Sunday, December 30, 2012

Home bound

 Leia was happy that she confiscated a pencil and notebook :) Leia's cheeks and nose are rosy because she is sick. Our house got the flu over Christmas :/ definitely not the best time to have it all. But at least the kids were home from school. So far...Daddy, Dakota, and Leia are the only ones who are sick. Dakota is already over it. Leia and Daddy can't seem to get rid of it.

 A day before the buddies started running fever :(

Home bound these last few days, we broke out the game of Twister to see if we could burn some energy and teach the kids something new. It didn't last long. They tend to have a short attention span on this game.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Favorites

 Lily (and Leia) are constantly into Dakota's Legos. It never fails. No matter where I hide them, they are in them. I'm hoping once we have the garage finished and Dakota has his own room, that maybe, just maybe the girls will play with their own toys and not Dakota's.

 Popcorn is an all time FAVORITE snack in our house...and Leia LOVES it. She can't shove it in fast enough. She'll thank me for this picture one day. I just know it ;)

Lily LOVES to color on anything. She's colored on her siblings, walls, books (that aren't for coloring), bunkbeds, sheets..oh! you get the picture. So, when she actually colors on papers, we get excited!! Here is her latest piece of artwork just moments after stamping her sister with a blue stamp on the forehead...AHHHH!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Parties for all

 Dakota at his class Christmas party. He was happy that Dad was able to come see him at school.

 Lilyann with her classmates and her little sister. Leia really enjoyed sitting with the big kids.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Sanity stoppers

 This is what I am dealing with lately...a chocolate crazed child!! I guess she's just like her momma. Leia found Lily's cup of hot chocolate that never made it to the trashcan and realized it tastes YUMMY!! She then figured out a way to get to the yummy goodness. AHHHH!

 The last 2 days have been frigid for our area of Texas. Not as cold as we have had before, but cold nonetheless. We had some frost on your van. The kids thought that Jack Frost had made a visit the last 2 nights. :)

And see the variety of dress? I've chosen to just go with it. I figure it's one less thing to fight out in the morning. I guess they think it's cool to not zip up jackets/coats/etc. And Lily thinks it's all right to just wear flipflops when it's in the high 20s.  oh me, oh mine!!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

enJoy

you might have to click on this picture to see it larger...just thought y'all would enjoy reading some of the highlights of that year...these all came off my facebook. It's kinda neat to see the ups and downs in life from the last year : )
enJOY!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

full swing holidays

teeny bit exhausted over here.
I feel as if one day school just started for the kids and then I look again and it's almost Christmas. Where has the time gone? I know that these shorter days still have me all out of whack. 
Right now, it's just past midnight and I'm still up. Why?! because the house is finally quiet. My ornaments are made for tomorrow night's party and cookie batter is chilling. I'm going to my 1st ever ornament/cookie exchange party tomorrow night. I'm excited but nervous about how my ornaments look. I made some that I found on pinterest (love that site!!) The hardest part was tying the bows. You'd think that I could tie a bow with no problems given that I have 2 girls, but noooo! I just couldn't wing it. Not one bow looks the same. Originality wins here!

I am making cake cookies...YUM! Thanks to a friend, her recipe is super easy and the cookies turn out great! I did a test run of strawberry cake with white chocolate candies. Super yummy! The batter that is chilling for tomorrow is Chocolate cake with white chocolate candies. I can't wait!

Well, off to bed for me...I never know how early the little munchkins will awake. Your guess is as good as mine.

Angelic pictures of my kiddos...this is yet another clue of my weariness ;)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Cheese!!! Oooooo something shiny ;)

I don't know if this picture will show up big enough to see all the hilarious facial expressions, but Miss Leia is the queen of funny faces.
She is most times a happy baby except during the teething times.

She was all eager for pictures...saying CHEESE!! As you can see, the big kids not so much. And when they finally catch on, Leia is distracted. Haaaa!



Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Sniffle Sniffle Cough Cough

I've heard this for over a week. It started with one and spread to another by Sunday. Now, all 3 children have the dreaded cough.
 Lily started with it. She still has a bit of it in addition to ear infections in both ears. We are on a second medicine to try and clear these ear infections.
Leia was the next one with the cough. And she has really held onto it. Her ears look great, though. Leia is doing breathing treatments as needed and lots of fluid and rest.
Dakota started with the cough a day or 2 ago. It tends to rear it's ugly head at night. Last night resulted in a fever and persistent coughing. I kept Dakota home from school today due to last night's fever. 
Jed and I are hanging on by what seems like 1 healthy strand. We did have some help the last few days. My older sister was in town for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed having her here. I just hope the kids didn't share too much with her.

It looks like we will have to postpone Lily's public birthday party. Things have been busy and with all the sickness going around, it might just be the best thing for everyone. Lily turns 5 on Friday. I can't believe it. 5 is a BIG deal! I'm thinking of doing a small celebration here after dinner on Friday evening. I hope Lily isn't too disappointed.

 Leia getting some snuggles from Aunt Tammie

 Breathing treatment time for Lily

Leia is in decent spirits but it comes and goes

Monday, November 12, 2012

Park with the girls

 We took the park this past Friday. Both girls had a good time. Daddy was able to join us for a little bit on his lunch break. So, Lily showed off a little for Daddy.

Look at me! I can do it one handed ;)  Leia enjoyed the park, too

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The 1st Tuesday of November

It's Election day....almost everything online is election related. I voted early (2 weeks ago) and I'm happy with my choices. May the best man win and may God bless our country. 

It's definitely not the way it used to be...but times are a changing. I love God. I love America.

