Sweet

Saturday morning we went to Neighbor's Mill for a delicious breakfast. Ingrid and I love to share the gooey, cream-cheese icing covered, fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. We also had some scrambled eggs for a little protein. But we really went for that cinnamon roll that's as big as my head. It was so, so tasty!!! You need loads of milk to wash down that sweet roll.

This is the face I got when I told her the cinnamon roll was all gone.

Maybe I ate more than my share?

Smiles quickly appeared when we got back home and got busy playing.

Ingrid loves this little magnetic barn that Heather got her for her birthday. She can match up all the animals and dances her heart out to all the songs.

She loves to say "bow" very emphatically when she points to all the bows in her closet, and the bow in her hair, and more often than not--when she's yanking the bow out of her hair.

I love this sweet pale yellow, vintage, embroidered top. It's very thin and super soft. It's been in the closet for ages and I thought it looked so huge. I tried it on Ing Saturday and it fit perfectly. I was wanting to take some more pics in it, but we had a little pee-pee accident, so this is all we got. I'll try again--maybe in the fall with a little cardigan? Oh fall, I can't wait for your arrival!

Squeezing

Once school starts it really feels like summer is over. But that's really not the case. There is still a good month or so left of summer. And we squeezed out a bit more summer-time feeling with a cook-out at the Monte's this weekend. The guys threw around the football and the girls chased around the kids. Ingrid was in dog-heaven outside in the backyard. She ran and ran trying to chase Elizabeth's little dog around. She never caught him, lucky dog! I have no pics of this because I was running after Ingrid the whole time. I can't believe just two months ago she just started walking and now she can run! Amazing. Elizabeth is due with her second baby girl just a week after us and she has been working on the nursery a lot. It is looking great and it gave me the bug. The nursery-decorating bug. Even though the girls are going to share a room, there are still several changes I want to make. And I haven't even ordered Liv's crib yet! I need to get busy. Ingrid had a lot of fun playing with Sophia's play kitchen and food. She let everyone hold her and carry her around this time--big improvement from "the scowl" and "mama, mama, mama."

Kingston got into a lot of typical boy messes and played dress up with Ryan's hat and shades.

Ing changed into her pajamas around 8:30 but she told me she still had some playing to do.

Sophia has Violet, so Ingrid snatched her up and carried her around most of the evening. She kept saying "My Diolet." hahaha. She really thought it was hers.



We had a great Friday night, squeezing out a little more summer. And I'm proud to say I squeezed into my regular jeans again for "Jean Day Friday." No belly band required. Zipped and buttoned all day and night. But--I'm afraid it might be the last week. This 27th week might get me. :)

Week 2 Wrap-up & Weekend fun

I have 10 days of school officially under my belt and it feels pretty good. I'm getting right back into the routine. I feel like I've already been in school for a couple months and that I've known these kids forever. I have a few more funny/cute stories from this past week, so I thought I'd share.

-"Mrs. Henderson!!! I have on my new skinny jeans and tall brown boots that I bought in Branson!! How do I loook?" Says student E, complete with twirl. Keep in mind, she's 6!

-"Mrs. Henderson!! You're pregnant AGAIN?? Wow, you must love babies." Says a student I had two years ago.

-"You're still pregnant? Why haven't you had your baby?" random student in the hallway. I respond with, "She's still too little to come out yet. She has to stay in my belly for a little bit longer." Random student, "She looks pretty big to me."

-"Good Morning Mrs. Henderson! How is Liv feeling this morning?" says student S, totally melting my heart.

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Now that I'm back to work, I cherish the weekends like they're pure gold. We had a great Friday, Saturday and Sunday as a family of three. Saturday evening we headed up to Branson because Derek's Best Buy gift card he got for his birthday was burning a hole in his pocket! haha. We went by Pet Co. first to show Ingrid all the animals. They were having adoption day so there were lots of dogs for her to see. She loved it so much. Her favorite animals were the guinea pigs, which she thought were bunnies. She kept saying, "Hi bun-bun." over and over.




Ingrid loves animals so much. Most books and toys that she loves to play with involve animals. She has a new stuffed cat that mom got her the other day and it is attached to her at all times. She doesn't ever say cat though, she calls it her meow-meow. There are a few other animals she only says the sound for: horse=neigh, sheep=baaa, cow=moo, owl=hoo. Animal names she says are: dog, pig, bunny, duck, elephant, giraffe, fish, bear, wolf, and rooster. I think I got them all. She is such a talker. After Pet Co. we went to Best Buy and browsed around. We left empty handed, but Derek already made a trip to Branson today to get what he wished he'd walked away with last night! Who doesn't love a new toy? By then it was super late and Ingrid had consumed all the puffs she wanted, so we darted over to Chili's for some dinner.

