A relaxing weekend with pictures!

K and I decided to head over to his parent's house for a little visit.

K and Adison saw them last week but the other two girls and I hadn't seen them in a while and they hadn't seen Abby's new trick!

So we packed up and were off.

They only live a little more than an hour away so it was a really quick trip.

Far enough to be exciting for the girls but not long enough that we hear those dreaded four words,

"Are we there yet???"

We had a really nice weekend.

It was full of talking, food, laughing, relaxing.

With an emphasis on relaxing.

I didn't leave their house once.

On the way home on Sunday the sky was GORGEOUS!

There were these beautiful wavy clouds and the sky was the most beautiful shade of blue with pink accents.

It was after taking a few pics with my phone that I remembered the camera.

Epic score!

K focusing on the road.

Me hamming it up.

Poor Ainsley was just exhausted.

Adison was reading a book.

Abby checking out the beautiful sunset.

A cute pic of my main squeeze and myself.

To get the above picture, I first got these.

Thanks K, you are so goofy!

Now I am off to get ready for the BIG snow.

We are expecting 8 to 12 inches in the next 24 hours or so.

This will be our 3rd big snow this winter!

Be safe everyone and HAPPY MONDAY!

Short and sweet post

I feel like the title I chose was a bit of a misleading.

How about just a short post?

We just got back in town from a weekend visit with K's parents.

We had a wonderful relaxing time.

We also came back exhausted.

Why?
I have no idea, considering the fact that I didn't leave their house once all weekend.

I will though leave you with this picture and explain it tomorrow.



Forgiveness

I have been thinking about how easy it is to forgive our children for the mistakes that they make.
How we can quickly forgive and forget, to then move on with life.

This led me into thinking about God's forgiveness.

How many times have I messed up and knew that I was instantly forgiven.
Not only that but I was forgiven BEFORE I did it!

The times that I spoke out of anger/hurt/resentment/(add any negative emotion).

The times that I responded in a less than Christ-like response.

The times that I have taken the quicker/easier way out of a situation, rather than doing what I know that God would have me do.

See, the truth of the matter is that I am a broken, fallen individual.

There, I said it.

I mean it, too.

I am also a loved person.
A person of value and worth.

Not because of ANYTHING that I have done, rather by the One who sacrificed.

It is in knowing my forgiveness that I am able to move through the day.

Secure in the knowledge that no matter how far I fall or how badly I bungle things, that Jesus is always there to pick me up, brush me off and help me along the way.
I think this means that since we have already been forgiven by the One that we should also be able to forgive ourselves.
To not be so hard on ourselves.
I seem to be way harder on myself than I should be.
Why do I do this when I know that I am forgiven, that I am covered by grace?
Something for me to ponder and act on.

You've gotta love forgiveness.
The freedom and security that it brings.
The peace, the assurance, the beauty.

I hope that everyone is having a blessed day.
I am having a really lazy day hanging out with the fam.

See you tomorrow!

Technology, you confuse me

I don't get technology.

So much so that I don't even pretend.

When trying to ask a question or explain something to my computer genius hubby, I frequently use words/phrases such as:

thingy, you know the thing that you, I want this thing to do this/etc.

He has grown to understand my deficiency and has such patience.

Normally to learn how to do pretty much anything computer related I have to watch it be done, write down exact directions and then do it myself.

I am not kidding you when I tell you how deficient I am.

It took me ages to be able to upload pictures from my camera to the computer.

The thing that has forced me to become more comfortable with technology is my blog.

I love this thing.

To make it all that I hope for it to be forces me out of my comfort zone.

Yes there is a lot more that I wish that I could do to it, but for now I am going to have to be happy with where it's at.

Now, I am not being hard on myself.

Truly I am not.

It is just that technology/internet/etc just speaks a different language than I do.

I often feel like I am visiting a foreign country and I don't understand the language at all.

So, I will share something embarrassing.

I just don't get Twitter.

I don't understand it.

I have a basic idea as to how it works, but other than that, not so much.

Whew, I feel so much better getting that off of my chest.

Now, you can imagine my intimidation with my new iphone.

Yikes!

5 Question Friday



1. If you had $1,000 to donate to a charity, which would you choose?I would choose Ronald McDonald House. I just feel like they do so much and I would love to give something to them.

