These are a few of our favorite things…

#1:  WALKING!!!

Yesterday, Audrey took TWO steps to her Aunt Laura!  She was so proud and she kept laughing with a nervous laugh.  It was hilarious!  This precious girl certainly moves in her own time!

#2:  The Itsy Bitsy Spider

PLEEEESSEEE read me my Itsy Bitsy Spider flap book just ONE MORE TIME!

She just loves that spider.

#3:  The Two Belles

Ella and her Belles.  This girl loves her little bitty “Pink Belle” and “Yellow Belle.”  They are the twins Disney never knew about.  They go on horse rides, take trips in the Chevy, dance duets, eat meals at our table, and sleep with our angel.  Just call them Belle Basford One and Belle Basford Two.

Doing it Dallas Style – Days Two to Four

The next few days of rally were a BLUR!  Listen, I could have never imagined how tired I would be from rally!  We were in sessions from 8:00 am – 10:00 pm.  But, it was oh-so-good! 

It started with a concert by Point of Grace.  Now, back in the days of youth group trips, I saw POG in concert quite a few times and even got to meet them for a while as our youth pastor randomly drove them to the airport after a concert at Universal Studios in Orlando.  They are not as young as I remember (ha!), but their voices were just as beautiful.  I cried more than once, but especially when they sang “King of the World.”  Beautiful.  Beautiful for my girls.  Beautiful for my own daddy.  Beautiful for my wonderful husband.  Beautiful because of our Heavenly Daddy.

The rest of rally is best described as Billy Graham meets Price Is Right!  Premier Designs is ALL about Jesus!  10,000 jewelers (and some husbands) got to praise the Lord together, learn about some jewelry together, and win new cars together (well, four of them did)!  I love that Premier puts God first in everything they do.  More than anything, they want each lady to know their identity is in Christ, not sales or the business, but in Christ alone.  We love Jesus and like to look cute doing it!  More than a business, my homeshows are a ministry – connecting to woman I have never met and sharing life and bling!  Love it. 

Hugging co-founder Joan Horner during Rookie Team recognition!  Such a godly woman!

Alena and her Designer self on stage!

Us girls with our Executive Director Vickie Saller!

I LOVE that Premier Designs not only loves God, but loves our country!  Everything is made in the USA and we are proud of it!  Above is the Patriotic Day show – a pro-God, pro-constitution, Founding Fathers-honoring, tea party-supporting, Military-appreciating, fireworks-loving, back-to-the-basics kind of thing.

See, Jonathan loves jewelry!

Doing it Dallas Style! Day One

*Sorry this is so late!  I had posts saved and the computer crashed!  Get ready for post overload!*

Last Wednesday, hubby and I left the sunshine state totally solo for the first time since the birth of our eldest almost THREE years ago.  Y’all, not even five hours on the runway could rain on my parade!

We were headed to Dallas for the Premier Designs National Rally – 25th anniversary edition!  We caravanned with our old college peeps, Charyl and Rick, and her sister and brother-in-law, Alena and Brian.  We are also known as “the Crazy Jewelry Ladies and their husbands!”  It was so much fun to get away together! 

Charyl and Alena (Sisters in real life – mother and daughter in Premier life!)

Jonathan and me totally not knowing our fate yet in row 18!

The Crew – after two U-turns on the runway AND a de-boarding.  This was after they “fixed” some broken part twice, only to need to order a new part for the broken part, only to say never mind after an hour.  They didn’t need a broken part…why…they fixed the broken part…again!  WHAT!  I am so glad we listened to the wise counsel of our husbands and did NOT change our tickets!

Regardless, Charyl and Rick felt pretty safe with that fixed, broken part!  haha!  

After finally landing and travelling to Fort Worth, we decided we were all STARVING, seeing as how none of us had eaten a real meal since 7:00 that morning…and did I mentioned we had one pregnant girl and one nursing mom to TWINS?!  Oh, and me?!  We trekked over to feast on some famous Texas Bar-B-Que at Riscky’s!  YUMMO.  That was the best beef brisket I have ever tasted.  Seriously.