We couldn't leave without going in Target for just a sec--plus we were almost out of laundry detergent and Target is the only place that carries it--so we had to!! And I snuck away with a new dress--baby bump & nursing friendly! Score for me :)
We had such a busy weekend that we wore Ingrid out. She fell asleep on the way home from church today, after lunch. Notice the tiny cat tucked above shoulder! This is Ash, the little kitty from the Easter bunny. She is so small, we decided a good home for her is in the cupholder of Ingrid's car seat. Ingrid is excited every time she sees her. She always gives her a kiss and then tucks her right next to her ear for safe keeping. Cracks me up.

All Wound Up

There's nothing like getting three girls together to get all wound up. Especially a 2 year old, 13 month old, and 7 month old. Mom and Dad had Amelia and Elise last weekend while Heather and Ross got a much needed weekend getaway with some friends. Ingrid and I went over to play on Saturday evening after naps. All the girls had a blast. I had the most fun watching and listening to Amelia. She is so funny. I love the games she thinks up and her excitement about everything. I heard she had another great day at school today and I'm so, so happy. I just wish I had a little hidden camera in her classroom to watch what she does all day. :) When we arrived, Amelia was more than a little excited to see her "cousin, Ingrid."

They had the inflatable ball tent set up and Amelia was anxious to show Ingrid how fun it was.

Amelia graciously gave Elise a turn to show Ingrid how much she liked it too.

Ingrid wasn't so sure she loved the ball tent as much as her cousins. It was the first time she had seen it and it usually takes her a little while to get warmed up to new things. (Mom kept it up and Monday when she was with her Gammy all alone, she decided she loved it.) Elise wanted to show Ingrid a little love.

Amelia too. How sweet is this?

We thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a pic of all three. BAHAHAHA. Funny.

Amelia is so into imaginative play and loves to pretend she's other people. She decided she was Aunt Steph and I was Amelia. She put on my purse and walked around talking to Uncle Derek on the phone. She went to her classroom to teach the kids "reading and letters." She is a hoot.

After playing together for a long while, Amelia decided to get a little alone time with her Gamp and let the two little girls play with each other.

It won't be long and these two will look and seem like they're the same age!

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In other news--Ingrid said her first sentence very plainly this evening. And I have witnesses! haha. She was looking for her dog, Violet in her room and she said, "Violet, where are youuuuu?" It was precious. She's very attached to her stuffed animals right now. All her kitties and dogs. There's no denying she's mine. I might still talk to my dog, Barkley....Just maybe...

Derek Riley turns 28!

Friday was Derek's birthday and we had a fun weekend celebrating. Ingrid had fun picking out her Dada's card and couldn't wait for him to open it. (She loves cards. Is mildly obsessed with them. Especially ones with dogs, cats, or Elmo on them.) So Friday morning before we headed to work, Derek opened his cards and presents from Ingrid and me. She was ready to help!


Friday night we headed up to the Landing to hang with Ryan and Lauren. We visited and had great conversation. We met up with a couple of other guys and ate at Famous Dave's. Derek and I shared a full rack of ribs. They were delish. It was a joke with our waiter the whole night about singing and making a spectacle over birthdays. He quickly established that he doesn't sing or get too excited about anything. haha. He then went on to say last year his friends took him to Joe's and they made him ride around the restaurant on a stick horse and it was the worst birthday of his life. So he didn't like to make big deals about other people's birthdays. Derek was relieved because he wasn't wanting a big production. While he was gone to the restroom--Wade (our waiter)--comes out with this ice cream dish and a huge firework sparkler shooting out flames! It was so funny and unexpected.


Saturday, Derek got to together with some of his old high school buddies for the day. They had lunch, played golf, tried out our new pizza joint for dinner, and then hung out in the man cave. I was glad he got a chance to reconnect with some of his pals. Josh stayed with us Saturday night and Ingrid was super shy at first. You could tell she liked him, but was a little hesitant. Sunday morning when he came upstairs, she started saying "Hi Josh!" over and over. She loved him. He and his wife are finding out if their baby is a boy or girl today!!! Sunday we had lunch with my parents after church. They came over to the house afterwards for Derek to open his gifts. He had plenty of help once again.


My dad got the best gift of all! Derek opened his gifts and then my dad went to the door and said, "I think I hear Mike and Frank. I've been doing a little picking." (We love American Pickers.) He had found Derek this old metal cabinet that has a really cool rusted patina with old stenciled lettering and lots of storage. I can't wait to see what he does with it!

This pic was taken through the screen door. Windex anyone? Sheesh.
Here's a shot of the birthday boy with his lemon drop princess. Can you tell I'm obsessed with this dress??

We weren't done celebrating yet. We headed to Glenda and Daniel's house for supper. Ingrid decided to play with this little riding toy for the first time! She normally wants nothing to do with it.

She definitely got plenty of attention while we were there.

Derek got more good gifts and some yummy strawberry cake with cream cheese icing.


This is the only pic I got in the whole weekend. And of course it's in a t-shirt on Sunday evening. Out of all the cute outfits I wore. Drats. At least Ingrid looks as precious as always.

