Punkin' Paintin'

As all of you know, I am rarely ever wrong. I am actually only wrong about  1% of the time when dealing with the general public. When it comes to Scott.... I am right 99.9% of the time. He married me so that I can answer all the questions correctly, balance the checkbook without error, pay all our bills and have millions leftover, and mother our baby girl without making one single mistake. Now that you are up to speed on my knowledge and skill let me just tell you about the scenario that played out with Scott the other day.
I was looking at our bank statement online and noticed that he had spent like $123 at the gas station (that may be a little over exaggerated, it was really only like $8). He NEVER uses our debit card, so the purchase being out of state caught my eye. I asked him what the random transaction was about. He explained to me that he had to buy some Ibuprofen. Me, being the genius I am, explained to him that even though it was convenient to buy at a gas station that it was much more logical to buy from a department store. He then told me that it was the same price to buy ibuprofen at a Shell as it was at Wal Mart. I was taken back by the statement, and blurted out that he was crazy. I told him I could buy twenty IBU 200 mg for a whopping 88 cents. These were his exact words, "there is no way in hell you can buy it for 88 cents". I took the challenge. The next day I found that lovely bottle of IBU and bought not one, but two bottles of it (just to prove a point). I even took a picture of the bottle of IBU by the price sticker in Wal Mart so he would know that I WAS RIGHT! Case closed.

This whole nifty section is 88 cents! You can get IBU, nose spray, vitamins, gas relief pills, and tampons all on the same rack for a mind boggling 88 cents. 

Scott is really a good sport. He puts up with my nonsense like a pro. Thank gosh I married such a winner! There aren't many men that would put up with a wife that is always right!

Any who, on another trip to Wal Mart Kalon and I snagged up a little selection of pumpkins to decorate with. Kalon wanted Suzy to paint a pumpkin, so we grabbed up some of that like 57 cent acrylic paint too. Sunday afternoon we decided that we would take on the art project. Since I am such a genius, I decided that it needed to be done at Mimi's house. Why would I want the mess of painting a pumpkin at my house?! We poured paint in an ice tray and issued brushes to Suzy. All I had to do with dip a brush in one color and brush it on the pumpkin. She knew immediately that it was all hers and she could have fun with it.

She only needed a little "coaching".

We quickly realized that she didn't need to have a shirt on..... 

Punkin painting turned into belly painting. 

The final product! She is an amazing artist!!! 

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Kalon, Lauren, and I signed up for the St. Jude Half Marathon over the summer. The fun part of signing up for it was raising $500 each for the sweet babies; The not so fun part has been training for this long 13.1 mile run. I don't know what gave me the idea that I would be able to run that far? I must have been feeling way better about myself a few months ago. I am not very sure of myself now. Kalon and I have been training together because we run about the same pace and we live so close to each other. Lauren has been extremely busy lately, so we don't see much of her these days. Suzy misses her dearly, but Kalon and I really miss her. Her schedule needs to slow down so we can hear that loud, obnoxious laugh again! But, back to the training... We have to run 4 days a week (Saturdays are long run days) and on the "off" days we have to bike. I have to get a sitter when I am running, because Suzy isn't a huge fan of being in the stroller for long runs. We don't run under 3 miles a day now, so that leaves me finding someone to look after Suzy on running days. I cannot fathom asking anyone to watch her on biking days too, so Kalon and I decided that we needed to get one of those fancy seats for the back of my bike. It was a brilliant idea. Suzy loves it and I am hauling around an extra 30 lbs. It is great for her to get some fresh air, and it is great for my thighs with all the extra weight on my bike (hahahaha). We had to go to Wally World and scoop up Sue Baby a helmet before she could start riding with us. I figured the helmet would be a disaster. Boy was I wrong! She loves her "hat"! When she sees our bike she gets all excited and wants her "hat" and wants to go "cycle". Her favorite part and my least favorite part of cycling is hitting bumps! 

 Mom and Casey scooped us up this nifty little bike rack for my car. Now, Kalon and I can take the bikes to random starting points to get some new routes.

While KK and I were in Wally World one night looking for a tube for her tire, we ran across these lovely jewels. We couldn't bring ourselves to buy the lovely "hats", but they sure were fun to try on. 

Earlier in the week, Suzy and I came home to spend the afternoon outside. We went by The Color Studio so Anna Marie could wax the caterpillars off my forehead (aka- eyebrows), cleaned my car, played in the dirt, and watered the flowers before Kalon got off work. KK came to our house for a quick visit that turned into a Glamour Shot Party. Suzy actually wanted to get her toenails painted. She asked for pink and picked the pink out that she wanted. Her wish was my command. 

Danita (NeNe) gave Suzy THREE suckers while we were at The Color Studio. 

I heard paper noises in the backseat and assumed she had opened ONE sucker. I was wrong. She had opened all 3 suckers. 

She ate all three suckers too.

We couldn't just stop with pretty toes. We had to fix her hair and have her make up done too. All pretty girls must be treated as a princess every once in a while, right? 

Before the make up-- She had on one of my headbands, a ponytail, and 3 hair clips

Who knew lipstick was for your eyes?! 

And hair?

She saw herself in the mirror..... 

Ohhhhhhhhh someone knows she has really messed up! 

After a pedicure, hair,  and makeup...... She HAD to use MY toothbrush! 

