We have been spending everyday in the pool. Sometimes for hours. And miss Bailey loves taunting Ethan and Grace with the fact that she can swim without floaties and they can't!
But the other day it pissed Ethan off this time. So he ripped his floatie swimesuit off and ran and jumped into the pool. Then he kinda sank. And just as I was getting ready to grab him he made his way to the surface. And got out of the pool and did it again. And again. And again. Till instead of sinking he was swimming! He looked straight at Bailey and said HA!! I AM BIG TOO!
Woohoo Ethan! Yes you are!
Grace then had to follow cause she wasn't about to be the only one if a floatie! So I guess the fighting finally paid off cause my kids can now swim! And I didn't have to pay anyone to teach them either! HA!
I bought Adelynn this cute dress at Dillard's about three months ago!
I love it on her.
Then a few weeks ago Tony and I were in Burlington Coat Factory and Look what I found!! Screammmmm...Yeah! The same dress in the older girls sizes!
Cause I am kinda a freak about dressing them in matching clothes!
I bought one for Bailey and Grace. Hannah was being stubborn and said she wouldn't be caught dead in a dress matching her little sisters. I'm thinking maybe I should forced her to!
I wish they made them in Rachelle's size too! Bummer!
My wild and crazy girl just turned four! I always say I can’t believe it but with her I totally can! Not sure if it is because she drives me wild and time just doesn’t fly by as quickly with her or if it is because she is so dang smart and I forget how young she really is! Grace is my sassy one through and through. Her sass is what makes her such a character! Although she is a challenge for sure she is also so dang funny! I remember our trip to Atlanta and all the teens were screaming with laughter. And it was because Grace was making up jokes for them. She loves telling jokes! And she loves being the center of attention! I love, love that I can get her to dance on cue. She will rock out with me anytime anywhere. My kinda girl! The other day when picking up the mouthy teens she wanted me to roll down her window so she could dance and sing the song TikTok at the top of her lungs to all the kids around! Cracks me up. It was something I would do! Bonus~it embarrasses the older ones! HA! For her birthday we went to the RainforestCafé. She loved it of course. Then we headed home for presents. She loved everything and wanted to know how I knew it was “just” what she wanted! It was a low key birthday but for her it was just right! I love my sassy girl Gracie Mae! She brings excitement, frustration, humor, clarity, wisdom, and joy into our lives and I am grateful she is a part of our family! Happy Birthday Grace! Here are some of the things we love about you! Dad~Her view on life. Her funny facial expressions. How she sticks her hip out with her hands on her hips. She’s spunky! Her hair. How she dances. Her binky talk! You have to be a linguist to understand it! How she will mix it up with Ethan then she’ll rat him out!
Zachary~ I love the way she tries to smile with her binkers in, and even though everyone thinks she hates me we all know I am her favorite :) Also I love her sassy princess attitude and she's the only four year old I know who speaks her mind:)
Rachelle~ I love her Booty-luscious butt shakings. I love the way she’ll always bust a move for yo no matter where you are.
Hannah~ I absolutely love Gracie, she's fun,Insane and a wild beast no one can contain her.
Bailey~I love that she plays with me. I like that she likes cartoons. She picks flowers with me!
Ashley~
Anthony~ She is so wild and crazy, one of the most unique of the family. I love how her teeth stick out and her voice is super cute. She is so sweet and spunky. I love how she knows words to songs that I don’t even know and how she sings them in the car. She gives great hugs and kisses.
Elizabeth~I love how she snuggles me and sings at the top of her lungs. I love her crooked teeth. :] Eric~ Grace is a huge load of cute fun times. I love playing with her as long as she doesn’t call me a meanie poo-poo face.
I love, love, love Keith Urban. His music is so romantic, so real. One of my favorite songs of his is Only you can love me this way.Makes me feel so in love with my husband and grateful for him when we listen to it together.
Today Tony called me into the room and I laid down on the bed to talk with him. He put the song on our stereo as we were lying there. We just hung out and held hands and talked. Then the girls came into the room and asked us to play the song again. And as I lay there holding hands with my sweetie I was watching my little ones twirl around and around dancing. They held hands and would hug each other and then spin. Can I just say it felt like such a beautiful moment?
I love finding those moments that fill my heart so full and give me such pleasure. I thought, Yeah, this is EXACTLY what it is all about. These simple moments being surrounded by the ones I love. Pure Bliss!
Reminds me of that saying Life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
If you've never heard this song, you need to crank up this playlist and listen. Maybe grab your sweetie and take a spin around the room! See if you find a moment to take your breathe away too! So delightful!
