Bob the Builder boots

Bryce looked so grown up all dressed for church today. I wish I had gotten a picture of the whole outfit without the jacket, but at least I got the boots. Bryce calls these his "Bob the Builder boots". He sings the theme song while he wears them!

 

a package and a project

Mama Pat sent us a package in the mail yesterday and Bryce really enjoyed opening his gifts.  He got this Melissa & Doug car carrier and he just loves it.  When he woke up this morning the fist thing out of his mouth was "I want to go to the play room to play with my new truck".  He also got a Melissa & Doug block train.  

Mama Pat is also known as Ms. Mickey.  She just adores ALL things Mickey.  She sent Bryce this Mickey nap pillow.  The red blanket fits inside the pillow for easy traveling.

He already has it in his bed and he called me back into his room at least 3 times tonight to cover him up, ha!

Chase came over to play this afternoon and he got here just in time to make peanut butter bird feeders with us.  Bryce said something about a bird feeder and Jason thought to make these.

 Just take a pine cone, spread peanut butter over it, then roll it in bird seed.



Chase was quite a pro.  He has had some practice in Sunday school with MeMaw. 

We hung them on the trees in the front yard so hopefully we will see a bird nibbling the bird seed in the morning.

blinds and dining room

We are slowly making our mark on our new house.  I wish I had taken pictures of the house when we moved it, but I guess I didn't.  Bryce's room and the dining room are the only rooms we have tackled.  Bryce's room is done, I've just never posted pictures (I'll get on that....someday).  I am excited to say that we just finished replacing all eighteen blinds in the house.  None of the blinds matched before.  Some were pull down shades and some were cheap plastic blinds that didn't even work.  We put in white faux wood blinds throughout and I am really pleased with them!  Now I'm hoping to start replacing light fixtures next. 

I posted this above picture over the summer when I had a lunch with my teacher friends.  This was the in between stage of the dining room makeover.  The bottom half of the walls under the chair rail were a dark navy and the top half were cream.  We primed the walls and took down the ugly sheer window coverings and the hideous black out pull down shades. 

We painted the walls a soft bluish color.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but I just love it.  My friend Beth helped me pick out fabric for the curtains and she has a friend who was able to make them for me.  I just love how they turned out.

The walls were very bare before.

We added a mirror and it really opens up the room.  The lamp is just there for now.  I hope to find a nicer one that actually matches the room.  My Nanny bought us the dining room furniture because we didn't have any since the old house only had an eat in kitchen area.

I'm still looking for a chandelier to replace the very out dated light fixture that we currently have.  I don't like that it is just a globe light fixed to the ceiling.  I want something that hangs a little lower.  I'm still looking for something to hang on the walls beside the mirror and I need decorations for the table and buffet.

23 months

I can't believe we will have a 2 year old in one short month!  I am cherishing every moment with Bryce and I'm so glad we have the blog to capture our memories through pictures and captions.

Bryce has been opting to stay in his pajamas rather than getting dressed for Kelly's since it has been so cold recently.  However, this morning he was excited about getting dressed up for his Valentine photo shoot with Kelly and the kids.  I just thought he looked so stinkin' cute sitting there like a big boy!

When I get Bryce out of bed in the mornings the first thing he normally says is, "I'm awake, Mama".  It's too cute.  Bryce can't get downstairs fast enough to eat his oatmeal for breakfast.  I'm pretty sure Bryce would eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we would let him.  We're still trying to get him to branch out, but fruit snacks still seem to be a food group, too.  He did eat 5 or 6 pieces of broccoli tonight and I couldn't believe it.

Getting a good picture of Bryce is still a challenge.  Bryce has picked up on Chase's "Why?" questioning, but he doesn't really get it so he usually ends up asking, "Why not?" even if it is a "Why" question, HA!  He is getting better answering questions with a yes or a yes please, rather than his normal uh huh or yeah.  This makes me happy. 

Here is a typical picture!  I can't wait to see how much/if any Bryce has grown.  He is wearing 2T shirts, 18 month pants because he is so short, and size 4 diapers.  I have no idea what size shoe he wears.  I put him in anything from a 5-7 depending on what matches his outfit!

Bryce enjoys singing and he is getting really good as saying the blessing at dinner time.  I will have to try and get it on video.  We have also been trying to teach him his right and left.  I know it is probably early, but when I see my fourth graders struggle with this it makes me want to get a head start!

Potty training is touch and go around here.  Over the summer I really thought Bryce was going to take off with it.  Then he lost interest in it and absolutely despised the thought of sitting on the toilet.  He's coming back around now.  It may just be for the gummy fish he gets for trying, but I guess a little motivation can't hurt.  He actually did pee and poop (sorry if that is TMI for some) the other day at Nana and Pap's house and it was a BIG deal. 

