Little Devil

I should have known when he looked so good wearing this outfit at 1 month old:


Little boys should come with a warning label! All but one of these my son has done in less than 24 hours:

-Gotten into big sister's book bag, opened a brand new pack of markers,colored his hands and tried to eat the tips off of them.



-Gotten into my mascara (this was a few weeks ago):



-Gotten a pot from big sister's play kitchen, retrieved water in it FROM THE POTTY, and proceeded to drink it before I caught him.

(No picture for this one...I was so grossed out by that event and in a desperate attempt to wash his hands and his mouth out with dial soap, I didn't bother to get my camera for any documentation..you'll just have to trust me on that one.)

-Gotten my coffee creamer from my kitchen counter and did this:


(And I had only had ONE cup of coffee before he dumped the entire container out on my rug, which forced me to use milk in my second cup and I hate that!)

I promise I do try to watch my son and take necessary precautions so that he does not get into these items. For example we close every door to all bathrooms and bedrooms so that he can't be destructive, but it is inevitable that someone forgets to do it and we all suffer the consequences. He has dumped out cans of fish food multiple times in K's room, dumped out M's container with all of her little-bitty earrings, has eaten our toothpaste, soap, chap stick and so much more!

Now that the girls are back in school I am left with only my set of eyes and my two hands to contain little J and that's a full time job!

Any suggestions, short of a leash or a cage?

And a Fourth Grader

Not only can I not believe that I have sweet K in kindergarten, but my precious M started her FOURTH GRADE year! How insane is that!? I am not old enough to have a 4th grader, am I? On second thought, don't answer that.

Here is M on her 1st day of Fourth Grade:



My mother-in-law is infamous for giving the girls stylish clothes, or as they call it, "Fashionable". Yesterday she surprised the girls with a few new clothes and this was Madelyn's favorite:



4th grade, but looks like her senior year! Really scary!

Kindergarten!

Today I will choke back my tears all day. Today I will miss my chance to sit and hug on you whenever I feel like it. Today I will miss fixing your lunch. Today I will miss hearing you and your little brother play. Today I will miss being asked 1.000 totally random questions. Today I will miss the frequent interruptions while I work. Today I will miss my sweet, black-haired angel. Today is your first day of kindergarten.

I left you so excited at school this morning ready to take on the world, make new friends, and learn so much. You have become so very independent lately and have seem to have grown a foot over the summer alone! I am so happy that you are so excited about going to kindergarten, even though I will miss you being here with me all day.

Today you will be missed, but I am excited about your new adventure sweet K!

Summer's End

I guess it's safe to say that I have been on a little break from blogging. Summer came fast and it's almost over already. I have 4 more days with my sweet girls before they venture off to school and we are all forced to get back into the routine of alarms, piano lessons, ballet class, and homework. I cannot say that I am looking forward to it, but it's coming none the less, and some part of me is a little giddy buying new pencils, notebooks, markers, and all the other school supplies. There is something nice about starting fresh with all new supplies and clothes, ready to tackle yet another year. It's the alarm clock, homework and carpools that I'm not very excited about.

We have enjoyed our summer so much by doing not much of anything. When we felt like going to the pool, we went and when we felt like sleeping late, we did. We have played with neighbors past dark, ridden our bikes with friends, caught lighting bugs, grilled out too many times too count. We have eaten our fair share of hot dogs, pbj's, hamburgers, corndogs, Popsicles, and capri suns. We have played barbies, school, work, pet store, dress up, hide-n-go seek and Wii. We have kept many of our local places in business this summer, like Blockbuster, our country club's pool hut, and the snow-cone place on Broad Street (It's our little way of helping out this economy crisis...it's the least we could do).

So in 4 short days I will give up my hectic pool and nap schedule and trade it in for a new school schedule and routine. Our tanned bodies will fade and our carefree spirit and attitude will disappear, but not for long...Next summer will be here before you know it!

