Wildflowers

Earlier today, the girls and I met Abbie and Max at the park for lunch. It was pretty hot, even the kids were starting to complain about the heat. I always love to catch up with my friend though. I'm sad school will be starting again in a couple of weeks, and all of my teacher friends will be heading back to work. :(

This evening, I took the girls to a field of wildflowers to have them photographed by my other friend, Abby. (This can be confusing sometimes, so Braylee typically refers to them as "Max's mommy" and "Lillie's mommy" to keep things straight.) I'm sure Abby caught some beautiful pictures, but let me tell you...it was sooo HOT! Or really, I should say it was so HUMID! We were all dripping with sweat. Braylee loves to be photographed. Before we left, she was showing me all of the poses she was planning to do. ;) She got a little sidetracked by the gnats so she forgot about her fancy poses, but she still managed to pull off a sweet smile...sweat and all. Brynna on the other hand...Well, she's never been crazy about getting her picture taken. I warned Abby (which she already knew since she babysits for us sometimes) that Brynna can not stand for her feet to be dirty. Sure enough, I had to carry her everywhere and she refused to stand in the wildflowers. :( It was too hot to fight with her. So, we may have to try again next year to get some pictures of the girls walking in the flowers. Maybe she'll be over the whole dirty-feet-thing by then. I wore a dress to match the girls, but seriously...sweat dripping down my nose will not be pretty.

Last week, I had the moonroof open on my vehicle. When I picked up Braylee from daycare, she stuck her head up to the open window and yelled, "Jesus! Hey, Jesus!" I started laughing and said, "What are you doing?!" She said it was her window to see Jesus. (And she says He must live up in the "blue" part of the sky because she knows He doesn't live in the clouds. :)) So, today, she started yelling for Jesus again. After about the 5th time, I said, "Ok! I think He heard you." She replied, "I know because I can feel Him in my heart." ***My heart melted.*** I love her faith. She really does teach me to trust Him more.

A little update on Brynna's toilet habits. :) During the month of June and early July, we were a little preoccupied with trips and hospital visits. I'm guessing she only used the potty a hand full of times during those weeks. But, she has gotten pretty excited about the potty again which makes mommy happy! She sits on the potty about 3-4 times/day and uses it probably 2x/day. Sometimes, she initiates it and other times, I take her (like after nap time). She is starting to take her diaper off if she has peed in it too, so I'm hoping that encourages her to use the potty even more. Also, I'm amazed at how much she has learned in the last few weeks. Pink is definitely her favorite color (My mom will appreciate that!). She wants the "ink" jammies, "ink" cup, "ink" crayon, etc. It's so cute to hear her say it because she leaves off the P but really emphasizes the k on the end. The only problem is pink and drink sound about the same. ;)

Happy Birthday, Mom and Tracee!

Yesterday was my younger sister Tracee's 28th birthday. I'm guessing she had a great day since she and her hubby are celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary in Mexico right now. :) Their actual anniversary will be 8/8/08. We don't get to see Tracee very much since she moved to South Carolina 4 years ago. We enjoy the chances we do get though. (Sorry, I'm too lazy to look for older pictures for these slideshows. :) They are pretty much from 2004 and on since that's when we entered the digital world.)


Today is my mom's 51st birthday! I doubt she cares that I posted her age, because if I was her, I'd be pretty proud to look that good at 51. :) I love my mom. I love how at 29, she still calls me "babydoll" or "sugar." I love how she just calls to talk, even if she doesn't really have anything she has to tell me. I love how she completely goes overboard with baking goodies at Christmas. I love how she always smells good. I love how we can spend 2 hours floating around in a pool talking about girl stuff...and think only 30 minutes has passed. I love how she spoils my girls. I love how she encouraged me to continue nursing Brynna even when others thought 16 months was too long. I love how she would make detailed lists for my grandparents of all of our activities while she and dad were traveling so we wouldn't miss anything. I love how I used to find my mom talking to herself and thinking it odd...and now I catch myself doing it all the time. I love how she (still) leaves little notes sitting around in unexpected places to let us know how much we are loved and prayed for. I love how at a young age, I can remember my mother getting her Bible out during the day to read and highlight while we played and danced around her. Even when we disagree, I just really love my mom. There are quiet times when I am rocking one of my girls or snuggling them in bed and think about how my mom surely did the same things with me. I remember how desperate I was to make sure my mom was at the birth of both of my girls...I just couldn't imagine doing it without her. And I distinctly remember being in the hospital in March 2002 when I had had surgery...thinking I had never felt so miserable...and telling Alex, "I need my mom." He said, "Why? Is there something I can do?" I said, "No, I just need my mom." And, I remember the relief I felt when she and my dad walked into my room. Thank you, Mom. I hope you had a wonderful birthday!!


