Dads Rule, Moms Drool. It's alright.

Background: Ben hates putting her to bed because he can't stand thinking about how she's in her bed all alone all night... yada yada... He would rather her sleep with us every night!! NO WAY!

So the other night I got O ready for bed and took her in the living room so she could give Ben a hug and kiss good night. So he took her from me and was giving her a hug and she laid down on him, looked back up at me and yells, "Go!! Go!!" So I asked if she wanted me to leave and she yells, "YEAH!" Of course when I walked off she knew Ben would give in and not put her to bed, so she ended up getting to stay up with him and watch tv for 30 extra minutes! He's such a pushover!

She definitely knows to go to him when she wants something! It's amazing how young kids can figure their parents out, yet it takes parents approximately 18 years (or longer) to figure kids out!

Fall Festival

We attended our church's fall festival last Sunday and had a blast! Olivia wasn't quite ready for the inflatable stuff, so she just played on the playground with a few friends and had a blast! I didn't get any pictures of the costume contest tho b/c I was helping serve during the Chili Cookoff / Blue Ribbon Dessert Contest. We had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again next year!

Selling Strollers

I am selling 3 of Olivia's strollers for various reasons.


The first one is a Maclaren MX3. We have only had it since July and I really love it, but it takes up my whole trunk in my car with room for nothing else. It is great for going anywhere tho!! It rides smooth and Olivia really likes it, it's just too big. The handle also goes up to 41" if you are tall :)





The second one is a Chicco Capri. This stroller is so cute :) And I love the print, but it's too short for Ben or myself to push without stepping on the wheels. Otherwise great stroller!

This is her travel system from when she was an infant. We don't have a need for it anymore, but it's in GREAT condition. Stroller, car seat, and base. The car seat and base have never been in a wreck and I've taken very good care of everything.

If you are interested, email me at nataliekodell@comcast.net and I'll give you a price. :) Thanks!

Image 143 Photo Shoot

Image 143 Shoot at Chester Frost Park. These aren't all, but my favorites.

Mail Time

So we were patiently waiting for the mail to come yesterday because Olivia LOVES to get it. We walked to the mailbox twice and it wasn't there. But the 2nd time, we saw the mail lady coming so we just waited for her. It's a good thing we did because all the mail we got would not have fit in the box!! She handed me the first package and said, "Wait a minute honey, we are no where near done!" It was so funny!

We got 4 packages of books, pictures from Shutterfly and Snapfish, and 5 or 6 magazines plus reg. mail in envelopes! I just had to get a picture of it!

Oh for the Love of Hobby Lobby

I love love love Hobby Lobby. I could spend hours and hours in there! So this week all of their fall decor is 1/2 off so of course I had to stop by this morning, to buy even MORE fall decorations for our little house :)


What I bought this morning... minus a little gift for my sister. The Amazing Grace sign has the lyrics behind the title. You will see why I bought it in one of the last pictures.

The big sign I bought a few weeks ago. I bought the little one this morning. I thought I had a little flower pot to stick it in, but oh well.

Cute :)

Our entertainment center top. With Olivia's pictures, candy bag (the big pumpkin), and some fall decor. (Also note the little painting of Auburn vs. Tenn kids)

Side entertainment center with more fall decor, our Wii, and the roses in the background are the ones Ben gave me for our first Valentine's Day together.
This is why I bought the Amazing Grace. I bought this for Ben when we got married because he has always loved this song. So we are going to hang the Amazing Grace one diagonal from this one. It will look great!

Another shot! I guess you can tell I don't have Olivia today.... Ha! I wouldn't have time to buy or to take pics if she were with me!

Nana's... PEEESE!

This is a cute little story.

On Tues/Thurs when I pick Olivia up from school, the route home takes us past Nana's Frozen Custard. So the last few weeks, she has recognized it when we pass and goes "Nana's!!! Peeeese!" (How she says Please) And it's just so cute, I have to stop! But I am a little amazed that she recognizes it now and sometimes she just waves and says Hi really loud when we pass, but it's just so funny!!

Fall is going so fast!

I can't believe it's already the middle of October! We have such a busy next 3 months, and I am SO excited! I thought I'd share our wonderful schedule with you so you will know what we will be up to!

October 18 - Family Pictures! Yay! In the morning by Image143 photography. Still haven't decided on location! :O Then- Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch at Grace United Methodist Church (close to our house) and at 4 PM we have Krysalee's 3rd birthday party at the Riverpark! Busy!

