She's Two....

It's so hard to believe that my baby is two. I know most parent's say this when their children get older, but it's hard to believe. One minute a baby, the next a little lady, who is now throwing fits. Gotta love the terrible two's. For her 2nd birthday we had an all pink party. I soooo love pink and so does her sister, so hopefully Bitsy girl will love it too.
I don't like to spend alot of money on decoration, why spend money on stuff you are going to throw away. Yes I could keep it for another party, (1) would I remember where I put it (2) would everything be smooshed. Well I lucked out I went to Michaels and they had all their pink princess themed decorations on sale for 90% off. So I got everything even the gift bag treats for under $10. Now that's what I call a great deal. And let me just say that if you don't have a cupcake stand, go get one. I got mine last year and love it. It's a great center piece and who doesn't love cupcakes.

And now the birthday girl.....

Isn't she so cute in her little outfit. It was so cute when she first saw the cupcakes, she pointed at the them and said wow. I know honey, so yummy.

So the day was pretty chaotic, 20 plus people in my house, most of them kids, my house a total wreck, tons of dishes, but it was totally worth it. Happy Birthday my sweet little girl. Mama loves you.

Wordless Wednesday - a special bond

....she just adores her older brother and he loves it.

The photo wall

I have always wanted a photo wall, I see them in magazines, websites, and other blogs, and I love them. So after our vacation I ordered a whole bunch of photos all different sizes, this was my first mistake. After I got the pictures back from the printer, I loved them, but since I order them all willy-nilly there was symmatry to my photo wall I hated it. I didn't even get them up on the wall, so behind the couch they went until I came up with a plan. Well a plan I finally came up with and with my wonderful hubby's help, I finally have a photo wall in my family room.

The verdict, I LOVE IT!!!
Since I was putting up a photo wall, I had an old window in the garage, that I saved from our remodel, boy I wish I would have saved more, I added some photos from 2009 of my kids and then I added a some rub-ons directly to the glass and some flowers. All I did to the window was clean the glass, that's it. I think it's a perfect addtion to my family room. Plus I can change the photos out every year.

On the wall opposite my photo wall, I hung a shelf and added more pictures. It looks great. The best part of all of this was the price, both my shelves together were under $10, window frame, free, picture frames all found on clearance, under $40 for everything. Having all my memories on the wall to enjoy, PRICELESS. (I know so cheesy, but I couldn't resist hehe).




hugs,
a

Here I am....

My poor, poor, neglected blog, I just noticed it's been a month since I posted last. Where has the time gone? Since I have been gone so long, I thought I would do a recap of the last month:

1. We went to fair with my mom, 8 people in a 5th wheel good times. Hubby even brought our pop-up down and we stayed in it a few nights in the over-flow. How I love the fair, sorry no pictures, they are on my camera and I'm too lazy to go get it and upload the pictures.

2. The kids went back to school. Everyone was set, new lunchboxes, bookbags, shoes, clothes, school supplies, check, check, check. And then there was 2 at home. I am a routine oriented person, so the summers and all the chaos get to me at times, so I really look forward to the routine of school.




Everyone loves their teacher and so far is having a great couple of weeks. Miss Pie is in the band and loves it. My mother-in-law got her a clarinet at a yard sale for 10 bucks and we bought her book and she been teaching herself all summer how to play, she is actually pretty good. This summer I think I am going to teach her how to play the piano since she'll already have the basics down.

3. We went camping over Labor Day, sorry no pics once again. I really wasn't ready to go on this trip and so I wasn't in the bestest of moods and was just ready to go home.

So that pretty much sums up the past few weeks, not too exciting I know. So you may be wondering what Bitsy Girl has been doing since her siblings are at school most of the day.....
she excited to be sitting a the new bar all by herself eating ravoli's like a big girl.

My kids are home from school, so you know what that means HOMEWORK!!!!

hugs
*a*

One summer day...

What do you do on a hot summer day? Go to a local amusement park of course. Yesterday we met my mom and had a fun day together riding rides, eating and then going to the water park. Boy was I exhausted when I got home and a little sunburnt. The kids all had a pretty good time, so all my exhaustion was well worth it.



Oh mom, aren't you glad you made a silly face when I was taking pictures.....

have a great day,
*a*

I'm still alive....

I know, I haven't posted in what seems like forever. I don't know who came up with the phrase "lazy days of summer", because they were way off, our summer has been anything but lazy. It has been very enjoyable, I am not a fan of the heat and so far (thank you Lord) this has been one cool, non-humid, rainy (non-drought), breezy summer. I absolutely love it, usually at the end of July I can't wait for August to be over and for fall to be here, for some cool air. This year I don't want the summer to end. So what have we been up to, well I'll tell you.

