Our little ham!

ODG has always loved being in front of the camera. When she was 9 months old, we were at a family wedding and girlfriend was CHEESIN' IT UP for the photographer. If the photographer's camera wasn't pointed at her during the reception, she would do something to get her attention or to let us know she wanted to move closer. She was fascinated! Fast forward 2 years and not much has changed!

At Disney World last November, after waiting for a parade on Main Street and watching the Disney Photographer snap people's photos for about an hour, she decided it was her time in the spot light just moments before the parade began. She hopped into the middle of the street (by herself) and told the fun photographer, "I want you to take my picture, please!" Let's just say about 100 pairs of eyes were all on her and she was taking it all in!

Again, not much has changed!

ODG loves to have her picture taken - I think that's fairly evident - but we don't do it often enough with "Daddy's camera" (the nice Nikon). It was a beautiful night last night, so we decided to get all dolled up and head to a cute little area down the street from us and take some snapshots of our little budding model. I'm so glad we did, because we had SO MUCH FUN make goofy poses (she didn't know they were poses, she just thought we were playing & being silly) and enjoying the night! Here are a few of my favorites from the night! 

If anyone knows of a good talent agent, we're in the market! ;-) 

Thanks for letting me share our little ham with you! I just wish you could all get to know her personally. She is SO incredibly creative, super smart (witty), and keeps everyone who spends time with her laughing...or plugging their ears from hearing her talk so much :-) 

Foster Care Update: Our licensor asked to postpone our first home study until we get back from SCENTSY FAMILY REUNION (AHHHH! Excitement in & of itself!!), so I'm a bit bummed, but we won't be having our home study until after July 13! Would love some prayers for patience for that :-)

It came...

I knew it would come, I just didn't know it would come like this or when it would come.

I first want to preface this post. I am not whining. I am not complaining. I'm not even wishing we hadn't done this. I'm not looking for pitty. I'm not looking for "I told you so's." I'm just sharing my mind. Getting it off my chest, so to speak. Those who have moved away from "home" before know this feeling...and knowing I'm not alone, nor the first person to move away from "home", helps me. But so does venting :)

Today it hit me that I miss home. That's part of the problem...I think. When I'm talking to people I say "back home" often. If the saying "home is where the heart is" is true, then I've obviously left my heart in Texas. The problem? It's really not in Texas, it's physically in Washington. I am LOVING it here. I am loving the people I have met, the parks we have visited, my new favorite coffee shop. Seriously, I love it.

But what happened today made me miss my friends & neighbors who were our extended family, I miss CCDC friends who were also more like family than I could've ever imagined. I miss being able to have some one to talk to and now have to worry about the time difference.

I feel like I have been on such a rush moving here. Meeting new people, enjoying our new town, making a new home. Each & every moment has been a blessing. But, today, when things got real, I missed Texas. I'm making a commitment to not call it home anymore...starting now. Washington is home. The place where I make meals, play games with ODG, enjoy movies with Hubby at night...that is home now.

Vent over. I am home now. But I am still, and always will be, a Texas girl, because...."You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can't take the Texas outta the girl" ;-)

Family movie night snuggles with ODG

Who knows what movie we watched?

A Day in the LIfe of a 2 1/2 year old

I have several friends who write blogs who have written "A Day in the Life" posts, but I don't think I've done one since ODG (Our Darling Girl, if you're new to the blog) was an infant...and honestly, I can't even remember if I really did it or if I just thought about it!

Since we are beginning to feel settled in our new town, I thought I'd share a little about our day. Some days are more exciting than others, but today was just an average day, and I like average!

~9:00am {we slept in WAY late this morning} I got up to get dressed to go on a walk outside on this gorgeous, sunny day!

~9:30am ODG finally wakes up, we do our morning routine (play in the crib for a few minutes, diaper change, get dressed)

~10:00am ODG ate 2 scrambled eggs, 1 bite of beef bacon, and 1 whole gluten free blueberry waffle. I ate 2 scrambled eggs with a little bit of cheddar cheese and 2 strips of beef bacon. We both took our vitamins :)

Yes, she does have 3 choices of drink in the morning (juice a friend gave her that we've hung onto for 3 days, coconut milk, and water in her princess cup)

~11:00am After breakfast, ODG requested a dance party. We had a blast! I love dance parties with my sweet toddler!

~11:15am We headed out the door to go to the park...only to realize Daddy had forgotten to finish putting the carseat back together {it had been washed} last night. So while we got that taken care of, ODG talked to "Thump, the Cat" {our neighbor's cat who takes care of the mice} and played on our playground!

"Thump, the Cat" as ODG calls him

Playing on our playground outside our front door

~11:45am We finally finished fixing the carseat issue and decided we better grab lunch before heading to the park!

~12:45pm On to the park! 

Ready to go for a short walk before playing on the playground. She is happy to have her new snack tray attachment for her stroller!

This is the view at the park we went to. It's a lake named after our county, which I assume was named after an Native American tribe...I should probably research that :)

~2:30pm We made it home from the park and it's time for nap time...I decided to catch some Zzzz's while ODG napped, too, after I did a little cleaning up down stairs!

