Anything but

all i wanted this weekend was a nice quit weekend to relax and do nothing.  friday we went to G’s basketball game then i took him shopping to get a few presents for some teachers, only we didn’t find anything.  saturday started out better we had his piano recital pratice theni s was home to make sure that jason didn’t need anything while he tried to get the bats out of a vent in our attic. yes, that’s right we had 2 bats stuck in a vent on the outside, thank goodness, of our house he was trying to get out.  not that they were causing any harm but it is our house after all!  we got home to find he was pretty much done, phew i thought i might have to help with that.  gray and i had to do journey to bethlehem at church on saturday and sunday so we all took naps while daddy worked outside.  g was so excited to be a part of bethlehem this year, and i did have a blast getting to do it with him.  we were outside - in the rain for a little while - for about 5 and a half hours and he did wonderful!  his job was to act like he was helping in the jewish home which consisted of filling up bowls/baskets with play food carrying it across an area of about 15 feet and pretend to fill up other baskets and such.  there was also a small kitchen that he “cooked” in too.  there were about 5 other children there also.  he was warned before we got there that if he acted up too bad i would call jason and he would come pick him up and that meant he didn’t get to come back sunday night, which he was so looking forward to.  he did so good i never even had to remind him of that threat.

getting to hold a real chicken for the people coming thru to pet

then came sunday after a very tiring night......we got up and went to church and got home and let the kids watch a move while we got ready for g’s boy scout christmas party.  i took a short nap and then we were off to 78 skate.  my children have never skated so i was please when i saw that they had the “little helpers” you can rent.  only they only have 4 in the whole place.  really?  really?  shouldn’t you have a least like 20? whatever anyways grayson and jason started skating and colbie waited while i stalked the next person to turn one in.  good thing that only took about 30 minutes, ha!  colbie got the first one because it was the smaller size, ( pics to come soon of this whenever i find my camera) and then it was time to stalk someone with a bigger one and chase them down when they turned theirs in. only that didn’t happen as planned.............i saw jason, grayson, and two other people sitting on the skating floor but no one was screaming or crying so they were okay, right?  maybe not so much

best picture i could get since i thought it might be rude to tell him to hold on while laying on the skating floor to pause for me to go grab a camera for the 45 degree angle his foot was to the side.


it looked much worse than it was so we met my parents for a swap with the kids and made it to the ER just in time to wait an hour and a half before we got a room.  good thing his foot wasn’t hanging off a wheelchair and swollen to the size of a watermelon by the time we got a room, oh wait.  all splinted up and sent home to follow up with an ortho doc the next day with 2 fresh breaks on his right ankle.  is it wrong that i laughed when we walked in and saw this on the wall of the orthopedics office....

clearly not my husband the night before
what? too soon?

so currently they can do nothing but wait a week for the swelling to go down enough.  we go back next monday for another set of xrays to check on the placement of the part that is broken and see if they can cast it or if surgery is needed.  at this point they are leaning towards surgery to stabilize the fragment floating around and then a cast over that.  merry christmas!

oh yeah and did i forget to mention that while there is never a good time for this to happen better now than next year.

Practice Makes Perfect

Love watching my little man practice for his recital.

One Less Orphan

There is an organization called One Less Orphan that is wonderful.  They help those that are trying to adopt and/or foster children who need financial help.  You can go to their Facebook page for now to get some info.  They are currently developing a website.  I was founded by someone we go to church with that has a heart for adoption and wants to help others.  Saturday we went to a wonderful fundraiser for them.  The kids got to decorate cookies and I got to shop with money going to One Less Orphan.  Also we got to knock out Santa and not have to wait in the mall lines.  We saw the same Santa last year and can I just say he is THE.BEST.SANTA.EVER!  He not only took time for a “family” photo but let each child go up individually and talk to them.  He asked them why we celebrate Christmas and although he did ask them what they wanted Santa to bring them he work in the importance of not just getting gifts but telling others about Christ.  Seriously - BEST Santa ever!  Thank you Mr. Wages for the time you take with each child.  While we do try to teach them at home it’s easy for them to get the “glittery eyes” when in front of Santa (well all except for Corley....can’t fool her she knows the true meaning).

Also a huge thank you to Kam Roberts who took some wonderful Santa pictures of my kiddos.  I can smell a family portrait session in the near future.

