The Tide has Turned

I deserved this one today. I will tell you why in a bit. So, today Hailey had a friend over to play. They had a great time together and Hailey is now at the age where having a friend over actually makes my life easier. I cracked open the window in my bedroom, while folding laundry (which....laundry NEVER stops now, it's out of control because a cute little 3 month old constantly pukes all over herself, her blankets, ME and anything else within a foot range from her that she can nail), to listen to the girls playing outside. I love their imaginations. They were pretending that they were princesses on a ship that kept being attacked by monsters and all kinds of stuff.

Anyways, after a few hours outside, they came in and wanted to watch a movie. They chose to watch Tinkerbell and while I was loading the DVD, Hailey's friend saw a Little Einstein's DVD. She told Hailey that she doesn't watch them because "they're too babyish." I intervened and said that the Little Einsteins weren't for babies, Baby Einsteins were. And again, she told me that the Little Einsteins were "very babyish." And then it happened....Hailey, who had been in thought during this time (I'm sure she was thinking about how she really loves the Little Einsteins, but she definitely doesn't do "babyish" things anymore) spoke her opinion. The tide has turned....the mother that could never be wrong apparently lost her first battle because Hailey turned to me and said, "yea Mom, SHE'S right. Einstein's ARE babyish and I'm going to give all my Einstein DVD's away." Bye-bye Einsteins. However, we won't be giving away those DVD's just yet since we've got two more girls who still believe that their mother is always right!

And, you know why I deserved that today? It goes back to a famous family story that includes me being about 5 years old and eating at my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle David's house with my younger cousins Allie, Laura and Mitch (wait....was he even born then? You know you're getting old when you can't remember if someone was even born yet...anyways...). On the menu was broccoli and apparently my cousins loved eating the vegetable up until I spoke up and so famously said, "Aunt Rhonda, I don't eat broccoli." My cousins then put their broccoli down, looked at it funny and didn't like it from that day forward. I never realized how it isn't fun to be trumped by a preschool aged person. Aunt Rhonda, I am so sorry.

Snorkels

Does the word "snorkel" sound weird to anyone else or is it just me? We've gone from goggles to snorkels around here.

Do Unto Others...

Well, I can't say she broke the Golden Rule. If she's going to color on Landry, why not try it out on herself? I swear she had only been out of my eye sight for 5 minutes. I went running to find her because it was waaaaay too quiet. She even colored the soles of her feet.

Our Graduate

Introducing the 4 year old graduting class of 2009.

Where in the world is Hailey?

Coming down the isle (oh yes, they played Pomp and Circumstance). She even waved at us!

Reese. This was taken after sitting down for 1 minute. After 2 minutes, her patience ran out and she was all over the place.

When the kids were called by name, they got to say what they want to be when they grow up into the microphone. Any guesses of what Hailey said before you see the video? It's too bad that I didn't get her friend, Evan, on video because he said that when he grows up he wants to be a Jedi with two green lightsabers. Want to know how much I don't know about having little boys....I thought they were called lifesavers.

Lessons from Daddy

I caught Trey teaching the girls some of the most important things in life today.

Keep Her Away From Me

Those were the words I told Trey yesterday. I was referring to child #2. Reese. She went off the deep end. You know, I can take a lot. However, when a certain child takes a MARKER to my furniture, walls, and windows, my patience quickly disappears. OH WAIT, I forgot to mention who else fell victim to Reese's rampage yesterday...my poor, sweet, Landry. At least it was the waterbased markers. So, when I took a damp papertowel and wiped off Landry's head, it just turned her into a member of the Blue Man group. Enjoy.

Wildflower Festival

On Friday, our friends Bonney and Greg invited us to go the Wildflower Festival in Richardson, where there's lots of bands, food, kid stuff and booths. We had a great time!!! Landry decided that rather than battle the crowds, she wanted to hang out at Jody's house. Jody said not to show up with Landry unless Jake could come and play too, so here we are on the way!

The girls got their faces painted, Hailey got to go into a butterfly exhibit, which she LOVED and Reesie went and played in some blue sand and wasn't so happy to leave.

And, to make the night even better, our favorite group, Jackopierce was playing. It was impossible to take a picture of Reese during the concert because she became posessed...and I mean was insane, crazy, off the charts wild. She ran and ran and ran and did somersaults and ran backwards and kept diving onto Greg and kept running into Trey. Watching her was exhausting. She and Hailey had so much fun together. Hailey didn't go so crazy, but definitely had her dancing shoes on. I tried to get a pic of Bonney and Hailes enjoying the music, but it didn't come out great.

They Did It!

Hailey and Reese graduated from their private swimming lessons. Now, when Reese is in the water she immediately turns to her back and can just float. During her last week of lessons, she even went in the water fully clothed to practice in case she were to ever fall in accidentally. And she did it....just turned onto her back and floated away! And Hailey can now swim back and forth to each side of the pool by herself! She's graduated to group lessons where she's starting to learn all the strokes. I'm really proud of them because a month ago neither of them could really swim a lick! Here's Hailey in her first group lesson....those goggles crack me up.

