Reading Time...

One of Jorja's favorite things to do is grab one of her many books, bring it to Shane or me, turn around and then sit down in our laps while we read to her. I love that she enjoys it so much and that (most of the time) will sit still and hang on every word we say! Some of her favorites include:


Now, these are not near all of her favorites but these are high on the list... and are completely and fully memorized by mom!! At any rate... One night Jorja had just gotten out of the bath (thus the extra curly fro you see) and was getting ready to go bed and I had just finished reading to her "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and when I finished she grabbed the book, laid on her belly in the middle of the room, opened the book and proceeded to point to each of the pictures while "reading" to us! It was AWESOME! Shane & I sat there stunned and beaming with smiles. I couldn't get the camera out fast enough to catch her actually laying on her belly "reading" to us but, I did catch her once she got up and put the book on the table and continued to "read". I did discover though how I must sound when I read to her because she has a pretty good rhythm going on. I hope you enjoy the story Jorja's telling as much as we do! Oh and have I mentioned lately how smart, wonderful and adorable I think my kid is?? Ok, just checkin...

A few things we've been up to lately...

Here are a few things we've been up to lately... (several posts below)

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Sleeping whenever we can in the most unusual ways! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that Jorja LOVES to sleep??

READING! It's Jorja's new favorite thing to do. I can't even begin to tell you how many children's books I have memorized now - it is crazy! The one of her and Shane is priceless - he's such a great dad! And the one of her by herself is just plain awesome. She looks like she's just cool chillin and really reading on her own. I love it!

Jorja and I went to a play date at Celebration Park - where the water shoots up from the ground and sprays. I had fun hanging with the other moms and watching the other little ones but Jorja wasn't really thrilled with it. She just doesn't like the water splashing her in the face. Maybe next summer when she's older she'll be more into it. However, one thing she is TOTALLY into is her WAGON. I think we go out for walks in that thing almost every day and if we don't go outside with it, she plays with it in the house. She simply can't get enough. SO FUN!

Apparently my daughter has become a diva and loves wearing her cool new shades.

Here are a few pics of play time. She got a drum set for her birthday and she loves smashing her face with the lid of the drum. What is awesome is she'll pick up the lid, say "mama" real loud to catch my attention and THEN press her face against it. Then we both crack up laughing. She is such a HOOT! I can't get enough of her! She also loves playing with her Rocking Snail... and cuddling with it as well as it is quite soft and furry!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I met a girl and her son, Katie & Cole, at one of our "Mommy & Me" play groups and we all just hit it off so great! (she's the one who made my blog so cute) We decided to get together outside of our scheduled "Mommy & Me" events and went and ate at Chick-fil-A then went to Katie's gorgeous house to play. We had an amazing time. Cole has SO many toys and Jorja just had a great time exploring the new toys and interacting with Cole. He is SUCH a cutie but he is definitely all boy! There were a few times he would eye Jorja's bow and you could tell all he really wanted to do was yank it out of her hair - but he didn't! :) They really did get along so great and it was cute to watch them try to figure each other out! And there was lots of hand holding... I'm not sure how I feel about that - my little innocent girl is being swept off her feet too early! HA! Katie & Cole have a very special story that you should read about when you get a chance. Katie is an AMAZING mom who carries herself with strength, peace, hope and joy. I feel SO blessed that they are in my life and can't wait to spend many more days with them and watch our little ones grow up together! :)

Labor Day Weekend Fun!!

Have I mentioned before that Jorja loves to swim and play in the sand?? Well, since that is one of our favorite things to do together I decided we better get Daddy and head over to the pool before it closes until next summer. The "Beach Club" in McKinney is one of our favorite places to go and the last day it was open was Labor Day so us and Nannie headed up there for one last dip in the water! It was the first time Shane was able to go with us (since he wasn't working) and Jorja LOVED for him to be there. She just kept saying "dada" over and over to make sure he was as close to her as possible! I loved watching them play together. The pool has a fun "sprinkler" area as well and now that Jorja is walking I thought it would be fun for her to go over there and play. She wasn't too thrilled with all the water splashing her in the face but she did really enjoy the slide so we went on that SEVERAL times! It was SUCH a fun day, full of fun memories with the 3 of us together in the water for the first time!

