Friday Ramblings!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

 

I usually link up with 5 on Friday every Friday, but today, I have so much more than just 5 things to share and I just could not narrow it down!

This baby girl is a mover and a crawler now! She started army crawling on Sunday, and she's trying to get up on her knees now! She army crawled over to get the remote control and was so proud of herself!

 

I also think that we may be getting on a better schedule with her this week. I'm not 100% sure yet, so I don't want to jinx us, but i've been getting home, getting things put away, nursing her, then feeding her solids, and then putting her down for a late evening nap. I'm trying to let her only sleep one hour when we get home, and then I can get her back up around 6:30 or 7, keep her awake for another hour or hour and a half, and then get her back in the bed. I was really hoping to give up the late evening nap all together, but Addy Pearl is not sleeping well at daycare (still) and I may just have to let those hopes go. I have used a babywise routine with all the girls, and she should be getting three 1 1/2 hour naps per day, but she's taking about two naps at daycare and those are anywhere from 45 minutes, 1 hour, or 30 minutes. Home girl just likes to know what's going on!

 

Addy is also arching her back and throwing her head back when she gets upset. This little girl is going to have an attitude just like her big sisters! 

Sigh, Megan is still falling asleep on the living room floor. Actually, she did not last night, but she did Wednesday night. I digress. Let her sleep where she falls. We'll still put her to bed and tuck her in around 7:30 or 8:00, but she'll fall asleep wherever whenever. Whatever.

Gretchen had her Valentine's party at school yesterday! I'm not sure who thought February the 13th would be a good idea for a Valentine's party, but oh well. So, my plan for all three girls wearing matching pants and applique shirts & matching bows just went right out the window. I let Gretchen wear her Valentine's outfit on Thursday, and look how cute she looks! Yes, I may be a little partial. I'm her mom, I made her shirt, I made her bow, I bought her pants.... I just think she's precious.  #sorrynotsorry

 

She was suppose to take pepperoni to her class party. I remembered at 4:00 yesterday afternoon while I was driving home. Mom Fail.

 

Thankfully, Gretchen didn't notice.

 

I also really became thankful for all the moms that stay at home or that were able to take off work to be at the party yesterday. I was able to see a few pictures and I just had a come to Jesus meeting, about how awesome it is that those moms could be there, when other moms couldn't. They were able to take care of the party. They remembered their snacks. They helped plan, helped with the games. They were there for my daughter when I could not be, and I am so thankful to them!

Happy Valentine's Day to my hubby! He was less than thrilled when I took this picture this morning! And, I just have to give him props for letting me sleep in a few more minutes AND he made the bed this morning! This guy is speaking my love language. He's a hottie.

And, my little girls this morning!

 

This is a grainy pic- DJ snapped it and emailed to me, but it's horrible quality. Thankfully, I have some on the "real" camera as well, so i'll post those next week.

 

All of the girls were suppose to have pink minky dot ruffle pants to wear today. I bought Gretchen a size 6, and thankfully, she'll be able to wear them next year. They were a little long, so I just rolled up the waistband twice yesterday.

 

DJ put Megan's on her this morning and holy cow, were they big! I bought her a 2T, and even with her pants rolled up, they were too long. I bought Addy Pearl a size 9 months and they were even longer! Like, they were so long, they were as long as she is! So, after a bit of fit throwing (on mine and Megan's part), Megan ended up in the size 9 month pants that I had bought for Addy, and they fit Megan perfectly!

 

Thankfully, I had a pair of pink pants that I could put on Addy.

And here are all my little Valentine's! Poor Gretchen had just come downstairs after putting on her dress, and I hadn't fixed her hair and she was barely awake anyway!

And, thank you to Andrea for creating this "Hey girl" picture.... I shared it with my hubby, and told him i'd be happy with just ONE PAIR, and he told me that I should've married Ryan then! Ha!

 

One more thing, our family photographer, Madison, and her precious family, have just added a new bundle of joy to their family! I found out last July that they were planning on adopting, and yesterday, they got a phone call that their little baby boy was waiting on them! They had about two hours notice, and they now have the most perfect little boy in their house today! What an amazing Valentine's gift! You may also want to check out their super cute "Hi" hoodies, and canvas prints over at Vine & Ever. 100% of the proceeds will help to fund their adoption, and once their adoption is fully funded, they'll be supporting other families! My girls have their "Hi" hoodies, and I told Madison that they needed to make them in adult sizes because they are the softest sweatshirts ever!

