Olivia- 2 months and 2 weeks....

"Thank Heavens for little girls!" Olivia has stolen my heart! She is such a beautiful, happy baby who lets me torture her with all kinds of outfits, headbands, bows and photo sessions!

New Blog: www.tag-a-longtoys.blogspot.com

Hi everyone! I've started up another blog featuring the "Taggy Blankies" that I've been making for baby gifts and to sell on the side. Check out my latest creations! I'd love to hear your feedback! Here's a few examples of my designs!

I've been tagged...

My friend, Laura tagged me and I'm supposed to list 6 quirky things about me. I'm sure those who know me well will get a good laugh and that they'll be thinking (what, only 6?!) Anyhow, these are the ones that I could think of off of the top of my head:

1. I have a compulsive urge to have everything planned out. Most of the times my plans don't work out but I get some strange sense of comfort from having them...

2. I have a terrible habit of "browsing" real estate ALL THE TIME even though we are no where close to buying a house or even knowing where we'll be living! ((Sigh, sigh, sigh...))

3. I hate to brush my teeth (I know, this is sooooooooo lame, but honestly, I avoid it until I absolutely must!) I think it's just annoying to have to brush my teeth when all I want to do when I'm tired is crawl into bed! Oh, and the same goes for washing my face at night...(I might as well be completely honest here!) (Sorry, Nickie =)

4. I hate going to bed at night, and then I hate waking up in the morning!

5. I'm over-organized: My cans in the cupboard are lined up with labels facing out, my make-up is seperated into skincare and eyecare, my laundry has to be folded just so and then put into the drawers in a specific way....basically EVERYTHING has a place and is IN IT's PLACE! And I HATE it when people are disorganized!!! It makes me bonkers!!! All I can think about is getting them organized!!

6. I have a secret: A lady from church commented to me last Sunday that I always look perfect and am sooooooo put together! Hah! My dad was standing next to me when she gave me this compliment and I had to thank him after for not saying a word! Not a darn word! The truth be known, when I'm at home for the day I usually don't shower, wear black stretch pants and a t-shirt, no make-up...basically I'm a total slacker! Poor Chris, and he thought he married a well-put-together woman!

There you have it! I think it would be funny though if any of you can think of funny "quirks" that I have and leave a comment! I tag: Nickie, Rachel C., Nat, Berty, Megan, Whitney, Rose...and anyone else who wants to do it!!!

Olivia is 2 MONTHS! (where has the time gone?)

Here's our sweet little girl! She is so bright-eyed and happy. Some of the things that she has started doing are: smiling, "laughing" and cooing all of the time. She is very responsive to people and "talks" with you if you talk and smile at her. She loves to kick her feet and be in her swing. She just started a fascination with the t.v. and the bright colors and movement (oh no! she's hooked already!)

She sleeps very well (waking only once at night) and takes a good 3-4 hour nap midday.

She is healthy and strong and holds her head up all of the time. She likes to "sit up" when you hold her back and she enjoys tummy time too. She has just grown so much! We love her chunky little body and give her lots of kisses on her chubby cheeks for everbody!

Little friends: this is Olivia's first little friend, Raegan who was born about 3 weeks before her. She is the daughter of some of our good friends, Jared and Tyneal.

(I wonder what secrets they are sharing!)

Brady LOVES his little sister and is such a good big brother to her! He likes to sing to her, help hold her, show her toys and he even helps to feed her when we're in the car! Olivia loves Brady too! Every time he talks to her she is fixated on him and is all smiles!!!

This is ONE of the things I've been up to this summer....

I've ALWAYS wanted to can but for some reason I've always been really intimidated by it- I guess it's because I never knew how EASY it is!!! I've been "CANNING UP A STORM" around here trying to make good use of the vegetables from our garden and a bunch of apples that my dad picked for me off of an apple tree at his work!

This is what my window sill in the kitchen has looked like for the last two months! We had over 40 tomato plants (thanks to mine and Brady's wonderful seedlings that we planted during the winter!) Because we had so many I had to pick lots of green tomatoes or get them off of the ground because the plants were so heavy!

So far I've made:

16 QUARTS of apple pie filling

24 pints of green tomato relish (this is REALLY good if you like relish!!!)

and also:

5 pints of salsa (I tried out just a little because I wasn't sure of the recipe and I'm glad that I did because I ended up not liking it very well. I'll try another next year).

24 pints tomato juice (I'll use this in soups/stews and other recipes like chicken cacciatore, chili)

12 Quarts of spaghetti sauce (which came out GREAT!!!)

10 Quarts of pickles

Camp- "Morgan's Roost"

Last Friday we went up to my Grandpa's Camp "Morgan's Roost- Where the Rooster Rules?" We had fun kayaking and spending the afternoon at the lake and visiting with my Grandparents, who Brady calls Papa and G.G. Morgan.

Brady's first time "fishing!"

On the dirt road leading up to camp there is this old truck with a tree growing out of it! I think I'm going to send this picture into Hallmark with the caption: "Been in one place too long?"

Brady at "The Cousin's Place," a small cascade that flows into a pool that my cousins and I used to swim at (hence why we called it The Cousins' Place! The name has stuck all of these years and everyone in our family still calls it that!)

Papa Morgan holds chubby little Livy

Picnic at Pineland Farms

There is a beautiful farm open to the public about 15 mins. from where we live. It has a large campus with office buildings, a farmer's market, a bakery, a cafeteria with all fresh, homade food, a creamery, animals, a fishing pond, a flower garden with walking paths, hiking paths etc. It's such a neat place so we went there to get some sunshine and have a picnic!

At the fishing pond: we saw huge tadpoles, baby trout and lots of lilypads!

We got some great pictures of Olivia and Brady too: (she was 6 weeks on Monday, Sep. 1st)

She is such a GREAT baby! So happy and cuddly! She coos all of the time and makes funny little noises.

My Little Boy: