Toothless

A week ago Will lost one of his front teeth. This tooth had been hanging in there FOREVER. Kind of reminds me of this. I guess this is going to be a common occurrence with his teeth. He'd twist it all around, and wiggle it constantly, so I have no idea how it stayed in his mouth for so long! There was even a day where Jason & I both him him in the mouth (by accident of course!) and it hung in there. Literally.
So last week we were eating dinner at the mall, and he and Jason were playing around. He kept telling Will that he was going to knock out his tooth, to which Will would immediately cover his mouth and laugh. Well one of the times, Jason really put his hand up like he was going to hit him, and bumped his hand. Will's eyes got really big, and he spit it out in his hand! He was so excited! He was dancing around the food court with his tooth in hand. So I guess if you really want to be technical, you could say that Daddy knocked out Will's tooth! ;)
As soon as we got home, he put his tooth in his super cute tooth fairy pillow that my friend Sara made him and was ready for a visit from the tooth fairy. So he was left with two dollars, and a big gap toothed smile!

Super Mom?

As I sit and write this, the mounds of chaos around my house are slowly growing. It seems that as soon as I get things done (laundry, dishes...etc.) it is time for me to start over. I just mopped my floor, but you can't tell. It's an ongoing process that never ends. It is so frustrating to me!
As I think about that, it makes me think of my house growing up. My mom's house was always clean. Always. And her house has always been bigger than the one I live in, so her work was probably doubled.
I don't remember ever seeing random laundry baskets (clean or dirty) sitting around. She always had dinner on the table by the time my dad got home. And I mean dinner. Not her scrambling around like I do sometimes saying, "oh I forgot to defrost the ground beef...how about if we have pizza (again!) or pasta?" I don't recall ever seeing dirty dishes piled up in the sink. She always got up with us, and made all of us (me, my brother & dad) breakfast, I mean it wasn't a 5 course meal, but she was up with us. I obviously get up with my kids and give them breakfast, but my poor hubby is on his own. She packed lunches for me and my brother, and sent us all off to work/school. I am at a loss of how my mom kept up with everything, and wasn't totally exhausted all the time. Granted she only had 2 kids and we are ten years apart, but she still went through the same stages that I am going through with my kids. And it's not like she never left the house or anything. She was a leader in her Bible study, and would go to lunch or play dates with her friends. I know she watched a soap too, so it's not like she never took time to just sit and relax.
I guess I just took her for granted all those years. So thanks mom, for working so hard for your family. Thanks for being supermom!

Time to Shape Up

I know, you're shocked, two posts in two days! GASP! But don't get too excited, I'm sure it won't last too long!

Those of you who know me know that I'm not a huge fan of working out. The last time I worked out regularly was in high school. I don't know that I was a huge fan of it then either, but I was a cheerleader, and that's what we did. We'd go to the weight room, and work out, plus we had practice everyday. My squad worked really hard, so needless to say I was in the best shape of my life. I've never really cared about what numbers were on the scale, and I still don't, but I have realized that I need to start working out again. I need to get in shape. Seriously. We are going to Hawaii in 5 (!) months for our 10 year anniversary, and I don't want to be self conscious in a bathing suit.

It was all made super clear to me when over Christmas at my mom's house. Olivia and I were in the kitchen just playing, and she was doing flips on me. You know when she holds my hands, and flips by climbing up my legs? So she's flipping, we're laughing. Then all of a sudden she looks at me with complete sincerity and says "Mom, do you have a baby in your tummy?" I'm not going to lie, I was offended, and a little annoyed. But I remembered this is my sweet 4 year old, who's just calling it as she sees it. "Uh, no Liv I don't have a baby in my tummy. Why would you ask me that?" "Because your tummy is big!" Awesome.
So per my 4 year old I'm hitting the gym. Well, ok maybe not hitting the gym, but at least busting out the Wii Fit again!

Bad Blogger

So, I'm not the most reliable blogger in the world. I've neglected my poor blog. Yeah, it was Christmas time, and we were playing with friends, enjoying the festivities. We went to my mom's house and got thouroughly spoiled, then we've had some snow days. But anyway, I'm still here, and will try to be more faithful to what I set out to do. That was actually one of my new year's resolutions...oops!

Christmas has hit our house!

Well after weeks of Will begging us to put up the tree, we finally did! It took two nights. The first night we actually put it up and the second night we decorated it. This is the first year that we let the kids help with everything...so putting it up took a little bit longer than normal. They really got into it, and it ended up being really fun. The second night when we decorated, I got a little bit stressed because had Daddy not intervened, it would've become a free for all with the ornaments! Here is the finished product, now our challenge is keeping Caroline away from the ornaments.

The next morning, they came down and their stockings were hung, and Olivia wanted to know if Santa had been here and brought their stockings.


I really love this time of year, and love what it signifies to our family. Today at my MOPS group we made this cool craft. It's an advent candle to count down the days of Christmas. Each day there is a verse to read as well. If you want to make one, you need a pillar candle: use red, green & yellow paint to make dots to signify the days. (If you use the head of a pin, it is really easy to paint the dots on.) Make 12 green dots, and 12 red dots with the last dot being the yellow one. Each day, light it and burn it down to the next dot. I put it on our kitchen table, and we burned it during dinner. The kids loved it!

We're such good parents...

So what do you do with three kids (okay two, number 3 was contained in the stroller) who are going nuts at the mall?

Of course, we stop by a kiosk offering free samples!




I like that Olivia's turned out looking more like lipstick than chocolate. Such a glamour girl!



Just to clarify...Caroline kind of hijacked her treat from Daddy. We figured that was not a battle we wanted to fight!





Happy Thanksgiving!

My sweetie

My sweet Caroline is 15 months old! She is such a joy in our house. She has always been so good, and just rolls with the punches. I'm not sure if that's because she's number 3, or if it's just her personality. She is really easy, and just super sweet. Up until now, she's been pretty quiet, but she is starting to become really chatty, and even talks with her hands! She can say Mama (the only one who said that first!), Dada, Olivia (O-wa-wa), Will (Wa), baby, puppy (puppa, and she thinks every animal is a puppa), and hi (she says it with a southern accent which adds to her cuteness!). Olivia likes to tell her secrets, and Caroline just laughs and laughs. It's like she really understands what Olivia is saying.



Will & Olivia can make her laugh like no one else. She loves to dance when any music comes on, and likes to sing in the tub. She's really smart, it only takes a couple of times for us to show her things before she starts doing it. She tries to be sneaky, but then comes right to me, and shows me what she's doing. She tries to make us laugh by making silly faces. She's usually pretty mild mannered, but she's quick to let us know when she doesn't like something or something (someone is more like it!) is bothering her. In true girl fashion, she tries to put things in her hair, and her big sister has shown her how to carry a purse, and she likes to "talk" on the phone. The time seems to be going by so much more quickly with Caroline than it did with the other two. I'm blessed that she's in my life! I'm thankful for her smiles, giggles, and cuddles.