 

Hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's day! May you be loved!

 

By: Unknown On 07.00

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Just Some Ramblings…..

DJ's in Vegas right now for a video convention, and I have some time, so your post today is going to be lots of ramblings…. enjoy! I'm going to be doing a little weekend wrap up as well, so sit back, sip your coffee (or other drink of choice) and enjoy. 

I'm not quite sure what to do with this girl. DJ and I battle her bedtime almost every single night, and it's just exhausting. I know what I need to do in order to get her to bed, but when it comes down to it, i'm so tired by the end of the day that Meggie ends up winning the battle every night. DJ and I thought that we had finally won on Thursday night, and when I went to check on and feed Adalyn before going to bed, I realized that Megan was not in her bed. Instead, I found her in the entry way, sleeping on the floor. 

I wish I had the energy to be consistent and put her in the bed every night, but instead I'll just continue letting her fall asleep wherever she lands and put her back in her bed…. 

Saturday night, I was determined that i'd win the battle, and after 45 minutes I did. Sunday night she went to bed so easily because she didn't nap, but Monday night…. we were back to the above. 

Friday night, we worked on the girls' Valentine boxes. 

Saturday, I met my friend, Laura for lunch! I was so excited to see her….. the pic above was taken on my way out the door! 

Laura is getting married in July, and her future stepdaughter plays in a volleyball league. Their tournament was here in Tulsa this weekend, and we decided to meet for lunch and then we went to David's Bridal to try on a bridesmaid dress. Laura and I met in college when we were R.A.'s together. She was maid of honor in my wedding, and i'm so excited to be in her wedding this summer!

I got home Saturday afternoon and took a nap, and then gave the girls a bath and got Gretchen ready for a father/daughter dance at the community center.

They had a big date night! DJ took her out to eat, then for ice cream, ran an errand at Target, and finally went to the dance. Gretchen said she had tons of fun and a few of her friends were there from school.

She told DJ "thanks for opening the door for me, Connor has a lot to learn!" Connor is a little boy in her kindergarten class that Gretchen is certain she will marry one day. Thankfully, the feelings are mutual, and she's not harassing sweet Connor. They play together every day at recess, sit at the same table, and come home talking about each other every day. It's young love. 

While DJ and Gretchen were gone, I got to hang out with the little girls. Addy is so fussy lately. Poor baby is on a great schedule at home, but when she's awake, she wants mommy to hold her all the time! She can be happily playing on the floor, but if I walk in, she cries and cries. 

She ended up playing on the floor for a little bit Saturday night, but most of the time, she cried. She was really happy though when I took her picture. She continued to play and I snapped away a bit and she'd look up at me and smile and then keep playing. Maybe I should just take her picture all the time! 

Because she gets so fussy in the evenings, she goes to bed around 6. I hate how early that is, but she's sleeping until 7 am. 

After Addy went to bed, Meggie and I got to hang out for a bit before I battled her bedtime, but after 45 minutes she finally stayed in bed! 

Sunday morning we got up and went to church, but I didn't get a picture because we were running late. We came home for lunch and then put all the girls down for their naps. Megan didn't fall asleep, but Gretchen, Addy, and I all did! 

DJ watched Captain Phillips…. have y'all seen that movie? It's so good, but I just wish he would not have gotten in that life boat! And then at the end, oh, the end just breaks my heart. 

I worked on a few Valentine hair bows on Sunday afternoon…..

We spent most of the weekend catching up on laundry, and I saw this on Instagram and thought it was so hilarious!

I really don't know why I try to clean my house every day. It's exhausting. 

DJ flew out Monday morning for Vegas, and the girls all went to school and I went to work. We made it home around 5, and I started dinner (lasagna) and fed Adalyn, and started my nightly routine of getting everyone fed, and the kitchen cleaned up, and Adalyn in bed, and the big girls in their pajamas, lunches and bottles fixed, and I sat the girls down to watch a movie and we enjoyed each other for a bit before bed time. 

I looked over at one point and found Meggie wearing her little hat with her pajamas, and just thought she was so cute. 

I have to pinch myself sometimes, because as hard as being a mom is, as hard as it is to "do it all" it's so rewarding. I love all of our happy moments. I love all of our learning moments. They are teaching me so much as well, and they are doing their very best. I need to remember that they are doing the best that they can and the best that they know how. 

I bet your coffee is gone by now…. I hope you enjoyed it…. thanks for stopping by and reading today. 

