As Promised, Loftin Holiday Fun

Wow, Im out of shape.

Okay, now I swore to myself and to my "avid" readers (all two of you, LOL) that I would not constantly write apologetic posts about how often I am not writing. Yet here I am again. ::SIGH:: I admit things here in the Loftin household have been nut so. J is preparing for finals, only one week left, Turtle has been growing like a weed and literally is giving us a run for our money just keeping her fed and in clothes that fit. I have been trying my darnedest to get some sort of business going.
Things have been good. I have done a few shows and I'm having a good response. Also the website seems to be doing its share of business, but like all things in life I want more and I want it NOW! I have to say that now I'm nervous about what turn the business will take with the passing of some legislation which changes the sale of items for children under 12. This could be it for the small time proprietor. We shall see.
Christmas is right around the corner. We anticipate seeing Santa this week, so pics will be posted. Speaking of pics, do I have alot to share from today! Today it SNOWED. Not just a little, but alot, enough to cover the ground and enough for J and I to make two cute snowmen! C didn't seem to care too much, she just kind of looked at it and grunted as to say that it was dirt or something, but the cold air had her frisky. It was nice that it happened today as this was the first day we all were feeling a bit better. We have been sickly for the better part of the week, but it seems as though things are back to normal.
Well this is a short and sweet update, promise more to come soon. I have to get the snow pictures up and get some pics of her outside with the snowmen, so check back soon!

Yep, Im a slacker...

I have been so bad in my updating, but I'm sure you know this already. We have been unusually busy. My mom and I have started a bit of a web business, so things have been hectic as I tried my hand at web design and creating lots of "goods" to push. So alas, no pictures, no recolections of super fun things we have done. ::SIGH::

I promise to get back on the wagon and get some pictures of my super cute turtle back on the web. So before November comes and goes, fun will be had!

Great Pumpkin

Well we almost missed it. We almost missed the Pumpkin patch, with the trips and camera mishaps there were only a few left. fortunately we got a few cute pics. Turtle was not in the photo mood today, but we made due. Next year we know that we have to get out there early! I hope everyone enjoys:)

Back in the saddle, sort of...

I have a camera. Its my parents. They have been gracious enough to lend me theirs while mine is out of comission. The very first thing I did when I got home was dressed C in her Halloweenie costume and had to start snapping. I am feeling better now. Oh, and the pics are jsut too cute, once again, there are too many cutes ones to choose from so I'm slideshowing people.LOL!



Oh speaking of "LOL's" I just thought Id mention that I write the blog as I am having a coversation, so I know at times there is incorrect punctuation, run-ons and such, but I just dont feel like bothering with all of that, I prefer a laid back jambalaya of words and thoughts...have fun trying to decipher all of randomness. ::wink::

Oh and as of 4:30-5am this morning I am an AUNT! How cool is that, C has a cousin, a little baby boy..pics to come I'm sure:)

So I still have to post pics of the floor, which I love! Will do that eventually.

Also, last week we took C for pictures at JCP. Trainwreck. Ugh, this russian lady was just not a photographer. We had such a nice experience last time and this was BAD. She wasted so many good shots and was way too light with the trigger finger. So after an hour we ended up with like 20 pics and only 2 decent ones. I can take 20 pics and have 10 decent ones in 5 minutes...UGH. So when I get those I will be sending them out as well.

This week is Halloween, we arent quite sure what we are doing yet. The fall festival was cancelled, so we will probablly end up at the zoo.

Oh and as promised, pics from our RAD time at Sea-World (as soon as I can, I am having loading problems). I am so in love with that place. The pics just cant eveen do justice in showing how much fun we had!

Well thats all I have for now, tomorrow we are haniging with some friends in a pre-halloween party, so Im sure Ill have pics of fat babies in costumes, does it get any better?

Cant stand it

The worst is happening. I cant deal any longer, I don't know what I will do. My camera is...ugh..broken? I don't know whats wrong with it. The problem is that it isn't showing a new battery charge so it just dies, it was working fine and then..poof. The kicker is that I have been watching C's bff for the past two days and there have been so many photo ops that I'm missing out on. sad.

Also, since It pooped out on us in San Antonio I didn't get any pics of Sea World. I will upload the ones I get from my moms camera as soon as I get them.

So there it is, the reason for no update after Sea World I will post ASAP. I hope that I can get this camera situation in order soon, the thing isn't even a year old yet...::SIGH:: I'm going through shutter withdrawal.

