Weekend at the Lake

J had Friday off so Thursday afternoon we headed to my dad's for the weekend. We were both SO READY for a fun, relaxing weekend on the lake. I knew we were going to have fun when the girls wanted to jam out to Bon Jovi and Daughtry in the car on the way there! It was hilarious to see them "dancing" in their car seats.

When we got to dad's Thursday night we met him at the store to get what we needed for a cookout that night with some friends. Burgers and hot dogs... perfect. We finished the evening with cake and ice cream for the Birthday Girl.

Let me just go on the record saying that I can't believe she is two! TWO! My heart is having a really hard time with this. Thankfully she will still let me hold her.... sometimes.

Friday we hit Wal-Mart early. Pappy had to take his girl birthday shopping! We also needed a few things to take to the lake with us... yippee! Dad and I were talking Friday and we decided we needed to buy another life jacket in the 30-50 lbs size. It was time for Laila to move up to the bigger life jacket. So while we were filling up the boat at the marina, I went in and got a new life jacket. Little Girl LOVED it! This year she has been preferring to sit up on the boat and snack rather than swim.... until now. Now that she has her new life jacket she has more freedom. She was moving around and swimming on her own within minutes of getting in the water. She has never really swam on her own with a life jacket so this was a BIG deal!

So Friday we swam, then came home and had pizza and hung out. It was a perfect Friday, in my opinion.

Simply beautiful.

There is a big fireworks show on the lake on Independence Day Eve. My girls have never seen a fireworks show... I know, I know, I'm a lame mother. :) It just hasn't ever worked out with their ages and with Jared's work schedule and such. But this year we did it right!

Saturday morning we got up and had a huge breakfast (thanks Dad) and early naps before we headed to the lake. We got out about 2pm and got ready for a long, fun day on the water. Let me just say, my girls were nearly perfect. I only had to get on to the big girls a few times and Mika Lynn was as good as can be. We swam and swam and snacked and played. We met up with friends and tied up together.... think of the song "Redneck Yacht Club" and that was pretty much us!

Sis and me! I know I desperately need a tan, but it is so hard to get one when I spend most of my time outside making sure Baby Girl stays in the shade and cool. 

This is how it goes when I try to get a picture of all three girls....
Take One:

Take Two:

Take Three:

The last one would have been good if my hand hadn't been in it. They are such a mess, these girls!

Mika Lynn and I hung out in the back of the boat, in the shade. She was especially fond of Pappy's Captain's Chair.

Ooooh, I love this baby. :)

We were out on the lake for over eight hours. I am still in awe at how good my girls were. And I must say that I had a great time. The girls spent the afternoon and evening jumping off the boat and swimming. They had a ball and I loved watching them. As long as my girls are having a great time, I don't mind being the palest person on the lake!

Seriously, this is one of my favorite pictures - how cute are these two "Whitneys"?! Laila Whitney and her Aunt Whitney, they are big buddies!

SPLASH! I kept trying to get an in-air shot of Peyton jumping but she jumped too fast and I was always too slow with the camera. Eventually I'll get a good shot of her jumping. She did so good!!! I'm so proud of her for jumping and Laila for swimming and jumping so well. They amazed me!

A little sass for the camera! She was posing and showing off some dance moves on the boat. Needless to say, we were cracking up. So much personality wrapped up in such a small package - love it!

Here we are, our little family, waiting on the fireworks show to start. The girls loved it! Peyton got super excited over the red ones (her favorite color). And after each firework went off, Laila would either say "Oh that one did" (I think she meant that one exploded) or "that was cool". They had a great time and I loved every minute of this special day with them!

I hope you all had a wonderful celebration of our country's independence. We definitely did!

Happy Birthday Laila-Bean!

A Little about my Laila Whitney. Her birthday was yesterday, but I waited to do her birthday post today...

July 1, 2008 we welcomed our Laila Whitney into this crazy world. She was a full three weeks early and her birth was a surprise. 

I had my first actual surgery because of her - c-section.