By: Unknown On 05.00

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Valentine Box & Winners

Some of you may remember my rant on Friday about making Gretchen's valentine's day box for school….Well, we accomplished the task this weekend!

Let me clear up my ranting first….  I'm not ranting that we actually had to do the project. I'm just ranting that I didn't have the interest to make the box Pinterest worthy. I feel like I have zero ounce of creativity for a decorative Valentine box… give me some ribbon, an appliqué design, some tulle- absolutely- I can go all out, but decorating a box. It's just not my forte. 

After surrendering to the fact that her box will likely not be the best in her class, I was more than happy to let her have full control. 

For some reason, I refuse to throw away boxes. I have a stack of shipping boxes underneath my sewing table, and I let her choose one of the boxes to use for her project.

Then, I decided that we would wrap her box in purple wrapping paper, because I had it left over from her birthday party. DJ helped by cutting a heart shaped hole in the box, so her friends will be able to put  their cards (or goody-bags for those over-achievers) in. (And y'all, before I get hate mail about the over-achievers- i'm totally kidding! We just didn't have the energy to make fun treats this year. Last year, her friends got handmade bookmarks, this year, they're getting $1.00 store Valentines!)

Anyway, once the box was wrapped, Gretchen set to work glueing on doilies and adding stickers. 

All of us working hard! Megan had to make a box too, so DJ wrapped her one and I cut out hearts out of glitter foam sheets. 

Megan working away on her box. See how happy she is that she's doing it herself! Makes it totally worth it!

We added Gretchen's name with little glitter foam stickers that we found at the Dollar Tree. 

I really do love how happy she was and how hard she worked on her box!

Megan didn't put her name on her box, she just put on her "A, B, D's" 

So, yay, her box is complete! Actually two boxes are complete since Megan had to make one too! Gretchen is so excited to take hers to school today and I'm glad that the girls had fun making their boxes! I'm also glad that my type-A didn't take over to try to "fix" things that I thought were wrong or could have been better. 

Sometimes God teaches us when we least expect it, and i'm thankful that in this little project, I learned to "let go".

And, before y'all go, I have THREE Winners to announce for the Beautiful AM Moisturizer giveaway!

Hannah Joy Burgett

Jennifer Brown

Jen Herold

Thanks ladies for entering! 

By: Unknown On 05.00

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5 on Friday

Hey y'all! It's Friday and this mama is ready for the weekend! In fact, I don't think I've ever been more ready for the weekend as I am today! I envision myself sleeping in tomorrow and not having to pick up the house because my hubby is home today and all of the girls are at school, and I'm sure that at this very moment he is doing laundry, making the beds, and vacuuming, just like I asked him to do this morning. 
(He reads my blog, so let's just hope that he's going to read todays post at some point today and not tonight sitting in his recliner.)

 

I'm linking up today with The Good Life Blog for 5 on Friday!

1. I saw this on facebook earlier this week and took a screen shot of it with my phone. I need this to become my mantra. Seriously, I need to remember it every single day.

 

This week has been all sorts of crazy in the evenings, and it's just a new phase in our life, but it's taking some adjusting to get use to. Once we get home in the evenings (around 5:00), I sit down to nurse Adalyn, and now that she has started baby food, I have to feed her right after she nurses. Which, makes it to 5:30, and by that time I'm trying to start dinner, I have two fussy big girls, and our house is just chaotic. Poor Adalyn wants to go to bed so early, and I've tried so hard to break her from that 4th nap, but her bedtime is getting to where it's around 6:00 and no later than 7, and that is if we're lucky. She just wants me to hold her and entertain her- that's the only way I can keep her awake, but it's impossible when you're trying to get all of our stuff from the day put away, cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, get hoemwork done, give the girls a bath.... it's just an exhausting time right now, and twice this week, DJ had recruiting events in the evenings so it's just been me trying to do it all, and it's just exhausting.

 

Anyway, rant over, I know it's just a season in our lives and in a few short weeks, I'm praying things will be easier, and in the mean time, I just need to remember to "Keep Calm, I am a Good Mom".... and so are you!

2. Tuesday morning G woke up and her eye was matted. I told DJ that I thought she had pink eye, and he didn't believe me. (Sometimes the girls have drainage in their eye due to allergies.) We went her to school and finally on Thursday morning the nurse called and said that she thought Gretchen had pink eye. I was fully aware and surprised they hadn't caught it sooner. I just could not take any days off right away and DJ was so busy with recruiting that we had to get by until one of us could take her to the doctor. Once school sent her home, I made her an appointment and DJ took her to the doctor. She got to stay home with him and they brought me lunch on Thursday.

