This past weekend was a good one. I was happy to see the rain. We needed it badly. Daniley had a good time playing in it.


We went to Publix and took Daniley's buggy thanks to a good idea from Honey. She zipped and roared all over the place. I'm glad it was late and the store was almost empty. She did stop to talk to one particular customer. She just walked up to them and started carrying in a conversation like she was picking up where they left off in the car or something.



On a different note, most of the Publix pictures are BLURRY which I feel is all this stupid camera takes. It just cannot handle indoor lighting. I'm so sick sick SICK of it, I've been wanting to get rid of it for a year. Now my wish has come true. Honey gave me a spare Nikon she had and I can't wait to finish reading the manual and get it in use. This Sony camera is history. Wooohooo!

Well I'm getting requests to update the blog. My reply: "Would you like to hire me a secretary?" Just kidding Poppa. Anyway....we've been having our usual good times but I've been caught without a camera here recently. Daniley's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks so we are planning her second birthday party. Feel free to ask her what she wants for her birthday. She'll shout "Birthday Cake!!" and "Pizza" so I guess that's what we'll be having. She has also asked for money, birthday presents, green presents, 3 presents (2 from LeLe) and all those are direct quotes.

Right now Daniley's thing is singing, especially the Blackeyed Peas "Im'll Be." She could also sporadically burst into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or her ABCs at any moment. I've also heard her singing parts of songs on Dora. She matches the words when she can. She plays the ABC song from the magnet on the refrigerator and can actually keep up with the tune, so I'm impressed. She's talking a lot, saying things like "I go doctor my boo-boo and I put a bandaid on it." Well I must say I might be biased but I think that's pretty darn tootin' good! She'll even admit to you, "I so crazy!" There's always something to laugh at!! Now here are some pictures to enjoy.
Watching TV with some of her best buds.

Feeding the ducks.

Just being herself.

Unfortunately I have no pictures, but I wanted to say thanks to Chad for inviting us to his birthday party. My camera died when I tried to take the first picture at the party. Daniley had a BLAST and thank you so much for the wonderful time! I hope you got everything you wanted, and then some! Happy Birthday!

Also, thanks to Austin and Aiden for inviting us to their swim party! Daniley had a great time there. It was very, very unfortunate that I didn't have a camera when Daniley streaked through the YMCA COMPLETELY naked. I was changing a nasty swim diaper when she decided to get up and run. By the time I secured the messy diaper and took out after her, she was already half way across the YMCA and made it completely to the other side before I was able to catch her. It was after hours so there weren't many people in there. Good thing, because the signs said "Use modesty at all times." LOL. Happy Birthday to Austin and Aiden!

So I found an older iPod at a yard sale this weekend. It didn't work, so I offered $2 for some slim chance I could get it working. It had a cool cord that allows you to plug it straight into the wall to charge it, and that will work with my new iPod so I thought it was worth $2 regardless. I had no luck fixing the iPod following the button mashing ceremonies I found online. However, I came across a post and down into it someone had written that he slammed his iPod against the wall and it started working again. I read on and person after person were replying they tried the HARD HIT and it worked for them too. So after thinking it was a joke I slammed my iPod twice into the side of a wooden chair...and....it fell apart. NO! Just kidding! LOL. It started working! And all the music on there is unbelievable. I'm still in disbelief and loving my new $2 20GB iPod. :-)

The past week has been nothing short of horrible. First, my grandfather AJ Austin passed away. This was the second and last of my grandfathers to die. I have been so blessed to make it into my late 20s with all 4 of my grandparents still alive. However, in the past 3 years both of my grandfathers have passed away. I still have both of my grandmothers and I know they will live a long time. :-)

We had a gas leak and all the gas (propane) leaked out of the tank. Not only did about $300 go up into the air, the line had to be replaced which Dan and his wonderful father took care of. But, I haven't had hot water or been able to cook in 9 days...and counting. The line has been repaired and we are supposed to get gas tomorrow. I've been ridiculously stressed out over the past week or two over these things and more. If I had a cigarette I most likely would have smoked it.

We did manage to make it to McWane Center last weekend. Here are some of my favorite pictures. Oh, how she loved all the buttons and knobs!





In this last one, how is it that she is only 1? She looks about 6! I guess that's your sneak preview. :-)

PS. When she borrows your chapstick, this will help you visualize....

www.photoshootusa.com

VOTE NOW!!!!!!!!!!

I have entered Daniley in ChickfilA’s Cutest Cow contest and she needs LOTS of votes! Can you pretty pretty please take just a second of your time and vote for her? If you have friends or co-workers that wouldn’t mind voting for Alabama’s cutest calf, please forward this on and ask them to vote too. If you have multiple email addresses, please use them all. She needs 300 votes to take over the winner!

Here’s how you do it:
Click on the link below. Fill in your name (or a fake name) and your (real) email address. They will confirm your intent to vote with a link back to the email address you supply. (This took several hours to get the email back.) Click the link in your email and your vote is tallied.
This is NOT a spam operation to collect email addresses. The point of the email is to try to make sure everyone just votes once. Please click the link now! 

Thanks for helping make my little cowgirl a star! I love her so much!

http://www.showusthecow.com/vote.php?id=652

I LOVE these pictures! I knew when I snapped them they were going to be perfect!

Hint: If you click "View All Images" above you can see all the pictures full size.

James Dexter stayed over Saturday night and boy did we have a blast. We went to my BFF Jamie's daughter's birthday party and just had the best time ever! You can pretty much see from the pictures what all we did. Daniley and James crashed out in the car for a 10 minute nap and once arriving home just took off all over again. They played chase and other secret games that only Aunt Danica knows about because she's the only one brave enough to take on the sleepover! We have to do this more...and don't worry James and Daniley, your secrets are safe with me!

