Skylar is 4 Months Old!! :)

Miss Skylar is 4 months old today! She is growing so fast... it seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital having her!!! She has been such a wonderful baby so far.... she naps great, eats well, and sleeps well at night for the most part! She still wakes up around 4am to eat, but then goes back to sleep until around 8. I am HOPING she drops that 4am feeding soon :) She usually takes about 3 or 4 naps during the day, and they usually are 1-2 hours long. She has a bottle about every 3 hours and usually takes 3-5 oz. She smiles ALL the time, coos, she can hold her toys now, and she can grab her toes. She also laughed for the first time last week! Her 4 month well-check is tomorrow.... I am excited to see how much she weighs now and once we get back from our beach trip I am excited to start trying some baby food! So exciting :-)

Gatlinburg, TN trip

We had a great time in Gatlinburg last week. Scott had to go there for work so this time the girls and I decided to go with him. We've been able to do that several times and we always have a blast when we are there. Scott worked during the days, so the girls and I just had fun exploring Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge, going to petting zoos, shopping, and enjoying the hotel pool. And then in the evenings while Scott was off we enjoyed the MANY restaurants there, went to tons of archades, rode go-carts, let Tay ride ponies, and feed yet MORE animals (her absolute FAVORITE thing to do!) If you have a trip to Gatlinburg in the future I highly recommend these places: Deer Farm Exotic Petting Zoo, Wild Woody (has lots of kiddie rides, carousel, train, go-carts, bumper boats, archade, etc.), the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Gatlinburg, Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Old Mill Restaurant in the Old Mill District, and of course the Gatlinburg Aquarium of the Smokies. :) Scott has to travel back there this weekend, so I am trying to decide if the girls and I will be joining him again??? :)
Here are some pics from our trip last week:

Riding go-carts with Daddy (we FINALLY talked him into it!!!)

Feeding Goats :-)

Riding Ponies (:

swimming @ hotel pool

riding go-carts with mommy :)

riding the swings

Riding the carousel

Feeding apples to the Reindeer!

Feeding the huge camel!

Petting the deer!

Feeding the zebra!

Taylor picking up baby goats at the Petting Zoo

Scott & Skylar in downtown Gatlinburg

Scott & Taylor @ Hard Rock in Gatlinburg

4th of July Weekend!~

We had a very busy and FUN 4th of July Weekend!! Scott had been in TN that week working and came home on Saturday afternoon. So the girls and I went to the park Saturday morning to play and have a picnic lunch. Then that evening we had some friends & family over to grill & do fireworks. On Sunday, Scott and his friend Jeff went to play golf and when they got home the plan was that they were going to watch the kids while my friend Amanda and I went to get pedicures.... but of course when I told Taylor where I was going that afternoon she asked if she could go too. I've been wanting to take her to get a pedi anyways, so I told her if she was on her very best behavior she could come with us. She did SO well the entire time and absolutely LOVED getting her first manicure AND pedicure :) She is already ready to go back and have it done again. LOL! Then that night we went to Lake Benson Park in Garner for their annual fireworks show. Some friends of our's -Josh & Holly- and their 3 girls came with us and so did Scott's sister April, her boyfriend Paul, and our neice Carlie. It was a lot of fun just hanging out in the Park waiting for the fireworks show. On Monday, the 4th, we went to the pool for several hours..... then that night we grilled steaks with Scott's parents, & grandparents.... it was a relaxing end to a VERY BUSY weekend! :) Here are some pics from the weekend :


Some pictures from the Park:

She looked like a little Sailor Baby ;-)

Happy Baby

my SWEET girls

Taylor's FIRST Mani / Pedi :-)

@ the Garner Fireworks!

Mommy & Skylar :)

Scott & Skylar at Garner Fireworks

All of the girls at the Garner Fireworks

Whitney, Emersyn, Taylor, & Kyndall

Napping in Mommy's arms at the pool

Scott & Skylar relaxing by the pool

Scott & I at the pool

Having fun at the pool on the 4th!

Taylor @ the Pool, ready to swim :)

The girls @ Nana & Papa's on the 4th

Skylar @ Nana & Papa's House for a july 4th cook-out

Friends, Family, Food, & Fireworks!!

Last night we had Scott's parents and our neighbors Jeff & Amanda and their 2 kids Payton & Jacob over to grill out and do fireworks. Scott had been in TN working last week so on his way home he stopped and went crazy buying fireworks to bring home! We really thought Taylor would enjoy it, but she was TERRIFIED of them!! Her and Payton both started crying immediately and wanted to go inside lol!!! I am so glad Scott's mom helped with the girls... she played with them inside while we enjoyed the firework show....... UNTIL the cops showed up! HA! Evidentally someone in our neighborhood must have called and complained. Thankfully the cop was very nice about it and just told us not to do any more fireworks. It was a fun night spent with friends & family to celebrate July 4th weekend. :)

Skylar & Payton (they are 6 weeks apart!)

Nana with Taylor & Payton watching from inside the house b/c the girls were terrified LOL!

I think the men enjoyed it more than anyone ;)

Tay watching the fireworks from the porch before she got scared!

4th of July Desserts & Crafts!!

We had a lot of fun the past couple days making some July 4th crafts and desserts! I LOVE to do arts & crafts with Taylor, especially during Holidays. We made "fireworks" out of glue & glitter on black paper, a collage flag out of pieces of red, white, & blue paper, and a sponge-painted flag using red & blue paint and a sponge I cut into a rectangle (for the stripes) and a star. I think the sponge painting was her favorite of all.... I will definitely be doing that one again and I'm sure I'll find something else she can create with some more sponge shapes :) We also made a couple of desserts.... an American Flag cake that we make every year topped with strawberries & blueberries to resemble the flag, and we also made some red, white, & blue strawberries (they were dipped in white chocolate and blue sugar)... they turned out really cute and were super easy & fun to make! Now we are getting ready for our super busy & FUN weekend celebrating the 4th!!! :-)