3.  My favorite time of day is when we finally have dinner over, baths done, a clean kitchen, a picked up living room, lunches and bottles fixed for the next day and we can finally sit down and relax. That's just what we were doing last night (and I was just exhausted) but Meggie kept saying and doing silly things. I'm so thankful that she can always put a smile on my face.

 

4. Then, I tucked her in bed around 7:50 (we try to have bed time at 7:30) but I was letting the girls stay up to watch American Idol. But, once we put Megan to bed, she makes it her mission to spend the next hour and a half (sometimes the next two hours) to get in and out of her bed. To cry and ask for her mommy, or her daddy, or a special toy, or a new cup of water, or she needs to go potty, or she makes a mess out of her once clean room, and then blames it on Gretchen (who sleeps upstairs and there's no way on God's green earth that Gretchen made that mess).... this girl is a staller, and y'all, she's a good one. Perhaps the best I have ever seen.

 

If I could cut out her naps at daycare then I totally would, but unfortunately, I have no control over that and thus, I spend two hours every night battling her to stay in her bed. And y'all, she usually wins, which is why last night, I found her sleeping on the floor in the entry way.

5. Next week is Valentine's day, and I found out that Gretchen would have to make her own Valentine's day box to take to school. I instantly dreaded the project, but I did what any good mom would do- I got on Pinterest and started pinning all of the adorable Valentine boxes that I could find, that way, Gretchen's would be the very best.

 

Last night, I said to myself, "you know what? Forget it, she can decorate her box however she likes, and if it's flat out the ugliest box i've ever seen, it doesn't matter." Why? Because it's hers! I'm going to give her a box and wrap it in purple wrapping paper (because that's the color we have) and then she has stickers and markers, and paper heart doilies that we bought from the Dollar Tree, and she can decorate her box to her heart's content.

 

The owl box above is stinking precious, but you all know that no child did that on their own. Absolutely not.

 

I am such a Type-A, but with three kids, I am learning to give up some of my control, and this is going to be one area, that I let Gretchen take over independently.

 

I'm also not going all out on Valentine cards. I wish I could. I wish I had the time. But, her friends are getting cards that have jokes on them, or that can be folded into paper airplanes, because that's what she picked out. Megan's class is getting a little box of sweettarts, because that's easy. And y'all, they've asked us to get cards for Adalyn's class! Um, she's 7 months old, she does not need a Valentine card or snack or candy or treat or anything else, because she doesn't know what it is. Do you think anyone will notice if I don't get her "friends" anything?

 

Whew..... okay, I feel like all I've done is rant today! Agh! Some days, we just need to rant. You need to see where my life is in this very moment, because maybe, just maybe, you're there too, and you want to know you're not alone.

 

Someone please tell me i'm not alone!

 

 

Y'all have a great weekend! Love you all to pieces!  

 

By: Unknown On 07.15

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Weekend Wrap-Up

Let's see if I can get back to the blogging world this week now that we are all back to normal and not very sick anymore! The last two weeks someone in our family has been sick, or we've all been sick, and this mama has had enough!

I finally went back to work last Thursday after taking five days off work!  I was able to catch up a bit at work and prepare for this week, and then it snowed, and school was cancelled. So, the girls and I are home today just hanging out in our pj's.

………………………………………………………………….

Last Friday, Gretchen received the Student of the Month award at school. DJ and I knew about it for maybe a week or two before Gretchen actually found out. I was so excited that my assistant principal, let me go to her little ceremony at school Friday morning! We didn't tell Gretchen, but I knew she would be so excited! Every month after their assembly, she would tell me that she was not the student of the month, and that she was going to be sure to ask the student who received the award what they did in order to get it. I guess she finally learned what she needed to do and how she needed to behave in order to be chosen.

She was super proud of her certificate!

Daddy and I were both there to cheer her on! 

Friday night, we went out to eat at Olive Garden to celebrate Gretchen's birthday. We take her every year to OG, because it's always been her favorite restaurant, and my cell phone wouldn't take any pictures because the memory was full. I assure you though, we had a great time and the girls each got a dessert. 

DJ went to football on Saturday and the girls and I stayed home and worked on laundry. I took a little nap and Gretchen and Megan watched The Sound of Music.

