Happy Birthday Week to me!!

It is my birthday!!!! I have been celebrating all week.. seriously. My mom and I have this tradition where we give each other about five days of gifts to open the week before the actual birthday. It is small little things, usually stuff I pick up at garage sales, just things I know she loves. The point is not the gifts, but the fun of waking up every morning and opening a present. This year I got some a note card set, a journal, a pampered chef pot, spa set, and the grand finale: Croc Sandals!! Awesome!! The last gift, the ACTUAL birthday gift, is always the "biggie". It is a great tradition and I love it.


Over the years, I have taken it a step further - some might say overboard - and started making myself Princess for the week! This year was no different. It was great! I am pampered and I can get away with pretty much anything..... and I milk it for all its worth. In fact, by the time my birthday comes around, my family tells me "It's OVER tomorrow!" Hahaha. I think they get tired of hearing me say, "but it's my birthday week......". I use it often and alot to get out of doing anything I do not want to do.

So, my husband woke me up Wednesday (the official kick off of this year's b-day week) by singing happy birthday to me before he left for work. He is truly the best! I had something special planned for each day, something to look forward to. I will not list all my goings-on here though. It was a pretty fun week. The best day was Friday, when my friend Randi took me to Ocala to eat and shop. She gave me the greatest gift, which I will use every year. Check out my boa and head piece. The hearts on the head thing say "birthday princess". The thing in my hand is an old persons decision maker. You spin it and it lands on things like, take a nap or dye your hair blue, or drive real slow.... Randi likes to tease me cause I am two years older than her.

It really is alot of fun every year, even though it sounds a little... well... self-indulgent. It would not be at all possible if my family was not willing to pamper me and make a big deal over me. So, I am blessed with a sweet family who lets it be "all about me" for a few days out of the year. (Also thank you to all my friends who called or texted me everyday to tell me Happy Birthday Week... Randi, KDarling, and Nilla... and of course, my mommy!)

O Christmas Tree

This year we got out our fake tree we have had for a very long time and we decided it had had it. It was pitiful.

So hubby decided to go get a real one this year. I was thinking I would buy another fake one at the end of the season when they are cheap. Look at the difference in the trees!

That sucker is HUGE! Takes up the whole corner. We love it!!!

My girls are so sweet! Shayla LOVES to color. That little table was Alysha's when she was a toddler, I think she may be too big for that chair now. lol!

HAPPY THIANKSGIVING

This year we smoked a turkey. This was the first time we have done that. It was so juicy and moist!!! GO JON!!!

Shay was still napping.... I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!

18 month check up

Sissy thinks it is funny to put my bra on her and take pictures.



Shayla had her 18 month check up today. She weighs 29 lbs and she is 33 inches long. That puts her in the 95% for weight and the 75% for height. In plain english, that is one BIG baby. They say she is well within normal range and she is healthy. That is all that matters. What a sweet little thing. She also got a shot, the last one til her second birthday. Can my baby really be turning two?? sniff, sniff.

Shay and Friends

This is my sweet little baby girl and her best friends. Abby Cadaby, Mr Bear, two of her kitties and Minnie is under there somewhere. I don't know where Elmo is, she is probably sitting on him. This is one happy little girl. :)




Sitting in Daddy's chair, hanging out with her best friends. Life is great!

Shayla shots

This is how Shayla eats her breakfast every morning... with all her friends stuffed in her high chair beside her. She now insists on feeding herself, she will not let me help her at all. She LOVES her little animal friends. Too funny!

18 months old

SHAY is 18months old today!!! I don't know why, but this seems like a milestone age. It is exciting. She really is a "big girl" - More toddler than baby. I love it. She is super sweet! She gives kisses and hugs on demand. There is nothing sweeter than Shayla Sugar..... Did I mention I love this age? She is speaking alot, still not all of it understandable, but she has a wide vocabulary. It is easy to teach her stuff, she's like a little sponge.

The other day, I put her in the laundry basket and tied a belt to the end. Then I would shout "ready, Go" and pull her. Everytime I would stop I would teach her those two words and by the end of the game she was saying "eeedddyy GO!" It was so fun! Jon taught her how to give a high-five. They learn so quick!

She is also copying what she sees us doing. That can be good, and that can be bad. I was in the kitchen fixing her lunch and I spilled something on the floor. I had a rag already down there, so I used my foot to wipe up the spill with the rag. Shay is just standing beside me. I go back to fixing the food and I see her take her foot and push the rag around over the floor. SOOO CUTE!!

She loves to read. I read her the same books over and over and over again. She loves it! Sometimes she "reads" to me. She will turn the pages and take my hand and rub them over the words and pictures. Toddlers are so smart!!

