Birthday Party

Mike is wrapping up a month of the oh-so-fun business calculus this week, so I've been given permission to post a few more blogs until he's done :)

We took Paisley to Chuck E Cheese on the evening of her birthday. I really can't stand that place, but Pais and Mike had a good time going around to all the rides, etc. and playing. Here she is on the Bob the Builder ride in the toddler area. Her birthday party last weekend was great fun. We had lots of family and friends here to celebrate with us. She really loved the balloons that Ree and Papa brought.
When it came time for her cake, she behaved just like mommy would have, she didn't want to really get her hands dirty, so she picked at the icing for quite a while. She did eventually dig in a little bit, but we did not witness the usual complete mess of a face and hands like most kids birthday parties that I've been to.

Pais had a great birthday & received so many great gifts - thank you all so much for celebrating with us!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Happy birthday to Paisley! Wow, how quickly a year can fly by... I made Paisley some "birthday pancakes" this morning and being the goofy Mom that I am, I also put her party hat on for some quick pictures...

Mike is the one that almost always posts the entries on this site, and for anyone that knows my sweet husband, he's a man of few words... :) Thank God for that, because anyone that knows me would probably describe me as "wordy"... I thought I'd share a few of Paisley's personality traits that happen to be my favorites. Lots of you that keep up with our blog don't get to spend time with her on a regular basis, and some of these things just can't be conveyed through pictures!



1) She loves her dogs to no end. Even Mack, our smaller dog, who quite honestly does not care for Paisley too much (he doesn't really like anyone that takes attention away from him, including our other dog Shelby). Paisley is always so excited to see him and perseveres to gain his love and affection, no matter how many times he runs away from her.

2) She loves grapefruit. and avocados. What kid likes that strange sour taste of grapefruit?? She'll eat it day or night, 3 times a day if you'll let her.

3) She adores her dad. I think this may be one of my most favorite things about our family. My husband and my girl are best buddies. Who could ask for more? Sometimes, as a mom, you can feel a little left out, but she is also really good about making sure I feel just as needed when I am home at night and on the weekends. And Mike is the best dad... seriously. I am so glad God has blessed us with the ability for him to stay at home with P.

4) She loves for us to read to her. We might go through every book she has two to three times a day. She's relentless and I love it!

5) Everything that Mom and Dad laugh at is funny to Paisley too. We can sit at the dinner table at night and have a quick "adult" conversation and laugh about something and even if she was paying no attention to us, she'll start in with a quick giggle or big belly laugh.



Anyone that has kids has a list like this that is a million miles long, so I apologize for being "that" parent that has to mention all these things about their kid that I think are so cute... but hey, its her b-day so I think I get a pass today.



As Paisley's "God Made Me" book says at the end, Thank you, God, for Paisley!!!

Summer, Summer, Summertime...

Paisley went to her first Texas Rangers baseball game a couple of weeks ago with Uncle Devon, Lauren and mom & dad. She ate all kinds of different food - garlic fries, some hot dog, ice cream, and cotton candy! She had a pretty good time and lasted all the way to the 7th inning stretch before we knew it was time to leave...


Paisley took a dip at The Gautille's 4th of July pool party. She was a little scared, but once she got used to it, she had fun. We had a good time hanging out with Adam and his family.

Mom thought it would be fun to play with some finger paints...it made a huge mess, and Paisley just was not too into it. It was getting close to bedtime and Pais wanted to eat the paint. When she figured out we wouldn't let her chow down on finger paint, she was over it.
This is what we see every day. Paisley is constantly handing us this book (it's her favorite) for us to read to her. The book is "Where is Baby's Belly Button" and there are little flaps on each page that reveal different parts of baby's body that are "hidden" like her feet, hands, etc. She loves this book and the "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" Dr. Suess book. We read each one no less than 20 times per day (at least)!

We're getting ready for her first birthday which is on Thureday of this week. Pais isn't walking yet, probably because she's a very accomplished crawler. That girl can move. Hopefully we'll be seeing some actual steps soon, but it could be awhile!

Attention Getter...

Paisley is creeping up on the 1 year old mark and she is really moving around pretty good. She is curious about everything and wants to get into everything.

This is Paisley with her spoon in her mouth...she thinks this is pretty funny...
She has also discovered that her finger can fit up her nose...we won't encourage this, but it is pretty dang funny at this age....

The last of the CA pics...

Cassie taking a picture of her and Pais.
Good friend Angie dropped by while we were in Orange County...
We had lunch with Great Grandma Vonnie while in Temecula. It was the first time that Paisley and her had seen each other. It was good to see her.

The OC...

We spent 3 nights up in the OC with Uncle Earl, Aunt Lori, and cousins Ryan and Eric.

They have a pool so Paisley went swimming for the first time. She suprisingly was not too sure about it. These are pictures of Ree feeding Pais an ice cream sandwich...it was yummy!

The Wildlife Park in Escondido, CA

We had a great time at the wildlife park. Paisley got to ride the carausel twice and saw lots of animals close up.


She was not a fan of this duck, however...

Petting Bambi with her foot...
We roaf the safari train and she is waving to all the animals...