Last week

bailey and i were both sick last week with fevers and no energy. we spent tuesday in various beds watching various cartoons on pbs. for the first time in a while, bailey just wanted to lay around and snuggle, which was very sweet. i felt so exhausted there was even concern that we may be expanding our family, but that was not the case. i'm hoping to catch up from last week, but will probably just fall further behind with my 10 year reunion coming up this weekend.

Take two

can't you just feel the excitement!! this is how bailey decided to accessorize for her (FREE!!) movie play date this morning......shiny necklace, baby doll (a new favorite) and purple purse with her fake plastic lipstick, cell phone (you know, in case she needed to call reece and ask him again why he wasn't there), compact, plastic money holder and something else. she chose this herself, along with her shirt. since she's obviously yearning for some independence already, i'm trying to provide her with opportunities to chose things on her own. this is supposed to offset the number of times i have to tell her what to do or simply deny one of her many requests/orders (which is what i feel like i do all the time).

maneuvering her way through the mall. this is a girl on a mission!!

after seeing over the hedge, we tried to line all of the kids who made it through the movie and get a cute picture. look how cooperative bailey was!! she was more interested in running around with her friends, screeching and shaking her head (and possibly telling them what to do).

it's too bad this is the last free movie of the summer. we'll most definitely be regulars next season.

Smoothie princess

last week, bailey's eyes were opened to yet another culinary treat as she enjoyed her first smoothie from smoothie king. i ordered her the strawberry and banana one and boy was she impressed! my days of getting my own smoothie are over, i'm afraid.

like her daddy, bailey was finished with hers before i was a 1/3rd into mine. she kept chanting a passionate, almost desperate "i need more!! i need more!!" after it was inhaled. from what she tells me, apparently she "needs more" of a lot of things these days :)

BIG TV

bailey saw her first movie last wednesday for free at the amc at northpark. i figured free was just about the right price to see if bailey was up for the whole movie experience. i mean, who wants to spend $16 to walk out of a movie in the first 5 minutes?

charlotte's web was a perfect first movie because it had a cast of real animals and was a simple, sweet story. there wasn't any violence and it didn't include a lot of overstimulating fast-paced action. at the beginning, she was a little scared by the combination of your typical loud theater, the HUGE tv and the dark, unfamiliar place. she turned away from the screen, whining into my shoulder until the cute little baby pig filled the screen. when she let out a series of very loud "BABY PIG!!!! LOOK, MOMMY, BABY PIG!!" i knew it worth the $6 popcorn we shared.

i was a little surprised that we lasted the entire movie. bailey had a great time just sitting in my lap, yelling out and pointing to the animals ("baby pig!, cow!, moo!, spider!") and sharing her popcorn with reece, kiley and danijela. she even leaned over a couple of times for an "oh, reece!" accompanied by a hug or kiss and handfed him individual pieces of popcorn for a while. i wish i had taken some pictures, but i'm glad i didn't take away from the experience by trying to get the perfect shot. here is a random picture of her looking so big with a headband. it usually lasts all of 5 minutes tops on her sweet little head. also, this is what she does when i ask her to smile.

Trying to catch up

i'm just so behind in blogging, here are some things i haven't had time to properly document.


lately, she's been loving her tutu and asks to wear it often.

bailey still loves her some reece! she talks about reece, "reeces mommy", and even "reeces daddy" all the time.

alright, i know these are sideways and i'm sorry. this is what bailey did when we went to help out with a pool party with our apartment life friends. random people kept taking her picture because she looked so funny with all of the plastic leis on.

pigtails are finally a hairstyle bailey can actually wear for longer than 10 minutes. i love them :)

bailey opening the presents we brought back for her from hawaii.
a rather sassy elmo looks on, envious of her newest treasures.
surprise golf ball cupcakes i made for billy's birthday. as always, they were harder to make than i predicted, but they sure were cute (i also heard they were pretty good, too)! since many have asked, i decorated these cupcakes using an icing tip that is specifically made to make grass-like designs (it has several little holes in it). the golf ball was made from a candy mold i bought and was like a golf ball cut in half. i just melted the kind of candy you use for candy molds (like almond bark), poured it in, let them dry, pop 'em out and put one on each cupcake. my red golf t's and lettering were a little messy in my opinion, but the looked great all together. oh, and i squirted some icing in the middle as another surprise :)

bailey eating some of her daddy's birthday cake. i've relaxed quite a bit this summer, allowing bailey to enjoy several new sweets.

The highlight of (most of) Bailey's day

yes, she's still in L-O-V-E love with a certain Al Moe.

Singing

bailey really liked the pretty, tiny pink flowers joy gave me. like i said earlier, she's been breaking out in song a lot lately. here she is singing her gym dandies song. she has absolutely perfect hair :)