Can you spot the funny?

Yesterday I was going through pics on my phone, you guys, I had over 700 from my phone alone plus an extra 1,000 from the iCloud.

Picture overload.

Tangent: I have the hardest time deleting pictures off of my phone.

It's like I'm afraid that if I delete them that I will forget that moment.

Which, to be honest, is not that far off from truth, what is it about having kids that sucks your brain out?
What would I do without my smartphone other than forget absolutely everything and then double book everything else.

End tangent.

Back to pictures.

I meant to share this with you guys forever and a day ago, but then I got lazy because I would need to unplug the usb cable from my phone charger and plug it into my computer to then get the picture off of my phone.

Ridiculous, I know.

But then, due to me forgetting everything...what's my name again...when's my birthday...

I forgot, hence, me looking at old pictures on my phone, running across the beauty and remembering, Hey Self, remember when you wanted to share this picture with your lovelies and then totally got lazy then forgot?

REDEMPTION TIME!

Here you go my dears, I hope you get as many laughs from this pic as we did.

p.s. this was at the gorilla exhibit

Our life in pictures and words...and random tangents

Life has taken on a whole new level of busy now that Adison is in school during the day.

It also brings on a whole new level of exhaustion, mama is needing 2 cups o' coffee nowadays.

::yawn::

Little girls in matching tutus picking flowers, be still my heart.

Seriously, is there anything cuter?

They even wanted to wear matching bows and shoes.

I love having little girls!

Ainsley lost an earring last week.

It fell out sometime during the night and she didn't realize it was missing until almost 11 a.m.

uh oh

We ran up to the mall to pick up some new sterling silver earrings and I had to repierce her ear {gag, the hole had closed up a bit, end gag}.

She picked these out because they are sparkly and have pink AND purple in them.

So completely Lee it's not even funny.

She told me that she wants a pair of ladybug earring for her birthday, I think we can manage that one.

My poor Dad has a hernia in his back.

He is in major pain and the swelling has caused sciatica in his back.

The girls and I have been taking him to physical therapy three times a week and he has treated us to some ice cream treats.

I have no idea how she does it but Ainsley manages to get ice cream all over her face.

Puzzles are all the rage in our house right now.

Do your kids go through cycles with toys and such too?
Adison and I completed a 3D Finding Nemo puzzle yesterday, it was awesome.

Oh, did you hear that Finding Nemo is going to be back in the theaters in 3D?
I'm normally not a huge fan of 3D movies, I tend to get headaches and they are not normally worth the extra $$$, I think that we are going to have to see Nemo in 3D though.

{P.S. it was the first movie that Adison saw in the movie theater as a wee little toddler.}

Last week, on our way home from dropping Dad off at p/t there was a wreck on highway.

Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but the highway was backed up for miles.

This bus was being towed and when Abby saw it get in line in front of us she burst into laughter.
I texted it to K to throw him for a loop, I'm happy to report that it worked and it had no clue what was going on.

Success!

K's mom and dad sent the girls some happy mail last week.

The girls got to open their gifts right after dinner.
They were so excited!

{Man, Adison's hair is getting so long! She refuses to get it trimmed, I've told her that as long as she takes care of it she can keep growing it out. I wonder how long she will grow it. Lee is growing out her's too and has decided that she is going to donate her hair to Locks of Love, such a sweetie!}

The dreaded laundry and clothing changes.

The kids are growing {which is great} and the seasons will be changing soon so I did the bi-annual clothing swap.

Storing clothes for later and weeding out clothes that don't fit anymore.

It is such a big job, I was beyond thrilled to get it done.

We had a new store open in our town recently.

Yesterday they had a big promotional sale and interesting attractions.

This guy doing the chainsaw, wood carvings was amazing.

The one that he is working on is an owl and the one in the foreground in an eagle.

Stunning.

He also had done a bear but I didn't get a picture of it.

I also spotted this beauty while we were walking to the car after the store opening.

I want one, this is beyond awesome.

I looked on ye old internet last night, but couldn't find the exact one.

Oh well, I'll keep searching.

This picture does not do it justice, but I noticed this massive bruise on my leg Saturday.

It's huge.

Plus, I have no idea how I got it.

At all.

It kind of {read REALLY} weirds me out.

In SUPER DUPER EXCITING DESERVING OF ALL UPPER CASES NEWS:

I am doing The Color Run AGAIN!

That's right baby, to 5Ks {and hopefully more!} in a year. 

I can't wait, super excited and I am determined to run the entire thing again and hopefully do even better than last time.

Backseat Conversation

For this conversation to make sense I am going to call Ainsley or Lee as she is often referred to as "L", Abby or Babs as she is often called will be B.

B: I'm the biggest.

L: No you're not, Papa {my Dad} is.

No, actually, Uncle Isaac is.

B: No, I'M the biggest.

L: No, Abby, Jesus is the biggest.

B: No, it's me.

L: No, it's Jesus, he's the biggest because He's in Heaven.

He has all sorts of neat things up there like books.

B: I love Jesus.

L: Me too, when we die we get to go to Heaven with Him.

B: Yeah, we get to go to Heaven with Him.

L: But, we have to die on the cross like He did.

B: Yeah, it'll make my knees hurt real bad.

I obviously corrected Lee that we don't have to die on the cross to get to Heaven, rather, it is through believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. That His sacrifice was and is enough and that we are saved by grace as we can never be good enough on our own to get in.

It cracks me up to hear how much they bicker about things yet ultimately work things out and come to a mutually satisfying result. They are such an amazing duo, the play well together, are best friends. Even though they fight sometimes they come together and are just a great team.

