Cold vs. Hot

The weather around here has been pretty wacky lately. Last week it was high of like 50 one day and then a few days later it approached 80. We are trying to enjoy wearing our summer clothes "one last time" and pulling our winter layers out "for the first time" . Here are some pics of the lastest happenings. Above is Pete and Bailey looking at something (a bug?)

Here us Bailey "helping" Pete study in the tree house. I love that they have a special relationship- he has two daughters back home (4 and 2) with a son on the way early next year. I am sure he misses them greatly.My baby girl is starting to sit up!

Bailey's first sitting up experience in the same outfit at pretty much the exact same age.
Cutie pie
And..the cold day! All bundled up being silly inside
So happy..and bald...poor girl :)
Bailey sitting in the chair too! (she was only 4 months at this pic though)- so much bigger then Taylor-you can really see the chubbiness factor here ;)

Oh My Butterfly!

Grammie Cellon made Bailey a GORGEOUS fall festival (ie-Halloween)outfit to wear to our parties and such. It is so fancy and pretty. I could never even dream of creating something so wonderful for my girls. Thank you Grammie! Bailey LOVES it and has worn it all day since we got it in the mail. She also made Butterfly wings to match :)
Precious Butterfly Princess
Absolutely Adorable!
Taylor in amidst all the festivities- lifting her "weights" :)

CrockPot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

I made this soup last week and loved it. I thought I would post it since it is VERY easy, VERY frugal and makes a TON. We served it with homemade bread machine honey butter rolls and I literally could eat this everyday now that it is cold outside. ENJOY :).

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Copyright 2007 Publications International, Ltd

3 cans (14 1/2ounce) chicken broth (I used homemade stock)
1 lb chicken thighs (can be frozen)
2 cups water
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1pkg (6 oz) converted long grain and wild rice mix with seasoning packet (not quick or instant rice)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2tsp black pepper
1 T dried parsley flakes

1. combine all and put in large crockpot. mix well.
2. cover and cook on low 6-7 hours or high 4-5 hours until chicken is done and tender.
3. shred/ cut chicken and add back in.
4. serve with bread. Try this Peasant Bread for an easy, non-bread machine bread

This made enough for probably 12 servings. I froze a bunch when after a couple days I still had a huge bowl left.

Taylor on the move at 5 months

It is so fun to see Taylor explore her world. Bailey was much to fussy to be bothered with much exploring...she would rather sit and cry and wait until someone brought her the toy then go and get it (hence the not crawling until almost 10 months). Taylor, on the otherhand, started rolling over at 10 weeks and now is rolling all over the room to get places (Bailey not once rolled around the room like this). I have been on the floor with her for awhile catching up on some volunteer stuff and one minute later she was on the other side....
and then she was getting into the baskets! I think this is hilarious...at 5 months old! What in the world will happen when the girl can crawl?!?

Gator Family :)

Travis (my bro) took some pics of us when we were in Florida- here is the best one of the 4 of us!

On another note, boy are we glad we won that game yesterday. We did not watch it due to having a prior commitment outside the home, but we kept up with the score via the phone internet. Whew! I am almost glad we weren't watching.....it seemed like it was a nail biter.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday afternoon- we are bundled up and wearing multiple layers as it is like 44 degrees outside. I love fall!

My first big craft moment..

On the retreat this weekend one of our "crafts" was making a wreath. This is mine! I was so proud of myself, even if another friend made my bow for me and all the materials were already bought :). I went to Michaels and got the wreath hanger and was so overwhelmed going in there with all the stuff (they had 3 ROWS of Christmas stuff out already- I love Christmas, but goodness, it is barely fall!). I am sure some people find Michaels inspiring, but I am just confused when I go in there. Give me a huge clothing store and I can come up with some amazing deals though :). Speaking of, I went to Old Navy last night and scored a $1.99 nice shirt along with a few other great deals :).

Blair is sick still...he has been fighting something now off/on for a few weeks. This morning we all kinda lounged around. Bailey does everything in "2's". Notice the 2 blankies, 2 loveys. She has tried to put 2 paci's in (literally!), but wasn't satisfied with the result. Here is Jace and Bailey playing yesterday. Little Sydney had her 2 week check up appointment and is back up to her birth weight. She is such a cutie! Jace and Bailey are playing more and more "together". My favorite moments were when Bailey was playing with her ipod thingy and Jace and her were just dancing away! They also enjoyed fresh out of the oven honey butter rolls along with lots of running and squealing.

Grammie and Grandma outfits- thanks!

