Lacy Reunion

It has been a couple of weeks ago but we went to the Lacy Family Reunion with Jordon's family. The night before we left, Lubbock had a ridiculous wind storm that destroyed trees and everything all around town. Our neighbors tree broke and fell into our yard. Thankfully it just knocked a couple of planks out of our fence.

The handyman and his trusty companion had to cut up the tree branch so he could fix the fence. I guess we got some free firewood. Jordon got an early father's day present because he needed a chainsaw!

No trip out of town can go completely uneventful. Rylan had hives all over his little body. We finally figured out that he is allergic to penicillin. A stop by the doctor's office in Brownwood as we traveled to the family reunion and he was good to go. 

 

 The hives did not slow Rylan down. He had a great time. I did not get many pictures but we went swimming and played a lot! Rylan has become very independent since he can walk on his own.

Rhett just wanted someone to take him to the slide!

We stopped to change Tyler and Nicole's tire because it was losing air. Rylan, Memaw and I stayed in the our car. Rylan had a lot of fun in the front seat and controlling the radio.

Jordon's Birthday

This weekend Memaw and Pops came to Lubbock to see Cameron' new house and for Jordon's birthday. I forgot to take my camera with us to see Cameron's house so no pictures of it. Everyone came over after and we had cake and ice cream Saturday afternoon for Jordon's birthday.

 

Rylan and Rhett were more interested in playing with the shutters than singing to Jordon.

Rylan enjoys cake!

 Memaw could not do anything on her iPad with these two punching buttons. They made a game out of sliding their hands through the stand.

 

Rylan loves to wear his dad's cap.

Rylan was leading Uncle Cameron around the house.

One tired little boy on Saturday night after everyone left. He was still recovering on Monday. Thankfully I had the day off too so I got to hang out with Rylan all day.

Rylan and I were playing with the new video camera on Monday afternoon. I did finally catch him taking a few steps too.

Cake Explosion

My first attempt at Jordon's birthday cake. Jordon wanted chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. I of course search for cake recipes on Pinterest. Well this one was a major Pinterest fail! It exploded all over the oven.

Visit to McLean

This weekend we ventured to McLean to visit Grammy and Papa. We ate dinner with Nikki and Aaron Saturday night at the steakhouse in Memphis. Rylan had so much fun and was so tired. We left around noon on Sunday and he fell asleep before we got in the car and slept almost all the way home. Grammy left with us in her car to come to Abernathy because Holly has kidney stones again and had to have surgery on Sunday to remove one.

Rylan took several steps by himself this weekend. He is walking very good but still holds on to something most of the time. Jill sent him a drum for his birthday from her family. He was holding the drumsticks and did not realize he was on his own. Of course no one had a camera or anything near so the moment was not caught on camera.

Papa picked us some fresh vegetable from his garden before we left. Rylan and Jordon were his helpers. We can't wait until later in the summer when there is more goodies. Hopefully they will have some cucumbers I can swipe to make pickles. Rylan loves pickles.

 

Checking out the future crop of peas and corn.

Rylan and Jordon helped Papa unload some gravel from the mule for Grammy in her back yard. Then Rylan got to drive around for fun with Papa. I think it almost put him to sleep.

 

They are under construction at the front part of the house; renovating a room and garage and adding on another room. It has also led to redoing the AC units and ducts for the whole house.

 

garage

outside where new room will be added

former office being renovated into a bedroom

future bathroom and entrance to added room

future bathroom floor (those are the stairs to the basement)

Kitchen - finally getting the pictures up

Here are the before, during and after pictures of the kitchen. It took us longer than expected because Rylan got sick but it was worth it; new counter tops and back splash. Now I just need new hardware for the cabinets.

Before

 

 

Demo

 

 FINISHED

 

 

 

Mother's Day Weekend

I know it is mid-week now but we had a great weekend. It was nice to be at home and really have no plans. We got a lot done around the house actually. We organized closets, went to a baby shower and ran some errands.

I also final got some sheets and a comforter on the beds in Rylan's room. I switched to a day bed and trundle from a full. I drug Jordon and Rylan all over town looking for just the right comforter for the bed. I am not a matchy match or theme person but there is not much else out there for little boys. Then it hit me that I already had the perfect thing: the denim quilt my Granny Seitz made me when I came to Tech.

You will all be pleased to know that Jordon and Rylan got me a video camera so hopefully (once I learn how to use it) there will be more Rylan video on there.

For now here is just a really cute picture of Rylan and Abby. 

Rylan got another hair cut last week. This kid has so much hair! He did pretty good this time, just got a little upset at the end.

 

Cooking, Projects, Etc.

At the request of some friends, I will try to be better about posting my Pinterest projects, cooking, furniture, and all of the other random stuff Jordon and I take on. We currently are redoing a vanity for Nikki. It is close to being finished. Jordon just finished the kitchen backsplash and it looks great; pictures will be up soon.

I really need to organize my boards on Pinterest but who has the time to do that! I pin alot of things and some day I will have time to do most of them. I get alot of ideas from Pinterest but don't always do them exactly. I am sure it is simple but I never take the time to post my stuff to Pinterest. I guess Katie will have to show me how. Katie did set up my Instagram account. I don't post much yet on Instagram but you can follow me; dudleyjl.

I made the Better Than Anything Oreo Cake for Rylan's birthday. Then it was requested by the students in our office so I made it again for Elizabeth's graduation celebration last week. It is super good and super rich. You can see some pictures of it on early blog posts from Rylan's birthday.

People are always interested in how I make Rylan's baby food. It is really not that hard so I will try to post more about those adventures. One thing about making your own baby food is that Rylan will not eat the pre-made stuff at all. I tried some of the raviolis and he spit them out. I can't blame him because they are mushy and pretty gross looking.

I did try making my own fruit snacks the other day and that did not work out. I found a recipe on Pinterest but the whole gelatin thing was not working for me. They were very chewy and I did not even try to give one to Rylan. I have not given up on the fruit snacks yet. I think I am going to try the dehydrator method instead of gelatin. Stay tuned for that.

Here's a good tip for anyone who is laundry challenged: vinegar in the washer will help get out any accidental color fades. I have seen my mom do this when she washed some of Rylan's clothes and I had to use it recently. We left a red sock in with some of his other clothes and well pink is not a good look for baby boy; especially one as pretty as Rylan :). I bought a new black and white skirt, washed it some darker colors that should not have faded. Well the white parts were pink and those of you who know me know I don't do pink! One cup of white vinegar in where the bleach goes and a small amount of detergent and the skirt looks as good as new. Thank goodness because IT IS NEW and I have never wore it!!!