Fleas

Saturday was beautiful. The weather was warm and sunny and we took full advantage and went to some flea markets. And we struck it rich. We went to the Junk-Shun Barn here in Harrison and then up to Branson and Springfield. Ingrid had fun. Derek had fun. I had fun. We loved the pretty weather. After we went to Decades to pick up the tulip chair Derek won on eBay, we walked down the street to Red Velevet!  I was really excited because I've loved reading all about their new location and store opening via A Beautiful Mess.  Ingrid was getting very hungry and sleepy at this point, so we drove back to Ozark to see the Halsteds. Ingrid got to play with her cousins, and I got to go to the mall for a bit with Heather and Derek. Found some good deals and had some good sister time. I live for the weekend.

Ing and I strolling down the street in Branson.


Our loot



*sidenote:  I got to re-dye my hair Friday night and I'm loving it.  I love freshly colored hair.  Now if it just wouldn't fade so quickly...

Wishful Thinking

This has been my first full week back to work since Christmas break due to our little snow spells. But I'm greedy and already wishing for more. I saw a glimmer of hope in the forecast. So I will hang onto it with all my might. Those snow days were so fun. When Ing and I could just lounge in our jammies and gaze out the window at the pretty flakes falling down.

And go to mom's and watch Amelia play in the snow.

And go to Springfield for Jared's party nice and refreshed from our days of rest. Did he really just turn 12???

He's getting so big, but still has a heart of gold. Amelia is his biggest fan.

And I'm a pretty big fan of him too. He's my sweet cousin.
Here's to cousin love!

Tissue Tuesday

I wanted to post more pics from the fantastic weekend and have a jolly, happy post...but I just can't. Today was a rough day. Ingrid had her 6 month shots + her flu shot. So I was a on edge a little bit today at work just thinking about those needles looming ahead. And I got a new student today which always throws me into a funk. Nothing against the little girl starting at a new school in January--poor little thing. It just throws the whole class off a bit and takes some time readjusting. But the real kicker was knowing I was going to move Ash out to the barn today. More on that in a bit.

Ingrid was sound asleep arriving for her appointment and I hated to think of her waking up to needles being jabbed into her legs. So thankfully she woke up on the way in and was in a great mood talking and laughing with me. Derek held her for all four sticks and she cried her little eyes out. But just for a few minutes. She got over it very quickly and was a gem the rest of the night. She even asked to go to Miguel's. And of course her dad and I said yes!

Her boo-boos

Kisses from daddy make everything better


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When we moved to this house July of 2009 Ash didn't take it well. She had a hard time adjusting. She moved in with mom and dad while we did some of the major renovations, knowing all the loud noises would scare her to death. When she came to the house we moved her into the room that was next to ours and tried to make her feel at home. Soon after she had started settling into that room we found out that we were pregnant and knew that room would become the baby's room. So Ash had to move again. Upstairs. She never really adjusted to living here in this house. She acted out by not using her litter box, marking all the edges of the room, spraying, etc. She started attacking us at random times. We were scared to let Ingrid around her too much because we never knew what she might do. I was in denial about the whole situation the entire pregnancy. Mostly because Derek took care of everything cat related for me. Over the past few months I knew that Ash would have to move out of the house. She was ruining the upstairs and unhappy being cooped up all the time. It just broke my heart and caused many, many tears/breakdowns. I don't get too emotional about a lot of things. But my pets cause the waterworks to flow. I've been trying to psych myself up for the past two weeks, telling myself how much she will love it in the barn. And I really think she will. But I won't see her as much. She'll have less human interaction and contact. I will just miss her. Like she's gone. Even though I know she's not. Mom and Meme have been very encouraging throughout the whole process. Thanks so much! And a huge thanks to my BIL Darren for helping me get Ash into her carrier today. It was somewhat of a battle. A big battle actually. And I couldn't have done it without him. And thanks to D for letting me put Ash in the barn instead of insisting we get rid of her. Because I don't think most husbands would be so understanding. I've been looking at pictures of Ash from our happier times and I thought I would share some. She's such a beautiful cat. And I love her.

Cousins, Cousins, Sittin' on a Swing Today....

Every summer my family and I would pack up and go to Tennessee for a week to visit my dad's family. Heather and I loved playing with our cousins and one summer day we made up a song about cousins. I can still remember it today. We would always get sad when we had to leave because we knew we wouldn't see them again for a year. As Heather and I got older we talked about how fun it would have been if we would have lived closer to Nikki and Krissi. It was fun having girl cousins close in age. If we could have seen each other more, I think we all would have been best friends. I found myself thinking about that as we took pictures of Amelia, Ingrid, and Elise on Friday. Mom bought them matching heart outfits and we had to snap a picture of them all together in their sweet rigs.

