It was a Merry Christmas....

Our Christmas was full of surprises and blessings, fun and family, and the most wonderful memories.

We celebrated with most of our family.

We traveled through crazy floods.

We laughed.

I cried.

We ate amazing food.... oh the cookies! Note: being pregnant at Christmas time is NOT good for my weight gain goals :)

We played games.

We saw the wonder in our children's eyes as we celebrated the greatest gift of all.

We shared love with each other by giving gifts, both small and big.

We had toilets that didn't work.

We burned chocolate.

We were most of all incredibly blessed, more than we've ever been, and we didn't take one second of our Christmas Week for granted.

** I have some pictures and many more details that I want to share, mostly because I don't want to forget one moment of this Christmas. But today I'm getting ready to go to the doctor and I have laundry and cleaning to catch up on.... and I'm planning a little something fun for the girls for the week so I'm not sure when I'll get to the LONG Christmas post. But it will come!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas Week!

Ok so I didn't get this out last night.... but here you go!

I woke up Monday morning and decided that this week would be called Christmas Week around our house. We are doing something fun to celebrate this special holiday each day this week....

Monday the girls and I did some of this....

I think dipped pretzels may be my favorite Holiday Treat!

And my babies had a sleepover at their cousins' house so Momma could go out and have dinner with some old friends. It was much needed time for Momma and the girls had a blast with their cousins. I had the privilege of eating dinner with 5 of the most fun ladies that I know. We all used to work together before I went to Law School. Everyone has since left the company we worked for and three of them have moved away. It just happened to be that we were all in town this week so we planned dinner last night.

We met for dinner at one of my fave restaurants, US Pizza! Four hours, many glasses of water and tea, a pizza, some sandwiches and salads later we said goodbye. What a blessing to spend the evening with these ladies.... that was a great Christmas present for me! And for those of you who helped me out so I could go, THANK YOU!!

Tuesday morning we went and picked up the girls before J went to work. Those stinkers were SLEEPY so we had a bit of a rough morning, but they both took marvelous naps so they would feel like helping me in the kitchen again!

I wanted to do some fun Holiday baking with the girls this year but I know my limitations! I'm oh so pregnant and my kids are still really little so I knew I had to pick some easy goodies to make. Dipped pretzels - check! Butter cookies - check!

Today we baked a cake for a special family to enjoy on Christmas. And I will make a banana pudding for my dear family to enjoy. We have Christmas with my in-laws tonight and I'm looking forward to it. I have to go through all of my gifts today and separate them into groups depending on where they will need to go.

Christmas Eve we will wake up and open our family gifts at home before heading out to my grandmother's. It should be loads of fun!

I just love decorating for Christmas.... I don't do much but I love what I do! I think the mantle is my most favorite thing.... I made all of our stockings (well my mother made mine when I was a baby and gave it to me to use) and I love to see them hanging each year. I'm searching for the perfect one for Baby M!

I also love our tree.... we have a hodge-podge of ornaments that we hang on there.  And every ornament has a meaning or a story or a laugh behind it. It is such fun when we decorate the tree and talk about each ornament we hang. And the angel on top of our tree will never sit straight so we always laugh as we hang her and just enjoy her leaning to one side all season long. And of course, we don't decorate the bottom part of the tree with ornaments because we have little hands that are very curious!

I hope you all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

If...

I can get my act together, I'll do a Christmas-y post tonight. It has been a HARD day and I don't feel great.... but I'm hoping to turn things around this evening. So expect a post tonight and maybe I won't let you down :)

Some days...

are just hard. Today is one of them.

I don't usually write about the days that are hard for me, but for some reason as I sit in my quiet house after a morning that can best be described as hard, I am writing.

I love being a mother, and I LOVE staying home with my children every day.... teaching them things, watching them grow, reporting their accomplishments and funny stories to Dad at the end of the day, I love it all. But I am not SuperMom - oh, how I wish I were!

Today has been a challenge, made worse by the fact that this pregnancy has taken a toll on me that I was not expecting. I know that every minute of intense pain is worth it to complete our family, but sometimes I just get lost in the moment and I stop looking ahead. And the difficulty of this pregnancy is not only affecting me, but it is affecting my girls. I hate that I feel like I can't be or do everything that they need.

Then I thank God for naptime.... when I can sit in the silence and collect myself.

And refresh my attitude.

And focus on the bigger picture.

And remind myself to cherish each minute with my children.... even the hard times, the frustrating times, the painful times.

I'm not SuperMom (I have to remind myself of this daily).... I have hard days and struggles and I get discouraged. But I get to choose my attitude and this afternoon I choose to be happy and have fun.