So, this is what we did today. The girls play so well together.

Lazy Weekend

We seemed to have been gone a lot over the weekend, but I don't remember feeling rushed at all. It was just a pleasant weekend spent enjoying our family and friends' company. Friday, Ava turned 5!! We went over to Shad and Jamie's for her party. They had rented an inflatable water slide for the kids, and they loved it! The girls received Hannah Montana treat bags as we left. Inside, the girls found fake teeth (The kids loved these!!), mini Uno cards, and Flarp. I know, I'd never heard of the stuff either...it's "gassy play-doh"...it farts when you squish it. Again, the kids loved it. :) Alex needed to run by his office, so we stopped at Dairy Queen afterwards. Braylee and Brynna are kind-of odd kids in the fact that neither of them like ice cream. Strange, huh? So they had fries instead. We planned to just "stop by" Gramma's to pick up Pappy's chainsaw (to clean up our fallen tree in the front yard), but you know how that goes. Next thing you know, both kids are getting snacks from Gramma and dancing around the kitchen for 20 minutes. :)
Saturday morning, Alex cut up the tree. The girls and I helped haul the branches to the woods, and then I trimmed shrubs while they napped. Once they were up, we headed back over to Gramma and Pappy's. Andre', Mandi, and Gabe were spending the day there too. We took golf cart rides, discussed our upcoming vacation (We were planning to go to Williamsburg in July, but we pushed it back to November after the accident.), and got Chinese take-out. Mandi is walking some on her own. I watched her walking around and thought about how far she has come, but there were times I'd find myself walking past her. I'd stop and go back, feeling guilty that my natural step is that much faster than hers now. :( Mandi went with me to pick up the Chinese, so we got to chat alone for a little bit. Have I mentioned how much I love her? :) Just as much as we were meant to marry our husbands, we were meant to be sisters too.

Later, we went up to my mom and dad's to visit/stay the night. Alex golfed early this morning with my dad and brother before church, so we decided to go up the night before. After church, we had dinner at my Granny & Pa's. Then, we went on to my Grammy & Gramps' to visit with them.

This evening, we took the girls to the park. As usual, we fed the ducks and geese. Then we took a walk around the park before we headed home. Once during the weekend, Braylee asked me how a baby gets in a mommy's belly. Hmmm...I said, "God allows it to happen." It turned out to be enough of an explanation for now. She said, "When I grow up, then I will have babies in my belly too." So, I asked her what she would name her baby. After thinking thoughtfully for a few seconds, she replied, "Strawberry Shortcake." :)

22 Months

I can't believe my baby is 22 months old already! Yesterday, it dawned on me she is another month older. Time just seems to slip by. She is starting to count, knows basic colors, and adds words to her vocabulary daily. She's putting more and more words together too. I just can't believe in 2 months she will be 2 years old.

