Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Memorial Weekend Recap

While Dan and I were having our date night last week, apparently Miss E was having a good time at grandma's house. According to my mom, it was almost 10 and she was still awake. She laid her in bed with her and thought she'd turn on the television in the hopes that it would calm her down. She found Yo Gabba Gabba which she doesn't watch at home. Mom thought she was asleep until she stood up in bed and started dancing and clapping. That's my silly girl! Did I mention she slapped my mom in the face earlier in the night while she was pretending to sleep? Or that she cleaned the fireplace with her baby wipes? Gosh, I'm gonna have my hands full!

On Saturday when mom brought her home, we got out the pool for the first time this year. Ellie LOVED it! She splashed around and played with her duckie and turtles that squirt water.




Sunday after church we spent a little time outside in the front yard. We have a good amount of shade out front which makes it nice for a quick play date. Ellie loves to mimic what we are doing, so she started helping Dan pull weeds in our flower bed. 




Monday morning we went to the park. Before we left the house, I took Ellie out front so I could take her picture with her pigtails with matching bows I bought the day before. A neighbor was walking his dog and Ellie went crazy. She started walking down the sidewalk after him, pointing and saying, "Dog. Dog." She LOVES dogs. 

Surprisingly her bows stayed in on the way to the park. Probably because mommy played a trick on her and gave her something to play with in the car so she wouldn't rip them out.




This is one of my favorite pictures right now!

After the park, we came home and watched some Sesame Street. I love how she sits on the floor.


My sweet, silly girl.
Boy, was it hard on this mom to leave this precious face today. I love my three day weekends, but they just make the rest of the week even more hard when I have to be apart from this silly little girl.









Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Greatest Husband Ever? I Think So!

Last night was date night for Dan and I.



Mom kept the baby the toddler overnight so we could do dinner and a movie without worrying about staying out too late. Turns out, that wasn't necessary since we were both beat by 9 and home by 9:45! We passed on a movie, but had a great dinner at P.F. Changs. This is why he is such an incredible husband. You see, we last ate at P.F. Changs about 3-4 years ago. He hates it, I love it. He took one for the team so I could enjoy the ultimate meal: chicken lettuce wraps!



You have no idea how much I love these lettuce wraps. Tasty doesn't begin to describe them. If I wasn't married, I'd marry them. Well, I guess I'd have to just pick one since I don't live in Utah.

Anyway, I've also been craving pineapple and sugar snap peas. I didn't get my pineapple fix, but I thoroughly enjoyed these little gems.

Garlic sugar snap peas!

I'm getting better with chopsticks.

This guy's the chopsticks pro.

I stuffed my face and was reminded why I fell in love with this man almost 11 years ago. Not that I ever forget. But there's nothing that says love like lettuce wraps and chopsticks!






Thursday, May 26, 2011

Sweeter Than an After Dinner Mint

After dinner is quickly becoming my favorite part of the day. Look at these pictures and you'll know why. Ellie is so playful! She grabbed her new rugby ball from papaw and her dolly and we headed outside to play.


Look at that belly! Love it.

She's becoming quite the little momma. 

She loves her dolly.

Playing in the yard with a dandelion.

Her rugby ball from papaw. She had so much fun throwing it, laughing and doing it all over again.

Her hair is getting so long!

It's so much fun to watch her play and learn. She claps for herself when she does something right, like walk/crawl through the door frame. She gets excited when she sees birds fly overhead. And, she screams every time we must come back inside. Yep, after dinner is quickly becoming my favorite time of day...up until that point.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Here's Your Chance to Stalk Me Twice

I've decided to start another blog dedicated solely to my photography work. Please check out and follow me at http://lacymyersphotography.blogspot.com/.

I'm proud of my custom header; what do you think?


Also my "help me get started" rate of $30 expires June 30th. Contact me to schedule your session.

Thanks for all of your love and support!

Dinner with Lucy and Elvis

If you are a dedicated reader of my blog, you've probably read my post about Dan and I following the envelope system method of budgeting. Well, one of our envelopes is for "entertainment" and sadly these days all entertainment means in Casa de Myers is dining out. (This Friday is an exception to that rule, however; more details to come!)

Don't get me wrong; we love dining out. It's just kinda funny that going out to eat is our main source of entertainment. Anywho, back to the subject at hand.

Last week we went to Interurban--which is quickly becoming a favorite, especially on Thursday nights. I'm trying so hard to eat healthy, so I was proud of myself for getting the veggie platter with chicken, while I watched Dan shamelessly scarf down the ranch burger in front of me and chug a Sam Adams. Why did I marry such a thin man, I pondered silently while sipping my free, no-calorie water. Husbands are like handbags, ladies. The larger they are, the smaller you look. Or, at least that's always been my theory. Now you know why my purses are the size of a small child.

The veggies were actually very good and very plentiful, so I needed a take-home box. Getting up from the table, Dan grabs an ink pen and writes on my take-home box.


That brat! I immediately whip out my phone, take a picture and text it to Mel and Liz, my co-workers. You see, I was called Lucy several times in e-mails at work, and I despise the name. No offense to anyone named Lucy, it's just annoying that people can't "close the loop" and get my name correct. So, they jokingly say that if I'm called Lucy, I turn into Lucy-fer because it irks me so.