This conversation went on in the van on our way home. I often like to quietly listen to what they have to say. The back and forth flow of information and thoughts. To hear how stubborn and unyielding they both are but peace always prevails and ends with laughter.

Miss Emma Grace

Ainsley has been talking to me a lot about Emma lately.

She wants to know how old she would be.

{almost 6}

If she will have a birthday party in Heaven.

{She thinks we should make a cake and throw it up in the air as high as we can and maybe it will get to Heaven. I told her that I am sure that she will have a great party with Jesus as well as our loved ones already there.}

She wants to know what Emma looks like.

{When I tell her that I don't know she tells me that Emma has blue eyes, silver hair and a sparkly dress. She's also not a baby but a big girl.}

Ainsley wants to know if Emma wore certain shoes, then remembers that she died in my tummy.

{Be still my mama's heart, it hurts a lot sometimes.}

She tells Abby about Emma, tells other people about her, too.

Shares that she has sisters and brothers in Heaven, that they are with Jesus and that we will see them someday.

I love her openness, her willingness to share her sister and siblings that aren't with us.

At the same time though, it makes me so sad.

Sad to know that this sadness is such a part of her story.

You know what though, I know that Jesus will use this in her story, just as He has used it in mine.

There is no sadness or wistfulness in her voice when she talks to me about Emma, she's very matter-of-fact.

It's part of her, the same way that she has two other sisters, a mom and dad that love her and a Savior that is always there for her.

I'm looking forward to seeing how God uses this in Ainsley's life.

I know that it has given her empathy towards others, I have also witnessed her sharing Emma's story giving others the opportunity to share with us their trials and sadness.

God uses it all, the trials and the triumphs for good.

It is not always visible immediately, but it's there.

A wanderin' we went

Saturday evening K declared a desire to take the girls for a walk on a beautiful trail that runs through town.

There is a creek, a big wooded area, wildflowers and such.

Adison saw the vine hanging down and couldn't wait to try it out.

The girls always have fun and it's an opportunity for K and I to talk and watch the kids.

Interact with the kids while doing something different.

Plus, we get some exercise, I love multitasking!

We found a cicaida.

I live one, well, just barely alive.

It didn't even have the strength to fly away.

It was in the middle of the sidewalk and K very nicely put it back in the grass.

Miss Babykins, homegirl was even more opinionated than normal.

It. had. to. be. just. right.

It's a good thing she is smooshably cute.

It's her superpower.

Lee got to ride her bike.

She was a trooper and proclaimed that It's the very best day ever ever.

Well, alrighty then.

I love pigtails on little girls, I mean, is there anything cuter?

Well, besides said little girl's shadow, double the pigtail for the win!

It was such a gorgeous day out.

I had to snap some pics of the greenery, isn't it pretty?

Ugh, before we know it winter will be here.

This, my lovelies, is Kansas for ya.

Well, it's missing a cow or two as well as some wheat.

Besides that though, Kansas.

How was your weekend my dears?

The Ba-ba Fairy

Abby still has a pacifier or as they are called in our house, a "ba-ba".

Sigh.

 

Abby has a particular knack for losing her ba-bas in our house for some reason.

She is only "supposed" to have them at nap and bed time.

I say "supposed" to have them then, but with age comes some sneaky smarts and homegirl has figured out that she can sneak them out of her bed.

Forever and a day ago she lost her last ba-ba and she's VERY particular when it comes to them.

I had decided that I was "laying down the law" and I was NOT going to buy anymore of them.

You can laugh at/with me if you want to, hahahahahahaha!

The next nap time not having a ba-ba she flipped out, she's got a bit of a temper.

She then found some other pacifier that was a different brand and put up with it for a day or so but then started complaining that it was hurting her teeth.

I don't know if it's because she's my baby or because she is the youngest of my kids and let's be honesty, mama needs a break.

I broke down, broke my own law, saved myself a headache or two and bought her another ba-ba.

It's a necessity around here.

She didn't realize that they came in a two pack so I hid the extra one knowing that the other one would get lost.

Well, the day came, her fabit {favorite}pirate ba-ba went missing.
She was crushed and would tell anyone listening that it was lost.

She was so sad, it was heartbreaking.

I brought out the other one and for some strange reason decided to tell her that the "Ba-ba Fairy" brought it to her.

She would come back though and take the ba-ba away eventually and give it to a baby that would need one.

All went well, she went with it and would constantly remind us that she couldn't keep it for very long because a baby needed her ba-ba.

But, remember earlier when I mentioned that age brings sneaky smarts?
Well, when K or I would tell her to give up the bink she would get flat out snarky and inform us that if we took away her ba-ba then the Ba-ba Fairy would bring her yots and yots of ba-bas.

Man, she got us.

Figured out how to beat the system.

She forgot one thing though, we are the parents, the adults.

We just take it away and out of sight all the while Abby's little voice is harping about the Ba-ba Fairy will bring her more.

Ah, life with a two year old, it's never dull.

1, 2, 3

Today was Adison's first day of school.

4th Grade

She had a great day and loves her teacher.

She was bummed that she and her best friend are still not in the same class but they have decided to play together at recess to make up for that fact.

 

It was nice being back in our routine this morning.

That being said though, I did not enjoy having to wake up early.

*yawn*

We did have a nice visitor today, baby B spent the day with us.

It was so fun seeing her again!

 

Every year on the first day of school Ainsley always jumps in to take part in Adison's first day of school photo.

This year I asked Abby to join too.

Next year Ainsley will be in kindergarten.

Say what!