Princess Betsy christened the princess potty chair last night. She figured out it's not just a comfy spot to sit before bath time. She tinkled on it. Of course, Ben called me in to *see* the tinkle and we all clapped and jumped around. Betsy sure knows when she does something good. BB rewarded her with an extra long bath last night.
We're not pushing potty training yet, we're just letting Betsy get comfy with the chair and I think we'll try to let her take the lead with it when she's ready.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
All about our Christmas break!
I'm in the process of uploading pictures, but this post will be a wordy post about what we've been up to in the past two weeks.
Last Monday we flew to Florida. We had planned on driving the trip but a friend of my Dad gave him two buddy passes through Southwest to fly. We were apprehensive about flying stand-by during the holiday season, but it could not have gone smoother. We drove to Austin where we picked up my brother-in-law JD. JD drove us to the airport and dropped us off then took my car back to his place. This saved us a small bundle not paying for parking. Southwest doesn't charge for luggage, so we packed a bunch of Christmas gifts and took them along. We changed planes once on the way to Orlando, and had a direct flight on the way home. My Dad's friend talked us through the flights over the phone so we chose flights that had many open seats. There were no problems, it couldn't have gone any better!
The first two days we were in Florida I made it my mission to clean the house and set up for Christmas dinner. It's no secret I'm not a cook, but by gosh I can set a pretty table. I went through my Moms Christmas stuff and decorated the tree as well as bossed my Dad and Ben around until the three of us got the house in pretty good shape. I set the tables for our Christmas Eve dinner party and on the evening of the 23rd my mom and sister arrived!
It would suffice to say my family COULD NOT keep their hands off Betsy. She was the star of the show. My Dad says she's the sweetest baby in the whole world. Mom kept marveling at how good of an eater she is and Lauren gave her baths and fed her several times. Nana played patty cake with Betsy over and over and she would giggle non-stop. She was the only child at Christmas Eve dinner so everyone got some time to play with Bets.
On Christmas Eve all of us pitched in the get the house and dinner ready for my Dad's side of the family to come over for Christmas dinner! Mom made prime rib again this year, a 15 pound prime rib in fact. We had cheesy mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, peas, bread, banana pudding, chocolate pudding and red velvet cupcakes. Yum. We had an excellent time at the party. Everyone visited, ate, drank and opened presents.
Christmas day was very low key, and I was SO glad. We took our time opening presents and Betsy was funny, not so much interested in the gifts as she was interested in climbing the piles of boxes! My favorite surprise this year was a Kitchen Aid mixer my dad bought my mom in a pretty red color. She was SO excited, and of course we used it the rest of the trip. I also sewed a cover for her mixer, and I think I'm going to start selling those! Only my Mom (and me) could get as excited about a homemade mixer cover as the mixer itself.
The day after Christmas my mom's sister Nancy and brother Charlie and their families came over for a late lunch. It was a great time. Mom made yet another prime rib (Dad bought an extra one). Lauren's boyfriend Sean came to town. The next morning everyone came back for breakfast as well as my Aunt Mary and Uncle Glen and cousin Greg and his wife Rachael and daughter Macy. It's pretty amazing how I saw almost everyone I was related to this year!
Mom and Sean drove back to Atlanta the day after Christmas and Dad, Lauren, Ben, Bets and I hung out. On the 27th Lauren watched Betsy for a couple hours so Ben and I could see a movie (the Blind Side, great movie!).
We flew home the 28th because the flight loads were lighter than the rest of the week. JD picked us up at the airport (he was SO sweet, poor guy had to circle the airport for an hour because our flight and luggage took a while longer than expected) and we went to his house for pizza and to watch the Independence bowl.
We made it home late Monday night and all three of us went to bed immediately.
Yesterday was mission Organization day. First we went to my in-laws house to get Madison, our sweet but smelly schnauzer. We opened presents, brought breakfast and visited for a while. Then we went home so Betsy could nap and we started unpacking and cleaning. We're about 1/3 through getting the house back together. It's more packing all our holiday decorations and the party stuff that's out all over the place. I took the Christmas decor down (minus the tree, Ben needs to break that apart) and I'm hoping to work on it all this afternoon and tomorrow.