She's On Her Way....

This will be a post devoted to my third baby girl. :) I don't spend enough time talking about her, on here or in person... so here you go Miss M!


Today I had a doctor appointment. I am 31+ weeks. All is well - weight gain is fine (almost 20 pounds from the time I got pregnant but if you factor in me losing 10 in the first trimester, I've "gained" 30!). BP is normal - yay! The insane pain is just something I have to live with - I had already come to that conclusion.... apparently each pregnancy is harder and harder on your body. 


I am having a lot of contractions... in fact, I had a good one while in with the doctor. We both laughed about it because the belly got all kinds of hard just as she was about to check for the heartbeat. Baby Girl's heartbeat was 140.... so that's good. 


And then Dr. C blew my mind when she said "I want to schedule your c-section today". We picked February 4, 2010! YIKES! It seemed so weird to get to pick the day my baby is born.... although I know I don't really get to pick that, just the last possible day for her to be born! :) I called the hubby when I left and told him and I think he was just as surprised that we did that today as I was. Usually, I joke that the appointments are so repetitive and nothing exciting ever happens (not that I want anything exciting, believe me I like the boring appointments) but not today! 


I asked what the chances were for me to go into labor early since my water broke 4 weeks early with P and 3 weeks early with L. Dr. C said it was highly likely that I will go into labor before Feb. 4 and that I should be prepared for a January baby..... I am (kind of!). 


She then surprised me again when she said one more appointment in 2 weeks then we will start every week.... That is early! She wants to start checking me and monitoring more closely since I will likely go into labor early! YIKES!!!! I'm almost to my weekly appointments. I was not prepared to hear that today! 


All in all, it was a good appointment. Now I just need to get done with all of my Christmas stuff so I can get to work on all of my baby things! I have a thing or two to buy and A LOT of clothes to wash!


Hope you all have a wonderful Monday.... I am planning on taking some Christmasy pictures to post up this week. Hopefully I can get it done!


Christmas Countdown : 11 days!

No Time...

to blog. I have no time anymore. For some reason I can't find much alone time, and when I do it gets filled with things like folding laundry and doing dishes and all those fun things. So today I'm making a little time because I know the rest of this week is going to be CRAZY!

We spent last weekend in Branson with my dad and sister.... Oh the fun! I got most of my Christmas shopping done.... I just have a handful of things left to buy. I try to really enjoy buying Christmas gifts and not stress over it, but I have some gifts I'm stressing over this year. And I hate that. Because Christmas isn't about the gifts that we give each other, it is about the Ultimate Gift that God gave us. I can honestly say that I would be happy if I got zero gifts this Christmas.... all I really care about is enjoying time with my family. And last weekend was all about that! I enjoyed every minute of the weekend.... and so did the girls and my hubby and my father and my sister.

I didn't take many pictures because we were too busy having such fun... but I did get some of the girls eating Krispy Kreme breakfast. They have this precious little donuts and the girls went crazy over them! Pappy knows how to keep those girls happy!

Check out those sprinkles!!!!!!!!!

You can't really tell in this picture, but L was laughing so hard....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My sweet M-I-L posted this about one of her Christmas memories.... and I got the urge to share one of my most cherished Christmas memories.

Christmas was a HUGE thing with my grandfather. Every year on Christmas Eve he would take us shopping so we could pick out our gifts from him. When we were old enough, he gave us money and would say "You better bring something back - don't just put the money away and save it." Then he would go sit on a bench in the mall while we all shopped. It was wonderful. He also would have my mom take my Nanny into the jewelry store and mom would come tell him whatever Nanny picked out and how much and he would get it for her. He was the sweetest man I've ever known.

When I was 3 or 4 we went shopping on Christmas Eve and he said he wanted to take me to pick something out.... just the two of us. I picked out this baby doll.... it was pretty big (at least to little me) and I thought it was the best thing ever. I believe it was $80 (which is a lot for a baby doll even now) and it was at the first place we looked so Papa wanted us to keep looking before we bought anything. This is probably where I learned to shop around and not to be an impulse buyer. :)

We looked around and I found nothing I wanted.... I only wanted that baby doll. My parents tried to talk me out of it but Papa said I could have whatever I wanted.... so he got me that doll. It was a boy baby doll and I named him Little Max (my Papa's name was Max). I loved that baby as much as I possibly could.

I think about this every Christmas.

Papa passed away in 2005. I miss him terribly, especially around the holidays. He was such an important man in my life, him and my dad. It makes me very sad that my husband never got to meet him because I know they would have thought the world of each other. We didn't start dating until a month after Papa died. I do think it was God's perfect plan that when I lost that important man I was given my sweetie.

