Randoms Again

Brylee piddled in her little potty!!!! Just before her bath, and I had the water running to fill up the tub. I know water helps me have the urge to go, and it did the same job for her! Though I don't think she is all-out ready for potty training, I think it is time to introduce her to the concept. We purchased a potty-training seat (a duck!) a couple of months ago and have let her play on it. And she just recently started going to her diaper-changing spot on her own when I ask her if she needs to be changed. So there are signs. Signs that are encouraging me to work with her more and more. :o)

(And major props to me for not taking pictures and posting on the net!)

To see if we can make a post that is not completely Brylee heavy, I'll add this: Cary and I have been very fortunate to be able to continue our date nights together since we've been here. It has given us the ability to go exploring in new places, such as North Conway, NH, Lewiston, Portland, and even enjoy nights at the movies (theater and drive-in)!

We haven't done a lot of geo-caching lately because, well, Maine doesn't have as many caches as Lewisville has (and yes, I am comparing state to city). But the last couple of Fridays, Cary and I have started to pick up on more caching, and it is nice to get out there a little more, though I am still nervous with muggles. And, we have a travel bug race going on with dad: his trying to get to Portland before ours gets to Lewisville. A fun little competition I think.


I have started taking treats to our Friday after-library gatherings, because it helps me with my baking desire, as well helps me 'buy' my new friends... So far I have brought chocolate chip cookies, cake balls, and last week, I had lemon whippersnaps, even though we didn't get together due to rain. This week? These babies....in the cake form. Let's hope they taste as good as they look!

Wow. Whenever I try to write randoms about anything but Brylee, it just doesn't seem as interesting... But I guess that's our life! :o)

Brylee's Bouncy Day

Another first for Brylee in her 19 month life today: she got to play in a bounce house!!!

Playgroup was held at the ice rink again today, an indoor facility that has open 'windows' that let air flow through a little. It has been a good experience there so far, the whole 2 times we have been there!

But today was a special treat: one of the moms brought their bounce house from home!

Brylee LOVED it, and she squealed so much during her jumping fun. It was just as much fun to watch her and all of the other little ones as well!

















































This picture will get me a Mother Of The Year award:









Apparently she went up the slide, bounced across, and then out the door...Journey and I found her just hanging like this for a couple of seconds, where I snapped the picture. (I promise, she had a handle on things and as soon as this picture was snapped, she was off and running back up the bounce house again!) You can't really see it, but in her hand is a paper cup with snacks in it. Even in the moment of dangling, she refused to let go of the snacks!













She was exhausted after playing, and we even left early with the intentions to go meet another friend and help her have a happier summer day, but she slept nearly 3 hours, which just didn't give us the chance to go play. :o(

Next time!

And thanks again, Megan and Journey, for sharing such an awesome toy!

Salmon Point And Other Randoms

Poor Cary and Brenda have been working super hard and really long hours for the last few months, including weekends. But they have been doing really well, bringing me to this exciting point:























It's an awesome sight, isn't it?! I'm so proud!!!

Now if only they could get to a point of having a break, especially before the next tax season comes up.

Yesterday, waiting for her daddy to come home from work, Brylee wanted to go outside and play a little, so we pulled out the sidewalk chalk and let her go to work!




















You can tell she is serious about her work...










And because I couldn't wait any longer, we had to go outside and test out her new water sprinkler. The first experience Brylee had with a water sprinkler, she was a bit timid and didn't want to stay in the water for long. This time, it was a bit better for her, and actually cried when we turned the water off.

We started off with the water about knee high for her and then turned it up higher to about head-high. Just about a minute before we turned it off for the night, I turned the water up all the way. It was above Cary's head! She played with the water and her pail, but didn't run through it or anything. I guess that comes with time!





































Today, Brylee and I ventured out to a beautiful lake called Salmon Point, thanks to the invite of Megan, the mother of cutie little Journey. Several other moms were there, including the super-mom of twin 2 year olds and 2 month old baby. It has been a couple of weeks since I have been to the playgroup, so it was neat to see these moms and their little ones again.

Brylee thought the water was great, and went charging out into it, stopping (luckily) when she got into the water. She mostly played in the sand, just inside the water, and seemed to really enjoy feeling the waves get rougher as boats passed by. It was a good time until we tested out some floaties and they made her feel out of control in the water. After that, she clung on to me, teeth chattering, saying "All done! All done! All done!" Because she was shivering from being cold, I decided the hour we were there was enough time to head home, but not before stopping at the local grocer and seeing Ms. Lizabeth!









































Other Randoms:

Brylee can identify letters of the alphabet as I write it on her little magnet board up to 'J'. She is starting to grasp the other letters visually with a little help. But she also can fill in most of the letters in the alphabet song! At the end when you sing the little diddy, "Now I know my ABC's...", she yells something like, "Elmo!", which we have interpreted as "I know!"

And numbers? We say 1, she can say 2-6, skips 7, and then says 8...

Working on colors, too, but it is a little harder for her to grasp just yet, for some reason...but so far she really seems to enjoy the colors yellow and blue...I think...

That's all I have for now! (I think...)

Project 52: 25/52 Fantasy Part II

Our little rain fairy running around the store:
"I know it's here somewhere!!!"
"There it is!!!"

Cheerios = Pixie dust
"Look! I can fly!"

Project 52: 25/52 Fantasy

With the final film coming up, this is the best idea I could do for Fantasy.

What can I say? These stories got me through some lonely times. I saw the first two movies before I picked up the books, and then I read 4 of them in one week while on 'vacation'. What a great series to read, and now I am reading them again with Cary. Someday it will be with Brylee.

