Lately

Yep, we're still here.  I've been MIA for a while.  I don't know how people who blog regularly do it.  I fail, epically.  Maybe one day I'll get in a set routine.  hehe  I know, I'm laughing at the idea too.  Here's a little of what we've been up to this week.

We put up our tree this past Saturday.  Kennedy was amazed by the lights.  We put up three trees, total, and she would just wander from room to room going, "Lights, more lights, more lights".  We'll see how long the ornaments last!  hehe  She thinks those are pretty cool too.  I must say, I've NEVER put my trees up this early.  We're going to be gone a lot in the next couple of weeks (SO thankful for house/dog sitters), so it was this past weekend or the weekend before Christmas.  I decided to enjoy them longer rather than rush at the last minute.  

Here's the finished product.  I LOVE my new tree.  The shape and height are so much better!  I also did the trees in Kaythlen and Kennedy's rooms.  I'll post pics of them later.  I usually do six trees, so this is a major cut-back for me!

Yesterday, Kayt's best friend got to ride with us after school.  The girls were so excited.  You'd never know they see each other every day!  I love that they love each other so much!

And I just love this picture of Steve and Kennedy snuggling while watching cartoons Saturday morning.  She loves her Daddy!

Carie

Special Baby

All kids are funny, but my youngest just cracks me up lately.  She is in that stage, and we are loving it.  I never seem to catch her doing the funny things on camera, but I got a few last night.

She is OBSESSED with my husband's phone.  She probably would be with mine, too, but I'm not nearly as nice.  She doesn't get my phone.  Is it just me or does she look a little too grown up scrolling through screens in this pic?

 

After dinner, she likes to use her rag to "clean" the house.  For some reason, her head must have been extra dirty last night.  She walked around like this for at least 30 minutes!

This is her this morning.  Since she was "kind" enough to wake me up early on my day off, she and I cuddled while watching tv.  She had three paci's, a baby doll, her rag, and her juice.  She was so not going to let go of any of them, either.  Trust me, I tried.  She's definitely my little hoarder!

Her older sister woke up early too and I got snuggles from both of them AT THE SAME TIME.  Can I tell you how rare that is?  It was definitely worth the hour of sleep I would have gotten in it's place!  Happy Friday!

Carie

Kayt is 6 years (and 2 weeks) old!

Yep, behind as usual.  I've given up being on time...I'm just happy when I actually get stuff done these days.  I posted the pics from Kayt's birthday party here.  She turned 6 four days after that party.  We took cupcakes to her school and her daddy and I took off half a day, checked her out, and let her pick what we did (without little sister in tow).  She picked the Children's Museum and lunch at Chick-fil-a.  Have we got this girl trained right, or what?

Here's what my 6-year-old is up to:

*  You are the BEST big sister ever!  You get very frustrated with Kennedy, but you want her to learn and grow.  When she's upset, you try to comfort her.  You are working very hard to teach her words so she can tell you what she wants.  You told me the other day that "teaching babies is easy".  If only it was that way all the time!

* You love Jesus and church and learning about Him.  You are compassionate and thoughtful of others.  I love that you don't think twice about giving your allowance money to others' who need it more.  And I really love listening to you sing about Jesus in the car.  Melts my heart every time. 

* You are so smart.  You are reading over 2 years above your grade level.  You amaze me at the words you can read.  When I'm sure you're going to need help with one, you pass it by without a problem.

*  You are extremely tender-hearted.  I hate getting on to you because you cry.  Doesn't matter how I do it.  And it makes me want to just let things go.  I know I can't because then I would be a really bad mommy, but oh, how you tear my heart when you cry!

* You are loving school.  You really seem to be enjoying your first grade teacher, and I can tell that you are learning a lot.  Especially in math....that seems to be a big focus this year.

* You still enjoy gymnastics.  You have a lot of the fear that your mom has about trying new things, but you are becoming more and more brave.

* You love soccer!  I was worried that you wouldn't like it when you started, but even after being hit in the face with a ball, you're all in.

* You still love to snuggle.  I hope you never outgrow that.  I can always use my bug-hugs.  And your laugh is still my one of my favorite sounds in the world!  You get so tickled when your daddy is being silly....I just LOVE it!

* You are awful to sleep with.  You are ALL OVER THE PLACE.  You wake up sideways every morning.  You've had to sleep with us when we've had company lately and we're so happy you're such a good sleeper in your own bed!

* You have moved into size 8 clothes and some of them are just too grown up for you.  I have to remember that as big as you are, you're only 6.  You get to be my "little" girl forever, don't you know?

Momma and Daddy are SO proud of the girl you are and the one you continue to become.  We love you with all our hearts and are thankful that we get to spend every day with you!  Love you Bug!

Momma

Kaythlen's 6th Birthday Party

First of all, if you're into giveaways (who isn't?) check out Jennifer's blog at Life in the Green House.  She's giving away a $25 voucher for Erin Condren's website and I've heard (hope to get one soon) that their Life Planners are amazing!