So that is one of my most cherished Christmas memories. I love being able to make memories with my children now.... it makes the holiday season even more special. Our annual trip to Branson is one of the newer holiday traditions that I love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know this post is getting long, but I won't be able to post anymore this week so I wanted to share a few more thoughts....

We got the girls' Christmas gift - and it was on sale! We had picked it out but hadn't purchased it yet. Then Sunday we see that it has been marked down about a third of the price so we excitedly bought it!

I never heard back from my doctor last week about the blood work, so I'm assuming all is well and my pain is a muscular problem. It was better over the weekend, which I was thankful for! We are so ready to meet this little girl and it could happen in a little over a month! YIKES!!!! Technically my due date isn't for another 9 1/2 weeks but my babies like to make early appearances..... so she could be here quite soon!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I pray you make some wonderful Christmas memories this season!

A Week of Thanksgiving...

I mentioned that I would be very busy last week... and I was!

Monday evening my mom and grandmother came and got the girls and I to go to stay with them until Thursday. Hubby had to work through Wednesday so they offered to come get me so we didn't have two vehicles when my sweetie finally got to come on Wednesday.

Nanny and I had a list of projects we needed to complete so we spent a bit of time working on those! I love doing projects with her.... she's so fun!!!! We finished the bedding for Baby M! It is perfect, I love it so much.... when I get a mattress in that bed I'll take a picture and post it. :)

We also finished L's stocking. I totally realize this is her second Christmas and she is just now getting a stocking, but it is getting harder and harder for me to get those stockings done because they require so much time! But her stocking turned out perfectly! I love it! Again, when I get some time to take pictures of my Christmas decorations, I'll post a picture of her stocking with those!

The girls and I had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with my Nanny and Mom. And Thursday morning we headed to my dad's parents house to celebrate with that family. My grandparents live in this pretty small house (only one bathroom) and there were about 55 people there Thursday.... My Pawpaw celebrated his 90th birthday the Sunday before Thanksgiving so it was great that there were so many of us there to spend time together.

After eating some amazing food there we headed back home to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws. By this time I was pretty miserable. I have been in some pain in my upper abdomen and back for a while but it keeps getting worse and Thursday I was miserable. I'm sure it is just part of being pregnant for the third time but the doctor today drew some blood for testing to make sure it isn't anything serious. Now I am just waiting to hear about that. We did have a good time with our family here... they are all so wonderful.

Friday my dad came and then my sister came that afternoon. We had a great time together.... Dad and I even hit up Wal-Mart Friday morning for some sales. :) We ate at our favorite restaurant Friday night - oh it was so good! And my dad even talked me into letting P sleep on the couch with him that night. She loved it and I'm pretty sure Dad didn't get much sleep :)

After Dad left Saturday morning my Mom and Nanny came and we had a shopping day! I didn't buy anything (shocker - I never buy anything) but I helped Nanny pick out some Christmas presents. We found the girls' Christmas dresses and I even picked out my gift from Nanny. Nanny and I share a major love of shoes. So I picked out some black boots for her to get me (she insisted on me picking out some shoes!). I absolutely love them and cannot wait to get them on my feet!!!!

We spent yesterday hanging around the house.... both of the girls have been sick at some point during the past few days so we didn't want to take them to church. And I needed some down time... I was hoping I would stop hurting (didn't happen).

It was such a wonderful week and I spent much time being thankful for all the wonderful things in my life. I loved spending so much time with the people I love! And just because you have made it to the end of this post I'll share a rare picture of my little family....

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a busy week planned so I won't be blogging much.... I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope to have some fun pictures to post after the holiday and I hope to get some of the fun pictures up from this past weekend. We went to the Razorback game - GO HOGS!! And I'll get pictures up of the big girls' room - that is the reason I haven't been able to blog the past few days.... the time of the girls napping at the same time has passed. I no longer have any "Mom Time" during the day and I've had a very hard time staying awake in the evenings so the blog has suffered (so have the crafts)!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all! Enjoy your turkey, pie, chicken and dumplins, potatoes, red velvet cake, and whatever you love to eat on this holiday.... and remember to take some time to be thankful for something!

Moving on up....

This will be a short, quick post. I've been waiting to post because we have something exciting going on in our little home this week. But I thought I'd give you all a little preview of what's coming....

Today we are waiting on a new piece of furniture that will enable two of the most precious little girls to move into the same room (and potentially drive their Momma CRAZY!). I cannot wait to get everything set up and come up with some fun stuff to put on the walls. 

