Fishing trip

We had so much fun today on our fishing trip. We started out at the normal pond with not much luck because we decided to try it out earlier. We ended up at a lake we've been to scoping out places.

At the pond, our little princess Lilli didn't want to be in the sun so I had to pull out the umbrella for her to sit under. It was pretty funny. We took a picnic lunch and had that there before we left. The spot we had been scoping at the lake was in the shade. It was a gorgeous day and not really that hot. But the sun was not our friend today, so we went to the shade. It was such a nice place to fish.

Less than 15 minutes of being there, Baylee ate at least 10 handfuls of wet sand and Lilli had caught two fish. One of which ended up being her fish for the next 3 hours, yep out of water, I'm sure you imagine the state of the fish. But it was hilarious because well after the fish had croaked she was walking around with a rock about the size of the fish on top of the fish. I asked her what the rock was for, she matter of factly told me so that he wouldn't get away. I have no doubt that fish would not have gotten away even without the aid of the rock but she was making sure.

So Lilli had her fish for entertainment and Baylee ended up slowly progressing to sitting and splashing in the water. She also worked on her climbing and digging skills.

As for the actual fishing, we only caught bluegill but watched many large fish jump farther out into the water. It was an enjoyable day and we were outside, that was the purpose. Lilli told me she had "so much fun fishing today".

More fun...

Sunday, Grandpa and Cody went fishing without us girls so they could go to the lake instead of the pond. We went to the park for our own fun after nap time. On Monday, Grandpa went to work with Cody. The ladies, well, we had Baylee and Lilli's pictures taken together so that I can update my frames. Tuesday, we took Grandma and Grandpa to the airport for them to go home. It was not too bad. The ladies did good after we got them some lunch. It's a 4 hour round trip and no complaints here.

I do have to share a picture from the car ride. This was one of the first things we saw when we were moving to Mattoon. It's about 30 miles south, right off of the interstate. .... We had no clue what to expect of Mattoon after seeing this and knowing we were getting close to where we may live.

Wednesday, we got back into our typical everyday routine. We played outside a good bit. We went to the park, attempted to draw on the sidewalk(it lasted about 1.2 minutes and ended with Baylee eating some blue chalk), went for a walk, played in the hall some, the usual. Lilli and I played Chutes and Ladders. She won, of course!

Thursday was also just a normal day. We walked to the park and played and then we stopped by a little grocery store where we picked up some ice cream and cones as a treat for the ladies. Lilli picked out our chocolate ice cream and Baylee was treated to her first ever ice cream cone! She went to town on it, as did Lilli and the only evidence that was left, chocolate smiles!

Baylee and Lilli have so much fun at the park together. Lilli gets in the little swings so that she can be next to Baylee. They had a screaming match one day...thank goodness we were outside! They just giggled and giggled at each other.

Baylee is really trying to conquer climbing these days and doing better and better. She was determined to get up the slide one day. She climbs on anything that is remotely possible. She's been doing it for a while but has just kicked it up a notch and is more of a daredevil than ever, yes it is taking a toll on my poor heart. One person can only take so many small heartattacks in a day.

Today, we took the girls to Decatur to go to Scovill Zoo. We knew it was small(We are nothing but glad about that now that we are done) but were in it for the adventure. "It was a good great time at the zoo" according to Lillibug. I think we all had fun. Baylee insisted on walking pretty much the whole time. She found the plants many times more entertaining than the animals. She even had to sit on one of the big benches for a rest, little independent thing. I have to say the highlight by far was the petting zoo for me and Cody. The girls had fun too in there. However Cody and I got a good laugh at poor Baylee's expense and we were so glad I was filming. She loves the animals and even after a small set back still loves them. My video was too big to email so I posted it on You Tube and am too impatient to add it on here or through Picasa as well....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hz4nBZ5hBY

One of our other laughs from the zoo....

Yes, you are seeing correctly. This turtle pen was right next to the bathrooms. Cody got to spend a lot of time standing there. Bathroom break takes us a while since I have to go in and out for 3 of us. Lilli asked the question we were waiting on. "what are they doing". (again I put on You tube) There was a crowd gathered around this area with everyone being asked the same question by their children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv3pGtEGReY

Lilli loved the train and the whole time let us know "This is so much fun." As we were leaving the zoo, she paced back and forth with the "dog" AKA the wolf. They had a big playground on the outside of the zoo and we played there then sat and had apples at a bench and headed home. The ladies were worn out to say the least and both fell asleep in the car no more than 15 minutes after we left Decatur.

