We've been busy!

The queen is served breakfast in OUR bed by her daddy.  Perfect Saturday morning:)

 Last Weekend:

We had a surprise couples party at our house for our sweet friends Mike and Erica, who are expecting their first son.

Opening gifts...all the men were inside:)

 This weekend:

We had a couples baby shower for Natalie!

Future Mom & Dad:)

Two of my favorite pregnant women!  Katie and I hosted the party together.  Katie is two weeks ahead of Natalie in her pregnancy.  She is expecting her first daughter, second child.

Layla came over at the end of the party.  She threw on some lipstick and had to be a part of the pics.

 Sunday:

Layla helping daddy by "coloring" on the pumpkin

"Cheese!"

Always a princess, even when doing the dirty work!

Pumpkin Seeds!

Helping daddy clean up the leaves!

Finished product!

 Halloween:

Party at the neighborhood library during story time

Kimmie and the kiddos

Hope everyone has had a Happy Halloween! Layla has been in bed since 7.  I was el Cheapo this year when it came to Halloween.  I just couldn't justify spending money on something that Layla had no opinion about!  Plus, she goes to bed too early...Maybe next year:)

Sunday Sitdown (on Monday)

I want to start by wishing my sweet sister n law a Happy 19th Birthday!! Crazy to think that when Lucas and I started dating she was only 8 years old! What a joy it has been to watch her grow up. She is now a freshman in college. She is not only my sister n law but a great friend. I can always count on a laugh when we are together:) We love you Aunt Abbey and I look forward to the next years of your life:)

We had a great weekend. I really have so many things to be thankful for. Life is just really good and I cannot be more thankful for the season we are in right now. God has been really good to our family.

Saturday, we attended a birthday to a sweet one year old. Happy Birthday Kate, thank you for inviting us to be a part of your special day! Sunday we attended church. I feel like I say this every Sunday but we are so thankful for our church. Later that day, we had a surprise party for a sweet neighbor who expecting her first child. It was great to catch up with everyone. We are so blessed with great neighbors. Congrats Mike and Erica, we can't wait to meet Hamilton in just a few more weeks!!

I have to share this story about Layla. Lucas and I put her to bed tonight. Her bedroom is upstairs so every time we climb the stairs, she can hear it from her room. About five minutes after she had been in bed, Lucas and I ventured up to the office which is also upstairs. When we got to the hallways, we heard Layla yelling from her room, " Layla loves you!". She continued to repeat it about 3 or 4 times. It was the sweetest thing. I had to go in and tell her that I love her too:). Every night when we go to bed, we go through all of the family members who love her. I guess she wanted to make sure that we knew she loved us too:) what was life like before our sweet little girl?

She will be leaving us Wed-Sat to go visit Granna and Papa. They needed some Layla time, so we are meeting them half way on Wednesday. I am looking forward to getting some shopping done for Christmas and our upcoming Disney trip. I am also looking forward to some special time with my hubby:):) When she comes home Saturday, I will be ready. 3-4 days without her is about my max:)

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Scarecrow in the Gardens 2011

Atlanta has many great places to visit, but one of my favorite is the Botanical Gardens.  This time of year they have an exhibit called "Scarecrow in the Gardens".  Many different organizations make all kinds of "scarecrows" that are on display.  Some are very creative and some are just...interesting.  We had a playdate with some friends there this week.  We had some beautiful weather and it was a great time.

Mrs. Twitter scarecrow.  her skirt is made of tweets:)

Some of the moms:) left-right: Pam, Carrie, Missy, Kristine, Ann Carter

Trying to get a group shot:) The two girls by Layla are both 3.  She is tall for her age.

Layla with Baby Kate, refusing to smile

Layla & Mya.  Isn't Mya beautiful??

                                      

Atlanta Zoo Trip

We got our computer back from the doctor!  YAY! Hopefully, she will last a few more years.  Now, time to catch up on a couple of post!

