I'm getting old... and it seems to be happening quickly.

This weekend I celebrated 7 years of marriage with my husband.  Today I look at the calendar and realize a month from now our daughter will be 4.  How did that happen?  I am 20 weeks pregnant with our second child how could I be a mom of two, I rarely feel qualified to be an adult let alone a parent.  And I have no idea how what feels like a week ago I was in high school hanging out in the halls with friends before class started and when I think about it I realize it was 10 years ago when I was graduating.  10 YEARS.  That is crazy. Crazy I tell you.

I also realized a couple weeks ago that I used to joke with my aunt and uncle and give them a hard time about being stuck in the 80’s while now I find myself totally jamming out to some of my favorite music from the 90’s and re-reading favorite books from my childhood.  Plus I mean what other excuse could I use for not updating in 9 months.  That's right these decrepit hands have been just too exhausted to type. (That is not true at all)

Dravyn is getting bigger, more independent ( I have to sing Independent by Webbie to spell it right. Don't judge.) and whew is the drama still strong in this house.  She is cute, and loving, and tries so hard to be helpful to everyone.  She loves going to story time at the library, and has been begging to go back to swim lessons for 3 months now.  She is so excited about having a little brother or sister. She wakes up and gives Lima Bean (our nick name for the baby) hugs and kisses, snuggles Lima Bean, and is already doing things like when I say she has 3 more minutes of snuggles before bed arguing with me that Lima Bean said she has 10 minutes.

I am trying to get my cleaning done so of course I have been writing this instead and need to get up and get something done, but hopefully I will remember to post again soon.

2014 Family Campout

The 48th Halloween Campout is in the books.  Obviously I haven't been to all of them, I'm only 27 and I have missed some of them for different reasons but I have many many memories from years of campouts.

Most of the time the Halloween Campout is the only time all year I get to see some of my family members.  Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and their kids, family galore.  Campfires, food, hot chocolate, and a lack of electronics, what's not to love? 

This year we got a little bit of a late start, it had been raining, and it was supposed to rain all day Friday. Combine that with a last minute doctors appointment and we decided to go on Saturday morning.  I look forward to the campout all year and now that I have my own family it's even better.  Dravyn loves every second of it until she gets tired, but to be fair she doesn't like anything when she is tired.  She spent the whole weekend running around and trying to help people with whatever they were doing or just running in circles saying "Look Mommy I've got super speed!" until she crashed and burned.

I am hoping that 52 years from now we will be celebrating 100 years of family campouts and we will still be sitting up half the night laughing and sharing stories around the fire. A big plus will be that by then I will be 79 so even some of the old stories will be new to me. Always look on the sunny side.

The Begining of Fall.

Forget summer, it's too hot, it's to busy, and it's just not as cozy as fall and winter.  Our fall started early, with a pumpkin patch, hay rides, and corn maze at the cider mill. We have carved a pumpkin, with another being painted this morning and on the way to carving, and planning for the family camp out has begun.  I love this time of year, love love love fall and winter.

Despite it being 85 degrees the day we went we still had a lot of fun, and Dravyn was really excited that her grandma and grandpa went with us this year, I think her favorite part was the hay ride, we went around twice and she just loved it.

To Dravyn, Swimming Lessons Take 3

I have taken you to swim lessons every summer since you turned one that makes this your third year and you have moved up from Water Babies to Tiny Tots.  You moved up yesterday mid class and I was in the pool with you, but today you did it yourself.

I was worried because yesterday you fell while walking around in the pool and your head went underwater twice. All evening last night and morning today you just kept telling me you didn't do good and asking me over and over if I remembered you falling.  Everytime you brought it up I told you that I did remember, but that we pulled you right back up and that you were ok, I told you I was so proud of you for how well you did and that you were going to get better at it.

