Just think, this time next year we could have 3 of them*!

*by them, I'm meaning girls, not parties

We are almost 2 hours into Addi's sleepover birthday party and I've never heard so much screaming and squealing in my life!

So far, the girls have made pizzas, dressed up Bryan, sang Happy Birthday, eaten cupcakes and ice cream, changed into pajamas and are now watching a movie. I'm hoping for a little more quiet during the movie. There has still been constant chatter, but at least it's been kept at decibels at which most humans hear.

One sweet note is that Addi has been totally fine letting Libby tag along. Bryan and I are betting that won't last much longer.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures.

I'm so glad we finally did it

Last Saturday we had our pictures made.

It was fun and the pictures are beautiful, if I do say so myself :)

They were taken by Kevin at Life's Too Short Photography at Pullen Park in Raleigh. We had a great time and wish he would move to Dallas before we need family pictures again :)

He's posted a few of the pictures on his blog if you're interested.

more pictures, just because

Wordless Wednesday - all ready to hit the road

Baby P

A little over a week ago, I had an ultrasound. If we were finding out the gender of this baby, it would have been the time to do it. However, according to the sonogram lady, Baby P moves so much that she wasn't even sure by the time the ultrasound was over.

I must say I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of this baby moving as much as Libby did/does. I've told myself this whole pregnancy that surely this baby would be more easy-going and calm. Since the ultrasound, I've considered going Cold Turkey and giving up all sugar, caffeine, chemically-altered foods for the rest of this pregnancy in hopes of calming Baby P down.

Then I come to my senses and realize I Need Chocolate. I can't give up chocolate. And if I'm not giving up chocolate, a Dr. Pepper every once in a while won't hurt either ;)...(my, how my food restrictions have relaxed since I was pregnant with Addison).

Even though Baby P was all over the place, we were able to capture some good shots. I'm not sure how well they'll scan, but I'll give it a try. There is one picture of Baby P's face that I just love. I keep it beside my bed and look at it every night. When she took the picture, I was looking at it on the screen and I told Bryan that I could've seen that face and known it was one of our babies. You won't see any of that. The only reason I see that when I look at the picture now is because I can remember how clear it was to me on the screen. The bottom 2 pictures are actually the same picture...the bottom of the baby's feet. The lady knew it was my last appointment and said she wanted to make sure this baby knew where he/she came from. But the feet are upside-down, so that's why I've posted the picture twice.

Do you see that sweet little face?...on the right side toward the bottom?


hint: the heel of the right foot is touching the word FROM

fyi: North Carolina is the Tarheel State...did y'all already know that?? I didn't before I moved here :)

I don't even know what to say.

Read this.

As a mother of 2, possibly 3, little girls, I can't imagine their need for this at the ripe old age of 11. It breaks my heart and, honestly (maybe naively) I cannot fathom that there is a parent out there (who isn't consumed with a drug habit or isn't truly psychologically disturbed) who would not agree with teaching abstinence to a middle-school aged CHILD. If the public schools must be involved in this aspect of life (and they long ago took the stance that they would involve themselves), why not teach the one and only method that provides protection...protection from pregnancy, protection from disease, protection from the side effects of birth control pills, and protection from the emotional damage?

Can't you just buy some money??

(at bedtime)

Addi: Daddy, I want you to play with me Every Day!
Daddy: Like we played hide and seek when I got home from work today?
Addi: Yes, but Every Day.
Daddy: Well, we can play again tomorrow when I get home.
Addi: No, I don't want you to go to work. Can't you just buy money at the store?

Family Fun at Hillridge Farm

Betcha didn't know these were part of the rainbow

I overheard Addi and her friend Salina talking while they were coloring today.

Addi: I'm using blue because blue is my daddy's favorite color.
Salina: My favorite colors are purple and hot pink.
Addi: I like cold pink, purple and hot blue.
Salina: Really, I like all the colors of the rainbow.
Addi: Me, too. But not brown.
Salina: I like brown.
Addi: I only like hot brown.