2. Snow days: Do you welcome them happily or are they a pain in your butt?

I LOVE snow days! It just seems like a bonus day. We can do whatever we like, hang out in our pjs all day, play in the snow, watch movies and eat popcorn. It is just a fun time.

3. What talent did you wish you had and why?

I wish I were more crafty and creative.

4. Are you a news, politics or celebrity gossip junkie?

Yes, yes and yes. I love watching the news and politics. I don't normally discuss my political leanings on my blog, but I LOVE politics. I also am a celebrity gossip junkie, shhh don't tell anyone though!

5. What is your favorite "cocktail"? (Are you a beer person, a kiddie cocktail junkie, or perhaps your more the "Cosmo" kind?! Anything flies...doesn't hafta be alcoholic!)

How about a Coke/Pepsi on ice. That is my fav!

Won't you join me on a blog hop?

Well everyone, we have successfully made it to Friday!
That means it is time to join The Chatty Mommy for Friday Follow!

I am going to check out some new blogs, come join me!

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

Welcome to the third edition of:

The Good, the Bad and the Funny!

Just kidding.

The Good: As of now we are all healthy! I pray for this to continue. Abby is walking, yay! I also reached my 200th post. I am honesty psyched about this one. I tend to struggle with consistency with non-family/child things so this is really amazing. Plus the hubs and Adison are back in town.

The Bad: For this week it can pretty much be summed up in saying: Stomach bug and attitude (not mine of course, I NEVER have a bad attitude, ha ha).

The Funny: As I was prepping for dinner I pulled the mushrooms out of the fridge and when I looked at them I noticed that they were torn up looking. I mean these things looked rough and I knew that they didn't look like that this morning. I was talking with K on the phone and he immediately thought it was Ains. Upon questioning, she said that she did it because, "The mushrooms were talking." I think that she has seen Alice in Wonderland a few too many times lately.

Okay, feel free to share or link up or let me know if you did one too!

I would LOVE to read yours!

Thursday 5

It's Thursday everyone, you know what that means:



 Patient


Joyful


Marvelous


Grateful


Wonderful

I have had to be extremely patient with a certain 3 year old lately. She has been having a hard time and is acting out in a major way. So, I am giving her lots of hugs, kisses and boundaries.

I am so very joyful about my brother's wedding coming up. It is going to be awesome!

I am finally feeling marvelous. This stomach stuff is no fun!

I am grateful to have such a wonderful husband. He took care of me and the cupcakes while I was sick and did an amazing job!

I feel so very blessed to have such wonderful children. They light up my life!

Guess who is FINALLY walking!?!

ABIGAIL!!!

She has been flirting with walking for about a month now.

K and I figured that she was probably just being stubborn, if you know Abby's personality it fits.

The last  few days she has been walking a bit more just because.

From one toy to another.

But yesterday she was walking a lot!

Like, across the room a lot!

I simply cannot believe it!

While it saddens me on one hand because she is no longer a "baby".

I rejoice in her advances.

I know I just talked about it in this post and for the first time in this post, but when something just seems to be a bit off with your little one it is terrifying!
I think that she just wanted to scare her Mama as we are rapidly approaching the 15 month check up.

So, I rejoice and give thanks!

Give thanks because all of the little "issues" we were having with Abby have been met and I am assuming that she is now developmentally on track!

She has her 15 month check up next month so I will of course update you and let you know how that goes.

I just don't know how to NOT share.

(Please excuse the mess, remember the stomach bug. Also, the pictures are just not that great, she was moving all over the place. It's like I tell my young ones, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." So I am okay with it.)

In other news:

~I am feeling better. Just a bit tired so I can't complain. Thanks everyone for your sweet words!

~Clara was right, my movie quote is from one of my most favorite movies of all time "Napoleon Dynamite". If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

~Ainsley really wants a chihuahua. She keeps asking me if we can get one when our cats die (we have been telling the girls that we can't get any other pets because we have the cats, so her comment isn't too morbid). This morning after dropping Adison off at school she asked me, "Mama, if someday after the cats die if you see a chihuahua running down the street, just yell 'CHIHUAHUA!' and we can get it."

