or the video of her singing! Something was going on with Blogger yesterday, and I sure hope I didn't lose it?