October 26 - Burks United Methodist Fall Festival - Chili Cookoff and Blue Ribbon Dessert Contest.... super excited! Everyone in the area should come! Tons to do and lots to eat for free!

October 31 - Halloween... obviously. We are taking Olivia Trick-Or-Treating in her pink poodle costume!

Thanksgiving - Gulf Shores, Alabama! Our annual trip. So excited!

December 15-22? Disney World!!

December 25 - Christmas!

January 15 - Olivia is 2!

January 17 - Tentative birthday party day.

We will probably plan more fun fall activities in November but we aren't quite there yet. :)

Wardrobe Woman

Well, I made the transition today from Summer Wardrobe to Fall & Winter. She is also inbetween sizes right now... so it's really hard to find things for the right weather that fit right :) I did not realize how many clothes we had gotten for her in the past year to wear for this fall and winter! Here is the pile I went through minus jackets, dresses, and sweaters that are hanging in the closet already.

I counted 28 long sleeve shirts and 20 short sleeves! When will she have time to wear all those shirts?!?! Also 16 pairs of pajamas, almost 30 pairs of pants (jeans, khakis, cords, etc.) 7 sweaters, 10 dresses, 9 jackets, and 11 outfits (matching pants & shirt) We have been picking things up on sale since last winter, so I had no clue it accumulated to this much!

Pink Poodle

Ok so I picked Olivia's Halloween costume today, mostly because it was on sale at Old Navy for $14 and the others I was looking at were priced 30-40 dollars. And I saw the Pink Poodle at Old Navy and thought it was absolutely adorable! So she's been chasing the cats saying "woof woof!" Haha :)

Ronald McDonald Festival

After our wonderful yard sale experience, my friend Heather and I took Olivia to the Ronald McDonald Festival at the Riverpark. Now I thought it ended up being pretty dinky, and thought it was going to be a lot bigger with more things to do. So we ended up playing in the Discovery Toys Exhibit for most of the time and then walked down on one of the piers and disturbed two nice men fishing. But they did think Oliv was really cute LOL

This one just looked kinda neat. It was an accident.

Yard Salers

So I love yard sales. I love finding treasures that no one wants anymore. I get it from my grandmother, it's wonderful!

So this past Saturday, I went to one in Hunter Trace, where we lived for a year when I was 8. I love the neighborhood, great families and cute houses! At one house I definitely scored Jackpot! I found one of those wooden calendars that you change out every month. I have wanted one since I was about 6 years old. NO LIE! And even better, it's Thomas Kinkade, and it has 4 of his pictures that you can switch out every season. I LOVE it. I also found Olivia a cute doll rocker and handmade Raggedy Ann and Andy. Please let me tell you how much I paid for it all. $7!! Only SEVEN dollars. Yes that's correct. For all 4 items.

We also then went to Ramsgate and I bought Olivia 5 or 6 gymboree/tcp outfits for $10. I love my bargins.

Rocking chair & calendar. LOVE IT!

Auburn VS Tenn Game

It was a week ago Saturday the 27th, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. It was lots of fun :) Ben is a TN fan and I am Auburn so we were a little snippy with each other during the actual game, but for the most part got along MUCH BETTER than I thought we would during this event! We drove to Auburn with my mom and grandfather who is an Alum of Auburn, Class of 1955 (I'm pretty sure. I could be off a year or so). So poor Ben was the only one rooting for TN, but we did sit with a lot of TN fans :) Auburn ended up winning the game 14-12 but both teams played pretty terrible, offensively at least. Afterwards, we went to Alder's Bookstore and I bought some cute shirts :)

Toomers Corner Drugstore which got rolled a few hours after this picture was taken :) Tradition... House divided!

Jordan-Hare Stadium, Pat Dye Field.

Getting ready to make their entrance

Tommy Tuberville and the AU Tigers

Final score

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Starfish

Olivia and I were reading a book yesterday and there was a picture of a starfish. She pointed to it and I said "That's a starfish". So then she starts doing her motions for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and I tried so hard to explain to her that stars in the sky are much different than starfish in the ocean.

But really? She's not even 2, she had no clue what I was saying, so in our castle, we sing about starfish that live in the sky.

Recent Fun

Before the SDHS vs. Hixson game :) I made her that shirt to wear.

Daddy & Olivia coloring
Auburn shirt :)

New Blog

So I deleted our other blog, don't ask why. So this is our new blog! And hopefully, I can get Ben to contribute also! I will try to update it as often as possible.