It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner? No?  Me either.  But is it and I am SOOOO excited.  I love, love, Christmas!

In preparation for the season I am trying to create our family Christmas card.  Last year, I didn't do a very good job as everything snuck up on me, so this year I have been planning ahead.  In between work, potty training a 2-year old, Christmas shopping, holiday parties, wrapping gifts, fa la la la laaing and jingling all the way I have decided to get my Christmas card done...EARLY (as in before December 25th)!

I was super excited when I found out that Shutterfly is giving cards away to bloggers! Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly (want to get in on the fun? Click here)! There are so many to choose from, like these:

   

and they are so cute! Check them out here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

If you don't know about Shutterfly, it is an amazing online photo service (and even better, it is FREE). I upload ALL of my photos there and make a family photo album each year.  It costs me about 1/3 of what I used to pay for Scrapbooking and it takes me about 1/8 of the time! Whether you just want regular 4 x 6 prints, photo albums, canvas wall art, calendars, cards, or stationery...they have a little bit of everything.  And, it is so easy to use that even your 90-year old grandma could do it!  They are even so cool that you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter!
It took me all of 20 minutes to find my card, upload my photos, customize my message, order and have them shipped...directly to my door!  They will even stamp and mail them for you!! GENIOUS. PURE, GENIOUS!

(Note to self: big fat checkmark on my to-do-list!)

The beauty is that people will think you hired some fantabulous graphic artist to design your card and that you paid some overpriced printer to print them for you and then slaved over them for days addressing, sealing and stamping those puppies!  Sometimes, what people don't know won't hurt them...but if you are like me and want to help your poor, overworked, tired mommy-friends...you'll share this little piece of Christmas joy with them too!

Beach Trip

This is the last of the series of posts and I am now officially caught up!

We had a wonderful beach trip in the middle of September. We are very lucky because both Bebe & JoJo (Chip's parents) and Poppa & Nana (my parents) got to go with us. We had so much fun and Baileigh really enjoyed the water, sand and especially the pool! This was her first time in a "real" pool and she couldn't have been more at home. She didn't even want us to hold her. She just put on her Puddlejumper jacket and took off like she had been swimming for years. She wore us all out!

Labor Day at the Lake

 Baileigh hanging with Uncle Colin on the "Bubba Tub"

 Baileigh catching her "fish"

 Just hanging out

 Proof that indeed, Aunt LaLa was there! LaLa and Nay Nay (me) are always the ones taking the pictures so it always appears as if we were never really at any family event!

 Catherine schooling Uncle Chippy on life lessons.

 Cousins Samantha and Alex. Beuatiful girls!

 Cousin Avery...a cutie!

Scott & Evan pouring Dawn dishwashing soap on the Bubba Tub. These two would move the float in front of the slide and have contests to see who could hit the float from the slide and sail the farthest into the water!

McWane Center Pics

So, yes, these are old pictures.  From August to be exact...but I am posting them nonetheless becasue I am determined to be caught up on something in my life!

These are from our trip to McWane Center.  It is a hands on childrens museum in Birmingham complete with a 3D Imax, but I think that the adults have just as much fun as the kids! 

 Baileigh catching butterflies

 How coll would it have been to have one of these bad boys as your "Lite Brite" as a kid?!

 She loved playing at the splash table.

 She couldn't wait to pet the sting rays and sharks!

 She was mesmerized by the fish.

 Digging for dinosaur bones

 Petting the sharks with Daddy

Finding hidden treasure in the Egyptian pyramid

Long Time, No See

So, it has been forever and a day since I last posted. I know, I know - the bad mother award is coming my way!

I'll be putting up a series of posts to try and catch up everyone (who I know, have been waiting with bated breath - HA!) to see what the Rumage clan has been up to.

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer and is ready for the cooler weather (at least those of us who live in the South, where it has been just a few degrees cooler than hell for the past 3 months).

We are full swing back into pre-school and potty training. Baileigh's personality has really begun to blossom.  She is super outgoing and has never met a stranger.  I took her on my run the other day and while sitting in her stroller, she would wave and yell "hello" to everyone we passed. She loves to be the center of attention and has a whole litany of antics she will pull in order to get it!  Lately, dancing and singing rank at the top of that list but she is not below simply climbing into your lap and getting 6 inches from your face to get your attention.

The things she says continue to astound me and many times I have to run into another room so she won't see me laughing at some of them.  As of late, when she is told to do something that she doesn't particularly want to do she responds by kicking her foot on the ground, hanging her head and saying, "Ohhh, man!"

She has a new boyfriend at school, Ethan.  They have a love/hate relationship. One day she will tell me either she or Ethan had to sit in time out because they hit each other or took away each others toys, or when we pick them up from school before we can stop them they are laying smooches on each other...and I mean right on the mouth!

Potty training has been an adventure to say the least.  The girl may be going to her prom in diapers.  Some days she does really good and we only have one "accident" on others, she could care less. I have now resorted to bribery to get her to go.  We currently are about 85% on "peeing" but we are at about 3% on "pooping", so considering her fascination with dragons/dinosaurs (she loves the dragon on Shrek, and Ethan is a big dinosaur fan - so now she is too) I told her if she would poopie in the potty that I would go and get her a dinosaur and bring him home to live with us. She finally went for the first time last night and we ran around the house and celebrated like we had won the SuperBowl!  So, off to Target I went today to fetch a dinosaur.  I ended up getting two of them because, get this - they are interactive and they carry on conversations with one another!  It is the most bizarre thing ever.  So, she gets to play with the dinosaur tonight with the stipulation that if she poops in her diaper, the dinosaur has to go live in mommy & daddy's closet until she uses the potty again - because, as we all know dinosaurs don't like stinky girls!

Things are good with the Rumage clan. Chip is doing well with his business (knock on wood) and work is super busy for me. I will be gearing up to run the Rock n' Roll marathon in February - it will be my FIRST and my LAST full marathon to ever run. Football is back on again, so Chip is like a kid in a candy store (especially since the Tide has been doing so well).

Guess I should wrap this puppy up and get to the good stuff...pictures!  They will follow soon...

Fun at the Lake

We had a fun weekend at the lake with BeBe & JoJo. Baileigh got to play in the water, ride the jet ski with us, and ride on the boat. She had lots of fun!

In this picture, we were riding on the boat and she decided to get in this collapsable basket...she thought it was hysterical.

Pulling up to BeBe & JoJo's after our boat ride.

Baileigh loves being on the boat. She just sits and takes it all in!

Definitely a daddy's girl!

It occured to me that I have about 5 pictures of me and Baileigh together, b/c I am always the one taking pictures. So, Chip snapped a few.

I was trying to take a picture of us together before Chip realized I needed help. It's not easy trying to take a picture of yourself and a two year old! This is a horrible picture but the expression on her face just cracks me up for some reason

The view from the boat....ahhhh!!

This is a classic "look" of Chip's. Anyone who knows him has seen this look before.

And a pic of the three of us...again, there aren't many of us together since usually I am the one behind the camera so JoJo snapped this one as we were riding along! Can you see she has already perfected the fake smile?!

Summer Slideshow