Happy Birthday, Aunt Mollie!

Tonight we celebrated Aunt Mollie's 60th Birthday!  Her party was at The Sunset Grill and she was very "surprised" when she arrived.  Marlee had fun running around and visiting with lots of her cousins and celebrating her special Aunt Mollie's birthday!  We love you Aunt Mollie!

 Mar being silly with Aunt Bonny

 Margaret and Marlee with the birthday girl!

 Marlee sharing her cupcake with Aunt Bonny

 Marlee helping Aunt Mollie blow out her candles!

Headed to the pasture with Papa

Papa came by this evening and asked if Marlee and Easton wanted to go to the pasture with him and visit the cows.  Marlee heard cows and she couldn't load up in Papa's truck fast enough.  This was her first time going on an adventure with Papa and she had the best time.  When I got to the pasture to pick her up, Papa had her swinging on the gate.  Fun times with Papa for sure!

 

My Butter Baby

Marlee defintely loves butter, can you tell???

 

Waiting on Daddy

Marlee loves when her Dada comes home from work and we are often outside when he arrives home.  She gets so excited when she sees his truck.  I took this picture this afternoon of her waiting patiently for him to come home.

 

Melt My Heart

In the middle of the night last night while Marlee was snuggled up next to me sleeping, she must have had a bad dream :(.  She started to cry and I wrapped my arm around her and said, "Mommy's here, it's okay", she looked up at me, smiled, gave me a kiss and went right back to sleep.  Talk about melting a Mama's heart!!!  I love my baby so much!

 

Twenty-two months old

WOW...my baby girl turning 2 in two months is really hitting me hard!  These past twenty-two months have been the BEST twenty-two months of our lives and we are so blessed to have our sweet baby girl. 

At twenty-two months of age, Marlee Grace:

*LOVES, LOVES,LOVES baby dolls and carries one or two with her everywhere we go

*knows her colors, numbers, the letter M and B (most of the time I should say she knows these things...she knows them at home but then when I try and let her show off her knowledge, she sometimes seems to be shy or forget)

*loves puzzles

*likes to go potty on her little potty instead of the big potty and does well at going as long as I remind her to go...she is not yet at the point of knowing to go on her own though

*is talking lots...most words I can understand but sometimes she gets to talking and I'm not quite sure what she is trying to tell me

*calls Mama and Dada all the time so sweetly...we both love to hear her call us :)

*loves to give hugs and kisses

*loves to nurse  

*has conquered going up and down the stairs in the house all by herself...what a relief...she is very careful at going down them backwards and we are so proud of her

*has developed a liking for Dora and watches her DVDs in the car at times

*loves animals especially cows

*thinks that bugs are neat to look at but does not want them to get near her

*is wearing clothes anywhere between 12-24 months depending on the brand and a size 5 shoe

*weighs 24-25 pounds

*loves music and enjoys dancing to it in her room when she turns her CD player on all by herself!

*loves chocolate...chocolate candy is her favorite

*loves to play with stickers and color

*cooks really good food in her kitchen and is a wonderful waitress :)

*likes to have her Daddy rub her back...she learned that from Mommy :)

*loves little figurines...bird ones especially and the ones from our manger scene in the house

*likes to wear lipstick, wear lotion, play dress up, etc... she is a true girl! :)

*loves to be read to

*loves to help...she helps Mommy with lots of household chores and Daddy with grove and yard chores

*her schedule right now is...wake up between 8-9 am, nap between 2-4 pm, and go to bed between 10-11 pm...she is definitely a night owl!

*loves to play games on the iPad or on the phone...she is very good at playing them too

*has a bad habit of pinching...I am not sure where this habit came from or why she does it but I am ready for it to be a behavior gone bye bye! :(

*stayed in the church nursery for the first time this month and did okay...I know she will love it once she goes more and sees all the fun she can have at it

*tried orange juice for the first time and really liked it...yay!