She was so sweet from the beginning, but she was a hard baby. 

There was some serious Mommy Attachment in the first year of her life. She hated for anyone else to hold her. I had to leave a funeral once because the babysitter called me crying and said she couldn't get her to calm down. Oh my. 

She has always been a good sleeper. She never wanted to be rocked (sad) and still doesn't. 

She has some serious, real love for her blankets. She started with one.... we lost it. So we bought her another to "replace" it, but she decided she needed six replacement blankets. And that is how many blankets she sleeps with now - 3 big blankets and 3 small ones. 

Every morning she comes out of her bedroom with all 6 blankets in her hands. 

Laila was also my pacifier baby. P didn't take one for long but Laila did. We took it away last winter. She had gotten to where she wanted one pacifier in her mouth and one in her hand (which she would put up to her eye). Two pacifiers and a few blankets and she was ready for bed!

Laila has always had the sweetest smile and funniest expressions. Her big blue eyes are full of life! I love it that she almost closes them completely when she really smiles.

My girl loves to eat. She has only met one food she didn't like - cucumbers. She will eat and eat until she throws up, so I have to be careful how much I put on her plate at meals. She gets so excited to eat sometimes, it is precious. And if you ask her what she wants to eat (for any meal) she will tell you Macaroni and Cheese. Every.Time.

Did I mention her love for powdered donuts?

Laila also ALWAYS has a baby doll. She loves them. They are her babies and she takes very good care of them. She also loves books. That makes this Momma very proud, as I love books too!

She loves to play outside...

And ride Pappy's horse...

And she LOVES her sisters! 

Laila, you are my little doll, my buddy. I have enjoyed every minute of watching you grow over the past two years and I can't wait to watch you keep growing into your own person. You are hilarious. You constantly make me and Daddy laugh. You have such a big heart. If someone seems hurt or upset you quickly go love on them, rub their face and whisper "its ok, I'm right here." 

You love to sing and dance and do anything your big sister does. Peyton and Mika are so lucky to have you as their best friend. I'm so blessed to spend my days with you. Daddy and I thank God daily that we have you as our daughter. You are a special little girl.

Happy Birthday Baby Doll!

Hump Day...

Ok.... I typed that title and then I had to double check that today is actually Wednesday. I'm running on about 5 hours of real sleep over the past two nights and I'm a little less than together this morning. But since I've been so good about blogging lately I didn't want to let today pass without a post.

First, I was reading some of my old posts last night and hello.... I was so much more creative with my writing back in the day (the day before I was wrangling three kids all day long and trying to find a minute here or there to post). So... I've been inspired to add a little more creativity and thought into my words. We'll see!

Next item... tomorrow is my darling Laila's second birthday. Two. I can't believe it. I will post her birthday post tomorrow or Friday... depending on how things go around here. But be looking for some cuteness in pictures by Friday.... one thing this baby girl definitely has going for her is her cuteness.

I'm having a bit of a week, if you know what I mean. Apparently a two-year birthday means that the child gets the attitude of a teenager. It seems my favorite phrase this week is "stop crying and whining." If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Add to that a crazy schedule for Jared (translation: I'm home alone with the girls more than normal). And if that weren't enough, Mika Lynn is sick for the first time and is not sleeping well. That means this Momma isn't sleeping well, or at all. I actually looked in the mirror a little while ago and almost didn't recognize myself. Beauty sleep is a real thing people. Just saying.

I spent most of Tuesday doing this.

And this. Poor baby.

Finally, guess who is sitting up all on her own....

We are still working on it, of course, but she's getting the balance thing down really quickly! She won't roll over, but she's sitting up! Silly, silly girl.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Guess Who...

had her first trip to the movie theater..... Peyton Lou!

We have been wanting to take her to a movie for a while now and we thought Toy Story 3 would be the perfect first movie experience. And since we were going to see TS3 we decided to do it "right" and see it in IMAX 3D.

So Monday afternoon, we took the baby girls to Nana's and headed across town to the movie theater.

