Sticky Fingers and a Nosey Tendency

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it...Prov. 22:6

Oh gosh, they start so young is all I can say about this child of mine. Since Presley was little she has been very nosey and into everything. She loves to sit back, watch, and observe...until she sees something she wants. She doesn't quite understand that not everything she sees is hers. She hasn't quite grasped what sharing is either, but she also doesn't understand the meaning of mine. She will willingly give up anything that she has in her hands, but only to turn around and find something else in another child's arms.

A couple of days ago, we all went for a walk after Joey got home from work. While we were walking, some of the neighborhood kids rode by on their bikes.Presley immediately stopped in her tracks and stared for quite some time. As the kids rode their bikes around, showing off of course, Presley walked to the edge of the sidewalk and started yelling at them in a sweet language of her own. One of the little girls rode her bike over to say hi. Presley walked up to this girl's bike and started checkin it over. It did not take long for her to find something that caught her eye. This little girl had a little stuffed animal inside a basket that she hooked on her bike...Presley was all about it! She immediately grabbed for it! I think it stunned the little girl on the bike because she did not seem to take to kindly to Presley taking her stuffed animal. Joey told Presley it wasn't hers and made her give it back. She was quite upset about the whole ordeal and we ended up carrying a screaming child the rest of the way home...ugggg.

Anyhoo, several months ago I went into Target to grab some groceries. As I was shopping I took a look at some of the baby clothes and shoes. At the time, Presley was about 10 months old and into the habit of grabbing for everything in sight. I had no idea that she had grabbed a pair of socks off a rack while we were shopping. Once I got out of the store and to the car I realized that she had a pair of socks stuffed under her little leg. They were 4.99 so I decided to go back in and tell the cashier what had happened.
A few weeks after that, we were in Wal-Mart and Presley grabbed some candy off the shelf while we were standing in line at the check-out stand. I was busy unloading our basket and wasn't paying attention to anything she was doing. I realized once we got outside that she had candy in her lap that I did not pay for. I debated whether or not to go back inside for 60 cents, but since it was raining and I didn't have any cash on me I opted against it...Sara took 2 baby pools instead of 1 at Wal-Mart because "the top one was too flimsy" so don't judge me! lol. j/k Sara! ;-)

So, after several months of being "sticky finger free" I thought we had passed the stage of grabbing for things. UNTIL...we went to the Arboretum on Sunday and I realized that I have a much bigger problem on my hands now...

Need a closer look?

No? Well, Presley obviously did...

I was in the corner talking to Joey when I suddenly realized that little miss presley girl was running around free as a bird! Her little nose got her into trouble! I was so embarrassed when I saw Presley looking into this woman's HUMUNGO Coach purse! Obviously, Joey wasn't too concerned because he had time to take a quick picture while I was RUNNING over to her. I got there just as she put her hand INTO this woman's purse! I felt like the mom on the news that TRAINS her child to steal things! Luckily, the woman never even noticed, but her husband got a kick out of it. Good-NESS!!

Fall at the Dallas Arboretum

Who doesn't love this weather? Yesterday, we headed to the Dallas Arboretum so we could spend some time outside in this beautiful fall weather! We have never been to the Dallas arboretum before and I just can't for the life of me figure out why! It was beautiful!!! The grounds are fabulous, the flowers are beautiful, and there were pumpkins everywhere. I have no idea where they got all of their pumpkins from, but there were a ton! Everywhere you looked you'd see pumpkins of different sizes, colors, and shapes. Right now, they have an exhibit called The Storybook Pumpkin Village. Presley was a little overwhelmed by everything, but she had a great time running from one pumpkin patch to the other, and from one pumpkin house to the other. We took way too many pictures and I would love to post them all...however, I don't have the time ;-) AND I think you just need to go yourself ;-)

3 blind mice -1 :-)

Just a few of the many pumpkins! That's a lot of orange!

Giant pumpkin house that Presley loved running in and out of

another pumpkin house

Presley met a new friend in one of the pumpkin houses

Too big...

what's wrong with this pumpkin mom?

Just my size! ;-)

hmmm...This one looks better and I can hold it in one hand ;-)

Just a few more pictures of the grounds...

a tiny cottage

down the beaten path ;-) This is her newest walk...she gets her arm goin and struts on

one can only dream...

beautiful lilly gardens

goin for the water...of course ;-)

my sweet girl ;-)

Scrapping, Scrapbooks, and More

It's hard work carrying around these cheeks of mine ;-)

In January, I am attending a scrapbooking retreat with Sara and her friends which I am very excited about...not to mention, it will be great for Joey to have little Miss Presley girl all by himself for a weekend. He has already stated that he will be over at Brian's house the whole time. lol. He does really well with Presley (proof is in the picture above! Yes, he picked out her little outfit and dressed her in it...makes a mama proud) so I am not sure why he is so nervous about spending the weekend alone with her.

