Pictures askew???

Ok, I think I'm setting a record for the amount of blog posts in one day (for me anyway), but what is up with the pictures I post being askew? It's really bothering me! Anybody have any suggestions?

Courtlyn with Santa...again!

Blog Problems????

What is up with this blog???? Maybe it's me because I'm technically challenged, but it's about to get the best of me. I am going to try to post the slideshow again. I have no idea what it is doing and why it is not showing. Grrrrr!!!!! These kind of things really get under my skin. Off to work on it.....

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Ok, I've been bad and haven't posted on my blog for 3 weeks now. So I thought I would quickly put some pictures of Courtlyn up until I can sit down and give you all a real update of what's been going on with us. I took Courtlyn to see Santa about a month ago and that got me to thinking about the other 2 times I took her to see him. So I drug out her pictures with the big guy from 2006 & 2007 and I thought I would share them with you. It is amazing to me how much she has grown. Enjoy!! :)

So this weekend wasn't as exciting as last weekend, but it was still crammed full of things to do and looks like it will be until Christmas gets here. :)


Saturday Courtlyn & I went shopping in Lexington so that we could use the Gymboree coupon I had and of course accumulate some ever precious Gymbucks (WOOHOO!!) while Daddy went deer hunting. I ended up at both Gymborees in Lexington by the end of the day and they both were madhouses, but we had fun, got some cute clothes and that's all that matters.


Sunday we went to Jonah & Sebastian's 3rd birthday party. There were so many people there and they got so many gifts. I didn't take any pictures though. :( After the party was over we took all of the balloons outside and released them for their mom, Mary Lee. That was the sad part of the day. It seems like just yesterday she was here and now she's not. It's so sad that those 4 precious children have to grow up without their mother, but that's what life has dealt them and we have to help them to grow up and remember the good times that they had with her mom while she was here. Once we left the party my MIL and I cried most of the way home and Courtlyn cried, but she wanted to hear Capri by Colbi Calliat (which she calls the baby song--we have to listen to it every time we're in the car) and it was in my car and we were in my MIL's car. LOL That kind of lightened up the mood, but only just a little bit. By the time we got home I had a migraine and couldn't stop thinking of Mary Lee and everything that happened with her. I just have to keep remembering this was God's plan even though I don't understand it. That does help....


Let me end on a brighter note by sharing a couple cute pictures of Courtlyn I took this weekend.

Halloween & Wedding

**NOTE: I have no idea why there is a seperate post of the rehearsal pictures in a slideshow above this blog entry. Who knows what on earth I did! They are on here too. Oh well! Can't you tell how savvy I am. ;)**

Well, what an exciting weekend we had with the wedding rehearsal last Thursday night, Halloween Friday and the wedding Saturday afternoon. Boy, do I have lots of pictures to share! :)

Let's start out with Thursday night at the wedding rehearsal. It was a little chaotic with 7 children participating in the fesitivites, but it was fun. Here are a couple photos.

Courtlyn with some of her cousins and the Mother of the Bride getting their instructions.



Courtlyn getting her instructions from the Mother of the Bride.




Courtlyn holding her flower girl basket.



Friday night was Halloween and that meant Trick-or Treating. Courtlyn was a fairy or as she would like to call it a fairy princess flower. :) We started out at Papaw Joe & Nana's house since she was already there for the day. She got Skittles and Goldfish crackers. She doesn't like chocolate and we're not real sure where that gene came from since we LOVE chocolate, but I'm glad she doesn't because chocolate is definitely our weakness. Ok, back to the Trick-or-Treating. After Papaw Joe & Nana's house we left to go to Granny Judy's house where there we lots of kids in her neighborhood Trick-or-Treating. Courtlyn even got to hand out some candy which she thought was a lot of fun, but she didn't really care for the scary masks and hid behind Daddy when those came around. :) After Granny Judy's we headed down to Papaw Willard & Granny Ree's house. By this time I think she was starting to wear down and we REALLY were too. We still had 2 more stops to make--Great, Great Aunt Francis and last but not least Papaw Ike & Granny Sue's house where there were treats and PIZZA waiting for us. By the time we made to Papaw Ike & Granny Sue's house the costume came off when we got through the front door and her shoes and socks came off thereafter. I think she had her feel of Halloween when we made it home around 10:00 or so. All in all she had a fun time and racked up on the Skittles and Goldfish crackers.