We decided to let them sleep a little and Cody was nice enough to indulge my fascination with the Amish communities. I just think it's so much fun to see them, their buggies, houses, and farms. Despite our fabulous weather, I didn't get to see any kids out playing in the stream today :( But plenty of buggies! So I got my kick out of that.

We did worry a little about Lilli being able to leave the house on her own like when I'm putting Baylee down for a nap. Cody came up with a great solution. It's the cheap way to trap a 3 yr old in. It is exactly what you would think of too right? :) **No damage was done in the process of this solution. It goes ever so nicely between the molding and the wall.

We have so very much enjoyed Lillibug's company. It's nice to be able to carry on a conversation and be told what the need is rather than deciphering ranges of grunts. I think one of her favorite things to do here is to take a bath with Baylee. She loves to have Baylee in the tub. Baylee is hit or miss sometimes and just needs her own bath. That makes Lilli sad but she is always hopeful that Baylee can join her next time. When they do get to bathe together, it's pretty cute. Lilli does so love a bath and if she laughs, Baylee laughs and it just goes on and on.

Same giggling goes on when they communicate Baylee style....

Cody went into our room this morning right after he got home from work to change. Baylee had slept late after our night battle. She awoke to him opening the door and once again blurted out a "Hi DaDa". He was soooooooooooooo excited. I missed it this time though.

Baylee's normal routine has been thrown off and we moved her crib to our room. This has caused her to start with the night wakings again. So happy am I! We were up from 3-5 last night. The first step is admitting your addiction right? Well, I'm addicted to my blog on Saturdays seeing how I'm doing it instead of sleeping. Or maybe it's just I'm on my second wind now? I will have many more pictures no doubt about that.

Everyone Arrived...

Late Wednesday night, August 6th, Lillibug, Grandma and Grandpa Lowe got here. Baylee was already asleep. I kept her up as late as we could handle but she didn't quite make it until they got in from the airport. Thursday morning, Lilli and Baylee were SO excited to see each other. Baylee went straight to Lilli. She even tried to get Lilli to pick her up. That would have been a disaster had Lilli actually known what Baylee was trying to make happen. Sometimes being in the dark is a good thing. This was one of them.

Lilli of course was thrilled to see the kitty as well. And has nonstop been determined to carry the kitty, in other words, make her mad. Just last night, we had to have a don't touch the kitty at all night.

We were all so excited for everyone to come. We celebrated Baylee's birthday on Thursday and decided to just do it with family. She turned one on the 4th but we waited for the festivities to take place after everyone got here. She does love so much to tear paper, just not when she's supposed to. It was a time trying to get her to open her presents. She just wanted to carry boxes around in typical Baylee fashion. And she was scared of her candle so Lilli and Grandma blew it out for her. It took her a minute to warm up to the cupcake and icing, but only a minute. She tried to pull out her ponytail with icing hands, that made some great hair gel!

Lilli was also helpful in opening Baylee's presents and it was almost as hard to keep her from opening them as it was to get Baylee to open them. Eventually we gave in and let her assist. Baylee got a lot of really cute things!

Lilli helped me with dinner. If it was left to Chef Lilli, we would have been eating red colored, chicken and cinnamon flavored beef stroganoff (it turned out salty thanks to my carelessness, but at least not chicken flavored).

Friday, we went on an adventure to the Abraham Lincoln museum and Presidential Library. We had a 2 hour drive each way to Springfield. The drive was well worth it. The museum was very very cool. As expected pictures were not allowed in most of it. I did grab one of my favorite part, the dresses. They are so pretty and they were real from way back when. There was so much to read and learn. It was probably one of the best museums I have ever been to. They had the real looking mannequins. A few of them looked so real they were creepy.