We decided to get out and about tonight so we went and watched a basketball game at PaPa's school.  Chase is on the left and their friend Kaleb is on the right.  I forgot my camera tonight so I had to use my cell phone.  The boys looked so cute from behind sitting next to each other on the bleachers.  They loved playing basketball during half time and after the game. 

Hoping this month doesn't fly by, but I'm sure it will.

cereal

Good to the last drop!

Bryce enjoyed watching his DaDa eat cereal tonight.  He catches on quick!

like father like son

This picture cracks me up!

Bryce has just gotten interested in actually watching tv.  He still doesn't watch much (which is fine with me), but he L.O.V.E.S. Caillou.  When he watches it the world stops and he has no idea what is going on around him (just like his dada).  Here they are watching Caillou last night.  Jason posed like Bryce because it was just too cute.

tractor shirt

We got our weekend started off with a 4:30 dinner at Cracker Barrel last night, ha!  Bryce even got a new shirt out of the trip.  Here he is showing it off.

He's very excited about it.

They had two tractor shirts to choose from and this one was his favorite.

Reading books in the toy box is way more fun than reading on the floor or sofa.

Happy Saturday!

stream of consciousness

I always enjoy MckMama's stream of consciousness blog posts so I decided to follow her lead tonight so I don't have to write a detailed post about any one thing.  My school doesn't have a Christmas party during the holidays.  Instead we have a winter celebration.  It was tonight.  I ate my fair share of chips and salsa and was almost too full for my fajitas when they came.  I had a really delicious peppermint fudge brownie for dessert.  I'm still almost too full to breathe.

Bryce was into squealing tonight.  This is what he looks like when he squeals.  I ordered Bryce's birthday invitations last night and then found out today that the gym may not be available after all.  That is my luck.  If that is the case, there will be no party because I will already be over my birthday budget I set because I would have to reorder invitations.  Okay so I can't really cancel his birthday, but I don't know what I will do.  This information was relayed to me from the church secretary who got it from my father-in-law who is obviously Bryce's grandfather so I'm sure he could pull some strings, wink wink!

I've worked two whole days this week.  It seems like a lot!  I'm pretty sure I won't know what to do with myself when I have to work another five day work week.  They are calling for snow next week.  My teacher friends and I already have the "bring it on" mindset.  We have to go to school with students on January 28 to make up our fourth snow day missed instead of having a professional development day.  I don't really care.  If we miss another day, I think we have to go to school on President's day.  That doesn't really bother me either because I'm away from school two days that week anyway for a professional event and a personal day for B-man's birthday.   

Bryce likes to jump in piles.  He takes all of the blankets and towels he can get his hands on and piles them up and jumps in them.  Oh to be almost 2.  Well I really wouldn't want to be 2 again.  Actually I really wouldn't want to be any age again.  I love this time in my life and I look forward to what's to come, like warmer weather.  It has been too cold for too long.  I want green grass, pretty flowers, nice temperatures and open windows.  We had highs in the upper 50's yesterday and it made me happy.  I'm happy tomorrow is Friday.  Night y'all.   

party planning

Party plans are underway for Bryce's second birthday!  We took Bryce to Party City the other night to pick out his party theme and he decided on fire trucks.  Jason and I didn't really like the images on the invitations so we decided to look around.  A friend mentioned having his party at the fire station, but I think Bryce would be scared out of his mind.  We decided maybe we would save that for another year so we switched themes altogether.  We were actually able to excite Bryce about a bounce house party instead.  We're going to have his party at church again this year and set up a bounce house in the gym!  Other than that, I'm really slow in getting things together.     

a day off

I really think the work week should be four days so we can have a three day weekend every week!  However, I need to find other things for us to do rather than make food because I have eaten my fair share of rice krispie treats these past few weeks.  Last week we made green rice krispie treats and today we made cocoa krispie treats.

Bryce couldn't shove the marshmallows in fast enough.

Bryce enjoyed coloring while I cleaned some this morning.

Did you notice his tongue?

It's back to work for me tomorrow, but I sure did enjoy my day off today!

McDonald's

Bryce gets to do lots of fun things during the week with Kelly.  One of his favorites is going to McDonald's and playing in the play land.  He has been talking about going down the big slide all by himself this week so we decided to go out to McDonald's last night to get some ice cream and let him play.  We were surprised when he took off right up the tunnels to the slide.  He used to be so afraid of the play equipment, but not anymore!



climbing trees

Bryce decided he wanted to climb a tree today while we were outside checking the mail.

I just love this picture.  I love the expression on Bryce's face and if you look closely at Jason, you can see where Bryce gets his tendency to stick out his tongue when he is concentrating on something.

Jason hung Bryce's artwork in the playroom the other night.  I'm quite happy with the way it turned out!