Take my Picture

Drew will randomly go to our "picture" wall and wait for me to take his picture - then he'll turn around for me to take a picture of his hair.  He's one observant little man - we did that once for Valentine's Day to get a picture of the girls heart hair and it never fails, he needs both pictures taken!

Future Song Leader

Excuse the unflattering angle, but I just had to get a recording of Drew singing tonight at church. He gets so excited when the song leader gets up to lead the songs. About half way through he starts copying the the song leaders arm motions. My Grandfather Smith would have been so proud.

Chiro and Dinner

Keith had to go out of town for work this week so the kids and I may have decided on a night on the town...and it was pretty exciting!  :)

First we went and saw the chiropractor, which the kids thought was great fun!  Drew really loves his toys, which is funny b/c they are all toys we donated when the girls had outgrown them.  :)

Then we had dinner at Salsaritas and ended with some Bahama Bucks for dessert.  :)  The kids thought they were pretty lucky and I thought I was pretty brilliant...my kids were fed and my kitchen stayed clean.  :)

Busy Saturday

We had a super busy Saturday!  Carli and I started out the morning delivering all the dog and cat food Carli and Jenna had helped gather with their 2nd Grade classmates.  The Jacksonville Animal Shelter was very grateful for their donations!

We got home and it was time to start working on our garden!  The kids had a blast helping to fill the buckets and drive the lawn mower.  :)

We finished in time for Drew to take a nap and the girls and I to go to a movie birthday party.  I'm not much of a movie person but if someone else wants to pay for me to see a movie, why not?!  :)  We got to see the new Beauty and the Beast and it was really good!  I am glad we went!

We left straight from our birthday party to go to Gallatin to meet Uncle Danny, Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Johnny, Grammy and Pa for dinner.  It was pretty yummy and great to get to catch up!

Playing Farmer

It's all fun and games until Mom says it's time to leave & you're not quite done playing farmer with Pa...

Softball Buddies

It's that time of year and we've been practicing softball since January.  A tournament is just around the corner and while we are anxious to play...

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It's a lot of fun to watch Carli start to "get it" and really enjoy playing on the field...

And make awesome friends!  One of her favorite things to do is go to practice then go to Gateway (travel center gas station) and have a slushie with her buddy Rylee T. after practice!

Cool Dude

Drew's personality is really starting to come out and it is so much fun to watch!  He wanted to wear sunglasses like Keith while waiting for me to quit visiting and get in the car so we could go home!

And at some point I blinked and he was big enough to climb on to the playset all by himself...

Happy Birthday Pa!

Always a phone call away, and a hug to make my day. He shares his faith, his heart, his love, his all. He raised me to be strong and compassionate through his example of being just that. He makes me smile. He gives me hope. He loves my Momma and still holds her hand and takes her on dates. He loves my children with the same sparkle in his eye that my Pawpaw had and I know the mischief and fun they all have together. He's always been my Daddy - the one who loved me first and he'll always be my hero. I love you Dad. Happy Birthday!

A Very Busy Friday

The last week day of Spring Break and we had it packed full!  Rylee T. spent the night with us.  After doing a combo hitting practice with Coach Jeff and accompanying Carli to pitching practice Thursday night, all three girls slept all night long.  They even put themselves to bed!  That's a sleepover pattern I could get use to!  Friday morning after a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, Keith took all three girls to Bless Your Art for a morning full of painting and creativity while Drew and I went to Alto.  Drew spent the day with Grammy, Pa and Eady and I crammed in a weeks worth of work!  :)

The one thing Carli asked to do was a painting class over Spring Break.  So, we made that happen and they all had a blast painting a pot and planting a flower.  They also painted some rocks.  My favorite was Ava's.  When I asked her how she painted her rock, she told me she painted it like a pickle b/c it looked just like a pickle...and it did!  :)

Keith picked the girls up then took them to Taco Bueno for lunch.  Then it was off to check another thing off their Spring Break to do list...Bahama Bucks!

On their way back home they stopped off to try the new inflatable party place in Bullard, Big Kauhuna's.  They had a lot of fun.  Ava's teacher was there with her whole crew who apparently picked a dodge ball fight.  Keith said the boys lived to regret picking a ball fight with three softball girls!

They finally made it home around 5 and squeezed in a little more fun before we met up with Rylee's mom for some burgers at Legends followed up with Sweet Frogs for dessert!

Spring Break 2017

We had planned for Naggy and Pappy to get to come spend most of Spring Break with us.  But, Grandpa Herb had had surgery and he was having a rough time recovering so we were prepared for them to not get to come.  We prepped the girls and everyone was okay with Naggy and Pappy taking care of Grandpa Herb "because that's what God would want them to do!"  But Friday we got a call that Grandpa was doing a lot better and Naggy and Pappy would be at our house by noon Saturday!  We decided we'd surprise the girls on Saturday!