So that's it! It was a wonderful Christmas for our little family, and we're glad to be home but miss everyone already.
Last Monday we flew to Florida. We had planned on driving the trip but a friend of my Dad gave him two buddy passes through Southwest to fly. We were apprehensive about flying stand-by during the holiday season, but it could not have gone smoother. We drove to Austin where we picked up my brother-in-law JD. JD drove us to the airport and dropped us off then took my car back to his place. This saved us a small bundle not paying for parking. Southwest doesn't charge for luggage, so we packed a bunch of Christmas gifts and took them along. We changed planes once on the way to Orlando, and had a direct flight on the way home. My Dad's friend talked us through the flights over the phone so we chose flights that had many open seats. There were no problems, it couldn't have gone any better!
The first two days we were in Florida I made it my mission to clean the house and set up for Christmas dinner. It's no secret I'm not a cook, but by gosh I can set a pretty table. I went through my Moms Christmas stuff and decorated the tree as well as bossed my Dad and Ben around until the three of us got the house in pretty good shape. I set the tables for our Christmas Eve dinner party and on the evening of the 23rd my mom and sister arrived!
It would suffice to say my family COULD NOT keep their hands off Betsy. She was the star of the show. My Dad says she's the sweetest baby in the whole world. Mom kept marveling at how good of an eater she is and Lauren gave her baths and fed her several times. Nana played patty cake with Betsy over and over and she would giggle non-stop. She was the only child at Christmas Eve dinner so everyone got some time to play with Bets.
On Christmas Eve all of us pitched in the get the house and dinner ready for my Dad's side of the family to come over for Christmas dinner! Mom made prime rib again this year, a 15 pound prime rib in fact. We had cheesy mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, peas, bread, banana pudding, chocolate pudding and red velvet cupcakes. Yum. We had an excellent time at the party. Everyone visited, ate, drank and opened presents.
Christmas day was very low key, and I was SO glad. We took our time opening presents and Betsy was funny, not so much interested in the gifts as she was interested in climbing the piles of boxes! My favorite surprise this year was a Kitchen Aid mixer my dad bought my mom in a pretty red color. She was SO excited, and of course we used it the rest of the trip. I also sewed a cover for her mixer, and I think I'm going to start selling those! Only my Mom (and me) could get as excited about a homemade mixer cover as the mixer itself.
The day after Christmas my mom's sister Nancy and brother Charlie and their families came over for a late lunch. It was a great time. Mom made yet another prime rib (Dad bought an extra one). Lauren's boyfriend Sean came to town. The next morning everyone came back for breakfast as well as my Aunt Mary and Uncle Glen and cousin Greg and his wife Rachael and daughter Macy. It's pretty amazing how I saw almost everyone I was related to this year!
Mom and Sean drove back to Atlanta the day after Christmas and Dad, Lauren, Ben, Bets and I hung out. On the 27th Lauren watched Betsy for a couple hours so Ben and I could see a movie (the Blind Side, great movie!).
We flew home the 28th because the flight loads were lighter than the rest of the week. JD picked us up at the airport (he was SO sweet, poor guy had to circle the airport for an hour because our flight and luggage took a while longer than expected) and we went to his house for pizza and to watch the Independence bowl.
We made it home late Monday night and all three of us went to bed immediately.
Yesterday was mission Organization day. First we went to my in-laws house to get Madison, our sweet but smelly schnauzer. We opened presents, brought breakfast and visited for a while. Then we went home so Betsy could nap and we started unpacking and cleaning. We're about 1/3 through getting the house back together. It's more packing all our holiday decorations and the party stuff that's out all over the place. I took the Christmas decor down (minus the tree, Ben needs to break that apart) and I'm hoping to work on it all this afternoon and tomorrow.
So that's it! It was a wonderful Christmas for our little family, and we're glad to be home but miss everyone already.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Dinner party pictures
Last night Betsy spent a few hours with Grandma and Grandpa while Ben and I hosted a dinner party for some of his coworkers!
