16 months old

At 16 months old, Blaykleigh ...

• is miss chatter box, putting together 'sentences' (although I can only make out a word or two).
• always wants to read books, some mornings that is almost all we do! Bookworm in the making.
• has got quite the little temper in her when she doesn't get her way; those terrible two's sure are coming in strong. 
• still loves to color and lately we have been finger painting!
• has been cutting her top and bottom cuspid teeth, it's made for a couple of rough nights lately.
• loves playing with our next door neighbor's little girl Jade. They have so much fun together! She even goes up to the front door and will call out Jade's name. So precious. 
• walks around the house and has convo's with herself on anything resembling a telephone. 
• is really good at her puzzles and plays with them often. 
• if you ask her if she is ready for "night-night" she often times leads the way to her room/crib while saying "nigh, nigh" over and over. 
• officially has an obsession with shoes. Whenever we go into a store with a shoe display she is the first to notice, pointing at them and chanting "chooooose" over and over. 
• automatically does the 'touch-down' sign when she hears "touch-down" on the tv. Jason loves it! 
• goes around and bangs her head on anything she can find when she gets mad and then cries because it hurt. Yeah, not so sure about this one. 
• loves Legos, the Duplo ones to be exact. Our B&N bookstore has a kid Lego table and she is just so entertained by them. **those have been added to her Christmas List**
• gives 'high-fives'!!! 
• rearranges the furniture from time to time; pushes the bar stools and sofa end table across the house. Looks really funny when you can't see her pushing said piece of furniture but instead you just see furniture moving across the room. 
• gets so excited by bubbles. 
• engages in full conversation with the cats with a lot of "maaaow's" going back in forth between them and her.

                     Her words

                       dada

                       mama

                       uh-oh

                       tenk you (thank you)

                       ba-ba (bottle)

                       kee kat (kitty cat)

                       choooose (shoes)

                       maaaow (meow)

                       baiiiiii (bye)

                       haiiiiii (hi)

                       no, no, no - yes she already knows the word "no"!

                       po-pol (purple)

                       naaan (nani)

                       doooug (dog)

                       bau-bo (bubble)

                       turt-o (turtle)

                       jeh-jeh (Jade)

                       nan-na (banana) 

                       bay-bee (baby)

                       yewwo (yellow)

                       doooous (birds)

                         -not sure how she got "dooous" from b-i-r-d-s?

                       peaz (please)

                       nuna (nuni aka paci)

                       

Insta-Friday ... on a Saturday

 Starting this post out by welcoming a new little guy! 

Our friends Nate and Heidi just brought their second little boy 

into the world this past week. 

His name is Ethan James Wilcoxen and what a darling he is! 

I enjoyed getting to snuggle with him a bit this morning. 

He seems so little but is about the same size that Blaykleigh was, it's

absolutely crazy how fast these little ones grow!

Family dinner night at Outback last weekend. Paid for half of it with a gift-card

that Jason got back in middle/high school! I was quite surprised that they still honored it! Can't beat free $$$. 

Getting serious about grocery shopping! 

 Rootin' for her daddy's alma mater while enjoying a little park time before dinner.

 Head full of gorgeous curlies! 

Rainy Friday morning entertainment. And you can't see but both Mannie (our cat) and Blaykleigh are enjoying riding around in the basket. 

...

Side note: I remember when my older brother used to push me around like this!!! So fun.

 Painted my wooden kitchen utensils and made a few extra as a gift for a friend! Aren't they so pretty?!

 Playing 'dress-up' in one of her daddy's old cut off t's! Oooo how this makes me laugh. 

 Wednesday night worship for the Movement youth!!! Jason and I are really enjoying helping out in our church. 

Semi-homemade donuts. 

Simply delish. 

(( want the secret? one can of original biscuits, about 1/2 inch of veg. oil over med. heat, fry them up on each side, dip in a bowl of melted butter (on both sides) and then do the same in another bowl of cinnamon sugar mix. wa-la, donuts. ))

Got myself some mustard skinnies! 

Loving them. 

 Snake skin nails anyone?! Have been wanting to try the Sally Hansen nail polish strips for months now. Glad to say they were well with my money! 

 B and I met a friend at the aquarium this past monday! Enjoyed a little dolphin show and then walked around to see all the other sea critters.

 Giftshop shark. All fun and games until....

 ...it gets a little too close for comfort. 

 Little miss was not wanting to grocery shop. So I suggested a good book and made her a comfy lounging nook. The things a mother will do to get the smallest of tasks accomplished. 

Insta-Friday

Drink coasters I made Kristin for her birthday! 

How I love Pinterest. You can find this project here.

I would like to say it was a ton of fun to make but it was the complete

opposite. She is lucky to have gotten four coasters because I just about 

gave up after the first one! :) 

 Part student, part mom and a little bit everything else in-between. 

 Racin' Rody. She loves them! 

 They all get hugs and kisses from her on a regular basis while we are at Toddler Tumble Time. 

Push-up contest with the daddy-o! 

Blaykleigh and I share the same passion for Microbiology. 

The look on her face says it all! 

We enjoy our afternoon coloring book time!

 Is it just me or is she a pro at holding that crayon? When the flat end of the crayon 

faces the paper she will flip it to the pointy end. Lol. Smarty pants!

 Sunday School monkey smooches! 

15 month shots! Boo.

23.8 lbs

28" in height

 220 Microbiology notecards...

Check!

Glass of wine to help me to the finish line...

Check, Check!

 My Target purchases from tonight.

Chicken Tortilla Soup ... close to Panera as I can get!

So glad our Target finally got on board with the Method Orla Kiely line.

And can't wait to make myself an iced carmel pumpkin spice latte in the morning!   

Happy Friday All! 

Bits of Splendor

Kristin and Emily. 

Two of my bestest of friends.

I had been counting down the days until Kris came to visit

but when I saw Em with her, I was shocked! 

What a wonderful, wonderful 

SURPRISE!!!

Let the girls weekend commence.

Homemade sushi night! 

Just like the good old days, we all got ready in the 

same bathroom each morning!!! 

Saturday was spent in Rockport.

A good seafood lunch.

And walking around all the town shops. 

Charlotte Plummers 

gettin' our grub on.  

Can't even tell you just how much I miss these two.

All those miles between us just doesn't seem right. 

Doing what girls do best 

...

sHoPpInG! 

This picture obviously needs no explanation 

but

for those of you who don't know what is going on here I will explain. 

SHARK ATTACK. 

That shark right there tried to gobble up my sweet B. and my dearest, bestest

friend Kristin put her own life on the line to save her. 

A true testament of friendship. 

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that dramatic of a story

and maybe Kris tried to put B.'s head into the sharks mouth for a theatrical picturesque photo opp

buuuut that is neither here nor there. :)

A shell shopping we go. 

We've got BIG plans for Saturday night revolving around 

....

you guessed, shells! 

Sea Shell Shoppe 

try saying that out loud 5 times super fast. 

Star Feeiiish. 

Gathering supplies. 

Craft night numero uno. 

The final product. 

What do ya think? 

Should we start selling sea shells?! 

Movie night: Bridget Jones's Diary 

annnnnd

craft night numero dos. 

Knitted wire bracelets. 

Kris and Em did the knitting ... I did the watching.

Then we did a Pinterest project for my house.

We each signed a petal.

Good times. 

Had the best Labor Day weekend with my girls! 

Sad having to part our ways.

Didn't like it one bit. 

{Praying} that one day soon we won't be so so far away.