I also made Christmas wreaths for the girls' rooms that you can see here. They are the perfect Christmas decorations for my girls - and I can hang them high enough so that they are out of those sweet little hands' reach!

Hope you all have a great Thursday! We'll be busy moving things around and putting my baby in a big girl bed.... be watching for pictures! :)

Getting in the Christmas Spirit...

I start asking to put up Christmas decorations in September.... my sweet husband politely refuses to do it that early. I don't give up though... I keep asking. Every time we are out and see something Christmas, I bring it up again. Well.... last week I saw the Christmas decorations on our town's light poles and I knew it was time! That is always one of the first "signs" of Christmas for me.

So the girls and I decided to go to my mom's for the weekend. We went to a Holiday Craft Show on Saturday. I was disappointed. I am usually one to find way too many things at Craft Shows, but not this time. I did get a darling Christmas gift for my Nanny but that was it. My mom didn't even find much. However, we had a good time and the girls were SO GOOD! What a blessing that was. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures :(

I decided to leave the girls with my mom and come home to have a date night with my sweetie. It was so much fun! We had our favorite dinner out, saw some good friends, and came home and watched all of our DVR'd shows (we had quite a few to catch up on). We got up yesterday and went to church and out to lunch. And since the Christmas bug has bitten me I tried to get the hubby in the spirit.... by shopping for gifts for the girls. We figured it was the perfect time to go shopping for them since they were with my mom. We picked out all of their gifts and got some stocking stuffers.

We both were getting so excited while shopping for the girls. It is so much fun to pick out things for our children and dreaming of the joy and excitement they will feel as they open up their gifts. It brings such happiness to us - they bring such happiness to us!

This morning I decided that we would start putting out some of our Christmas decorations.... so during the Little Doll's morning rest time, Big Sis and I got to work. There is a heavy box that I can't get into just yet (I'm hoping to get some help with that after hubs gets home from work) but we got just about everything else out. It isn't much.... but it is enough for us with the girls being so little and curious. We are saving the tree for the weekend after Thanksgiving (which is SO SOON - hello, Thanksgiving crept up on me this year!). I have some wreaths to finish and a stocking to finish making but that should all be done by Thanksgiving! I'm so excited. Christmas is my favorite time of year - I just love the excitement and joy and getting to teach my children about the real reason we celebrate!

I hope you all have a great Monday!

Well...

I want to post.... but I have nothing to write about.

This week has been a long, hard week. I'm in some pain from the pregnancy so I haven't been doing much lately (so don't come to my house because it is a mess, but it is too hard on me to really clean it right now). So the girls and I are just being homebodies and watching movies and playing at home (and trying to clean a little each day). I'm hoping to feel better ASAP so we can do some fun things together and maybe I'll have something worth blogging about then. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend.....

Snack Attack....

not to be confused with the Zack Attack! ~ If you get that reference, then I applaud you!!!! :)

Today I'm having a snack attack. Seriously, I feel like I can't get enough to eat.... it isn't that I'm hungry, but I have the "need" to keep feeding myself. I know how bad this is..... so you don't have to tell me!

I hope that by sharing my crazy desire for snacks it will make me not eat anymore. That way I can write a post tomorrow telling you what a good girl I was today :) I highly doubt that I won't eat another snack today, but I can try! And also, taking the time to post is time I'm spending not eating, so that is good, right?!

I keep telling myself that Baby is having a growth spurt so it is ok to eat constantly.... ha!

That's all. Can you tell where my mind is today.... on food! There really isn't anything much going on with us today so there isn't much excitement to post about. Oh, for some reason I think my blogger is acting up.... are my posts showing up for you? If you don't mind, would you let me know if you are getting them so I can attempt to fix the problem if there is one. Thanks!!!

Busy, Fun Weekend!

We decided to have a garage sale Saturday morning. So the hubby and I were up by 5 getting signs out and things ready. We had fun... the girls got to sit outside and eat their breakfast and snuggle up in warm blankets with their Daddy and Mommy. We got rid of a little of our stuff, but we still have A LOT left. Now we are trying to decide what to do with all of it.

Saturday night we had dinner out at one of my husband's favorite restaurants. He had a good week at work so we were kind of celebrating (kind of). My girls love eating there as well!

Then yesterday we woke up and decided not to go to church since my Little Doll has a bit of a cold and there is no reason to get anyone else sick. So Daddy and the girls watched movies and napped and Momma cleaned the house :)

My dad (Pappy) came to town yesterday so we got to have lunch with him.... always fun! After lunch we went to look for a new pocketknife. Pappy flew to my sister's last weekend and forgot to leave his pocketknife in his truck and the airport security took it! So now he needs a new one - unfortunately, we didn't see the one he wanted.