I only took a few pictures, I was too busy having fun! We had five other couples over for dinner. We had lasagna, salad, french bread, cheese cake and chocolate pie. And wine and beer. People started arriving around 6:30 and we had appetizers until about 7:45. Our last guests left at close to 11. It was SO much fun. I can't wait to do this with Ben's coworkers again.
The covered wine bottles were a 'take away favor' for each couple. The covers were so easy, I ordered them from a website, and monogrammed them and sewed them together. All 5 took less than 30 minutes. I love those!
Hanging out after dinner.
I only took a few pictures, I was too busy having fun! We had five other couples over for dinner. We had lasagna, salad, french bread, cheese cake and chocolate pie. And wine and beer. People started arriving around 6:30 and we had appetizers until about 7:45. Our last guests left at close to 11. It was SO much fun. I can't wait to do this with Ben's coworkers again.
The covered wine bottles were a 'take away favor' for each couple. The covers were so easy, I ordered them from a website, and monogrammed them and sewed them together. All 5 took less than 30 minutes. I love those!
Hanging out after dinner.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Toughing-it Thursday.
Last night Ben got home from work to find there was no water *again* at our house. My easy solution was...let's have dinner out and hope by the time we get home it's back on! Unfortunately after some yummy Outback Ben took Bets home and I stopped at the store to get the fixings for tonight's dinner party...and there was still no water. I wasn't concerned. I figured it would get fixed at night and by the time we awoke it would be back on. This, in fact, happened.
So Betsy got a wipey bath last night and Ben was SO irritable that he didn't get Daddy-Daughter bath time. That is *their thing*. He wasn't disappointed that he didn't have to do laundry or clean the bathrooms like I asked him to do.
On a related note, please keep your fingers crossed that the water leak was fixed and they don't have to turn the water off tonight, in the middle of our dinner party! That would be quite awkward.
So Betsy got a wipey bath last night and Ben was SO irritable that he didn't get Daddy-Daughter bath time. That is *their thing*. He wasn't disappointed that he didn't have to do laundry or clean the bathrooms like I asked him to do.
On a related note, please keep your fingers crossed that the water leak was fixed and they don't have to turn the water off tonight, in the middle of our dinner party! That would be quite awkward.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Mom's work party
As an office administration for a law firm one of my Mom's big responsibilities is throwing a huge holiday party for her firm. I love helping her with ideas for these parties, and seeing the pictures afterwards. This year's party theme was Las Vegas.
Here are a couple pictures of Laur and Sean, and one of the super cute Vegas themed wedding cake!
Here are a couple pictures of Laur and Sean, and one of the super cute Vegas themed wedding cake!
Home is where the heart (but not the water) is.
Tuesday night I was in a bad mood. First, I left work early to pick Betsy up from daycare. She was in a great mood. Everything seemed fine. We get home and I take one step through the back door when "Blech!" she vomits all down the front of me. "Blech!" she did it again. Oh it was smelly. Yuck.
Not a big deal, I take her to the bathroom to clean her up and as I turn on the faucet I get two drops of water. ACK!? NO WATER?! I stripped Betsy down and cleaned her up with a wipe, put on her PJs and jumped in the car. Then we drove around the neighborhood to see if there was some sort of construction happening. I didn't see any! I ran home and found our latest water bill. I called the emergency number and learned it was due to a water leak off the main road.
I whipped up some dinner for Betsy and by the time she was done eating her weight in cereal bar, grilled cheese, grapes and sweet potatoes the water was back on. HALLELUJAH!
Moral of the story, stuff often happens at the worst possible time. You've gotta roll with the punches!
Not a big deal, I take her to the bathroom to clean her up and as I turn on the faucet I get two drops of water. ACK!? NO WATER?! I stripped Betsy down and cleaned her up with a wipe, put on her PJs and jumped in the car. Then we drove around the neighborhood to see if there was some sort of construction happening. I didn't see any! I ran home and found our latest water bill. I called the emergency number and learned it was due to a water leak off the main road.
I whipped up some dinner for Betsy and by the time she was done eating her weight in cereal bar, grilled cheese, grapes and sweet potatoes the water was back on. HALLELUJAH!