Conversation of the Day

Brought to you by our Hailey. We were in the car on the way to swim lessons when she started off the discussion:
Hailey: Mom, does our car need gas right now?
Me: Nope, we're good.
Hailey: Why do we put gas in the car? I don't remember.
Me: It gives the car energy to run.
Hailey: What do you think gas looks like?
Me: Well...it looks a little bit like water, but we don't ever touch or smell gas because it isn't good for us and it could make us really sick.
Hailey: Yea, babies have gas.
Me: What?
Hailey: Babies, like Landry, they have gas and I don't like to touch it or smell it because it makes me feel sick. What color do you think gas is Mommy? I think it's greeeeeen.

These are the conversations that make aging a bit earlier totally worth it.

The Time Has Come

Where I now look back on pictures and think, "how has Hailey gotten so big so fast," and...."I LOOK SO MUCH OLDER NOW!" Found these today as I was cleaning out some e-mail files. They were taken by my sister-in-law, Tracey, when Hailey was about 18 months old. I guess adding two more kids in a year and a half doesn't do well for keeping that young and "rested" look :)....shocking.

Deeee-licious

We went out for ice cream tonight after grilling out at the house for dinner. Anyone want to guess what flavor Reese likes? Anyone wondering how fast I can go through a bottle of Spray-N-Wash?

Mother's Day

While I was in Miami, Hailey had a Mother's Day Tea at school. Thankfully, Granny went and filled in! Hailey made some really cute stuff for me. Here's the sheet she filled out answering questions on me.

Granny and the girls also made me an art project in a shadow box with pictures of our family in handmade flowers. I love it! And Trey and the girls got me a gift certificate to a spa. Ahhh....a place where no one screams for sippy cups for an entire hour. Beautiful!

Today was a great day. I do not take for granted that my kids are gifts. There are moments where I wish I could hit a pause button because I know that time is going by fast and soon they're going to be grown. I feel so blessed to have them and to have Trey.

And today, I miss my mom. Last week, Reese saw a picture of herself and my mom and she pointed at her and said, "Gam-ma!" It made my day that she still remembers her. Oh how I miss her phone calls, her laugh and the expressions of joy on her face when talking about grandkids. She is irreplaceable, deeply loved and greatly missed.

Miami Trip

I've been slacking in the blog world because Trey and I WERE ON VACATION!!! And I must say, if ever we needed a vacation, this one came at a perfect time. I don't think either of us realized how a few days off from the real world would make such a difference. SO, Trey qualified for a trip with his company (YEA TREY!) and this year we went to Miami. Hailey and Reese stayed at home with Granny (more on that later) and Trey and I took Landry with us. We stayed at a Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne. I knew this was going to be my kind of place when we walked in the front door and saw this flower arrangement....holy moly isn't that beautiful?

Basically we had three full days of....nothing really important. We slept in, I went to the spa to have the knots pounded out of my back, Trey played some golf, we hung out by the pool, drank some fruity cocktails (ok, I did...Trey stuck to the beer), went out to dinner at night, and got to be around lots of fun people. The weather made it even more great. I use to wonder why anyone would want to live in hurricane land....I do not question their decision anymore....85 everyday with a nice breeze....ahhhh.... Here's the scene from the hotel and my lounge chair and even Landry loved hanging out under an umbrella by the pool with me. She snoozed next to me while I read.

And Trey and I actually took a few pictures together. The last time I have a picture of just the two of us....over a year ago. You think we've been a bit busy? Oh Miami, how I miss you already.

And back to Granny. You know what made the vacation even better? Trey's mom came up and stayed with the girls while we were gone. The girls had a wonderful time. There was a trip to Build-A-Bear and to Chuckie Cheese. Granny brought a bag full of surprises with her, so the girls would get to play with a new surprise every so often. Check out one of the toys Granny brought Hailey.

Now, if you ever read this blog, you know that our Hailey HATES bugs. She's played inside before due to the fact that they wouldn't leave her alone outside. So, Granny brought books about them and a bug kit. The kit consists of wind-up bugs, magnifying glasses-for looking at bugs, a chart-to help identify the bug, and a journal-to draw and record the bugs. Isn't this hilarious? You know what Hailey told me today? "Mom, I love bugs now. I like to go and look for them and draw pictures of them. Can you help me draw a cricket?" Cue my jaw dropping. And then, 5 minutes later....I heard a ear-ringing scream from inside the house and Hailey said, "IT'S A FLY!!! GET IT DADDY!!! I HATE BUGS!!!" Ahhhhh....some things never change.

Anyways, a big thank you to Granny. I came home to two very happy girls and a clean house with no laundry to do. Now, that's a present in itself. Just perfect.