PB & J -- We're A OK

I am happy to report that I finally gave into my irrational fear of feeding Hailey peanut butter. After much nagging from Karl and Nonni; and running out of picky toddler foods to feed her; I decided this past weekend to give it a try. We started with a minuscule amount spread on bread with jelly which was inhaled, so then I gave her some more -- again devoured -- and the result was one happy toddler; no hives, swelling, or anaphylaxis noted :) My next irrational food fear hurdle will be other nuts when she has the molars to chop on them . . .

NASCAR Tot

This past Sunday afternoon, as with most Sunday afternoons during the racing season, Karl had the NASCAR race turned on. Hailey seemed quite interested in the racing cars, and even decided to climb into a "race car" herself...I promise you this was all Hailey's doing -- no "set up" for a photo op here...in fact Karl and I were folding laundry and didn't even notice she had stole the basket and emptied it's contents :) Gotta love a kid with an imagination :)

climbing in and setting up....



double check the engine .... and she's off!



**Note the pig tails...I loved them, she hated them :) about 5 minutes later she was in her room ripping them out!**

Disney Part 1

So my loving mommy sent me the flash disk from her camera so that I could have some pictures from Disney to share!!! I will be getting more soon from my Uncle James collection...so here are some memories from our days at Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom and dinner at the Polynesian Resort. I'm going to be lazy and skip captions b/c ... well it's late :) But Nonni is a frequent figure on the blog, you'll recognize her, Aunt Tracey is her younger sister, and the two boys are my cousins (Tracey's boys) Scott and Jack... the stranger old guy, that's Papa the Pirate, minus the pirate gear :)

Animal Kingdom


Downtown Disney

Legoland, and Limbo ..how low can you go?

Big enough Popsicle Nonni?


Magic Kingdom

SMILE, you're at the happiest place on earth...in the rain!


"Hello, I came to see the mouse? Are you there?"



Family Dinner @ Polynesian Resort

Loosing My Mind

Or all track of time?! Seems like finding the time to blog is becoming harder and harder! Could have to do with Hailey having dropped to one nap a day, or perhaps my increased involvement in playgroup--we try to do an activity daily, helps pass the time and occupy the bug, it could be that Hailey stands by me and SCREAMS bloody murder anytime I even sit on the bench at the computer desk, or it could just be that I'm a mom which = I have no life / time of my own.
Either way, sorry for the blogging hiatus.
Here are some pix from our trip to the zoo this past Monday with playgroup...what a great day. Although I will admit going to the zoo with so many people can be a little, hmmm what's the word, overwhelming, it was nice being with friends, and the weather was AWESOME...mid 80's.

Checking out the Meercats ... and loving on the goats!

Loves from Madison (Hailey's new mommy Amy's daughter) And BIG Tiger jaws

Favorite past time, animal watching?....no EATING!

Time to run around...playing in Sydra's wagon and in the giant soft play

Ride Um Cowgirl

After all this time Hailey has discovered the rocking horse in the corner of her room!

First Week Home

Busy busy week...story of my life I suppose :)

On Tuesday Hailey had an appointment at Vanderbilt Eye Institute; I had noticed some laziness in one of her eyes and having a long family history of amblopia / lazy eye I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry and get it investigated early. First we saw the opthomologist's assistant...ran through some "tests", mostly trying to get Hailey to look at something long enough for him to examine her eyes :) ... next she got some dilating drops and we waited for 20 mins for her eyes to dilate. She didn't even notice anything was different...just ran around the waiting room playing! Might I mention now how much I love pediatric clinics...they're always so child friendly!

Then we returned to see the opthomologist himself...he was super nice and great with Hailey...after being evaluated by 3 doctors I was informed she had the "best eyes of the day" -- aka, nothing wrong, phew, what a relief. Now this doesn't mean she may not have to wear glasses eventually but at least her eyes are not starting out bad early on!

In other news we have been catching up on some yard work...our veggie gardens are FINALLY starting to produce more than unruly plants and leaves :) Yummy!

Hail's and I also rejoined playgroup ... being gone for a week feels like a long time in that world -- all the kiddos seem to grow daily! On Thursday we were at Jump Zone and Hailey found a new mommy, literally! -- She was following Amy around none stop! She was even so bold as to by pass me to get to her and be picked up!! Funny thing is she hasn't seen Amy since she was 6 months old...and even then she only saw her a handful of times!! Guess she just loves her!

Finally, I am happy to report our household is now wireless!! Nonni gave us her old laptop when she got Aunt Lisa's old Mac (none of these computers are truly "old") ... I was happy to get anything :) So with help from Papa and the pleasant staff at Belkin help desk I was able to wire a wireless G router to work with my desktop and laptop :) I no longer have to yell at Karl to stop playing Civilization . . . I can just jump on my laptop ... although I may have some competition for that now!!!



