Potty Training 1,245

Ok, not really.. But, it feels that way.
We tried a couple of months ago, and she just wasn't ready. She had too many accidents to count, and I didn't want to get frustrated with her..so we stopped.
So, after seeing lots of friends in "big girl" panties..and talking about it more and more..I thought since Matt is out of town and we don't have many plans this week, I would give it another try.

We went outside yesterday afternoon, and took the potty chair with us. She last 30 min or so with no accidents, but didn't go to the potty either. I was beginning to wonder??
So, we came inside and she went twice in a 4 hour period with no accidents...until right before bath time. She had a small one. But, this is MILES past our previous experience! I was shouting and praising..Jellybeans, stickers, m&ms oh my!! Today, we did have to get out for a couple hours, and I put her in a pullup..But, she has been in "big girl" panties since naptime and has only had one accident.

I also told her if she said dry for several days we could go to the store and pick out some big girl panties.. She said YAY, CARS! lol.. ummmm.. How about Princess or Dora... She said OK! (thank goodness)
It was pretty sunny outside, so we didn't last long.. maybe as it gets cooler we can keep doing this.. Makes for easy clean-up, too!
I'm just so proud of her, and as much as I would love for this to be an overnight thing..like it is for some, it just isn't. It's something that is going to take time, she is going to have accidents, and it may just take a while. I'm ok with her not growing up too quickly, so how ever long it takes.. That's ok by me. :)

What we have been up to...

We enjoy the weekends, since that is when Matt is always home..
We had some great eats.. Cajun Steamer ( which was AMAZING! Coconut Shrimp, cheesy grits, fried green tomatoes) and Noshville Deli..BOTH very yummy!! We will be back!
We also grilled out one night, and enjoyed playing in the backyard.
We watched a movie, and enjoyed our favorite movie snack, popcorn.

Presley is loving getting new movies.. We got her Bambi 2, which is SUPER cute!! She really enjoys getting to pick out a movie for us to watch. Nemo and Fox and Hound have been other favs.

I am ready for fall! This weekend after 6, it felt GREAT outside!! I am so ready for cooler weather, Starbucks caramel hot chocolate, jeans, and long sleeves.

Matt is ready for football! I am pretty excited to watch it.. He is doing 5 fantasy footballs.. so he hopes his "teams" do well.

Presley is keeping us laughing. Her laugh can light up the room!

She is singing, "Jesus loves me, " "Itsy bitsy spider," and "ABCs" daily and its so so sweet!
Presley is saying she loves us more and more..and I love to hear it out of nowhere.. sweet sweet moments like this make being at home with her worth it ALL!

 Showing her Monkey some LOVE.. SO sweet! 

Tiny Dancer

My little angel started her dance classes last Friday. She is taking from a place down the street in a small town called Nolensville at Elite Dance.
Of course, I had to get pictures of her in her outfit, and was excited the teacher let us all come in the first day, so I could get a few pictures of her in action. :)
It was hilarious! At the end her teacher assured all of us moms, that the girls did great for the first day.. But, we all gave each other that look like yeah, right! Ha! No, they all did great, just typical 2 years olds who didn't exactly follow directions the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time. Presley was somewhat the ring leader in getting them out of line, but that's ok. Miss Personality, was running instead of walking on her toes, staring at herself in the mirrors making funny faces, and even asked the teacher for a popsicle in the middle of class. Gosh, you just gotta love her!! Ignore the very poor lighting.. for the indoor pictures. I was just so happy I captured this very special day. I just can't believe how fast she is growing up.. Times like this I wish I had a pause button.

 My favorite!!

 Notice whose feet aren't together...LOL.. maybe she will make a soccer player instead. :)

She had so much fun, and has been begging to go back! :)

Saying, "See ya next time, dance class!"

The big 30!