This weekend we had Kaythlen's 6th birthday party.  Her BFF's grandma owns a paint shop in the next town over (literally 5 minutes from our house).  It's called Let's Paint if you live close to Southaven and she's wonderful!  We love her!  She does parties where the birthday kiddo picks out a painting and they take the kids through it step by step.  I've never seen a group of little girls focus so hard on a project!  They take a cake/present break about halfway through the painting so the kids don't get tired or bored (which was not likely to happen with these kids).  And you don't have to worry about party favors or goodie bags because the kids get to take their painting home as their gift.  Win/win for me!

Kayt and her BFF Maddie.  

Don't these girls look like professionals?

Sweet Sarah

Kayt blowing out her candles!  It only took her a few tries...the wish still counts, right?

Kayt and Sarah

Danielle and her Momma, Tana.  Tana keeps Miss Kennedy every day....we LOVE her!

All the girls with their masterpieces!

At the end, the party girl gets to put her handprints on the wall of the studio and sign...

of course my girl picked PINK!  It was a wonderful day with friends and family.  I'm so thankful for all the help I had!

Carie

Pitch a Fit

Oh teething, how I loathe thee!  I know it's horrible when babies teethe.  Miss Kennedy has decided that teething as a baby was not in the plan.  She got her first teeth after she turned a year old, and we are still limited in the number we have.  She has the top two front, bottom two front, all four one-year molars (what's up with that?) and has recently gotten another bottom tooth.  I'm pretty sure we are working on two more now, and it's horrible!  She doesn't sleep, even with ibuprofen and orajel, and she turns into a bear.  I don't, in turn, sleep and have a severe lack of patience.

 

This picture pretty much sums up how our last three days have gone.  My poor baby.  Even the dog is hiding in the background. Here's hoping they come in soon!  

Carie

Summer Fun

Maybe I'm old, but I just don't think you've lived until you've run through the sprinklers in the summertime.  We spent yesterday evening mulching our front flower beds.  And, of course, you have to wet them down when you're done.  What else should hot, sweaty kiddos do besides cool off?  

Kennedy was a little tentative at first and stuck to the sidewalk.  Nothing cuter than a wet baby!

 

Kayt, on the other hand, was doing cartwheels in the sprinkler!

 

Kennedy finally got brave, with her sister's help, and made it onto the grass.

 

Her poor little cheeks were so red (heat, not sunburn), but she refused to come inside!

 

Hard to tell in this pic how wet Kayt actually was, but I had to wring her clothes out.  So fun! 

Carie

Soccer!

My girl has been a dance/gymnastics girl since she was little.  We've always asked her if she wanted to try sports.  The first year we asked about soccer, she said "no".  The first time we asked about baseball, she said "What's that?".  Wow!  Can you tell we have girly girls and that my husband is a HUGE football fan and the rest just kinda slides away?  hehe  She's all about being a cheerleader, though!  But this year she asked to try soccer.  Who are we to say no?  We did say no to continuing gymnastics, adding soccer, and then adding karate.  This shuttle service only runs so often!  

Here's my girl on Day 1 of soccer.  They practice twice a week.  Games don't start until after Labor Day.

And here she is on Day 2.  Daddy decided that her "gear" wasn't appropriate, so he had to add the shirt, shorts, and socks.  And yes, he got her two sets and is fine if I go back and get more.  Funny how that's okay when it comes to sports!  Ha!

Carie

Weekend and First Day

This weekend we met up with friends at the zoo.  It was miserably hot, but the kids LOVED it! 

In the birds and bees exhibit, you can pay a dollar to get a stick with food for the birds.  The birds were a little bit harder than normal to coax onto the stick, but Kennedy REALLY wanted to touch it!

Kayt's BFF, Maddie, came with us.  All the kids that were coming are Kennedy's age, so Kayt got to bring a friend.  They were very patient and extremely well behaved.  The night before, Kayt had her first ever, sigh, sleepover with Maddie.  We love that she has such a wonderful friend to share all of these "firsts" with!

At Teton Trek, one of the newer exhibits, there are fountains.  What a great way to cool off!  Maddie was all for it!

The girls had a great time running around them.  We didn't take swimsuits, so we made them stick to hands and feet in the fountain.  It was a great idea in theory...not so much in application.

Kennedy's friend Addison had a blast, although when the fountains would stop and start up in other spots, she was a little scared.  Her mommy is WAY nicer than I am.  Kennedy got to stay in the stroller.  

 

But Addison played with her too, and Kennedy shared her water. Despite the heat, it was well worth the trip.  And both of my kids took really good naps that afternoon!

 

And here's my sweet Kayt on her first day of first grade.  She's growing up WAY too quickly.  Now if I can just get her to lose the fake smile, we'd be set!  Hope everyone else who had to go back today had a great first day!

