Taking Advantage....

Of the nice weather, that is! :) This past week or so we have had amazing weather for Nebraska. Usually March likes to hold out and keep us shivering, but it looks like it gave up early, and Cayleigh and I have been taking full advantage. Except for the day we went to the zoo, we've walked to the parks in our neighborhood everyday to go out and play. Cayleigh loves to ride in her little red wagon with her sun-hat and sippy cup just chattering away at all she sees. These past couple of days I finally remembered to take the camera and get some shots of her exploring the parks. She's grown up so much! She still loves to swing (as pictured below), but she's also enjoying walking around the playground, climbing the stairs, picking at the sand, and sliding down the slides with Mommy. We can't wait for the good weather to set in for good so that we can add swimming to the list of things we love! :)
Analyzing the composition of the playground sand. She seemed to have approved.:)

Yup, we still love swinging!

Exploring the seedy underbelly of the playground.

Laughing at the crazy lady taking her picture. (AKA Mommy)

What do we have here?

SAND!!!

Time to get down and dirty!

Get that camera out of my face, mommy! I'm busy!

Weeeeeeeee!!!

Still Giggling :)

Pretending to be mommy with the big girl water bottle. :)

She might be a botanist..... it didn't take her long to get fixated on the tree.

Exploring the tree :)

Look what I found!

Zoo!

This tuesday my dad (AKA Paw Paw) and I took Cayleigh to the zoo. We went in the morning through the afternoon, and even though it was the first time for both the zoo and missing her morning nap, she did great and we all had an amazing time! She was even walking around and fearlessly exploring her new surroundings. Here's some pics and a video of our trip. :) I hope you all enjoy them!


Walking in the jungle :)

PawPaw helping her rest her legs.

Swinging on a vine like a monkey (with some help from mommy) :)

Lunch!!

Yay! In line for lunch! She knows she's gettin' food!

In utter awe with the shark tank tunnel.

Hydrating in the desert dome.

Discovering new things :)

Picking a pretty flower for mommy. :)

The perfect team (and by team we mean PawPaw does everything Cayleigh wants!)

Learning what tall grass feels like!

Our First stop, the desert dome!


And Finally, a video of Cayleigh in the jungle. :)

Shabby Apple San Gabriel GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Shabby Apple San Gabriel GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
This dress is so cute! I just discovered this site via Holli's craft blog, and now almost wish I hadn't b/c the dresses are so cute!

Cayleigh Loves Daddy :)

Oh yes, she knows she's not leaving here empty handed!

Mission Complete! :)

"Cleaning" Dada Bear for Cayleigh.

Dada Bear pre-stuffing! Oh, and Cayleigh pretending she doesn't know me while Phillip not-so-secretly thinks outloud that I'm a dork. :)

Cayleigh just happy to be loved!

I hope this post brings a smile to the person who most needs it (AKA Daddy). A couple of weeks ago Phillip and I took Cayleigh to Build-A-Bear so that she and Daddy could build a very special bear together, now named "Dada Bear". Cayleigh had a great time, and Phillip picked out the perfect bear for his little booger butt. She loves her Dada Bear, b/c everytime she squeezes its little paw a voice recording of Phillip talking to Cayleigh plays. I wish you could see how big she smiles everytime she hears his voice! Here's the pics of that day. We Love You Daddy!

Project Playroom

Look at that smile...so cute, so happy, so sweet! And why is she smiling like that? Sure, one could say it's b/c Mommy's face makes her laugh; OR, one could look at this awesome playroom that was just finished for her this week!It's filled with all sorts of fun things! Like this ball pit snatched for a steal off of craigslist, complete with climbing tower and slide.

Packed with bright colors and an alphabet up on the wall for fun learning! Let's not forget to point out the stereo that plays upbeat music whenever it feels to quiet and our art table for banging stuff on when it STILL feels just to quiet :)

A cozy reading corner with fun, fluffy friends to lay back on while we read (eat) some books found in our snazzy sling bookshelf!

A musical kitchen with "magic" archway that reveals a library on the other side.

Our numbers up on the wall in case we get bored with letters :)

And lest we forget what time it is, a clock with a reminder that it's "FUN TIME!"

Pictures of happy animals to learn the names and sounds of, and a bookshelf full of fun toys like blocks, shapes, rings, puzzles. If that doesn't float your boat, try out the foam double ducky rocker! Great for playing with friends!

A piano that sings to you, and place of pride up on the wall to display all of your wonderful creations.....what's that? What are those big bright dots on the wall?!

Why, my dear, those are little painted on chalkboards so that you can draw on the very walls themselves!
Yes, I thought that'd make you happy :)

And this :)

And ALL of this, my Lady Bird, was to make you happy! And I see it worked :)

In all seriousness, this playroom has been about two months in the making. Not being made of gold, it took alot of patience and luck to get all the bargain finds that fill this room (almost everything is second hand). The long-term outlook on it is for it to be easily trasitioned into a school-room for homeschooling in the future. I figured by the time we adopt our son, she'll be ready for pre-school, he'll probably be about 3rd or 4th grade, and the coloring on the walls would be appropiate for both ages and sexes. I'm thrilled with the way it all turned out, and the look on Cayleigh's face day after day from playing in her room has made all the work and sweat well worth it! Not pictured is the little outside area we're getting set up for her, too. The sliding glass door opens up onto a concrete patio right below our deck, and we've got a big little tikes slide and a little tikes swing that hangs from a beam on the deck for her. I just wanted to brag a little on our new, super-duper fun playroom! :)D

My Baby's Famous! :)

Once you read this post, you MUST go to

..................bezyphotography.com.....................

Why you ask? Because our beautiful Cayleigh Joan had her pictures recently taken at Bezy Photography in Olde Town Bellevue, and Tim (the photographer) thought she was so lovely that he had to use her pictures on his website. I gave him permission to do so, and thought that maybe one of them would get used, but he put up a whole slew of pictures of her! It may be silly, but I'm so proud of her, LOL! Don't worry family, we ordered some wallets that I'll be mailing out once we recieve them.
If you live here in Papillion or Bellevue, I loved Bezy Photo. and as you can see, they did a great job! You can email them for a "friends and family" coupon if you want to get some pictures done yourselves.
PS. I believe you're obligated this ONE time to leave a comment on this post (preferrably after you see the pics!) :)

Home-Made Photo Shoot :)

Last week a couple of my friends and I decided to do "professional" pictures at home. Courtney, who recently graduated with her degree in graphic design, came over with her big fancy camera and took the pictures of Cayleigh and I for us! She also did some touching up afterwords, to fix the lighting and shadows on the pictures, so I just LOVE them! I tried to update them last week, but the computer freaked out and took 2 hours to NOT download them. Thank goodness it worked this time! I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as I do :)
On a Cayleigh update, she is talking, crawling, walking if she holds onto your fingers, and currently getting FOUR more teeth in on her bottom jaw. Even with all those teeth poking in, she's just the happiest little girl I've ever met. I got her a new stand and play piano, and she could just play with that thing all day long! She is also a BIG fan of bubbles :)....and fake flowers. We had a hard time getting a picture of her either without a flower in her mouth, or reaching for a flower to put in her mouth! She's alot of work, but the most worthwhile "job" I've ever had!
PS. Phillip isn't in the pictures b/c they were a surprise for him! I sent him out on a "man day" to dave n' busters with his friend Curtis (Courtney's husband). He loves the pics!