There were rooms set up the way they would have been back then with the mannequins and displayed in a scene. They had some from the house, meetings, they had one of the theatre. They had one set up the way they did when his casket was displayed and had the flowers all over with the banners and flags and ribbons, it was a large room, it actually made me sad. It was a fabulous museum. Considering the fact that I think Lincoln was one of, if not the greatest president this country has had, it was phenomenal to be able to go. If you are ever in the area I would definitely suggest it. By the end, the ladies were a little worn out.

We did go to the library, I had no idea it was actually just a research library. So we stayed in there for about 10 minutes reading some displays and then headed over to the tomb. We got a little history about the actual vaults and how long it took to build and how many times he was transferred from a worker and then got to go inside and see where he is buried(he's 10 feet down under tons of concrete).

We walked around a bit outside. Lilli and Dad went down the "big hill" upon Lilli's request. One of the temporary tombs was at the bottom of the hill. The rest of us stayed at the top with Baylee where she walked around and picked up and passed out sticks to passersby. She gave quite a few people sticks and laughs.

Grandpa Lowe's cousins came into town from Wisconsin on Saturday. David and Judy got here in the afternoon. We took them fishing with us. Lilli was by far the best fisherman out there that day catching 7 bluegill. We had so much fun watching and helping her. We would tell her to "REEL, REEL, REEL", She would respond with "ROW, ROW, ROW". She enjoyed holding the fish by their tails and throwing them back in the water. But she was scared of her big catch.

We had a great time with David and Judy. They hung out with us on Saturday and then part of Sunday until they had to head home. They were kind enough to take us to lunch on Sunday, we went next door to the Mexican restaraunt where Grandpa Lowe tried some pretty spicy hot sauce. Afterwards, we all regretted not having taken the video camera or at least a camera. His face was worth a million words at that point.

It was the first time I got the opportunity to meet David and Judy. They are great people and I enjoyed the time they were here. I learned a lot and got to hear a few stories.

I need to take a break from the blog for a while. The ladies will be up soon. Have no fear, more pictures to come soon!

Almost one....

And I'm already losing my mind. I missed Baylee's one year checkup this week. Thankfully we got to reschedule on Friday. It was all a mistake, I knew the 31st was Friday, haha I just knew it. So I missed it our appt on Thursday.

I knew our little Baylee had hit a pretty considerable growth spurt recently. She is now right at 50% for height and weight(apparently she wont be a midget like her mom). She weighed in at a whopping 21 pounds(including shoes and everything) and she's 29 inches tall. Everyone in the office absolutely loves her. She is quite entertaining at times. They hang things from the ceiling for the season. She loves the little animal windsocks they have up. She just points and cracks up at them. We passed with flying colors and no problems! We are glad for that and we got the thumbs up for the big girl car seat. I could not be more excited for that!

We had a pretty quiet but busy week. It's been quite hot outside so we haven't frequented the park but did take the time to walk around outside everyday. She loves to slide now but hasn't learned she can't toe pick and face plant forward so I still have to hold her as she slides down. It's quite the workout for me. And yes she pitches little hissy fits when we quit sliding because my arms are tired of lifting her 21 pounds to the top of the slide and holding her as she goes down as well as keeping her toes up. I do appreciate the workout but wow!

We didn't have many new tricks really just working on improving old ones. She likes to dance and is getting better and more into it. She did however say puppy yesterday but as it goes she refuses to say it again. She has also learned how to be the vacuum. No not to pick up things, she prefers to put them there in the first place. She likes to make the noise of the hand vacuum when we clean out her chair after meals/snacks, messes or pick up kitty litter. It's amusing to hear her. When I turn it off she quits but have no fear as soon as it starts up, so does she, and yes I admit I do try and trick her but she's pretty good!

She did figure out how to climb into her rocking chair so she can see out the window better. I knew that one was only a matter of time and actually glad it took this long!

Baylee did finally attempt to use her fork while eating. Yes it sat in the middle of her plate most of the time but the fact that she picked it up and dipped it in her food and into her mouth on her own was great. I definitely awarded her the gold medal. Fingers crossed, I can eat my dinner while it's hot soon!

We did a lot of organizing and cleaning out and it's been actually fun. Baylee helped me of course. I am positive it added to my work load but it kept me laughing while I did it, besides who doesn't like crushed pretzels, grits everywhere and lotion on everything?