Bizzy Bees

Ive been bad about updating. I have sooo many pics to post, seems like If i don't do it daily then I lose track. Today it seems appropriate to post the pics as a slide show. In the time that I haven't posted, I've missed posting pics of mine & C's lunch date at the park and yet another fun day at the duck pond. Good times.



Ah...where does the time go?

I also had to include pics of my turtle in the plaid dress...this was MY dress as a little girl, one day if I get around to organizing my pics I may come across a pic of me in this dress, Ill be sure to post a comparison.

Today we went to play date and visited in Crockett. Last week we had a nice play date with a friend and her adorable 4 month old , seems like only yesterday that C was that little, its sad how fast time flies.

We are enjoying October and looking forward to our big trip to Sea-World this weekend. I'm sure I will be on photo-overload when we get back. I cant wait, we will be gone Friday through Sunday...its going to be so much FUN! Don't be jealous, Ill post plenty of pics, so everyone can enjoy looking at how much fun we had:)

Tomorrow we have dentist appointments, so not looking forward to that, not after the root canal incident. Yuck.

The flooring is going well, the dining room and entryway are almost complete, my parents and I spent all weekend, everyone worked so hard and they look great, as soon as I finish the grout work and clean them up and seal them I will post pics.

Well that's it for now. Hope everyone enjoys the pics, Oh and that totally adorable Halloween outfit she is wearing in the photos, yeah, my completely talented mom made that..shes that good:) Its so CUTE!

Rootin' tootin Root Canal...

I'm here, I have made it, barely. Kidding.

The root canal is over, I was a complete and utter basket case. No matter how many people told me it was going to be easy breezy, I didn't buy it. I should have. Instead I walked into the building and burst into tears, tried to regain composure before walking into the office, and sadly I couldn't so there I sat filling out the paperwork, crying like a totally baby. Oh well..at least there was no one else there to see me. I wasn't even given an option, he looked at me and what a mess I was and told the nurse lady that "we are going to need gas". Lovely.
Anyway, today I feel good, no real pain, last weeks fillings hurt so much more than today. I hope its all over.

Everyone else is good, nothing too exciting right now, J is back out mowing the property and C is taking a nap. I will update with some pics in a while. I have to upload some before and after pics of the floor we are laying this weekend! YAY!

Fair on the square

Today I became a Huntsvillian (?, sounds good) I attended my first fair on the square. It was cute. Very small and very busy. It did have alot of eateries though, I often avoid them since they remind me of carney workers. LOL! I went with Ava & Kat, and Mel & Annaleise. I was sans kiddo today since she got to spend the day with her grandpa and le-le. I hope she had a good day. J had to work and Im not sure how his day went.

This week was a whirlwind...and next week is looking even busier... Monday at moms, Tues is playdate and visiting, Wed I am getting a ROOT CANAL!!! Im dying about this, Thurs..well nothing yet but Im sure that will change soon enough!

Fall is here and it seems like once it comes the year just closes in quickly! Right now I am trying to plan a family photo shoot, I figure that if I start planning outfits and locations that maybe my Christmas I will have some to upload~ ha!

Also coming up soon, we are going to Sea-World...yaaaaayyy we are going in 2 weeks...and next weekend we are ripping out our carpet and laying tile floors in the house...Im telling you, we know how to keep it movinga round here.
Ill update soon

Back to normal

Well as normal as we get! LOL J has been on me about how behind I am getting with the blog. Not much to report. Things have been good since we got electricity again. It was last Friday that we got to come home, thank goodness. I am so glad that things are back on track. This week has literally flown by. I have a few photos to upload. This week my prima donna got her tootsies painted for the first time. Its just too darn cute. Ill tell her she has pretty toes and she sticks them up and wiggles them at me. Shes just perfect!

J has been working diligently to get our property mowed and we have been trying to get some other "chores" done, like getting water and electricity out there. Its so relaxing and peaceful out there. C and I tried fishing again...total train wreck. I even brought her own pole, but she wanted mine. Oh, and when I caught a fish she just wanted to kiss it and got ever so angry when I threw it back into the water. Looks like I have an animal lover:)
J is back to the grind at school, this semester is getting to him. He is not appreciating one of his business classes. Turns out that we tend to forget math that we learned um..like 10 years ago. Poor J, hes a geez. LOL!
That's about it for now...Ill get those photos uploaded so you all can appreciate the twinkle toes!