We went to the zoo last week with a couple of friends who have girls within about a month on Layla's age.  This was Layla's first trip to Atlanta Zoo, which I can't believe!  We were at the Memphis Zoo all the time and now we have been in Atlanta almost a year and a half and are just now going.  PLUS, with only live 3 miles from the zoo.  Layla loved it, just as I knew she would, which only made me feel worse for taking so long to get her there.  Here are a few pics from our trip!

The first animal we came to was the elephants.  And as far as she was concerned, we could have spent the rest of the visit right here.

Flamingos!  It's rare that we get a big smile like this one, on camera from Layla. :)

Layla, Maeve, and Kiera looking at the Meerkats

She insisted on sticking her face in all of these and taking a pic

This was hilarious.  The real monkeys were behind the glass and Layla was talking to her monkey and holding him up to  the window.  As if to say, "these are your people".  :)

Riding on the carousel.  When asked her later about the zoo. all she talked about was riding on the giraffe.

this was the last time she was on a carousel.  11 months old at Disney World.

Petting the goats... She loved this.

Technical Difficulties

I had planned on posting about Layla's first trip to the Atlanta Zoo with some cute pics but our computer is sick. I took her by the Apple store today and looks like she needs a new hard drive. The good news is, even a 5 year old Apple can be fixed for about $200 bucks and be as good as new. So it will be a couple of weeks before you see those pics.

In other news, yesterday we joined the YMCA. It is literally like a quarter of a mile from our house. They have an indoor pool, childcare, and whatever else you want in a gym. The bonus is while I was there, I noticed they were hiring spin instructors. I talked to the fitness director and he told me to fill out an application right then. I could really take it or leave it, but even if I just got hired as a sub it would cut our family membership by 75%. Sounds worth a try to me:)

Hope everyone has a good Friday! Time to catch up on DVR with the hubby!

Guess what I got for Columbus Day?

A Traffic Violation!

Ugh. I know.

I was on the way to take Layla to dance.  It is off a one way road that we only travel once a week.  With my eyes on her building in order to not miss the turn, evidently I miss the stop sign hidden behind some tree limbs.  And what do you know?  There was a cop waiting for someone to do just what I  did.

I went to get Layla out of the car in the parking lot and then realized there was a cop pulled in right behind me with his lights on.  I thought to myself, "Did I possible have a chance to reach enough speed on the short road to get a ticket?".  At this point I was still totally oblivious that there was a stop sign.  Perhaps, I have run this stop sign before?

The cop approached my car mumbling something and I said, "I'm sorry, excuse me?" because I was still trying to figure out why he had pulled me over and I couldn't understand his words.  He said in a stern reply, "I am trying to explain to you why I pulled you over".  Meanwhile, he yelled at another mom who was entering the dance studio that she needed to walk around the back of his car rather than the front.  I realized at that point, I was most definitely getting a ticket.  Guess he was just bored on Columbus Day.  Oh well, it was an honest mistake.  He also had the nerves to lecture me about small kids in the area, while I had one in my backseat.  Trust me, Mr. Police Officer, it was a mistake and I am not looking to take out any kiddos at 15mph. :)  Such is life I guess!

Layla had a great morning at dance and is looking forward to a trip to Publix after her nap to get a cookie:).

Happy Columbus Day!

Sunday Sitdown

Time to start another week! Layla is in bed (early after lying awake in her bed for 2 hours) and Lucas and I are waiting on Sunday night football to kick off. It comes on so late in the Eastern time zone! BTW, as mentioned previously, Layla is still in a crib. We are still talking about making the transition to a big bed, just haven't done it yet....

We had a relaxing weekend with No plans and it was great! Lucas and I were able to have a night out alone on Friday, thanks to aunt Natalie. We took advantage of every minute! We dropped her off at 5:30 and then had a couple of drinks and appetizers, then went to watch the movie Money Ball. We both really enjoyed the movie. We ended the night with a late dinner at an excellent restaurant, Iberian Pig. YUM! We both look forward to going back! We stayed out until about midnight, which is late for this old married couple:).