This past month I have gone a little nuts over buying scrapbooks. I keep getting coupons from Shutterfly that prove to be "great deals" ;-) I am pretty sure that they keep track of my stuff through some kind of spyware. ;-) lol. I created a summer scrapbook for Presley and just had it printed off in an 8x8 size book. I really like the 8x8 size better than the 12x12. However, the journaling proves to be a bit small. I have been looking for a website that prints 10x10 sized books, but have yet to stumble upon one. So, 8x11 will probably be the winner...even though creating letter sized pages is a bit challenging for me. We will see what happens. I just started the scrapbook about my mom and know that it will prove to be a time consuming task...and probably somewhat of an emotional one as well.

Anyhoo, next week I am going to San Antonio for the week and will be spending some time with my Grandma Cose. My grandma is such a joy to be around. She is just like my mom so my sisters and I love being around her! Joey has been working crazy hours and so he will take a few days off and fly in on Thursday night. We plan on taking Presley to Sea World on Friday. Presley learned the word "fish" last week when we were at the Dallas Aquarium so I am sure she will love being at Sea World. Saturday, we will head to Kiddy Park. My mom used to take me and my sisters to this park when we were little. It closed down for a few years and then re-opened under new management. Some friends of some friends own it now so it is supposed to be quite the little place. It still has a lot of the original rides that were there when I was little. On Sunday, we will head to Enchanted Rock and spend the night in Fredericksburg. This will be our first "family vacation" so I can't wait!

The Dallas Aquarium

Presley and Reid checkin out the River Otters together...they were huge!

Presley loved everything about this place. She would get so excited when she saw all of the animals. She has her daddy's love for animals ;-)

Lovin those turtles...stinky ;-/

hey mom, I have those all over my room ;-)

I am sure she was wishing she could be in the water with that little penguin

I always wondered where she picked up that open mouth facial expression from...hmmmm????

We got to the shark tank just in time to watch them feed!!

Just last week Presley picked up on the word cat. She was very excited to see such a big cat sleeping right in front of her eyes! She wanted to pet him so bad.

Our Days

Our days are spent outside mostly. I love the weather we have been having...even though it is still a little hot and muggy, anything is better than the 100+ temperatures we had in August for 30 consecutive days. The mornings are bearable and they provide for some much needed time outside. Presley loves to draw. Just recently, I introduced her to toddler crayons, finger paint, and sidewalk chalk. She will often lay down on her giant pad of paper I got her and just color away. She always seems so grown up when she does this. She loves to read and almost always has a book (or two) in her hands. Within the past 2 weeks Presley has learned to climb up on things...all of you with boys are laughing at me right now. She will climb UP on everything she can, but she is still unable to figure out how to get down so she just sits/stands there until I help her. The first thing Presley does once she gets outside is go in search of her favorite rock...from that point on, it goes with her wherever she goes....

She always puts things down her shirt...she learned this from her daddy who thought it was great fun to tease his daughter. He did this to Reid all.of.the.time when we were in Colorado last year. It provided for hours of entertainment...for both of them!

Having an intense conversation with her rock.

So grown up with all those teeth...missin those toothless smiles I used to get!

Update on Little Miss Presley Girl

Presley is very inquisitive. She gets into everything! She has been talking up a storm lately and loves to get on the phone. Yesterday, she got on my iPhone and called my Grandma Cose...not on purpose, but she left a lengthy message. Her newest word is hi. It used to be hewwo, but she has since moved to just hi. Whenever she looks at herself in the mirror she says hi. Last night, Presley was eating her dinner when Joey got home from work. He went up to her and peaked his head over hers and she said hiya. At the grocery store today, the lady at the check out stand said, "well aren't you a sweetie pie" and out of nowhere Presley replied "thank gu." She is becoming more and more of a little person everyday and she just melts my heart.

She continues to eat well, nap well, and sleep well. She is teething and has another molar coming in. She now has a total of 10 teeth and she looks so grown up when she smiles. I was so excited to finally get into our new "fall routine" this past week. She is loving kindermusik, I really enjoy my Wednesday morning MOPS group, and my Thursday morning Beth Moore Bible Study group. All of the moms are very sweet and very involved. Presley did pretty good in her MOPPETS class and I was surprised that I did not get a call to come "pick up my screaming child." ;-) I am just keeping my fingers crossed that her separation anxiety will just mysteriously disappear once she reaches the 18 month mark...as everyone has told me it should. She is still doing great with room time, blanket time, and play pen time which is also providing me with some much needed "down time"...or should I say "cleaning time."

Presley loves Goose. When she wakes up in the morning, he follows me into her room and she always looks over my shoulder to say "goosey, goosey, goo." As we prepare for our walks in the morning, Presley makes sure that Goosey Goo goes with us. The whole time we are walking she will look over the side of her stroller to make sure Goose is walking beside her. Yesterday, it was pretty muggy outside and Goose started panting right away. Presley thought it was hilarious for some reason and started laughing. She then started to mimic him. She actually mimics him a lot.

