Enjoying the Bluebonnets

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Day of Green (and Pink)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some of the mothers and kids in our local mother's group. Instead of green beer, we celebrated with green kool-aid and various green food. I tried to dress the kids and myself in green. However, Kayla decided that she wanted to wear her new pink dress (shocking! who would of guessed that she would want to wear pink). At least the dress had green leaves on it (so no pinches for her). Kayla had a really good time playing with her friends and going on a scavenger hunt. Afterwards, she ate a green cupcake. Well actually, she licked off the chocolate frosting. Christian slept most of the time. He has four teeth coming in which is making him very uncomfortable.

Celebrating Six Years!!!

Today Jon and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. Is seems like just yesterday that we were saying our vows. It all started thirteen years ago in college.....next door neighbors that became friends. From there, we started dating and became best friends. With each year and new exciting adventure, we grow closer. I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that our children can look up to and that I can call my best friend.

First Weekend Away...

Kayla is off to visit my parents this weekend. This is the very first time she was away from both Jon and I for more than one night. In preparation for Kayla's big weekend, I made lists and I packed too much (Kayla had enough clothes for a week), and I turned into one of "those" over-protective, over-anxious mothers. The funniest and cutest part of the preparation was seeing Kayla get excited about going. Thursday night, I asked Kayla to help me pack her clothes. I let her pick the bag (of course it was pink). We packed her clothes (a week worth) and proceeded to bring it down stairs. Kayla insisted on packing one of her stuff animals. As we got downstairs with her bag, Kayla began packing more toys in her bag until it was too full to add anything else. So, we had to get another bag. Once she packed her blanket and paci, she picked up the bag and said she was ready to go. After explaining to her that we were not going to leave until tomorrow morning, I got Kayla to bed. The next morning, Kayla woke up with the biggest smile on her face. The first thing she did was pick up her bags and said, "Let's go Mommy." After getting dressed and packing more toys, we got on the road to meet Bitsy and Grandaddy. She gave me the biggest hug and kiss once we got to the meeting point. She then jumped in the car and did not look back.

I worried that Kayla would cry and refuse to go. I worried that once she got to the ranch that she would refuse nap time, howl at bedtime, not eat or drink enough, etc. I worried that she would miss Jon and me so much that she would be utterly inconsolable. I managed to call only once tonight. So far, things were going well. It hasn't been twelve hours since I dropped her off and I miss my little girl.

A Children's Nursery Rhyme

Ring around the rosy.

A pocketful of posies.

Ashes, Ashes.

We all fall down!

A Scary Thought

The idea of putting a toddler and paint together at home is a scary scary thought.
But, Kayla so enjoys painting and when she ask so politely to paint with Mommy's paints (not her water colors), I give in.
Mind you, my home isn't really fancy. I don't have expensive stuff (at least not near the budding artist). Best of all, our kitchen table is well treated with some sort of varnish that makes it easy to clean.
BUT still, I get scared when I allow Kayla to release her inner artist!
So, I prepare.
I confined the painting to the kitchen table where the floor is ceramic tile. I have a wet rag and a roll of toilet paper handy. Kayla strips her clothes. And most importantly, once she begins painting, I never leave her side.

Hard at work...

For Valentine's Day, Jon, Kayla, Christian and I spent most of our afternoon getting the new store ready to open. We set out thinking we would only be there a couple hours at the most. We were wrong. With two kids running around like crazy, the task of putting four patio tables together ended up taking a little over 4 hours. We were ALL exhausted and very hungry afterwards. I wish Jon had taken a before and an after picture. The below picture is right when we got started. My shoes are still on and my hair is still intact. I did not look so great when we were done. It definitely was a Valentine's Day to remember.

Sorry if I make it sound like it was horrible. In all actuality, it was kind of nice to be able to do something constructive for once. Jon took care of the kids in between me asking him to hold this or that while I was able to put some of my handy work skills to the test (a nice change from changing diapers and playing hide-n-seek). I will have to say that the best part of the day was that we were all together as a family.