We met with Grammy, Pa, Naggy & Pappy for lunch in Jville Saturday and the girls were so surprised and excited!  And we had a awesome week!

We spent most of our week constructing and painting a HUGE American Girl dollhouse.  This was something I had actually pushed for to be done.  This last year the girls have really gotten into playing with their dolls and the resulting chaos on the floor when the pretend play school, camping or even sleepovers was driving me nuts!  I worked for three months to convince Keith we should build them one and he finally relented.  I am so thankful Naggy and Pappy were here to help b/c boy was it a project! 

A lot got done on Saturday - the main section was built and put together.  Ava worked so hard that when we went to get her for a picture she'd put herself to bed and was sound asleep! 

We took a day of rest on Sunday - kind of.  Pappy went with Keith and the girls to softball practice after church and Naggy, Drew and I stayed home.  Had a good visit with Naggy and made a grocery store trip all by myself...that's a vacation in and of itself!

Monday came and it was time to start painting!  Pappy got the floors stained while Keith and I got a few more supplies at Lowes that morning.  Then we spent the afternoon painting!  Tuesday night we moved the main structure into the playroom.  And the girls were just giddy!

Tuesday, we got the garages attached - notice the beds the girls built with their Daddy on each side of the house?  We decided we didn't want to undo that build to make them fit in the room so we added the garages/patios to each side.  Now the camper and jeep have a home and the beds do too!  The roof was attached and by Tuesday night all that was left was touch up paint on the roof and adding basics for storage to the bottom.

We declared the dollhouse finished by Wednesday evening.  We even got the bookcases moved out of the playroom and Drew is estactic to have his very own kitchen!  We got the red pottery barn kitchen down from the attic for him.  He oohs and aahs at it and it never fails, he spits in the sink every time he comes into the room!

Wednesday we also managed to get the office painted!  It looks so much better and we are one step closer to being done with the awful tan color that was the main color throughout the house!  The office was a small room but had the most things on the wall and two desk...it was a lot to work around.  We are so thankful to mark that off the list.

Wednesday was a super busy day b/c Naggy and Pappy also made their famous cinnamon rolls with the girls.  Ava really got into the cinnamon roll making...or flour tossing...not sure!

Naggy was a great sport and when the girls begged to have a sleepover with her in the living room one night, she didn't bat an eye! 

The other big accomplishment of the week is that Drew stayed in his room with Naggy and Pappy.  We are one step closer to the boy sleeping all night long!  He did great and when he would cry out and stir he'd go right back to sleep with a pat on the back from Naggy or Pappy.  For the first time in 20 months I slept 8 consecutive hours for more than two days in a row! 

Naggy and Pappy packed up and headed out Thursday morning to go see sweet little Jax in Midland.  We are beyond blessed to have such amazing grandparents for our kids!  Thanks Naggy and Pappy for the sacrifices you make for our family!

Sassy Sluggers Volunteering

Thursday after Naggy and Pappy hit the road and Keith was a work, the kids and I went to the Jacksonville Animal Shelter to volunteer with Carli's softball team.  Technically the adults stood around and visited while the kids walked dogs and loved on cats.  :) 

Aunt Chelle, Logan and Eady met us there and after a nice visit, Aunt Chelle took Ava on a play date to McDonalds and she had much more fun with her cousins than she would have chasing dogs the rest of the morning!

Carli and I got up Saturday morning and went back to volunteer at the shelter again.  They kept the girls busier this time around.  The puppies thought they had more energy than the girls but they were proved wrong!  ha!

TGIF

Guess what?!  It's the last day of school before Spring Break and everyone was all smiles this morning!

Drew's Camper

While the girls are at school, Drew might lay claim to some of their toys...

Love Grows Best...

In shared dog houses...that would be two 120+ pound dogs snuggled up together in one dog house...they have their own but I guess they like to cuddle!

Church Notes

We've been working on the girls not drawing during church buy trying to pay attention to the sermon.  They may not always comprehend everything being said but I would say they are going to perfect their note taking skills to a "T" that's for sure!  :)

Wrestling Sick Siblings

Drew hasn't been 100% since he got sick on Monday night, the 20th.  We aren't sure what's wrong other than his stomach is upset.  No fever, no drainage...nothing.  We even took him to the doctor on Wednesday to make sure he didn't have some weird form of the flu b/c we were giving him Zofran every 8 hours to keep his stomach settled.  But that was negative and they really thought he had a cold and drainage from his nose was upsetting his tummy.  Fast forward to the end of the week and Drew was feeling much better.  Thursday he stayed home from Mawmaws to get past that 24 hr mark of being symptom free and he was SO excited when Ava came home and jumped/wrestled on the trampoline with him!