Holiday World

Yesterday, in the muggy heat of Southern Indiana, we headed to Holiday World with Tim, Krista, and their girls. Within the first hour, I thought we might all die from heat stroke or dehydration. It was so humid we could barely enjoy watching the girls ride some rides. We decided to eat an early lunch, in an air-conditioned restaurant I might add. When we were done with lunch, we headed back out to find a nice breeze. And while the older girls stood in line with their dads to ride the giant eagles, the breeze turned into a strong wind and I found myself with goosebumps! Thankfully, the storm went north of us, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day with tolerable heat. When the girls were riding the carousel, Brynna's eyes became heavy and she looked a bit drunk on her horse. :) She fell asleep in my arms as I carried her back to the stroller. We were happy she was able to get a little nap in. The older girls rode a kiddy roller coaster--twice they will tell you with pride! It started to get really hot again about the time we headed to the water park. We all had fun splashing around and cooling off. On the way home, Braylee told me her favorite part was the water playground. All of the girls were sooo good, especially Brynna and Addison who have to be the easiest going little girls around. Brynna was really good about wearing her hat all day too...I'm very paranoid about her scar getting burnt. We topped off the day with a trip to Los Bravos, our favorite Mexican place...a perfect way to end a fabulous day. We had received phone calls during the day to see how our weather was since it was storming at home. While we had sunny weather, we found the evidence of the storm when we arrived home. We lost one of our trees in the front yard. When I was awake from 2:15-4:10am (just part of the insomnia I frequently deal with), the wind was blowing hard again, but I was happy to find no more damage this morning.
We're spending a quiet day at home today. We went on a bike ride and the girls played in the sprinkler. After having Bible School last week, it was nice to finally catch up on the laundry too.

VBS Program

Sunday evening, we went to the VBS closing program. Braylee had been talking all week about getting to sing on stage. Unforunately, the kids weren't spread out very well and we couldn't see Braylee. :( She still seemed to enjoy herself. The girls posed for a few pictures before heading to the fellowship hall for dinner. Bible School was a success!

VBS Week

Vacation Bible School started Sunday evening at our church. Alex and I were the assistant directors this year, which means we'll be in charge next year. After the first evening, I thought I might resign for next year! It was a bit chaotic at times, trying to get everyone registered, knowing where to be at what time, delivering supplies, etc. I had to drink a Mello Yello when I got home. ;) Thankfully, the rest of the week ran smoothly.

Our theme this year was Amazon Expedition! The church was decorated like a rain forest- very cool! The lessons were from Answers in Genesis and revolved around the 7 C's of History: Creation, Corruption (sin in the Garden of Eden), Catastrophe (the Flood), Confusion (Tower of Babel), Christ, Cross, and Consummation (fulfillment of God's promise with Christ's return). The kids had a blast!

I tried to get pictures each night, but I'm pretty disappointed with my camera lately. Perhaps it isn't working properly because it was tossed around in a car wreck or left in a scorching hot vehicle while I was at work or has been banged around by two little girls...not really sure, but I don't think it's working at it's full potential. Anyway, here's a glimpse of our fantastic week of VBS.

Girly Fun!

Sunday after VBS, Sydney came home with us for a sleepover. The girls were WIRED when we arrived home. They were so giggly and funny. They had popsicles too, so I'm sure the extra sugar rush added to their giddiness! They were playing dress-up at 11pm! :) I finally convinced them to get ready for bed. They watched Berenstein Bears on TV before finally dozing off. And amazingly, they were up bright and early the next morning!
They didn't have too much time to play the next morning though because Brynna had an appointment to get her stitches out! She was a little jewel again...not even a flinch. The office staff again doted on my little sweet pea and gave her more stickers for being such a good girl. I'm pretty impressed with how good it looks already in just a week. The doctor says we have to be diligent about putting strong SPF on it daily for the next 6 months. This picture was at church Monday night.
After her appointment, we had a picnic lunch at the park with Krista and her girls. Brynna was very good about wearing her hat, which Mommy will insist on for at least the next month or so while her scar is still healing.

Tuesday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese for Lillie's 4th Birthday party! First, the girls (along with Brody) played games. Then they enjoyed pizza and chocolate birthday cake. Chuck E. Cheese came out to dance with the girls. When Lillie first saw him, she put her arms out and said, "Get away!" It was so cute, but it didn't take the girls long to warm up to the idea of a giant mouse dancing with them. Then, it was time for presents and more games. Before heading home for VBS, we stopped by the mall. It's not easy to shop with 4 little girls in tow.