This Cowgirl Ain't No Chikin!!!!!

In a couple of days this photo will be on the Chick-fil-A webpage in a Cow Photo Contest! You can't vote yet but I will post on here when you can and give all the details on how to find Daniley's cute Cowgirl picture on the website!

Here are the pictures from fishing this past weekend. :-)

Not a real hectic weekend...but still we had plenty to do.
Fireworks in Alabaster at Veterans Park:





Swimming at home:


Went to Lele's for a hotdog for Uncle Michael's birthday. We went fishing and Daniley and her Daddy caught a fish. Maurice took their picture...maybe I can get it to post. At Lele's we visited with my grandmother. My grandpa AJ went to the hospital Friday and is headed from there to the nursing home. If you know my grandma Imogene from Wilsonville, she could use visits. Right now will be the most emotionally difficult time for her.
So I finally got my new ovens installed. I'm trying to cook more. I need recipe's for stuff that's good but fast. If you have something to recommend, email me at danicadear@aol.com. I don't particularly like cooking, mainly because I work all day and I don't want to spend my last 2 hours of the day preparing meals. I'd rather eat a sandwich and have fun with my family! Anyway, here are my ovens and proof that I did cook. (This was homemade salsa, with our homegrown tomatoes.)


Monday we hung out at G-Paw and Honey's where we played with James Dexter and Baby Eli. Swimming was the main attraction. :-)

NEWS FLASH! NEWS FLASH!!
Daniley has had some major accomplishments lately that I have not shared on my blog. I am so proud of her because....
At 20 months she could count to 10. About two weeks later, she was counting in Spanish (although not as reliably).
At 21 months she could correctly name colors, about 10 of them.
At this time, 22 months, she is talking up a storm. She is using cohesive sentences, many of which begin with "I need...." LOL. She is like a parrot, repeating everything, so be careful what you say.
And, the most exciting of all, at 22 months.......SHE IS USING THE POTTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My "goal" was to have her wear panties to her 2nd birthday party but we have met that with 2 months to spare. I'm sure some people thought I was crazy for trying to train her so early, but my efforts have paid off and I'm looking forward to not buying diapers anymore! At least for awhile anyway........ :-)

This weekend we did, among other things, swimming lessons, Liberty Day parade, visit with cousin James, then Daniley went off to Honey and G-Paw's for a 3 day summer mini-camp. Sarah Katherine joined us at the parade and we had lots of fun. Also had a blast playing with James Dexter. Looking forward to next time!

Move O-V-E-R G.I.Joe. There's a new soldier in town.

This weekend was another fun one. Friday Daniley and I got up early and ran errands and did our shopping. Friday afternoon we went out for more shopping, due to Father's Day. We did take in the carousel at the mall which was great. It was the longest ride I've ever ridden. Seemed like it lasted 5 minutes long. Daniley loved it...but I wasn't prepared with my camera.
Saturday morning we had swimming lessons. She's doing really great. The bravest in her class...I'm sure none of my regular readers would be surprised by that!




After swimming lessons we headed straight to Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum where we took a train ride with some family from Mississippi. Daniley loved the train ride. Can't you just hear her saying CHOO CHOO??




After this we headed to G-Paw's house for Father's Day where we had such a perfect afternoon playing with James Dexter and Eli. They played so good together, although Daniley barely acknowledges Eli. I didn't have my camera there either but I'll soon post an image Honey took. (Thanks Honey and GPaw!) Happy Father's Day G-Paw. Daniley loves you very much, as do we!

Sunday Daddy opened his Father's Day present then we went to church. My dad was out of town so it left the day just to us. I wanted to see my grandma in Wilsonville but Daniley took a 3.5 hour nap in the middle of the day which messed us up a little bit. By the time we got going it was 5pm. We headed down to Buck Creek Park and played. Then we walked to the creek where Daniley went swimming. She was fully clothed with her whole body under water roaming around on her hands yelling CWOCKODILE. First she was looking for one, then she was acting like one. LOL. It was lots of fun and we hope Daddy had a GREAT Father's Day. He is an awesome Dad. Daniley loves him to DEATH. She is a Daddy's girl but there's plenty of love for Momma too. :-) PS. I love Dan too. :-)

I'm slightly behind. Sometime it's hard to time find to post everything. We've been wide open for several weeks. Back a couple weeks ago I got off a plane from Oregon and we went straight to Alabaster's City Fest. I don't like concerts that much so we didn't go for the music. We just went to play. And that we did! Here are some pictures to share.

The last few weeks have been nuts! Nothing has been "normal." I've been on the road a good amount...to Portland, Oregon for half a week, to Greenville, AL for a night and two days, plus all the regular stuff in between. Daniley has been shuffled around a little more than usual but I have no problem with that. I think time with each of her family members is fun, important, and makes her more well rounded. Seems like things are getting back to normal now and we have no travel planned in the near future. :-)
This weekend was pretty fun...Daniley and I played hard Friday...appointment, lunch (from Piggly Wiggly on Clairmont, my fave) with GPaw, visited Dadu at work and said hi to old friends, shopping, etc. Friday night was playtime at Chick-fil-A and running around the Alabaster "mall," that is, from one end to the other. Saturday she had swimming lessons, then Saturday night she was off to Pawpaw and Deba's. She had a great time there. Then she was home where we got a visit from Katelyn (and Brad and Rachael) and Honey and GPaw. It was a really great weekend...seemed really long and packed, which is just the way I like it! :-)

You know the place was rocking....