Right after school we went on vaction... I need to post more pictures of our vacation, I promise soon. I finally got through about 700 pictures, ditched some and then edited the rest and printed a photo book and did some prints to hang up, plus friends of our went with us and I took their picture and had to edit them, my first session with non-family members, I loved it. Though I have alot to learn about photography and editing. Here's our family picture...

After vacation my mom took the 3 older kids for a few days, my mom is such a saint, she still has 4 kids at home and then add my 3 to that. Calgon is all I have to say. They had a good time at gram's and look forward to it every year.
I only had Bitsy girl at home and we just enjoyed being outside smelling the flowers...

Bible school was next and during Bible School Big B broke his collar bone. You may be wondering what kind of church we attend, let me assure you it's a down to earth Baptist church. The teens however were having extreme nights and he loved it up until Thursday night, the boys were playing football, tackle football and he got tackled and well you can guess the rest. I get a phone call, mom can you come get me I think I broke my collar bone, a late night trip to the ER and yes they confirmed it was broke. So his summer hasn't been the best, no riding dirt bike, bike, running, lifting weights for football, horsing around, the only thing he can do is swim and well it hasn't been the hottest around here, but we are not going to complain about that one bit.

We also had a birthday, well several, July is a busy month for birthdays. Miss Pie turned 11, she is growing up so fast I can't believe it. For her birthday she got to decide what she wanted to eat for all three meals, and no helping around the house and then a little party in the evening. Nothing big, but she had a great day...
Daddy also had a birthday, so did Pap B and Meemaw F. Happy Birthday everyone.....

We have gone to the park...
You think Bitsy girl would have loved the slide, yeah not so much....



I am so glad they humor me and smile when I have my camera, unlike this little lady....

But look she is sitting, we went down by the creek (but in this neck of the woods we call it a crick) and she wouldn't got near the water so she sat and she sat still. Now why didn't I come here before. Hehee!! Anywhoo I got some great shots of her actually in focus.
and a picture of my 2 beautiful girls.

We also went to an amusement park, had lunch with friends, some fun days with cousins, camping trip to a state park and another camping trip planned this weekend. Plus to top it off we are siding our house and doing a small kitchen remodel. (whoohoo) We are just down right busy and lovin it.

hugs
*a*

Rain, Rain....

You know the song, but there is something about spring rains that I love, maybe that everything is green and after a rain the outdoors just seem so refreshing. Or the sound of the rain hitting the roof, peaceful. Last evening we had a thunder storm, after the storm past it was just so beautiful outside I couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

See what I mean, refreshing, there is no other word to describe it.



Maybe a little singing in the rain too, she was dancing around alittle, but of course I didn't have my camera ready. This was all taken in front our house. We decided to go out back and this is what we saw....
Breath-taking!!!! It's so wonderful to see God's beauty right out your back door!!!

hugs
*a*

A camping we did go...

Our first trip of the season, and it went pretty well. Last year we only went on one trip, because camping was not Bitsy girl's thing. This year, though, she did pretty well, so I do believe more trips will be in our future this summer, which everyone is really excited about.

Our Memorial Day tradition is to go camping with my parents, it is really nice to spend a few days with them and the kids had a blast.


We took the bikes, so they had fun riding all around...

and then they played a little whiffle ball

But it wasn't all fun and games, daddy had to do a little studying


and no camping trip would be complete, without playing in the dirt with your bestest buddy in the whole wide world

then after a full day of playing and getting filthy, a basin bath was in order

it was also really nice to cuddle with meemaw
Bitsy girl was just eating up all the attention, but I am pretty sure Meemaw was lovin it too.

Now if you think I wasn't there, you are sadly mistaken, no I have no actual pictures of myself due to fact that I am the official picture taker, but I did manage to get in one picture.
Look closely in my dad's glasses, see that shilloutte, yep that's me. I was on a family camping trip after all.

After all that fun, food, and family it was time to pack up and go home. Can't wait till next year....

hugs
*a*

I do think it's impossible...

I have been trying since December to get a good shot of my 4 kids together. I want to make a photo wall in my family room. I've seen a few ideas I like, but we'll talk about the photo wall at a later date, right now the problem at hand, my lovely children. They will not cooperate, it's not so much the older ones, it's the itty bitty one, that girl runs when she sees a camera. When she is by herself, I can usually get some shots, by calling her name, asking her to show me her teeth, or making silly noises. Usually half the shots are out of focus, but I can get 3 or 4 decent ones.

