Two

Alabama,

I can't believe you are two years old now! It has gone by so fast, but I also can't remember what life was like without you! Here is what you are up to at 2 years old!

- You love to talk and do it all day! I can't even count how many words you say now....A LOT! You also say up to 5 word sentences.

- You love to sing and play the "drums" and listen to music and dance! Some of your favorite songs are "If all the Raindrops", the "Fruit of the Spirit song",

- You are very sweet and love to give hugs and kisses *especially Eskimo kisses!

- You weigh 31 pounds and are 35 inches tall. You wear size 24 months - 2T clothes. You wear a size 6 shoe.

- You have lots of friends and love to play with them and pray for them, too!

- You are a very great helper and love to help me clean or make something.

- You love to be outside in your playhouse and you always want to go outside with Daddy when he gets home.

- You still love to watch Barney and now you like Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, too.

- You can recognize McDonalds anywhere! ha!

- You are so sweet to use your manners and say "Please", "Thanks", and "Pardon".

- Your favorite food is "chick-chick". You also love suckers and want one daily. Another favorite food is strawberries....just like your Mama! ;-)

-You are little Miss Independent! Everyday I hear "I wanna do it myself!" Whether it's getting into the car, eating, putting on clothes, going up/down steps, whatever!

- You are trying to push the limits and see how far you can get with us! You know and can quote that it says "Obey Mommy and Daddy" in the Bible but you don't always put it into practice. You are really a very good girl most of the time, though!

- You are still a great sleeper. You sleep anywhere from 10-12 hours a night and take a 1-3 hour nap in the afternoon. :)

-You love to color pictures and play with play-doh and do any kind of art project. You tell everyone "I make that!"

-Your imagination is growing everyday! I love to see the things you pretend!

- You also have the best memory! You can remember things that happened a LONG time ago (like losing your balloon at Glenn's or the cow coming to Chick-fil-A, or that you didn't like Santa Clause). I'm really amazed!

-You love to read books and we read several every day and night! A few of your favorites are the Goodnight Bible ..particularly the part about Noah!, Put me in the Zoo, Barney book, Princess book, and Goodnight Gorilla.

-I have to be very careful because you repeat everything! Like you started to say "Oh, man!"

-You are learning to use the potty and are doing very goood! You love to get M&M's when you go!

-You can recognize purple, pink (your favorite!), blue, green, red, black, white, yellow, and orange colors! Such a smart girl!

-You can count to three. You have gotten very good at repeating your ABC's after me!

-The shapes you know are a circle, star, and moon.

-You act shy when you're around people you don't know but are not shy at all at home! ha!

I know that God had great plans for you! I am so blessed to be your Mama and ask for Grace to raise you to love Jesus and serve Him all the days of your life! Your sweet little personality is so precious and I am loving these days we have together in this season of life!

I love you,

Mommy

Where does she get this stuff???

Alabama says the funniest things and I have no idea where she gets it from! ha!

For instance, she started sometimes calling me "Mom" instead of Mommy or Mama.

Also, she started telling me "I'm fine." As in "Alabama, do you need to potty?" No, I'm fine.

or "It's time to take a nap." Uh-uh, I'm fine."

Another things she says that cracks me up is she will say "Ummmm..." before she tells you something...she's really thinking hard about it! ha!

Two Year Pictures- Take 1

I tried to take a few pictures of Alabama today, but they didn't all turn out so good. The sun was a little too bright...I should have waited an hour later or so and it would have been much better. Anyway, here's a few good ones I thought I'd share! The first ones are in a dress I made her back in December.

Then I took some in her pink tutu with a lollipop that goes with her party theme! -CANDY!

