Random Pictures from our Weekend!

Mia & Ella in matching sundresses made by Mama!
(side note: Mia let Mama put pig tails in her hair and a cute clip in her bangs and SHE LEFT IT THERE for the entire duration of church and Sunday School! Sooo cute!)




jackson & daddy











Jackson's project!
he worked all weekend in the garage with Phil. While phil made a cool hutch for our study (picture will come when it is complete) jacks made this neat "surprise" with scraps of wood, wood glue, and he even nailed the nails in that block of wood on the right and nailed some of the pieces of wood together! Amazing!! Doesn't he look so proud? I love it!
















Sweet kisses for Baby Ella

Tea for Two & Two for Tea.... or Three!

Today the kids played together... all THREE of them!! Jackson helped Mia host her very first tea party and Ella came too!









jackson kept setting up the dolls and his sisters and then would jump next to them and say "oookkkkkkk.............. NOW!" and smile big for the picture. It was hilarious, as the girls weren't getting it!









mia and jackson are not dressed yet in the pictures, as this was early this morning!









Ella is about to topple over, but she is smiling! she really loved playing with the big kids!

daddy and his girls

cute cute cute!

Mia's little house area in her cutie room...

wahlah!

The new painted Dining Room, Entry way and Playroom

Here they are! :)

I still am going to add a valence (phil is making it out of wood, similar to what is in Ella's room) and also a little cover to go across the pillars in the corner.... i will update with new pictures once that is in place!

Cutie-Bels!

Ella Isabel, 13 1/2 weeks old, in her cute outfit yesterday at church.

Gymnastics went well today. Mia asked NONSTOP “My wanna JUMP mama! My wanna jump!” so about 10 minutes before the class was over I stuck my head out to ask Jackson's coach Keith if Mia could jump and he said YES!
She was THE HAPPIEST GIRL EVER! I told her “Mr. Keith said you can go jump Mia!!”

“OOoooookkkkk!!!” she sang and ran out there with the biggest dimpled smile she could muster! She jumped with Keith’s 6 yr old daughter for about 10 minutes and had a lot of fun. It was very fun to watch and so super cute! I love this girls enthusiasm!

Tastes Like Cereal.

So - The Boy and I made rice crispy treats today while The Little Sistahs were napping... I thought it'd be a fun thing to do and a yummy nonfat snack for The Fam.
We melted the butter and marshmallows, finished it all up and took our first scrumptious bite... on which he said:

"Tastes Like Cereal."

glad we went to all that trouble Bud. :) He also made a nice TRAIN of marshmallows on top!! It's alll about the trains people, all about the trains!

doesn't he look oh so enthused in the small pictures below?

Happy 3 Months Ella Isabel!!

Here she is! Our little tinybelle!

Where did the Laundry go??

I did the laundry this morning and I had taken Phil's upstairs and put it away (so that his nicer things wouldn't get messed up by the kids). I had Jackson's stack and Ella's stack still sitting on the bottom of the stairs.

A while later I noticed it was gone and asked "Where did the laundry go?"

Jackson said "I don't know, maybe you took it up already?!"

I said "Mia, did you take the laundry up for Mama?"

"Mmm hmmm!!!" she said with a big smile.

So I walked upstairs to find that she not only took the stacks up, but she put them in the correct rooms! How incredible is she, my little helper?! i love it!

Phew! I'm Exhausted!!

After grocery shopping today - we were putting the items on the conveyer belt to check out and jackson exclaimed with a hand across the brow

"PHEW!!! I'm EXHAUSTED!!!"

me: "You are exhausted?!"

jackson: "Yes! I am exhausted!!"

me: "Wow!!"

jackson "Exhausted means you are very very tired Mama."

me: "I know it Jackson, and YOU are very very SMART too!!"

Nigh' Night Lil' Sis!

Here are the two cutie sugarbelle's waiting for Daddy to read a story last night...
in Mia's big girl bed (of which she is still sleeping and napping in with ZERO problems!!)

"I just learned it in High School!!"

Jackson: "Look Mama! Watch this! This is how you do in soccer!"

he tosses the ball up and pops it up perfectly with his knee and then almost head-butted it.

Me: "Wow Jackson! That was awesome! (truly, it was!) Who taught you how to do that?"

Jackson: "I taught myself. I just learned it in High School!!"

Funny kid.

This, by the way, is the 3rd thing he has told us he has learned in High School. :) Pretty sure it's because of the "When i was in high school..." stories his daddy tells him.

And another:

the scene: all the leapfrog letter magnets scattered on the floor in front of the refridgerator. Jackson walks over to the mess and says:

"I am not appreciative of this at all."

hmm... wonder where he learned that?! :)

bye bye Grammy!!

this is the collage i made for my mom to take with her to Romania. :)

Ellabel is 12 weeks old!

Ella turned 12 weeks old yesterday! She is a sweet little blessing and even though her reflux is still bad, it is better. I weighed her and she is now at 10 lbs. even.

She slept last night from 9:30p.m. - 5:30 am! I WAS SHOCKED and oh-so-pleased!! Then she slept until 8:30, as did the other kids and I! A very good nights sleep for the first time in 3 months!

Ella is smiling a lot and cooing now too. It is precious! (sorry the pic is a little blurry, this is her at her cousins' birthday party last Sunday)

"Take picture MY EYE toooooo Mama!"

Last night Britches ran in front of Jackson – who was also running – and tripped him. He fell face first into Ella’s bed and did THIS to his face.
Bless his heart. He kept telling me “it hurts super super bad!”

This morning he took the band aid off (yes, my children think that everything requires a band aid!) and told me “My eye is all better! It doesn’t hurt anymore!” (here’s to hoping he doesn’t look in a mirror!)

