pantry-cleaning train tunnels

while straightening the pantry, bryce and i made a big tunnel to drive trains through.

it even has windows and doors cut in the top.

i do believe it makes a lovely advertisement for Honey Bunches of Oats and other assorted snack foods that come in boxes.
Oh, and if you haven't checked MY blog lately, and you are a fan of bryce - you might want to go check.

And I promise. It's not a scrapbook layout. (yet.)

And you should leave a comment. Because I know that some of you i know and love are lurking about, and not saying hi. bryce wishes you would say hi!

where's bryce?

sometimes a boy just needs a fort.

the new BIG-big boy bed

Last night we decided to just put bryce on the twin mattress on the floor, and give up on the toddler bed. we piled all his stuffed animals up to "sleep" in the toddler bed, and bryce went to sleep in the twin bed. he slept all night, and stayed asleep until almost 6:30. phew - seems my good little sleeper is getting back on track! PHEW!!! after spending so so soooo many months with a NOT-so-good little sleeper, any little bump in the road tends to make me a little nervous!!! hopefully tonight will go as well!!

thanks!

thanks for everyone's advice about the big boy bed! we have given it a few nights, and bryce has fallen on the floor a couple times every night . . .but not to worry, his fall is cushioned by three pillows, a quilt and a sleeping bag. half the time, he doesn't even wake up - last night i went to check on him and he was on the floor practically UNDER the crib! at that point i put him on the twin mattress that is on his floor, and i think we might just get rid of the crib/toddler bed and let him sleep there. bryce is fighting a cold now too, so sleep has not been so great the past few days! have a great sunday! XOXO

before and after . . .(before and after i cry that is!)

really i only got just a tiny bit teary! it has finally come time to turn bryce's crib into a BIG BOY BED! he took the great plunge one naptime last week, and fell over the rail, (in a fit of rage because he didn't desire to take a nap - but we will leave that part out of the angelic child's story.) he took a nap today, and yes I think he fell out of the bed, but we have lots of cushy pillows to break the inevitable falls. i am not really sure WHAT to do about it - are there bed rails out there that fit a toddler bed???? all i have found would be basically the whole length of the crib . . .which sort of defeats the purpose. ANYWAY, mommies out there. . . . if you have some fabulous BIG BOY BED advice, i am ALL EARS. i need all the help i can get!!!! (feel free to pass along your potty advice too, because we also bought BIG BOY UNDERWEAR this week!)

sometimes you just gotta sit down and read.

bryce decided he just needed to sit down in the middle of the hallway with a book this morning. too funny!

just some silly pictures we took of ourselves, while snuggling in bed (as well as flying a Lego spaceship.) it's just goofy us being. . .goofy us!

the out-takes and blooper reel

happy day!

We had such a nice day yesterday! We went downtown to the playground in the morning, and then after lunch and naps, we drove down to St. Augustine. The Christmas lights are only up until the end of January, and we wanted to take one more peek! We planned to have dinner at The Pizza Garden, but it is CLOSED for remodeling!!! What a bummer! We checked out the new back room at Pizzalley's instead, on St. George Street. They opened up more of a sit down restaurant, in addition to the pizza counter service up front. It was SOOOO delish!!! I was looking for their website, and couldn't find one - but I did come across websites for all kinds of St. Auggie restaurants that we love. . ..so check them out if you are feeling nostalgic for some good old St. Auggie food, or if you are planning on heading that way soon!!!

Schmagel's Bagels (can you believe they have their own website!!!?)

Just for Eric. . . .Outback Crab Shack

Fiddler's Green (Joy had her rehearsal dinner here! Yum-O!)

La Pavillon . . .a favorite of the Williams family!

where did I find all these links?? HERE!

Happy Saturday!!! And check MY blog for more St. Auggie pics! XOXO

this is my serious Play-Doh face.
this is my cheesy-grin Play-Doh face.

this is me and jillian. we love each other lots. (even though we hit and push each other down, steal each other's food, sit on each other's heads, "borrow" toys without asking, screech at each other, and generally are quite cave-person like towards one another.)

too too funny. this picture just cracks me up!!!
dismantling the christmas tree!
bryce LOVES this giant gingerbread girl. he ALWAYS wants his picture taken with her!
this is the old barn on the property my dad owns, which will one day become a new developement. (They are going to try and save the barn though!)
Poppy and Bryce by the old outdoor stove. (They will also try to save that!)

oh good grief.