After that, my Crazy Girl requested a trip to Sam's - she LOVES that place! So we stopped by Sam's and ended up spending nearly and hour and a half in there. Most of the time was spent with P running around and L crying for Pappy to hold her. Those two girls love their Pappy so much - seriously, it is adorable. When he is with us he always wants to ride in the very back of our Tahoe so he can be close to the girls (who are in the middle row). Well L cried every time he got out of the car on P's side and refused to let anyone else hold her or get her out of her seat. It was hilarious to me.... they truly enjoy their time with Pappy. It just doesn't happen enough since he lives 3 hours away :(

Pappy ended up staying a few hours longer than he had planned, which was fine with us! It is hard for him to leave his girls!

We ended the weekend with a trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries. And after dinner we put L to bed and let P stay up with us for a little while.... this is something we've been doing for a few months as she is getting older. Daddy, Momma and P pile into our bed and watch tv.... usually Hannah Montana or whatever is on Disney Channel. :)

After we put P to bed, the hubby and I were talking about how different our lives would be if we didn't have kids. We joked that we'd have an amazing house, fabulous cars, season tickets to for Razorback football, go on sweet vacations and all that fun stuff. We joked about how crazy and different things would be... then we both stopped and looked at each other and at the same time said - "I wouldn't trade this for any of that." We love our life.... our evenings of Hannah Montana and Jonas episodes..... eating breakfast at 6:30am when our kids wake up..... watching TinkerBell over and over.... having very few minutes to ourselves..... sleepless nights.... all of it. We love it all and nothing we could have ever dreamed up would be as good as what we have now.

It was a great weekend from beginning to end. Hope yours was too! And I hope we all have a wonderful week ahead :)

Wish me luck...

Ever since my second daughter was born I've been bitten by the "craft" bug. Well it keeps getting worse and worse. Not so much worse, but I just keep finding more crafts that I love and things that I love creating.

When I was pregnant with my first child I was in Law School and so I didn't have the time to make her nursery everything that I had dreamed. Sure it was cute, but it wasn't ME exactly. Then as I was pregnant with my second child I wanted more of my own touch in her nursery and in my oldest's room.... I did what I could despite my constant state of freaking out about having two children. Still not exactly ME.

Now here I am, pregnant again and I've decided to make this little girl's nursery exactly what I want. I've also learned some things these past 3 years about baby bedding and nursery decor so I knew what I wanted and what I didn't need. The result: I am making a crib bumper for this new baby! Seriously, I'm not a sewer... although I'm learning and would LOVE to be one. Thankfully I have a great Nanny (my grandmother) who will help me execute this task!

Today, I bought the fabrics for the bumper. I am so excited, they are too cute! I have them cut and pinned. I didn't buy the trim because I haven't exactly decided on that or the ties yet, but everything else is ready to go! Hopefully I'll get the bumper made over the Thanksgiving holiday so we can get this baby's room ready! I would show you pictures of the fabrics, but I kind of want it to be a surprise.

I also have plans for some artwork and fun things like that so we will see how it all turns out!

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do in the big girls' room.....

Monday...

That's today.... Monday! We had a good weekend overall. We were able to pick out the perfect bed for Big Sis! I cannot wait to get it!

I have struggled all weekend with something that has been bugging me.... It is definitely one of those things that I have to let go but that is ALWAYS easier said than done. As always, the message at church yesterday had a few points that were right on point with my issues. So I'm doing better.... still working on it though.

We were able to have lunch with our dear friends and it is always a blessing to be with them. Our girls LOVE them and they love our girls. We can't wait until things slow down for them so we can see them more often!

Last night, the hubs and I took the girls out to dinner. It was one of those dinners where the craziest things went wrong. There were many times during dinner where J and I looked at each other and just started cracking up. I never thought 4 years ago that this is where we would be.... eating dinner with our children, trying to catch plates of bread as they slide to the floor, and wondering at the end of dinner why neither of us ordered the milkshake that we both wanted. That's why I gave up planning my life a long time ago.... I'll plan my days - you better believe it! But I try not to plan my life. God's plans are so much better than mine anyways!

Overall, it was a good weekend. My sweet husband fixed our fence that washed down in the flood, we spent some great time together as a family, and we got to make some good memories!

Today started a little rough, but I have a good feeling that after naptime things will be much better!

Happy Monday Y'all!!! Hope you have a wonderful start to your week.

It's a PJ Day....

If you live in AR you know that the state has been hit hard by rain this month....and yesterday and today are no exception. So I woke up this morning and declared this rainy Friday a PJ Day at our house! I never do this.... it is very out of character for me. But given the floods outside, I don't think we will be getting out and we have some things we can catch up on around the house. So here we are.... a PJ Day!

