This and That

One of those sweet moments a Mommy never forgets. Hayley was tired and not feeling great, so Luke sat down with her and began reading a Magic Treehouse Book to help her feel better.

I love this cheesy grin.

One excited girl headed to her first soccer practice.




One hot, tired, but HAPPY girl after her first soccer practice.



This pic makes me laugh. An attempt at getting a shot of all 3.
Someone is a little grumpy. Can you tell who that may be?

So proud of my big guy. He received his first belt at Tae Kwon Do.

A Robe and Some Slippers

Let me take you to our breakfast table conversation for the past few weeks. Luke and Hayley have decided to start making their Christmas wish lists. That's right....Christmas. The wonderful celebration of Jesus's birth that is 3 months away. I guess they don't want Santa to have to be too stressed out right before the big night. Let's get those lists in right away.

I believe what may have brought on the Christmas List rush of 2010, is the delightful American Girl catalog that comes in the mail mid-September. Hayley spends hours drooling over every doll, outfit, accessory, and book that she sees. I mean, what doll doesn't need her own bathtub with fake bubbles and a vanity with real working lights? Seriously.

In all honesty, I remember doing the exact same thing when the Sears catalog used to come to our house at Christmas.


So, back to the breakfast table.....each morning both of them go over the items for their lists in ranking order. Hayley has listed every item in the entire American Girl catalog (an estimated total of $1,000,000.00) along with the Angelina Ballerina doll, the all important Strawberry Shortcake pool, and a box of girl Legos. Because the boy Legos just won't do. We NEED the pink and purple ones. Awesome.

Luke on the other hand has 4 very important items on his list.

1. A robe
2. Slippers to go with the robe
3. The airport Legos set
4. To give some $ to the poor

The robe and slippers are mentioned several times a day. In fact my favorite time he brought up the robe and slippers was this Saturday. Chris loaded the kids up in the van to go and get some pancakes from McDonalds. Usually I make the pancakes, but having just returned home from yet another visit to the ER with Hannah and breathing issues, I was passed out in the bed (another post at another time). So as Chris was asking them to get their shoes on, Luke looks at Chris and says, "Dad, this would be so much better if I had a robe and slippers."


Dear Santa, please get this sweet boy a robe and slippers. Obviously, life just isn't fun at all without them.

I'm 10 Months Old!

"LUKE! I AM YOUR SISTER."

This girl has been busy over the past month. So Miss Hannah Beth, what are you up to now?

*You are crawling everywhere and into everything. Your favorite places to crawl are place you are not allowed aka the fireplace and the big kids playroom with 5,000 tiny Legos, Littlest Pet Shops, and Polly Pockets all over the floor. This tiny toy challenge is new to us because the older kiddos were at toddler ages about the same time. You have become very fast in the past few days, therefore Mommy has been shopping for baby gates. You love to push up to a "plank" and hold it for several seconds. Only 10 months old and already a master at pilates.

We have two teeth and 6 MORE coming in at once! Teething tablets and get have become our new best friend. So glad that they bring you some relief.

Over the past week, you have started clapping when we clap. It is the cutest thing. You also started signing "All Done" when you are finished eating. We are working on several signs that I know you will pick up quickly and it will be a huge help in telling Mommy and Daddy what you want.

You are still loving baby food. Still don't care for peas, but who can blame you! We have given you fruit puffs, yogurt melts, little bits of cheese, and yo baby yogurt. You love all of them. The sippy cup is coming along but all you like to do is take a sip and let the water run out of your mouth all over your shirt. Makes for fun clean up.

You are such a happy baby and flash the biggest grin to folks. You still look to Mommy first if it is someone unfamiliar to make sure that they are ok before you will smile. You love to cuddle and be rocked in your rocking chair while I sing to you. I love when you lie on my shoulder and just hug. It is the greatest feeling in the world.

11 Years

Chris and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on September 4th. My sister was in town and she kindly offered to babysit for us so we could enjoy an evening together. We got to go out to dinner and to a movie. What a treat!

I love this man more and more everyday. He is my best friend and hero. He is such the perfect balance for this frantic crazy lady, so calm and grounded. To watch him with our children is one of my favorite moments in the day. They just love him to pieces and can't wait until he walks through the door at the end of the day.

He makes me laugh like no one else. I love you, Chris. Thank you for 11 wonderful years!

A Bouquet of Sharpened Pencils.....

....one of my favorite lines from the movie "You've Got Mail". I used to love the beginning of school year. I loved shopping for new school supplies, organizing my desk, and making sure I had the coolest Trapper Keeper. I still love the fall, but the beginning of school has changed a bit for me.

Not that I don't love the excitement in the air of a fresh start, a ride on the school bus, meeting new teachers, and finding new and old friends, it just reminds me that my babies are growing up so fast.

But oh, what fun it was to watch my baby boy jump on that school bus with a huge smile on his face and come home to tell me what an awesome day he had in 1st grade. He has come such a long way from his first preschool experience where they had to peel him out of the car crying for the first month of school.

Hayley too began a new chapter in KINDERGARTEN! She had a wonderful day and loved that she had homework to do when she got home. The assignment isn't due until next week, but she spent 45 minutes writing and coloring her heart out to make each part of her "All About Me" book was just perfect. That girl has a love for all things school just like I did at her age.

I love watching my babies grow and learn at each stage of their little lives. They are becoming exactly who God made them to be. I feel so blessed to be able to call them my own. Praying for a wonderful school year with lots of fun, friends, learning, and growth.

