Break a Mommy's Heart...

I just dropped Ace off at his very first day of WEE School.

I had to call my own mommy and cry a little.

Hubs thinks I'm silly.

My brave boy, who squeezed my hand tight all the way in, put on his brave face.

When I took him in his class to meet his very nice teachers his hand was shaking.

When I told him I loved him and he was going to have such a fun day...

he had big tears in his eyes and his chin was shaking....

My poor heart just knows that there is no way my big, loving, chunk of a baby boy is old enough for preschool.

There's just no way.

I'm going to try to go to sleep now.

Hope you all have a great day.

Say an extra prayer for Ace today...

he's a brave, sweet boy.

Wednesday...

Alternately titled:

Sad Wednesday

Well, we knew it was coming...had to give up Sweet Girl today so she could go spend some time with her Granny.

While I'm sure I'm going to finally finish laundry tomorrow and maybe clean the bathrooms, I'm going to miss those sweet cheeks and smiles and snuggle sessions.

We did have a fun day though.

Hubs needed some new work boots, so we headed off and had lunch at Kuby's!

We left her in her car seat for lunch because it's a really small restaurant, and the high chair would have put her in a high traffic area.

This is the face I got when she got tired of her banana's...

Hubs hates bananas and thought the face was appropriate.

Maybe someday we'll feed him bananas and see if he makes a face like that!

I tried to get her to make it on video, but didn't succeed.

When we got home the weather was beautiful.

(The highest temp today was 80!!)

So we had some fun outside.

She thought it was fun to bounce her knees...

but was a little wary when Ace joined in.

I thought these pictures were cute...

this is before we picked up Bug!

Such a sweet helpful boy!!

The sad part came when I picked up Bug.

My kids are funny about planning.

Every day when they wake up, they ask

"What are we doing today?"

So, when Bug got in the car after school and asked that question she was VERY disappointed to know that when we got home we were loading up Sweet Girl to go to her Granny's house.

She cried.

Here's a pic I snapped when we put Sweet Girl in the car...

While I tell myself that she's crying because she's so sad to leave us,

I'm pretty sure she was just mad because she had been having fun playing in the living room when I put her back in her seat.

So, tonight it's a little quieter,

there's nobody to give a bottle,

no pack n play in my bedroom,

I put her little picnic toy back in the toy room.

sigh...

Tuesday...

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

Sweet Girl here!  I decided after Aunt M got a little wordy yesterday, I'd give you my highlights today.  Who would have thought she could use so many words and pics in one post??

This morning I woke up early and in a good mood!  I had my milk before we took Bug to school.

Uncle B came home this morning, and I was really glad to see him.  We hung out on the couch while the Aunt M washed dishes and bottles...we were having fun until he did something really mean.

HE STOLE MY BOOGER!

The one I was saving to show you.

Don't worry, though, I gave him a piece of my mind.

Aunt M decided after what she called a "dramatic episode" that maybe I'd benefit from a quick nap before we picked up my Nana for lunch...she was right!  I felt MUCH better.

Here I am hanging at Cici's...

I acted really cute and showed her my best "patty cake"

I also chewed on a little crust!

Uncle B watched me really close and made sure I wasn't biting it off!

Aunt M rode in the back of the van with me...

I smiled a lot!

I took another nap while the guys picked Bug up from school!

My Granmother called to check on me...

so we decided to go on over and spread around some of my cuteness.

That Granmother cracks me up.

She took me right away from my Aunt and whisked me off crying to the kitchen...

here's a little secret about Granmother's house,

promise you won't tell...

if you cry, Granmother will give you graham crackers!
Works every time!!

I like Granmother...and graham crackers!
We had fun, I played with the pretty necklaces and watched Ace and Pop play catch with the bouncy ball!  Ace throws really good!

Our last stop was to a place my Aunt called the hometown of some guy name Gene Autry.
Never heard of him, but I heard he was famous.
I ate my green beans and rice all up...

Yummy!
They were eating something called "breakfast for supper"
I learned I like scrambled eggs too!

My Aunt says I made a mess so good it reminded of her of when Ace used to sit in that chair!

Here's a shot of me outside with my Uncle!

He loves me a lot!

Well, that's my day Mommy and Daddy!
Another fun day.
Love you and will see you soon!
My aunt says tomorrow is our half way home day.
Have lots of fun!

Monday...

Alternately titled...