And just because I've been very sentimental lately, here is a picture of my girls eating breakfast this morning. It was just one of those moments I never want to forget. We just recently moved my Little Doll out of her high chair and to the table and I LOVE having everyone at the table for meals... it is such sweet family time!

{Notice the baby doll at the table.... she eats most meals with us! And disregard the crazy morning hair, my girls are just like me - our hair is SO NOT CUTE in the mornings.}  {Also, is it crazy that it makes me sad that my Crazy Big Girl no longer uses a sippee cup or the baby bowls? Just look at her.... she's so big! Every day she does something else that's so "grown up" and it makes my heart ache a little....}

So there you go... Happy Friday all! Don't get washed away if you head outside and I hope you all have a moment today that is very special.

As Promised...

A Vacation Post!!! I know... a couple weeks late, but better late than never!

The girls and I headed out with Nanny to visit my sister in Biloxi, MS. That was one long car

ride.... but we had a good time! Here are the highlights...

We ate at some good restaurants...

We went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze...

We had ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery - one of my all-time favorites! It was fun to share that with my girls... and they loved it as much as I do!

We went to the beach.... the girls' first time. My Crazy Girl loved it which is no shock to anyone who knows her.... My Little Doll did not enjoy herself AT ALL. She screamed and cried anytime she touched the sand. I felt bad for taking her picture while she was screaming, but I had to capture that memory!

And finally we ended our trip with dinner out and a milkshake. P and I shared it and we tried to talk L into to sharing with us, but as you can see.... she found something she wanted more!

It is so fun doing things with my children and experiencing things with them. They had a great time on our little vacation.... the only thing we were missing was Daddy. He'll be with us on our next vacation though!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!!

Ok... I think things have settled down...

enough for me to get back to my blog. Yikes, it has been a crazy couple of weeks!! Last week we welcomed my sweet new niece, A, into our big ol' family! And the good news is she and Mommy are scheduled to go home today! Woo Hoo!!!

We are loving Fall, except for the rain - yucko! And we are taking some time to enjoy this wonderful season!

Don't you just love Fall clothes!!! Seriously, I love picking out my girls' clothes each morning!

We also spent the weekend with Pappy last weekend.... it was wonderful, as always. We ate well - I'm sure I gained 3 pounds in the two days we were there (seriously, I weighed myself). We played and watched some good movies. And we rode Sugar, Pappy's horse!

L loved playing on the fence... and so did P!

P is so big and she loves, LOVES to ride Sugar. She's a natural too! It blows my mind! She was telling Sugar to "Whoa, Sugar" and "Be easy Sugar". It was too cute!

And L got to ride for the first time.... she wasn't too sure at first. So Pappy took her around the circle. And she LOVED it! {Speaking of Pappy... isn't my dad just too cute?!} I think we have another natural horse-rider on our hands! And before we knew it, this is what was going on....

Yep, that's my 16 month old baby riding Sugar all by herself (with Pappy leading her around and keeping a hand near her in case she started to fall)! I couldn't believe it!!!! And I'm so proud of her!

And most importantly, I've been spending some time with these people... the ones who make my days brighter and give me a reason to get up every morning.... the ones who make everything I do worth it....

Can I just say that my kids have a wonderful dad... he's the best! He loves his girls so much and they LOVE him!!!! It is so special. And he is the best husband - I love you J!

We had a house guest last night but I'll post pictures of that later. We should have a pretty normal rest of the week so I'll have more time to post. I've also been busy with some gifts and orders from my "craft" blog.... check it out! I'm having the best time with it.... even though all of my orders have been for family! :)

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

What a week...

and it is only Thursday! :)

I am proud to say that I am an Aunt again!!! Baby A made her debut early this morning. She is in NICU so keep her in your prayers! Mommy had some problems so keep her in your prayers too! I'll save the whole story for my S-I-L to share on her blog... but this is why I've been blog absent all week. I've been busy praying and wishing I could be up at the hospital. But they are doing ok now and hopefully I can get up there to see Mommy today! I made Baby A a hat to wear so she's super stylish in the NICU... it was such a blessing to make that for her and to pray for her as I made it. :)

I've also been busy working on some "orders" for a few friends.... I'm having a great time doing this!

That is my quick update on this week.... when things settle down I'll get back in the swing of blog things! Hope you all have a glorious fall weekend!

Something New...

Ok... I realize I still haven't posted our vacation pictures. I'm going to do it soon, I have just been SO busy with random things since we got back from Biloxi.