Cornbread Muffin

little nothings

some may say they are nothing but these are the things i want to remember.  i absolutely adore sitting in the living room, or anywhere in the house really, and hearing grayson practice the paino.  yes at times it is very tring but he is getting better and better each week.

i love driving in the car to the store with colbie and hearing "getting to know you" from "the king and i" and "these are a few of my favorite things" from "the sound of music" on a kids cd we have.  i love her resposnse........"mommy is this mary poppins singing?"  hmmmm tryexplaining yes to a child but then explaining not really mary poppins.  what comes next trying to explain the connections between scar from "the lion king" to "die hard" or "the man in the iron mask?"

another thing that is so super caute that jason and i have laughed over that seems too funny to forget is colbie telling anyone hat listen what she is thankful for this thanksgiving.  only she doesn't say thankful she says "i am thank you for......."  which currently she is "thank you" for family, rainbows, her babies, candy, and jesus. <3 p="p">

corley paige i don't want to leave you out.  you give everyone a hard time right now with the exception of 3 people.  mommy, daddy, and hope.  you are perfectly fine in mommy or daddy's arms and on sundays you are more than happy to get into hope's arms.  you are now so much for anyone else these days not that you realize that mean momma and dadda are leaving for a while.  you are almost always smiling. and you are so.very.close to taking your first steps all by yourself.  

and these are just a few of MY favorite things on this up coming thanksgiving!

UNO

as in corley paige turns one.  how can this be already!  i can’t believe it.  it seems like just yesterday that you were born, and yet it is so hard for anyone in the family to remember our little family without you here.  how is that?  you are sure a pure joy and such a funny little girl.  we are waiting until everyone is together on thanksgiving to do you real party but you did get to sample a cupcake (2 actually) on your birthday.

a big shout out to whimsical sweets they have the best cupcakes ever.  their red velvet is my favorite but i’m sure they are all just as good.

corley paige you are growing up so very fast.  you are in size 3 diapers still but 4’s are right around the corner.  you are taking less and less formula and demanding more food.  you current favs are bananas and spaghetti. (is it odd that even though i know how to spell it i can’t write/type bananas without singing gwen stefani?)  you are more mobile than either one of you bigs were at this age.  yes, they crawled around but you are into everything.  you have quickly gotten the nickname dora around the house because you explore more than ever now.  you are standing by yourself a lot but haven’t taken that first step without anyone or thing yet.  you love the push walker toy but insist on having someone right there by your side while doing it.  i love you more than you will ever know.  so do grayson and colbie via.  they want to be in your face all.the.time, and you hate it.  oh well, one of the privileges of being the youngest i suppose?  don’t get me wrong though you adore them both and want to be with them too - just at a small distance of course.  you are starting to say more and more.  after “mama” being your first word early on you stopped saying it right after you learned “dada”.  i am happy to report that you are back to using “mama” more than ever with “dada” a close second.  “bubu” or “baba” is the only other word you are saying right now.  we still aren’t sure if this is bubu for grayson or baba because the only song big sister want to hear is “i just wanna be a sheep.”   only time will tell.  i am so grateful for this past year and you making our family even better.  i can’t imagine us without you sweet corley bug.

Wordless Wednesday

Planning baby C's First B-day

We ( and by we I really mean just me) have decided to skip the big FIRST birthday party for Corley.  I'm just going to do it on Thanksgiving day while everyone is already together.  They just get so overwhelmed anyways there's not need in doing it twice, right?  So I am just going to do a smash cake or something small on Thanksgiving.  In keeping with my little turkey baby's  theme.........

baby Corley a few days old Thanksgiving 2011


Would be is appropriate to get this cake from Baskin Robbins this year?

A Case of the Mondays

I usually work on Mondays and have off the middle of the week only today I had no one to watch the baby so I switched some things around and was able to stay home today with her.  I thought this was great, drop the bigs off at school and lay down and sneak in a nap while baby C took her morning nap. Not so much.

Let me start off by saying we have an outside dog.  She loves outside too.  But she is older, 10 yrs, and I feel bad for her sooooo I've been letting her sleep inside since it's getting colder now.  Last night was her last night of that!

I woke up and walked down the dark hallway to the kitchen only to step in dog pee.  Got to the kitchen and went to put the kids breakfast on the table and saw dog poop near the front door.  Okay I can deal with this, no biggie.  I told the kids to go straight to the table and not to walk in the poop.  Guess who stepped right in it - Grayson.  Got him cleaned up and heard the baby crying.  I go get her out of bed and she is soaking wet.  So I start to change her in the girls room and realize there aren't any diapers in there.  Again - this is baby #3...I got this!  So we go into the living room and get a diaper and BOOM I step in an undiscovered pile of....you got it dog poop.  So I grab the towel to wipe it off really quick so I don't track it anywhere else, and I turn back around just in time to see the baby slip and fall in her own urine because I have yet to put a diaper on her.  I thought I had enough time to wipe the poo off me first - not so much!  All is cleaned up everyone is changed and we are off and out the door to school.  We can salvage this day.  About 5 seconds from Grayson getting out of the car he says, "Moommm!.  There's poop on my book bag!"  

Serious case of the Mondays I tell ya.  And trust me you should be glad there are no pictures to accompany this post!

Disney Magic

We just got back from a week at Disney World and had a absolute blast.  We went to all 4 parks and had so much fun.  The kids enjoyed seeing all the characters and riding all the rides.  Here were some of the highlights of our trip.

-  Colbie, after watching the firworks show all about wishing on a star and dreams coming true...."I wish, I wish that this could be my house"  Talking about Cineredlla's Castle.

-  The kids riding Tower of Terror and not wanting to ride the elevator at the hotel the rest of the week.

-  Grayson riding all the roller coasters he could and while being scared at first saying he loved it afterwards.

-  Colbie wanting to ride everything she wasn't tall enough to ride and being upset that G got to ride them.

-  Corley loving watching everything going on each day and hanging one foot out of the stroller hile napping each day.  Love that sweet baby.  She was soooooo good!

-  Both of the bigs covered in chocolate ice cream from their Mickey ice cream treats!

-  Grayson's face while watching the Indian Jones stunt show.

-  Colbie's face while watching the Beauty and the Beast show.

-  Both of them watching the Finding Nemo show.

Pinkalicious

Big C came running thru the kitchen one day this week and something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.  C come here, I said

"uhhhh what?"

"What is wrong with your eyes? Come here and let me see them."

"Isn't is cool mommy they're pink!"

And so began our week with what may or may not have been pink eye.  Not painful or itchy per big C, but as red as ever.  So I layed her down on the floor and began the process of putting some left over drop from our last round of pink eye in her eyes.

"Nooooo, mommy I want them to be pink I like them pink!"

Day 1461

It's official we have a 4 year old now.  She was so excited to finally be 4 since most of her friends have long turned four by this point.  I  got a little busy talking to everyone there and forgot to take a lot of pictures.  I  did manage 3 I think, hope she forgive me by the time she turns 30?

The night before "helping" me make the cake

Happy 4th Birthday baby Girl

9 months

My sweet little C you are nine months old (officially last Saturday)!  You are such a precious little spirit.  You are such a momma's girl.  Your big brother and big sister were total daddy's kids but you are more attached to momma.  I don't mid a bit though and you know it.  As soon as I walk in the door from work, even if I see you before I walk through the door and you are fine, you start that pouty lip and crying game.  Of course I'm wrapped so I pick you straight up and it's magic....the off switch!  You are eating a good bit of baby foods now, yet you will not feed yourself at all.  Trust me I have tried a lot even putting it in your mouth for you and putting it in your hand then "helping" you put it in your mouth; however you prefer for me to do it for you all the time.  Again, of course I do it because you are so dang cute.  You have the most beautiful smile but you are very good at keeping a straight face.  You do not give up a smile that easy and make people, whoever they may be, work for every inch of it.  You have moved up to size 3 diapers only because size 2 are squeezing those chunky thighs.  The 3s are still a little big on you , but what's a girl to do?  You are - for the most part - a pretty good sleeper.  You are still in our room because you keep big sis up at night, or rather she keeps you up trying to talk and play.  She can.not.wait for you to share her bed and have you with her all.the.time!!!  You are begining to get such a personality.  Your disposition is wonderful.  You are so use to "going with the flow" from baseball to gymnastics, you are happy just to be with the family.

