Sister Weekend!

So, Lyla is 25 months old, (yep, I'm going to keep track of the months like she's an infant), and it has been at least that long since I had any time to hang out with my sister without the Lulu baby.  We decided to meet up in Henrietta and stay with my parents so that she could have some aunt action with Lyles on Friday when everyone was at work/school, and then we could leave Lyles for the morning on Saturday to do what we do best: thrifty shopping! 
It was so much fun, and  it was the first time all 3 of us Browning kids had been home without spouses in a reallllly long time.  We all had so much fun, and we found lots of great deals when shopping!  I found a vintage suit case, magazine holder, clothes for myself, dress up clothes for Lyles, a few little toys and books, and a couple of small chairs! Here are a few peaks into our weekend!

Picnic Mini Session

So, we have had another busy weekend!  On Thursday, our family had a mini session with a local photographer, Allison Wheeler, of Poetry and Prose Photography. I won the mini session back in December, and we just got in touch with her when the weather got nicer to do something fun outside!  We settled on a picnic. Unfortunately, my baby refused to smile for a solid half hour.  Here are the sneak peaks I've gotten so far from Allison!  I am so in love with them, and I can't wait to see the rest!

In hopes of getting some smiles after the photographer left, I took a few daddy/daughter pictures myself.  They are not as awesome as the pictures above, but I did get some smiles and sweetness! 

My Little Fashionista

Lyla and I had a full day today!  We had a lovely lunch with the other deacons of my church, (Lyla's an unofficial Jr. Deacon, so...she had a lot to contribute).  She wore a St Patrick's day top with a frog on it, much to her delight...you should see this girl hop & ribbit!  Here are a couple of pictures of the little lady waiting on lunch...

After our lunch, we decided to go shopping!  I always let Lyles pick out an outfit/pajamas right away to hold to keep her occupied while I look at other clothes for her.  She REALLY loves clothes, and she kind of always has.  This is a girl who, at 22 months old, unwrapped a dress at Christmas, gasped excitedly, and held it up to her body as if checking the fit (without any prompting).  Anyway, today at the store, she immediately found some Minnie Mouse pajamas, held onto them tightly and followed me around happily.  As I was browsing, I happened across a Foofa and Toodee t-shirt (Gabba stuff is HARD to find, y'all!), and I knew she would love it.  I wish I had had a camera going to record her reaction!  I held it up and told her to look.  She dropped her Minnie jammies like they were on fire, gasped and said "I need dat!  I buy it Mamma?  I wear it!"....*HUGE SMILES*...She then proceeded to try to take off the frog shirt she had been so excited about just a few hours before right there in the store.  Apparently, she hasn't grasped modesty yet, or she was simply too excited to care!

Here are a few pictures of her showing off the new top & shorts (which, if you're curious, we waited to put on in the privacy of our own home). 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day!

So, this morning I had planned to take Lyla to the St. Patrick's Day parade,  but the weather is less than ideal, plus I had a really terrible nightmare about it last night, but we won't get into that...  Anyway, I was hoping to do something fun in place of our outing, so I took to pinterest for some toddler approved St. Patrick's Day crafts!  I loved the bell pepper/shamrock stamp idea because we all ready had everything we needed, and my peppers were past their prime anyway!  Lyles loved wearing her smock and making pepper paintings!  I give it two thumbs up! :)

"Have a Lucky Day!  <3Lyla"

Big Night Out

Well...at about 3:00 in the afternoon on Tuesday, Gram, Cal, and Lyla loaded up and hit the road.  I only cried for as long as it took to fill up my bubble bath. She was very happy to go!  I waited over an hour before texting for an update.  She was asleep (in the car!!...never happens for me!), and doing great.   She slept the entire way there and then had a wonderful evening.   

Meanwhile, Dustyboy and I got ready to go and headed to Cheddars!  We had planned to go to a different restaurant that I've had a gift card for for a few months, but I accidentally left my wallet (and said gift card) in Lyla's backpack, which was then on its way to Texas.  So...we went to Cheddars.  It's closer and their onion rings were callin' my name!. :)  I had a ton of yummy food and a delicious painkiller.  