But I wanted to let you know that I started a blog where you can see my "crafts" and "creations". I have loved crafting for some time now and I'm happy to share my things with my friends and family. Now I can share with everyone! So check it out and let me know what you think!

Have a great Monday and I promise I'm working on the vacation post! :)

Vacation....

The girls and I are home from vacation. I have TONS of pictures to post but I don't have the time to sit down and write out that post yet.... soon, though. I'm almost caught up on all of my blog reading. :)

I just want to publicly thank my sweet husband for being so supportive and ok with me going on trips without him. He works his bootie off for our family and we are so thankful for all he does for us! We love you so much!!!! {And just so you know, he gets to do his thing when he wants to.... it isn't just me :)} We missed you terribly while we were gone and are so happy to be home with you!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Some info...

So this week is crazy for me.... we have a lot going on and some really fun things this weekend to prepare for.... and this will likely be my only post this week. :(

I have a sick little girl.... just a cold, thankfully. It has us kind of messed up. She hasn't been sleeping well (until last night) and neither have I (with her in the bed next to me, kicking and snoring). And I can tell because I have been struggling this week keeping my sanity and not losing my cool. But she is on the mend.... yay!

Anyway... I wanted to let you all know about my sweet S-I-L's Christmas Giveaway! Go check it out over on her blog. She's getting me in the Christmas spirit! YAY!!

I've even started my Christmas shopping - this is very early for me. I usually don't start until after Thanksgiving because I like to see the Christmas decor around the stores as I shop.... but there have been some things I couldn't resist for my family so I started shopping early!

I also have been working on some fun baby crafts.... I'm thinking of starting a blog devoted to only my creations... what do you think?

Ok.... I really need to get to my list of things to do today. Hope you all have a wonderful day and a wonderful week!

Baby Gear... My Thoughts

Ok, first let me say that I do not consider myself an expert on anything baby. I have two and one on the way, but I learn something new every day! Kelly at Kelly's Korner is doing a Baby Gear Linkup today in her Show Us Your Life series. I thought today would be a good day for me to participate and maybe learn some things too!

First, I would say that the most invaluable thing when it comes to babies and children is the advice of experienced moms. I have a wonderful mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, sister, and sisters-in-law who have been my "go-to" people for each and every question I have. They have never let me down and I would advise anyone to find an experienced Momma to guide them through this journey!

The one and only product that I absolutely cannot live without is Aquaphor! It is a bootie saver - keeps those sweet booties healthy and free from rash. I use it on my girls constantly! I have tubes in the nursery, the diaper bags, the overnight bags, and at grandparents' houses!

I've glanced at some posts from the list and a theme I've seen is that no one uses all those receiving blankets that are too cute. Well.... I used them with the tiny newborns but then there wasn't much to do with them... until my girls started playing with baby dolls. A whole new use for those little blankets arose! We wrap the baby dolls up and put them to sleep with their blankets. So my little opinion is to save those blankets if you have girls because they become great baby doll accessories! As do the preemie diapers that you have left over :)

Aveeno baby wash and lotions. I love the smell of Johnson's pink baby lotion but the Aveeno is incredibly gentle and makes baby skin so soft. My girls both were irritated by the pink lotion and wash but Aveeno cleared it up almost immediately.

And bags. I have a number of tote bags - all different sizes. I use them ALL THE TIME! Whether it is to pack some things separately for my girls for church nursery or to pack toys for car trips, they are always handy. I use bags to hold their clothes for overnight visits (we have suitcases for them for extended visits, but tote bags are perfect for a night at Nana's or Mimi's). I love bags and we definitely use them constantly.

A few other thoughts -

• Bumbo chair is great for a "traveling" high-chair.
• Baby swing is a must!
• You can never have too many burp cloths - they make great nose wipers once your babies grow a little and are always useful. Plus they fold up small enough to fit in a purse or whatever you take with you when you are on the go!
• Sturdy passy clip - a life saver in the car. The passy never gets lost and you can usually get it back in baby's mouth with little effort!
• Tide Free detergent or Cheer Free or any laundry detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes. It is considerably cheaper than "baby" detergents and I love using it on our clothes as well - it doesn't irritate skin or have a strong fragrance.

Ok so that isn't all "gear" but it is the baby stuff that I love and can't live without :) However, I've learned the hard way, that what works for one mom doesn't for another and what works for one baby doesn't for another. So there is a lot of trial and error - and I'm still learning things that work for us. But hopefully my list gives someone some thoughts because I've gotten some ideas from some of the posts I've read on this!

Hope you all have a great Friday and a great weekend!!!

Thursday Thoughts...

