A POST ALL ABOUT MY WALKER MAN!

I know a lot of my posts have been Elle heavy lately so I wanted to talk about Walker a little bit and what he has going on these days! Some of these pictures may be repeats but oh well! Walker is growing and changing every day and keeps us very busy and always smiling.  He is such a funny little boy with a lot of personality quirks and also starting to find out he has a temper too! I am just going to ramble on all about him so I can remember this baby.  Typical mom gushing but I know now with the kids getting older, this is the type of stuff that I will want to read!

Some of the things he just loves are balls and balloons and anything with wheels.  He has these trucks that play the same song and we call that his jam because every time he presses the button he starts dancing and wants you to dance too! He will throw a ball and chase a ball for a large amount of time. And we think he will be left handed because he seems to always throw with his left hand.  He loves Lena and likes to crawl all over her and talk to her and love on her.  Lena seems to be indifferent about it but definitely does not seem to mind too much.  He loves baths and lately likes to crawl into our shower that does not have a door and play in the leftover water or my loofahs.  So we have had to put a gate up because he gets soaking wet and that can be annoying at times.  He can crawl up the stairs and we are having to be careful about that and will make a mad dash for any open bathroom door to splash in the potty.  He also recently found a huge bag of dog bones and likes to sneak in there and start giving them to Lena one by one.  Lena loves that of course! He also just loves balloons.  We can't go to the grocery store without getting a balloon!

He still loves to eat but seems to have gotten a little pickier.  And when he is done he knows that throwing his food and swishing his hands over his tray so the food goes everywhere is the quickest way to be taken out of his high chair. 

He is starting to get more words in his vocabulary.  Some of the words he says are: uh oh (his favorite) the ball (his other favorite) "ooon" for balloon.  Dada and Mama.  Bye bye and dog.

He is taking after his sister in that he looks like he will be a late walker.  He is pulling up, cruising and stands all the time but just doesn't seem to interested in moving on to the next phase of actually walking.  I am convinced my babies are a little lazy and he crawls really really fast so I could see why he would want to stick with that.  My mom and I were laughing earlier because he likes to be held sooooooo much more than Elle ever did.  So he will crawl over to you super fast and put his arms up because he wants you to pick him up.  It is the sweetest thing ever but he gets upset if you don't pick him up.  He is also a big hair puller if he is upset with me.  Stinker!

Alright now for some pictures! I am noticing that he has the same pajamas on in a lot of these.  I promise we do change his clothes!

 My sweet boys!

This was in the car before PDO and Walker's little cheeks were so chap because he had a cold and it was freezing outside.  I feel bad for liking his rosy cheeks!

Sweet boy playing with his car.

Feeling under the weather one day.  Wanted some snuggles.  While he likes being held a whole lot he doesn't usually let you sit with him.  He wants to be up and walking around with you.

Loving his sister's birthday "oooons"

He loves taking medicine.  Thank goodness! The tylenol is his favorite!

Silly boy was throwing his ball around the dryer.  Whatever keeps him entertained!

Look how happy that little boy is with his balloon!

I took this picture one afternoon when we were going to get Elle from school! It made me laugh because typical little brother in carpool.  Bed head from just waking up from his nap, snack cup, sippy cup and his cell phone! 

Cheesing with my boy!

BENJAMIN THE BUNNY

Elle andI have wanted a kitten for ever and ever.  But Kenny is very very allergic so it just isn't in the cards for us.  We do love our dog but we wanted something we could cuddle. A couple of my friends have bunnies and they make it seem like it is a pretty low maintenance pet.  This weekend while we were at the river Mollie saw a post of Facebook about a bunny that needed to be rehomed.  It was already house trained and was said to be a laid back bunny personality wise so we decided that we wanted to adopt him!  I had been considering it for a little while but I had not really mentioned it to Kenny so he was a little nervous at first.

Over the weekend I got lots of advice from Mollie and Stephanie on the best way to take care of the bunny and on the way home Kenny and I stopped at the tractor supply store to pick up a bunny cage starter kit.  This may of been the first time either of us have ever been in a tractor supply store. We chose not to tell Elle about the bunny. We wanted to surprise her.