Lately this girl has been a challenge. I alternate between wanting to beat her and laughing my butt off at the things she says. Today I came home from the Dr's and this is what she was wearin~ Swimsuit and a Crown Hannah made for her. The reason? She had to look super cute in case Browny (Zach's friend) came over. And when she came into my room to lay down with me? She told me I look pretty cute with makeup on my eyes~ But Do I know that my shirt is super ugly? She then asked me to go change it so she doesn't have to look at it anymore! Umm yeah she's only 3! She then told me it would be much better for her if I would put on something that was really cute. Cause that's what she likes. And the boys too...
Ahhh there is no other like Grace! And that's just the way I like it!
Can I just say FRUSTRATING!!!!Just when I thought I was getting a grip with these lil ones..dang..back to square one! I had gotten Ethan on a really fantastic schedule. Up at 7am, down for a nap at 11:30, down for the night between 7:30 and 8 pm. It was really working. Seriously my very first kid who was on a schedule and actually took naps! And Grace was finally potty trained! She went almost six months completely potty trained! And I needed these. The naps daily, one less poopy diaper to change. It was a few less things to worry about while feeling so crappy! But when I got out of control sick and kept having to go back to the Dr's and hospital, Grace decided I was dying. She had a meltdown. Kept telling everyone I was dying. And she started wetting herself. When the home health nurse comes by to hook up the IVs and go over the info, she starts crying and will wet herself! Or she will just pee in the car. No Rhyme or reason why! Ughh! And she refuses to go back to diapers. Pulls them off. And she won't go potty when I try to get her to. She just keeps wetting herself! And Ethan the little bugger now climbs out of his crib. He wakes up around 4:30 am and will not go back to sleep. I will put him back over and over and he just keeps climbing out! And can I say I feel so pukey at that time? I have no Patience. And so long nap times. He climbs out! I need him to take naps! I need naps then too! Help!!! I am tortured! So I am now contemplating alternative methods. I am up for any suggestions too!You know like shock therapy or restraints in the bed!
She chose to go to Chuckie Cheese of course. Great place to torture the parents and have a good time. Mission accomplished!
She was a kick in the pants all day long. She told everyone Happy Birthday to you or she'd say YOU may not go with me to Chuckie Cheese. She was super nice to some and not so nice to others. You know...typical Grace!
My favorite part of the day was watching her open her presents. She was DELIGHTED with each and every present she received. She'd laugh and tell me she really loved it.
Do you ever worry you didn't get just the right present or buy enough of them? I always do for some reason but I couldn't have done better in her mind and it was great! She was so appreciative of everything.
The kids played for awhile and we ate pizza that tasted like cardboard! Fortunately for me I didn't care if tasted crappy since everything I eat makes me sick! I guess Chuckie Cheese isn't successful because of the delicious pizza it sells!
After Up Chuckie we headed over to Toys R Us and let Grace pick out a toy. She chose Fairy wings that play music. She is a odd duck that one!
I felt like crap by the time we got home so we saved the cake and ice cream for Sunday night's dinner with the missionaries.
We lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday to her but I couldn't get a picture of her blowing out the candles since the second we lit them she blew them out before I could take the picture.
It was a fun birthday for her and all the funny little things she did throughout made me smile and realize how grateful I am that this sweet, funny little girl is a part of my family. She is without question my hardest kid and yet she is also the most entertaining, and fun. I love, love her personality. Some days more than others of course!
Happy Birthday my little Chella Labella! I hope you had as good of a day as me!
Ethan was once a really snuggly baby. I mean really snuggly. But. he grew a little. and didn't want to be contained. and he became a little more independent. and just wasn't into it anymore. Bummer. My boy isn't such a baby anymore!
Yesterday though was delightful. After church he just wanted to hang out with me! he just sat on my lap all day.Doing nothing. Just snugglin! Grace of course had to get into the action. Fun for me!