Valentine's Day 2011

On Monday, we had a fun Valentine's Day (with the exception of Adam still being sick). I tried to do a few little things to make the day fun for Alabama even though she still doesn't really know it's Valentine's Day. She wore her cute pants that I added the ruffle on to make them longer (and cuter!) and looked adorable with the shirt that Bo and Kathie got her! We stopped at Sonic and got us a cherry limeade before we went to see Aunt Judy and Granny and take them the Valentine she made them. They also gave her a cute card with $3 in it. It was fun to see them for a little while. Alabama was "sharing" Granny's cake and ice cream. She says "I want shum". After we left there, we went home and ate a few heart shaped chicken nuggets :) and Alabama took a nap and stayed with Adam while I went to Augusta to pick-up Alicia and run a few errands. When we got back, Alabama opened her gift from Alicia (two cute pink jackets from Target and some V-day suckers) and then went to the mall with my sisters. They ate at Chick-Chick-A (as Alabama calls it!) and Audra was so excited to take her to Build-A-Bear. (she's been wanting to go for a long time) but apparently Alabama wasn't as excited. It was going great while picking out a cute monkey but when it came time to stuff the monkey, the "machine scared her" because it's pretty loud. Even today when she plays with the monkey she tells me " 'chine scare me" and retells the whole story, just like she does about Santa and the cow at Chick fil A. ha! So she cried and wanted her Mommy and really wasn't into BAB after that. But anyway, they had fun and apparently a really big cookie and she has a cute monkey that has a Georgia cheerleader outfit on. It's really cute.

While they were gone, Adam and I stayed home and ate spaghetti on the couch in our pajamas and watched Jeopardy and a couple other shows we never watch anymore. It was a good Valentine's Day!

When they got home, she opened a little present from me and Adam. I gave her some stickers and some nail polish and I'd already given her a little Valentine book that is really sweet. (Please disregard me in this picture!) She loves to have her toes and fingernails painted pink!

Here's the Valentine with all of her loot including some Valentine's from Nana that she sent on Sunday (hopefully we'll get to see her one day this week or this weekend!).

I hope your Valentine's Day was fun, too!

Day Trip

Adam and I had a little Valentine day trip to Atlanta this Saturday. We had a fun time and Alabama stayed home with Mimi and Tay Tay. We left really early to go to my favorite thrift store, the Last Chance Thrift Store in Decatur. I found some fun things. Then we went to a few shops in downtown Decatur and then to the Cheesecake Factory! I've never been there and it was soo good!!!! We shared a hamburger that was delicious and then I had the Red Velvet cheesecake and Adam had the Adam's peanut butter snickers or something cheesecake. It was amazing! I brought some home so I can enjoy it a little later, too. Then we made a stop at Homegoods (my first time....not as big as I thought) and got two things for Alabama's birthday party and then we made our way back to T-town. It was great spending time with my sweetie because we don't do that very often!

Audra Kate

Today Kelly at Kelly's Korner is hosting a Single Ladies/Guys day! So I decided to post about my sweet little sis!

This is a post about my wonderful yet single little sister, Audra Kate! She is so amazing and fun! Here are some of things that make her who she is.

-She's 21.

-She lives in Thomson, GA

-She loves Jesus more than anything! (Just got back from Passion 2011 and had the best time!)

-Is very active in our church ..she does nursery, the Kids Alive program, and sings in the choir.

-Speaking of singing.....she sings ALL. THE. TIME. ha! She loves music...and is always singing something!

-She loves Southern Gospel and loves to go to concerts all the time.

-She is so funny and makes me laugh every day! Seriously, you should hear some of the stories this girls got....Colbra!

-She is such a great aunt to my sweet little girl!

-She has about a million and one friends because everyone loves her so much! (Sometimes I call her Elmer because she's the glue that holds all the friends together!) *in this pic she's on the left with the big earrings!*

-She loves to go....always going somewhere!

-She loves football....UGA all the way!

-She is very loyal.

-She is beautiful.

-She loves to wear big jewelry...the gaudier the better!

-She loves her family and is very close to all of them.

-She works in Augusta as a receptionist/secretary for an auto repair shop.

Well, I probably left off something that I wanted to say, but I love her so much and want her to find a great guy! If you are interested in meeting her, just send me a message at ginya001@yahoo.com . BTW- no creepers allowed! ha!

Thanks Kelly!

Ballard knock off books

When my new Ballard Designs catalog came in the mail acouple of weeks ago, I of course started looking through right away! I love almost everything in there but most things come with price tags that I don't like! Sometimes, I see an item that I can easily make my own version of. That is the case with these "antique book bundles" that they have shown here.

Very cool, but starting at $18 a piece....I think I can do better! My favorite Salvation army gives away 5 Reader's Digest books with purchase every day of the week so the last time I was in there, I gathered up 5 of the oldest books (the actually had neat graphic covers on them....) to use for this knock-off. All I did was carefully remove (some of them were already coming off) the covers and the first and last page of the books. Then you're left with some books that look a lot like the Ballard's ones! I tied two of mine together with twine because they are thicker than the originals and are using them as a riser for a picture frame. Here it is!

I love how they turned out and the price --- FREE!