~I can't tell you how happy I am to have all 3 cupcakes and my main squeeze home with me. Ahhh, bliss.

My 200th Post!!!!

Well, I was all excited for my 200th post.

I was pouring over ideas to write about.

I wanted it to be something fun and exciting.

My stomach though had other ideas.

About two hours after dinner last night my stomach started to hurt.

Ugh.

I was finally able to fall asleep then was awakened by horrible stomach pains around 2:45.

Then the puking started and my night was downhill from there.

I was up until the early morning hours.

It is after 3:00 in the afternoon and I have finally emerged from by bedroom cocoon.

Starting to feel somewhat normal again.

So sorry for not having a more exciting post for you.

There's always tomorrow though, right?

I am so excited!

The reason that you only heard about Abby, Ainsley and myself all weekend was because K and Adison were out of town.

It makes me paranoid to put that out there for the whole world to see while they are gone so I didn't say anything.

Yes, I am paranoid.

They left Friday right after K got home from work to first head to KC to spend the night at K's parent's house.

The next morning (Saturday) they were all heading over to St. Louis to have a little family reunion.

K's aunt, uncle and some cousins who are from NY were in St. Louis and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a reunion.

I was planning on staying home with the little two already but the stomach ailments further solidified that need.

So, while we had a relaxing weekend full of girl time, cuddling, relaxing, grocery shopping, movie watching, K and Adison were hanging out with his amazing family. Seriously y'all, they are awsome.
Adison has been spending all of her spare time in the pool and hot tub.

It seemed like every time I talked with K they were either going swimming, swimming or just got done swimming.

Notice the trend?

My oldest is a water child.

I can't wait to give my eldest a big hug and a kiss, well I can't wait to give those to the hubs either.

I am pretty sure that she has grown a foot or so.
She is also probably leaping tall buildings and flying too.

Hey, when you go 3 days without seeing your young you can never be too sure as to what skills they have picked up.

"Girls only like guys that have skills."

Name that movie.

A picture post, mostly

Rather than tell you about the unnatural mess I found in the little girls diapers this morning, remember the stomach bug...**shuddering**

Or the fact that I somehow managed to snap (not break) my windshield wipers off...

Or the fact that Ainsley turned off the refrigerator...

(Who designs a fridge with the temperature control dial right inside the fridge where little fingers can turn the fridge on or off??? Why not towards the back of the fridge?)

Or how she colored on the bottom of one of my Fiesta bowls...

I decided to post some pictures.

I have been a bit lax about this lately and felt that today was the day to post some new ones.

So happy to see a smiling face!

I know this isn't a great picture, but see, she's actually standing!

 Remember the above mentioned mess, well that led to this:

After a bath, Lee always does this.

Do you remember this post?
Yes, they are still hanging out under the table.

Ainsley tried to help Abby.

Abby didn't want to be helped.

That led to a temper tantrum.

She cracks me up with this, "What just happened?" look.

Coming for some post-temper tantrum cuddles.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but I discovered today the beginning of a baby mullet!

She IS getting hair!

I hope everyone had a blessed Sunday! 

Perseverance and Grace

Yesterday was a DAY!

I mean wow.

I am not trying to be a downer or complainer, but there really is nothing like pukey, sick kids.

Ainsley hadn't thrown up since Thursday around 4:30, but she was really cranky and crying a lot.

She has recently started doing this really high pitched screaming cry thing, it really is enough to make you want to rip your ears off.

So, she was doing this off and on most of the day yesterday and there was little I could do to make her happy.

It just broke my heart to see her so upset.

So, it was about 3:00 when Abby woke up from her nap.

Lee was peacefully sleeping and it was actually a calm moment.

I had Abby on my lap while she was drinking her milk when she erupted.

She did the puke thing where it looks like lava spewing out of their mouths.

I was so shocked that I just sat there while she puked all over the both of us.

The only positive in this situation is that she was drinking vanilla soy milk and that stuff was not stinky or gross at all coming up.

I then looked at the clock and panicked.

Adison gets out of school at 3:30 and I am the one that picks her up.

(There was no way that K was going to be able to pick up Adison right now, he is BUSY at work.)

Ahhhh!

So, I get a very sick and sad baby in the bath.