We love you so much baby C.  I cannot believe it has been 9 months since you made your debut into our family.  We wouldn't be us without you!

Monday Madness

G stated back to school this morning and big C started back last monday.  I was more apprehensive about G's first day rather than big C's.  She is at same school she's always been at but G started a new school we've never been to.  This morning everyone overslept by about an hour, that was great until I woke up and realized how late we were running.  I hate to rush my kids at all but exspecially in the mornings before school.  I feel like when I rush them I set the presidence for the day.  I just feel by rushing them out of bed, rushing them to eat, to dress and get in the car I am a bit responsible for putting them in a bad mood before the even make it to school.  Luckily we did manage showers, breakfast, dressing, teeth brushing, and even a little T.V. time before we had to run out the door.  All of this while mom kept her cool and didn't stress G out on his first day at a new school (BIG changes this year).  Phew!  Gold star for me this am.  We got to school juuuust in time to be right in the middle of the longest line of traffic ever.  I guess there where a lot of moms that wanted to walk their kid in the first day too.  I gave G the choice of me dropping him off in carpool or walking him inside.  He wanted me to walk him so he didn't "pass his room number" of course.  He walked right in and sat down to his desk and begin his worksheets. Love these precious gifts and love that I got to walk his in on his first day of 1st Grade!

Sweet Dreams

Ahhhh the sweet sound of screaming at 4 in the morning. Big C woke up around 4 am this morning screaming and crying something totally unrecognizable.  Trying to calm down a high pitch crying girl at 4 in the morning is not an easy task.  I could only make out one word at the very end of the crying, Chick-fi-ya.  Finally after about 7 minutes or hugging, holding and loving on her she did in fact calm down enough for me to understand her somewhat at least. Please understand that this entire conversation took place under heavy crying and still with some squeeling involved.

"I wanted a free kids meal at Chick-Fi-Ya. I wannted a free one!"

me : "C I think you had a bad dream"

"No, I wanted a free kids meal at Chick-Fi-Ya, and I had a ticket too!"

me : "and what happened baby?"

"I wanted a free one and they made me pay!"

(as she crosses her arms and sticks out that lips we know so well)

me : "You had a ticket for a free kids meal and they made you pay? Is that why you are upset?"

"YES!, I already told you!"

What can I say.....we do love some CFA around here.  No CFA???......now that's a nightmare.

Wordless Wednesday

Reflux be GONE!

And just like that we have no more kidney reflux!  Praise God!  We went for big C's (almost) 4 yr check up on her kidney reflux.  The test was not pleasant at all.  They first have to catheterize her and then fill her bladder up with 200-250 mLs of saline.  The start out by telling me that, "Her bladder is about the size that will hold 150 mLs so we want to stretch it as much as possible to try and see if we can cause her to reflux."

We have alreay done this twice before but she was so young we really couldnt explain whatwas going to happen.  Also she could understand that if would all be over with very soon.  This time was different since she could understand a little more.  I started explainingthings the night before and she wanted me to call and , "see if we can just do it another day?"

When the reality set in that it was going to happen she was okay until she was on the table and about to be cathed.  Then it was so overwhelming for her and me.  I had talked myself into tinking that becuase I "know" all about the exam being in the medical field I'd be fine.  Sooooo untrue.  As soon as she started crying, before anything had actually been done, and I asked why she was crying to which she responded...."becasue I'm scared"

Duh mommy, wouldnt you be scared too!  So she held my hand an we sang every Jesus song just as she had requested.  The technologist cathed her and she of course cried but did wonderful.  Then we continued singing until they did the exam 3 times!

Yes, 3 TIMES.....because she didn't reflux at all the first time, or the second, so they wanted to do it a third for good measure I guess????   What wonderful news for us.  No more check ups for kidney reflux.  No more pediatric Urologist.  an No more medicine every single day!  Thank you Jesus for healing C and letting her grown out of this so she does not need surgery!

Dauphin Island

 

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Dauphin Island.  Everyone had a wonderful time.  We stopped by the U.S.S Alabama on the way there and I thought we might spend an hour to an hour and a half there.....3 hours later we finally got ready to leave. G loved it.  He had to climb in every space possible and check out everything.  Big C was never far behind him either.

Once on Dauphin Island we didn't leave until our vacay was over.  Partly because I was scared to have to go over the bridge any more than I had to but mostly because we were having so much fun we just never got around to really needing to leave the island.  