Week 1 Wrap-up & BTS

8/14/2011-8/21/2011 was quite possibly the longest week of my life! School has officially begun. It is in full swing. I had a pretty good first week, considering rules and procedures are my least favorite topics. I'm ready for this next week when we can get in a bit more of a routine. My class is totally adorable. Cutest kids in the world. And boy are they talkers! Wow. Most talkative bunch yet, I'm sure of it. I do have a couple funny stories from the first week. Here's the run-down of my top picks.

#1: We were going around the room and telling our name and something fun we did over the summer. E starts talking about how she got to go to the beach! They got to ride in a boat and saw dolphins, got to hunt for hermit crabs, built sandcastles, the works. After this great recap of her trip she says--very seriously--"There was one problem though. I went with my bubby, mom and my mom's boyfriend. And he has a serious problem with gas. It was really bad." I thought I would die. SO funny.

#2: I got an email from a mom with a funny story from her daughter. All my kids got to meet me at the end of their kindergarten school year. This girl's mom had found out she was in my class and had told her I was going to have a baby. Well, at the beginning of June, I wasn't showing yet. Now, obviously, I am. B came home and was shocked beyond belief that I looked so pregnant. Her mom said "I told you she was going to have a baby." B says "Yeah--but you didn't tell me they had already put it in her belly!"

#3: My kids love the fact that I'm pregnant and want to talk about the baby. One girl asked how the doctors knew it was a girl. I told her they have a special machine that can take a picture of the baby and that's how I knew. She said "Next time you go to the doctor, I want you to take me. I'll just sit in there and watch."

Good stories, huh? Another plus of the week was my motivation in getting dressed. I tried super hard to look put together every day. No go-to outfits that I normally throw on. I actually put thought into my wardrobe. (I kinda had to though because my belly suddenly tripled in size this week. Weird.) I wanted to take a pic a day to document my outfits--that's how proud of myself I was. But that didn't happen. I was sooooo tired at the end of each day. More exhausted than ever in my life I felt like. Ingrid was also teething horribly and decided to get up around 5 each morning. Agh. Hard. This week will be a little easier I hope. Slowly transitioning back to the teacher life.

We had a great weekend. It was Derek's 28th and I have tons of pics. I will get to them this week for sure. Also, Ingrid got to play with her cousins and had tons of fun. I got some cute shots there too. Not nearly as cute as the ones Derek got last weekend though! He did a photo shoot of the girls individually. I can't wait to see the pics. Here are a couple of behind-the-scenes shots.


Amelia starts school today! We are wishing her lots of luck and hoping for a fun-filled day. Love you Buzz!

New Trick

Ingrid has a new trick she's pretty proud of. Saturday morning she decided to try to climb up on the footstool. She did it fairly easily. She just climbed up and had a seat. I thought it was so funny. She looked like such a big girl sitting up there.



It was so much fun, she's decided to do it every day since. Here she is Sunday after her nap, chilling and drinking her milk.

She's so fun.

"That was the best movie I've ever seen!"

Derek claims I say this phrase after almost every movie I watch. Maybe I do, Maybe I don't! haha. But I really did see one of the best movies I've ever watched this past weekend. I allowed myself another "break" from the crazy and went to Branson for the late showing of The Help. I read the book last summer after Erin recommended it to me. I was reading a lot those days when I had to get up to nurse Ing in the night. I fell in love with this book. I wasn't too excited when I heard they were making it into a movie because we've all heard that song and dance. And the movie is never as good as the book. Or close, even. But as I watched more previews of The Help, I was intrigued. It looked like the movie was going to follow the book really well. And you all know I was in extreme need for some fun last week with all the school prep. So Heather, Amy, Erin and I loaded up and drove to the 9:45 showing. And it was AWESOME. Seriously. Go see it. But read the book too. They can't fit everything into the movie. Here we are after the show. It was so epic I wanted photos.

Mary Beth did a great run-down of the movie. Check it out.

Help!

Today is my first day back to school with the kids. It seems so strange to think that last year at this time Ingrid was only 5 weeks old. It's harder to leave this time. But I got back in the routine with all my meetings last week. I'm finally ready to start. After a lot of hard work and a lot of help. I really couldn't have done it without the help of my family. My mom and dad worked in my room nonstop for me. Heather came up and helped this week. Derek made sure he stayed home with Ingrid any time I needed to be in my classroom. I'm so thankful for help.

Ingrid is definitely my little helper these days. Her alltime favorite "chore" she helps me with is laundry. She loves to take clothes out of the basket and put them back in and fling them around. This weekend we bagged up a lot of clothes and shoes for Heather to take home to Elise. Ingrid was in heaven. Here she is helping carry the shoes around.



Isn't she a hard worker? By the end of the day I will be worn out. I'm trying to prepare myself for that first-week-of-school feeling. Wish me luck!