After that, and a brief text check-in...we headed downtown to the Thunder game.   Our seats were a littttle bit high up, but here's one picture with a little bit of zoom! ;) It was taken right after the Thunder won! 

Here's Lyles enjoying a new swing at Gram's house!

Lyla did wonderfully during the day, but the night time report was less than exemplary...  She didn't crash until 1, and even then, woke up twice for extended periods of time saying, "I need my mun.." sleeping about 3 hours total. Gram did a great job of sticking with her and when the sun came up, she was a happy camper again.  I decided to head that way to spare all 3 of us from another restless night, and we had a wonderful stay.We got the first night away out of the way, and I have tons of new night weaning tricks up my sleeve!  Everyone survived, Lyles can't wait to go back, and I got to have some much needed quality time with my husband. <3  

Lyla's First Sleepover

SO.....it's no secret that I am a bit of a helicopter parent.  I hover.  I worry.  I keep Lyla in my sight. All the time. It's a constant struggle for me to let Lyla explore things on her own, try things without help, and spend time and space away from me.  She gets a little bit of this time every week at church when she stays with Suzie, the best nursery attendant in the world, and a few little friends, and then again when I teach classes every week.  Other than that, I can count the times I've spent more than an hour away from her without using my toes. 
Today is a huge milestone.  My mom and little brother are coming to OKC to take a tour of the college Caleb plans to attend, and when they go back to Texas this afternoon, they'll be taking Lyles with them.  And not me.  Just Lyles.  Not. Me. 
I'd been planning to have her go away for a night or two during my family's spring break for quite some time.  I knew I would be in the process of night weaning her, and I have had friends advise me that the best way to do that is to take yourself completely out of the picture.  Lyla has always co-slept with us and nursed at her leisure throughout the night.  It has tons of benefits, but obviously, I'm excited to sleep without interruption.  
That's really the only thing I have major anxiety about.  I hope she and my mom both get some rest and that nobody gets hysterical.  
The good news is, Lyla is so excited.  She seems to understand what's coming and has absolutely no reservations.  She has been chanting, "I go to Grams! Mama stay here!"...which is, of course, not at all offensive to me (Right...). I know she will be in great hands and that Gram, Papa, Cal, and Ella (the dog!) will all do whatever they can to keep her happy.   I am excited for her and for them.  How long Lyla stays there without me will depend how it goes at night (and, honestly, how long I can handle it), so I'll either go to Texas on Wednesday or Thursday and we will stay there together until Friday.  
So, what am I going to do with myself, you may ask?  Well, first things first!  Bubble bath.  As long as I want.  This evening, Dustyboy and I are going to eat at a nice restaurant and then going to a Thunder game!  I have never been to a NBA game before, so we're excited for that!   It was kind of a last minute decision yesterday to buy the tickets, and we are both really happy to have the chance to go and to have some quality time together.  Tomorrow morning, I'm planning to go thrifting!  I have a hundred and two pinterest projects to do, and I need to find some good deals to get them going!  
I know this is going to be great for all 3 of us, and I know everyone will be just fine!  Here's to growth! 

(and here's a new video of the sweetest toddler in the world, and pictures from the park yesterday!)

Princess Song

We took Lyla to see Frozen at the movies about two months ago.  It is the only time she's been to the movies and we went just to try our luck one Thursday morning at a theater with like three cars in the parking lot.  There were only a couple of other families in the theater, so it was very low stress!  Lyles walked up and down our row (we were the only ones in it) quietly a few times, but she was mostly in awe of the "big TV" and watched the entire movie happily!  Since then, any time she sees a picture of Frozen or hears the music, she says "Princess movie!" or "Princess Song!"  She has been loving the soundtrack in the car (and so have I)! So the other day, when she asked to listen to the Princess song, I typed it in on youtube and happened upon this video....

I HAVE to share this video.  It's so amazing.  This girl is 11 and she is singing Disney's Frozen song, "Let it Go" like a pro! 

And, just for fun...here's a Daddy/Lyla dance party.  <3

Rock 'n' Roll!

