So I have some catching up to do...

Since I neglected my blog for a while...here is a quick run through of the past three months....

February

Ivy had a Valentines party at school and we made some Valentines to pass out instead of buying them.  I cut her out some hearts on my Cricut and let her have it with markers, crayons and glue.  Then we put a sucker in the middle of each one.  Ivy loved it!  She was obsessed with her Valentines box with all the goodies that she got for a couple of weeks too.  She carried it around from room to room, sit down in the floor, open it and take out all of her cards and candy, reorganize them back in the box and then come talk to me about it for a few minutes and then the cycle would start all over again.

Ivy is obsessed with stickers. When she gets a sheet of stickers she has to use EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. right then! I'm all the time walking around with a random sticker stuck to me. So she gave us some on Valentines day...even poor P-man gets stickers. P isn't so fond of it but Ivy thinks he's adorable walking around with a sticker on his back.

Ivy spent some time rocking out with her Daddy.  She liked his guitar better than the toy one.

We had more adventures in Ivy dressing herself.

Left:  Very typical Ivy and those boots are at least one size too big.  Right:  Rainbow day at school - Ivy's dream!  Shirt by Dig this Chick.

Zach and Kristin got hitched...in North Carolina...in the middle of February. I was worried about there being three feet of snow on the ground and freezing my butt off but it warmed up nicely and I think it was probably in the 50's...which is totally crazy for Boone that time of year.

Zachary and Kristin Ward - February 19, 2011

Ivy had lots of fun before the wedding playing with her cousins and running around like a mad woman stressing me out.  Carter showed her that the mic was on....and well she's the next American Idol.

All three of us were in the wedding but we waited until we got home to a warmer climate to take pictures of Ivy in her flower girl dress. And I must say, she may be the cutest flower girl I've ever seen.

And since we were in the wedding we didn't get to take many pictures so I stole this next one from the photographer that they used.  I really don't think those Wards knew what they were getting when I married into that family. You see Kristin wanted pictures of everyone acting silly (because we are) and my Father-in-law, Arville would not make a silly face when instructed....so I had to take matters into my own hands.  But then of course it seems that Kristin and I were the only two being silly because everyone got distracted when I wrapped my leg around Arville.  Classic.

Right after we got home from the wedding Chris went on his first business trip. It totally sucked.  He was gone a whole week and we missed him a lot!  Hopefully there won't be anymore of those trips.  I don't know how single parents do it.

March


We got spoiled with some really warm weather for most of February and then the temp dropped to the 50's again and well we thought we were going to freeze to death.  Ivy felt it was necessary to put on a hat to make sure her ears didn't get cold.  But even though she really didn't need the hat she looks pretty adorable.

I would love to say that she buttoned that sweater all by herself but I would be lying...that was all me. Oops.

She loves her Maw.

My Dad and Deb had a birthday party for Maw out at their house on the farm.And of course Ivy was running around crazy like usual out there. It was pretty wet and chilly but she didn't let that stop her from riding her new tricycle that Paw Paw and Nana Hannah got her.

And whenever she wasn't obsessed with this disco light...she was dancing with her Daddy, which of course made my heart melt.

And of course we have some more of Ivy dressing herself...

Left:  Of course she has on striped tights and her bunny shirt made by my friend Brooke.  Right:  Circus day at school so she got to wear a costume.

Ivy had to make a statue for her Kindermusik class and when I asked what she wanted to make she said "A Dolphin jumping out of the water" very matter of factly. Dolphins are her favorite. I made the basic shape of the dolphin and then let her pinch the waves together and she put the fins on him. She rolled the eyes out herself and placed them on him. Then she said "I want to paint the waves", so we did. Then she wanted him to have a flower on his head and a snowflake tattoo on his tail. I did not dare tell her no to any of it. I want her to be as creative as possible.  I asked her what she wanted to name him and she replied "Just Dolphin Mommy." It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Since it warmed back up around mid March we've been spending a lot of time outside using sidewalk chalk.

We were even able to get away for a weekend in March and go visit my Uncle David and Aunt Cheryl in McDonough. We always have a blast and get to do lots of Tanger outlet shopping. And Ivy gets to hang with Emily which I'm pretty sure is her favorite thing in the whole world. This visit we couldn't keep Ivy off of the trampoline.

April


We went to the Monday practice rounds at the Masters.  I haven't been since I was 19 so I was pretty excited to see it again.  Even if you're not a fan of golf it's still a beautiful place and it was a gorgeous day!  Chris's Uncle Randall and Aunt Libby got to come down from North Carolina to go with us and we had a blast.

If you read my previous post in April then you know that my brother came home from Afghanistan for his R&R and surprised us all. He's lucky that we didn't all have heart attacks. More on that to come later. So for now it seems that I'm semi caught up.  Hooray!