Another Painting Project

About a month ago Zachariah and I embarked on another painting project. Even though I have been horrible about blogging pictures of the projects, I have actually been doing one each month and Z has been loving it!

Mimi and Poppie recently did some rearranging and made one of their bedrooms into a playroom for the grand kids! So we decided to paint a picture frame that they could use to decorate the playroom. :) After I painted a base coat, I let Zachariah pick out the colors he wanted to use. Then we went to work!

(Note: With the exception of the base coat, Zachariah did this all by himself. I did not tell him where to paint, or what color to paint. Mr. Big Boy made all of the executive decisions)



First up was the color blue. As you can tell, Zachariah is quite serious about his painting. :)




After a brush change, came the color orange.




Then green...


You get the idea. It took a couple days to complete this project because of all the colors Zachariah wanted to use, but it turned out wonderfully!





Don't you think? :)

*sigh* I love when I take the time to let him be creative. I need to do that more often.


Birthday pictures coming soon!

2 Years Young

My sweet baby boy,

I cannot believe that you are two years old today. Seriously, that fact alone sends my jaw dropping to the floor and it sends tear streaming down my face. You are not my little baby anymore!

Your vocabulary is growing daily. You are running everywhere. You eat the same things Mommy and Daddy eat. You are showing signs that you want to use the potty. You have an attitude and you are not afraid to show it (I am sorry to say you got that from me). You are making friends. You help me cook in the kitchen. You help me clean the kitchen! You are brushing your own teeth (with a little help from Mommy, of course). You are not crying when we leave you in the nursery at church. You are forming sentences, therefore successfully communicating just about everything you need. And besides all of that, you are learning things that most three year olds still have not learned! I don't know about you, but to me all of these signs point to full fledged toddler-hood. :)

Zachariah, you have made me one of the happiest mommy's ever. You are incredibly silly, absolutely adorable, and the sweetest kid around. I can't even begin to imagine my life without you. You have made me and your "Da" some of the proudest, happiest parents in the entire world.

I truly cannot wait to see what God has in store for you, because kid, it is going to be big. You are going to do great things, and I am going to love watching every minute of it.

I love you bunches, little monkey. And don't you ever forget that.

Play That Funky Music White Boy

I don't know what is up with the titles of my posts here recently. But hopefully I will get all of these songs out of my head and return to normal here soon.


Last week, about ten minutes before the crying-in-the-mirror incident occurred, Zachariah was preforming for me. Well... he was technically just preforming for himself. But I like to say that it was for me. :)

When I go into my bedroom, even if it is only for a moment, Zachariah will run over to the clock radio and turn on some music. Then he will promptly ask for a "hang-gah" (hanger) to use as his microphone.


And as you can see, he will sing his heart out. And the only thing he likes better than singing into a hanger is watching himself in the mirror as he does it.



Sometimes he will give his little vocal cords a break and play the guitar.



And sometimes he will stop smack dab in the middle of a chorus to do a little dance, which never fails to crack me right up.



Or he will just stop and stare at himself... because he is a vain little toddler.



But regardless of when he does during his "vocal breaks", he always comes back with a vengeance when it comes to singing in the "hang-gah".

Cutest Helper In All The Land

Yesterday morning Zachariah decided that he wanted to push his chair from the playroom all the way to the kitchen. He quickly climbed on it, got to a standing potion and then asked if he could "ook" (cook).

I tried to tell him that I didn't have the patience for that at the moment, but it is hard to communicate that to a toddler. Especially when he is excitedly drumming his fingers on the counter. So I gave in and went to the pantry to find something that we could "ook". :)

I emerged with a bag of oatmeal cookie mix, and after checking the expiration date we went to work!



Let me just go ahead and say that I have the cutest helper in all the land. Whew. I am glad I got that off my chest. It was suffocating me there for a second.




And the cuteness doesn't stop there. The tip toes are by far one of the cutest things ever. I LOVE when he stands on his tip toes. And when he is standing in a chair on his tip toes!?! That right there is almost too much cuteness to bare.



Oh my. See? I told you. The feet are just too cute.


Ok, enough cuteness. Let me show you some not so cute cookies.