She carries around stuffed animals in her mouth, she follows him under the table and goes under the chairs when he does. AND last week, he was drinking the water out of her tiny pool and she followed in doing the same thing.

It's actually a little concerning to me. Have you ever seen that movie from the 60's about the Great Dane who thinks he's a dachshund?? *sigh*

Oh, The Drama!

So, yesterday Texas had some crazy weather...surprise, surprise. Anyhoo, after a few days of rain and an afternoon of flooding things began to slow down and clear up. However, by the late afternoon things began to pick up again and crazy weather started appearing out of nowhere! Of course, the local news and meterologists were having a field day with this! They were capturing everything on film...there were several tornadoes that touched down in the area and I am pretty sure that every single one was captured on film by the local news.
Now, we all know that the local news can over-exaggerate the tiniest thing. For instance, the last time we had a bad rainstorm they broke into regular television programming to show us what was going on outside and to explain what the local radar was showing. After a few hours, the storms passed and the rain lifted. However, the news continued with the coverage. I was quite annoyed, but even more annoyed when I heard these words come out of the mouth of one of the newsmen "if you look to the right of your screen you will see one of our downtown cameras. You can actually see that the rain is falling and reaching the ground!" Keep in mind, that he says this with the most alarming voice and puzzled look on his face...as if he has never seen rain reach the ground.??? I actually pressed the record button just so Joey could hear these words when he got home from work.
So...after this little episode last Spring, I decided that 80% of what the news relays to the public should be taken lightly and with little to no concern. However, yesterday was a little different because they actually had live coverage of these little tornadoes that kept touching down, lifting up, and then retouching again. Of course, I am a sucker for a great storm...especially when there are tornadoes involved. ;-) I get it from my dad! Anyhow, by 6:00 I was getting a little bored of all the coverage and began making dinner. Then, I heard of another tornado touching down just south of downtown Dallas. It had been on the ground for several minutes and was moving at 30 mph. I started thinking about Joey, but figured he was already on his way home. About five minutes later, the news said that the tornado had now been on the ground for over 5 minutes and it just jumped Trinity River and was heading towards Mockingbird Ln. About that time, Joey called. Insert photo here....

This would be the lovely view from Joey's office...notice that the brighter employees have already left work and this would be my reasoning for the empty car lot. Moments later the sirens went off and all of the employees were asked to head to the basement! So as everyone is rushing down and taking cover, Joey is on the phone with me (sirens blaring in the background) walking out the front doors of his office building. I, in the mean time, am telling him that the tornado has already been on the ground for several minutes and is heading towards Mockingbird Ln (1.5miles from his work). To which he responds, "oh, good....that's ok, I can outrun it." Seriously??? Who says that......well, besides me??? :-) Now granted, it was a small tornado and Joey was driving in the opposite direction of it, but still.... There's no doubt in my mind that he still would have left and tried to outrun it even if it is was staring him dead in the face. I know this because last year we had a little episode where my sister, Elizabeth, called us telling me that there was a tornado on the ground a few miles from our house. As I was talking to her on the phone, a huge wind came and all I see is our tree in the front yard toppling over. Of course, I grab for Presley (she was 2 months) and run into the bathroom with the dogs while my husband runs outside to "see what it is." Such a man and this is what I live with.
And you wonder where my child gets her dramatic attitude from....*sigh*

Captured Moments of Sweetness

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. -Psalm 5:3

The sound of laughter is a thing of beauty for laughter spreads the very gift of joy...-Francis Duggan

A friend loveth at all times...Proverbs 17:17

Painting with Pig Tails

First off, my child's hair grows like a weed and it's always in her face! Today, I was able to put it up in pig tails for the first time. ;-) She was not amused! Anyhow, have I told you lately that I miss teaching?? I know, y'all are going to stop reading my blog if I don't stop talking about teaching. ;-( I just love staying at home with Presley, but I must admit that every school year that goes by makes me miss it that much more. ;-( I do not miss the paper work, assessments, or all of the politics behind it, but I sure do miss the setting up of the classroom, the lesson planning, the kids, and the actual "teaching." I got up in the attic a week ago because I was looking for a clipboard to give my little sister...we were getting together for a play date/craft date. ;-) I came across all of my classroom boxes and started going through all of them. I found several fun activities for Presley that were adaptable to her age and then I found some stuff for Mr. Reid to begin using. While going through my early childhood box I ran into my box of finger paint ;-) Here's what came of that little run in....I tend to ignore age suggestions :-)

No comments about the pig tails please...I've heard enough about it from my husband

"uh mom, I don't see anything on here that says this stuff is washable"