We lucked up and got a first floor condo right infront of the pool and about 130 yards from the ocean.  It was great.  The kids loved being able to play as long as they wanted in the pool then head to the ocean, then back to the pool when they got sick of the sand.  It really worked out great for our family.  No hauling things up and down stairs was a real plus too.  Beautiful view.  Even baby C enjoyed, well until she got sand all in her eyes and mouth.  We pretty much played in the sun for 4 days straight and loved every minute of it!

 

We took the ferry back across at the end.

Look who's growing up

 Everyone remember when you take your kid to a check up and they ask you all those questions?

 "Is she sitting up?"

"Have you started rice cereal?"

"Do you brush her gums yet?"

"Have you lowered the crib mattress?"

The reason they ask you those????????   For the moms that have previous children that may "forget" at what stages they should do things!

Mattress official lowered - check

Luckily I was right there watching the whole time.

Problem Solving

When you have a baby that thinks she must be held all the time where do you put her while you eat dinner?

Wordless Wednesday

Time is on our side

The kids went to two days of Vaction Bible School this week becasue I forgot about it on Monday, but they still managed to have a blast.  I love to hear each day all of their fun, silly stories.  And I love how tired they are when they attend.  Last night they had a cookout for the VBS at the park and I had both bigs beging to go yesterday.  Sooooo, on the way home from VBS I told them that they would have to "lay down for a nap while I went back to work in case it was a long night."  To which G replied, "Mommy that's crazy, it has the same amount of time as every other night has!"  Hmmmm, good point!

Mr.Graduate

If there is a prize for the cutest graduate I think hands down this little peanut should get it, don't you?  I mean could he get any cuter?  I can't believe my first born finished Kindergarten this year.  I mean I was a mess last August when he started kindergarten and now that he has finished what am I going to do?  We will be leaving to drop him off at college next year I feel.  Grayson you are such an amazing boy and you are changing before my very eyes into a young man.  I love you beyond belief.  You make me laugh so much.  I love seeing this world thru your eyes, each day  new and exciting!

Congratulations !!!!!!!!!

Runs In the Family

Grayson's 1st Bath at home

Corley's 1st Bath at home

Colbie at 3 months

Corley at 2 months

Okay so she favors Grayson more but I see both her bigs in her each day.  Precious!  Love them all so very much.

The Kingdom of Heaven

As we begin 2012 I look back at what a wonderful year 2011 was with the birth of our sweet Corley.

How precious is she?

I thank God so much for her each and everyday along with her older brother and sister.  They are the BEST.  Really I know there are trying days here and there but they ARE great kids.  But with this new year we have already had an amazing 4 days.  Grayson has been talking for weeks months now about having Jesus in his heart and how you give praise to the Savior.  Every time I ask him about it he just tells me he prayed for Jesus to be with him one night when he was four and he was scared in his room.  Well it is with great pleasure that I got to hear him tell me this morning that he prayed to accept Jesus' gift this morning of eternal life and live forever in heaven with Him.  Wow, I cant even type that without getting chills.  

Like I said he has talked about it for months now, and last night was no exception.  He was talking to Jason about it in the car but Jason could barley hear him over Colbie talking and the baby crying so he told Grayson he would take to him about it when they got home - only by the time they got home Grayson was playing and they had forgotten about it.  But this morning around 5:45 Grayson came into our room and woke up Jason to " tell me about accepting that gift, and Jesus living with me and all that stuff please."  Simply precious!  So Jason spend the next while talking and explaining everything to him and telling him that people when they are ready ask Jesus - Holy Spirit - to live in our hearts.  The is when Grayson asked Jason to pray for him.  Of course while we all wish it was that simple daddy had to tell him he couldn't.  It's not something we can do for our children, the decision has to be yours and it's not about what you say but your heart.   With that my little man accepted Christ as his Savior and I know the angels rejoiced in heaven.  Seriously, can a day start out any better than this?  I don't think it can.  

I was knocked out on the couch with Corley during all this but he was soooo excited to tell me when I woke up! 

Lord I just want to take the time to publicly thank you for all you do for my family.  I am eternally grateful for all you have blessed Jason and I with.  And of course I will never forget this day!  Thank you Lord!