I taught my spin class yesterday and Layla had a surprise visit from cousins, Reese and Gavin, who were passing through town. They were so excited to see each other! We all got an afternoon nap yesterday and then stayed up to watch Bama play. (Roll Tide Roll)

We went to church this morning and once again, we are so thankful to be involved at church that is alive and seeking the things of God. Sounds simple, but in case you haven't been to a different church in awhile, they are not all like that.

We ended the Sunday with dinner at home with some of our great neighbors, Mike and Erica. Erica is due with their first child in about 7 weeks. We are thankful for their friendship and I can't wait to meet baby Hamilton!

Hope everyone has a great week. I look forward to seeing how God is going to work in my life and others around me this week. I pray that you have high expectations as well!

I guess it's time

I went to get Layla out of her bed and saw her leg thrown over the top of her crib. We were really hoping to hold of the transition to the toddler bed until we had another body for the crib, but I guess it's time. I still think Layla is too chicken to climb all the way out but it's not worth the risk to wait and find out. We decided at this time we are just going to convert her crib to a toddler bed until we decide what we want to do for her big girl room. So, more on that this weekend.

We are keeping a neighbor's dog for a few days. Layla is loving it. Although, we don't mind doing a favor for our friends, it is still a reminder of why we don't have any pets:)

We had another great Mom's group meeting at church this morning. We are studying the names of God and this week we focused on EL Roi, which means the God who sees us. It has been a great week of reflection about all the ways God has kept a watch over our lives.

Layla is loving it just as much as I. She is such a different kid when she is around older children. It makes me think that she would love going to a preschool and being around older kids. Maybe I'll start looking around. She definitely blossoms under the positive peer pressure.

We kept the diaper on during nap time today. I'm just not ready to deal with interrupting nap time and changing sheets yet. Is that selfish??

Layla has eaten her weight in peanut butter and bananas over the past couple of weeks. She wants it every meal. Even if she eats something else, she asks for peanut butter when she is done. At least it's natural peanut butter right?

Just want to end by wishing a happy birthday to my uncle today. I called to wish him a happy birthday and he was at work... Yes, 3 weeks after major back surgery. He is obsessed. Honestly, I wish he would retire and spend more time with his grandkids. Work is all he knows and at this point I guess he'll do it until the day he dies. I tried to get Layla to talk to granddaddy on the phone but she wasn't in the mood. So instead we made him a video that he enjoyed.

Loving Life

Beautiful weather, fun friends, great church, in an awesome city.
What's not to love about life??

We have had a pretty non eventful last week or so, just staying busy and enjoying this beautiful weather!
Over the weekend, we made a couple of park trips, did a lot of grilling with a lot of friends.  We plan on being home the whole month so we are just soaking up every minute of being together as a family at home.    There has been a baby explosion in our neighborhood and church.  Almost every weekend this month I am attending some kind of baby shower.  I love seeing all the growing families around.  We talk about how life has changed as far as what we do on the weekend.  Only people with kids meet for dinner at 5:30 on Friday night, right?

Layla got to chit chat with her Granna and Papa in India a couple of days this week.  That was pretty neat.  While it was night time there, it was morning here.

Layla has also been acting her age quite a bit this week.  She has finally learned the power of the word "no" and has been testing her limits.  I would like to contribute some of her attitude to cutting those molars because it is pretty out of character for her.  She has had more swats this week, than probably all of her life time.

Another thing new is that Layla woke up totally dry from her 2.5 hour nap today.  I guess tomorrow I will try to put her down without a diaper for her nap and see how it goes.  Well, maybe....

Waiting to get their stamp at the end of class from Mrs. Dee

Layla's turn

They were sharing food and high fives at lunch yesterday!

Layla loves holding hands

Holding hands on their way home from the park this weekend.