Today was an exceptional day!  Dustin had NOTHING to do until his class tonight. First thing's first!  Dustin was kind enough to color my hair for me!  It was suuuuper uneven before, so I got the color closest to my roots.  It looks waay  healthier (also, can I just take a second to talk about my new lace blazer...$7. Target.  <3 it.)  

For the rest of the day, we decided to go see the new exhibit at the Science Museum!  It's called "The Science of Rock & Roll".  It just opened this week, and it looked really fun!  When we got there, we got a "backstage pass" to use to get our recordings emailed to us!  The exhibit had several different stations where we were able to try out different instruments.  There was even a recording studio where we got to sing! (Here is a link to hear me and Lyles rocking out!..The mic was a little bit faulty!) Lyles particularly liked the drum sets!

(Here is a link to the video she made!)

We even got to dance while Dustin played!  (bonus picture outside of the museum)

(Here, you can see us jamming to Dustin's guitar skills!)

After we hit the museum, we were planning to go home, but the weather was super nice and the zoo had like 3 cars in the parking lot, so we decided to go to the zoo (right next door).  It turned out to be the perfect time to go to see the monkeys!  They were super active and close to the windows, and there was absolutely no crowd!

It was such a fun day, and it set us up for a great nap time!  Here's one more video of Lyles dancing.  The girl has some sweet moves. :)

First Pigtails!

So...it's no secret that we have embraced big bows and headbands for the last 2 years in anticipation of visible hair! It turns out her slow growing tresses may have been a blessing because she does not appreciate me even brushing her hair now that it has appeared, (though I expect if it had been something I had been doing since birth, or at least sooner than toddlerhood, she would be used to it).  Yesterday, though, I decided while she was napping to see if pigtails were in our near future!  

TADAAAAA!!

I was so so excited for her to wake up so that I could take a picture!  But guess who can take pigtails out of her hair (elastics  & all!)  IN HER SLEEP!  

This girl^^^

So maybe they won't be making a lasting appearance for a while, but I was excited to celebrate another "first" of my baby growing into a little lady.  <3

Late Night Great Night

There are a lot of reasons I love my family. Several of those reasons were super apparent last night while we were all hanging out in Lyla's room after a pretty long day...
"What goes on in the Walker house when the lights are on past 10 pm?", you may ask.  Well last night, this is what I walked in on:

What reasons did I think of in response to these sweet moments?  Well, obviously, they are both SUPER talented.  Even more than that, though, I loved watching them cheer each other on  and love each other.  Of course Lyla loves it when we clap for her, but it's so fun to see her encouraging her Dad and me on a daily basis.  Almost every day she tells us she loves us without being prompted, and she compliments us freely.  If she or I make a mistake, she says "Keep trying!"...sometimes even adds a cheery, "Never give up!"    I love how kind she is, and I love how she doesn't let mistakes slow her down.  I hope she never loses her sweetness or her stick-to-itiveness.  I may be biased, but I think she is something pretty special, and I have loved watching her grow from adorable baby blob into the walking talking little lady she has become.  She's got her terrible two moments of course (see tooth brushing post), but they are far out-numbered by the terrific ones, and they leave me feeling like a pretty lucky mom.

Spring Has (almost) Sprung!

So it's almost March and the wind chill was in the single digits when I headed out, alone, this morning to stroll through Target for some husband sponsored "me time"!  Don't get me wrong, I love shopping with a toddler who hates shopping carts on my hip as much as anyone could, but it's so nice to only have to carry a perfectly warm caramel latte! Ever since I pinned an awesome list of Target shopping tips, I have been loving that place even more!  I knew yesterday was the day they marked down women's clothing, so I headed straight there! I scored two tops and a cardigan for under $15!

(I got the blue top in black, too!)

I was feeling super refreshed and happy with my selections, so I hit the seasonal section on my way to check out to find something for my little lady.  I found two things I knew she would love that would have us feeling like Springtime! 

A birdhouse painting kit...

...and a strawberry planter! (She's as strawberry fanatic!)