We can Moooo, can You?

Happy Cow Appreciation Day!  The only thing better than FREE food is GREAT friends to go with it!

Me and my little heifers:

The Sutton Heard:

The Routh girls:

Hammond Herd:

We love Chick-Fil-A.  We love Free.  That is a winner!

Happy Independence Day!

I love tradition!  I mean, really love it!  In years past 4th of July tradition meant watching Basford brothers blow up (or mess up!) fireworks in the middle of the field!  The past two years, it has meant redneck water park with “the Others” and the Moseley family!  I mean bar-b-que and a slip ‘n slide and we are SO THERE! 

 

After everyone cleared, the girls took late naps and woke up at their bedtime!  This would have been a disaster on any other night, but tonight we had somewhere to be…the first fireworks show for both girls!  They loved it!

These were are faces with every boom, crackle, and pop!  We are so thankful for the sacrifices made every day for our freedom.

Hoppin’ Like a Kangaroo at the ZOO!

On July 3rd, all the Basfords loaded up and caravanned north to the land of the wild – the Jacksonville ZOO!  All the cousins had a grand time gazing at animals, splashing at the splash pad, and riding the train!  And of course, they shared each other’s strollers – because it is not a Basford cousin event until they have all switched “rides” at least seven times!  Ha!

 

Owen, Ella and Jackson ready for the first train ride!!!

So Sweet!

Riding the Train!

Poor bird!

Audrey resting in our new Baby K’Tan (that we L-O-V-E!)

Ella wanted to ride this “bird” more than any other creature on the entire carousel.

 

Our Family!

The Others!

Glockenspiel

Say, wha? 

Never underestimate the power of influence you have over a two year old…or the influence of the iPod touch.  A two minute Sesame Street podcast has turned into an obsession with a certain uncommon percussion instrument…a glockenspiel.  I may or may not had to look that one up.

I was so proud of Ella when I walked into the living room two days ago to find her prized creation  - a homemade glockenspiel.  Complete with chopstick mallets.  What a smarty pants!

 

Standing Tall!

Or should I say “Standing Small”?  Either way, WE HAVE A STANDER!  Sweet Audrey decided that July 6th would be the day to stand tall, stand proud, and stand strong…well maybe not quite that strong yet, but she sure was proud!  And so was I!

And we all let her know how proud we were each and every time – all 1,238 of them!

My baby is growing up way too fast!  I sure do love this stage of discovery!  Silly Monkey!

Then, she gave us the icing on the cake…she learned to high five…and we practiced that another 289 times!

Whew, I’m pooped!  All that cuteness wears me out, but I never get tired of it!

…and then there was poo…

Today may not have been my very best mommy moment.  It could have been my worst.  Really, I had it coming.  I am still not really sure what led me to believe my 34 month old precious Ella was ready to forego pull-ups at naptime.  I mean, we have had several weeks of dry pull-ups (mostly) and I really am tired of buying them…so I guess that was my very logical reasoning!  Ha!  Let me preface this story by saying we have a had a quite a few successful days of totally dry underwear after nap.  That is, until today.  Help me, Lord.

I heard the inevitable playing noises coming from Ella’s room and knew it was time for an intervention (too bad it wasn’t just the intervention I was expecting – this one could have warranted a mask and rubber gloves).   Poor, poor Ella (and mama)  diarrhea all over every available inch of floor space in her room, her folded bare duvet spread, and her already cleaned matlasse...oh, and lest I forget the bathroom floor and tub.  Regrettably today was not my best mothering moment…BUT HER DOOR WAS WIDE OPEN TO GO TO THE POTTY. 

On a good note, there was no poo on the bed. 

Progress.

I am thinking we will taking a break from panties at nap.  For everyone’s sake.  Now I am going to pray and ask my daughter for forgiveness…sigh…

Love,

Mama the maid

I mean, who can resist this precious thing anyway?