easter with Mama's family....

The day started with my famly. We had a yummy brunch that included a semi-competition of quiches between me and my mom (hers won). Charleigh is the only small child so she had to find something like 22 eggs all by herself. Task completed. She loves all the attention, being the first little girl born in our family in 25 years.....

Easter basket from Nana and Papa
checking out her loot
apparently the eggs are more interesting than

pictures with cousin Candice

munching a cupcake in her undies...

(this WT pic's for you Lorie.....)

a lady called Beach.....

So, Beach the person (see previous beach post) is my daughter's name for my aunt Sandy. A few weeks ago as we pulled up in front of her house, Charleigh starts saying "Beach! Beach!" As best we can figure she got this name because my aunt's boyfriend would always tell the baby "Wanna go to the beach?" every time he saw her. We try to get her to say Aunt Sandy, but she'll just tell us "No, Beach!" Last weekend on our way to the real beach we got to about Taft and Charleigh starts crying hysterically for "Beach". Apparently, she was under the impression that we were going to Beach's house....so now we'll evidently be going to see Beach or going to see the ocean.......

one of those days.....

...or more like, one of those weeks. I know that it sounds ridiculous, what with it having just been Easter which is one of my favorite days of the year and all, but for about a week now, I have totally been struggling. I feel as if I am in a funk and just can't seem to pull out. Someone advised me to try writing out my thoughts so that's what I'm doing. Hopefully it'll help clear my mind and not just sound like I'm whining. I don't really know what the problem is, it just seems to be there. Every time it seems to get better, another day comes that just seems to reinforce all my insecurities about myself. I was talking to a good friend a couple days ago and told her that I guess I always want to think that if I could only be this way or look that way or have this or do that, I wouldn't have all these awkward, geeky qualities. But I'm starting to think that's not true. I probably really know it's not true. The most frustrating part is that the voice inside telling me that these issues I have are just an exaggeration and so not logical just keeps getting drowned out by the one saying the opposite. I'm hoping that this beautiful spring weather and the adorable and semi-well potty-trained little girl I love so much will both be catalysts to bring me out of this, but for now please be praying for me ........

the beach.....

don't you wish this physique warranted a bikini in your 20's also?

the Baywatch shot.....baby to the rescue!!
what is a day at the beach without ice cream?

Saturday morning, the three of us drove over to Pismo to spend the day at the beach. Not to be confused with Beach the person (post on this to come later). The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had such a fun time. Our little munchkin had absolutely no fear of the water, unlike her daddy. As the waves would come in she tried pulling him farther into the water. Seeing as how it felt like melted ice water we figure that our child is going to be a bit of a fish this summer. And now for some shots of our bikini babe.......

egg hunt at the ericsson's.....

Thursday night Charleigh had her first Easter egg hunt at the Ericsson's house. She picked up on it pretty quickly, but was easily distracted by toys and other kids. At least she had fun....

I love this picture! They look like they are

really having a conversation.

Please note that both Charleigh and Jacob walked past tons of eggs right in front of them in search of the eggs that were far away.
Who needs candy? Give this girl some goldfish and she is good to go!

daytrippin'.......

A couple of weeks ago Josh, Charleigh, Nana, Papa and I loaded up and took a trip to enjoy Santa Barbara for the day. The weather was gorgeous and we had so much fun. We started out at the zoo. Thus far, Charleigh has pretty much referred to all animals as "oof, oof" or dog as we recognize it. We figured we would be seeing lots of "dogs" that day. Kids can surprise you though. We had apparently forgotten that she also knew "baa" or sheep around Christmastime. And so, she proceeded to baa at all the animals, including the leopard and penguins. We then headed over to the beach where both my kids had a blast on the swings.

checking out "Bumbo" (elephant) with daddy
riding the train around the zoo
my other kid on the swings
the always popular pajama change

in the parking garage

she's a redneck woman.....

While I am unashamed to be a NASCAR fan, there is something about these pictures that makes me laugh and cringe equally. It could be the mullet, the new "cheese" face she has started using, the ill-fitting shirt, all of the above, who knows...... All I know is that this is one outfit we won't be sportin' in public.......

gotta love the smile...
she could so pass for a boy......

little buckethead......