See how excited and crazy she looked?! ;) 

We had so much fun this afternoon!   It took me way too long as a new mom to figure out how important it is to invest in myself.  I used to have such high anxiety and guilt every time I was away from my baby.  I'm still learning how to balance everything, and I probably always will be, but we're on the right track!

Sister, Sister!

I haven't posted in a while!  It's partly because the beginning of last week we were in birthday recovery mode, but the second half of the week was super busy for a lot of fun/great reasons! 
First of all, on Thursday, Lyla and I were playing in her room upstairs when we heard someone at the door. I assumed it was another girl scout,  so we didn't even check to see who it was...we just let Dustin answer it.  I heard him coming up the stairs a short time later with a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand! Then he went through the awkwardness of saying, "uhmm...someone sent you flowers, and it wasn't me....?"
We were both surprised!  Both of us were excited (or maybe concerned on Dustin's part!) to see who they were from!  We opened the card and read a sweet note from none other than...my sister! It was a thoughtful "Just because!" gift!  We love love loved them!  Thanks for making our day, Kat!

[Dustin said he had a new idea for a stand up routine about the awkwardness of opening the door to find that someone has sent your wife flowers, and then having to go deliver them to her! ;)  ]

Thursday afternoon, it was time for Lyles and I to head to Texas!  For the past three years, my sister has organized a flag football tournament in memory of her brother-in-law, Justin Osinde.  Lyla and I were so excited to go play football with Kat and Juju (I'll be honest...I was more excited to spectate Lyla playing football with Kat and Juju)!  We made our first stop in Henrietta, and stayed there for a couple of days since Dustyboy was working and going to school.  I really am not super comfortable driving in the DFW area, so I was happy we were able to tag along to the tournament with my mom!  We drove to Arlington first thing on Saturday morning!
Each year the tournament has grown and grown!  She is able to raise money and donate all of the proceeds to Suicide Prevention.  She has found a way to celebrate the life of Justin by doing something he loved and to bless others along the way.  This was the first year Lyles and I were able to attend, and it was so fun!  The weather was perfect, Lyla got to play football (sort of!), and Kat and Juju's team won for the third year in a row!  (No, it's not rigged...they're just that good!)   I'm so proud of my little sister for honoring Justin in such a great way.  
When the tournament was over, we drove right back to Henrietta.  Then Lyles and I went back to OKC Sunday morning.  I've got to say, for a kid who used to make car rides...how should I put this...Hell on Earth?  She did wonderfully awesome!  She didn't fuss once until the last bit of our drive home on Sunday.  I was super proud and relieved that she seems to be riding like a champ nowadays! We had a great weekend!  Here are some pictures from the event!  I have a football super star on my hands! 

Yo Gabba Gabba!

My baby is TWO!  We had a wonderful party, and of course I photographed the details to share with you here! For those of you not familiar with Yo Gabba Gabba, it's a show about a DJ (Lance Rock) who brings a boom box full of little monsters (and a robot!) to life using the magic words "Yooooo Gabba Gabba!!".  The show is non stop music and teaches life skills and how to handle problems in a fun way!  Lyla has been a Gabba Girl since she was about 9 months old! (I know, I know...too much screen time!  But a mom has to have her hands free some of the time!) Since she is now two, and it's STILL her favorite, a Gabba party was the only option!  I scoured pinterest, gabbafriends.com, and even came up with a few of my own ideas!  Enjoy!
We set the tone with these etsy inspired invitations!  (Can you look at that face and not smile?  I dare you.)

Now, on to the party!...
Here is a view of our fireplace!  I made a "2" with details from the gabbas out of cardboard and card stock.  The party hats are also card stock.  I used empty boxes to make stands for the gabba's to sit on and wrapped them with paper to resemble the characters.  One of my favorite projects was the Gabba bunting. It's all felt!  I also made some last minute boom boxes by covering a shoebox lid with foil and embellishing with cardstock!

 The idea for cup stacking came straight from the "Cool Tricks!" segment of Yo Gabba Gabba!  Lyla loves to stack cups at our local museum, so I added a "Muno" eye to each of them to keep them on theme!