After getting her cleaned up and ready (in record time I might add) I had to get Ainsley up.

She screamed and screamed and screamed.

While I was feeling the pressure of trying to get all of these normally routine things done I suddenly felt grace just wash over me.

I kept my calm and just got done what needed to get done.

Even if that meant carrying a 20lb one year old and a 36lb three year old.

(And having Ainsley wear her cowgirl boots with footed pajamas out of the house.)

I guess the point of all of this rambling is that even though it wasn't fun or even remotely enjoyable, being able to persevere even in the most frantic of moments is so very rewarding.

Plus, I was caring, soothing and mothering my sick little cupcakes, what a blessing and honor.

This morning while thinking about what to write today I came across Adison's memory verse from church for the week:

"Let us keep running the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

Is life always fun?

No.

Is life always how we want it to be?

No.

But, should we be faithful to what God has planned for us and always make the best of situations?

You betcha!

The Good, the Bad and the Funny

I meant to write this yesterday, but I just didn't get to it.

Sorry.

I am still thinking about writing something like this every week.

Last week I did the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, for this week though I felt that funny was more appropriate.

My plan is to do it on Thursday.

Check out last week's.

Okay, here we go.

The Good: Abby is walking more, holding her own milk cup, clapping (kind of, but not really), blowing kisses and DANCING! Whew, she just wanted to worry her Mama!

The Bad: Ainsley had a stomach thing yesterday. She is my pukey kid so I wasn't too worried, but no one likes it when their kiddos don't feel well.

The Funny: Hubs found a new app for our phones that just has the cuppycakes rolling. Seriously, even Abby loves it. It is called Talking Carl. It repeats what you say to it in a really cute voice. You can also tickle it and poke it.

As always, I would love it if you wanted to share yours as well.

Happy Friday everyone!

5 Question Friday

1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love?

Hubs and I met at a bar/dance club. He was a DJ and I was a silly sorority girl.

You should have seen the looks on the other couple's faces when we shared that at marriage prep classes.

It was not love at first, I would classify it more as "Dislike at First Sight."

Hubs had introduced a couple (they are currently married) and they kept getting us together, eventually we clicked and then love came pretty quickly.

2. What is your favorite room in your house?

My bedroom because my bed is divine.

When we had to get a new bed, K and I splurged on a nicer one because we figured that you spend so much time sleeping that you might as well be comfortable.

Best decision ever!

When in doubt and if possible, buy yourself a nice bed.

3. Can you wiggle your ears?

Not at all.

I am double jointed in my elbows though, can that count???

4. What is your evening ritual?

After getting the kiddos to bed, if I have any energy left I do a quick clean up of the house. Then spend some time with hubs, read some blogs, have a snack, maybe watch a movie, check out some more blogs, brush teeth, snooze.

 

5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

To function...at least 4, I am talking bare bones functioning.

But to actually be a happy, well-adjusted, helpful, patient person, at least 7 if not more.

Preferably 10, but I am a mother to 3, that hasn't happened in well...8 years.



Thursday 5

Okay y'all, I am going to have an honesty moment.

Today is not a rock star day.

In fact it is the opposite.

Not sure what the opposite would be, but let's just go with it.

I was awakened this morning to Adison yelling that Ainsley had puked.

Great.

So after running around trying to get things cleaned up/sanitized, Abby decided that she wasn't happy.

I repeat. Not happy.

Add this to the fact that I had a pukey kid and it was just not pretty.

My saving grace is Adison.

She is having another snow day today and thank the Lord is at home today.

So, rather than wallow in my cranky child and three-time pukey child, I have decided to focus on the positive.

Hence, Thursday 5.

 Blessed

Incredible

Productive
Elated

Happy

1. I am blessed to have such an amazing, supportive and helpful hubby that was a partner in corralling this mornings chaos.
2. It is incredible to see how much Adison is growing and learning this year. She really is doing amazing!
3. I was super productive yesterday, too bad that it all was wrecked, leaving me to be super productive today. Focusing on the positive and checking off that To-Do list.
4. I am elated that I have a new book to read, reading makes my day!
5. I am ever so happy to have all three of my cupcakes home with me today. Makes me smile!

What in the world was I thinking!?!

I must not have been.