It's offical.. I am no longer in my twenties.. I am 30.. Wow.. Really? I still feel 20...most days, anyways! :)
Matt is turning 30 next month, so we went home to celebrate. We had a great time visiting with family and enjoying our special day. Presley had a blast seeing her cousins, Jack and Bella.. and we were equally excited to see my brother, John and his sweet wife, Britt.
I ended up getting to go to lunch this next day with my Mom..on her 50th! So crazy we are entering these milestone years together. I was super excited..She got me my first sewing machine!! Yay.. now, I gotta get busy learning HOW to sew! :)
Here are some pictures of our fun 30th cookout.. My sweet Uncle Mark made his famous ribs!! SO good!!!
We had a blast hanging out and Presley enjoyed swimming in the pool with Jack and Bella!

Strawberry Chocolate Cake.. SO good!

Sweet Laura:)

Cute one of Grammie and the grandkids:)

Catch up!

We have been super busy!! I starting helping out watching a couple of kiddos in the neighborhood every now and then..and I have fallen behind on the blog. SORRY! :)

Just to recap the last few weeks.. 

Courtney and Carter came to visit!!! We were so excited to see them! 

They got her last Monday and left on Thursday. We had so much fun..Ate Mexican ( our fav!), took the kids to Monkey Treehouse, played in the pool and with Presley's new water table, lunch at Newk's, Panera, and my 1st time to eat at Mellow Mushroom ( yum, I will be back!). We also had a fun photoshoot at a park nearby. It has a really cute setup, and Courtney and I were so excited to find it. I took a couple of them, and they did the same for us!

 I am so thankful for our friendship.. one that is going on 10 years!! Presley and Carter had so much fun together, which was just precious to watch! I know Carter is going to make a GREAT big brother! Presley was also thankful for the 19 Disney movies he brought into her life..She actually thanked Jesus in her prayer that night for Cars! lol!! Thanks, Courtney.. we are going to go broke buying Disney movies! :) j/k 

Waiting for Carter...and her face when I told her he was HERE!! :)

Sweet boy playing in the pool

Gosh, I love Courtney's 1.4..these were taken with her camera :)

We love the waterfall!

Fun at Monkey Treehouse..horrible lighting.. but too cute not to share!

Here are just a couple from our mini session.. Much more to edit and share..They were TOO funny!!

We are so glad they came to visit..and hope we can do again sometime!!

Weekends are our favorites!

We had the BEST weekend! Matt got home Friday, and left again tonight for several days. We cherish the moments we have with him on the weekend. We miss him when he leaves and look so forward to the next time we see him.
Highlights from the weekend:
Lunch at Chuy's ( great Mexican place!)
Got some great antiques at a great place in Nolensville
Church
LOTS of time at home chilling, playing with Presley, and swimming ( well she swam, we watched :)
I didn't take one picture. I just enjoyed the moments. It was great!
I did take some really sweet pictures of my babydoll last weekend.. We swim a ton these days!

 Can you tell this girl LOVES her pool!!?

Love her sweet smile and laugh!

 And a popsicle is a MUST..and we always have them when we swim!

A favorite pic of mine :)

We are looking forward to the next weekend together!

Presley's 1st movie

Over the weekend, we took Presley to see her very 1st movie, Winnie the Pooh. She was SO excited about it and was a HUGE fan of the popcorn! She did great the first half ( and wow, you never realize how long the previews are until you take a child) Then she started getting out of her chair, and talking. At one point, she asked to change the channel to Dora! ;) We made the mistake of going at nap time and I wonder if she would have done a little better at a different time. We lasted until the very end, then she was just too fussy. We probably left a couple minutes before the end. All and all, she did pretty good. There are summer movies showing a couple days a week in the morning for $1 and they are showing VeggieTales in August, so I think we are going to try again soon :)

I got some super cute pictures of her and Matt before we left. My great Aunt Linda bought her several adorable outfits..and couple she had monogrammed. Here is Presley in her very 1st monogrammed outfit :) She looked SO sweet! :)