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Anything; whatever you want.

Pinki's pink birthday cake decorated by Gusley!

What can I say? My son LOVES cake! He knows how to mark his piece of the pie!

The weekend in review

This past weekend was a rather busy one. Here are a few things we did.

~Chinese "fued" for lunch on Friday with Pinki. (Gusley's request)

~Biscuits for breakfast...makes everyone happy.

~LAAAAZY Saturday - everyone had a nap!

~Chipotle for dinner! Mommy is one happy camper! Gusley got his "ta-cuu"!

~Jake went bowling!

~THE CIRCUS!!! Greatest Show on Earth - enjoyed by all in attendance!

~Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe - nice treat -Gus slept through the entire meal - another nice treat ;-)

~Fun finds at the used book store.

~Even though this was on Monday, I still think it was a great way to end my weekend/start the week...ZUMBA!

Mom and Daughter Date

Mom and I had a date. We went to lunch at Pei Wei and headed downtown to the Frist to see the exhibit, "The Golden Age of Couture". We were in awe seeing some of the pieces from that era. So much detail and just beautiful pieces all done by hand and most made for particular women. I so wish I would have lived during that time. All of the pieces, well most of them had my name all over them! We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum so I kept my guidebook as a future reference! After our tour we headed over to the Pied Piper Creamery and had some ice cream! I had red velvet Elvis which was to die for and mom had Little Debbie does ice cream which she said was to die for. We will certainly be going back for more!! Thanks for such a fun day mom! I really enjoyed my time with you and thank you Jake for keeping Gus so mom and I could have a day together! I love both of you so very much!

The name game

Before Gus was born the dinner table discussion was always "what is the baby going to call mom?" One night Jake suggested "Pinki" because mom's skin is so pretty and pink and she looks so lovely in pink. Pinki it was and Pinki is what it has been until last week when we pointed to mom and asked Gus to tell us her name. His reply: "na nice"! We have no idea where that comes from but he has since dropped the "na" and she is now just "nice"! That is a very fitting name for her because she is indeed nice! We love you na nice and had a great little roadtrip with you! Thanks for being so nice!


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Spring Fling

Mom's school held their annual "Spring Fling" at the end of April and she invited us to go. Dunk tank, playground, chalk, bubbles, hula hoops, music, free chick-fil-a, and lots of goodies at the bake sale! Gus had a great time and loved to watch the dunk tank! He was a little overwhelmed with all the kids everywhere and wanted to be where the action was at all times which made it a little treacherous for us, but we survived!!

mmmMMmmm.....with all that running, I earned every bite of this cupcake!

Happy Father's Day!

I know Father's Day is to honor the daddy's out there, but I sure do enjoy the good food that comes along with it!! We had a nice relaxing day. We slept late, had a good breakfast, swam, took a nice nap, swam some more and had yummy steaks for dinner! It was truly a great day.

You can just see the pure happiness on Gus' little face. I am so glad that he loves the water, however; he does not have very much fear. Please excuse the potty in the background.....potty training and that comes with the territory!

Lending a helping hand to Pops!

Salsa Sunchips are the bomb!!

And so is Pinki's homemade Guacamole! Down to the last bite!

Happy Father's Day, Jake! We love you and hope you had a great day! Thank you for all that you do for us to make our lives comfortable, fun, enjoyable and entertaining! You kick ass!!

A little entertainment by Gusley....he loves to wear "goooo-gles"!

Buttercup not very thrilled to be in Gus' pajama shirt, but I thought it was cute! The shirt says, "Can't Catch Me", which is very fitting for her!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday POPS!!

Dad, Happy Birthday! Hope you have a wonderful day!

From the pictures above, you can see that Gus had a great time making your cake!! (and eating the sprinkles too!)

Pool, Gate, Tree - in that order!

For as long as I can remember every time we drive past or into mom and dad's neighborhood we always tell Gus there is the pool, and the gate and then the trees going up the hill. This used to be part of our discussion when we lived there and would walk everyday. Seems as though it has sunk in! He has been saying "Pooo-ol" and "Gea-te" but yesterday he added the "TEEE, TEEE, TEEE"!! He points to the pool and says pool, then when we turn in he points to the gate and says gate and trees line the boulevard so he is having to say tree a number of times!! Needless to say we are so proud of him!!

