A thing of the past

This

I'm afraid is slowly becoming something of the past.

Our little Ava Patrice, who has taken her sweet (and I do mean sweet) time to accomplish milestones so that we can savor each and every one...

Has become a little bit braver, stronger, more motivated

to let go...

Wardrobe Malfunctions?

We seem to have a continuing saga around here...Lily is in some ways ready for potty training but not in others. She hates her diapers & will take them off anywhere, anytime. It's her favorite thing to do before going to sleep at naptime & bedtime. I will go in to check on her & find her stark naked asleep. It poses a problem because I don't like to change a crib two times a day.

The funny thing is that I'm quite certain my mom put a curse on me when I was little...you know the one..."I hope you have a daughter JUST LIKE YOU!" See, I didn't wear clothes for several years of my childhood-in all the pictures, I'm naked, sometimes I have on a shirt, sometimes not. I assure you I grew out of it, so I'm positive she will too, it's just a question of how many times will I have to change the sheet before she does!

A few minutes after this picture, we find her completely naked playing with the new doll. This was at a friend's birthday party, where there were lots of guests!

She has worms in this picture.

This is a look ONLY a gal from Texas can pull off.

The Last Day...and the First Day

The last day of summer started with a big, rumbly thunderstorm...I think the skies were sad to see summer come to an end like I was! It was beautiful, sleepy weather...the kids even slept in. The 3 of us snuggled in bed for a long time, enjoying our last lazy morning.

After the rain, the kids dressed up and went looking for worms. Jack was a ninja, Macy a cowgirl, Lily a wrangler, and Ava was just giddy to be included.

I know the doll stroller is not approved for real use but it works so well for the kids! Haha!

And then we started school today.

Look at their excited, happy faces! I think they are glad to get away from their mean momma for a couple of hours a day! Both of them were really ready, up EARLY this morning so we wouldn't be late. Everything went so smooth...no shoes were missing, clothes were clean, backpacks in their places and WE HAD MILK. I wish every morning would go so well.

As we got closer to school, I got more & more sentimental, trying to hold it together long enough for Macy to get out of the car, lest she worry about me all day (that's the kind of kiddo she is). I've got several years of experience with first days of school, why the water works?? I'm still not sure, but I think just realizing how big Macy is, being in the 3rd grade, seeing her more mature and actually excited to start school for a change was hard on this mamma.

However, I put myself together after calling my sweet hubby for moral support & took only 2 kids to Sam's to shop...and it was mighty glorious! No one sassed me, picked up a million "I wanna" things, fought, begged, ran off, or threw a fit in an isle.

Maybe school starting isn't so bad after all!

Macy's Birthday Party

Pictures from Macy's birthday party...we had a pool party combined with her friend Gracelyn, which was very ingenious on their momma's parts! Ha! It all worked out great-the pool was huge with lots of fun things to do and some attentive life guards made our jobs easy. The unfortunate thing was the mosquitoes-they about packed us OFF!

I made horse & boot cookies with some crucial help from Nana-otherwise my hand would probably still be in the form of a claw!

George is an awesome uncle-he is always throwing the kids on or in SOMEthing...don't you remember how much you loved that as a kid??

And I know everyone says it about everybody's kids...but I can't believe how fast she's growing up. I remember her at Lily's age like it was yesterday. I wish there was a way that on your child's birthday, just for that day, you could go back in time to an age you picked. I think that would be so fun for a day! How I would love to hold my first born again & rock her, or have her say something like "el-fan-nent" or "lie-barry" at 2...even to go back to 5 when she wasn't so tall.

Savor every little moment...

Friday Funny

Oh, my...this makes me chuckle every time I watch it!

God may have outsourced

Last night we were reading the chapter in Matthew where Jesus tells us that God takes care of the needs of sparrows-how much more will he take care of us as His children & hubby presents the question to Macy:"All we need in life are food, shelter, & clothing-who provides those?" And Macy replies (being serious) "God, God, and China!"

She then referred to her clothing label to prove her point.

Melsey Vaca 2010

This my friends will be a biggie! Vacations always are for me though...

One of my oldest friends (she's not old, I've just had her around for a long time!) & I used to teach school waaaay back before we had kids. This means that we both had summers off...with no kids to take care of...wait, there was a time in my life before kids? Whaaa? Sorry-I digressed! Anyway, we had a lot of summer time on our hands so we would take trips together. They were funny & some day I'm going to post pictures from THOSE trips. So, fast forward & we both started having babies & the trips stopped.

Well this year we decided to take all the kids on a trip together again...the plan was concocted & involved renting a 12 passenger van & setting up multiple DVD systems so we could all go together (We have a lot of kids-see below). Do you KNOW how much a 12 passenger van costs to rent??? We decided our iPhones would make awesome walkie-talkies, we split the boys into one car, girls in another and headed for the mountains. It was one of the highlights of my summer...we had such a good time.

This was a little over half-way there-time to stretch the legs. Please notice that my 3rd child chose to wear her snow boots...in the middle of summer...almost the entire trip.

I think because we are both former teachers, we took lots of crafty things for the kids to do-play dough, paint for rocks, markers, tie-dye shirts, color projects, journals...and I think the kids spent the majority of their time outside picking grass & getting muddy. That's what the mountains are all about!

As an early birthday gift, we took Macy & Gracelyn for a horseback ride in the mountains. Both the girls LOVED it and didn't want to leave...we have promised Macy to take her back to see Daisy again this summer!

When we were about 30 miles outside of town, Keri pulled ahead & drove in front the rest of the trip...Cannon said when they pulled into the drive, "Mommy! We finally beat Amy!" Ha!! All this time I was winning the race & didn't know it!!!

Snaps

When we were home this summer...

Jack learned how to tie his shoes.

We have a debate in the hubby's family about tying shoes-apparently they all do it a different way than my family & so we argue about who is "right". I'm not saying who's right...but I do know that when I tie my shoes they don't come undone!! HA!! Soooo...that being said, I was nominated to be designated shoe-tie teacher in our family. I'm 2 for 2 so far.

Lily learned to pretend play by herself. She decided to have a picnic with her animals & set it all up herself.

This is how I found her after a nap...

I've included this picture to prove to her new teacher that she DOES know how to read & yes, she did do it over the summer-there will be doubt in the coming weeks. Oie, did we take a break from all things learning this summer.

And, though all 3 of my blog readers have already heard this story, I have to include it for posterity. Macy has a hard time with her teeth...they either don't get loose or they don't get loose enough to pull. She's lost 6 now-5 of them at the hands of our very dear dentist. So, at the beginning of summer I had to take her in with a tooth that just wouldn't come out. I also had the other kids, so I waited in the waiting room & she bravely went back there by herself. After about 30 minutes, she comes out with a mouth FULL of gauze & a grin. The nurse tells me that after they got her numb & pulled the first one, she said to the dentist "Well, I have another loose one beside it-wanna pull it too?" So, he obliged & then looked around & decided a third one was going to give her trouble & he might as well get it too while she was there & numb. She couldn't have been happier. I was cracking up-what kid loves to go to the dentist AND asks him to pull extra teeth??? And the tooth fairy was broke that night after visiting our house.

Fourth of July

Here's pictures from the Fourth of July...we hosted a get-together of friends. The burgers were yummy, the sides delicious...and the kids were hilarious! The fireworks, though post-poned (because of wind in these parts), stole the show. I'm loosely vowing to learn enough about my camera by next summer to be able to take pictures of fireworks!