Thank you Grammie and Grandma for Bailey and Taylor's outfits today. There is a definite chill in the air! I changed out all of us 3 girls clothes for the winter. (well, I added my fall clothes- which I haven't worn in 3 years due to pregnancy, postpregnancy and pregnancy! to my closet). It is so exciting to bring those clothes that Bailey wore out for Taylor and those new clothes that were given to us for Bailey. I am so thankful they will be warm and cozy. We just need to get Bales some socks and shoes.... she has been wearing too small socks with crocs lately ;).

My girls
Sweet, sweet Taylor. I just want to eat her up...in a non-momma-eating-child-way ;)
My sassy princess. I feel she is following in her Momma's independent, bossy footsteps..... we have been very DILIGENT in our discipline lately in this house. Time out is a frequent happening. We try and mix it up with some fun as well :)

Harvest Time!

I had the pleasure on going on a Women's retreat this weekend in Emerald Isle, NC (about 45min away). I was able to take Taylor due to the whole nursing thing and we had a blast! Blair kept Bailey and they had fun as well. Blair told me they went out to eat in Wilmington, went to the USS North Carolina and pretended Nemo was in the water, and went to church this morning. This was the first time Blair had kept one of the girls overnight by himself and he did very well! I came home to a happy 2 year old all dressed up pretty for church with her hair done and everything :). The them for the retreat was Gal. 6:6-9

Latest Shananigans of Bales and Tales

It is so fun to finally see Bailey and Taylor interacting a bit. Taylor just loves to play with her big sis and wants to hold everything Bailey is playing with. Bailey tolerates it somewhat until she decides that it is "BAILEY's Toy" and says that phrase very loudly while yanking it away. Oh, how the fun begins.......

Here is Taylor being super cute playing in her exersaucer. She loves to hit the buttons and try and get all of the things into her mouth.
And...this is what I found while talking on the phone yesterday...Bailey had climbed into it and was enjoying playing with the toys as well!
Oh how I just love to snuggle with my Taylor. Her eyes are becoming more and more like Blair. (oh and she still looks like her daddy as well!)
Bailey showing off some of her birthday presents from Great Grandma- Sea Creatures (her favorites are the dolphin and turtles)
How I found Bailey yesterday morning- she had her feet through the slats resting where the mattress meets the frame. So funny! I can't believe she slept like this :).
PS- notice the purple dolphin at the bottom of the pic (the creatures even sleep with her!)

Date Night :)

We had an awesome date night with some of my favorite people when we were in Crestview.

The Panhandle Girls:
Lindsay (my sis in law), me, and Amber (adopted Cellon sista who lived with the Cellon's for awhile). We all grew up living within 30 minutes of each other, but didn't connect until UF.
Tony (Amber's husband), Blair, Jonathan (Blair's brother-can't you tell!)

we had a blast talking of birthing, breastfeeding and little ones (oh wait, that was my end of the table....( :)). It had literally been before Bailey was born since we went on a date with other "couples". It was long overdue- We are going to try and do this again if we are all in the panhandle at the same time again!

Crestview Fun.

Travis meeting Taylor
We had a blast in Crestview, here are some of the happenings:

My Brother, Travis and my Mom with the girls
My Dad (BaPa) and Bailey reading the Finding Nemo book Grandma got her for the 100th time.
us without the Bales-
Travis and Bailey reading Nemo....again ;)
Mom and Taylor laughing away :)
Bailey at the park...before.....
the water! What a wet girl- so much fun though!

Bailey's 2nd Haircut!

I took Bailey to get her hair cut at Hair World in Crestview. My whole family went there growing up and my parent's still go. Ms. Helen was gracious to cut Bailey's hair for free! I love coming home to my small town- it is amazing when everyone is connected somehow/someway. Thank you SO MUCH Helen for being patient with our Bailey.

Bailey bracing herself.
Now Bailey, you need to hold still! (For those Momma's out there: show your 2 yr old pics on your camera to keep them from moving- that is why there are no more pics to show of this experience :)).

Traveling cont. (almost a month ago!) oops.

Fun at the mall in Ft. Walton. Oh how I wish our mall back home had a play area!

My sleeping girls in the car

Taylor (notice the cute car seat cover made by Grammie)
Bales (with her blankey, lovey and paci). Lord help us if we don't have those three things......

Jace is a BIG BROTHER!

Our good friends, the Schneiders, have welcomed a baby girl into their family. Sydney Schneider was born around 6:30pm on Oct. 2 weighing 7lbs and 18.5in long. Mom and baby are doing well after only 3 hours of labor! We had the pleasure of keeping Jace at our house last night/this morning until Allison's Mom was able to fly into town. Jace and Bailey had a ball and both did really well! It is so cute to see them play and love each other.

Being silly and getting tired from chasing each other!
What? I'm a BIG BROTHER?
This morning, bright and early.
Sweet baby Sydney. 15 hours old. I got to hold her for 30minutes! Yea! She is so precious and small and snuggly.