Hallie is 2 or Twood

Well she is almost two. We had her birthday party this weekend and had a good time with her little friends. She is not in the most outgoing stage of her life, but she had some cute moments. She was very excited about her elmo party and I was very excited to let her try chocolate cake for the first time.

After her and her little friends ate hotdogs and cake, they went outside to play in the pool. Her friends loved it and Hallie loved it for about 30 seconds and then declared she was all done and demanded that her swimsuit be taken off bacause it was itchy. Oh well, you are who you are even at two.Hallie is such a sweet child. She is a mommy's girl for now and I love it. She's so smart and amazes us with her memory of things, especially animals. Her favorite things are doodoo and blankie, eating hotdogs, singing, dancing, playing the piano, being with Nana or Brianna, making people laugh, and smelling feet. She is a great blessing in my life and I'm thankful that God chose me to be her mother.On a seperate note we got Harper's ears pierced and let me just say that 4 months old is so much of a better age to do it than 1 year. She did great, and it looks really cute. BeforeAfter

To Nana's House We Go

Last week we braved the trip and went to visit Nana and Papaw. It was probably the best trip we had since the girls were born. They both slept relatively well and didn't make a peep the whole way home. We got to go to the annual Mountain Laurel Festival Fair and Parade and that was pretty fun for Hallie despite the blazing heat and Hallie getting very briefly lost.

What I Like About You

So many things have happened in the last few weeks, but Harper's crying and Hallie's getting hungry so I can only share a couple.
Grandma and Shelley came out for a visit. . . .meaning my girls got spoiled BAD! I loved every minute of their stay, and it took me a while to get used to my empty house again
Also Brianna turned 11!! So here are 11 reasons why I love my Brianna so much

1. Best 11 year old daughter in the world
2. She is Hallie's best friend
3. Has the best imagination in the world
4. Is probably going to grow up to be a spy
5. After she serves a mission
6. She is always happy
7. Her good moods are contagious
8. Absolutely beautiful
9. She likes to give surprises like clean the whole house for me when I wake up
10. She is kind, loving, compassionate, this could go on for a while
11. She somehow has always loved her stepmom and I love that sweet girl so much

3 Months

It's so hard to believe my baby is almost 4 months old already. She has the sweetest smile and a cute little laugh, I need time to slow down so I can enjoy this precious girl.

Happy Birthday Korbin & Mikayla

So this is a few days late for Korb and a couple early for Mikayla, but hopefully they will forgive me. I just wanted to brag for a minute about my two wonderful kids by copying another family member's blog and make a list of what I love about them, one thing for each year they have been alive.

Korbin ~17
1. Korbin is the sweetest son in the world
2. So smart
3. He knows he is so smart
4. He is a stud
5. He doesn't know what a stud he is
6. He is so much like his dad
7. Best ever guitar player
8. He eats more than I do
9. Incredibly humble
10. Hard worker
11. He doesn't wake up his sisters at night
12. He loves and takes care of his sisters and they love him
13. Funny
14. Laughs at my jokes
15. He can do cool flips on his snowboard
16. He dates pretty girls
17. Because he loves his stepmom and I love him so much

Mikayla ~15
1. She is the sweetest oldest daughter in the world
2. Drop Dead Gorgeous
3. She doesn't know she's that gorgeous
4. So smart but likes to play up getting a "B"
5. She has a contagious laugh
6. I can wear her clothes
7. She likes boys that I pick for her
8. She's a daddy's girl
9. She knows more about sports than me
10. We both love sweets
11. We both hate that we love sweets
12. Always wins at every game
13. She doesn't mind cheating to win
14. She's so good at taking care of her sisters and they adore her
15. She loves her stepmom and I love her so much

To sum it up, I have the two best older kids in the world. Love you guys

Potty Training Catastrophe

I've been geared up and excited to get Hallie potty trained early and only have one child in diapers once again. . . . what was i thinking??? For the record, I follow books advice way too seriously but I read three all saying that any child can be potty trained between the ages of 18-22 months. Well if they are so dang smart, they can come train my child for me. I am a pretty laid back person, and of all the times that my kids decide to need me at the exact same time, I've never wanted to break down, scream, etc. . However the last three days have pushed me to the limit. I have cleaned up atleast 60 puddles of pee, given 6 baths, washed 8 loads of laundry, and now I am done. My house smells like a sick combination of resolve carpet cleaner and pee, and I'm tired of stepping in random wet spots throughout my house and having to change socks. Congratulations to all those mothers who do this successfully, but don't be suprised if my kids are wearing pull-ups to college. Ok that was a little dramatic, but I am not going to try again for a while. By the way honey, to save you the time of saying "I told you so" you were very right and I wish I would have listened to you tell me that there's no harm in waiting.

Easter

So you try and try to get good pictures for Easter, but sometmes you've just got to take what you can getWe have the kids this week for spring break and my intentions were to get some good picture of their stay, but Hallie decided to throw my camera and break the lense so this is all I have.On a lighter note, Hallie is really starting to put sentences together. At this moment I found her scrubbing the floor with my headband and she said, "Mommy, I clean." I said, "That's great sweetheart, thank you." She then said, "I clean bugs!!" I looked and of course there was a trail of ants that she was killing/cleaning. . . welcome spring!