*loves to swing and get dirty but all the while with a bow in her hair! :)

*enjoys playing with her friends

*loves to help Mommy decorate the house with all the fall goodies and also likes pumpkin treats...that's my girl for sure!!! :)

*looks just like her Mommy did when I was her age :)

IS JUST THE APPLE OF OUR EYES!

Feeding the cows

This morning we took Marlee to feed the cows.  We stopped and got a couple of bags of pellets and off to the pasture we went.  Marlee was so excited.  I love that our sweet girl loves animals and the outdoors so much!

Now everytime she gets in her Daddy's truck she thinks she going to see the cows!

Play date with MK and lunch with Brooker

This morning Marlee and I met Aunt Bonny and Mary Kate at the Children's Museum for a play date.  The girls had fun playing together at the museum.  After the museum, we went by and visited Nene and Pepa and they were thrilled to see Mary Kate and Marlee Grace!  After visiting with them, we took off to the Kindergarten Learning Center to have lunch with Brooker.  Brooker did not know that Marlee and I were going to eat with him, so he was very surprised to see us.  We had fun visiting with him while he ate his lunch.  We can't wait to go and have lunch with him again one day soon.  After leaving KLC we went and had a girls lunch with Aunt Bonny, Mary Kate, Erin, Tatum, and Mandy.  Lunch was delicious and we all had fun catching up!  A fun Friday for sure!

 

Labor Day-Boca Grande

We just arrived home from being in Boca Grande celebrating Labor Day!  Every year we go down with my family for the long weekend and soak up the ocean air as much as we can before fall.  We went down on Friday and the guys came home on Monday evening but Marlee, GiGi, and I stayed a few extra days before coming home.  We stay at a condo at Gasparilla Marina and really enjoy it there because they have a nice pool, the condo is spacious, and we love having our boat right outside the back door.  We ate out lots to keep from having to cook too much, we enjoyed a couple of boat rides, fished a little (the guys fished mostly this trip), shopped, played at the beach and had two picnic lunches there, splashed at the pool, and enjoyed lots of family time!  The salt air was so nice and the sun was beaming...Marlee had the time of her life and so did we!

Our condo

 Mar enjoying some butter and playing the iPad at dinner

 Shopping in Boca Grande at the Lilly Pulitizer store

Taking a break from shopping

 Lunch at The Loose Caboose

 Not only did Marlee work on potty training while we were on vacation but her baby did as well! :)

 Headed out for a boat ride

Cheetos snack on the boat

 Papa started dunking Marlee into the water off of the side of the boat and she loved it so much that she didn't want to stop doing it...she wore Papa out! :)

 Looking at all the different kinds of birds with Papa

 A true birdwatcher!

Helping dock the boat!

 When we went grocery shopping at Publix, Marlee really wanted a cake and candles, so since we all love Publix cake we decided that we would buy one to eat throughout the weekend.  We also purchased a pack of candles and each night, let her blow the candles out on the cake and sang Happy Birthday!  :)

 Beach babe!  Notice her shoes...her Daddy thought it was a cute new trend for her!

 Looking for shells!

 Swimming with GiGi!

While we went to the beach, the guys went offshore fishing...they had a great day as you can see and Marlee enjoyed looking at all the fish!

 Playing with shrimp!

 Headed to dinner, on the boat!

 Mama, can I please just ride without my life jacket since we aren't going too far???

 Headed to the pool with her babies!

 Swimming with Dada

Papa took us to the beach :)

Our sweet girl loves water and could not understand why she couldn't jump in the ocean while we were fishing...so I made her a little swimming area that was much safer than the ocean water where we were fishing at!

Fishing with GiGi

 Mar and GiGi by the BIG banyan trees in downtown Boca Grande

 Lunch at South Beach

 Swimming in the ocean...you could tell that a storm (TS Isaac) had come through not too long ago by the brackish water.

 Mar and I love the beach!

On one of our shopping adventures, we went to Target and of course hit up Starbucks for the Pumpkin Spice Latte...Marlee got her first Starbucks as well...a cup full of whipped cream...yummy!!!

Marlee woke up this morning and automatically went and stood by a wall and said CHEESE...hmm is she camera ready or what???