She was so stinkin excited!

We got there and P immediately spotted the TS3 movie poster so we had to go check it out.

Peyton and Daddy

And Momma with Peyton

I'm not sure who was more excited to do this, us or P! Actually I was both excited and emotional... I fought back tears all day thinking about how big she was getting and how happy I was to get to make this memory with her. Anyway, I overcame my emotions and we had a blast!

Before we left, we explained to her that she had to keep the glasses on or she couldn't see the movie. I knew she'd be cute in those glasses, but I had no idea how cute she would be....

We had a great time and it was a great movie! I think her first trip to the theater was a huge success! And just because she is so darn cute, I'll leave you with another picture of my big girl.

Happy Tuesday!

Reunion Top Ten... well, Top Thirteen!

There are a few more memories I want to document from our Reunion weekend. So I thought I would do it in Top Ten format....
These are in no particular order other than the order in which they came to mind just now.

13. Seeing Mamaw walk into the depot Saturday at lunchtime with a bowl of dumplins for my dad. He is so spoiled! She said she knew he wouldn't get in line to get some until everyone had gone through the line and that they would be gone by the time he got up there. So she kept out a bowl especially for him.

12. Laughing with my husband and my dad and the rest of my family.

11. Four words: Nanny's. Homemade. Ice Cream.

10. Watching my girls play with their cousins. They had a blast and it makes me so happy to see them love their family!

9. Seeing my girls get so excited to see Mamaw Sunday afternoon and then watching her feed Laila bites of food. They love each other so much and I know being with my girls (and all of her grand and great-grand babies) brings such joy to Mamaw.

8. Seeing sweet Kohlie run up to Jared and give him a huge hug. My heart smiled at that. He is such a good man and I'm lucky to have him.

7. Hearing the story of my cousin Mike who took the challenge at the Mean Pig restaurant in Cabot, AR. He did not win the challenge, but instead won himself a night in the bathroom, miserable, with a bottle of Pepto Bismol and some pain meds. He said he learned his lesson and it was so not worth it!

6. Getting reunion cups and coozies... my uncle brought them for everyone. This is the first time we have had anything like this and I was so excited. I love coozies because I love to drink Dr. Pepper from a can! And I love plastic cups. Weird, I know, but I prefer to drink from a plastic cup than a glass one!

5. Seeing people enjoy the dessert I brought. I love to cook for my family and friends and even though I'm not that great, I still really enjoy it!

4. Actually taking the girls to church by myself... I don't go many places with them alone and it always boosts my confidence. Thankfully, my sweet cousins helped me tremendously Sunday morning - Thanks Kyle, Kris, Kelsie and Kylie!

3. Watching Laila crawl up in Mamaw's lap and give her a sweet hug. Then she did the Laila thing and rubbed her face so gently. Precious!

2. Uncle Larry recognizing that I work so hard at being a mom and telling me that he sees that. I don't do my "job" for the recognition, but it sure feels good when someone comments on how hard I work as a Mommy.

1. Mamaw telling Uncle Billy not to eat a piece of the cake that she made for us to eat on Friday. There was about half of it left and she wanted to give it all to Whitney. She did tell him he could eat the crumbs in the pan though!

Reunion 2010

One weekend in June, every summer, we pack up and head to my dad's hometown for our family reunion. My dad comes from a big BIG family. My grandparents had TWELVE children..... yes, 12!!! From that has grown a huge family. I think the headcount for Saturday's festivities was 75. Anywho.... we head there on Friday afternoon usually. **this may be a little much for one post, but I really want to remember it so I'm documenting as much as I can on here.**

This year, Jared was working late Friday so my dad decided he would come to our house Thursday and take me and the girls with him Friday morning. Jared met us Friday night after work. So we woke up EARLY Friday morning so we could get to Sam's at 7am before we headed to my grandmother's house.

The girls wanted me to take their picture in the freezer section of Sam's. They are so funny!!!

