Trip to the Library

After many years of spending tons of money on books at Borders and Barnes and Noble, I rediscovered the library about a year ago.  I hate to say that I hadn't been to one since college but its the truth!  Even though I may not be able to get the exact book that I want at that moment, I always leave with at least 3 books and feel so great because they were FREE:)  And if I do keep them a little beyond the deadline the fee is nominal.  So, a couple of days ago I went to the library on a mission.  That mission was to get as many books on potty training as I possibly could.  And that I did.  I got books for Bailey like "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Tot" and books to help me learn all the various methods, my personal favorite being, "Potty Training Sucks".  The following is an excerpt from "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Tot":

Itsy-Bitsy Poo-Poo (nope Im not kidding)

(sing to the tune of "Itsy-Bitsy Spider")

An itsy-bitsy poo-poo

Was floating in the bowl.

I wiped my bum with paper 

And flushed it down the hole.

I washed my hands with soap,

Then I walked right out the door.

And I'll return again 

When I have to poop some more.

Yep, thats right, that was a song about poop.  And if you think thats bad you should see the video that I got for Bailey.  All of you that don't have kids yet, just wait:)........

Wish Bailey (and me) luck!!

First day of school!

Ok well its not exactly "school" but it is nursery school! As I have mentioned in the past Bailey started a new school this year and I was a little worried about if she would like it or not. Well she went today and she loved it! And to top it all off when we got home tonight the teachers had sent me pictures of her first day..

..

Isn't that so neat!!? I loved getting to see what she did all day! And to see that she was happy:)

We're Back!

We are finally back from our vacation and I am happy to say that everyone had a great time!! We all survived the 12 hour car ride both ways...Bailey was SUCH a trooper...she hardly complained about being stuck in the car for so long at all. The house we stayed in was so nice and right across the street from the beach. I hate to say that we had a pool at our house and didn't use it once, but we went to the beach everyday it was sunny.

Bailey LOVED the beach and was loving the sand and making sand castles with her daddy. We also did lots of shopping. Destin has a great outlet mall and all sorts of other shopping...one of my favorite finds was a sweater I bought from the cutest shop right on the beach in Seaside just a block from our house. We also did tons of eating....I was definitely at the gym this morning trying to work off the key lime pie and pizza and donuts...if it was unhealthy you name it we had it! I also had BLUEBELL ice cream which was such a treat since they don't have it in St Louis and I have missed it ever since I moved away from Texas long long ago! We did learn a few things while on our trip. 1) We should stay in a hotel next time. While the house we stayed in was beautiful there were many things that I didnt love. Like when you stay at a hotel you just walk out to the beach and there are umbrellas and chairs already set up and waiters to bring you fruity drinks. We had to carry our big chairs and towels and everything to the beach which was not far at all from our house but it just wasnt convenient. Plus the house had 3 levels and it was just a lot of stairs. To top it off there were quite a few bugs in the house and on Friday Matt found a salamander on our bed. Needless to say we left a day early:) (There was also really terrible weather the last day so the salamander wasn't the only reason). Here are just a few of the bizillion pictures we took...hope everyone else had a great week too!

Ms. B

Bailey at the beach


This is what happens when your husband takes your daughter to build a bear...a dog named Ruff Ruff with a football uniform, helmet, cleats, and football:)

Bailey and Matt....Bailey just loves to pose!

Bailey and I in Watercolor..once again Bailey posing so great for the camera:)

Bailey looking at the camera..woo hoo!!!!!

On the way home with an icky storm in the background. Those of you who know me know that I was not very happy at this point of the trip....I do not heart scary storms. But of course I didn't show it because I don't want Bailey to be a scaredy cat like me!!!
It was such a great trip but I think we are all happy to be (in a salamander free) home!

Random Updates from the Biermann Household

-Our house smells awful. Matt bought cheap popcorn last night at Walgreens..you know the kind they have right their at the checkout while you are waiting in line that tempts you into buying it. We never ever eat popcorn so it was random..anyways..with 40 seconds left to go our microwave started smoking and I am not sure what was wrong with that bag of popcorn but it burnt to a crisp. And left the most lovely smell in our house as you can imagine. I've sprayed Oust and lit candles but the smell wont go away!

-Bailey has a new obsession. You know the return address labels you get as free gifts from your insurance agent, or when you donate to a cause?? Well she has been sticking them all over the place. On her toys, on us, on Fletcher, and anywhere else that she thinks needs a little sprucing up. Matt went to the gym last night and one of his friends informed him that he had one on the back of his shirt. Of course Fletcher has at least two or three stickers on him at all times..

-Every night when I put Bailey to bed we say our prayers. Lately when we finish our prayers she always says "Elmo!" and "Abby!" when we are finished just to let me know that I forgot to pray for her little sesame street friends:) So I keep forgetting to add them in just so I can hear her say it at the end because I think it is so funny. Of course then we go back and thank God for Elmo and Abby.:)

-My dining room is still torn apart...it is primed but not painted because I cannot decide on a color:(

-We leave for vacation soon!! Cant wait and hoping that the weather is good so I can finally get tan!

-When we get home Bailey starts her new school 2 days a week. She is going to a different school this year so hopefully she likes it!

And of course I can't do a post without a few pictures...

Fletcher playing dress up with Bailey..I know he looks like a willing participant doesnt he?

My peanut in her Dora PJ's

At the pool

Weekend.

Friday Bailey and I went out to Nan and Ken's house and my mom decided to take the day off of work and go with us. One thing I had never done before is take a drive all through my grandparents property. Well we did on Friday and it was lots of fun...even though I am not really an outdoorsy kind of girl (unless you count running at the park) it was interesting to see all the different things that they grow. Like...