Moral of the story, stuff often happens at the worst possible time. You've gotta roll with the punches!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
What will I come home to?
Today I went home on my lunch break. This is not a regular occurrence, as I typically run errands or eat and read at my desk.
However there was something I forgot at home so I decided to run home on my lunch break. I found what I was missing and stood at the kitchen counter to go through the mail. When I finally looked up (in my living room) I noticed a number of Hershey kiss wrappers littering the floor.
MADISON TROUBLE BRALLEY!
She was cowering in the corner which is funny to me since we don't really spank Maddie. She knew she had done wrong. I was more curious as to how she had unwrapped the kisses without tearing the wrappers (and without opposable thumbs).
I sat her on my lap and snuggled her for a while. She's acting fine. Then she burped in my face and gave me a kiss (that smelled like Hershey's kisses). Poor Maddie. I hope she didn't have a sick stomach after I left.
However there was something I forgot at home so I decided to run home on my lunch break. I found what I was missing and stood at the kitchen counter to go through the mail. When I finally looked up (in my living room) I noticed a number of Hershey kiss wrappers littering the floor.
MADISON TROUBLE BRALLEY!
She was cowering in the corner which is funny to me since we don't really spank Maddie. She knew she had done wrong. I was more curious as to how she had unwrapped the kisses without tearing the wrappers (and without opposable thumbs).
I sat her on my lap and snuggled her for a while. She's acting fine. Then she burped in my face and gave me a kiss (that smelled like Hershey's kisses). Poor Maddie. I hope she didn't have a sick stomach after I left.
Bralley-Mandrell wedding!
I should have blogged about this between the rehearsal dinner and the birthday party but I *GASP!* forgot my camera at home and had no pictures of the wedding. I was SO disappointed. All these pictures have been 'borrowed' from other people on Facebook or from the Freakley's photo page (thanks guys!).
There were SO many things I loved about this wedding. It was just perfect. Tiffany wanted a wedding in a little white country church. The food was excellent. OMG the Beef Wellington...to.die.for. The dancing...the most fun I've had at a wedding. These boys LOVE to shake their groove thang. By the way, one of Ben's students was apparently a server at the reception and told the whole soccer team about his excellent "Humpty, hump" dance circa the early 1990s. He promised to reenact it for the team if they go undefeated this season.
OK, I digress. The wedding. The groomsmen wore black tuxes with white ties and vests. JD wore dark red tie and vest. The bridesmaids all wore black dresses and they were flattering and unique. Tiffany's dress was perfect. She looked SO beautiful, down to her classic red lipstick. The bridesmaids each carried a long stemmed red rose and Tiffany carried a bouquet of red roses and hydrangeas.
The DJ was great too, and the reception venue went so well with her theme, kind of old fashioned white washed country. We had a great time, and I wish we could do it again next weekend!
JD with his beautiful bride Tiffany.
Tiff and JD cutting the cake
Bets and Daniel making it official. Oh wait...it wasn't their wedding.
I remember this moment distinctly. Ben's fraternity brother Morgan was trying to blow bubbles down the front of my dress. This is the look he got.
Bets and Granny at the reception
Tiffany's beautiful flowers. Red roses and white hydrangeas. They were so pretty.
Daniel and Bets dancing with Grandma!
Betsy Bralley hits the dance floor
Beautiful white country church where the ceremony took place
Wedding cake and groom's cake
JD and Tiff exiting the church
There were SO many things I loved about this wedding. It was just perfect. Tiffany wanted a wedding in a little white country church. The food was excellent. OMG the Beef Wellington...to.die.for. The dancing...the most fun I've had at a wedding. These boys LOVE to shake their groove thang. By the way, one of Ben's students was apparently a server at the reception and told the whole soccer team about his excellent "Humpty, hump" dance circa the early 1990s. He promised to reenact it for the team if they go undefeated this season.
OK, I digress. The wedding. The groomsmen wore black tuxes with white ties and vests. JD wore dark red tie and vest. The bridesmaids all wore black dresses and they were flattering and unique. Tiffany's dress was perfect. She looked SO beautiful, down to her classic red lipstick. The bridesmaids each carried a long stemmed red rose and Tiffany carried a bouquet of red roses and hydrangeas.