For those of you on the edge of your seats, wondering if the smoke detector is still beeping, . . .well, it stopped. I am sure it will resume, sometime around 3am. Eric's dad is leaving us a ladder and battery in his garage to be picked up tomorrow. (thanks doobie!)

I realized, as I was pondering the need for photos on the blog, that I never finished sharing the Christmas pictures while we were in NC! SO, without further ado, here is a blast all the way back from 2006!

minor inconveniences

What exactly should a mommy do, when her toddler is finally down for a nap, and his best toddler pal is about to go down for a nap in the next room, (so already exists a delicate balance of the universe, which needs to be maintained, for the well-being of all toddlers and mommies involved) and suddenly the smoke detector decides to begin making a horrible high pitched beeping every 30 seconds to say "HELLO! I NEED NEW BATTERIES!" So one toddler's mommy grabs the ladder, runs upstairs to the smoke detector (which is perfectly positioned outside the two bedrooms where one toddler sleeps, and one should be sleeping soon) and this increasingly disturbed mommy discovers that the only ladder in the house, is just about 2 feet too short to reach the suddenly tall ceiling. (Not to mention that the batteries needed to replace the smoke detector are not inside the house but located down the street at Target, but that seems to be the least of the problems.)
So then on the way back downstairs, this same mommy, who ponders the timing of life's events (how all annoying circumstances seem to come at the poorest of times) manages to slide rather than walk down the last few steps, jamming her toes into the baby gate which resides at the bottom of the stairs. She then continues pondering life's circumstances while sitting at the computer, hoping that the second toddler will not seem to notice the incessant BEEPING from outside her doorway, and that the first toddler will continue his slumbers in dreamland (while his mommy goes up every 29 minutes to restart the white-noise machine, before it quits after 30 minutes.)
And yes, I am aware that it has been a week since this same mommy has posted pictures, and she is dutifully sorry. She will attempt to remedy the situation shortly. (After the two toddler wake up, eat a late lunch and allow the mommy to take photographs.)
And YES, the smoke detector is STILL beeping as I type this, and NO I have no plan yet as to how to make it stop until I a.) find a taller ladder and b.) get some batteries. Sooo. . .
TO BE CONTINUED!

Kids Kampus

Wow, I think this is the first picture of AM and I since they moved here! (We had to take it ourselves, of course - Bryce is still perfecting his camera skills!)

Here he is ladies and gentlemen, going for the tether ball world championship!!!!!!!

Go gators!!!!!!! We knew you could do it!!!

I still have more Christmas pics to post, but since Bryce is napping, let me post some pictures of TODAY!!!! We took AM and Jilly-girl to Kids Kampus, downtown. There is tons of sand to play in, tons of play equipment, and a Little Tykes town to run around in! The kids had a terrific time, and the weather was GORGEOUS. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, and played at the park all morning!

i almost forgot!

I am going to post bryce's calendar picture each month. . . happy january!

more holiday hoopla - north carolina style!

More holiday pics for you! These are from our trip to NC, with my parents. Holiday hoopla in NC is much more laid back than hoopla in other areas of the country. Our hoopla consisted of playing outside, shopping in the used book store, taking naps, playing with trains, and watching movies. The first pic was on the way there - right as we got close there was a littttle bit of snow! (more snow pics in the next batch.) The picture of Eric is quite symbolic of much of the trip - he got a new snazzy phone for Christmas, and spent the whooooole time playing with it! See how good I am doing, updating the blog again!? Look for more pics tomorrow!

Christmas FINALLY

Sorry, I have been TOTALLY unmotivated to get pictures up this week!!! I promise I will get back on track, now that they are at least loaded on the computer! Here are a few of Christmas morning to start with! In the first picture of Bryce, I am pretty sure that face means "How the heck did SANTA get in my house last night!!?????"