CORN!

They made me get out of the car and stand by the corn because its like 8-10 feet tall..I was a little afraid they were making me get out because they were going to leave me ha ha. I would have freaked out...its a little creepy being lost in a corn field right?

Soybeans! Ok and I know I am going to sound like an idiot here but are soybeans edamame?? Matt says edamame are cooked soybeans...anyone know?

After our trip around the farm Bailey was exhausted but I still made her take pictures in front of the pretty lilies in my nans yard. Can you tell shes tired...poor baby is going to have circles under her eyes just like her mommy:)

On Saturday morning bright and early Matt had a football camp for 7 -10 year old kids. There were about 80 kids there so I had to go and help and make sure all of the kids were signed in, had paper work filled out, etc...Below is a picture of Bailey running around when the camp got started. She loves "football boys" as she calls them.
Later on that night we babysat our nieces Brooke and Ashleigh. Matt and I go to church on Saturday nights (because of football all day on Sunday) so we took Brooke and Ash with us. I was a little worried that they were not going to be happy about that but they went along without any complaints! How cute are these three in my backseat?

After church (they totally enjoyed the "kidz ministry" at our church and I was so glad) we went and got pizza and rented a movie. Before the movie of course we tore apart Baileys play room..

Ash

All of us in Baileys little play house

Bailey actually looking at the camera! Its a miracle!!

Poor Fletcher totally exhausted from all of the chaos..
Matt completely outnumbered by all of the ladies in the house..

It was a great weekend! I'm hoping to work on my dining room again tonight so hopefully I will have some "after" pictures within the week...but that's kind of pushing it.
Hope you all had a great weekend!

Play Date, Day at Nans, and Fletchys 8th Bday

Prepare yourselves for lots of pictures...we have been quite busy over the past couple of days:)

Yesterday Bailey and I went over to my friend Natalie's house so B could play with Skylar and Bianca. Skylar has a new bounce house (pictured below)...this thing is awesome!! It takes all of 2 minutes to blow up and take down and is like the most entertaining thing for kids...oh and I did jump around in it as well, and I must say it was pretty fun..Bailey and Skylar...like I have said before it is so hard to get a picture of Bailey sitting still..and especially in a bounce house.

Playing on the swing set

Today Bailey and I went out to Nana's and Grandpa's house. Today we checked out their cool new walkway and stairs up to a little pond across from their house. It is such a pretty little area. They even put a cute little bench at the top of the stairs that overlooks the pond...so so cute.

Bailey was obsessed with walking up and down the stairs so she wouldnt sit still when I was trying to take a picture of her and her Nana..just kept trying to get back to those stairs!
We also found out today that towards the back of their property they have a huge field of sunflowers. When I say huge I mean HUGE..the pictures in no way do it justice..it is probably the size of 50 of my backyards...HUGE. Not even close to all of the flowers are blooming yet but it is still so beautiful out there.

Grandpa picking flowers for us..


Of course a day with Bailey and I would never be complete without a little bit of chaos..so below is a picture of Bailey tearing apart Nans pantry..she was playing grocery store and got every plastic bag she could find and was filling them up with any can or box of food she could find..I'm so glad my Nan is so patient:)

After we left Nans and got home we found out that the little doves that had made a nest on our front porch had decided to leave the nest today. Below is a picture of one of the cute little babies a few hours after it left the nest! Good luck little guy!

Speaking of babies, today is my baby boy Fletcher's 8th bday!!! We all went to Petsmart tonight and bought him a bone, a toy, some new dog food, and some dog treats. Happy Bday Fletch! Thanks for bringing so much happiness to our home every day!...and sorry that Bailey is still tormenting you with her baby stroller:( I promise that I only laugh a little when she chases you around:) Thanks for being such a good sport!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I am off to continue priming over my red dining room! Wish me luck..

The Red Room

When Matt and I moved into our house almost 6 years ago my taste and style (as far as my house is concerned) was totally different. I liked a lot of bright colors and would definitely say that Matt and I were both into more of a contemporary look. One of our first purchases when we bought our house was a really nice dining room table and chairs. We got them from an ultra contemporary furniture store and we were really happy with them. We decided to paint our dining room a red color...we didnt exactly want red red but thats pretty much what we got. If I could go back in time and smack my 23 year old self in the head and tell myself not to do it I would!!!! Im sure I thought at the time that it would be years before I would want to repaint and I would just deal with it when the time came...but omg...painting over a dark color is the worst!! I have only done one wall and it took like 3 coats of primer.

Anyways here is a before picture:

Im not showing a picture of the whole room because it is pretty much torn apart because of the repainting that is going on. I am also going to recover the chairs which is something I have never done before so wish me luck.

Im not sure what I am doing with these yet but Im tired of the black...any ideas??

In other random news:

• I saw Harry Potter the other day and it was so good! Whenever someone would ask us what we were going to see of course Matt says, "Harry Potter, because Stephani has read all the books." Yes you can blame my dorkiness on the fact that you are getting "dragged" to see Harry Potter but you know you have seen them all and have enjoyed them all..
• I finished reading "The Shack" and it is an awesome book! The beginning was kind of hard to get through...not because it was boring but because of the subject matter..but it ended up being so good.. Now I am reading the "Beach House" which is definitely what I need now, an easy fun book!
  
• We got a Mac! And I have to say that it is soooo great...but I feel a little sorry for my little old computer with its smaller screen..which is why I am on my old one right now..I know Im kind of weird that way..

Thats about it...oh and no Bailey pics...she doesn't sit still so its kind of hard to get a picture of her these days!! But I'll keep trying!