Call it a momentary lapse in judgement.

After dropping Adison off at school today I took the two little girls to Target.

I needed to get a baby shower gift and Target was and always is the natural choice.

So, we pick out a darling gift and do some perusing.

We are just about to head to the check out and Ainsley spotted something...

She just had to have them.

And I said yes!!!!

What in the world was I thinking?

I didn't even THINK about the repercussions.

So, I said yes.

I basked in the Ainsley happy glow.

Smiled at her enthusiasm to help carry them out to the car.

Beamed at her excitement at telling Adison.

Then we got home, opened them and this is what happened.

Look at that cheesy, happy face.

That must have been why I said yes.

Because I certainly wasn't thinking about her clothes, the couch or my sanity.

~~~~~~~~~

Randoms

~~~~~~~~~

1. I am a brunette again.

2. It is snowing again. Anther 4 - 7 inches expected. Fingers crossed that school is cancelled. A mom can dream, right?

3. It certainly does feel good to say yes sometimes when it feels like you say no way too often.

4. I've got nothing else.

5. Wait, yes I do, I have eaten way too many of the cheese balls. I'm not telling how many, so please don't ask. Please.

Good night, Sweetheart

Last night as I was putting Ainsley to bed and she got a little chatty.

I love having that one on one time!

First we had to do her little piggies.

Sometimes she would chime in and other times she would let me do all the talking.

She had asked earlier in the night if she could take a little unicorn to bed that had been mine as a child.

So after we did the piggies and the rest of our nightly ritual she had some things that she needed to iron out.

Ains: When you were a kid did you have this unicorn?

Me: Yes, I was a little older than you.

Ains: Will you be mad if I lose it?

Me: No, I might be a little sad, but I won't be upset.

Ains: When you were little did you live with your Mama?
Me: Yes, I lived with Grandma Maggie and Silly Papa.

Ains: Oh, where did your Honey live?

Me: Honey? What do you mean?

Ains: Daddy!

Me: Ha ha ha, Ainsley, Daddy lived at home with his mommy and daddy.

Ains: Oh, he lived at home with Grandma and Grandpa.

Me: Yes sweetie, he did.

Afterwards I gave her a kiss and headed downstairs.

I told K what she said and he got a good laugh out of it too.

This has been making me smile all day today.

She is at that age where she is trying to figure out family dynamics.

She asks a lot of questions about Kirk and I when we were little kids.

Who we lived with, how old we were, when she was born how old were we and she thinks that she has always been here with K and I.

She has also been talking about getting married.

At this age, talks about marriage crack me up.

She has been wearing this scarf lately.

(Yes, this pic was posted yesterday, I can't find the camera.)

Ains asked me this morning if this was the scarf that I wore when I got married.

(We just got this for Adison for her birthday.)

When I told her no, she wanted to know if K wore it when we got married.

Again, I said said no.

She then proceeded to show me how she will wear the scarf when she gets married.



A list, why? Because it's Monday

1. My To-Do list makes me want to cry, go back to bed and lay in the fetal position.

2. Abby currently has a love of climbing into the toy tubs and dumping all the toys out.

(See #1.)

 (Not showing all the mess)

3. We watched the Nanny McPhee Returns last night. I was a little bummed at first when I realized that Colin Firth aka my British boyfriend wasn't in it. But, the movie was darling and kept us all entertained, score.

4. Adison doesn't have school today, yay!

5. Unlike Saturday, all of my kiddos slept in today. I didn't have to get up until 7:15, epic score.

6. Ainsley has some strange ideas about popsicles lately.

Examples:

Me: "Ains you need to go get your snow boots on so we can pick up Adison from school."

Lee: "Can I wear dese (these, holding up her pink sparkly mary janes)?

Me: "No sweetie, snow will get inside of those and your feet with get cold."

Lee: "Oh, then I will turn into a popsicle."

Me: "Lee, we need to blow dry your hair a bit, it is too cold outside to leave with wet hair."

Lee: "I don't want to blow dry my hair, I yike (like) it wet."

Me: "I know sweetie, but I dont' want your hair to freeze and have you get sick."

Lee: "Oh, so a big popsicle will stick out of my head and you will have to push it back in."

Me: ??????