Sleepover

Luke had a sleepover with one of his best buddies, Alexander, a few weeks ago. These two had been begging for a sleepover all summer long and we finally got around to it. Chris took them out to the Dismal Swamp for a bike ride and bug hunt, they had McDonalds to eat, and Brusters Ice Cream for dessert. We let them watch a movie in Luke's room until 10:00pm and then it was lights out. Surprisingly, they went to sleep and we didn't hear from them again until morning!

I'm so thankful that Luke has found a best friend in Alexander. They are kindred spirits and play so well together. I see another sleepover in our near future!

Happy Blog-iversary

I just went back to look at the date when I started this blog and low and behold I have missed the anniversary of the Blog (August 5, 2007). A little over 3 years ago I started this little thing to document all of our day to day fun mostly for my husband who was about to deploy to Iraq for 7 months. Many many things have happened over the 3 years, and it is so much fun to look back at all those precious memories.



I thought I would recap a few of my favorite posts to celebrate the blog-iversary (oh, how I love bullet points and making a list!):



*The very first entry is here. Those little munchkins were only 4 and 2. Oh how I love their sweet faces.


*My babies and their Daddy Dolls!


*The day Chris came home from Iraq for the second time!


*My sweet girl and her many FACES!


*My big guy and his first tball game.


*Our trip to Disney in 2009.


*Bringing home our newest addition!

*The hat

* Hayley's 5th Birthday

* Luke's Kindergarten graduation

Honestly, I could have linked every single post. Here's to many more years of memories.

Crabbing

Grammie's bracelet was a huge hit! Must feel good on those new teeth.

Not happy that we had to clean off the bracelet when she dropped it on the ground.

All is right with the world again!

We had a great visit with Grammie and Big Daddy over the weekend. We all loaded up and went down to the locks to catch some crabs. It was HOT but we had a wonderful time. Even caught a crab or two and found some good climbing trees. SUCCESS!

Coffee Talk

I sit here in my pjs, drinking my second cup of coffee, and enjoying every second of these slow mornings that will be gone in just a few weeks. Summer is coming to a close. The backpacks and lunch boxes are being dusted off, soccer sign ups have been done, registering for Tae Kwon Do (sp?) is this week, and the school shoes have been purchased.

I am sad to see the summer end. I have loved every minute of having everyone at home with me. I think we have gone swimming at least 5 days out of every week, read a million library books, colored, played board games, watched 5,000 episodes of Scooby Doo and The Pink Panther, and had nothing to do but just enjoy being together for almost 2 and a half months. Yes, there are times when we all are a little tired of each other, but all in all it has been a very fun summer.

My emotions get the best of me when I think about school starting. I am so excited for both Luke and Hayley, but school reminds me that they are growing up way too fast. Luke is beyond thrilled to be headed to the BIG elementary school for 1st grade. He can't wait to get on that bus, eat lunch at school and go to P.E. My heart sinks thinking that this will be the first time in 7 years that we haven't had lunch together. I know he is ready, but I'm just not sure that I am.

Hayley is headed to Kindergarten. I am so thankful to be sending her to the same school and that she will have the same teacher that Luke had last year. Mrs. Wallen is WONDERFUL! My mind has a hard time wrapping around that fact that she is really starting Kindergarten. She was the baby of the family for 4 years and it doesn't seem possible that we are at this huge milestone with her. She too is more than ready. I know she will have a great year.

Hannah Beth is not going to school (thank goodness), but we are less than 3 months away from her 1st birthday. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???? God has been putting so much on my heart these days but I hear Him say so often, "Stop and enjoy these moments. Don't worry about the laundry or the dishes, go play with them, go swim with them, go snuggle with them...." So that is what I have been doing.

I am going to enjoy every last second of this summer. So here's to the last days of summer and my last sip of coffee this morning out of one of my favorite mugs. The mug says it all.........

9 Month Stats

I could just eat her up!!! Don't you love the hair? I put her to bed last night right after her bath, and she woke up with a WILD woman do!

Baby girl turned 9 months old yesterday. I love love love this age!!!! Her little personality is starting to show and she is a silly girl. Loves to laugh and chat up a storm (as long as she knows you). Separation anxiety has set in and no one will do like Mama will do.

At her well check, she tipped the scales at 21 lbs and 3 oz (92%) and she is 28 and 3/4 inches long (91%). She is our sweet BIG girl and I love it!

What are you up to these days, Hannah Beth?

Well.....you are really wanting to figure out this crawling thing. Always on your hands and knees just a rockin. You roll all over the place, in fact I have found you under the sofa a few times! Yikes.

You are so content to sit and play. Whatever you touch goes right into your mouth. You love to click your tongue and babble all the time (dadadad, nananana, mamamama, bubububu). I love our sweet conversations.

You are sleeping great now!!!! Praise the LORD! You take two good naps lasting about and hour and a half to sometimes two hours. One nap is at 9:00am and the other is at 1:30pm. You head up for your bath and stories around 6:00pm or so and are in the bed for the night at 6:30 sleeping until 6:30 in the morning. Woot!

You are loving your baby food now and have tried fruit puffs, cheerios, and peas! You are very good at getting them in your mouth and make funny faces trying to get them down the hatch. You are taking 3 bottles a day (80z each) and you drink a little water from your sippy cup. You cut your first tooth (bottom right) last week and it was a doozy You know how to bring the DRAMA!

I cannot believe we only have 3 months until your Birthday. Oh, time is going way too fast. I love you, Lula Bell!