Carie

Window Dressings

Today for Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner, she's doing window treatments.  I can't stand bare windows, so I'm SO excited to get new ideas.  My entire house (with the exception of one window) has white wooden blinds.  But sometimes you just need a little more to dress it up.  

Here is my oldest daughter's room.  I love using window treatments to add pops of color to the room.  But these were just missing something.  I added the feather boas at the top to give it just a little more presence in the room.  Love them!  So girly!

This is my youngest daughter's room.  Her room is green, pink, and orange.  I needed more orange, but it's not as easy to find as you would think.  My mom found these "stringy" panels and they were perfect.  They are also perfect for her to play with, or so she thinks.

All of my other rooms have just the blinds, but my living room window was too big.  I'd have had to use two sets and split them in the middle to cover it.  I wasn't a fan of that.  I decided to do panels, but I hadn't found what I wanted...until now.  My mother-in-law found these and they are almost a burlap material.  I'm thrilled!

This is half of the window that's too big.  I'm going to hand the burlap blinds here with sheers behind them after I take down those cheap plastic builder blinds.  I've had those ugly things for a few, umm four, years now.  My husband was sitting in the chair in front of the other half of this window and didn't want to be pictured.  hehe

And since the dining room is open to the living room, my mother-in-law grabbed another set for here.  Hanging them is in the plans for this weekend!  So excited!  Can't wait to get more great ideas!

Carie

Back to it

Today is day 3 of being back to work.  I'm re-thinking my bright idea to suffer this week instead of getting up earlier last week.  Kennedy decided to wake up a little earlier than usual last week, but it didn't prepare me for 6 am.  Ick!  This week is without kids...mostly in-service and just getting organized.  It's nice to have adult conversations again, but I miss my girls like crazy.  Kayt is at Steve's Mom's house.  I didn't even get to talk to her Monday (I tried calling but got no answer).  So missing her right now. 

Miss Kennedy is doing good at the babysitter's so far.  She doesn't sleep there, but she never slept at daycare either.  It's throwing our evening schedule off BIG time, but I know we'll adjust.  We pulled her out of daycare this year and she's at an in-home babysitter's instead.  She was sick ALL last year, and the ratio for her new room was going to be 2/17.  If one teacher is changing a diaper, that leaves another to watch 16 18-month-olds.  While the state says it's legal, I think it's ridiculous.  I'd much rather my baby be where she is, and I know she can get one-on-one attention with lots of love. 

I had to get my TB skin test done for work.  It's a yearly event when you work with kids.  No big deal, but I have an allergic reaction to them.  Not the TB reaction, but my arm bruises really bad and they always think I have TB but I don't.  Such fun. This is what it looks like on day one.  Just wait...it'll be SO pretty in a day or two.  Ugh!  Does anyone else have this reaction??

Carie

Twice in One Week

Yep, you read that right.  I've organized two rooms in my house this week.  I'm pretty sure I must be losing it.  I typically survive in organized chaos.  It might not look like I know where anything is, but I can find anything (not including my keys) pretty quick.  But, after being home all summer and looking at this mess, I decided to do something about it.  Go figure that I waited until the week before I head back to work to get it done.  I never said I was speedy.  In my defense, I have completed more projects this summer than any other summer, ever.  Here's what I was working on today.  

Welcome to my laundry room.  I couldn't close the door if I wanted to.

Sadly, this is improvement...I got rid of tons of towels and rags earlier this week so this was just what I had left.

Yep, insanity.  How do I let things get to this point?  Well, here's what I accomplished (all in one nap time!!)

Look!  I can close the door!  Why this makes me so happy, I do not know.  But it does!

Yes, there is still a lot of stuff up there.  BUT, it is all organized according to its function. 

Wow!  I can see the top of my washer and dryer!  hehe  Here's hoping I can keep it this way!

Carie

On display

This week, Kelly at Kelly's Korner's topic for Show Us Your Life is picture displays.  I'm looking for new, great ideas because I have tons of pictures.  It makes my happy to have friends, family, and especially my babies all around me.  I've done some groupings with black frames and some with mixed frames.  I'm finding great ideas on Pinterest...it's just a matter of the time to get them done.  

Most of my groups are in hallways.  This is the little hallway as you come into my bedroom.  There is absolutely no good angle to take a picture from for this.  I love the black and whites mixed with big and small.  On the far left is an artists' rendering of our engagement picture.  I LOVE it.  I've just gotta talk him into doing one of each of my girls!

This is down the hallway to the girls' rooms.  I used black frames, brown frames, and silver.  This is where we have friends that are family and family mixed together.

Please excuse the treadmill in this picture.  This used to be over my desk, but since I've started running, I needed a permanent setup for the treadmill.  I'm not a huge fan of running, so the idea of my running in 100 degree heat with 100% humidity is ridiculous.  I'll take my treadmill with a fan in front of it any day.

I found this on Pinterest here.  I love the idea of the shelves lined with pictures. 

I found this idea here.  I'd love to try this!

And this one is here.  Isn't it fabulous, especially with that pop of color! 

Carie