This was me when I was a wee little one. My aunt Lolo had let me play dress up too! I can say that I know I didn't braid my own hair like that. Either my cousin, Amanda did it or my older Aunt Lolo had no skills in braiding hair. 

 We had so much fun letting Suzy play with all the big girl stuff. We laughed hysterically and she thought she was a movie star. Doing stuff like that with her is so much fun for me. I think she should stay at this age. She is hilarious to do stuff with now.

The farthest we have had to run to date has been 5 miles. We were supposed to run 6 this Saturday, but I was worn completely out. The past week at school kicked my tail, exercising everyday for hours at a time had taken its toll on me, and Scott not coming home this weekend added to the mounting stress. I needed a break. I needed to rest. I got exactly what the doctor ordered. Linda picked up Suzy yesterday afternoon to give me a break. 

I was feeling super proud of myself that day. It was the day I ran 5 miles without stopping! I was pumped. 

Kalon and I did absolutely nothing but eat, watch movies, and nap all afternoon yesterday. In between napping we made a divine cake. It was a recipe that KK had tucked away. It is seriously the best cake I have ever put in my mouth. Oh my gosh, you must try this recipe. 

Butter Cake

Ingredients: 1 box of butter recipe cake mix, 4 eggs, 8 oz of sour cream, 1 tsp. of vanilla, 1 stick of margarine, 3/4 cup of oil, 3/4 cup of sugar

Procedure: mix all ingredients & bake at 350 for about 40 mins

I am not kidding, you have gotta make this for your next baking day. I would have taken a picture to post, but the cake is almost gone and ours turned out to be a lovely shade of pink/red. We accidentally added red food coloring instead of vanilla. After we saw the red in the bowl, I realized the mistake and added the "for real vanilla". Today I cut a piece and added a little chocolate frosting to the top of it and zapped it for about ten seconds... OH MY GOSH!!! Heavenly.... 

"Thank You, Welcuuuum"

My Suzy is growing up far too quickly. As she is growing up I am losing that "down time" that I used to have to blog. It seems like I only have a chance to quickly catch up on the blog like once a month. I have so many notes of stuff to blog about, but the notes start in August and continue to date. I will just have to hit the highlights until I can get more disciplined to make myself stay up a few minutes longer to blog when she goes to bed.

Sue Bird is all about her manners. Memaw, the girls at Tattle Tales, and everyone around her helps me teach her manners (I am a big manners Mama, kids these days don't have any and I refuse to not teach Suzy how to be respectful). She says "thank you" and "welcuuuuum" after anything is given to her, done for her, or we tell her thank you for doing something for us. If you do not say "thank you" if she does something for you, she will remind you to say it. The same goes for saying "you're welcome". If she says "thank you", you better respond with "welcome/you're welcome". When she is saying her courtesies she sounds like a true southern belle. She makes those vowels drag out as long as possible. Nothing as sweet as a Mississippi baby, I tell ya, nothing at all.

Some of the reasons that I tell Suzy, "Thank You"......

"Thanks for wasting all the wet wipes, Suzy!" 

"Thank you for letting me put a bow in your hair!" 

"Thank you for keeping the bow in your hair for longer than 20 seconds!" 

"Thank you for finding my tampons for me!" 

"Thank you for getting the bugs out of the pool!" 

Some of the reasons Suzy tells me/us "Thank You".....

"Thank you, Mimi, for letting me use all your hamburger buns to feed the ducks!"

"Thank you, Mimi, for using your loaf of bread too!" 

"Thank you, Mimi, for using your hot dog buns!"

"Thank you, Mama, for the Bugles!" 

"Thank you, Mama, for letting me ruin your beautiful bushes! I love digging in potting soil while I am butt naked in the front yard!" 

"Thank you, Mama, for the Reese's!"

Suzy uses her manners nicely, is speaking very well, and is as independent as ever. We can pass by the Shell station (my life support pit stop), and she will start yelling, "drink". If I stop at Shell she wants to go inside and pick out her own snack. Most of the time she gets the animal crackers that have icing on them or Cheeto's. She picked up chocolate chip pecan cookies one day, but I quickly turned her attention back to the animal crackers. I didn't want to waste $1.69 on some cookies I figured she would hate!  We can pass by NWCC and she knows that his where Mimi is. Bancorp South is where her Gigi is, Performance Auto is where Papa is, and The Hot Rod Shop is where Casey, Lissa, and PawPaw are. If we are near Kalon's street she starts yelling "KK" as loud as possible. She recognizes what everyone drives and where everyone lives. She knows her friends' names at Tattle Tales and knows when she is going there or to Memaw's house by the roads I drive on in the morning.

These are the 2 buddies that she talks about the most.... Suzy, Tinsley, and Avery. 

She was a happy camper because I caved and got her a "dink" one morning at the Shell.... She is obsessed with "dinks"!

She thoroughly enjoys it when I let her dress herself in the mornings before we go to Memaw's. When I say that she gets dressed, I simply mean that we change her diaper, clean her up, and put her pajama pants back on..... Mon.-Wed. are a dream :) Who cares if she puts both her legs in one leg hole?? Hey, she's being individualistic!

Suzy has been staying with Gigi on Wednesday nights so Kalon and I can train for our Half Marathon that's in December. I got this picture from her one morning and it just melted my heart..... The Sue Baby is growing up far too quickly!

Capri Sun and Cookies... Breakfast of Champions!