Still without power

Our current hurricane status: Displaced. Current outlook: Hopeful

We are luckier than most. Lucky for us we have great family close enough who doesnt seem to mind the attitude of little miss that much:) We have gone fishing, fed horses, read a few books and even indulged in a few SONIC drinks, what else does one need? We are having a nice time, although we do miss being at home. We have kept busy so far, J and his dad went and with the help of a few cleaned up our yard a bit. They removed the tree that was once a threat of falling on the house. J called a neighbor tonight and we are still without power. Hopefully this will be resolved soon, but we are thankful to currently have power and water at our parents house.

Currently my own folks are without power and have another couple living with them from Galveston. Its so hard to think about the fact that the inevitable is that they are indeed homeless. I am so thankful for what I have.

I will update once again with pics and fun stuff once we get things back to normal.

Yep, shes a biggun' & hurricane update

We are safe and sound in Crockett. C and I decided to come up here since we would have to be without J at the house and we are without a generator at the house. I figured company is always nice when entertainment is at a minimum. Everything is good here, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a restaurant that had not closed up shop yet and even slipped in an ice cream cone. We are just hoping and wishing that everything stays quiet and that the storm doesn't hit too hard. Not too much to say about the storm that many aren't already feeling.

About the docs appt. Well Toot had a good one, it was pretty uneventful. She is 35.5" tall and in the 99% and she is 30.25lbs in the 97%. Doc said she looks very good and on the right track. He says that she destined to be a tall girl. Lord knows she has a good foundation forming since she is sporting some size 7 skis, I mean shoes, these days!

See...Zoo's aren't smelly.

This is how our friend Kat described Zoos'. But I think today may have changed her opinion. Today was AWESOME! The girls had such a nice time. Of course it was hot, very, very hot. Luckily the zoo does provide a nice amount of shade and humidity was a little better today so it was enjoyable. I figured this would be such a heavy picture thread to share the funtime we had today that I would try my first ever in-post slideshow. I hope everyone enjoys seeing the pics. These two are just so much fun!



Tomorrow is C's 18 month appt so we will be sure to update about all of that!

Of course we will continue to watch all updates and see what this Hurrican Ike is doing as well...UGH.. stoopid hurricane:)

Caution..LOTS of FUN and LOTS of PICTURES!

We have been having so much fun here lately. I told you that it would be crazy busy but I knew we would get in some great photo ops along the way:) What I didnt do the other day is tell you all about the awesome time we had taking turtle fishing for the first time. This was after the craziness of the wild goose! Turtle wasnt really happy about having to sit still and not get in the pond, but we did the best we could to show her a good time, I caught one about 7 inches, and well J, he caught the cutest little 1 1/2" ..LOL!

Today was great as well. But oh-so-busy! First we started the day with our best playdate peeps at the Childrens Museum. What a great time. Turtle is always down for some museum fun! We played until their little tummies gave in and we had to have a yummy meal in the food court.

Misty and Hannah Denise, Ryan, Brenna & Julie

This is what pooped looks like!

From there we hopped in the car and headed home to pick up J so that we could head to the "Paradise in the Pines" to celebrate Rick's birthday. We visited with Mimi for a while before heading over to have some kicking BBQ. Once again..we ate too much. Im thinking I see a pattern here! LOL! We had Burgers, Hotdogs, Sausage, and all the trimmings. YUMMY! Turtle got a dress up box from Nina which was a blast to try on.

Needless to say, we are exhausted. Little diva fell out quick tonight, but she better rest well because we have a great day of fun planned with her BFF Ava tomorrow. We are thinking either zoo or something air conditioned...we will see!

Oh, and I did go to the Boot Camp, and OMG. Im hurting in places that I really honestly didnt know I could hurt. In a baaaad way. This little chica that is running the show better slow down, or Im going to stroke. Im really hoping that it gets easier the more I go. On a bright note, mini me went to the childcare for the first time ever and they told me she was SOOOO good which of course makes her mommy very happy!

Quiet before the storm

This weeks outlook...well its busy with a side of manic. But that's alright with me. You know what they say about idle hands. Lets see... this week starts off with me engaging in some domestic duties and possibly trying out my first Fat Burning Boot camp, then we have play date (possibly our first at the children's museum) on Tuesday followed by us celebrating Ricks b-day by visiting and enjoying the afternoon with J's parents. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK! Lets see, on Wednesday we are "planning" on trying to mow our land, but we will see what the weather has in store for us. Thursday is probably some sort of park day followed by aerobics and my first water aerobics. That puts us at Friday...where has the week gone? Seriously??? Well, Friday I'm sure will be exciting, it always is with us! WHEW! Its always good times, and I'm ready to get them started~ Hopefully all this action will result in some great pics to come!!!