After buying our Sunday lunch groceries at Sam's, we headed out. We got to Mamaw's and the fun began. We hung out all day Friday with the few family members who were there already. Friday evening we headed to my mom's to celebrate her birthday (again!) then back to Mamaw's for more fun.

This year, we rented the 3 room suite at the hotel so our room became the "hot spot". We hung out until about 11pm (if you know me, you know that is WAY past my bedtime).

Saturday morning I woke up early thanks to my lovely alarm clock:

She and I got dressed and ready and headed to the grocery store. I had been asked by my darling hubby and brother-in-law to make my banana pudding so M and I went to Kroger and got what we needed then headed to Nanny's to make it in her kitchen. (Nanny and Mamaw live about 10 minutes from each other)

We made banana pudding and then came back to get the big sisters dressed and ready for the day. We got everyone rounded up and headed to start our fun-filled day. Our family rents out the old train depot in town so that we can have a space big enough for all of us. It works out nicely because it is separated into two rooms. We use one for eating and visiting and the other room for the kids to go wild.... and that's exactly what they do in there!

Of course, by "kids" I mean the big ones like Jared and the little ones too!

Lunch is served at noon and consists of veggies, fried chicken, salad, and chicken and dumplins. Mamaw makes them in a HUGE pot and they are the highlight of my meal! And we put a hurt on that pot of dumplins!!

Yes, we scrape it CLEAN!

We all sit around and visit and eat and the kids play and it is really just a nice time for everyone.

Papaw is very sick and we know he won't be with us much longer. What a blessing it was to have him at the reunion this year. His Hospice Nurse brought him and it was wonderful. We made sure to take some family pictures with him and Mamaw.

I will cherish this picture forever! I love to see how much they love each other still. 

My dad and his baby girl.... he loves his girls!!

Laila Whitney and her Aunt Whitney!

Mika Lynn and me! I love this baby girl so much!!

After lunch, we decided to take the kids swimming at the hotel for a while before we laid them down for naptime. I am so blessed that Nanny came to the reunion with me and she stayed around to help me with Mika while J and I took the big girls to the pool!

No trip to the pool is complete without Cheetos!

Laila gets really hot and her poor cheeks turn bright red. I felt so bad for her to be out in the 100 degree weather with her face so red, so I decided to take her back to the room early. Jared and Pappy stayed with Peyton and when they came back to the room they told me she was swimming without floaties! I'm so sad I missed it. But I am SO proud of her. Is she really this big?

After we took our naps we got cleaned up and headed back to the depot for dinner. We order pizzas from the best local pizza place and take them up there to eat. The girls were thrilled to get to go back to the depot because they LOVED playing in there.

Hula Hoop!

Jared loved playing in there as much as the girls did! :)

Sweetness!

So we had dinner and hung out for a bit then headed back to the hotel to put Miss M to bed. Once again, our suite was the place to be, so we had a good crowd over. It was such fun visiting and hanging out with them. Jared and I both decided we wished we could see them more often and spend more time together. And the great thing is that we all have kids about the same age and hopefully they can grow up together!

How sweet is this Sister picture! I LOVE it!

Sunday morning we get up and go to Mamaw's tiny little church to worship together as a family. This year we decided to do something a little different for lunch. My dad and Jared stayed home from church and went to the depot to grill burgers and dogs for us all! It was wonderful. They did a great job!! We usually try to go out to eat somewhere but it is just getting harder and harder to find a place to accommodate us. This was the perfect solution.

The Grill Masters!

Enjoying lunch together!

Laila is so in love with her Mamaw. She was so sweet to her all weekend and it completely melted my heart! When Mamaw came in for lunch today, Laila got so excited to see her and asked Mamaw to sit by her.

Look how happy they both are! I'm seriously holding back tears right now thinking about how sweet this is and how much I love seeing Mamaw this happy while she is in the middle of such a hard time with Papaw. 

We got home tonight about 5pm and Jared and I both agreed that the weekend was a huge success and so much fun! We can't wait to do it again next year!! What a blessing my great big family is... I love you all!