Monday morning my friend Sarah offered to let Elle come over for a playdate and wanted to keep Walker too so I could drive to Jackson really quick and meet the lady with the bunny.  The weather was horrible! Pouring rain but I was on a mission.  I met the lady in the Pet Smart parking lot and was back on the road with our new bunny within a few minutes.

Took a few selfies with our new bunny who rode in my lap the entire way 

home to send to Kenny and friends.

Isn't he cute?!

When we got home we put Walker for nap and introduce and surprised Elle with her new bunny.  She  was absolutely thrilled! He is so soft! She decided to name him Benjamin because that is Peter Rabbit's little friend and they have been reading that book in school and we just saw that play.  She says he has a Benjamin face.

Excited little girl with her new Benjamin bunny!

Giving it some love.

Even Kenny couldn't deny the soft snuggles.

We have had the bunny for a few weeks and it is going pretty well.  He is a little nervous.  I think our house is a big change from his previous owners who were a young married couple. Having a large dog and two energetic kids makes you realize that our house can be pretty wild and loud.  So the bunny is still adjusting.  We let him out to wander downstairs while Walker is napping or asleep and Elle is learning how to care for him. She is also learning how to handle him.  She learned the hard way not to stick her finger in his face because he bit her.  It really surprised her and I think it hurt her feeling because she cried.  Walker just wants to  crawl and chase him around and does not know how to be gentle just yet so it is all a learning curve.Lena just wants to follow him around and sniff him.  She doesn't show any aggressive behavior towards him and it helps that she doesn't see that well these days. So for now we are good and hoping that the bunny will grow to love and trust us!

And I had to include this picture of our sweet Walker.  I am about to do a whole post on him because he keeps us so busy and we love him so much but he hasn't been in a lot of the posts lately because so Elle is so busy lately.  This is him keeping busy while we were waiting for Elle at ballet.  My sweet baby boy!

THE DAY OF LOVE

Kenny and I don't get super into Valentine's Day but it was a little more fun this year since Elle is in school and had a Valentine's Day Party to prepare for. Her teacher sent home a note a few weeks before letting us kindly know that she expected for all of their Valentines to be handwritten by them.  So we set to work.

Elle writing her name on her Valentines for her friends.

The finished product.  Cute and easy.  Little bags stuffed with themed candy and stickers.

The back with Elle's signature

I found notes in Elle's backpack for Kenny and me.  This was the first time that she wrote out these words and I will cherish it forever.  Brought tears to my eyes.

Friday afternoon Elle had her class party.  I love coming to these and seeing Elle with her friends and her teacher and she is always so excited to have me there so that makes me happy.  She was so excited to have passed out her Valentines to all her friends bags and she couldn't wait to go through all her stuff.

Look how excited she is!

Partying it up with my girl!

Enjoying the party food!

Showing me the Valentine she made for Kenny and me.

Friday afternoon CeCe came in town to stay with Elle and Walker so that Kenny and I could could meet our friends at their river cabin for a weekend away.  We were excited for some kid free time and Elle was happy to have CeCe in town!

Saturday morning, our good friend Margaret came and picked Elle up to take her to get her nails done.  This was her birthday present from Margaret.  When they arrived at the nail shop to of Elle's good friends, Brooklyn and Caroline, were there and they had the best time hanging out getting pampered!

Caroline, Elle and Brooklyn.

Elle with Margaret getting beautified!

She picked purple with a sparkle overcoat.  She loves purple!

Over at the cabin it was freezing so we were literally just hanging out and eating and enjoying wine, friends and games! I always get Tracy to play with my hair and so I sat down in front of her to let her do her magic which is always some very interesting hair dos.  This quickly spiraled into all of us doing makeovers on each other and then of course some glamour shots! It was lots of fun and very silly!

Wine and a sister wife hair do!

Mollie working those cheek bones to get the right contouring!

Look at Mollie's face! Tracy kept telling her beauty was pain!

