Our Carli is a Blessing - A Gift From Heaven Above

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

A WEE BIT OF HEAVEN DRIFTED DOWN FROM ABOVE

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

YOU LIGHT UP THE WORLD WITH YOUR SWEET BIG BOY CHARMS

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

You're So Precious to Me, Sweet as Can Be, Baby of Mine

Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A Visit to Teaberry Farm

 Last Saturday we met up with our friend, Mrs. Arrington, to have the girls' back to school pictures taken at Teaberry Farm.  Teaberry Farm is where Keith and I were married a little over eight years ago.  We have been blessed to have pictures taken there a couple times over the last few years (2010, 2012).

I'm anxious to see the shots Mrs. Arrington got.  Teaberry Farm is a pretty neat place.  It seems like every time we go back, there is something new or rather old and vintage that has been added.  The backdrop for the pictures Mrs. Arrington took is going to look pretty neat I think. 

After our session with the real photographer, we walked around the farm a bit reminiscing and checking things out.  We enjoyed visiting with Cindy Richards (one of the owners) and showing off our girls.

The horse in these pictures is real.  It wasn't very sure about the girls and the girls weren't very sure about the horse.  They wanted so badly to go pet it but they could not work up the courage.  So we settled for a picture "with" the horse.  :)


 It took a little bribing to get the girls to somewhat cooperate for a picture in front of the chapel doors where Keith and I said our vows on May 20, 2006.



One of my most favorite pictures of my Paw-paw and Grandma was taken at my wedding on the back porch of the house.  It's just so them, sitting in the rocking chairs enjoying watching all the activity around them.  


I would have rearranged the chairs so they were in the same position as they were eight years ago...but I may have pushed my luck.  This is the best I got this go round.  


It was a good morning.  Actually, we shed no tears or had to make too many empty threats to hopefully have gotten some good pictures of the girls.  And we had the bonus of walking around and remembering our wedding day with our girls. 

post signature

Monday, August 25, 2014

Carli's Officially in Kindergarten

 Today was the day.  Carli started Kindergarten.  No one even cried when we dropped her off.  We all thought about it though.  Thankfully we have our comic relief...AKA Ava, to keep our spirits all high.

Carli was so nervous last night that she climbed in our bed about 11.  We made it almost six years without having a kid sleep in our bed all night long.  It was a good run, and Keith and I only suffered minor bruises from her flailing and kicking.

Ava was pretty excited about Carli going to school until she figured out that she wasn't getting to go too.  She was a wee bit somber on the way home.  However, it has now dawned on her that she has all my attention and her attitude has much improved!




We've grown just a bit from last year!





Ava pretty much dragged us all into the school.  If Carli or I had the choice, we may have just gone back home and cuddled.  :)  Keith was bringing up the rear so between him and Ava, Carli and I were doomed to the inevitable.


Carli would not smile for me before we left.  I didn't push it...she was so nervous!  Her buddy Shiloh was walking in as we were walking out, so I hope Shiloh's arrival eased the butterflies a bit!


Oh, and Carli has Mrs. Reid for Kindergarten.  During meet the teacher last week, she was not so sure about taking a picture for me so when our first and only shot was out of focus - we just called it good.  :)  We don't know anyone in Troup, but word of mouth is that Mrs. Reid was the teacher to have.  Luck kept coming Carli's way when she found out her buddy from Oak Tree Academy was in her class as well.  


 I am anxious to hear how Carli's first day goes!  I'm sure Ava will ask a million times if it's time for Carli to come home yet.  Oiy...I have a kindergartner!


post signature

Friday, August 22, 2014

Two lucky ladies

I was blessed to have awesome Aunts and Uncles growing up.  I still am very close with several of them.  I must say I enjoy getting to watch my girls interact with their Aunts and Uncles.  There's just something special about that bond.

On this particular Wednesday night, Ava insisted on sitting with Uncle Tone during the exhortation and Carli insisted that he hold her during the song service.  It's kind of rough getting all that attention - isn't it Uncle Tone?




post signature

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Eady Came to Visit!

Eady and Logan spent the weekend with Grammy & Pa a few weeks ago.  But when Grammy & Pa had to go to a concert and Logan and Uncle Andy went to a company picnic, we were on tap for getting to watch Eady.  We had an absolute blast!  Eady is such a happy baby and the girls ate up having her around. 

They made Eady a "play pen" out of their Pottery Barn Chairs and Eady was content to pretty much stay there.  She thought it was hilarious to fall backwards in them.  She entertained us all!


The three girl cousins!


The big girls actually crashed before Eady did!  But while I was taking care of Carli & Ava, Keith and Eady bonded a bit.  :)  Eady wasn't far behind the big girls and went to sleep like a champ.  She made it kind of hard to remember all the challenging things that go along with having a baby...dirty diapers, no sleep and crying...this Aunt thinks her niece is perfect!



post signature

Monday, August 18, 2014

When Daddy Travels...

When Keith has to travel for work the girls miss him terribly.  They never cry hysterically when I have to travel for work, but as Keith pointed out, when I travel that usually means the girls get to see Naggy or spend a lot of time with Grammy.  When Keith travels, well, we just keep truckin' along.  :) 

A couple of weeks ago Keith had to go to St. Louis for a work for the whole week.  We didn't tell the girls he was leaving until the night before.  They cried themselves to sleep.  Carli made Keith promise he would send her a picture when he got to St. Louis so she would know he was okay. He did...


Carli was so relieved.  She wanted to call him right then and hear all about his trip on the plane and the airport, etc.  I finally got her to agree to send him a picture back...