Here's take 1:

I think Miss Pie is going to pull Bitsy arms right out and yes that big blur is my darling 18 month old, she wanted to run.

Now take 2:

Does she look happy??? Also everything is horrible, their skin is blown, no one looks happy. Arghhhhh!!!!!!!

I am not throwing in the towel, I will keep trying until I have the perfect shot. I'll keep ya all updated.

Oh by the way, my crafty self must have read my letter, because she showed up this weekend and we have been busy, we redecorated and painted my kitchen, altered an old picture from the thrift store, and made Bitsy a quilt and it's only Wednesday. I'll upload pictures tomorrow.

hugs
*a*

P.S. Please be praying for the The Freeman family their little baby Kayliegh passed away on May 11 and they need all the love and support right now. I encourage you to go read their story, it is very touching.

chicks, new do, trophy and Easter... Oh my......

Chicks
Bitsy calls them Chickieees. Yes, we got chickens, I have to admit they are pretty stickin cute and the kids just love them. Actually I like them better than the cats, because they are contained and don't shed all over my house. Here's a picture of our octuplets.
Aren't they cute....

New Do
I have been having such a hair dilemma lately, I really hated my style. You know when you want to grow your hair out but you end up hating it or the process. Well that is me, so I decided to get it chopped and changed the color. Sorry I don't have a before picture, but I had a bob cut and light brown hair and here is the new me.


Tophy
A few weekends ago, the boys had their wrestling banquet, this is where they each have their moment to shine. Big Buddies got a trophy and he was so excited, it was his bestest dream come true. He hasn't gotten a trophy yet and is always admiring Big B's so this is one of his very own.

In Junior High wrestling they give out 2 big trophies, one for "Rookie of the Year" and the other one for "Outstanding Wrestler" and Big B got Rookie of the year. We are so proud and he was pretty shocked. It's huge, Bitsy stood next to it and the trophy is taller than her.


Easter
We had a wonderful Easter, the kids got up and searched for their Easter basket, they had fun seeing their goodies and even snuck in some chocolate before breakfast. We then got dressed in our Easter outfits and headed off to church, when we got home it was picture time. Except nobody was cooperating.

Does she look happy to have her picture taken, NO!!! She looked so adorable in her little dress, and I got zero pictures of her. Arghhh!!!!! I have heard of people taping cherios to the floor, so little ones will sit, well I need to actually tape the little one to the floor. (just kidding I would never do that, but I have considered it :-P) It just wasn't Bitsy who didn't want pictures taken my Father-in-Law was ready to go the second he got here, Big Buddies wouldn't smile, and I need to hire a photographer to take pictures of our whole family because well lets just say my mother in law is not a photographer, I love her to death, but cameras are not her thing. So a retake will be in order when it gets a little nicer outside. Here's a picture I was able to salvage of all 4 kiddos.

I'm not even going to post our family picture, it's just horrible.

hugs
*a*

SHE.......

- is 10 1/2
- is nicknamed Miss Pie
- loves cats and horses
- is sometimes bossy


- favorite food is chicken and corn
- is a great helper
- loves her little sister so very much
- hates when her older brother picks on her

- is very sloppy
- loves the color pink
- is a fish in the summer
- looks like her dad



....is my girly and couldn't imagine life without her. Love ya Miss Pie!!!!

hugs
*a*

HE........

- is 6
- nicknamed Big Buddies
- is a mama's boy, until daddy comes home and then he is daddy's sidekick
- loves to be outside


- is ready for school to be out
- loves gym class
- favorite meal is sloppy joes
- is really bull-headed

- hates soup
- can't wait until we can go camping again
- best friend is Angel, two-peas in a pod
- loves to wear boots


....and is my little man. Love this little, goof-ball, kid.

hugs
*a*

SHE......

- will be 17 months old tomorrow
- nicknamed Bitsy, because she was small when she was born, just a bitsy little girl
- has mastered climbing up and down the steps, scares her mama to death
- can turn a room upside down in a matter of minutes


- loves her dolly
- will eat anything
- still likes to drink out of a bottle, I know I'm working on this
- loves to terrorize our cat


- gets into everything
- adores her older brother and sister
- laugh at Big Buddies all the time, she thinks he is just hilarous
- won't look at me when I have my camera out
- hates to sit in the cart at the store
- loves cheesies



....and I love her to the moon and back.

hugs
*a*