I took a picture of his eye to document the misery and he really wasn’t sure why I wanted a picture, but he obliged. Mia said “Take picture MY EYE toooooo Mama!!” So I did and she pretended to be in agony as well! (funny girl).

Then I took a picture of this little cutie for good measure too!

a letter to my four year old

Dear Jackson, July 13, 2006
Two weeks ago, you turned 4. Four! I can’t believe it. Every year on your birthday I lament to myself about how this was the day I became a Mama. You made me a Mama and I tell you that often. “You are my baby boy and I am your Mama.” I am so pleased with the wonderful little guy you have become. So wise, so funny, so helpful, so kind, so loving.
We started you in speech therapy a few weeks ago, because you had begun to stutter in December 2005 (6 months ago) and it had gotten really bad. It breaks my heart to watch you struggle with your speech, but I will never let on. You really like your “class” and you love your teacher Ms. Libby. She is very kind and for that I am so grateful. This past week we have watched your fluency get smoother and smoother and it makes my heart soar! You are going to make it my little man! I am so proud of your sweet attitude and passion for life and the things that you do.
In the fall, you will start kindergarten 4. It will be your first time to go to any sort of school and you will be gone 4 mornings a week! I am nervous thinking about taking you and watching you leave mama for the first time. But, I know it is good and I know it is time.
You still love to play with trains and you are very creative with your story telling and art work. You build all sorts of things and have gotten extremely good at putting together fairly difficult puzzles! You love to run and jump and play outside. You love helping your Daddy and hugging on your Mama. You told me that your favorite foods are salmon, ribs, and rice! Nice taste you have, Bud!! You are an extremely protective, loving and fun big brother to "your two sugarbelles!" You say that Mia and Ella are “our two little cuties!”
I love your heart and your passion to learn. I love your love of words and sharing them.
I love you always and forever,
Mama

a letter to my sweet girl

My dear little Miabel, July 7, 2006

Last week you turned two. I cannot believe that my tiny little girl is two years old. You are truly an amazing little person. You have this incredible personality that loves and nurtures and sings, and also loves to be silly and make people laugh. Your sense of humor and intelligence is astounding.

You are a very big talker and say lots of things all day long – in these wonderful sentences, with big pauses in between. I love listening to what you have to say and how cutely you say it. “My doll…. Mama” “ I want Milk…. Mama” etc. You also love to do things by yourself and when you accomplish the task at hand you proudly declare “My did it!!” You are proud of your “Bubba” and “Edda” too and love to say they did it too!!

Two days ago, I was going through the channels on the radio station in the car and I flipped past some crazy RAP/R&B song and you shouted out “That’s MY song Mama! That’s MY song!” and started dancing in your carseat. You are so funny.

You have finally grown enough hair for me to try to fix it for you. We did pigtails for the 1st time yesterday and you were so adorable in them that I could actually just eat you up! So delicious you are!

You have gotten a little mischievous streak and have now started time outs on the stairs or in your room. When we tell you “Mia, you have time out”, you cheerfully reply in a singsong voice “oooo kkkkk!!!!” and toddle-run over to the steps, wiggle your hiney and plop down. It. Is. SO. CUTE! 10 seconds will pass and you cheerfully announce “I done Mama!!!!!!!!!” It is funny because I think you feel so happy and grown up when you get a time out like your big brother. Silly girl.

You also moved to a big girl bed this week and love it. It is a cream cast iron antique double bed and you are precious as can be in the middle of it with all your plush pillows and shabby chic blankets. I love your sweet cozy room. You never get out of bed on your own and still wait for me to come and get you like you did in your crib… hmmm, I wonder how long it will be until you discover you can get down if you want to?!

I have watched you seemingly to grow even older in the last week, you are just a cool little kid and I honestly LOVE being around you.

You make me smile. You make me laugh. You make me love.

I love you always and forever,
Mama

Nigh Night My Sweet Sugarbelle!

Mia has a "big girl bed!!" It is an authentic cast iron antique double sized bed and just looks adorable in her room! We set it up yesterday and she napped in it... ok, she napped beside it on the ground in the middle of her toys and her new found freedom, but she napped!

Last night she got to lay in bed and read stories with daddy (Millie Moo from the Veales!) and then she fell fast asleep BY HERSELF IN HER BED and slept there the ENTIRE NIGHT until morning!








here she is when she woke up - she was in her room playing with her "pretty box" from Sophia and was too busy to come downstairs!


Then this afternoon, we laid her in her bed for naptime and she did NOT get out of bed and just went to sleep! i am amazed and so very proud! My sweet Sugarbelle is growing up! Ahhh!!

this sling is my new favorite thing...

having a newborn with intense reflux, comes a constant need to be held to ease the pain on her tiny tummy... i ordered this cute sling that came in the mail today. it is AWESOME. not only do i really like how it looks, ella has been asleep in it for over an hour now - while i have emailed with TWO hands, made sandwiches and done other various things for the children. Oh how nice!!

Mia's very 1st Pigtails!!

After waiting for two years to "fix" my sweet girls hair, she has finally grown enough to officially have little pig tails! She is adorable and loves them! She keeps saying to me "My pretty, Mama!"

4th of July!

Ella almost 11 weeks old









Devon (11 mths), Mia (2), Maren (7), Ella (2.5 mths), Aidan (4), Jackson (4)









Aidan Mike









Ella in her 4th of July outfit! Bow from Aunt Mimi and star shoes too!














Our 3 cuties!

Princess Miabel!


Cousin Devon Grace, 11 mths old

to view more pics from the 4th and gatesville, go to:
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pictures from gatesville

A green eyed boy and a blue eyed girl









"plays well with others..." :)









playing in the gatesville rain









our new cousin Ava!










ella isabel, 10 weeks old