This evening he and I were at mom and dad's for a visit and we walked around the entire block and he touch each and every mailbox that we passed and after each touch he would look up at me and say "Nahh". I think that is a combination of night (for night, night) or now - either way it is appropriate. Also on our walk he took on the role of Mr. Recycle. He picked up all the newspapers in the driveways of the houses that are for sale (and no one lives in them) and brought them home to the recycle bins! I guess all this talk of Earth Day coming up has made an impact on him at the age of 2! AWESOME!! Keep up the good work Gusley! Mommy really enjoyed our walk this afternoon and I think Buttercup had a swell time as well! It certainly wore you out as you have been fast asleep since 9 o'clock on the dot! Nah, Nah!!

1 pee-pee in the potty!!!

Easter Sunday 2010 is one to remember! Gus pee-peed in the potty for the first time! Jake was not there to witness, but Pinki and I were and we cheered him on! Keep it up Gus!!

Farmer Brown takes a break!

Pinki and Pops have been waiting almost 3 years to give this backhoe to Gusley! They got it at a great after Christmas sale when I was PG....it didn't matter to them whether we had a girl or a boy the baby was getting a John Deere Backhoe on its 2nd birthday! He was a little apprehensive of it at first, and would rather operate it by pushing the peddle with his hand and following it!

To go along with it, Mom got him the "Good Night, Tractor" book. He is really into books and I do think that the book was a bigger hit than the tractor.....see below!!



After all that chasing the backhoe around it was time to retreat back to his post for a little drawing on the doodle pad!!

Definition of Tardy = a picture of me!!

Gus slept in this morning....8:15am! It was snowing out, Jake was out of town for work and we had a birthday party at 9:30am about 45 mins. away. In case you haven't noticed, I am notorious for being late. **Disclaimer: To all those that have had to wait on me, especially my dear patient, loving, understanding husband, mother and mother-in-law, I AM SORRY. The intent to be punctual is ALWAYS there, but the ADHD often takes over and I get side tracked with many other tasks and loose track of time. Now throw a baby/toddler into the mix and I am totally off! My promptness is a work in progress, but mom seems to think that I will be late for my own funeral. That is what she says when she is at the impatient point with me. In school when we would have to write our best and worst traits and how we can improve on the worst.....tardy/promptness/better time management was all my worst. Again, I AM SORRY for all the wait time. Okay, so I digressed a bit. We were suppose to meet our friend and ride with them to the party.....didn't happen. In my defense, it was snowing and the dog refused to go out and do her business and Gus was being a clingy crab and he was still sleepy. We pulled out of the driveway at 9:05am, I called my friend told her to go if she wanted to go....she went ahead. Thankfully I now have an iPhone because Jake had the GPS and I had no idea where I was going!! We pull over and I get the directions pulled up on the phone, read over them and off we go...in the snow! We made it to the party at 9:58am...not too bad. I have been much later for other functions....trust me, this is not bad. The party was at this really neat little place that was jammed packed with kids at first, but them began to clear out and Gus began to enjoy himself and let his guard down a bit!

Our day turned out to be a good one. A cold snowy one, but a good one!! Gus and I had a nice morning and early afternoon together then met Jake in the city and came home. Did a little grocery shopping and Jake and I went to dinner at Pei Wei, which I have to say if you are ever in the vicinity of one of these we highly recommend it!! After dinner Mommy needed a drink so we headed over to this local bar Kimbro's and had a nice evening enjoying each others company. Thank you Pinki and Pops for babysitting!!!!!

Digging in the rubber dirt pit!

At the train station! Trains are at the top of his list these days. I am thinking Daddy's next project is going to have to be a train table!

Sitting in the fishing pond watching this sweet little girl fish!!

This table was really neat. Those plastic pieces he is holding are magnetic and the table has a night under it and it too was magnetic.




Gus and Endi shopping on the empty shelves at the store!

The sweet birthday girl!

The Monkey's Treehouse!!

This is my favorite picture of the day!

Nearing the end.....

The entire time he slept he clung to his balloon string with all his might!!!

Gusley, mommy is so proud of you. You were so well behaved and if someone took a toy you just went and got another one. You explored and Mommy just sat in the passenger seat and sat back and let you do your thing and check out what you were interested in. We did see several children hitting and being bullies with no mothers in sight, but luckily they left you alone!