This last movie is going to be very bittersweet for me, but at least I have the opportunity to read the books and watch the movies again!

Christmas In June Just Keeps On Happening!

The coolest part of all of this, I had a turtle sprinkler growing up, and now my little girl has one, too!

Thank you mom and dad for sending this awesome package! We love you, and can't wait to give you hugs for all of the goodies!

Christmas In June!

Look at the awesome package that was on our front door step yesterday afternoon!

Some assembly required!

This girl had so much fun once her daddy got it set up last night. She kept climbing up and going down until her bedtime...at least an hour. She is such a happy little girl with all of her new outdoor toys this year!


Thank you Oma and Opa for the slide! You guys are the best!

Now we can spend lunchtime eating and all afternoon playing with our new toys outside. I need to get a photo of her picnic table, sand/water table, and slide all together!

If we aren't careful, Santa isn't going to have anything to bring her for Christmas!

(I think Brylee is loved...don't you?)

Cary's Father's Day

Brylee and I decided to go hunt down Cary's Father's Day gift on Thursday, June 9th. While it seemed like we were getting a big head start, but once it was all said and done, it ended up being perfect timing.

I had this idea for quite some time, and once we had found The Artery, I knew that I could finally get this gift going! A little history: when I worked at MJDesigns, we had a section that was painting pottery-style things, just like this, and I always wanted to work in that department so I could spend time painting, and even hoped to someday take my children to paint!

We were the first customers in that morning, and being the only customers for the majority of the time, it was nice to let Brylee explore (without touching the pottery of course!).













The owner of the store was very sweet and helped give a lot of advice on how to paint the bowl Brylee and I had picked out for her daddy, as well as helping us do the handprints on the bowl!




























Brylee's favorite part? This easel...I was incredibly fascinated with all of the stuff that could be painted and tried to plan out our next visit, which will hopefully be soon!













After all of that hard work painting, Brylee and I walked next door to Friendly's, where we both enjoyed a wonderful meal, Brylee's including ice cream! (of course mommy had to help with it as well...)




























Here is the result of painting the bowl!










Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband and Brylee's awesome daddy!!!!

Caption Of The Week X

Project 52: 24/52 Heat

For this week's Project, I thought I would have a hard time picking a picture. I mean, how can I pick something outside when it's been a gorgeous 70ish degrees, versus Dallas, TX that has been over 100? Seemed a little off.

Sure, upstairs was getting to the 90+ degrees due to windows allowing so much daylight sun in, but thanks to my awesome father-in-law, we now have an a/c to help us with the hotter days (and beautiful red sheer curtains to lesson the brightness).

So here was my first idea:
Our gas stove. To be truthful, I really want electric in our home when we finally find a place. I don't trust gas in the house, and I have to open doors and windows whenever I bake because I just 'feel' light headed because of the gas. I know it's psychological, but I just feel safer with electric.

And then this morning I found this:


I went to the Small Town grocery center to donate blood at the Red Cross bus, and the entire parking lot was full of fire engines and ambulances. Apparently it is Community Safety Day here, and the above picture of the trailer is a smoke house used to teach fire safety (crawling low below the smoke).

On Finding A New Church In Maine

Confession: I cried during a couple of church services while visiting here in Small Town, ME. Not easy to admit, but it is true.

As I sat in the small chapels, I couldn't help but compare to my 2 church homes in Dallas. One being a mega church, the second being much smaller, but since I had known most of them for many years, it felt like home.

Looking back 3 months later, I realize a lot of it was just newbie nerves, just nervous about moving somewhere where we knew no one, and literally starting new.

Being here, we have thrown ourselves into the mix of things, from meeting the clients of the business and seeing them around quite frequently, going to a playgroup, and our favorite Friday activity: library story time and park/beach playtime afterward.

And since we have become more comfortable with our routine, I have since started helping out Vacation Bible School preparation at the place we have decided to call our new church home.




It's not Fellowship; then again, I never met Ed Young, the senior pastor, in the 7 years I attended there. This church definitely has the feel of Live Oak church, with the band and contemporary songs, but also toss in a couple of hymns.

The pastor here has great sermons, and the associate director is a lady who I have been able to get to know a little better as I paint butterflies and flowers for VBS. And I have met several other women who are very sweet and fun as well. I look forward to our next meeting to paint more!

This is a church I can really get involved in, something I never really did (minus the Home Teams) at Fellowship, and miss greatly about my high school and college days at Live Oak.

And I have a feeling it will be a great place to let Brylee grow up and immerse herself as well.

Just another part of becoming one with our new community...(a big one, I know!)

Toddler Entertainer

And if she decides to run away to join the circus, we won't stop her (we might go too, and let her support us!)

They May Not Be Pretty...

But their taste is oh-so divine!!!

Got the recipe from here. And surprisingly, I managed to get them done in about 2 hours (hence the reason they may not be so pretty...we won't blame it on me...), thanks to motivation from my husband who would have been disappointed to not have any for dessert...

I wanted to give these a try for my new friends that meet at the lake after library time on Fridays. So, we'll see if they last long enough to go!

And maybe someday I'll have the ability to make them look like this. Aren't they cute?!

Caption Of The Week IX

Brylee Loves Packages!

And after a rough night and morning when I broke down and gave her back her 'bow', it was a very nice surprise to wake up from our naps to find:

A package from her T-Ma and Poppy full of swimsuits and accessories, and

A package full of books and a little craft package from her cousins Addison, Reagan, and Gracyn!

Oh thank you, thank you, thank you (!!!!) for making our day you guys!!!

And now it's off to read and do a craft or two with the little one...