Little Cowgirl

Mattie was invited to a birthday party for a friend this weekend that took place at a local ranch. We were blessed with gloriously beautiful weather and cool temps, and a fun time was had by all. Mattie declared it the best party ever.

The girls got to do lots of fun things including a 300ft zip line and a hayride, but the hands down favorite of Mattie was the horse riding.

Each girl had a horse and each horse had a cowboy, and the cowboys walked the girls around a huge fenced in corral area. They did this for close to an hour. Mattie made fast friends with her cowboy and I think she talked his ear off. Every time they circled by me either her mouth was moving or his was : ). There's just something about a cowboy, isn't there?

These are just some cute pics I took with my phone. Of course I didn't have my big camera with me! Mattie insisted on dressing the part, so I pulled out a plaid dress for her, jean leggings, and a cowboy hat from VBS several years ago. She was a cute little cowgirl : )

Presley Kate

I was just noticing that my last several posts have been all about Miss Mattie, so I thought I'd post a few Presley pics from last month to balance that out some : ) 

She may be small, but her personality is somewhat large.  We spend our days and evenings in laughter over her antics.  She has a huge vocabulary for her age, and speaks pretty clearly, with some exceptions, of course, but for the most part, she's a great talker.  And she understands humor, knows what it takes to get a laugh, and she knows her comedy strengths.  These things put together make for a funny, funny child.  She's definitely our little clown, and no one makes me laugh like her.   

Presley is 2-1/2 now, and is looking like such a big girl to me.  She's quite tall for her age, and she really looks about a year older than she is.  Oftentimes in my head, I think of her as a 3yr old. 

But at the same time, there is lots of baby left in her.  Even though diapers and highchairs are a thing of the past for us, she is still in her crib, and I may let her stay there until she's 5 years old.  She loves her baby bed, and is a champion napper and sleeper, so I refuse to mess with a good thing.  Mattie was in a full sized bed at this point, but I'm trying to hold on to my baby a little longer this time.  We also still rock every night before bed, and wheras I would have probably seen that as a hassle when Mattie was this age, I savor it and drink it in every night this time around.  Childhood, particularly "babyhood" flys by faster than this mama's heart can catch up, so I'm holding on to what I can.

Don't judge me, but she also still has her "pappy" (pacifier) for sleeping.  I know I should take it away.  I know that we had taken Mattie's away long before she had reached the age Presley is at.  And I know the longer I wait, the harder it will be to do it.  But....but, but but.  She's my baby, and I'm extending her a little more grace in this area than I did Mattie.  Matthew said just this week that she has to be rid of it before we go to the beach, so I guess the countdown is on : (  I dreaded doing this with Mattie because she was very attached to hers, much like Presley.  I just knew it was going to be a huge ordeal, and she'd regress in her potty training, and she'd stop sleeping at night, and she'd cry for weeks over it.  But what happened was, we took it away....and nothing happened.  She cried for about 30 minutes over it, and that was that....never mentioned it or begged for it again.  And I know it will be the same with Presley......but....

The above picture sums her up pretty well....such a little mess, and knows it!  We adore her, and can't imagine a world without her.