Keith and Carli go to pitching on Thursday's otherwise I'm sure he would have been tackling her too!  We woke up Friday morning, ready to go BUT Ava had a 104 and the chills and Drew was dry heaving again.  :(  So Keith stayed home to help me out since I hadn't been able to work in a week. 

Being sick didn't stop the two of them from wallowing around on the floor together in the midst of their misery!

I was trying to get a picture of Ava and Drew wrestling and said, "Drew!  Look here so I can take your pictures."  He immediately made a cheese face (far right) then went to the "picture" wall and insisted I take his picture and then one of his hair as well!  Ha!

Turns out Ava had strep and it hit her differently this time.  She usually starts out with a sore throat before fever.  But all she had this time was fever and with an antibiotic she was good to go.  Keith took Ava and I stayed with Drew.  Our doc was nervous that perhaps Drew had strep b/c vomiting isn't unusual with strep so she sent him some antibiotic too.  All was well in our house for 24 hrs.  Then Sunday came and we had a great morning at church and Keith and the girls went to practice.  Then we loaded up to go to church that night and Drew threw up in the car.  Not a lot of warning, just a whine, cough and BAM!  We left the girls at church with Grammy and Pa and came home.  Once he calmed and had Zofran he was fine and even ate some scrambled eggs for dinner.  :/

Monday came, Keith had to leave for North Carolina for work and I was giving Drew Zofran b/c I couldn't handle the vomiting at night.  We had a good day on Monday, went on a walk, did laundry and worked around the house.  Drew didn't want to nap, but we solved that issue by napping in the recliner together!

Tuesday we had a good day.  Back to our schedule, almost.  Drew went to Mawmaws, I caught up at work.  Grammy and Pa came over for dinner and to help me out.  All was well.  And so went the rest of the week until Friday night.  Drew had AMAZING days on Thursday and Friday.  He was feeling so much better.  His little personality was shining through.  He was playing and enjoying life.  He was eating and sleeping and laughing.  Friday night we went to hitting and headed to Legends to meet up with Grammy and Pa for dinner and BAM, a whine, a cough and throw up.  Like a lot.  He got sick over 8 times at the restaurant before we got loaded back in the car to come home.  He got sick and dry heaved at least 4 times on the way home.  We got home and gave him Zofran and he immediately calmed.  He nursed and went to bed.  He slept pretty well.  Thankfully the girls went home with Grammy and Pa so Keith and I could take care of Drew.

Saturday morning we went to the doctor and they were perplexed.  This was the 12th day since he first started vomiting.  They tested him for strep just in case b/c I hadn't given him his antibiotic since Wednesday (it upset his stomach and gave him loose bowels) and thankfully it was negative.  We have to go back tomorrow to labs done to try to see if perhaps he has another stomach virus or if there is something else going on.  It is so weird.  As long as he has Zofran, he eats, plays and is in a great mood.  Today, we are going Zofran free and he's done okay this morning.  He was a little more needy and only wants to nurse.  He did eat and while I was getting him down for a nap he did the whine, cough and only gagged as if he were going to vomit.  But nothing happened.  Fingers crossed!!  Prayers appreciated for answers on Monday so we can move past this and be 100% healthly ASAP!

While Daddy's Away...

Keith had to go to Davidson the first part of the week.  The kids and I survived with a lot of planning, some late nights and early mornings and a bit of Grandparent help!  :)

Here are some of our adventures for the last three days (aside from Carli's very awesome 2nd Grade Play).

Drew was recovering from either strep or a virus.  So he was on a dose of antibiotic that upset his stomach...or it could have been a virus.  At any rate, we love Zofran.  He and I had lots of cuddles and he loved reading "books" which were actually the cases for the DVDs and Video Games that he discovered in a basket on the hearth.

We had to send proof to Keith that not only did we make it to school on time every morning but we were early!  What what?!  That's what happens when Mom buys lunchables instead of making lunches and hands out Captain Crunch for breakfast instead of scrambling eggs!  :)

And yes, I'm a country girl but I DON"T DO SNAKES!  One of the things Keith does is put the big dogs up each night and feed them.  Well, I went to put them up on Tuesday night and wouldn't you know there was a snake.  He wasn't huge but I sure did kick myself for turning down Dad's offer to put the dogs up for me before he left.  I actually would have left him be b/c I didn't think he was a bad snake but he wouldn't get away from the dog food and the cat...the cat just taunted him.  So...I killed a snake.  And then I was done for the night.

We survived a chiropractor appointment, pitching practices, picking up 40 lbs of chicken, homework, Wal-mart, bathes...I felt so accomplished and exhausted!  Ha!

Drew did get to go back to Mawmaw's this week after being sick all last week.  He was so mad at me when I left him that morning and was so relieved when I came back he couldn't even nap for laying all over me.  :)

While we survived without our Daddy - we sure are glad he is home.  Props to all the single parents out there...it's hard work.  I'm grateful and blessed to have an awesome husband.  :)