Funny enough our makeup looked ridiculous in person but kind of good for our selfie shoot!

It was such a great weekend.  We literally did nothing but sit around but I miss these friends so much and all of us being together more often since Tracy and I moved away. On Sunday (actual Valentine's Day) we hit the road early so my mom could get back and we could spend some time with the kids.  I was grateful for a few hours in the car with my Valentine.  Even if he worked and watched golf the whole way home!

SUPER BOWL 2016

For Super Bowl we were invited over to a friends house with some other couples and our kids.  We planned to bring both Walker and Elle but Walker was getting so cranky right before we left so we arranged for a babysitter to come last minute. It was a fun night and I took a few pictures and thought I would do a quick post.  Mainly because the hostess of the party had a fire pit and smore station set up and this was Elle's first time to roast marshmallows and make smores and she loved it.  So of course I had to document that!

It was my friend Laura's birthday and she is from Louisiana so she had a birthday King Cake that was really delicious!

After lots of yummy snacks and a wonderful taco bar and watching the game it was time for some marshmallow roasting! I am personally not the biggest fan of smores because it is just overkill for me. But I do love roasted marshmallows.  Elle was more than happy to roast lots and lots of marshmallows for me to eat.  She turned out to enjoy just the marshmallows too.

Ooey Gooey smores

Elle and her roasting partner, Ray.  They are in the same grade at school but different classes.

Making sure the marshmallows catch on fire at least once because she has skill.

Flattering picture of me devouring a marshmallow.

Kenny got in on the action too.

It was a fun night but I missed our Walker. I will be glad when he can stay up past 6 PM!

FEBRUARY FUN

February has been a little tough so far. I have had a cold for a few weeks now and I can't seem to kick it.  Ive been on several antibiotics and also spent a few days when it was at its worst in bed.  Just praying that it goes away soon.  Elle and Walker have been somewhat well.An ear infection here and there and runny noses.  Kenny has not had a single thing knock on wood! Then last week I found out I broke a bone in my foot from working out.  It had been hurting a lot.  So now I am wearing a boot for who knows how long.  But we are all trekking through this month and the cold winter and soon enough we will all be well. Here is a little of what we have had going the last couple of weeks!

Elle had her kindergarten open house.  Kenny was out of town and Walker and I were sick so my friend Missy took her with her two girls and Elle's good friends.  They are so excited to be kindergartners!

I took this picture for Instagram when I was trying to get ready and I never get ready alone. The kids always find their way into the bathroom and must be near me at all times.

The two or three days I was in the bed Kenny was keeping the kids away from me and occupied so I could rest and we could contain the germs.  But just like the bathroom when I am getting ready they kept wandering into the room.  I was always happy to see them even when I was feeling bad.

Elle even came and colored next to me for a little while.  Love this sweet girl.

We were having an unseasonable warm weekend so I joined the kids and Kenny outside for a little bit and Kenny and Walker were looking so sweet together.

Look at sweet Walker practically climbing in the dryer.

Oh he was just throwing his ball and getting it back out.  Makes total sense.

I went with Elle's class on a field trip to see a Peter Rabbit play in Columbus.  My expectations were low but it turned out to be so good and cute.  Being able to go on Elle's field trips and her things at school are one of my favorite things about being a stay at home mom.

Walker was out when I put him down for a nap one afternoon.

Enjoying some snacks.

We had some severe weather threats and tornado warnings last week.  It was bad enough they let school out early.  Thankfully it didn't really hit us but I had cleaned out a closet underneath our stairs.  Elle was disappointed we never had to use our "safe spot"  so she crawled in there and played the iPad for a little bit.  Silly girl.

A picture of my broken bone! There should not be two pieces. Ouch!

And the boot.  By the end of each day I can''t wait to get this thing off.

Walker went with me to the store for some grocery shopping the other day and was so hung up on all the "ooons."  I finally had to go get him one from the floral department so we could continue the shopping.

After church Elle and went to the store again so we could get some lunch and some ingredients for a Super Bowl snack I was making for a party were were going to.She was so excited to have one of the mini shopping carts! My little helper!