DJ came home around 3 and the girls and I made chocolate chip cookies. 

Gretchen had been begging me all morning for us to make cookies.

After dinner, DJ got out "Rock Band" and tried to teach Gretchen how to play. Unfortunately, Gretchen still isn't coordinated enough to play, but they did have fun singing and dancing.

We were planning on going to church Sunday morning, and just as we were waking up it started to snow.

Within 20 minutes, our front yard looked like this:

We decided to stay home because who knows what it would've been like in two hours when church was over. 

Since we decided to stay home, I did some sewing:

I completed Adalyn's Valentine shirt!

And when Addy woke up from her morning nap, I discovered the her first tooth had finally broken through!

Yay Addy!

Megan said, "I step on you!" and then tried walking on my legs. 

Then she wanted to hold her baby sister.

Gretchen put together one of the lego sets she received for her birthday.

DJ smoked ribs (in the snow) and we watched the Super Bowl Sunday night.

Our weekend was pretty lazy. We just enjoyed being together as a family. It was a good one!

Hope yours was too! 

By: Unknown On 06.15

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Valentine Hair Accessories

Y'all, we've almost survived the week! It's Thursday, which means that we just have one more day, and then I get a three day weekend! #cannotwait

Although, this weekend is going to be jam packed with my Bows, Bags, & Wine Party on Friday night, shopping with my three honey pie's on Saturday, church on Sunday, followed by a surprise sleepover Sunday night, and a dentist appointment on Monday! 

I think i'll be napping any chance I get, or drinking lots of coke, I mean, a whole large coke from Sonic, maybe two.

Anywho…… 

I wanted to share with y'all a few of my new Valentine hair accessories! Valentine's day is right around the corner and I'm beginning to love the holiday more and more each year.

So, in honor of the upcoming holiday, here's some eye candy for you!

I love all of these new hair flair pieces! I love the colors, and the little details in each piece. If you're getting Valentine portraits made or you're expecting a baby you'll want these pieces to start your collection! If you have an older honey pie, you'll need to add these! My girls love wearing these hair flair pieces when we don't have time to put their hair back with a bow, and they make a ponytail look instantly glam.

You can check them out on my Facebook page. 

If you're interested in placing an order, please just send me a message!

And if any of you already follow me on Facebook, you'll know that my embroidery machine and I have been fighting. This has been the worst time for my machine to give me fits, but after several days of working on the machine and wanting to throw it out the window, it finally did this:

At least one of my girls will have their Valentine shirt! I'm hoping to get the other two something made as well, because I already ordered them matching pants!

I'm not taking Valentine shirt orders right now. Sadly, I just don't trust my machine. I really hope i'll be able to take orders again in about two weeks, just in time for St. Patrick's day, Easter, and birthdays!

If you haven't stopped by my blog in a few days, go here and enter my giveaway! 

Okay, y'all, back to your day! I know, I know, I don't want to go either.

By: Unknown On 05.25

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Valentine's Day ~ At Home

After school, the girls came home to their Valentine's day treats! My parents sent them each a card and a box of chocolates, which I put at their spots at the dinner table. DJ and I gave them jumbo marshmallow pops.

 Above is MC's and below is G's.

The girls also received princess pillowcases for their travel pillows.

I bought DJ a bag of p.b. hearts (for us to share!) He had brought me home flowers this past weekend! I hate getting gifts on Valentine's day, and love that he thought to do something before the holiday. Sadly, my flowers had died by Valentine's day! He also helped me out that nigth when he got home and took over "daddy duty." (And, he made our bed that morning!)..... just call me spoiled!

Here's G looking at her gifts:

When she opened the pillowcase she said, "it's just what I wanted!" Which totally cracked me up.

MC was very excited about her box of chocolates! (Now, that's a girl after my own heart.)

G decided to go ahead and eat half of her marshmallow pop.

Ever since G was born, DJ and I have treated the girls to pizza on Valentine's day. We figured pizza restaraunts would be the least crowded on Valentine's day. This year, I decided to make a homemade pizza and that we would just stay home. The girls also had cottage cheese and oranges.

I got the pizza dough/crust recipe here. The only thing I did differently was add italian seasonings in with the dry ingredients, and I had to add some extra water. 

We all ate up the pizza and I've decided that I will not buy pillsbury pizza dough again! I loved that I didn't have to let the crust rise.

We had a great evening and I'm so blessed with my growing family!

By: Unknown On 05.30

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