Fast-forward to this last week. I was NOT in the mood to cook. After all, I had cooked ONE meal the entire week and absolutely refused to be in the kitchen. Not really; it's just that one meal lasted us for three meals and I was just being lazy. There were storms moving in and it would have been terrible if we lost power while cooking. I think that sends radioactive chemicals into your food if the electricity even so much as blinks while you're preparing food. I think I read that somewhere, probably on the Internet.

Anyway, we ran down the street to a cute little 50s diner we've been wanting to try for a while. The sign out front said they now have Indian tacos, so I was sold...then I forgot to order an Indian taco. The food was really good. We both got burgers (I cheated) and Ellie had fun staring at all the other patrons. She's a very good people watcher. We actually had to turn her around so she could stare at one point. 


She waved at the waitress taking our order. She loved her scrambled egg. (Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that they serve breakfast all day. A restaurant after my own heart!) She ate some burger as long as it was dipped in ketchup. And she chowed down on a french fry.



She met Elvis and waved at him, too. Then she patted his arm.



She was a mess when we left! I told Dan she looked like a little redneck baby. She had on pants that were way too big (back-up pants from daycare), she was filthy from playing outside, she had food in her hair and her face was stained with ketchup and dirt. Nice!



What's going on Friday night, you ask? An official date night with dinner...and a movie! It's been at least a year since we've seen a movie. I think the last was Eat, Love and Pray...and I don't think I'd call that a movie. Blah! 

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Postcards and Play Time

Ellie got her first postcard in the mail this weekend.




It was from her papaw in New Zealand and had pictures of native birds. She said "hoot hoot" while she was looking at it.



Mommy got a postcard, too. It had sheep on the front. Ellie growled at the sheep. Yep, she's a silly little girl. 

This isn't mommy's first postcard from papaw. I still have the one he sent me from Mexico when I was probably two or three. It has monkeys riding greyhounds on the front. Then he told me that he hoped I was being a good little girl for my mommy. Now he's telling me to "take care of his baby." 

Have you seen her lately? I'm pretty sure she's being well taken care of! Look at that face.


Saturday was the perfect day to run errands and play outside. We all enjoyed some time in the front yard.


She's walking everywhere now and grabbing rocks, mulch, leaves...anything she can get her hands on.


Peaches was outside, too. 


Peaches and daddy started playing, and that got Ellie's attention. At first, it was funny.


Then, she started getting concerned.


She had to check out the action to see what was going on.


Peaches ran up as if to say, "It's okay."


She got some love from Peachy, so she had to walk up and give daddy a huge hug.


She's quickly becoming a daddy's girl. I have mixed feelings about this. But, I feel so blessed knowing that from postcards to play time, she's fully and completely loved by many.





Thursday, May 19, 2011

Hello? Hello?

My apologies to people in my phonebook, especially those who start with the letter "A". 


She called at least two of you the other day--that I know of.  

Isn't it funny that cell phones and keys are kids' favorite toys? I don't need any help losing them on my own!



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Yellow Dress

Several months ago, Ellie and I were pushing through the baby clothes at Target (pre "no spending" challenge, of course!) and she saw a yellow dress that she went nuts for. She started grabbing for it and kicking her legs in excitement. That's my girl, I instantly thought! 

It wasn't on sale, so I explained to my then 10 or 11 month-old that we'd return and purchase it once it went on sale...which we did. They're never too young to learn money management strategies and delayed gratification, you know.

We spent time outside Sunday--it was beautiful! As luck would have it, she was wearing her special, I-got-to-have-it dress, so I was able to snap a few pictures so we can document her taste in fashion throughout the years. I just hope for her sake that Hammer pants and oversized scrunchies don't come back in style.

Speaking of Hammer, someone in our neighborhood wrote "Hammer time" under  the word "stop" on the stop sign. I don't condone graffiti, but that's funny stuff right there.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. It's Ellie in her yellow dress--and jeggings!




And, finally, the picture that just makes me happy. I just love her little feet. I'm so excited about her walking, but I'm gonna miss seeing her crawl. She's the cutest crawler out there!







Saturday, May 14, 2011

Bad Habits

When we bought our first brand new car back in 2007, Dan made one rule and one rule only--no eating in the car. How long did that last? Um, about two months. I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking it out that long. Well, maybe it was more like one month. Anyway, it felt like an eternity to me. I practically live out of my car. It's never clean. There's always clutter. You'll always find shoes, CDs, receipts and coffee cups rolling around clanging together as I turn corners in LaFonda the Honda. She was named post-Napolean Dynomite, just in case you were wondering.

Over the years, Dan has just learned to deal with my messy car. If it gets too bad, he'll sigh loudly as he gets in or dramatically pick up a few pieces of trash and that's usually my cue that it's time to clean her out.

So, imagine his dismay when he comes home this week and finds this.


Gasp! It's Ellie eating Cheez-Its in her car!

Dan, "What in the world! What's going on in here?"

Me, "I'm letting her eat in her car."

Dan, "You're teaching her bad habits!"

Ellie, "Nom, nom, nom...Cheez-Its!"


Me, "Well, she loves her car and she was having so much fun, but she's hungry." I quickly try to find ways to justify my behavior.


Ellie continues to nibble--and drop crumbs all over the interior.

I'm teaching her car-related bad habits? Whatever, Dad! Just wait until she can repeat "Move out of the way, you troll" or "Get your turd-mobile turned" and then we'll be even.

Until then, happy driving--and eating--Ellie!