We did go fishing last weekend. It was far from relaxing and overall not that enjoyable. We went somewhere new. If Baylee could stay away from the water it would have been a blast and a great place to fish. But in normal Baylee style, the water was the attraction. I caught 2 bass but niether one made it to the bank as she tried to pet one before it was out of the water and I had to sacrifice my catch to grab her first. The water was a lot deeper and no weeds to block the way, was frustrating and very HOT!

We had another problem with our memory card and I lost all of the pics from this week for the most part. I apologize for the lack of pictures!

Fun fun fun

It's been a fun week. Baylee and I got to play a lot. However, I didn't keep my camera on me as much as usual. We went fishing Saturday night after we checked out the other part of Bagelfest. I did have my funnel cake, I had no idea it was a funky shaped scone. haha. Baylee liked watching the rides. We were unimpressed though. Fishing was fun. Baylee demanded to walk to the pond on her own. It was quite and adventure to even get her past the parking lot(rock heaven). She took forever so I finally retrieved her from the middle of the field. It wasn't quite as dark as the pictures show...but we didn't stay long, it was late.

We had a great break in the heat of summer and had a couple of really mild nice days. We took advantage Tuesday night and went fishing where we finally gave the lady her own pole. Love it she did. It was nice to have the pond to ourselves. We went late compared to when we know the fish bite there, but Cody caught a ton of bluegill. I caught a few. And once again, Cody stole my good catfish catch while I was taking care of the lady. Never go to Vegas with me, my luck stinks! We had a good time and definitely glad we took advantage!

I'm still working on trying to get Baylee to eat some food on her own....much work needed still...

And of course the hair, it's just chaos most of the time, it is not allowed to be neat. One day I even combed it straight, didn't bother putting it up, she reached up and messed it up. I tell ya, she's got her own way. She'd rather look through a face full of hair than have a pony tail in. I've pretty much given up on trying and figure one day maybe we can see what she looks like again!

We went to the park one day and she had it in her head that she couldn't let her legs out of the swing. If they slipped out she'd tuck them right back in. It was pretty amusing to see.

She also found that a diaper box is a blast. Given her love of carrying things, she carried it all over, blindly since it didn't matter that she couldn't see where she was going. She only cared that she was carrying her box. It got pushed around a lot too.

We gave her one of her birthday presents early. She got her wagon of blocks. She loves it. It has probably been pushed and pulled at least a few miles. And she made sure the blocks were pulled apart before they were put back in. It's crazy how most things can't be organized for her, but the blocks must be seperate before being put up! Silly girl.

The ladies (Baylee and the kitty) played out in the hallway a couple of days again. It's a blast to both of them, especially while it rains. Baylee and I worked on her soccer moves. She loves to kick a ball, but as of right now, she'd have an uncountable number of fouls for hands. We will work on that. :)

We have a picture of Baylee's cousin Brayden on our fridge. She loves to look at him and everytime she eats, we have to discuss Baby Brayden and normally she points and gets super excited but this is all I got on film, she's not one to show off to a camera...yet.

Tagged...Thanks a lot Erin!

You requested to see this stuff...it's a little down and dirty personal, but you asked so here goes....

1. My fridge

Yes it's small and cramped and drives me crazy, but you do what you have to do right?

2. The Closet...not too shabby
3. The sink...wasn't what you expected huh? Too bad I got tagged after dinner and Cody wasn't home!

4. The laundry room....hate it!It's the worst chore ever!

5. Me on the day I got tagged after rearranging out storage unit while it was over 100 outside! Cute I know. haha

6. Favorite room....living room. It's where we spend most of our time, the little one loves to trash it.

7. Dream vacation....not really complete dream vacation, but I'd be happy to go to the beach again. 8. The John...pretty clean indeed, why would you want to see my toilet, all the stuff is on the top cuz the lady was in the tub...she can't be trusted
9.What the kids are doing....splish splash...her look says it all

10. Favorite kicks....gotta love the crocs!

I am supposed to tag 5 people, however, I will not do that. If you read my blog and would like to be tagged go for it. If not, it may end here.

Too hot to play outside...

So obviously, I got the computer fixed, at least for now. I pretty much worked on it all day yesterday while running around with Baylee until midnight last night. It took a lot of research, reading, and experimenting. The website I found to help couldn't/didn't. I do have Vista and it's still new and it appeared they aren't as savvy with this one and weren't helping Vista users much. I finally found 5 programs that when run in a certain sequence fixed the problem. So I got 'er done on my own. Thank goodness!