I Am Really Tired

(but everybody's asleep at 8:15!)

So, today is day 2 of Sweet Girl's stay.

How can you not love a day that started like this...

All smiles!

Today was a big day for Bug.

1st day of 1st grade!!

She got up pretty easily this morning, at her cheerios, and donned her twinkle toes...

She was super excited.

Ace, Sweet Girl and I walked her in to school and dropped her off at her class.

and in she went...

I'm including this picture for myself.

Because I'd like to remember the experience like this:

she stopped at the door,

hugger her mommy and brother,

put up her backpack,

walked to her desk,

turned, and waved goodbye.

In reality:

She walked in and never looked back.

No wave, no bye mom...

nothing.

So we headed home.

I'm excited to report that I did get to shower!

I know that you probably don't think that's an accomplishment worth mentioning, but I was proud.

(I don't think I've mentioned that Hubs was at work today.)

Next up was lunch with BFF!

(Who weirdly enough is also Sweet Girls aunt...strange, yes, but I'm not going to go into that right now)

We ended up hanging out at Cheddar's for over an hour just visiting and sharing 1st day of school stories...we might or might not have indulged in the cookie monster :)

I don't think Sweet Girl will tell!

I'll also mention here that Sweet Girl's mommy...she's a good packer.

I didn't full know this until I unpacked her bag last night and looked through our outfit options.

Every outfit was folded together,

and attached to every top was a coordinating bow!

Now, anybody who knows BFF knows that she is a shopper.

That girl can sniff a sale from a mile away!

So we headed to a shop nearby where we found 40% off the clearance price!!

We found Gram some sandals for cheap, and Bug some super cute dresses and tops.

Sweet Girl found a new friend while waiting on BFF at the dressing rooms...

So sweet!

Here's a little Where's Waldo Ace puzzle...

He's there, I promise!

Next stop was Gram's work.

Gram gave her a sucker...

That's what Gram's are handy for after all!

She was serious about that sucker!

Don't worry, though, mommy.

She dropped it on the floor right after that pic and we threw it away.

No cavities here :)

I left off pics of our next activity.

We picked up Bug at school.

I've now officially heard that today was the hottest day of the summer...

a roasting 106!

After parking, walking to the school and then back to the car we were all a sweaty mess!

I won't be sad if we never see 106 again.

Geez Texas...stop!!

We get that summer is hot.

Let's have some fall already!

I'll also veer off course for a minute to share a handy lesson I learned today...
after arriving home we were a little late for Sweet Girl's bottle.
She was letting me know about this problem.
So, I was in a hurry, we were hot, and I had (what I thought was) a brilliant brain storm.
I tried to give her the equivalent of a breast milk slushy.
(the milk was frozen when I started and wasn't thawing out quick enough for the thirsty party)
For the record...it was not a hit.
Sweet Girl likes her milk warm, not slushy.

So, since this is officially the longest most rambling post ever, we'll rush through the rest.

We ate dinner...I thought Sweet Girl was going to fall asleep on the table eating Cheerios.

BTW mommy, chicken and noodle dinner...

may as well being feeding her poo...or poison.

Didn't go over well at all.

Wish I had a video of that face and pseudo gagging episode...DRAMA!!

Next was bath time.

with our handy, ever present helper, of course...

He's loving Sweet Girl's being here!

I don't think she's quite as enthusiastic about him, but she's tolerating him :)

wiggling wardrobe change

and some wild wet hair!

After baths we had a date to iChat with Aunt Bec and K.

While we were waiting we Photoboothed a few pics for fun.

Sweet Girl played it up really good for Aunt Bec and K and loved to try to push all of the buttons!

Bedtime soon followed.

After wrestling with her for about 5 min I decided to do something hideous...

(i laid her down in her bed before she went to sleep)

I felt awful for the whole 2 cries she let out...

before she was sound asleep :)

Little goofball!

Here I am, raised 2 kids of my own, and I thought you had to rock and rock and rock to sleep.

Ok, sorry for all the rambling!

Mommy...we're having a good time!

Hope you and JJ are having a GREAT TIME!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow!!!

Sunday...

We have a visitor this week.

She's cute,

chubby,

happy,

snugly,

active,

smells good,

and we've got her on loan!!

Sweet Girl is here!

Her mommy is missing her in "Old Mexico"

(Bug's differentiation...as not to be confused with New Mexico)

So, you guys will have to bear with me...her mommy's got to know what we've been up to.