There is a noise that we hear frequently in our home.... it is the sound of a bedroom doorknob turning. Big Sis likes to wake us up to that noise each morning. So when I heard it this morning, I really thought nothing of it.... until I looked at the clock. 5:30a.m. WHAT? Too early, even for me. She came and I got her all snuggled into bed with me (Hubby was at work early today) and I told her it was too early to get up. So we both went back to sleep.... ahh I love having that little girl snuggle me. She is so sweet. She actually slept in our bed until I got all ready (showered, dressed, hair fixed, make-up on) and then we came out for breakfast.

On the way to the kitchen, we heard Little Sis waking up so we got her and headed to the table. Little Sis has been IN LOVE with her baby dolls lately so she had one with her in her bed last night. And she didn't want to put it down. And as a result, this is how she attempted to eat breakfast...

She finally put the baby beside her in the high chair and took her passy out. She was cracking me up so I had to take her picture! Don't you love her morning hair! Hehehe....

After breakfast we got dressed and all fixed up. The girls went to Nana's house today while I went to the doctor. Have I mentioned that I'm loving Fall and my girls' Fall wardrobes? Be expecting pictures because each day I think they look too cute not to take pictures of them. Here is Big Sis sporting her "Big Sister" shirt and a ponytail - she is very proud to be able to have a ponytail!

I have no idea what is up with her smile.... she's crazy!

And Little Sis actually got to wear a big girl bow today! YAY! I managed to get a little twig of hair and clip a bow to it... and I think she looks awfully cute! You can bet I'll be putting more bows in her hair now. :)

All was well at the doctor.... everything looks fine with Baby M. I got a flu shot... my first one ever! I hate shots.... seriously, I'm a big baby. But this one was surprisingly painless. Woo Hoo! I got to hear Baby's heartbeat - love that sound :) And Dr. C said she looked over the u/s and saw nothing of concern to her.... other than she feels bad for Hubby because he is incredibly outnumbered in our house! :)

I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday! I'll leave you with one final picture from this morning...

"No more pictures. Please, Mom!"

Fall!!!

I got the camera out this morning. I just had to take pictures of my girls dressed in their pants :) I love Fall! I love putting them in pants and long sleeves and being able to bring out a different wardrobe. I love summer clothes too, but I'm always ready to retire the sleeveless dresses and shorts and bring out the jeans! I love jeans! Seriously, I wear jeans 98% of the time.

So we got up and got dressed this morning. Big Sis has school today so she got to wear her jeans and her new Little Mermaid t-shirt. And Middle Sis got to break out some yoga pants and an apple shirt (stuff that Big Sis got much use out of last fall)! So here are some pictures of my girls dressed for Fall - for the first time this year!

Excuse the messy room - we were playing with baby dolls before we got dressed!

Why does my baby look so old????

Yes, that's Little Sis's bootie! She got in the way right as the picture took.... but I love Big Sis's smile in this picture. She is so precious!

"Hey Mom - I think I look kind of cute today with my apple shirt!" Ooooh I love this baby so much!

The weather is PERFECT today! Seriously, I've been trying to think of reasons to be outside - and that is SO NOT like me. I'm an inside person.... but I just feel like it would be disgraceful to waste such beautiful weather. So we are getting the basketball goal out and taking some of our push and ride toys out.... I know two girls who are excited about this!!!

I hope you all enjoy this incredible day - maybe Fall is actually here to stay!!!!!!!

"Yay Fall!"

Paintings and Cleaning Out!

Ok Mommas... I need some ideas/advice. We are in the process of making 3 little girls fit into 2 bedrooms. We are moving Big Sis and Middle Sis into the same room and will use the other bedroom as the nursery. My question is this.... I have multiple paintings with the girls' names on them. But they are all different colors and styles and one is pretty "baby-ish". So I'm wondering what you all have done or would suggest doing with these sweet paintings. There is a part of me that wants to save them for my girls... but how practical is that really? I mean, what would they do with them? So any thoughts? Ideas? Advice?

Here are the paintings I pulled out of the room today... they are all cute, right!

*******************

I made great progress in our Great House Clean Out of 2009 yesterday! I managed to knock out 2 closets, one bedroom, the living room and one bathroom! And now I have a HUGE pile of things to sell. I'm talking A LOT of clothes. I can't wait to get rid of all of this stuff.

Today I'm working on the kitchen, entry closet and hall closet. And I need to start organizing the stuff I've pulled out to sell.... the hardest part for me is trying to decide how much to sell it for. I have a few people that I plan on asking for help in that area. :)

So what do you have planned for this Tuesday? And what are your suggestions for my paintings???