 One of my other favorite projects is the Brobee toss game!  Brobee sends all of his fruits, veggies,etc to the "Party in his Tummy"!  I made felt bean bag food to toss right into the Brobee!

Foofa is Lyla's favorite Gabba!  I made a "Pin the Flower on Foofa Game" (which I totally forgot to have anyone play at the party!)...but look at the cute Foofa inspired blindfold!

 I ordered Yo Gabba Gabba temporary tattoos from amazon, and made a cardboard Toodee!  I used the same wrapping paper and cardstock from my other projects.  I also had a plain foam koozie on hand, so I decorated it to look like Toodee and hold the tattos.  

 Lyla loves to color, and I needed a "Plex" activity!  I decided to make a Plex inspired crayon box and table accent!  I also printed "Yo Lyla Lyla!" coloring pages with all of the characters on them!

I think the biggest hit of the party was the photobooth!  I all ready made a plex and muno head for our Halloween costumes!  Lyla had a foofa mask and a DJ Lance Hat, so I just made some Brobee and Toodee accessories to finish off the Gabbas.  I also laminated and printed a thought and speech bubble so that party-goers could write their own birthday messages!

The balloon drop was a last minute idea!  It's so easy, though, and I knew Lyla would LOVE it!  I used a plastic table cloth, some tape, and 50 balloons!  We did a countdown, and it was a big hit! 

 The streamer canopy was another last minute idea, but it ended up being one of my favorite details!  It's just a hoola hoop tied to the ceiling fan and 3 rolls of streamers in pink blue and yellow!  I wanted to keep the party "girly-ish", so I used these fun bright colors seen in the "Yo Gabba Gabba!".

The last activity during the party was watching a Lyla video montage ( I know, I know... but I love it!).  We did one last year at her party, and we picked up right where we left off!  You can see the video a few posts back!  (Look how nice everyone is...watching pictures of my baby for 6 minutes straight).  <3

The food table was another fun way to incorporate the Gabba characters! I also included a "guest book" for everyone to sign!  I got a "Party in my Tummy" board book from half priced books for $2, and had everyone sign their name!  
Dazzleberry Lemonade (or raspberry lemonade, as it's listed in most stores) is Muno's family's favorite drink, so it was a must!  I also made my own Gabba water bottle labels.  

 Here's a shot of the entire buffet table! The tablecloth was inspired by another mom blogger, this is the tutorial I used!  I used 4 table cloths total to make this new sew ruffle table cloth (1 for the top, two for the ruffles, and 1 as a base for the ruffles to be taped to)!  It is one of my favorite details! I love it even more because it was less than 3 dollars! :)   I used cardboard to make the back drop and stapled fabric in a fun chevron print.  It's hard to see, but I also included pictures of all of the Gabba character's homes on the display as well as big prints of my little cutie!  I used the winking picture on her invites, and I thought it would be a good way to incorporate some pictures of Lyles at the party as well!

Finally, the food!  We had "Toodee's Tortillas" (& salsa), Brobee Bites (which are veggie chips- in all the colors of Brobee!), "Foofa's Fruit Salad", Muno Sticks in a upcycled Muno canister, & "Plex Mix"!  Dustin also made hot dogs, but I didn't take a picture! :(

The cake was lots of fun, too!  The frosting was sooo delicious, with a yummy funfetti cake!  It's a replica of DJ Lance's boom box! 

Here are a few pictures of our guests enjoying the festivities! 

There's a party in their tummies....!

Thanks to my sister for running the Tattoo parlor!  "Kat's Tats" was fun! :)

Lyla playing the Brobee game! (She's allowed to get reallllly close!)

Racing and Reading!

Kaleese is Lyla's best little friend, and she slept through the whole thing! lol

Of course, these two found their way outside, but who can blame them?  It was a beautiful day!

Opening Presents...this girl is going to need a bigger room!

Photobooth fun! (Yep, that's me & Lyles rocking our two year nurse-iversary!)

Saying Goodbye to the Texas folk!

Whew!  That's a Gabba Party!  Happy Birthday, baby! Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!  We are so lucky to have each of you in Lyla's life. <3