My husband loves to watch shows on TV that drive me crazy. You know the ones... the ones you find on the discovery channel and the Sci Fi channel. I of course do not share his enthusiasm for these shows. In fact I think when he asked if I wanted to watch a show on Big Foot with him on the Sci FI channel, I suddenly remembered I am feeling bloated, and thought I might enjoy a good enema over that show. Shoot! Bummer for me having to choose between those two exciting options of how I was going to spend my evening! I was just going to have to miss it! Well, A few weeks ago Tony was once again watching one of his quality mind numbing, highly scientific shows on Big Foot again.Since I was a unwilling participant to the viewing pleasure, he enlisted Bailey and Grace to keep him company. Wow, talk about sharing the love around here. These are his girls through and through. The girls are hooked. Tony has had to Tivo all shows on Bigfoot, we have had to watch messing with Sasquatch about 100 times and all the different episodes of them, and we have had to look at countless pictures of them on the Internet. When we were in the White mountains, It was probably one of the most terrifying things for Bailey (up until her very life was in jeopardy as she had to pee in the outhouse!) to see the trees and and to think that Bigfoot probably lives there. It drove me crazy! Is that Bigfoot mom? I can't walk, Bigfoot is going to kill me, Do you think we'll find a dead dear Bigfoot killed?I think Bigfoot is nice. Etc..etc.. Well it's crazy but the obsession has continued! The girls talk about Bigfoot everyday! Not just once, but over, and over, and over (I'm feeling the need for another enema here folks) For bed time stories they make Tony tell them the story of the bad Bigfoot and then a story about a good baby Bigfoot! Well, to add fuel to the fire, this new Bigfoot hoax came up.It was like Christmas morning around here on the news whenever the photos were shown. SHEESH!! Have mercy please!! I am on Bigfoot overload here! Anyhow, I am hoping to distract the girls into moving on and am hoping to find a show about a giant murderous locness monster, or a show on the legend of Bigfart.Here is a description I found about BigFart. I swear, it's real people! "Sure, the photo's a bit grainy like so many other cryptic pictures, but Josh says there's a damn good reason for that. Bigfart hit him with his legendary stench just as Josh took his picture with his cell phone. If you look closely at the snap, you'll see Bigfart does have a guilty look on his face, as if he'd just "cut the proverbial cheese." For those of you Bigfoot loving people out there, take a look at Bailey and Grace's all time favorite Bigfoot video.Not sure they even got the humor until Zach clued them in, Now it's the fav! Enjoy!
Like I posted earlier, I had changed the sheets on my bed and was cleaning. Grace hopped under the covers of my clean sheets a while later and spilled her glass of strawberry milk all over the bed! I asked Bailey and her to go downstairs to watch cartoons while I changed the sheets again. First I changed Ethan's diaper and put him to bed for a nap then I started on the bed again. When I was finished Tony called and I was talking to him for a bit. He asked me to bring him lunch at work. So I got off the phone and called the girls upstairs so I could get them dressed again. Nobody answered when I called their names. I had a awful thought as my stomach dropped. I felt sick and thought what if they got outside and drowned in the pool! So I stood still and listened and sure enough I heard Bailey outside they had gotten out but were OK. Whew, just my mind playing tricks on me I opened my window and yelled at them to get upstairs NOW! They came upstairs with grace sobbing. The girls were both in their swimsuits and they were wet. Grace had boogers all over her face. Bailey told me they hopped in the pool and Grace was drowning! She said she got on Ethan's floatie and pulled Grace out! She said she saved her from drowning! I thought I was going to puke. I have been crying off and on today. I know they are OK and it could have been tragic. It is the scariest feeling ever. I just keep saying a prayer of thanks that my little girl is OK. I am so, so grateful Bailey was able to pull her out. I want desperately to move to a house that has no pool or a fence that is dead bolted. Our landlord didn't want us to put a pool fence up saying the special door on the back is too hard for little ones to open. Guess she didn't think about them going through the garage to get to the backyard! I think this will stick with me for awhile. I keep snuggling my two girls.Gracie is laying with her head on my leg as I am typing this and she is giggling because she is singing the song from my playlist. I love her so much. I am just so grateful she is OK! I think I'll be thanking my Heavenly Father that she is safe over and over.
Hannah's older cat Oliver is a avid hunter! He loves to be outside and quite often he uses that time to hunt. He loves to catch birds and put them on our front porch to show us!
Well yesterday Oliver decided to dismember the poor bird. Bailey and Gracie were delighted to see just the bird's head! No body, nothing, just the head. Sick, sick. They had it in a paper towel and were carrying it around until we made them flush it.
A little later I was finding feathers in the kitchen, in the family room,etc.. The girls told me they had found the poor birdie's feathers. I begged them to leave it alone~ the bird would give them a disease! We gave them a bath and thought we were done.
I thought for sure I had scared them into leaving it alone! Wrong!! They were trying to sneak something in from the garage. I asked what it was and they told me "nothing, just a stupid scorpion, you don't need to see it mom." Yikes! So of course I made them show me.. They had gone outside and found bits and pieces of the bird. The latest find was this delightful foot!
I feel sick! Yuck! I am just hoping there are no pieces left to discover!