The sign we've been waiting on

Update: We've had the Sold sign out for about a week and have movers coming the first weekend in November. I feel like I need to purge, but it's hard to force yourself when you don't have to put it all in boxes. I keep telling myself that I'll end up throwing out a lot when I have to unpack all the boxes, but just think how much I could get rid of if I purged now and then again when I unpacked. And, think is probably all I will actually do about it :)

I realized I needed a little Mommy Time-Out today when I heard these words pour out of my mouth:

"Just eat whatever you want!"

I'll most definitely regret them tomorrow :)

Going, going, gone!

We are waiting to hear back from our relocation company, but our house has a (at this point) verbal contract on it! Needless to say, we're thrilled! As soon as the relo company finishes up some paperwork, it will be official.

And, in the knick of time as we had an Open House scheduled for Sunday. Bryan and I planned on taking the girls to a pumpkin patch, but the temperature is supposed to almost be 90 on Sunday. Now we can delay that trip for more seasonal weather...and that was written with complete optimism that we will, in fact, see seasonal weather this October.

We have put in an offer on "the" house in Frisco and should hear back from the sellers today or tomorrow. We're hoping to have all that hashed out by Monday.

So, we'll be having Thanksgiving in Texas. Maybe we can get some more seasonal weather there :)

God is good and we are thankful.

A Delayed First Day

When we found out we were moving I went back and forth on whether Addi would begin preschool here. Bryan and I talked about it and finally decided we would wait to start her until we moved thereby avoiding the difficulties involved with not only moving her home, but also her preschool.

However, it now looks as though the girls and I will be here much longer than we'd hoped. And, honestly, she's been driving me crazy. (It hasn't been her fault. We've been living waiting to move. That isn't a fun way to live. Plus all her friends have either started school or preschool.)

Today, she began her time in Miss Angie and Miss Jeneane's class. She spent last week preparing by working in a kindergarten letter workbook. Every day she would pull it out and tell Libby she couldn't play because she needed to work. This morning she told Libby that Libby might get lonely today because she was going to preschool. (Of course, Libby responded with, "I wan go preschool!")

She had a good day and is really excited about going back on Thursday. She even told Libby that tomorrow they could hunt for something that starts with D to take for Show and Tell. Oh, and since there's another Addie, she's decided she wants to go by Addison. Her teachers, who've known her since before she turned 2, say they are having trouble remembering to call her Addison instead of Addi.

I got a picture at the beginning of the day with Addison and Miss Angie and at the end of the day with Addison and Miss Jeneane.

little frustrations

On Saturday, we noticed our computer was running so SLOW and that every 4.5 minutes a message would pop up telling us something to the effect of No Wireless Connectivity and that meant no internet for anywhere between 10 seconds to 45 minutes....frustrating!

Here is where I should mention that we have another computer, a somewhat antiquated, but reliable desktop. However, when we still had hope our house would sell within our time-frame, we packed that baby up and stuck it in storage to help our home appear less cluttered...frustrating!

I'll bring this one up because I love my husband dearly and while, I could've cared less, he was very concerened on Sunday when he wouldn't have internet. He has a routine on Sunday afternoons of setting up our living room with the computer, the remote, and various snacks. Then he spends the day obsessively checking his points against the other people's in his Fantasy Football league and flipping from game to game. For him, not being able to check on the points was, you guessed it...frustrating!

In the past week, we've had 4 showings postponed by an hour. We have gotten the call to postpone the showings at least 45 minutes into the original showing time. 2 of those actually called well into the postponed time to let us know they wouldn't in fact be coming at all...very frustrating!

The most frustrating thing I've been dealing with has been my attitude. I've been letting myself get bogged down by all these little frustrations. How can I expect the Lord to use me for Great Things - Things that will most assuredly prove more challenging than a few glitches with our internet - if I can't even get past these little things?