Beware of the Water

As I mentioned before, we had a great beach vacation. One great thing that someone clued me in on several years ago was to take a small baby pool for the beach. This has been handy with all of my kids at the beach while they are really too little to enjoy the ocean and the sand. Of course we took that small 1 ring inflatable baby pool to the beach again this year for J and he loved it. On the 2nd day there he wouldn't do anything but sit in it the whole time. We never get to actually spend more than about 2 hours total at the beach before we have kids ready to go in for lunch or ready to go to the pool, but nevertheless, it is a saving grace to have that baby pool for that 2 hours to buy me a little time on the beach with my family. J was really comfortable in that pool...loved it! When he would get a little cranky, I would just hand him a juice box or a cracker, which inevitably ended up soggy floating around him in his little pool. After about the 2 hour mark, when we were ready to head it in for lunch I noticed that his pool water was a little dingy, but it didn't really shock me with as much food, juice and sand as he was getting in it while playing. My girls came up and washed their hands in his pool to remove the sand off them, I did the same myself. After giving each other a bath in his baby pool water, trying to get the sand off of us, I grabbed J out of the pool to empty it and take him in. When I emptied the pool and picked him up the smell was awful..and some what familiar....OH NO!! J had pooped in his swim diaper and we have been washing ourselves off with poopy water this whole time! Time to get the vaccinations up to date, don't ya think?

A Dozen

I just wanted to congratulate my sweet friend, Wendymom on her 4th biological child, which gives her a DOZEN total children!!! I am so impressed with this woman on so many levels and jealous that she has a new sweet newborn baby's head to smell and love on! Sweet Ann Claire was born this week to a wonderful family who I am proud to know personally. Congrats W & J on your new sweet bundle of joy....SHE IS SO PRETTY! ......Now you should go for a baker's dozen!

Beauty At the Beach

We had a fabulous time at the beach. The weather forecast looked pretty bad for the week we were to be there, but it actually turned out to be perfect. In fact it was rather pleasant going early in the summer like that because it wasn't that very humid and sticky kind of hot. The last day we were there the gulf water was the best I had ever seen it. It was literally like a huge pool, with almost no waves, and you could be up to your neck and still see your toes on the ocean bottom. It was breathtakingly beautiful and a nice way to end our relaxing week at the beach. Here are a few pictures of our trip to Sunshine Cottage in Destin, FL.

Sunshine Cottage Here We Come!

I think that half the fun of going on vacation is preparing to leave. I enjoy making lists of things to pack, things to buy, and things to do before we leave. To me it adds in the fun and anticipation of the trip itself. The past couple of years I have not been able to do those things. I have to work so hard to do everything for work so I can be off for a week that I find myself stressed to the max trying to get the work done and then forced to pack under pressure. That's probably why on our last weekend getaway I forgot to pack my underwear and my toothbrush! Those things are pretty important items and not easy to forget, but somehow I did just that! Luckily those are also items that you can buy anywhere, so no worries, I did purchase those necessities while on our trip!

This week has been the same as usual. Rushing, stressed, leaving only a small window of time to pack my family of five and be on our way by Saturday morning. I have one more day left and so many things to still do. Should I be blogging...no. I should be doing laundry, getting toiletries together, packing sand toys and bathing suits. I could be getting a pedicure or going to get my license renewed. (WHY OH WHY didn't I listen to my husband and do it over the Internet before it was too late!?) Instead, I find myself behind the computer catching up on favorite blogs and writing a post, somehow hoping to decompress and get my second wind.

With all that being said, in less than 2 days I will have my toes tickled by white sandy beaches and my skin soaking in the sun (HOPEFULLY!). Time to relax. Time to get away. Time to have fun. Time to recognize the beauty. Time to be still. Time to make memories with my kids. Time for the beach! (Oh...and somehow time to keep up with my 20 month old son on the beach!)

Mustang Memories

May 19, 1990. What wasn't to like?: tall, dark hair, slender build, beautiful eyes, a great smile, and a cool car. Nineteen years ago today I met my husband, set up on a blind date by some friends of ours. We were two kids meeting for the first time, not knowing where God would take us. This journey and life with T has been wonderful, but not always blissful. We have had our share of heart-aches, head-aches, sorrows and fights, but we have had so much more of laughter, love, joy, and excitement. It's amazing to think that God knew on that very first night that we would be embarking on a road together that would take us this far, and that he even had 3 little people in mind that we were to bring into this world together.

I am so happy that God had plans for us and a future together. We are much different people than we were back then, but the memories aren't far away....2 teenagers with the top down, wind in the hair, good music, on a country road with a whole lot of time on our hands. Those were good times then and great memories, but life is even sweeter now. I love you T!

A Mother's Love

(Don't forget to turn off my music player at the bottom of the page)