Do your part and vote!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Time change and climbing skills

Oh, my sweet children, why must you torture me so?

Well, it's really not that bad. But time change has been brutal. Just think super early mornings mixed with minimal power naps and early night fall. 
It was about 45 minutes before the alarm clock when off this morning that I had a child in my face asking for help to put on their clothes. And when one wakes up, it's a domino effect. Nap schedule for the little one is off..meaning she's attempting a power nap before Lily gets to school. Which in turn seems to feed her energy 99.9% (if only power naps did the same for this momma).  Early nightfall isn't too bad. It gets the kiddos into the "let's get ready for bed routine".  This evening, the kids played outside til after the sun went down; then came inside for dinner. It wasn't too bad at all. :) but definitely a bit to get used to.

 Climbing the steps with her buddy, Brody 

 She's on the top bunk :S

 Got on the coffee table and couldn't figure out how to get down

 I found her here this morning...oh me, oh my! she keeps me on my toes.

Have I told y'all about Leia's climbing? I wonder if she'll be a rock climber in the future. She climbs on everything. She has mastered climbing to the top bunk, coffee table, all toy boxes, the kids' table, our bed, the couch, and to the top of the swing set. I'm going to have to put a bell on Leia so I know where she is AT ALL TIMES. She's a quick one, too. Here one second, gone the next....It's Super Baby!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The pumpkin lighting

 We decided to take things slow this year...carve one night and light the next. The kids enjoyed it...and it made stretching the pumpkin activities to 2 nights easier. 
When it came time to find some tea lights for the pumpkins, I realized we were out! So, the 2nd best option.....Birthday candles!!! They worked perfectly. I lit a candle, dripped some hot wax in the bottom of the pumpkins and then stuck the birthday candle in the hot wax and SUCCESS!! 
I was surprised at how much they illuminated.

Leia climbs into the chairs on the front porch at any chance she can get. She's my little daredevil. She was a bit hasty a few days ago, and toppled out of the chair :( But she's learning.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Pumpkin carving

 Leia touching the pumpkin insides

 Check out Kota's face...apparently, he doesn't care for the smell of pumpkin

 Leia really enjoyed using that spoon

 Kota and his pumpkin

 Lily (excuse the messy face) and her pumpkin

 Leia and her pumpkin

 The pumpkin kiddos ;)

 Full moon for carving pumpkins

Leia and Mommy ♥

Monday, October 29, 2012

Motivation, where are you?

I must get motivated. Why? you ask.
Because in just over 3 weeks, I'll be picking up my neat and orderly sister from the airport. I would really love to have my house in tip top shape. I can see some "spring-but really fall cleaning" in my future. Is it crazy that the motivation comes when I the baby is sleeping in the main room that I need to clean?!?!
If I could just get the motivation to arrive at the same time that the baby isn't sleeping, I just might accomplish something. My reward to getting this done is the hope of selling the extra stuff...money in my pocket :)

So, we'll see. I still have a teeny bit of motivation left and I hear Leia waking up from her morning nap.

MUST. MAKE. THIS. HAPPEN!!!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Mommy post

It's been one of those weeks were I question my sanity.
I don't know whether it's the soon-to-be full moon, the earlier in the week warm humid weather, the constant mood swings of my children, or just the craziness that comes every so many weeks.

My kids....AHHHHHHHHH!!! I live for the evenings when the kids are in bed and actually sleeping. My oldest has been great. Such a help this week. The middle child...I could write a book about her this week...coloring on EVERYTHING, constantly where she's not supposed to be, and the whining OMG!!!  The youngest is great as long  as I am holding her and the other kids aren't bothering her.

My husband gave me these yesterday. This was his solution to whining, screaming kids ;)
I think this mommy just needs a little me time with NO KIDS!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

I really WAS a good child

Yes! I really was a good child. It was the teenage years that I plead the 5th on. So...Today, when I called my mother to apologize for all the grief I created, I figured it would make amends. And miraculously I know wishful thinking my children would be perfect little angels. NOT!

I woke up to a cranky 4 almost 5 year old whining because she couldn't find any shorts. She was intent on having a pair of shorts to wear today. So when I offered up a short, oh me! oh my!! that started almost World War III. 

Finally, we get everyone dressed and the oldest dropped off at school. All is going well. The girls have some breakfast. Lily dumps her orange juice all over the floor in her room..WHY! it was in there, I have no idea. We get that cleaned up. Then the girls play some. The tunnel is pulled out, all blocks and stuffed animals are out and all over the house. It looks like the toy box threw up in the living room. Suddenly all is quiet. I call for Leia. She comes toddling in. And she has black spots all over her head. WHAT?!??!?!  It has been done with a marker. I call Lily in and she comes from the bathroom with a dripping washcloth saying "I got it ALL off my legs, Mom!" I try to be proud but I'm very close to losing it. I follow her to her room to finish wiping off the marker marks off her legs. Then I start wiping the marks off Leia's head...I'm sitting on Kota's bed, I turn. There's writing all over his sheets, all over the wooden bunk bed, and on my kindle that a certain someone sneaked into their room. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!
We break out the Clorox wipes and use some elbow grease. Most comes off but not all. I haven't even tried to get it out of the sheets yet. 

So....as you can tell from the title, I really WAS a good child. I guess I'm earning rewards in Heaven for days like today ;)

Yamboree Pictures

 It's the morning of the Yamboree Parade...I think they're excited!!

 at the parade with Daddy

 Lily and Katie

 Carousal time!
 Leia's 1st on the Carousal