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