Courtlyn "arriving" at Papaw Joe & Nana's house to Trick-or-Treat" (I'm inside the house, that's why it looks weird.)








Upset that she is leaving Papaw Joe & Nana's house. She thought Trick-or-Treat was all over. :)




Courtlyn at Granny Judy's





Courtlyn at Papaw Willard & Granny Ree's








Ok, next is Saturday, the big day! I let Courtlyn sleep in because she had a long night and I knew it was going to be an even longer day without a nap. She woke up around 9:00 while I was gone to Wal-Mart grocery shopping. When I got back she was watching her new Tinkerbell DVD that she got for Halloween from Papaw Ike & Granny Sue. After I got ready I packed up the car with all the stuff--dress, shoes, socks, snacks, DVD player & DVDs (to keep the kids entertained which we never used BTW!), diapers, wipes, etc. I was worn out. See the wedding was in Irvine which was about 30 minutes from where we live so I knew I had to pack everything imaginable because there was no way I could just run home and get something. Anyway, we got to the church a little after 1:00 and the wedding wasn't until 3:00. I helped with last minute stuff and my MIL helped to keep Courtlyn entertained. Finally around 2:00 we got Courtlyn dressed and ready for pictures. She looked so cute! Just like a princess like she had said since last Wednesday when she first tried the dress on. She would prance around and twist in her dress. It was so cute!





Then it came time for the wedding. I was really nervous at this point because she was going to have to walk down the aisle by herself because the twins that she was supposed to walk down with decided they didn't want to do it. She was the last person to walk down before the bride and I was about the throw up outside the church. LOL I kept saying remember Courtlyn throw the petals down and stand really still beside Brooklyn (one of the other flower girls). She kept saying ok Mommy in the sweetest voice, but she had no clue what she was getting herself into. So up came her big moment. She walked up and what did she do??????? She reached up and grabbed her pretty black bow, ripped it out of her hair, threw it down on the floor and moseyed her way on down the aisle. Of course everyone laughed and so did I because that is typical Courtlyn. At any random moment she will decide to take her bow out of her hair and just throw it down wherever. She stopped halfway up the aisle like she forgot what she was supposed to do, but thankfully my MIL was there to get her back on track. She didn't make it through the entire wedding ceremony though. She ended up coming back and sitting with her Papaw Joe & Nana to play with her cousin Andrew during the ceremony so that was fine. All I asked was that she make it down the aisle and she did what I asked. So I was relieved!



Dancing in the aisle at the church before everyone got there








Brooklyn, Courtlyn, Jamie (the groom) & Kelsey. The look on Courtlyn's face was the one she kept during the entire picture session. Gotta love 2 year olds! :)





Brooklyn, Courtlyn & Kelsey (all cousins)





Courtlyn & Brittney (the bride--before the ceremony)


Mommy & Courtlyn (before the ceremony)





Courtlyn outside before her big debut!


Courtlyn at the end of the aisle where she should be (notice Brooklyn, her cousin, holding onto her arm LOL)


The twins--Jonah & Sebastian (Courtlyn's cousins). They look like they are plotting their getaway. :)


Dylan, Ethan, Jonah, Elbert (their dad) & Sebastian




Courtlyn & Ethan


The maid of honor, Courtlyn & Steve (the father of the bride) posing.


