Flashback Friday - Sophie

Sophie was our first baby. I got her in January of 04 right after I moved to Tulsa. I remember that Saturday so well. JM was studying (or trying to) and I begged him to take me to a pet store because I desperately wanted a dog since I had just moved, had my own apartment and I needed something to do (since JM was so busy all the time!) Anyway, he didn't really want to go but I begged, so of course I got my way and we were off. We actually got really lost - this was long before the days of our GPS and we almost just turned around and went back. But then thankfully, we found the place. When I found out they had chihuahua's, I thought that might be a good match for JM, because he has always been allergic to a lot of dogs. We went in the little room and spent some time with all the girl chihuahua's and we picked the one that we thought had the "middle" personality. She wasn't too calm, but she wasn't too rambuctious either. I felt that I had to buy her since I put JM though all of the trouble of coming with me, so we got her. We walked out into the parking lot and the first thing JM did was put her under his sweatshirt since it was so cold. I knew from then on that she had become a part of our family. In the car, I chose her name - Sophie Isabella. (although the Isabella rarely gets used!)

She loves her clothes. I think this pink sweatshirt has always been a favorite of hers because it is so soft and cuddly!

JM took this one. This is one of my faves of her!

One of our favorite things to do when we lived in Tulsa was to take her to the OSU grassy area and just let her run. She absolutely loved it.

This all makes me a bit sad because I realize how much she has taken a backseat - first to Max, and then ultimately to Jenna. We don't take as many photos of the dogs as we used to. However, she still gets lots of dingo's and she gets to sleep by my head - not a lot of dogs can say that! She will be 6 this November and I'm just going to go ahead and say that she is going to live forever because I can't imagine not having her with us.

Water playdate

Today our playgroup met in one of the members' backyards. The mom got out a lot of the water toys and Jenna had a blast.

Oh, and believe it or not the temps were only in the high 60's - low 70's today!! Crazy for July! Anyway, just a few pics from today.


Jenna loved this slide. I'm thinking we might have to get her one for indoors (but it's just so big) but maybe?

The back of the slide.

I do think this was Jenna's first time in a baby pool like this one. It was like a big bathtub to her. She played in it just like she does in the bath. Oh, and there were 4 other boys, and she was the only girl. It seems like everywhere we go lately, there are lots more boys than girls. (Good, maybe she will get to be very picky later on.) :)

My camera setting got messed up. (yes, this has only happened to me 9790980 times, but it's still so annoying.) Anyway, she was playing at the water table and doing the "waterfall" with the cup. JM started this little "waterfall" game with her in the bath and it was cute to see her doing it in other places.

Oh, and all of this makes me really sad that we don't have a backyard. One of these days though....

Happy Early weekend!

My incredibly talented husband

John Michael won the local photography contest!!!! His photo will now be moved up to the next (state or national?) level! I knew it was awesome and I'm so proud of him. I'll let him blog the photo so you'll have to check out his blog to see it! This totally made his whole day! We're so excited!

(Oh, this is when we went to the plaza and I posted that picture of all the photographers standing together and I said it was like walking around with a bunch of paparazzi's. Remember that?)

And I thought I didn't have anything to blog about today...... :)

Different day, same belly...

Stickers yesterday. Today it was Gymbo stamps. (She also got them on her hands and feet.) She loves her Gymbo stamps!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, Monday....

JM called in sick today so I also decided that Jenna and I should stay home just to make sure he was feeling ok. So, we stayed home all day. We've been going out a lot lately, so it felt really good just to stay home and not have to go out and do anything.

So, this morning Jenna started out with a sticker-fest. She's even been saying the word Sticker. I can't tell you how much she LOVES these stickers. This is her favorite thing to do with them - put them all over herself and us. All 3 of us today have had stickers on our bellies. And, let me say that I hate that I cut her face off. I was trying to be super quick with taking the photo and I just got too close to her.

And since I cut her face off, I had to try to take some normal pictures. I love this one. She just looks so sweet and so pretty.

JM and Jenna fell asleep together on the couch and this is where she took her nap today. I debated on whether I should pick her up and carry her to her crib since the crib is always the absolute best place she ever sleeps, but it was so sweet and JM doesn't get to experience this a lot so I let her stay there the whole time.

And a little bit later up, I went up to get the big blue blanket (yes, that's what we really call it!) And she ended up staying like this for an hour and half! It was so sweet to see them like this.

Hope you had a good Monday! Can you believe that it's almost August??

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my mom and my aunt! Today we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch! YUMMY!

And because I love these older photos....

Happy Birthday!!!

last couple of days...

YAY for people coming over and occupying me while JM is working sooooo much!!! No, really - I do love having people come over and staying with us! Whitney, Alex, and Eli came up on Thursday and left today. (Whitney and I taught together and she made school a million times better for me - Alex is her housemate and Eli is her son.) Anyway, we had tons of fun together and here are a just few pics from our little adventures together. :)


I didn't realize that I really didn't take as many photos as I thought. And of course, some of the photos I did take aren't all that great - this being one of them - but I was trying to at least get all of them in the same shot. Sorry that it's blurry! Anyway, we went to the Crown Center on Friday and this is at the Crayola store.