These are some of the deformed batch of cookies. Zachariah wanted to use our Noah's Ark cookie cutters, and even though I knew it was not going to be pretty, I let him use them anyway. If you use your imagination you might be able to see an ark and a bear in that picture. But only if you have a really good imagination.




Once we got that out of our system we made some normal shaped cookies. Zachariah and I snacked on a few as soon as they cooled off, and boy were they good! He was so proud of his cute little cookies! :)

Big Girl's Don't Cry

(I realize that I have a son, NOT a daughter. But that song is stuck in my head, so I made it the title of my post. I apologize for any confusion that might cause.)

When you were a kid, did you ever watch yourself cry in the mirror? You know the situation. You start crying because your mean ol mom tells you you have to clean up your room, even though you JUST cleaned it a month ago and can still see an inch of your floor peeking out from the so called "clutter". And then once you start crying, you get so entertained with watching yourself in the mirror that you just end up crying for longer than what is considered necessary.

You remember that, right?

What? No one else did that? Well... me neither. I just heard about someone who did. Ahem.

Anyway. Zachariah has started doing that very same thing. And it cracks. me. up.


I was sitting on my bed folding laundry (a rarity in this house) when Z tried to pull a plug out of the wall. I told him not to do that and he got MAD. I mean, ridiculously mad. The kind of mad that you get when your van stops working after only two years of driving it. Though I suppose that is a totally different post.




So yes. He got mad. And he stood in front of my mirror and cried.



And then stormed over to my nightstand, snatched a tissue out of the box and came back over to continue balling his eyes out.



All the while I am sitting on the bed taking pictures and trying my darnedest not to bust out laughing.


And is it horrible that while I am taking these pictures I am thinking "Ooo, this is going to make a fun blog post" ? I mean, seriously. That cannot be normal. I may need to seek out some therapy or something.

Happy Labor Day!

Is that something that is actually said? Does anyone walk down the street and shout "HAPPY LABOR DAY!" to passersby? I don't imagine that it is a real phrase, so lets just pretend I didn't say it, ok? Thanks.

Our labor day weekend was both exhausting and relaxing. While we had nothing pressing to do, we sure did wear ourselves out with the few activities that we had in store for the weekend. So since I am exhausted and in desperate need of a nap, I am going to end this post with a few pictures from our day.


Here is my adorably cute cousin. She was making sure to take good care of Zachariah today. It was nice knowing that someone was following him around everywhere. It allowed me to sit on the couch for a few minutes and have some actual adult conversation.



Zachariah got to explore my grandfathers garden for the first time today! This was actually a major highlight of my day. I hadn't been down there in years, so that was a nice walk down memory lane for me. I plan to go back down there to try and get some good pictures of Z next time we are over. There were some places that were just screaming to have their picture taken. :)



And then Nana played a little peek-a-boo with Zachariah in the butter beans! How cute is that?!



Oh, and did I mention that I made lemon bars? Yeah. I did. And they are delicious. A recipe will be coming in a week or two, so keep your eyes peeled!


Ok. That is all the randomness you will get for now. If I feel so inclined, I may post a few more pics of our day later on in the week. But you get the gist. We ate, explored, ate again, played pool, sat around so the food would digest, then ate some more.

Hope you gained as much weight as I did this weekend! :)

Laundry Basket Fun

I used to think that our laundry baskets were kind of dumb. I mean, the dryer, couch and bed usually hold all of our laundry just fine... so I am not sure why I ever purchased those pesky baskets.

That being said, I am sure it comes as no surprise to learn that my son gets more use out of these things than we do. Here are some pictures of Zachariah when he was first introduced to my laundry baskets. He was 6 months old in both of these pictures. (And so dang cute!!!!)


That was back in the day when he had just learned how to sit up. He wasn't even mobile yet! All he did was sit and smile at me. Boy did I have it easy back then. *sigh*

You know what he does with them now?


He not only sits in them,



but he also makes funny faces



...pretends to be a "tu-tle"



...then pretends to be an upside down "tu-tle"




... and sits on the tops of the baskets




...and then stands in one while wearing the other on his head.



