Beach Time

Last weekend, we had a long weekend with my sister and her family at the beach. Audrey Grace had so much fun playing with her cousins in the pool and in the sand. We had lots of pool time and not so much beach time. Audrey Grace really did good in the sand, but it is just not ideal (for me), for a 1 year old crawler to be in the sand all day. She did want anything to do with the ocean. The waves were pretty strong and I think it was overwhelming to her. If you took her near the water she would clench onto you. If you tried to put her down so the water would wash her off she would cry. Maybe next year. The pool was a different story. She loved being pushed around in her float or held in the water. She liked to sit on the side of the pool and play with all of the toys. We stayed busy and on the go with a almost 2 year old and almost 1 year old. As always, we had great helpers, Lores and Lucy. One of my best friends from high school, Nichole and her 2 kids and mom were there too! I don't get to see them very often, so it was good to hang out with her and let all of our kids play together. Of course, you know me and the camera, I have no pictures with her or of her kids. I had to get my sisters pictures so I could have some to post!

First day...she is not too sure

Loving floating in the pool

Getting some kisses

Playing with Amy

No telling what is going on here, but I will say they are playing

Playing in the sand


The beach is FUN

Lores and AG

Pool time with Daddy

and with Mama

Laura Lea and I sharing a drink

I would rather sit here and play with these toys than swim

We can't wait for many more years of beach trips with the Sharps!

Happy 1st Birthday Audrey Grace!

I just love this picture! She is laughing and clapping her hands. She is so happy and this picture shows just how cute and sweet she is! I drug her around WalMart and Big Lots, so when we got home we sat outside playing and enjoying the beautiful day.

I think she was a little overwhelmed with everything. I wrapped some of her small things in tissue paper and put them in her new beach bag. She loves to rip paper and pull things out of bags, so I thought that was the perfect idea.

Sitting in her new "big girl" chair. I don't think she is very impressed.


Reading her cards she got in the mail.

Ready for my birthday breakfast!

Daddy made a Mickey Mouse Pancake. You know she doesn't love all foods so I wasn't sure she was going to like them, but she LOVED them!

After supper, she had her very own cupcake and we sang Happy Birthday (for the 20th) time. She was not shy, she dug right in! She grabbed the icing and smashed it around in her hands and once it hit her mouth, it was over...

YUM, this is good!

By the end she just leaned over and tried to eat the cake off of her tray. It was really funny. She did great and I hope she will put on a show Saturday at her party. She will have a smasher cake so that should be even more fun!

This year with Audrey Grace has been so wonderful! Even though we have been misplaced (out of our house), started new jobs, moved into a rental house with half our furniture, it is all ok because we have each other. I know I sound like a goober. I really do mean that though. I have learned so much as a mother. Most of all I have learned that nothing matters like being a mother to your child and a wife to your husband. Life has so many distractions and we tend to get so caught up in the little things that don't really matter at the end of the day. I am so guilty of this. Being a mother has really opened my eyes to this issue. I think probably more in the last few months because I am realizing how time really does fly and every second of every day should be cherished!

The Great Flood of 2011

Between all of the tornadoes and the rising Mississippi River, the months of April and May have kept us on our toes. So many lives and homes have been lost during these history making tornadoes we have had. I am thankful that all of our friends and family are safe and sound. We do however, have family effected by the Great Flood of 2011. We know several people that have had to move or build a levee around their house/property. Annie has been terribly affected by the flood. The lake she lives on is fed by the Mississippi River, so there was no doubt that the water would reach her house. What we didn't know, (in the beginning) is that the flood would make history and rise to 57.1 inches which beat the 1927 flood by about 1 foot. The river crested on May 19th and is slowly making a decent. We call Annie our "flood refugee". She gave us a home for 6 months and now we can give her a home in her time of need. She misses her home so bad, but is such a trooper. I have enjoyed all of the help she gives me with Audrey Grace and the cooking and decorating that I am no good at!

These 2 pictures are of Annie's house, 2 days after the river crested...

Back at it...

I had to leave my computer in Columbus the weekend after Easter so my niece could get her ipod back up and running, so I have fallen behind on my blogging. I still don't have the pictures from that weekend on my computer yet, but I was so ready to make a post, so those pics will come later. I have been wanting to post about Audrey Grace being 11 months old, but nowthat I finally have my computer back, she is almost 12 months old! I really cannot believe our sweet little Audrey Grace is going to be 1 next week. I am so happy she is growing and healthy and happy, but I am not ready for her to "grow up too fast"! I have been so emotional about this. I look thru pictures and cry, I walk in her room while she is sleeping and just stare at her and tears come to my eyes. I am now cherishing those 7 months I was at home with her a little more than before. Ok, enough of that right now. We are at the beach and I don't want to cry on vacation about this. I will cry enough on Monday and Tuesday I am sure and then again at her party on Saturday.
I wanted to make a post about what all she has accomplished from 10 months to 12 months.
She is still not walking, but pulling up and walking around things. She will walk behind her push toys but she would rather sit down and crawl in front of them to play with them. She is waving bye bye, she added the word dog and no to her vocabulary (which now consists of 4 words), sometimes she will say things after you like bye bye and Nannie for Annie. I have tried really hard to not say no all the time. I try to switch it up and say stop it or we don't do that or just divert her attention, but she has still managed to say the word no. It is really funny because she shakes her head no too! She actually started doing this about 2 weeks before saying the word. If she is finished eating or doesn't want something she closes her eyes and shakes her head no! She also babbles in her own little language all the time. She will sit and talk to her toys for 30 minutes. We are down to 1 night time bottle a day and sippy cups the rest. I am afraid the night time bottle will be hard to get away from. Her eyes light up when she sees it coming! She is clapping her hands (finally), playing pat a cake and "rolling it up", still sleeps like a champ! She is transitioning to 1 nap a day for about 2-3 hours. She is eating much better. She still has a texture issue but is learning to eat different stuff. She eats a lot of ravioli, mac-n-cheese, gerber graduate cerel bars, fruit cups, ritz crackers, bananas and graham crackers. Not all the most healthy stuff, but she won't always eat veggies very well. She hates rice.
Audrey Grace will move up on Monday to the 1 year old classroom! I am excited about this because I hear the teacher is great. They do all kind of arts and crafts, have reading time and she will get to go on the playground. They have been transitioning her for about 2 weeks. She goes in thier room for a couple of hours a day and I think she cries the entire time! The teacher, Ms Ally, is so sweet and tells me, its fine, she will be fine, just give her 2 solid weeks in here. It is going to kill me Monday when I take her and she screams because Ms Linda isn't taking her from me. She absolutly loves Ms Linda, her babyroom teacher. This is just one of the many many stepping stones we will have. I will keep you updated on how the transition goes.