~4:45pm We woke up from naptime and are ready to enjoy the gorgeous day when Daddy gets home from work. He just got a new bike so he was riding home from work for the first time. Our community is very bicycle friendly and we're excited for this opportunity to save money on gas & car insurance! 

~5:30pm I had planned on making Spaghetti Squash & Rotisserie Chicken, but since it was so gorgeous outside we just wanted to get to another park ASAP, so we stopped at a local bakery/sandwich shop for dinner. ODG got a turkey & cheese sandwich, which she devoured, and I got a grilled veggie sandwich with pesto-goat cheese spread...YUM! 

ODG telling Daddy about her cheese. Hubby wasn't hungry, so naturally he got a cinnamon roll for dinner ;)

Towards the end of dinner, ODG decided it was time for another dance party, so she began singing and dancing to one of her favorite CCDC chapel songs, Stand on the Rock!

~6:45pm We headed to our FAVORITE park! It is right on the bay, has a great walking trail/boardwalk, and beach area...as well as the best coffee shop in the area! Hubby got some coffee to stay warm and ODG & I headed to the beach for some "sand castle building" with a gorgeous sunset backdrop!

Her hair was all over the place because I forgot her bow ;)

~8:00pm We headed home and Hubby bathed ODG so I could type up this post. Before she headed upstairs I asked about her day...I typically like to ask what her favorite part of the day is and LOVE hearing the things she remembers :)

~9:00pm Now she is all clean and ready for bed in her Minnie Mouse robe and night gown. On sunny days & bath days we tend to stay up later. Her normal bedtime is 8-8:30pm :) 

She was saying cheese with a mouth full of oranges (her bedtime snack)

P.S. Before we go upstairs, ODG decided she should sing "Herman the Warm"....thanks for that one, Ms. Mindy...she hasn't quite got all the words down ;) 

If you have done a "Day In the Life" post, share the link! I'd love to read what your life looks like!

ODG *hearts* ELF

When Hubby accepted the job up here in the Pacific Northwest, we knew only 2 other people/families in the entire state....one on the far opposite side of the state that I haven't seen since I was 16 years old (maybe even younger?) but have kept in contact thanks to Facebook, and one who lived about an hour away. Even just knowing that two people I loved lived on the same side of the country was comforting, so when my sweet friend who lives on an island about an hour away showed interest in regularly getting together, I was THRILLED! We really do love the "F" family {I haven't really asked approval if I could mention them on the blog, so I'll keep them all anonymous for now :)} and are so grateful for their love & friendship and help getting us up here!

Did I mention how much ODG (Our Darling Girl) loves their little ELF?? Well...here are just a few pictures from the past few weeks...you decide for yourself...

ELF eating dinner while ODG holds him....because what 14 month old doesn't want to be held by a 2 1/2 year old while eating??

Oh, ya know, just watching "Boom Boom" in ODG language, or Veggietales to the rest of us

ODG holding ELF on the plasma car like daddy holds her :)

I'm pretty sure this was just a random moment where ODG "attacked" ELF with a giant hug and we naturally pulled out the phone to take pictures!

I'm absolutely certain there will be many more ODG < 3 ELF moments, so y'all be sure to stick around!

The Ides of March

Ok, I'll be completely honest. I remember learning about The Ides of March back in high school and I can't remember a single silly thing about it other than it's March 15...or I think it is at least!

Needless to say, we celebrated the day with attending the our town's St. Patrick's Day Parade! This is apparently the best parade in the area, so I was determined to go, rain or shine!

I'm so glad we went...right as we got out of the car to start walking to our spot, it started blowing cold rain on us, but we pushed through! Found a nice little spot under an awning & got comfortable. We were right in front of a new floral shop so it smelled LOVELY!

Thankfully, moments before the parade, the rain subsided and the sun poked through just a little bit! While we were waiting, a mother & daughter dressed up in green & gold from head to tow were passing out gold chocolate coins to bystanders. I know we're not supposed to take candy from strangers, but it was a parade, people! The mom asked if she could give it to ODG (our darling girl), which I thought was really respectful, and I of course said yes. ODG was SO THRILLED with her gold coin! She ate it later on as the parade was passing by.

Unfortunately, that's about all the pictures I got of the parade. I was taking Instagram video {follow me at 512smellme}, but Hubby was too busy enjoying the parade himself to snap any pictures on his phone, and of course we didn't have the real camera :) ODG's favorite part was waving to the numerous fire engines in the parade - every town within a 20 mile radius of ours had their fire station represented. ODG had a cute little "beauty queen" wave going on...I wish I could've snapped a picture, but I was holding her and couldn't get a good angle. It was precious & completely uncoached, I promise! 

After the parade, we bought a new stroller **YAY Christmas gifts!!** that I absolutely cannot wait to take on the trails around here, and went shopping for Hubby a new bike so we can save money on gas & car maintenance by him riding his bike to work {very common around here}. Both of these shopping trips were spurred on by the gorgeous weather we experienced last week...I'm told this is what it's like (plus about 10-15 degrees) come April-September -- I.CAN'T.WAIT!

The day the Lady Bears won the Big XII Championship! Sic 'em!!

Enjoying the sunny day at a beach!

Sunset that night - our view from our table at dinner {this picture was actually taken behind a window!}

The next day our view from a different park! 

 Now that Hubby has started work we are settling into a normal routine! Until next time...