Homemade King Cake.....

Oh because its carnival time, mom being from New Orleans (and me craving king cake) thought we should have a king cake to make it feel as much like home as possible! I remembered she had this wonderful recipe for a Homemade King Cake and wonderful it is!! The purple sugar did not turn out too PURPLE but the cake sure tasted VERY GOOD! The next night at SuperTarget I found a container of Mardi Gras Purple sugar on the dollar spot.....PERFECT!! We will be making another King Cake so I will post a picture with the perfect purple!!!!

23 months.....

23 months?!! Where do I even start? First and foremost the past 23 months have been a wonderful journey. From birth to sitting up, crawling, walking, beginning to talk and to think now a full blown toddler is in the house!!!! It is a very exciting time in our house these days! For example every night we count with Gus and we hold up our fingers for each number and he follows along on his hands. Tonight each time we got to five he would squeal with excitement and sometimes he just could not wait until five and would squeal at four!!!

Gusley still enjoys watching Stuart Little, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, The Backyardagains and The Wiggles, but he has found a new love for Sesame Street, Follow that Bird (1985 movie about Big Bird leaving the Street) and Disney's new movie UP!!

He is really into music and at the tender age of two he has enough instruments to be a successful one man band. The inventory includes: 2 recorders, 2 possibly 3 harmonicas, a tambourine, a small drum and a drum set, 3 guitars (not with real strings yet), a xylophone, a kazoo, a few shakers, Daddy's keyboard (that he knows how to turn on and adjust the volume and play), and a clapper. I'm sure I am forgetting something!! I think he will play at least one instrument, don't you?

He has added a few more words to his vocabulary, but does not say them on command. He says them as he deems it necessary! Di-per when he needs to be changed, duck for his rubber ducks in the tub, well any duck he sees, up-dare for upstairs, UP, be-bir for Big Bird, car for Oscar, and ussel for Russell (the little boy in UP). He is very good at uh-oh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, daddy and yesterday when Jake walked in from work he looked up at him and said "Hey Da"!!

His diet varies from day to day. I just offer him a variety and he chooses what he is in the mood for. I do not like to stress myself out over how much he does or does not eat. I just look at it like when he gets hungry (if he didn't eat much at a meal) then he will let me know. He does sign 'eat' and 'more' and does make me aware of this! A constant is cheese and bananas and yogurt.

Gusley is very much an organizer. I think he gets it from his Mommy. Every day when he takes his nap and once he is in bed for the night all the toys go to their places and are neatly organized for him to start a new afternoon or day of play. If he takes a toy out to play with it he makes sure to pick it back up and it usually gets put where it was taken from. I can get used to this!! He loves for me to sing the clean-up song and in turn he helps me! Santa brought him an easel and one side is a dry erase/coloring paper and the other side is a chalkboard. I showed him how to erase the chalkboard with a wash cloth and now he will draw something then quickly erase it. This is rather fun to watch...almost looks like an episode of Win, Lose or Draw!!

Since the weather has been so dry our noses don't know what to do. Gus carries around a Kleenex and will wipe his nose (usually there is nothing to wipe) and then head to the garbage to throw the tissue away. Speaking of throwing away, while Gi-Gi and Paw were here he took off his pj pants and Gi-Gi told him to throw them away as a joke and he brought them to the garbage and put them in the can. Smart kid!!

Each morning it is funny to see what he is going to attach to for the day. The last few days it was his little yellow school bus. Yesterday and today is was a pumpkin rubber duck and a fish squirt toy from the tub (both of which are currently sleeping in the bed with him). His harmonica and kazoo have been very close by too!

Mimicking is very big right now. And singing "If you're happy and you know it" and "boom, boom ain't it great to be crazy" in the tub is oodles of fun!

Bedtime kisses are so cute right now. You ask for a kiss and he gives you his cheek. Jake still tells him a 'secret' every night and he loves and anticipates this by putting the back of his neck/ear in Jake's face when he goes to kiss him...very cute!!