We survived our week with no daddy.  Granted, the girls lost most of their toys when they refused to pick up but they didn't seem to even notice.  Is that a sign they have too much?  We had some playdates, played at the splash park, visited Carli's new school and did our usual swim lesson.  But the girls sure did miss Keith not coming home at 5:30.  :)

post signature

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Rollar Skating

We had the opportunity to take the girls to the Skating Rink on Sunday night after church.  One of the couples at Grammy & Pa's church had rented out the rink, so it was a pretty laid back, not so many older kids running around time - which meant a great time to put wheels on our 4 & 5 year old and wish them luck!


Keith actually is a pretty good rollarblader.  Grammy can skate really good.  Me - not so much.  I'm pretty sure I cracked my tailbone in college during pledging attempting to be social - the thought of skating makes me hurt all over.





The girls had a blast.  Their wheels were pretty well locked up most of the time but they asked to have them loosened the last 10 minutes we were there.  It was quite the sight to see them attempt to skate with wheels that actually turned!  All in all they did really well.  They keep asking to go back again.
post signature

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The Day Momma Took Away the Toys...Again.

For six weeks, our family of four were blessed to be able to live in my parents lake house in between the sell of our old home and the purchase of our new home.  The lake house was about 850 sq ft, it had two bdrms and two baths and really was quite comfortable.  But it was about half the size we were used to living in.  Not a problem, as we just put all our stuff and storage and moved in!  :)  It really was blessing in more ways than just having a roof over our heads.  The girls spent a ton of time outside, Keith got to accomplish some fun projects and I'm pretty sure we were all in bed by 10 PM every night.

My children are not perfect, but they sure are cute.  One of the things they really struggle with is picking up their toys.  This was an ongoing battle at our old house, but we had a play room and I would simply shut the door and deny it existed.  But at the lakehouse, this was not the case.  The girls were able to bring the toys that they could fit into their toy chest.  It was less than a quarter of what they owned and yet every day we seemed to have a battle about picking up.  I had had enough.  I finally told them if they decided not to pick up their things, I would simply pick them up and fix it so they could no longer play with their toys.  I guess they didn't believe me...but maybe they should have.


I borrowed the shrink wrap packing stuff from work and that night we wrapped up their toys.  And the girls didn't even miss them.  Not kidding.  We went over five weeks with no toys at the lake house and they did just fine.  They played outside a lot, they colored and put together puzzles and perfected their T-ball skills.  They rode their little 4 wheelers, blew bubbles, picked up a lot of sticks and played in the dirt.

Fast forward and we are now in our new house.  It was like Christmas morning when we started unpacking the boxes for the playroom.  It lasted a month.  My kids have very few toys right now and I kind of like it.  After having asked them to pick up their toys before dinner and telling them if they failed to do so, I would gladly take care of it for them, I did.  While we were getting ready for bed that evening, I went and took a look.  They had gotten some bubble gum toothpaste and very generously washed a dolls hair in it.  They had filled up cups from their play kitchen with water, and it was everywhere.  Not to mention almost every single Barbie, doll, blanket and other toy they owned was still on the floor.  And this Momma had had enough.

In about an hour, I had packed up every piece of doll clothes, every doll, Barbie and accessory.  In a box went every stuffed animal and I even put up the coloring books, crayons and markers.  If it was on the floor, or stuffed, it was no longer theirs.





That was last week, and the only toys my kids have are a few of their kitchen items, some puzzles and a basket of small princess figurines.  I've confiscated a few more toys they refuse to take care of but other than that, they've miraculously managed to get their things picked up and put away with not much hassle.  I'm thinking of moving the play room to a smaller room.  Doing a major purge of what I did pack up and go simple.  I don't want my kids to be entitled.  They should appreciate, care for and treasure the things they have.  What I've figured out, is that they have too much stuff and they take if all for granted and I'm on a mission to correct that!



post signature

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Peeling Onions

 What do you do when you are trying to be productive in the kitchen and your 4 & 5 year old insist on helping?  Have them peel onions of coarse!  It was actually pretty helpful and kept them busy for about 15 minutes.  :)  In Carli words, she is super good at peeling onions...but not potatoes, she does not like to peel potatoes.  Ha!



post signature

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Budding Beauticians

It's been two weeks since my lovely, beautiful little girls decided to take the scissors to their hair.  Keith and I were working on setting up our office in the new house and getting a lot done but that would be because the girls were getting along so well and they were quiet.  Too quiet.  We even made the comment about how quiet they were and not a couple of minutes later, Ava came prancing into the office and whirled around and asked, "Do you like my new hair cut?"

My reaction was kind of like a volcano...I slowly, very slowly started whispering, "No...no...no!" And got ever increasingly louder and more hysterical.  I'm pretty sure I scared my husband and my children.  Yes, I realize it is hair, and it will grow back.  And in the end their cuts are actually pretty cute.  But you've got to know me, and know my history.  Growing up, my Daddy always loved my hair long.  My Grandfather used to brush my hair every so gently.  And my Grandma, well, she never cut her hair a day in her life and having long hair just was our thing I guess you could say.  I know my girls aren't me.  I know that.  But it was more that just a small oops and it could have been worse and they are so cute now.  They cut away a part of me too.  It it just hurt a little is all.  I'm not sure I expect anyone else to understand that.


In Keith's facebook status, he commented that Carli was much more suited for a life of crime than Ava.  Ha!  But their personalities are so very different.  Ava was so upset that I was upset.  She really did not comprehend what had happened.  Carli had done all the cutting and Ava was more upset that she got Carli in trouble.  Carli on the other hand, was pretty indifferent.  She was not upset and had the "I don't really care attitude."  Talk about a test of patience and parenthood...the worst I did was yell.  I can't stand indifference.  And Carli knew better.  She KNEW better and she did it anyway.  My only solace is that she hates her hair short, but she does look cute, I have to admit so myself...




post signature