At the reception she really cut loose! There was music and balloons and she was in heaven! She played and played with her cousins. She played so hard that she ended up ripping every pretty pintuck out of her dress. I didn't care though she was having herself a good time and that's all that mattered to me. By the end of the evening the dress was a mess and her bow that was supposed to be in the back of the dress was in the front. LOL





Courtlyn and her cousin Andrew


Courtlyn & one of the twins playing in the balloons.




Daddy trying to fix Courtlyn's dress. Look at her eyeing those balloons. :)


Courtlyn & Andrew busting a move!








Courtlyn & Daddy--you can tell she's worn out!






Courtlyn releasing her balloons

I can't wait to see how the photographer's pictures turn out since I really didn't get a good picture of just her since she wouldn't sit still long enough. For all of you who were thinking of us I really appreciate it!

I just had to share this last picture. It was Monday night. Courtlyn was begging me to take her picture with her piggy tails. I know they aren't pretty, but she wouldn't hush until I took her picture. Then when I took it I thought she just looked too precious! :)

Who can resist a face like that?! :)

It's heeerrreee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My mother-in-law just called and said that the dress has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it made it here from California in 3 days!!!!!!!!!!!! The ebay seller is getting an awesome review from me for sure!!!!!

I can't wait until I get off of work so I can see what it looks like on my baby. My mother-in-law says that it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! She did say that it looked a little bit long, but we still have enough time to get it altered if we need to.

All I can say now is WHEW....what a relief to have it here!!!!! :)

Thanks for the prayers! :)

Photo problems

I don't know what the deal is with the pictures, but if you just click on them then you can see them in normal size. I even edited the post and re-posted the pictures as small and they are still huge. Anyway, sorry!

2 year photo shoot & an update

The Saturday before last was Courtlyn's 2 year photo shoot at Carlisle Photography in Georgetown. The photos were just posted online last Sunday, and as usual Michele did an awesome job. Of course she always makes it hard for me to choose so I end up buying all of the proof pictures and make an album out of them. But I do need some help from you out there. Could you help me pick some of your favorite poses? I could spend hours just going through each one that I actually end up making myself a crazy lady. :) So I think an objective second eye wouldn't hurt. ;) Here's a link to the proof page and the password to enter is hoover.

http://carlislephotography.smugmug.com/gallery/6370543_pBpsV

This past weekend we went to a Halloween Party. It was actually Courtlyn's first and she had a blast. If I remember correctly last year she had a cold so we decided just to keep her in. She had so much fun playing with the other kids and dressing up. Here are a couple pics...

I can't wait to see how much fun she will have Friday night when we take her Trick-or-Treating!

Then I couldn't resist posting this picture of Courtlyn.

I took it right before we left for church Sunday morning. She's posing with the pumpkins she picked (which she named mommy, daddy & baby) in her new Halloween outfit. She looks so grown up in this picture it kind of makes me sad.

We found out Saturday that Courtlyn is going to be in a wedding THIS WEEKEND!!!!! It is David's cousin's wedding. There is going to be 7 children in the wedding. So this will either be really cute or a disaster. I'm hoping for really cute! :) Saturday morning as soon as I was asked I got on ebay and started hunting like a mad lady for a white dress with a black sash in a size 2. Do you know how hard this was???? About 45 minutes later I finally found one....in California. I'm in Kentucky!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's what it looks like...

She will be walking with a set of twin boys--her 3 year old cousins--who will be decked out in black tuxes so I think it's going to be so cute. Then her other 4 cousins will be the ring bearers and flowers girls. I'm just praying that the dress will make it here from California in time. The seller assures me it will and I hope he's right. So if you don't mind say and extra prayer for me that this dress will get here. I will be sure and take lots of pictures and post on here as soon as I can.

Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Pickles, Lemons & Rock-a-bye Baby

Crazy title, huh? Well, there is a story...

Saturday I took Courtlyn to Georgetown for her 2 year pictures. She did great. So well that she earned herself 2 balloons. Nothing like a good ol' bribe! ;) So we head to Hamburg in Lexington to get the 2 promised balloons and lunch at Calistoga's (which by the way is my new favorite restaurant!). We get in Calistoga's and ordered and this is where Courtlyn turned on.