Amelia was such a big girl checking to see if the babies were okay.

I love how they are all holding hands.

Amelia and Ing had a smiling contest. Buzz won. And Elise remained a sleeping angel amidst all the chaos.


I hope to have more kids someday. And I would love for Ingrid to have a sister. Especially since I know how important having a sister can be. But if there is no sister in Ingrid's future I have great comfort in the fact that she will have two cousins who will be just like sisters to her. How exciting!

Snow White

We had more snow! Not much, but enough to equal two more snow days for me.

Since snow white showed up again, Ing and I got some more quality time together. We made the most of our 4 day weekend and I have a ton of pictures to prove it. BUT...I am worn out. We've been project-ing all day today. We started working on the basement right after church and then got side-tracked by the barn and then brought it back to the basement. It has been a long day. Productive, but long. Thanks so much to Daniel and dad for helping D and I. We appreciate all the hard work.

So I think I will space out my wonderful weekend pictures because I have a feeling I will be catching up on mundane house chores and school work this week. Nothing too picture-worthy. I will leave you with a tiny project Ingrid and I did together on a snowy day. She helped me pick out some new items for her shelves. They needed a little restyling. We were tired of looking at the same old things the past six months! We added a couple new stuffed animals. Her name blocks. New owl from Sarah and some books that I've already read a million times!

Ingrid's Idol

Amelia has been at mom's house since Saturday and Ingrid is enamored. She loves watching Amelia, listening to Amelia, squealing at Amelia, and the list could go on and on. She absolutely loves her! Amelia thinks Ingrid is getting more fun too since she will react to things Amelia does. Buzz will talk baby talk to her and tickle her and Ingrid will laugh and laugh. She thinks she's the best. It will be so fun when they're old enough to really play together. Until then, Ingrid is having tons of fun.






Amelia has found out that Ingrid is very "affectionate" with those she idolizes. She loves to grab you and not let go. She might grab hair, ears, cheeks, etc. Amelia said, "Keep my hair up. Ingy will get it."


Ingrid wants to try everything Amelia does. She was dying to get ahold of some of Amelia's big girl snacks like blueberries and Cheerios. She'll have to settle for baby food for now. She's eating everything we've introduced like a champ. No allergies to any of it! Hooray. She's had her three orange veggies: carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. And tonight she moved on to her greens with a jar full of peas. She's loving it all.

Since she can't eat Amelia's food, Ing will just have to settle for watching her like a hawk.


We love you Buzzy Bee!

Behind the Scenes

Saturday Derek took Ingrid's official 6 month photos. We used some fabric that I bought at the FM store in Springfield a while back for the backdrop. I had intended to use this fabric to recover a footstool and make some pillows. The footstool got recovered. The pillows were never made. So I'm glad it got another use. Ingrid wore her black and white striped shirt and baby jeggings from The Children's Place outlet. Her black leather shoes are hand-me-downs from Amelia, but originally from MiniToes. I thought it would be fun to show behind the scenes shots from our photo shoots.

Ing got a little play time with her pal Violet before she modeled for us.




Derek set everything up in Ingrid's room.



And he got some great shots. I love how the black and whites turned out.





I love looking at all the different photo shoots we've done with Ingrid to see how much she's changed. Now that she can sit up she looks so much older. I was worried during the first part of the shoot that she would topple over and knock her brains out. But I got over it. I've never been much of a worrier. I've always made a conscious effort not to worry. But I can see that it is going to be much harder now that I'm a parent. I read something in my devotional last night that I thought was worth sharing. It comes from Stormie Omartian's A Book Of Prayer. It said, "Help me not to live in fear of possible dangers, but in the joy and peace of knowing that You are in control." A good phrase to remember in the coming months and years!

Ing says, "Thanks for taking pics of me daddy. Love you!"

Daniel's big day

Tuesday was Daniel's birthday. He turned the big 5-4. Derek, Ingrid, and I went over to Derek's parents for the celebration. We had pizza and ice cream cake. We played Wii Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right. And Ingrid got tons of attention. Perfect!




As you can see Ingrid had tons of fun. She even helped blow out the candles. But she should be a bday party pro. She's already been to several in her time.
Here she is at me and Heather's party at 2 weeks:

Heading up to Ross's party at around 9 weeks:

Partying with Amelia for Meme's bday around 4 months:

She is a birthday party animal!