Weekend Guests Part I

The weekend after Grady's birthday, our friends Kirk and MarLa came down from Memphis so Kirk could run the Frostbite half-marathon in StarkVegas. Thanks MarLa for sending these pictures!

Piece of cake!

Way to go Kirk! 13.1 miles! Better you than me!

He got a cool medal too! Doubles as a keychain!

MarLa, Delia, and one of Delia's six baby dolls, which she all loves equally.

Except for baby doll Katie, who is the new favorite from Grandma Amanda. Katie closes her eyes when she sleeps and has a baby bottle that "drains." This pictures was pre-Katie. I think this is baby Bonnie.

The tea sets Delia got for Christmas are still a big hit. She plays with them almost every day when we get home. Thank you Kirk for drinking tea with D. The night after the race, we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Restaurant Tyler and had an amazing meal full of bison meatloaf and amazing desserts.

Grady's Birthday Party

So what have we been up to? Here goes...

We celebrated Grady's birthday on Jan. 20 by having about 20 people over to the house for BBQ, hot wings, birthday cake and basketball on our new (bday surprise) patio TV. Grady couldn't figure out why I wanted to have people over to the house rather than meet out somewhere.

We love to party with the Henrys: William, Brien, and Amanda. Delia stayed up late, but I think her expression here is just bad picture taking timing on my part.

Joseph made it out to play! Check out Joey & Kate's blog to see his superstar quarterback moves.

Landon also came over to play. Always a sharp dressed man!

A lovely caramel cake that I did NOT make. Purchased at Book Mart Cafe on Main Street in Downtown Starkville. Gooood! Easy!!

Tons of people brought food and drinks, which really helped this working mama throw a fun party on a week night!

Delia is really enjoying her toddler bed that we brought back from our Little Rock trip. Thank you cousins!

We also brought a rug back that matches the rest of her "Chamois Lambie" room decor.

"There's the lambie!"

More catch-up posts to come!...

Happy Valentine's Day!

The past few weeks have been so full! Fun weekends with out-of-town guests, a race, a rodeo, a birthday party, and more. Pictures of it all coming soon, I promise.

Delia's Birthday at the Zoo

The morning of Delia's birthday, we bundled up and went out early to make sure we got some good animal time in before lunch and nap time. I guess January is not a busy month for zoos, because we practically had the place to ourselves. It was great! Uncle Gerald and Aunt Sarah drove over to meet us too!

The very first animals we saw were these monkeys and they were LOUD. They were hooping and hollering and swinging from rope to rope.

They were making so much noise it was cracking us up. Delia did not think it was so funny. It made her a little nervous at first, but she relaxed when we got a little farther away from them. That night after she fell asleep, I heard her say in a scared voice, "Monkeeey!"

Delia loved the giraffes.

REALLY loved them.

We also saw elephants, lions, tigers, otters, ducks, chickens, and turtles. When we saw the tigers, Delia screamed "C'MERE KITTY!!"

There was a carousel that ran every hour on the hour, and we just happened to find it at 11:57! They ran it around an extra time "for the Birthday Girl, Delia!"

Aubrey, Regan, Emily, and Aunt Jennifer all found a horse they liked for the ride.

While we were riding, Delia said "I ride horsey!"

Then we went to Cantina Loredo for a Mexican brunch. They brought out a birthday brownie with a sparkler on it!

For the record, Delia did not want any brownie. So Mom took care of it.

Happy Birthday to our big girl!

Birthday Weekend in Little Rock

I decided that throwing a 2-year old birthday party did not sound fun to me, so I wanted to do something else that would be just as special for Delia's birthday. I REALLY wanted to take her to the zoo because she loves animals so much, but the closest thing to us is the Tupelo Buffalo Park. It sounds fun (I mean, they have modified school buses with tractor tires!), but I just wasn't sold on it. We thought about the Tuscaloosa Children's Museum, but Delia's birthday coincided with the Alabama National Championship celebration, so that idea was out for sure. Then Grady's family in Little Rock invited us to help them get moved in to their new house by taking about 8 boxes of Baby Gap clothes and Pottery Barn bedding hand me downs, plus a toddler bed. So Little Rock it was! And they have a zoo! Happy Birthday Delia!

This girl had a BLAST with her cousins. Aubrey is 3, Regan is 6 and Emily is 9. In this picture they were playing hide and seek.

Delia hanging out in a tree with help from Daddy.

Regan in a tree!

Aubrey in a tree!

Running wild!

The girls had a great play room which we spent a lot of time in.

Emily showed Delia how to use their toy camera, so Delia took my picture while I was taking hers.

The playroom even had a built in "concession stand" as Uncle John called it.

Aubrey takes our order and brings out drinks!

This is the playhouse where Delia and Aubrey would hide out.

Delia would say "Come on Mama!"

Cutie pie Regan helping unpack boxes.

First Haircut!

Delia got her very first haircut Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010. Her hair was halfway down her back and kind of scraggly, so we just got it cleaned up a little. We went to Erin's Salon, which is about 20 steps from my office. As the world's worst mom, I forgot to bring my real camera, and all I had to capture the moment was my camera phone. I also forgot to grab a chunk of hair to keep and put in Delia's neglected baby book (the blog is our baby book!) under "Baby's First Haircut," but Erin helped me make a nice neat bundle from a little chunk we rescued off the floor.

Delia was very hesitant about getting in the chair, so I got in the chair first and put a cape on.

I kept her distracted with a bucket of 300 foam stickers (thanks Dollar Tree!), which we stuck all over her cape, my cape, and Erin's apron.

After it was all over, she got a sucker for being so good. Don't worry Papa - her hair is just caught up on her shoulder in this picture. It is not as short as it looks. What a pose.

Delia is TWO!! Grady is 32!

But you will have to be patient for birthday pictures because I get uptight if my pictures are out of order. So for now, you must be content with pictures of the big freeze we had on Jan. 9.

We had some record-breaking cold temperatures this month, with lows getting down to 13 degrees! Grady took Delia to see a frozen pond at our neighbors' house.

If you look closely, you will see Miller and Buddy running crazy on the other side.

Delia is wearing little hand-me-down ski pants from her cousins!