We also had a visitor this week, Madison was staying with us again while her brother had to go back into hospital . . . luckily though he only stayed for a few days and was released today :) We always love having her around, but are happy her brother is better! And last night Hailey had a sitter while Madison, Karl and I all went to see The Half Blood Price (for those in the dark...it's the newest Harry Potter flick!) I was SUPER excited and was not let down...the movie definitely did the book justice! And tonight will be a great ending to a first week home -- a much needed MNO!

The Happiest Place On Earth

And looks like I'll have nothing to show for it, at least not for awhile!!! But we'll get to that in a minute...
Our trip started last week on July 3rd when we arrived in Tampa, FL at Nonni and Papa's house. We were collected by Nonni and Aunt Tracey (my Aunt, Hailey's GREAT Aunt) a little late, I suppose in their defense Southwest did get us there a little early; none the less we made it! We got to spend the day and evening with lots of family; Aunt Lisa, Great Aunties Linda and Tracey, Great Uncles Jamie and James and cousins Scott, Jack and Anthony . . . one big ol' Scottish family reunion :) Early the next day we took off for none other than the Happiest Place On Earth. Day one was obviously spent at the Magic Kingdom...Aunt Lisa purchased Mickey ears for all the kiddos (big hit) and our evening was spent walking Disney's Boardwalk and watching fireworks in the distance at Epcot. Day two, Disney's Hollywood Studios and my favorite attraction, The Tower of Terror . . . I wish I had a pictures of my Aunt and Uncle's faces on the ride because they were priceless! Sheer Terror :) Day three, Disney's Animal Kingdom ... must say the new attraction Expedition Everest was a good thrill! That evening we spent at Epcot watching Illuminations and pigging out on lots of international fare. Tuesday (Day 4) was low key . . . I drove the rental back to Tampa to drop off Uncle James who flew home to Scotland and that evening we all ventured out to Downtown Disney for some dinner and dessert ... mmmm! Day 5, Typhoon Lagoon; I must say waterparks are a very different experience with a toddler! Rather than spending the day on slides and in the wave pool I splashed around Ketch-a-Kiddie Creek and, as it were, had a blast doing so! Who knew?! Day 6, Epcot in the morning -- rode the new attraction Soarin' which was amazing -- and then went to Magic Kingdom to tie up some loose ends -- collect some important signatures for Scott and Jack, can we say Mickey Mouse?!, ride some more rides and watch the Spectro Magic Parade and fireworks. Day 7, our final day, was spent at Blizzard Beach . . . this time I got to splash around Tike's Peak, not quite as exciting as Ketch-A-Kiddie Creek, but fun none the less.
Thanks to Karl's wonderful service to our country, and Disney's appreciation of that, we were able to get a 5 day park hopper with water parks included for only $150 -- for me that is, his ticket was totally free! Gotta love the military perks...we got to take our family for the same rate, and we even saved a day on our tickets to go back at Thanksgiving; which coincidental is my birthday . . . and as the nice man working at the ticket booth told me, if I come on my birthday AND have time left on my pass then they will give me a $75 gift card to spend at the parks (since they are currently running their "free on your birthday" promo, if I already have entrance then I get a free gift card -- can't beat that!)
Now to the question on everyone's mind, WHERE ARE THE PICTURES!!! Wellllll, someone (names being withheld to protect those guilty) left the card reader from the camera in the computer drive, and rather than downloading the photos, like any normal person might, he (I mean they) just viewed the pix and left the card in the drive. WELL, typical weather in middle Tennessee, we got thunderstorms this evening and when the power went out the computer shut off and some how killed my disk; now it claims it needs reformatted which cannot be done with out erasing the contents of the disk -- so I can't do anything unless I reformat; and if I reformat I loose everything -- grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat! Thankfully my Uncle James is a photography NUT and has something in the region of 2,000 pictures; half of which are from our trips to the parks! So as soon as he can burn me some disks I'll be sure to upload some of our memories from the Happiest Place On Earth . . . Until then you'll just have to picture it for yourselves ;) XOXO

AND P.S. If anyone is planning a trip to Disney with their kiddos and needs any advice or info please let me know . . . we got a whole book (literally) on doing Disney with kids -- it was a LIFESAVER. So much of the "kiddie" stuff I missed last time I went with Karl and it was really worth it this time :) The smiles were priceless (although I'd payu just about anything to be able to get those priceless memories off my camera . . . but I'm not blaming!) . . .

Florida Bound

IT'S FINALLY DISNEY TIME!!! Hailey is all packed and ready to go meet the mouse! And some rather peculiar Scottish relatives ;) Now all I have to get through is the flight!