I don't know, but something tells me that he is getting more enjoyment out of these useless laundry baskets nowadays. I am glad that my horrible housekeeping habits brings him some joy in life. :)


(Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I had to Google "nowadays" because I had no clue if it was even a real phrase.)

Weirdo

It's true, I have a weird kid. Seriously folks, what normal child relaxes in the basket of their bulky travel system stroller on a random Tuesday evening? Oh, yeah. It's my child that does that.





I love this silly little kid. :)

Roll Call

I do not have a very popular blog. I am no Pioneer Woman. But thanks to my blog counter, I know that I have a handful of lurkers out there. I know commenting is a strenuous activity, and it requires you to get off of your lazy blog reader... but I am going to ask you to participate just this one time. Okay?

We are going to have a meet and greet. Make it as long or short as you want, but you need to comment. That's an order, not a request! :)

I am seriously curious about my lurkers. Are you family? Do I know you personally? Have you found me through another blog? Do you mainly come just to see pictures of my adorable child?

These are the questions I want answered. If you don't feel like answering the questions, a simple "I am one of your lurkers and your child is the cutest kid ever" will definitely do.

Here, I will start.

Hi! My name is Amy Lynn. I live in the nasty south. I have a wonderful husband and an almost-two-year-old. I am a stay at home mom who cannot keep the house clean. In my spare time I like to read a good book, practice my photography and blog. I am very tempted to stop blogging all together if I don't get some dang comments though.

See, it's easy! Now you take a stab at it. I know you can do it!

Hide And Seek

This may look like an ordinary crib, but it's not. It is actually much more than a crib.

More than a place for a baby/toddler to sleep.

More than a convenient time out spot.

It is much, much more than all of that.

(Just as a side note, I have typed the word "much" so many times that I am having problems recognizing it as a real word. Does that happen to anyone else?? No? Dang it. )



It is the beloved hiding spot of a cute little toddler that I know. His own little sanctuary. This is one of the only places in the house where he can fit, and no one else.




Which makes it a bit difficult when he decides to run to his sanctuary during diaper changing time. But I digress.




Its his own little hiding spot and he loves it. And he is just so dang cute showing us his hiding spot, its hard for us not to love it too!

Random Ramblings

Hey everyone!

Sorry I have been blog slacking the past couple days. I am probably going to blog slack the next couple of days too. I am spending my "free time" (aka: nap time) researching stuff here recently. I get on these kicks every now and then, so you may have to be patient with me.

I have been doing more research on eating healthier and trying to find new recipes and all that jazz. Its exciting, but discouraging at the same time. I cant afford to eat healthy and even if I could my husband is a picky eater. So that makes things a bit more difficult. But I am hoping to find a way around his picky eating habits. I will keep you posted on how that goes. :)

While we are on the subject of healthy eating... am I the only one who day dreams about eating organic food? Oh how I would love to buy nothing but organic things. Produce in particular. I hate that we are putting harmful chemicals into our body on a regular basis. And milk! I am disgusted that I am still drinking regular cows milk. Zachariah drinks nothing but organic milk, but Daniel and I have not made the switch. You know why? Because organic milk costs a booty load more than regular milk with hormones, pesticides and pus in it. Sorry. Everyone should know what they are drinking though, right? :)

You know what? I think I am going to do a post on milk. It is really fascinating to see the link between dairy products and illnesses such as heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, obesity, autism and other illnesses. Seriously, I am going to do more research and get back to you with a post on this. I know, I know... you are thrilled. Try and contain your excitement though.

Ok. And now I am going to bring this post to an abrupt stop. First off, because I am boring you to tears. Secondly, because I am about to give myself an anxiety attack thinking about all the horrible things I am putting into my sons body. And thirdly... my son has been in his crib for over an hour and a half and is STILL not asleep. So I must depart from this post and go take care of that. :)

Ta ta for now!

Photography Update

So, for the past however many months I have been teaching myself photography. Well... at least attempting to. Its a little difficult with a toddler nipping at my heels. :)

I have finally been able to take what I have learned and apply it. I took some pictures of a friend and her dog a month ago, and then I forced my cousin into letting me take some pictures of her. I had A LOT of fun both times, and it just made me want to learn even more!

