Fun at Grandma and Papa's house and Go Reds!

Jeff and I had a great time aboard the Carnival Legend.  We're all adjusting to being home and back to reality (cooking your own meals and making your own bed again is not so fun.)  While we were gone, Tatum stayed at her Grandma and Papa's house.  They sent us email updates and everything went great, she didn't even know we were gone!

Our friend that watches Tatum one day a week during the school year has rocking chairs for her kids, Tatum loves them!  She found one at G & P's house too.  She's such a big girl!

Another favorite toy, Raggedy Ann.  Tatum's Grandma rescued them from being thrown away.  She's sitting in her car and driving Raggedy around the house.  I think my Mama and Papa had a Raggedy Ann and Andy doll as well.

Here's my future little author.  She already knows what to do with that pen and paper.  So cute, I think she was writing us a letter to tell us about all the fun she had.

I was a little worried about leaving her for a whole week, but it was definitely worth it.  The hubs and I had time to relax and reconnect without the responsibilities of being Mommy and Daddy.  Plus, instead of being disappointed that the cruise was over, we were excited to get home and see little Miss.

And finally, in honor of the Reds, I leave you with these pictures.  We've been having quite the remote war switching between the Red's game and the Olympics. 

Teasing Casie

Trip to Tennessee

This past weekend we took a little trip to Jeff's Aunt and Uncle's house on Lake Douglas.  We had such a great time hanging out with Papa and Grandma Warnock, Uncle Mike and Aunt Jerri and our cousins. 

Tatum got to take her first boat ride.  She wasn't crazy about the lifejacket, but she was ready to go!

She enjoyed feeling the wind in her hair and sitting with Grandma Warnock and "Dada". She's started recognizing Jeff and calling out "Dada!!!" everytime she sees him.  She is definitely a Daddy's girl.

Look at that smile and the crazy hair!

Jeff and Uncle Mike found a cliff to jump off of, crazy boys!



Tatum even got to drive the boat with Uncle Mark.

Before we left Tatum got to ride on the tractor with Papa.  She went crazy over this tractor, and cried when she saw the other boys riding it.



This is why summer is so great: family, fun, vacation and pigtails.



Full time Mommy-part time at home

Today was my first day of summer. I feel really blessed to have a job outside of my home that I enjoy so I can help support our family. I also feel blessed that my job allows me to be a part time at home Mom. There's really nothing better than spending time with Tatum.

During the school year, I usually only see her about 3 hours in the evening before she goes to bed. Half of the time, she starts getting cranky about an hour or so after I get home. This usually leads to me feeling a lot of mommy-guilt. But why? Am I a bad mom? No. Does she love her caretakers more than me? Don't think so. Should I be at home with her instead of at school? I would love that, but it's not really a possibility right now. I know that none of those statements are true,but they often seem to run through my head. Why is that?

I try to be really present when I'm at home with her. We play, dance, read, and go on walks. I would call myself a good mom, but that doesn't keep me from thinking that I'm missing out. I wonder if I would still feel guilt if I stayed home. Guilt for not providing any financial support for our family.

That's one reason why I love being a teacher. It's like having the best of both worlds. I can help provide for my family and I get a good chunk of stay at home mommy time. So how did we spend our first day?

Today was Tatum's first swim lesson class. We met some other babies and moms and had fun in the pool. We made pancakes,went to the library and played outside. A great start to summer. To any working moms out there: Do you feel the mommy guilt? What do you do to fight it?

Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

We had Tatum's 1st birthday party about a month ago.  We had such a great time, and the theme was pretty easy, but we got TONS of compliments about it.  I wanted to post the details for anyone else that's looking for a cute, easy birthday theme.

I would say 95% of these ideas came from Pinterest (love that site!).  If you want to see my pinboard for the party, go here:  http://pinterest.com/mrswarnock/tay-s-1st-birthday/

This was the main decor for the party-the food!  We basically served all of the fruit and sweet treats from the book.

We put these food cards by all the food from the book, so cute and easy.  I found them here:

http://www.polkadotsandpuppies.com/2011/04/grants-1st-birthday-party.html

This little guy might possibly be my favorite part of the decor.  I pretty much handed the watermelon to my dad and said, "Make it look like a caterpillar."  He did a great job.

These tissue paper pom poms made a cute caterpillar, but beware, they take FOREVER to spread each little layer apart.  I was going to make these, but then I saw them at the party store.  I just added eyes and antennae from construction paper.

The decorating committee- yes, there's 3 people working on those little tissue balls.

Another easy, but adorable, decor idea.  All we did was cut out 11 circles and added a picture from each month of baby's life.

These balloons were actually strung together on a string.  I don't recommend trying this, it would have been much quicker to just tape them up there.

We knew we would have a lot of kids attending, so we got a pinata, it fit the theme nicely too!

So, there you have it!  Here's one last picture of my very hungry caterpillar.

Welcome

Welcome to our new blog, designed to share all of our fun adventures!