The DJ was great too, and the reception venue went so well with her theme, kind of old fashioned white washed country. We had a great time, and I wish we could do it again next weekend!
JD with his beautiful bride Tiffany.
Tiff and JD cutting the cake
Bets and Daniel making it official. Oh wait...it wasn't their wedding.
I remember this moment distinctly. Ben's fraternity brother Morgan was trying to blow bubbles down the front of my dress. This is the look he got.
Bets and Granny at the reception
Tiffany's beautiful flowers. Red roses and white hydrangeas. They were so pretty.
Daniel and Bets dancing with Grandma!
Betsy Bralley hits the dance floor
Beautiful white country church where the ceremony took place
Wedding cake and groom's cake
JD and Tiff exiting the church
Monday, December 14, 2009
Betsy's birthday bash 1.0
I couldn't have asked for Betsy's birthday to be any more fun. We had great family and friends present, Betsy enjoyed her cake and playing with her little friends. Even the weather was nice (after a cold, drizzly weekend). Here are pictures of the big day. I took a ton!
I ordered these (for free!) from Moo.com. They are business cards with a picture of Betsy one one side, and a small picture of Betsy on the other with our contact information and blog address. People LOVED them, which I hadn't expected.
Silly string...for the young and the young at heart.
The food tables
I love my new cupcake tree, however I LOST my decorating tips somewhere between the rehearsal dinner and the birthday party. I was bummed out that I couldn't make the pretty cupcakes but my Mom did an excellent job frosting these the old fashioned way. They tasted delish!
Presents!
Pictures of our wonderful guests!
Abigail with her Great-Grandmother.
The weather was PERFECT! People sat outside, played ladder golf and washers. We couldn't have had better party weather.
Bets gets some snuggling in with Grandpa.
Babies, babies everywhere! There were 6 babies a year or younger at the party. Betsy is one year old, Ryder turns a year this week, Isaiah turns a year in two weeks, William is 10 months old, Bryant is 8 months old and Abby is 1 month old.
Cousin Will with Ryder
Betsy loves cake. And she was kind enough to share a bite with Granny.
Betsy didn't open her presents, Ben and I had to help her with that but she did love her presents! She checked each one out as they were put in front of her, loved to bang on the boxes, and later when she woke up the Osborn kids and Laura had put all her presents together for her! Her cousins were also there to help check out the cool stuff!
While Betsy was inside, being a good girl playing tea party...
Ben was AMBUSHED outside! Silly string war!
Betsy modeling her new Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit and playing tea party with her new tea set.
I ordered these (for free!) from Moo.com. They are business cards with a picture of Betsy one one side, and a small picture of Betsy on the other with our contact information and blog address. People LOVED them, which I hadn't expected.
Silly string...for the young and the young at heart.
The food tables
I love my new cupcake tree, however I LOST my decorating tips somewhere between the rehearsal dinner and the birthday party. I was bummed out that I couldn't make the pretty cupcakes but my Mom did an excellent job frosting these the old fashioned way. They tasted delish!
Presents!
Pictures of our wonderful guests!
Abigail with her Great-Grandmother.
The weather was PERFECT! People sat outside, played ladder golf and washers. We couldn't have had better party weather.
Bets gets some snuggling in with Grandpa.
Babies, babies everywhere! There were 6 babies a year or younger at the party. Betsy is one year old, Ryder turns a year this week, Isaiah turns a year in two weeks, William is 10 months old, Bryant is 8 months old and Abby is 1 month old.
Cousin Will with Ryder
Betsy loves cake. And she was kind enough to share a bite with Granny.
Betsy didn't open her presents, Ben and I had to help her with that but she did love her presents! She checked each one out as they were put in front of her, loved to bang on the boxes, and later when she woke up the Osborn kids and Laura had put all her presents together for her! Her cousins were also there to help check out the cool stuff!
While Betsy was inside, being a good girl playing tea party...
Ben was AMBUSHED outside! Silly string war!
Betsy modeling her new Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit and playing tea party with her new tea set.
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