She is a cuddly baby. She loves her stuffed animals. Every morning, and after every nap, when I go to get her from her crib, she is hugging her three stuffed animals. When I pick her up, we have to get the stuffed animals (Minnie mouse, Pooh, and a teddy bear), and take them with us to the den. It is an armful, but she LOVES them. In fact, every morning while she is eating her cereal, she has them stuffed into her highchair beside her while she eats. She has NO room for herself, but she just smiles and looks at them. They are her little friends. Is your heart just melting yet?

She is still going down for two naps a day, but I think she will soon cut one out. She only sleeps for an hour or less, she stays in there for two hours or more. She sits in there and plays. I listen to her through the monitor. She talks and squeals and laughs. It is soo cute. I need to get a recording of it, I know ten years from now it would make me smile. I love those sweet sounds. It also gives me lots of free time.

PS: HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY HILA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LadyBug Shay

We took shay to a church "Trunk Or Treat" tonight. It was so fun! She is so cute in her ladybug costume. She left her hat thing on the whole time. She had a blast walking around.

My beautiful girls. Alysha wore one of dad's ODU's, just so she would have an outfit. Some of her homeschool friends were gonna be there and they were dressing up too. :) That was the best we could do on short notice.

SWEET!!!

BRACE FACE

My baby girl has had her braces on for two years............... this week she got them off. Here is her before picture:




Here is a picture of her Brand New four thousand dollar smile. Isn't she pretty? It was a big day! Her teeth look great...as they should for that obscene amount of money they charge. I cannot imagine having lots of kids and lots of braces to pay for. Ouch! She is now living in "Retainer Land". She already hates those things.....

A day at the Park

This was shayla's first time at the park. She was so cute! She was shy at first, but she warmed up to it!This is Shay and her future boyfriend, Lane. He is three weeks older than her.



Standing at the top of the big kids gym, looking down at mommy.

She had a blast, until the very end, when she fell and hit her face. She cried, but she was not hurt. It was so a fun day.

Shayla's first sprinkler adventure!

Friday night we decided to have family fun night. We decided to get out the sprinkler toy and see how Shayla liked it. She has a BLAST!! She was so wet and covered with grass and dirt by the time it was over. Sissy got out there in her bathing suit and played with her, while I took pics and daddy controlled the water. :)





Check out those dirty legs.
She just walked around the yard for an hour, laughing and having a good time. She would fall down, and then get right back up and keep walking. She never stopped moving. I hosed her down before we went inside, but the tub was still full of grass and stuff. She had fun getting dirty. (This was Friday two week ago, since mommy and baby have been very sick all last week. I now feel all human again. ) "Firsts" are so fun!

shayla shots

USCG Day 2009

This year Jon and one of his other shipmates headed up Coast Guard Day. He did a good job. It was a lot of work and it all turned out really great. There were over 200 people there! This is a pic of Jon presenting a plaque to the previous and current OIC's.

This is a picture of Jon and his current OIC.

Jon giving his speech. He did great!!


My girls, sitting outside under the tent. It was so hot outside! Shay did really good.

MaaaaaaMeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Mommy. Shayla says that all the time now. I do love to hear her call me in the sweet little sing song voice.

Shayla loves sheets. When I wash sheets, she gets them out of the clean clothes basket and just lays down on them and sucks her thumb. It is so cute!!!!!!!!!!

She likes to hold it while she sucks her thumb. When she gets tired she will do this with just about anything... a dirty sock on the floor, any cloth she can hug while sucking her thumb. I have given her the pretty little "Lovey" blanket things and she wont hug them.... she prefers Jon's dirty boxers... figures right?

I Love this age. She sits in my lap, she is talking all the time (although unintelligible), she is so sweet. She gives kisses and loves all over ya!! Oh man, I love this sweet girl!!

Walt Disney 2009

We just got back from a week at Disney. We hit Epcot, MGM, Magic Kingdom and Typhoon Lagoon. It was pretty awesome. Shay stayed with her meemaw and we took my niece CC with us. Those girls had the best time!!!



The high light of the trip for me was meeting Mickey Mouse!! When we finally got into the back room to meet him, I got a little starstruck. I mean, It is is MICKEY!! No joke, I got nervous. It was pretty cool, like meeting a movie star - (except it was some person in a costume.) Jon gave Minnie a kiss and the whole room made the wooooooo sound and mickey put his hand over his mouth, like my hubby was kissing on another woman. It was so funny. So she kicked her foot out in the picture, must've been a good kiss.

The teenagers - looking cool on the way to a park. Aren't they styling?