We also went swimming and Jenna had the best time she has ever had. (I even took her swimming again today after they left and she didn't even have as much fun today.) She played and splashed and even started jumping off the side steps to me! It was crazy fun! I think she was definitely loving all of the attention she was getting! Eli had this water toy thing and Jenna of course loved it too!

And we had to take this picture because I remember taking a similar picture to this last year.

July 09

(And yes, weirdly I do have on the same type top. I do have other styles!)

July 08

And today after they left, I noticed this sign. It was from Eli. Seriously, how sweet is that?


And this is just from today. JM and I went to Legends tonight and they were so cute together that I was just trying to get a good picture and again, this is the best one I got. But, also I should point out that I picked out this shirt for JM because he wanted something "different" and I think it looks good on him! And Jenna also looked so cute in her little smocked bubble - I am going to be sad because I think next year she will be too big for bubbles! :(


Anyway, again, I had so much fun with W, A, and E! They were so great with Jenna too. They played with her and gave her so much attention that it was really so sweet. I love it when my friends love Jenna, so I just wanted to say thanks to them for being so good with her. :)

I'm looking forward to the end of August and seeing them again and a few new friends as well! :)

What Certain Girls have been up to...

You know you've been a bad blogger when your husband has to call and tell you that you need to update your blog.

Over the weekend, Jenna and I tagged along with JM to do the annual Scott Kelby photowalk. It's a group of photographers that get together all over the U.S. and take pictures on the same day. (Hmmm...I'm not sure I explained that one very well, but hopefully you get the idea.) So they met at the Plaza and we all walked around. It's kind of like walking with a bunch of paparazzi's. A couple of people even asked us what was going on. Jenna and I had fun though - and JM took some amazing photos (of course) and he entered them into the contest and I really think they have a good chance of winning! Hopefully, he'll post them whenever he can (maybe after the contest?)

And I think I've mentioned on here several times how Jenna just hasn't been very much into dolls and the girly stuff. Which, let me just say, would be fine with me if she ended up being a tomboy and only wanted to play with cars, trains, and balls. (I'd still keep her!) :) Anyway, something has changed over the last couple of days. We were in Target over the weekend and she found a little doy and just held on to her and hugged her, so of course I had to buy it for her. Well, today, my mom bought her this fancy baby that you can feed and it cries and giggles. Jenna has loved it! We also went to Goodwill today and she found this little red stroller and started pushing it everywhere, so we thought it would be perfect for her new babies! And you can't beat an American Girl bitty baby stroller for .99 at GW! She has played with the doll and the stroller every single chance she has gotten today. So, I think she now likes dolls. :)

My goofy little girl. Another new thing in Jenna's world that has just started over the last couple of days is that she is FINALLY starting to sign "All done." I had almost completely given up and just stopped trying to teach her any signs, because she was never doing any of them, but now that she has one down, I'm wondering if I should keep trying to teach her some of the others. It's really cute though, and not to mention extremely helpful that she can tell me what she wants. I'm going to have to get it recorded.

And I also finished reading my book for July. It was Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. I really liked it! It definitely ranks up there with some of my other faves. It was about a mother and daughter and their lives and each chapter was told by the other's perspective. I really didn't want to put this one down.

A quote from the book that kind of sums up everything: Bad things happen. Stuff doesn't work out. Everyone has sorrow. Everyone has obligations. Everyone keeps going. You lean on the people who love you. You do the best you can, and you keep going. I just really liked what it said and it just kind of stuck with me. So, I definitely reccommend this one!

And I finally used my Boden Refer a Friend money today. I'm so excited - I got Jenna 3 jackets/coats for a total of $140ish with free shipping. And actually I should clarify that the whole $140 was completely FREE. I didn't pay anything for them. I will definitely have to blog them when I get them. If you don't know Boden, then I'd say you are missing out. :)

Anyway, hopefully I won't neglect my blog again next time for so long. I have visitors coming tomorrow! YAY!!! :)

Flashback Friday

The temperature here has been really cool lately - with the highs in the lower 70's and the lows in the upper 50's - it just doesn't seem like summer much. It's perfect for spring and fall - but in the summer, this is just too cool. One of my favorite things about summer is going swimming and lately we haven't been doing too much of that because of the cooler temps. So, in trying to remember what summer is actually like - I'm blogging some of my older photos. :)

One of my faves of me and Whit. Cheesy? YES! But, that is us. :)

And a pool party that I was missing from but it looks like JM had fun! (Cindi, notice anything?)

And the beach....oh how I do miss the beach! It was nice to say that I lived across from the beach for a while and go whenever we wanted.

And one of Sophie swimming. :)

Hope yall have a good weekend and that it actually feels like summer where you live!

The Good and the Bad

I'll start with the good.

Oh my goodness - these Blue Bunny Birthday Party Ice Cream Sandwiches are the best! Seriously, you have to try them! They are THAT good. I want one right now just talking about them. :)

And the bad...this should be the very bad or the worst. I bought a couple of Dasani's new water. This flavor is called Black Cherry Essence and I usually love flavored water (it's usually the only way I drink water), but this stuff is just awful. It says, No sugar, No Sweeteners, No Calories, No Preservatives.....Hence, again, I should have known with all that it would have been awful. I think I even poured some in the dog's water bowl (I hate to waste it) and I don't even think they drank it. YUCK!! I will stick with my Propel water from now on.