Even our house not being sold by now is a little thing. We, or I never really considered that our house would still not have a contract on it. Unless we get a contract on it very soon, the girls and I will be staying here while Bryan moves on to Dallas. He'll come back every other weekend and while some of you may be thinking that sounds awful, I'm okay with it. Honestly, I wasn't and that disappoints me greatly. But, I quickly remembered a 6 month period I spent as a single mom. And, I remembered that only a month ago Bryan was still able to be activated and deployed. That would've been a 15 month time period of being a single mom to 2 and then 3. Just under 2 weeks is nothing! It's a vacation that thousands of military spouses would scoff at :)

Some of my favorite scripture is found in Jeremiah, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"

That's a passage I go back to over and over again. I need to remember it the next time a showing is canceled :)

*Certainly not frustrating news came on Thursday. I had an appointment at my OB's office. For the first time in all my pregnancies, I am measuring right on! I'm excited about this (even though it means I am bigger than I was at this point with either Addi or Libby). This also means I've gained more weight than I had at this point with my other two. In fact, with Addi, I was still throwing up everyday and hadn't even gained a pound. I'm hopeful this is an indication that this baby will gain weight a little more quickly than it's sisters did and not an indication that I will be gaining too much weight with this pregnancy.

And, now I must get something to eat...I'm famished :)

Miss Inventive

Addi needed a large, flat space to work her puzzle during roomtime today. She took care of it herself.

That is a bookshelf Bryan built for Libby. It's in Addi's room for the time being since Libby's room is much smaller than Addi's room. We wanted to give potential buyers the allusion of more space in Libby's room by removing "extra" furniture.

All the stuff surrounding the shelf is what is usually on it. In Addi's words she, "carefully took everything off the shelves and then I very carefully laid the shelf down without a big bang." I'll say she was careful and there was no big bang! I didn't realize what was going on until tonight when I happened to look in her room on the way to my own.

I tried to get Bryan to build a matching shelf for Addi when he made this one. I don't think he'll be able to get out of the chore now. Or, at least once we move and this shelf goes back into Libby's room.

And, for once, I won't be the one nagging him about it :)

homemade applesauce

I got this recipe from Hollie's blog, Crown Laid Down. It was simple and, I was told, it was delicious. (I, myself, don't care for applesauce)







I, inadvertantly, cut the recipe in half. (After not writing down a list, I bought half as many apples as I needed. I blamed it on pregnancy-brain!) But, this is what we did:

1. Peeled and cored 3 Gala apples and 3 Granny Smith apples.


2. Cut each apple into about 8 slices...and since you only need 5 apples for half the recipe, I gave the girls each a few slices of apple to enjoy.


3. Throw apple slices, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into a crockpot.


4. Turn crockpot on high for 2 hours and then low for another hour or so. Or, you could turn it on low and let the aroma fill your house for the day.

Thanks, Hollie, for posting the recipe on your blog. My girls really enjoyed the applesauce!

"...but don't tell Libby"

Addi has been very frustrated lately by her sister. Libby copies everything Addi does. Everything.

A few times I've asked Addi to answer a certain way because I knew Libby would also give me the same answer. For instance, I might ask, "Addi, would you like peas?" And she, obediently, answers, "Yes!" I can almost be guaranteed the same answer from Libby.

Obviously there has to be a little bit of secrecy for this to work.

And, obviously, I realize this favorable situation is not going to last forever, so I'm taking full advantage while I can. I've learned a few tricks over my almost 5 years of mothering.

Now, Addi has taken to telling me her answer to any question in secret, quickly adding, "but don't tell Libby. I don't want her to copy me." For instance, at lunch today, I asked the girls if they wanted some chips with their sandwiches and strawberries. Libby immediately said she did. Addi ran to me and whispered, "No, but don't tell Libby. I don't want her to copy me."

Ooookay.

I've also learned not to point out that while Libby might fall for the pea trick (only because Libby really does like peas), it wouldn't really matter what Addi had to say about say chips or candy or ice cream. Libby knows good junk food when she sees it and any adoration she feels for her sister isn't going to change what's in her blood:

Chips trump peas any day of the week!

watchin' Daddy

Maybe I just smell like a mom

Addi likes to watch tv on my bed while I take a shower. Unfortunately for her, I took a shower last night. So when she asked if I was going to take a shower, I explained that I had taken one last night instead. She wrinkled up her nose and said, "But, you still smell!"

a little planting

The girls and I spent a little time at a nursery this morning. Addi has been begging to get some mums. I let them each pick one out and we planted them together this afternoon.

I feel the need to explain Addi's hair...she loves that neck-warmer/scarf thing and only wears it on her head. It isn't something I ever put in her hair, but sometimes I have to choose my battles :)