Cooked goose

So Texas gets like 5 pretty days a year..today was one of them. Turtle & I got up early and went to the duck park. That is always a good time. We haven't been in months since its been so darn hot. We took a packed lunch and of course fed the ducks. Turtle is getting so much better at feeding the ducks, she actually throws the bread now, before she would jam it in her mouth as fast as you gave it to her.

We enjoyed actually walking around the whole park today, she was a trooper. We found "treasures" which were the most important thing ever.

Oh, and we got to see these ducks that are like the same age as her. I remember the first time I took her to the park they were very newly hatched, its so fun to see little ones grow up no matter if they are children or animals.

Speaking of animals....one that I have NO love for, zilch, nada is freaking geese. I hate them. There I said it and I don't feel bad, I could care less that they are one of Gods creatures and whatnot, they are awful. They are loud, stinky, messy, did I say LOUD and they a menace. Oh yeah, and the little bastards bite. One of those things bit me on the freaking leg today, guess he knew how much I hate them:( Oh well, it will be my new mission to rid the world of those fowl creatures...::wink:: Stinking goose, if I get a hold of him, he will have an apple up his butt and be thanksgiving dinner!

Anyhow, after the park we had some errands to run, while we were out we got the best gift of the day. Seriously I could have scrapped the whole day and just handed her this and life would have been great....so this is the best gift ever.....

Her own cup of water in a Sonic cup. Yep, shes just like me!

Then we went on home to take rides in the wagon and ride our bikes. Needless to say, I am pooped. I think I'm as ready for a nap as she is. So little one is snoozing, and I'm left to figure out the remainder of the days activities. We get so few pretty days a year, that I'm taking full advantage.

Hardly a drop

Well the hurricane has come and gone and we were lucky, with all the prep and speculation we ended up with a small amout of rain. The skies looked like they would just drown us at any minute but luckily they never did.
We have been busy for the past few days. Lets see, on Monday it was Labor day, sadly that was one of Js work holidays. But Turtle and I kept plenty busy. We went and had a play date with her bff A.


The girls played well, but we started of tired and if just got worse from there. Then we went and had a BBQ dinner with J's family. Once again, we ate ourselves into a coma.
Yesterday was J's first official day back to school. I was sad, I had enjoyed so much the extra time with him during the summer, but hopefully we are in the final year countdown now! He has a busy schedule of classes and one is really proving to be a booger but he will come through. Afterwards we had to drive to the next town over and get J released from light work duty, due to his back injury. Seriously if you get hurt at work, REALLY consider if its worth claiming on workers comp. What a royal pain in the butt that whole ordeal is. Lesson learned for this family.
So we are getting back in the swing after our trip, but honestly J and I are just missing PA. It was just such a nice visit, and the weather was great. We are growing ever so tired of this incredulous Texas heat. Its inescapable and just miserable. But at least the cooler weather will be here in just a month or so....we are trying to be patient:)

Philly Baby...

We just returned from a quickie visit to Philly to see my Nana. We decided at the last minute to make a trip up there to see her, as she was having some health issues. This was her first time to see C & its been at least four years since we saw her last. It was definitely a trip of "firsts", as this was C's first time on a plane. We headed out prepared. Luckily the flight was early and interrupted Little Miss' beauty sleep, so she slept on the way there. We had a lot to do in a very little amount of time. We intended to visit Dutch Wonderland, the towns within Amish Country, New Hope and other Philly sites J had not seen before. Day one was Dutch Wonderland. It was GREAT. Its basically a Six Flags for the 3 & under crowd. C had a blast, by the time that she started enjoying the ride, it was over so she had a royal meltdown after each one was over..what can I say, my child is passionate.

From there we went and gawked at the Amish. Truly interesting people, interesting in the fact that they would rather ignore the fact that they don't have to swelter in the heat after the invention of the a/c, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

That was pretty much all of our first day along with visiting with Nana for the remainder of the evening. The next day we woke up with New Hope on our agenda. Its always a nice relaxing place to walk around.

As always we completely over indulged the entire trip. Way too many Tasty cakes, pretzels, cheesesteaks, water ice's, and Pizza. Seriously...way..too..much. Another Philly trip that was a Major success that left me a little sad to have to leave. I hate to say it but Bucks County is seriously such a beautiful place, visit it any time you get a chance. But I may be biased...I'm just a Philly girl at heart.