One of Charleigh's recent favorite games was to put this bucket on her head and wander around the house, giggling the entire time. We, too, have had a blast watching her. She would always act so lost, but really seemed to be able to see out of the bottom. "Buckethead" was definitely a favorite around the house. I tried to take video, but the direction is wrong on my camera. However, I am sad to report that as of last night Buckethead is no more. She crashed into the end table and from what I'm told the bucket just kinda shattered. At least we have the photo memories.......

fun with daddy......

I have discovered what these two like to do when Mama leaves the room........

there were about 15 pics like this on my camera...

my 2nd blanket...

Woo-hoo! A new post and a new sewing project. I am on a roll. Actually, I completed the sewing almost a month ago, but that's okay. I made this baby blanket for my cousin Kasey and had been procastinating making it for over 2 months. Then my aunt called and said she had been admitted for labor and so I ran out to Strawberry Patches, bought the material, and had it finished around midnight that night. Only to find out the next day that it had been a false alarm which meant no baby....Oh well, at least the blanket was finished and ready.

Trying to choose square placement,

so much harder than I thought....

the finished product, you can't see it that well, but I used a teal edging and it looked so good next to the purple back. Thanks for the tip, Colleen!

sick kids.....

And now, for a little honesty. Before I had Charleigh I used to sometimes wonder about those women who were always telling you that their kids were sick. I would think, "Sure, your kids have been sick 5 times in 2 months. Don't you think maybe you're being a little dramatic?" I now owe those people an apology. As the mother of a child who has some sort of sickness present almost continually since Thanksgiving, I am eating my own words. It started with your basic cold, then came the roseola, followed by what appeared to be another cold but turned out to be bronchitis, ear infection and so on resulting in 3 medications at once. I am just so ready to have my fun loving little girl back. It makes me so sad to see her not feeling well all the time, but I do confess that I love the cuddling she wants when sick. At least now we finally seem to be on the track to better health and let's hope it stays this way for awhile.......

I love this little face.....

kasey's shower

This weekend we held my cousin Kasey's baby shower at my mom's house. It turned out really nice. I "borrowed" some cute ideas from past showers I've attended and also borrowed a bunch of my supplies. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it. We had a candy buffet set up which was a huge hit. She got tons of great stuff and now we're just waiting for little Kynslee to arrive.....

the candy buffet

what a cute card tree!
the mommy-to-be
the buggy was a huge hit

my first blanket.....

trying to arrange the squares
my daughter was a big fan
the finished product

Feeling inspired by the creativity of all the moms I know, I decided to try to make a blanket for my sister-in-law for Christmas. Keep in mind that prior to this my only sewing experience is a half finished diapee and wipee. All in all, I think it turned out pretty well (thanks to lots of help from both my parents and Colleen)........

christmas highlights....

christmas .....

Christmas was so much fun this year. Charleigh got the hang of opening presents very quickly and she loved it! She gets excited about each things so that made it fun also. So far playing time has been divided pretty evenly among her gifts but she certainly does seem to love her Elmo from Aunt Sandy and her rocking horse from Uncle Jamie, Aunt Karrie, and Samuel.

rosson family christmas.....

When my grandma Rosson passed away 13 years ago my grandpa decided to move back to Arkansas to be near his family. In an effort to keep up holiday family gatherings, the 7 kids in my dad's family (yes, 7) decided to rotate between each person's house each year. So, start with the oldest, then go to the next kid and so forth. With just a couple of exceptions, this has now gone on for over 10 years. The first or second Sunday in December we all get together. This year we happened to be at my cousin Karla's house. Not everyone was able to make it, but a good time was had nonetheless. My daughter had a blast with the houseful of people and when we got home that night she displayed her true Rosson side by discovering that she is a HUGE fan of the coconut balls which are a Christmas tradition.

hanging out with Avery
my aunt Kiley, cousin Dale, his wife Tracey and their kids
my Uncle Eddie, Aunt Debbie, cousins Kasey and Kayla and their men
Uncle Lonnie, Aunt Patty and their family
our family sans Josh who was still at home recovering

our little decorator.......

Charleigh was a great help in decorating trees this year. She got to help both sets of grandparents and she did wonderful!

Hanging out with Aunt Cabria
Helping Daddy with the tree
Showing Papa exactly where the ornaments should go....

she was very insistent on their specific spots
All tired out from her hard work

sweet, sweet sushi......

For the Rooke's Annual Holiday Cookie Bake-Off I opted to not actually bake anything at all. Instead, I entered this plate of candy sushi into the contest. Yes, it did win in the creativity category, but certainly not the taste. Looks good though....

it happened again....