It is truly amazing to me to see how much he has grown and all the things he is learning and doing. I find myself just looking at him some days thinking WOW, this is our child. I love every minute of it, even when he decides to throw something down because he is frustrated or when he goes limp like a banana I just have to turn away and chuckle to myself because now I know what I put my mom and dad through. Mom and Dad, thanks for loving me even when I would go limp like a banana!! Fun times in the department of disciplining are knocking at our door. I will be sure to keep y'all abreast on how we are doing!! "These are the days" is my daily mantra and it is so fitting because these are the days that I will cherish the most. The nurturing, mothering, loving, laughing, singing, dancing, running, playing, snacking, napping that we do together is making a lifelong bond between us and it feels good, very good. Spending everyday all day with my son is the greatest feeling in the world and I am so thankful that I am able to do just that. Gusley, Mommy and Daddy love you so very much and you are a remarkable 23 month old toddler. Thank you for being so patient with us. As first time parents this is all new to us too, so bear with us, but I think we are doing a great job, so enjoy the ride!!! Here is our little doodle bop at Sweet CeCe's tonight enjoying some yogurt. I bet you can't guess what flavor he liked???!!

January 6, 2010 post....

I can't believe I already broke my resolution....the intent was there, I promise! Jake baked fish for supper (thanks, Gi-Gi and Paw for bringing that up to us) and mom and I fried some fish. Jake bathed Gus we had a little play time and Gus played the harmonica for us then it was off to bed for Gus. Every night he has to bring something to bed with him. Tonight was Jake's harmonica! The three of us sat in the bed and he played the harmonica for a good 5-10 minutes....it is so cute!! He breaths in and out slow then fast then slow and so on. He sounds much better than I ever do and that is no joke! Once the lights were out he cuddled up next to me and every few minutes he would play a few notes then snuggle back up to me. He did this about 5 times then the harmonica fell and he went limp and that is where I went limp as well and drifted into the great unknown! When I woke up the clock said 12:07am...so here is yesterday's post!

I will try to get some video of Gus with the harmonica and share on here. It is hysterical! He has revamped his nightly routine a bit. We still rock, but he lets me know when he is ready to go lay down in the bed and we go lay down and he snuggles up to me and slowly drifts off to sleep. It is just so sweet! I can't wait for him to wake up tomorrow morning....they are predicting 1-3inches of snow in the morning!! Should be beautiful when we wake up!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lisa!!!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lisa!!!

You are a wonderful, generous and kind person! We hope you have a groovy birthday! We sure do miss you and can't wait to see you again soon! Thank you for being such a great 'aunt' that really isn't my 'aunt'!! Thank you for being such a great best friend to my mom. Your friendship really means a lot to her....can you believe ya'll have been friends for almost 40 years??!!! I am so glad way back whey you two decided that your children would call each other 'aunt' and 'uncle'! We love you and Happy Birthday to you!

Happy New Year!!

I can't break my New Year's resolution on the first day so here is my first post for the new year! We had a great day doing absolutely nothing! We stayed in our pajamas until 1:30pm, Gus took a 2 hour nap and we showed Gi-Gi and Paw Alan Jackson's home. Pinki cooked cabbage and black-eyed peas and we had a nice evening at their house! Gus decided Pinki and Pops needed a little color on their wall and made some nice RED markings! Thank goodness for Magic Erasers......Gus helped clean the wall and had to bath with the Magic Eraser and held it tight all the way home and then fell asleep with it.

That was our New Year's Day in a nut shell, hope everyone had a great day...looking forward to twenty-ten!!

Christmas Eve!

Usually on Christmas Eve we go to my grandmother's house to exchange gifts and enjoy yummy food and a homemade red velvet cake!! This year we decided to stay put and start our own tradition. Aunt Beth and DJ came in and Nanny came over and we exchanged presents and enjoyed each others company. This year was really fun with Gus as he was really into giving out the gifts and opening his and everyone else's!!

Though we started a new tradition some things remained the same like the homemade red velvet cake and Aunt Beth's famous homemade cheese cake...holy moly that was some good stuff!! After a fun night we had to head home to get ready for Santa Claus. We exchanged a few presents as a little family. I made Jake a desk calendar with pictures of he and Gus and things they did/shared together throughout 2009 and they gave me a fabulous new robe!!!! We were both surprised with our gifts and it was so cute to watch Gus give us each our present!! So after more presents, Gus had his bath and wore his snuggley Christmas jammies that Pinki made for him and off to bed he went as visions of M&M's danced in his head!!