We ended up getting to go fishing last Sunday evening after Cody got home. It was late so we had to go to the lake for any hope of catching something. I didn't enjoy it as much, I couldn't fish. It had a road behind us that Baylee kept wanting to play in and sloped to the water which gets deeper faster. Not kid friendly like the pond. So I offered for Cody to go to that place by himself. He took me up on it Thursday. He claims it wasn't as fun without us, but he caught a lot of fish. He was "off" on Thursday to make up for no off day last week, but got called in that afternoon to go help a farmer find a missing show cow. He worked for a few hours then went fishing.

Baylee has discovered some "cool" new tricks this week. She learned to put stuff around her neck/shoulders(thrilled, let me tell you), push the babydoll stroller....over the kitty, she can say hot and she's definitely getting better at brushing her teeth. I have never seen a child pitch such a little fit to brush her teeth every night and do it on her own. She gets so mad when we put it up so she can go to bed. She has also perfected the squeal this week. Yippee! haha

The kitty has been very patient to say the least this week as Baylee practiced her cool trick. The kitty only tried to get her 2 times....can you blame her for those 2 times? Yes that's Baylee sitting on the kitty. After seeing our album this week, it's no wonder why she loves to play with the kitty. We do encourage it a little.(see video)

I actually really like to watch her push the stroller, mainly to see what she's going to put in the seat. No telling what it will be. Sometimes her little people and accessories, her drink, her number 5 off the fridge got to ride a lot, her bunny, books, a light, really anything she could find. Sometimes just one thing, sometimes more than it could hold. It's fun to see what she comes up with.

Apparently learning to wear a hat is going somewhat well. She won't wear a hat for long but she loves to wear a bowl on her head. She was never prompted to do this, but she loves it now that she does. She gave me a bowl one night and we each had bowl armor. It was amusing.

The neck/shoulders thing, she loves to walk around with the coolers on. She ended up sitting in one of them when she fell. She just thinks these are so much fun! Of course they make me a little nervous since she doesn't know that wearing them around her neck can be dangerous. She just doesn't get to play with them if I'm not close by.

It was incredibly too hot this week(90's) for us to go outside much. We did go for 2 walks in the late afternoon but that's about it. We stayed in the treasured air conditioning. I do however open our front door and leave it open (our hallway has a door at the end before the stairs) I closed the hall door and let Baylee wander in and out. She likes it almost as much as being outside. We have to be inventive sometimes.

Today is the last day of Bagelfest. For those of you that don't know, Mattoon's pride and joy is Bagelfest every July. There is a Lenders Bagel plant here in town. Cody was off today and so he got to go with us. Believe it or not the queen of cheap(me), skipped the free bagel breakfast and just went to the Bagelfest parade. Have no fear, Lenders had a couple of trucks, and passed out prepackaged bagels instead of candy. It was interesting to see the parade. The theme was rock around the bagel or something like that, so they had rock n roll and bagel decorations. Even the firetrucks and ambulance(which scared the little one) had bagels on strings tied to thier trucks. It was a first for us to see a band in a parade without uniforms as well as the cheerleaders not wearing uniforms. We got some candy, fliers and bagels. A lot of people in the parade were laughing at Baylee. She was standing there with her #1 held up watching and cracking up.

It thankfully wasn't too hot. It was overcast and there was a breeze and was only about 85. We did get rained on....but it was welcomed. Baylee really enjoyed seeing everything and was great besides wanting to run into the street.

We went to a chinese buffet for lunch afterwards and it wasn't horrible. Better than we expected for sure. Thanks to Cody for putting up with my chinese food cravings.(he dislikes it) We came home to get the Baylee rejuvinated so that we can go out to the carnival and check that out this afternoon. We have to see what the whole Bagelfest is about. I mean it's important enough they celebrate from Wednesday until Saturday. Plus I'm told I have to have a funnel cake. It will be my first.

Note: I played with some bleach and dye this week trying to get the black out...funny thing it only partially worked. It's definitely strange. My addiction to dye gets the best of me sometimes. The best part, hair grows! haha.