One of my favorite pics of us - ever! I love it!

Mom & Dad with The Sweet Girl getting ready to swim!

Jorja playing "fetch" with Daddy - Mom & Jorja on the slide

I don't typically post things of just Shane and myself but since we are talking about Labor Day I thought I'd show what Shane & I did while Jorja spent some time with her grandparents. Oh, yeah - we went BOWLING with some of our closest and bestest friends!!! It was SO much fun!!

Speaking of Nannie & Papa Huey... back at the beginning of August they took Jorja and me back to "The Beach" for some fun time in the sun! I wasn't able to post the pics because quickly after this fun day is when Jorja got SO sick and I was so wrapped up in it that I forgot to post these pics. Jorja absolutely LOVES hanging with "nana" and "papa" (as she calls them since she can't quite say "nannie" and "papa huey" fully yet) and they LOVE hanging out with her. We all had a great time digging in the sand, burying Papa's feet, swimming in the turtle and trying to walk through the "sprinklers" (she couldn't really walk by this time so she needed my help). It was definitely a fun day for all! Thanks, Nannie & Papa for always being so willing to watch Jorja at the drop of a hat so Shane & I can still have date nights, hang out with friends, and just get some peace & quiet. We owe you guys BIG time!!

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A visit to Gigi & Papa's

A few weeks ago Shane went out of town for work so Jorja and I packed up our things and headed to Gigi & Papa's (my parents). We had such a great time! My parents live on a lake so one day Jorja, my mom and I headed to the beach to play in the sand and swim in the lake for a bit. It was great because we were the ONLY ones out there. We had a great time digging around in the sand and swimming out in the lake. The whole time we were playing on the beach Jorja kept pointing out to the water and saying "ba" (as you can see in one of the pics below). I realized there were these giant orange balls floating in the water so of course that was the first thing we swam to when we got in the water. Jorja had to check them out! One thing Jorja loves to do while she floats in her turtle is to throw out her toys and watch us swim out to get whatever it is she threw. The bigger deal we make of getting the toy the louder she laughs. I think my mom really enjoyed going to great lengths to make Jorja laugh...which you will see from the picture below of my mom wearing Jorja's hat! HA! My parents also have a trampoline and Jorja loved going out there and bouncing. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it but I did film some on our video camera. Now that she has a new found skill of walking it was such a riot for her to try and walk around on that bouncy trampoline. She would fall every 2 seconds and just laugh and laugh every time she did it. It was great. We also went and had a fun playdate with my cousin's daughter (would that be Jorja's first cousin twice removed??) At any rate - Lundyn and Jorja had a great time together. Lundyn is 3 so she was a bit more advanced than Jorja but didn't have a problem trying to show Jorja "the ropes". They seemed to get along great! We really had such a fun-filled time while we were there - not only did she swim, jump on the trampoline and play with cousins but she also rode around the block with Papa in the golf cart several times & swung on the back porch swing! One major thing I noticed about Jorja while we were at my parents is she walked a lot more than she had before. Now, Jorja had already started walking by the time we went to visit my parents but it was pretty sporadic and was still dominated by crawling. My parents have hardwood floors and I think she realized there was a much easier and less painful way to get around on the hard floor than crawling. Ever since we left my parents house I haven't seen her crawl one time. We are officially a full-time walker! Thanks, Gigi and Papa for a great visit - can't wait to see you again!!

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Our fun at the beach and swimming in the lake!

Jorja helping Papa load up the dishwasher and playing with Lundyn!

Saying bye-bye to Papa