I have waited my whole life to take on this special role of Mr. & Mrs. Claus and our time has come and it was delightful!! I loved every minute of it. Getting the presents out of hiding, setting everything up, doing a test run on a few things and stuffing the stockings!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve at mom and dad's. Gus apparently wanted to take a look and see if Santa and the reindeer were flying over because he insisted on going outside to check things out. With his hat of course!! His faces throughout the night were priceless. Each gift he opened it was like his little face beamed with joy and he was thinking "for me?"!! He would tear the paper into small pieces and peak through then he would tear it in bigger sections....keeping the element of surprise a little longer? In most of the pictures you will notice him holding a little tin can. This is a can of cocoa that Aunt Beth brought with her and he became attached to it the minute he laid his eyes on it and he held it tight through the holiday!! Could it have been the size of it or the fact that Santa Claus was on the front of it? I think a combination of both!! Enjoy the pictures and I hope your Christmas holiday was as joyous as ours!

August Favorites

I will start this post by apologizing for the overload of pictures, but I am so far behind on the blog I figured this would be the best way to catch up. I have gone through the 100's of pictures I have for the month of August and chose my favorites to share on here. My pictures help me remember the sweet moments we share, whether it be just Gus and I, Jake and Gus, Jake and I or all three of us!!

The pictures are posted from the end of the month down to the beginning of the month. Once I started uploading I realized I was backwards....oh well!!!

This past Sunday we went with Amanda, Tyler and Endi to Jump Zone (an indoor spacewalk place) for open play. This was our first time with Gus and it is safe to say that we may be renting one of these for his birthday!! He had a blast. I did not get many pictures because the camera died due to us being at The Wiggles concert the day before, but I did manage to get a few!! I went with him down a few of the slides at first, but then he wanted to go by himself so I let him and Jake would catch him. He was beaming ear to ear and giggling all the way down!! I love this place and we will definitely be making this a habit...$7 per child and both parents are free and can jump in the spacewalks!!!!!!!!!!!! Jake and I felt like kids again! It was a great afternoon spent with awesome friends followed by a delicious ice cream at Baskin Robins! Can't ask for much more on a Sunday afternoon!

Coming off the slide!!

Our first trip down the slide!!!

Such a big boy in his seat drawing on his mini magnadoodle!

Uprooting Jake's dead ground cover that never made it in the ground!

So excited....The Wiggles show had just begun!

Pure Amazement!

First time drinking from a water fountain at Harvey Park on 08.28.09....needless to say we could not get him away from it!!

These days Gusley no longer needs one of us to slide with him. He prefers to do it all by himself! He will not refuse me if I am up there, but he will climb to the top and get in and go down before I can get to him! One word....INDEPENDENT!!

For once, he chose the "baby" swing!!

Me doing what I love to do....swinging!! Anytime I get a chance to jump on a swing I am on it!!

There was a beautiful rainbow while we were at the park. We could see both sides of it...but could not seem to find the pots of gold!! Shucks!

This is how Gus preferred his ice cream at Pinki's birthday dinner celebration!!!

Mom looking so lovely with her most favorite grandchild of all!!!!!

Gusley finding it very amusing to put his (clean) spoon in my hair!!

No Jake, I did not let him eat with it!

This is how we sleep once Jake gets up! I am thinking we could use a double king size bed!

Gus at the farm with Bonnie and Clyde!

And with Fiona who loves to have her belly rubbed!

Sitting like a big boy at Outback for dinner...mommy was craving a Wallaby Darned!

He would rather go up the slide than down!

Watching the dog show at the County Fair!

Pinki and Pops have an operator when Gusley is at their house! This is his spot!

Can I help you?

Kids night at Chick-fil-A.

The humongous cow cracked him up, but I could never get a picture of his face!

Marley and me!!

I love how he is pointing his little finger at me...telling me what to do at swimming lessons!

This is by far one of my favorite photos of these two!!!

Piggy back rides for Gus and Elmo!!!

Having fun in the backyard with his $1 rake!!

On the pulley at Pinkerton Park!!!

Fingers in the fountain at the Nashville Farmer's Market!!

As you can see, August was obviously a fun, busy month for us!!