What do you do when you think you are on the verge of killing (or at the very least caging) your screaming , fighting kids? You head to Walmart.(without them of course) I am a firm believer of retail therapy! I think it could cure just about anything. I am going to have to test that theory a little more though to be sure! Anyhow, as I wondered aimlessly down the aisles, I found myself quite pleased with myself as I watched other mothers trying to tame their hysterical children. Wow! I felt better already! See I was clever enough to have left them at home! I had avoided the Walmart meltdown and I got to escape for a few hours! Another added bonus?? I found these cute little hats. A Dora one (grace's fav) and a Mermaid one (Bailey's Fav). They were on clearance for only $1.00! I brought them home and gave them to the girls and told them they had to be nice~ No more fighting ( I was on the verge of doing something that might have merited a CPS call~ Sheesh!) Worked like a charm. They played for over an hour with not one fight. In fact they were downright loving to one another! They hopped in the car ( a one seater car and SHARED the seat~Impressive!) They kept saying things like "sweetie where would you like to go shopping today?" "Sweetie should we drive to have some lunch?" It was enough to bring tears to a mother on the edge's eyes! First~ $2.00 hat purchases has brought Harmony into the home again, and second~My girls are already learning the benefits of retail therapy! I guess I am doing something right after all! Ahhh...I love Walmart!
Last night I went to bed at almost 3! Jennifer brought over some books last night. I had intentions of starting the Twilight book she brought over, but I just couldn't resist the Sophia Kinsella book instead! Why mess with a good thing you know? I already know I am going to love that book, but the twilight book is a crap shoot! So.. couldn't put the book down. Finally forced myself to stop at 3 am. Figured I would sleep in a little and have the kids take the baby! Whoops~I was totally wrong on that one! I woke up at 6:30 am to the pungent sickly familiar smell of puke laced with hot dogs! You know the smell...It is the worst possible kind of puke situation! Ughhh. Grace is sick as a pig! Dragged my sorry butt out of bed got her cleaned up, cleaned the pillow and laid back down. 15 minutes later, I was wearing chunks of hot dogs. HELP ME, PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME!! I swear, anything but hot dog puke! Well, I got grace and I bathed, and It was OK. For about half and hour! Now instead of hot dog puke I am getting to clean up hot dog poop! OK, maybe the smell wasn't so much hot dog, but it WAS just as offensive. Maybe I shouldn't have prayed for anything but hot dog puke! sighhhh. Back to the bath! So this has how our day has been. I think I still smell. Nice! I don't think there are any chunks in my hair though. Grace~ That could be another story! Grace has been beside herself today so I haven't been able to put her down. We fell asleep for about a hour. I woke up with a wicked headache! Got Rachelle to take Grace and at about 3:30 I realized why I feel so crappy...Holy freakin addiction folks! No diet coke! Gotta feed the beast here. Made my way to circle K to get my fix. Have you ever noticed when you are dying for a soda cause you are so freakishly addicted that the first sip is heavenly? It burns going down (Heaven) and you begin to wonder if 52 ounces of love in a cup is going to be enough to pull you through the next few hours of vomit and crap! I am counting down the hours here until Tony gets home and I can hand off the kidlets, grab my book and go hide for a few hours! Maybe in even in the bath! Get rid of the smell and escape! Novel idea! Jennifer~ you just might be the one who in the end saved my sanity today! Way to go! Thanks for the books ~oh~ my family probably thanks you too! At least I know there is a good end to a bad day! What a Day!
Last night as I was getting ready for my trip Bailey and Grace came upstairs to help me pack. Bailey was folding my clothes and putting them in the suitcase for me and she even packed a small bag for my friends. She put some toys in it for them and when I told her they were too old for toys she went and got some necklaces of hers. She told me she is so happy I get to go see my friends and they are going to love the necklaces! Bailey, I think you are right~ They will love the necklaces!
Bailey wanted to know if she could come with me and when I told her no she went and climbed in my suitcase and told me tough..she was coming anyway. She was going to hide in the suitcase and no one would know she was there! Grace of course had to get into the action! I had to get a picture of my silly girls giving me a hard time!
I am going to miss my funny girls...just not too much though:)
I think Bailey has made it her mission in life to test me. Either that or she is hell bent on being a hairstylist when she grows up! Last week I came into my room to find hair on my floor and Bailey hiding in my closet. I coaxed her out to find she had given herself a haircut! Fortunately, it's not too bad, just looks like she has layers in her hair. Well, tonight I was in my room talking with Tony on the bed and I noticed Bailey and Grace were awfully quite, so I looked over at them to see what was going on. I found bailey cutting Grace's hair! I grabbed the camera, and yelled at them as I was taking a picture! I think I scared the crap out of them! Anyhow here is grace rockin horrid short bangs. Nice...At least it's not a mullet right??
It was all fun and games until the lighting followed by the thunder began! Grace definitely does not like thunder(She reminds me of myself)Bailey on the other hand, thought it was fun to count down the thunder after we saw a lightning strike! Ahhh good times!
We have been spending everyday in the pool. Sometimes for hours. And miss Bailey loves taunting Ethan and Grace with the fact that she can swim without floaties and they can't! 
CPS call~ Sheesh!)