I am no where close to being able to do this professionally, but I would love to one day. I love it. I absolutely love taking pictures. I have SO much to learn though. So I am sharing with you a few of the pictures I took on my first two official shoots (I sound so dorky saying that) so that you can offer up advice or tell me how wonderful they are.

HA! Just kidding. Boy I crack myself up.


Here are a few pictures I took of Sydney. She is a sweet dog who is VERY loved by her owner. Oh, and she loves to stick her tongue out. :)









And here are a few pictures of my cousin, Miranda. I was able to kidnap her a couple weeks ago before she left for college. She was very gracious to let me drag her all over downtown in the 95 degree heat. Oh the joys of living in the south.








As I said, I know I am not anywhere close to being a professional, but I am having so much fun with this. Even if I am an amateur. I love learning each time I go out and take pictures.

And weather you like it or not, I will be keeping you posted on further photography endeavors. Because this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want.

So there. :)

Our Day

This morning Zachariah and I went to the Zoo. While we were there, we played on the super cool playground! And you know what? I did not take a single picture. *insert gasp here*

I took my camera, but then decided to leave it in the car. I wanted to play with my son, not worry about getting a really cute picture.

So we wandered around the zoo, making animal noises and picking up leaves and pine straw. Then sharing said leaves and pine straw with the monkeys. We explored every nook and cranny on the playground, climbed inside a wooden whale, slid down a bazillion slides, and pretended to ride a motorcycle. We had fun! I got to enjoy my baby and he got to go a few hours without the camera in his face.

Well... almost. I did pick the camera up to take a picture of his cute pouty face as we were leaving. :)



Poor guy didn't want to leave the animals. But have no fear, we got home and watched a Curious George movie. That is almost like being at the Zoo, right?


And no, Zachariah is not wearing the same shirt that he has on in the post below. That is just a figment of your imagination. Ahem

Silliness

Did anyone else's weekend fly by? I swear today feels like it should be Sunday instead of Monday.

Ah well. I guess the week will start regardless of what day I think it should be.

This weekend I came across some pictures I took on Independence Day. With all the other pictures I had to edit from the 4th of July (see here, here, and here) I didn't even give these a second glance.

Until yesterday.

They are overexposed and poorly framed, but they made me laugh out loud. So I thought I would share them with you, just in case you needed a chuckle on this Monday morning. :)










This kid cracks. me. up.

And I am so glad I took time to look at these pictures this go around. This is probably the silliest he has every been (intentionally at least) in front of the camera. I would have hated to miss it completely.

Book Review Thursday... Kind Of.

We have some friends. These friends are some of the most giving people we have ever met. Everything they own is in pristine condition. They buy quality stuff, and when the don't want it anymore (due to an upgrade or lack of room), they give it away. They don't sell it, but they give it.

Over the past three years, they have given us quite a bit. A few of the items would include patio furniture, a wide screen flat screen TV, a bread maker, a juicer (that I have yet to use, but I am hoping to break that puppy out soon!) and a refrigerator (more on that later).

So yeah. They are sweet, sweet people.

Earlier this week their daughter (who was in my very first preschool class!) came across some books that she has had since she was little. She has outgrown them and asked if she could give them to Zachariah.

How sweet is that?


This is one of the books. It is a collection of Little Golden Books. I was pumped. I LOVE the Little Golden Books. And we haven't bought any for Z yet, so this was perfect!!



The Poky Little Puppy. I heart this story. And Zachariah has shown great interest in it as well, considering there are ADORABLE little dogs all in it. :)



Scuffy The Tugboat anyone? Yeah, I remember this one like I read it yesterday.

And I did. But that isn't the point.



Ah yes. The Saggy Baggy Elephant. I LOVE this one. The elephant is just so darn cute. Seriously. This story has always made me wish I had a pet baby elephant.


There are about seven more stories in this book, including The Good Humor man, The Fuzzy Duckling, I Can Fly, The Lion's Paw, and more!

Am I the only one that enjoys reminiscing about these stories?



The other book is full of 18 classic Disney stories. I haven't made my way through that one yet, but it looks amazing. I cant wait to read these to my little man!

So yeah. We are all pretty pumped about these books.


I am counting this as my book review. And there is nothing you can do about it.

:)