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. :)

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!

House update

We have been waiting all summer for this...we are SO close to being done with the outside of the house. We just have a few pieces of trim to replace and some touch up painting before we can sit back and admire our work! I'm not ready to post the official before and after pictures of the paint because we have to put the shutters back up but I thought I'd share a few pictures of Bryan and Grandpa working on the gutters this weekend. Poor Grandpa worked so hard and we really appreciate all the work he has put into the house in just the few months that we have lived here.

Here they are, hard at work!

They took a break to enjoy some rootbeer floats. 

Layla had a sip of Daddy's and really didn't care for it. 

And here is Grandpa...feeling good after day 2 and singing opera. LOL

Next weekend we have to remove some bushes and then I'll take some updated pictures. I can't WAIT to compare the before and after!!

Bye bye highchair

Last week we decided it was time to put the highchair away. Layla seems to eat better when she feels like a big girl and she has finally stopped throwing her food down for the dogs (took long enough!). Here are a couple of picture of our curly girl sitting in her booster seat

Fun at the tridge

Grandpa deserved a much needed break from the gutters so we decided to take a quick trip to the tridge a few days ago.

Paw paw is still her favorite person ever!

She must have seen a bird

Picture with Grandma and Grandpa take 1

take 2

take 3

take 4

and finally and good one!

Love this pic of Daddy and Layla!

My sewing adventures

Yes friends, it has happened. I am becoming a domestic housewife and it is SICK-EN-ING. It has been almost a year since I stopped working and became a stay at home mom. I have had so many changes this year but if someone looked me in the eye last year and said "you are going to learn how to sew" I would have laughed. Hysterically laughed. And here I am, one year later asking my Grandma to teach me how to sew. Really I want to learn because I know I can save a ton of money once I learn how to hem and take in Layla's pants (that girl is so tall and skinny!) and I have a lot of house projects to do!

So Grandma brought her sewing machine for their visit. I'm starting to plan Layla's big girl room (*sob*) and Grandma is going to make a quilt for her bed. We all know I can't make a decision to save my life and although I've had a cupcakes and candy theme picked out for her toddler room since she was born, I have now fallen in love with this:

So in fear that I would change my mind once again, we went to the quilting store here in Midland and picked out the fabric for Layla's room. I apologize for the HORRIBLE lighting but you get the point:

This will be the fabric Grandma will use for the quilt and inspiration for the rest of the room. I'm painting it the same color as the room I love (Benj Moore- Jet Stream) but I wanted it to look a little more cottage-y/vintage-y than modern.

We bought some extra fabric so I could practice on Grandma's sewing machine and figure out if I really wanted to sew or if this was just a stay at home mom crisis that I have everyone once in awhile (in addition to starting the photography business which is going GREAT I have also decided to take up crocheting which was a disaster, cooking, coupon cutting and pretty much every other awful stay at home wife/mom hobby).

I have to give Grandma credit because she is an excellent teacher (and photographer because she took these) but here is what I came out with:

Layla's big girl pillow and pillowcase! And I did it (almost) all by myself! I am seriously so proud and it was a lot easier than I thought. I know my Grandmas, mother in law and a few great grandmas "upstairs" that are very proud of my skills! ;o) Don't worry Janet, I still need your talents for the window treatments, other pillows, lamp shades...and a few more things. LOL

 
So after taking on the pillow case I decide it was time to take on a bigger and better project. A new "taggie" for Layla. So it was off to the fabric store again and Grandma and I worked all afternoon on Layla's new blankie. Layla LOVES it (you know this when she digs her face into it that she loves it).

Layla loves Halloween!

Poor Grandma and Grandpa have been to Midland 3 times (well 4 for Grandpa LOL) but haven't gotten to do a lot of the fun stuff. Every time they come they have a project to do. This time it was the gutters and we have had CRAZY weather. First it was 95 degrees, then it rained, now it is 60 degrees. So bizarre and of course this would happen when we have a TON to do.

So while it rained hailed all day on Saturday we decided to go to Frankenmuth for lunch and a quick visit to the Xmas store. Bryan and Grandpa said we had 9 minutes there...but we spent a little longer than that LOL. Layla wasn't in the best of moods since we were getting close to nap time, but she still had fun looking at the Xmas and Halloween towns. She even got to talk to Santa! He wasn't there but they let her use their phone to call him and tell him what she wants for Xmas (she has a LONG list):

Now about the title of this post. Everyone knows Halloween is my FAVORITE time/holiday of the year. I just love it! Layla is starting to show a bit of favoritism towards it too...she loved the Halloween displays in Frankenmuth (some pics below) and she goes CRAZY for the Halloween stuff displayed at Lowes (of all places LOL). We had to make a quick trip there a few days ago and she was yelling at the top of her lungs and pointing to this little blow up ghost/pumpkin thing. The whole store was cracking up at her because they could see how excited she was. I swear I haven't pushed her towards favoring Halloween...it just happened. So what if she's already had her costume on twice, helped me put "Happy Halloween" stickers on the window today and reads Halloween books all year round? ;o)