I still wasn't sure as we sat under the canopy at the pool if you were going to let go of me and go with your teacher but when the time came you went right to her and followed her to the pool.  I was so proud of you, so incredibly proud of how brave you were to go when I could see on your face you were nervous and you kept looking back at me on the way to the edge of the pool. I won't lie it hit me like a ton of bricks this intense urge to scoop you up and tell you everything would be ok, but I knew that you needed to do this on your own.  You have grown so quickly, and you are becoming so independent.  I can't even count the number of times I looked over at the pool to check on you during that one thirty minute class, just to make sure you were doing ok and were listening to your teacher, and I even caught you looking at me a few times.  By the end of the class you got out and came right over to me to get a hug and get dried off and to tell me about how you threw the toys and went to get them. I soaked up every detail you gave me even though I saw the whole thing because you were so excited and proud to tell me about how you did it all.

You did great today baby and I am so proud of the girl you are growing up to be.  It's only the beginning baby, it's only the start of all the things you will accomplish this year, I can just tell.

So that picture thing...

I took a few, not one every day but close. Here are some of my favorites since my last post.

I also had an Easter project in the form of using vinyl to personalize my daughters Easter basket.  I don't think it turned out too bad.  It is now weeks after and she still wants to search for eggs almost everyday.  I am loving how she is getting into birthdays and holidays now.

So my next goal is to post again you know, before next month. I really have been slacking lately.

A Birthday and a Demolition Derby

I am 27.  I don't care who knows, I am not one of those "There is no reason to keep celebrating after 21." type of people.  I am over the top in love with birthdays.  They are full of awesome.  Who doesn't love picking a meal you love, having a cake/cookie/brownie/dessert of your choosing, and having a built in excuse to be lazy just one day and not feel guilty for it.  Besides, if you are too old to celebrate things in life you are too old.

My birthday was the 28th, but we started the celebrations the 27th.  My hubby made me yummy kabobs on the grill, and my mother in law and daughter made me some awesome cupcakes!

On my actual birthday not a lot happened I ordered pizza for my birthday lunch and we drove down to my Mummy's house.

Saturday we left Dravyn with her Grummy and went to Joplin, I got breakfast, got to go shopping, hung out with a friend I hadn't seen for way too long and my husband and I had a nice dinner, and stayed in town for the night.

Sunday we went for a walk at the Wildcat Glades walking trail, and went back for some things we didn't buy the day before, headed back to Mummy's house and hung out with everyone there for awhile and then headed home.  My birthday weekend was exactly how I wanted it and I am so glad I have a hubby who spoils me like he does.

This weekend we decided Friday we would go to the Speedway and watch the Demolition Derby, Figure 8 Racing, and UTV racing.  Dravyn has been begging since last year when we went to the track to go again, so we took her with us per her request.  Not even an hour later she was ready to go home, but we made her stick it out and bought her a toy truck to make up for it.

It was a fun night until the drive home when we hit a deer.  We are all OK and the car didn't get too much damage, so I think it counts as a win for us.  It just turned into a looong night.  I was so tired yesterday my brain was just not with it, and we just spent the day relaxing at home.

I don't really have any plans for this week and I think that is just how I want it.  My goal is to finally finish going through baby girls clothes so we can get all the things she has outgrown to storage, and to try to take a picture every day.  I think I can get it done.

Blog Life vs Real Life

So for this post I thought I would do something a little different and show a little peek into what really happens around here.  All of the Blog Life photos were taken by me as usual and the Real Life photos were taken by my two year old, I love seeing what she takes photos of, and love even more that most of them are of me, my hubby, and his parents.  She really loves taking photos of us.

Blog Life :  Cute toddler learning to take pictures of the cooking progress for her future blog.

Real Life:  She was "cooking"  water with tiny amounts of the ingredients I was using over no heat of course so her picture was this.

Blog Life: Look at this yummy chicken alfredo I made!

Real Life:  Look at all these dishes we left.

Blog Life:  Look at all the fun stuff we do!

Real Life:  Where I am more than I should be sitting in front of the computer.

Blog Life:  Look I clean!

Real Life:  What it looks like more than 90% of the time.

Well, that was fun now wasn't it?  I think she is going to get good at this photo taking thing.  You know in awhile when she can actually hold the camera correctly.