Saturday, September 24, 2011

Nite Nite Issues


We are having major sleep issues in this house. Layla hasn't been going to sleep until 11 pm and sleeping until 9 or so (one day she slept until 10am!). Nap time isn't fun either. I really hope it is teething (last two YAAAAAAAAY) but i have enjoyed waking her up in the mornings for a change. I went in yesterday to get her and this is how she was sleeping:


Yes, those are her legs sticking out the front and 21 crib "toys" (blankets, baby dolls, loves...etc) in there with her. We are leaving for Mexico in a few days and I can NOT bring an entire suitcase full of this stuff...time for a few things to go. :(

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Grandma and Grandpa Underwood's visit

Last weekend my Dad and Cindy came to visit. We had a great time discovering a few new places in Midland, baking cookies and decorating a few pumpkins. Here are a few pictures from our weekend:

A climbing tower at Whiting Forest in Midland.

Daddy, Layla, Grandma and Grandpa all made it to the top

Dad found a skull on the trail!

Here is Grandma and Layla in one of the many forts. She really wasn't too interested but had fun peeking through the windows. 

Great picture! 

Ha! She thought this was funny for about 2 seconds and then was totally over it. 

I don't know what it is with this child but she loves to carry around a stick. A few weeks ago we were walking around our neighborhood and Layla started getting whiny in her stroller so Bryan gave her a stick. She leaned over and let it drag on the sidewalk as we walked and thought that was HILARIOUS. She is so silly 

Had to get a picture of her enjoying her first ever juice box by herself. She just looks like such a big girl! And she didn't spill it! 

Another shot of Layla and her juicebox. LOL And here is another cool fort!

Daddy, if you think I'm going in there you are nuts. 

We were just walking along the trail and she stopped and starred at this log. Haha...I guess she thought it was cool to have a tree as short as she is. 

After all that walking, it was time to make cookies! Here is Layla mixing the flour

The child that won't eat anything apparently enjoys eating plain flour. Sick

She helped Grandpa put the flour in the mixing bowl. She did a great job and only spilled a tiny bit!

Midland also had a hot air balloon festival last weekend! It was windy so we didn't get to see too many take off. Plus Layla really didn't care for it...

Hopefully she'll be more into it next year, it was pretty cool!

Daddy and Layla

I love decorating pumpkins for Halloween! We decided to try out these pumpkin tattoos for these two. They actually worked really well.  

Layla enjoying some down time in her toy box. This was right after we all chased her around the house and screamed for 30 minutes. So glad Dad and Cindy got to witness the chaos that is evenings in the Barton household. LOL

We can't wait until the next visit Grandma and Grandpa U! See you in October!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The big reveal!

It is finally time folks! That's right...the painting is DONE. I never thought this day would come, my hands, back and legs are killing me from a summer of up and down ladders, back and forth with brushes and painting faster than the speed of light to get as much as possible done during naps. This is our first big project to check off our list and it feels SO. FREAKIN. GOOD.

Let me just take you back to a time where our house looked like this:

And now lets all bask in the glory that is Caribbean Sunrise by Behr:


EEEEEKKKKKK...doesn't it just make you want to scream with excitement?! It is such a great feeling to take on a huge project and see the end results. As you can see we have removed practically every piece of landscaping that we possibly could (I guess we'll let the grass stay LOL). We aren't planting this year and I'm sure our neighbors are all scratching their heads wondering why we prefer dirt over overgrown shrubs. We just wanted to be ready for planting next year and not having to worry about tearing everything out (which was a very time consuming and hard core physical job...poor BB).

And here are some more before and after pictures:

At the beginning of the summer when this ALL started...here Bryan is on our first day of working on the house.

And the after! We took out all the bushes and painted. New gutters compliments of Grandpa Lucky :)

This was our project today...tear out the hedges. These babies were at least 5 feet tall. 

And after...you can actually see our front door!

This was taken during Grandma and Grandpa's first trip when the painting began. 

And here we are today! What a HUGE difference!

So next on the list for outdoors will be painting the front door (but what color?!), landscaping in the spring (front yard only) and we HAVE to figure out what to do with that basketball hoop. Who in the world decided to put that right smack in front of the house?As you can see, Bryan lowered it today so Layla could play LOL. We are taking off the backboard tomorrow so we'll just be left with the pole for now.

Here is Bryan getting ready to lower the backboard (I love that Oscar sits under the ladder)

And here is Bryan taking out a tree stump with nothing but a shovel and hand saw. The fastest way? No. The easiest way? Of course not. But did he get it done? YES!  And PS- that is SAND, not dirt. I had no idea that Michigan soil was basically sand...so bizarre.

Now that we are pretty much done working outside for the year, we decided to play outside a bit after nap. Here is Bryan helping Layla make a basket.



And here is a short video of Layla and how she acts on a normal basis. WARNING- she takes a nasty spill at the end that I know will be very hard for Grandma Mudd to watch. LOL. But she is fine! She had a little mark on her knee and that was it. But I love that she falls and we both just hold our breaths and stand their until she cries. LOL

Friday, September 9, 2011

Like mother like daughter

First, I have a confession to make. When Layla was born she looked JUST like Bryan and it made me sick. There, I said it. Who can blame me?! After carrying this child for 9 months, being on bed rest for 3 weeks and then having a horrible delivery...how on EARTH could this child look so much like her father?! I thought she hated me LOL. 

Well now I am proud to say that she looks and acts just like me when I was a kid. I had a hard time finding pictures that would match up just right but trust me people, she's all mine. If it wasn't for her light hair and eyes...she would be an exact cloned version of me. And that makes me happy. :) Until I spend 2 hours trying to get a brush through her hair, then I'll wish she was more like Bryan. :)
That's me on the left and Layla on the right...her hair is in pigtails but trust me when I say the curls are identical (and I was not made in France).


 We even give the same looks!

And just for funzies because this pictures is SO me. Yep, I would still run around in a jumper, socks a watch, necklace and sunglasses if my mom would let me. Obviously I was the coolest kid in town so Layla and I share that as well.

And as a side note, every time I see this pictures I think of my Aunt Mag. Maybe Layla and I get some of our spunk from her too. :)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Another Dow Gardens visit

Since Dow Gardens is still beautiful we decided to take Grandma and Grandpa for a visit. I also really wanted to get a good family picture of us since this was our last one (taken last Labor Day actually!):


Layla loves "smelling" flowers, she even picked a few. Oops!

Oh the curls...

We all know Layla doesn't like normal kid food. A perfect example would be the fact that she took these out of my Grandpa's shirt pocket and stuck one in her mouth!!! They are really hard so we made her spit it out but I can't believe she liked it! What a weirdo

Daddy and Layla (with a lipstick stain on her cheek from Mommy)

Trying to get her geared up for the family pic

Poor Grandpa was so tired from working so he rode around on a scooter (this place is huge). Layla thought it was hilarious. 

Beep beep

Layla with Grandma and Paw Paw (enjoying some of his candy YUCK)

Freakin sun, this would have been a perfect pic

Grandma did such a great job with the camera!

Another good one

I just love this one...this is our life right here. :)

Oh, I really love this one too

And another! Great job Grandma!