I ordered her a grilled cheese sandwich, chips and a pickle. Now this was the first time she had ever had a dill pickle and it was definitely a Kodak moment. It was, you could say, a love/hate relationship she had with the pickle. She loved the taste of it because she would say ummmm...good, but when the sour part would kick in she would throw it down like she didn't want it. It was hilarious!

Trying out the pickle...

Taking a big bite...

Cheeeeeeese!!!!!

After the pickle fiasco Courtlyn finished up her food and we thought we were ready to go. She saw there were lemons and she is a lemon lover (especially Cracker Barrel lemons). I'm not sure what it is about Cracker Barrel's lemons, but my mother-in-law says that she can eat them left and right when they take her. Anyway, I go and get her a couple of lemons. She sticks the whole thing in her mouth and she doesn't really flinch like you would expect her to. My mouth is totally watering right now just thinking about it. But apparently the lemons at Calistoga aren't as good as the lemons at Cracker Barrel because she wouldn't have anything to do with the second lemon I tried to give her.

Devouring the lemon...

Here's just a couple pictures of Courtlyn posing right before we left. She was totally hamming it up with the people who were waiting in line. She would wave at them and say hello. It must have been the pickle/lemon mixture working on her because the rest of the day she was a firecracker. :) Gotta love it!

Now on to the Rock-a-bye Baby part...Courtlyn has just recently developed a deep interest into her baby dolls. She has started to rock them, pat them, feed them and really started to "mother" them which I totally LOVE. But you really have to be careful because she doesn't want you to know that she is doing this so I have to sneak to get pictures. Here's what I got this past Sunday when we were at Nana & Papaw Joe's after church...

Rocking baby Bailey to sleep in the rocking chair

Burping baby Bailey (notice the burp cloth on her shoulder) too cute!

Now if I could just get her on video singing Rock-a-Bye Baby without her noticing you all would crack up. That's my new mission! :)

Cookout, hayride & bonfire

This past Saturday we headed out to Bebe & Brian's for a cookout, hayride and bonfire on their farm. Courtlyn had been looking forward to this because we had been talking it up all day. Of course, she had no idea what a hayride or bonfire was, but she was so excited to go see Bebe & Brian and ride on the tractor!

When we got there Courtlyn had her first hot dog and she liked it pretty well. She ate half of it and I was pretty much a nervous wreck the entire time. :) Even though I cut it in half and then quartered it and fed it to her, I was still scared to death of her choking on it. I guess it's that first time parent, overprotective thing kicking in, but I can't help it. Hot dogs and kids scare the daylights out of me. They always have! When I see a child eating a hot dog I intently watch them to make sure they are not choking no matter where we are. I guess I'm just weird like that. Anyway, I digress!

So once we finished eating we went on our first of two hayrides for the night. Courtlyn was so excited when she saw everyone climbing on the wagon even though she still didn't know what to expect. Here she is right before the tractor took off holding on pretty tight to Daddy's leg.

Here she is about halfway through the ride and she is liking it!

After the hayride she just had to "drive" the tractor. So of course, we let her. ;)

Here she is checking back making sure everything is ok.

"Driving" again

Is this our cousin?

I'm not so sure about him????

Getting ready to throw in her first fish with help from Phil

First time fishing with Aunt Rene & Nana

Fishing off the dock with Aunt Rene

Daddy, Courtlyn & Mommy going on our second hayride

Screaming with the other kids on the hayride

Admiring her first bonfire

Courtlyn & Papaw Joe all snuggled up by the fire

Mommy, Courtlyn & Daddy enjoying the fire

There were smores to enjoy, but Courtlyn just devoured the graham crackers instead. Somehow she managed to get a package home with her. :) Thanks to Bebe & Brian we were also able to take home 3 pumpkins to remember the night by. Fun was had by all, and we can't wait for next year!