7. I am really excited to have lunch with my Dad today. Yay!

8. Realized this morning while making my "coffee" that after I put the coffee in it that I then put so much milk and creamer in it that I actually have to warm it up to drink it. That is just sad.

9. This just melts my heart.

Sunday in the...

house.

It is cold outside.

I don't do well with the cold, miserable.

So, we have been hibernating today.

To help ward off the chill we had chili today.

It was amazing!

Could have been the best ever.

Not that I am tooting my own horn or anything.

Now, we are going to watch some movies.

Then for some America's Funniest Home Videos.

I wonder if they will have any fainting bridal party videos...

Hope you had a blessed Sunday!

See you tomorrow!



Slow Saturday

I don't have much today folks and for that I apologize.

I got very little sleep last night and all three of the cupcakes were up before the sun!

I couldn't believe it.

I tried closing my eyes thinking that maybe it was a dream, but alas it was reality.

On of the first things that Ainsley/Ains/Lee/Lee Lee said to me this morning was:

"Mama, when I get hungry there is an angry man living in my stomach and he goes 'rumble rumble rumble'."

How cute is that!?!

Not much otherwise, I fell asleep on the couch while the little girls were napping.

I. Just. Couldn't. Keep. My. Eyes. Open.

Still having a hard time with that :)

We went to church tonight.

It was wonderful!
Bonus for us though, my best friend was leading worship.

You rocked Sarah!

Now, hubby and I are eating some dinner and relaxing.

Ahhhhh!

See you on the flip side.

Happy Saturday!

Sharing some award love!

I am really excited to announce that I got my first blog award!

Thank you so much to Katharine over at Grow Baby Grow!

If y'all don't read her yet, you seriously need to head over.

Now for the fun rules that go along with the award...

1. Thank the person that gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 RECENTLY DISCOVERED great bloggers. (I only did 9, sorry!)

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about their award!

7 Things About Me

~This was a tough one, I tried to think of things that I hadn't put on this list.

1. I talk in my sleep. I can carry on conversations and answer questions. I have also woken myself up at night laughing in my sleep.

2. I don't like to sleep by myself, it makes me nervous. If I have to sleep by myself I have to sleep with the TV on.

3. I can't drink coffee as much as I want to unless it is mostly milk and sugar. Coffee makes me really sick to my stomach.

4. I am really paranoid about locking my doors. I also have a fear of being kidnapped.

5. I have had chicken pox two times.

6. I am normally reading two or three books at a time.

7. I like to put Doritos on my peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly). I also like to eat potato chips with cottage cheese.

Now for the bloggers that I am giving this award to:

1. Erin over at The Daydreaming Fool. Her blog is really funny and amusing. I find something funny to comment on each post. Check her out!

2. Michele at Just Add Whine. She has two cute kiddos, great pictures, and funny stories. Head on over!

3. Summer from {B is for...} . Summer's blog is always a joy to read. I love the fact that she really shares herself, her struggles and her joy. You need to go check her out!

4. Heather over at The Farm Princess. I am new to her blog, but am already loving it. Her little girl is so cute!

5. Esther at Laugh With Us Blog. Oh my goodness, you have to check out her blog. She has HILARIOUS stories and really good recipes.

6. Krista from Krista's Reflections. She has 4 beautiful daughters. Her youngest, Annabelle, is in the hospital, she was born with an unbalanced AVSD (Atrioventricular Septal Defect) with a hypoplastic left heart and aorta. Check out her blog, you will love it!
7. Holly from Little Bit of Life. The pictures on her blog are beautiful. She and her family moved into an old farmhouse and have been renovating, I get such great ideas. (Check out the painted floors!)
8. Samantha over at Hunter Isaacson & Family. Her little boy, Hunter, has Microcephaly and is just darling. She has the most amazing family and I am really enjoying her blog.
9. Janelle at Queen of the House of Boys. I am really enjoying her blog, the pictures, the stories...all of it! Check her out!


I am loving reading all of the blogs and a lot of others too!


If I could, I would give all of the fantastic blogs that I read an award, I had to stop unfortunately, responsibilities call. Ugh, showering, laundry, cleaning (the not fun ones!), playing, coloring and tickling (the fun ones!).

Now, I am off to notify the award winners!