So, I'll be honoring subjecting everybody to the Daily Sweet Girl Update!!

First, I have to hope there's some sense of humors out there, because I can't help but share this first.

I woke up this am to this txt from Sweet Girl's mommy.

It said

"We are gonna have to get her on suicide watch I guess"

I couldn't quit laughing!

Her mommy took this pic the night before they left at Gram's house.

She had already mentioned that Sweet Girl was fussy and acting like she knew she was going to get left behind soon.

And don't worry...it's a toy!

So, JJ and Aunt C dropped her off and we went to church while Hubs dropped them off at the airport.

We had a good service, and Aunt Amy in the nursery made sure she had a little nap.

After we headed to our favorite after church place...Dickey's.

And you can't go to Dickey's without...

She loves her ice cream!

Since school starts tomorrow, our next stop is Sam's.

We had to stock up on school lunch stuff.

I'm kicking myself right now...

there was the cutest photo op while there.

It was milk time and Bug crawled up in the buggy with Sweet Girl and held her bottle up for her.

However...my phone was in my bag, behind bug...dern.

Never fear though.  I'll do better tomorrow.

Next was Kroger.

We were out of milk and PB.

Anybody who knows Bug knows that you can't go without milk.

Once again, I'll have to hope all of you have a sense of humor.

When checking out at Kroger I had Sweet Girl and Bug, a cart full of milk, yogurt, a loaf of bread and several other miscellaneous items.

One of the ladies who works there saw that I had my hands full (I was carrying Sweet Girl because her feelings got hurt) and decided to help me unload my cart for the checker...

she picked up my bread and very nicely told me that I needed to pick a different bread because WIC doesn't buy the kind I had chosen.

I very nicely told her that I was buying my own groceries today.

Then couldn't help but worry I looked a little tired or should have picked a different outfit for church.

Anywhoo.

Once we finally got home I realized that I was going to have a WHOLE lot of help...

I was wondering if there would be any jealousy or problems.

My kids are just as over the moon for this girl as I am!

We have run into a mild jealousy issue, but not from ACE...

but from Libby.

She's being gentle and quiet,

but every time I'm holding Sweet Girl, she's right there with me :)

So, we've had a good day.

It's been fun having a little one around!

And one parting shot...

She's tucked in for the night sleeping like an Angel!

Wordless Wednesday...

Speaking of Cousins...

We can not get enough of this girl!

I call her our "big-ol-chunk of love"!

She's actually going to be staying with us for a few days soon and we are all 4 excited!

My kids are counting the days!

Here she is with Pop.

She's happy for 2 reasons:

1.) She loves Pop

2.) Granmother gave her a graham cracker

(she loves to eat)

She's growing up so big!

Fun With Cousins...

One of my favorite things growing up was playing with my cousins!

We had such a great time and still get along really well.

This rowdy, sweaty crew of cousins had a lot of fun together recently...

climbing trees and running around.

They had a great time!

P climbed the highest...of course, she's the oldest and had to set a good example.

Ace, the youngest would not be left out!

And, poor Bug...she's a little too cautious to be a good tree climber.

Immediately after this picture she had a meltdown and insisted on help to GET HER DOWN immediately.

This next picture still cracks me up...

Ry is a year older than ACE.

They are the same height.

Ace out weighs him by a good 15 lbs.

And ACE loves to help people out!

I am so glad that we have such fun with cousins!

Bad Blogger...

I'm behind again...

big surprise.

We've been finishing up summer with a bang.

I can hardly believe that school starts in less than 2 weeks!

Geez!

So, anywhoo.

As I told my uncle,

I haven't not been blogging for lack of material.

The kids and I took a little jog up to Missouri several weeks ago to visit one of my oldest friends and her 3 kids.  We had a good visit, and the kids played well together and J and I were able to visit.

I got a lot of quality time with the baby too, just to free up her mommy to spend time with her bigger kids and do some packing.

Here's a few of the pics I caught while there.

Unfortunately my camera batteries went out at the pool we visited, so most pics are from my phone.

The big girls!

Precious girl...Just want to eat-her-up!!

She was so sweet!

And heaven help my heart...

There is nothing quite like soft, tiny, grabbing baby toes!

And, just in case you've never seen trouble,

brace yourself...

There you have it!

5 kids in the back of a minivan...

guaranteed, 1 person minimum will be crying at all times.