January happenings

I'm so behind on the blog! I still need to write about our trip to Texas and Christmas! I prefer to watermark all my photos but it can be pretty time consuming.. which puts me even further behind. I did find out that the program I use (BeFunky) just came out with a watermark program. Once I figure out how to use it that will really help a lot!



We got home from Texas on New Year's Eve and picked up our sweet puppy from the kennel. Poor thing had a bit of kennel cough and needed a couple prescriptions. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and he got over it pretty quickly!

S begged for a blonde, blue eyed Wellie Wisher for months last year. I asked her several times if she was sure she wanted a blonde instead of one that looked like her. She insisted she wanted the blonde. Well, she opened it on Christmas morning and set it aside. The next day she said she wanted to give the Wellie Wisher to one of her blonde cousins ha! We decided to sell it once we got home and I started looking for a secondhand, brunette American Girl doll. S turned up her nose at every single one I found on eBay or Facebook marketplace but ultimately decided this $24 doll from Wal-Mart was exactly what she wanted lol! She's hilarious! One of S's middle names is Isabela so she named her doll "Ella Isabela". :D

This little crazy is not interested in potty training. She turned 3 in October. We've bribed her with sweets, new toys and more. She'll be interested for a day or so and then want to go back in diapers. I told her yesterday that she'll have to stay in the baby (toddler) class at church and can't move into the 3 year old class until she's potty trained. It didn't phase her. She just grinned and said "Ok!" Ha! I asked if she wanted to be wearing diapers in kindergarten and she was like "Yeah." I don't know what to do with this child. The older three were trained the week they turned 3 and never looked back but Indie just does things her own way..



All our spring programs are just starting up again! S used to hate dance and begged to quit for months! I told her she had to try the older class before she could quit. She's gone to the older class (5 to 7 yr olds) for three weeks now and LOVES it! She was the one begging to go to dance this week ha! I knew the pre-k class was too boring for her. She does better around older kids (more of a challenge) than younger kids.

JG and I did a Girls On The Run 5K a few weeks ago. I walked the entire time but it was still fun! It was such a beautiful, spring like day! 

Both older girls had birthdays this month! S turned 5 last week and JG turned 10 this week! My mom flew out to surprise S for her birthday and stayed through JG's birthday!

S got another doll (Our Generation) for her birthday! She named this one "Honey Isabela" :D



Of course she had a to have a Ninja Turtle cake too!

JG turned 10 this week! I can't believe I have a ten year old! Her big gift was having her room redecorated. She got a dresser, desk, curtains and several accessories. I need to get a pic of her room. It's still a work in progress but looking pretty cute! She decided one a teal and coral theme.

The guys went camping with Trail Life last weekend so my mom and I took the girls to eat at Macaroni Grill and then over to the American Girl doll store. This was the first time the little girls have been since they were babies and our first time to the Charlotte store. This store is much smaller than the one we've gone to in Dallas but has a play area that I don't remember the one in Dallas having. The little girls had the best time playing with all the Bitty Babies for over an hour! Poor L missed her nap and was in meltdown mode by the time we left but they had so much fun while we were there!

With all this doll shopping/window shopping we've done lately we haven't seen a doll that really matches Indie very well until we happened to see this one at Target a few days ago! The curly, dark blonde hair, brown eyes and light olive skin are perfect for Indie! We've told her she can get this doll as soon as she's potty trained but even this bribe doesn't seem to be working right now. :/

The girls and I took my mom to airport Friday morning. It was really nice having her out here for just over a week!

October happenings

Another busy week around here!! 

 My mom came into town last Thursday evening! You can see how excited the little girls

were to see her!!

 We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner afterwards. We always love looking around the shop

at all the toys and knick knacks!

 I thought this platypus was just adorable with the sparkly beak and feet. I guess it's

a platypus lol?

The miniature toys were really cute too!

  Alex loved the oversized lollypop!

I thought this rocking swan would be adorable for a baby girl photo shoot! Izzy's 

a little too big for it though haha! 

Friday morning Indie Grace had her last, in home, OT visit with her awesome

therapist, JoAnne. Indie turns three later this week and will be aging out 

of therapy through the state. 

Friday evening my mom, the kids, the puppy and I all walked down to the neighborhood

pond and playground. This was our first time walking around the pond. The kids and

puppy loved it! Since we moved here in the summer it's just now cool enough to get out 

and explore a bit. 

 We love having my mom here but I think the kids may be wearing her out a bit.

Saturday morning my mom, Gabby and I went to Nest Fest and got a signed copy of The Nester's new book, The Cozy Minimalist. Here's Gabby sitting in the tiny trailer that's currently on the cozy home tour. The trailer is adorable! It was raining off and on at Nest Fest but we had fun! We visited all the booths, bought a few things and thought about getting something to eat from the food trucks (everything smelled delicious!) but decided we would rather sit down in a cozy restaurant so we went to Macaroni Grill instead. Macaroni Grill was yummy.. as always.. and perfect for a cold, rainy day.

Sunday morning we were excited to have friends join us for church, then J and I worked in Alex's second grade class for second service. Sunday afternoon we hosted life group at our house. We had a big crowd.. it was noisy but fun!

I think we stayed home all day Monday...

Tuesday morning Indie Grace had her first OT visit with the private therapist. (She had her evaluation with them over the summer so she was a little bit familiar with their office when she went in yesterday.) She had a great visit and will be going back every Tuesday! Tuesday evening Alex had Trail Life and all of us girl's browsed around Target. I bought one tray from the dollar (five dollar) bin. And went around collecting ShopKicks ha! I just started doing ShopKicks again and the kids love helping out and scanning things!!

I had my yearly check up this morning (fun, fun!). The girls have dance this afternoon and then Gabby goes to American Heritage Girls right after dance. The rest of us will probably do a little shopping and browsing around while Gabby is at AHG. The kids like to hang out at Pets Mart and I think I'll go back to Target for a couple things that caught my eye last night.

Tomorrow (Thursday) should be a pretty lazy day until afternoon when Gabby has Girls On The Run and I pick up the neighbor kids and bring them home for a couple hours. Honestly, last time they were here it was QUIETER with 6 kids in the house than it normally is with just my 4. Not sure how that happened but it was nice ha!

Indie Grace turns THREE on Friday! I can't believe it! Time has flown by. It's hard watching my youngest grow out of the baby stage and so bittersweet for me. Three is officially "not a baby" any more. She's super excited to go out to Starbucks with her daddy Friday morning for a little birthday breakfast! We'll have a cake and presents sometime later. With Alex going to school early and J working late it's hard to get the whole family together for birthday celebrations but we'll figure something out. She wants a Minnie Mouse cake and but I haven't been able to find Minnie Mouse cake topper so we settled on these little squishy Minnie keychain faces ha! I guess they'll have to do.

We've been planning to go up to Asheville for the day on Saturday. But it's looking like there might be a chance of rain on Saturday so we may just skip it and stay close to home. Our neighborhood is hosting a kid friendly, haunted Halloween walk around the pond Saturday evening so we may just 

do that instead.

Alex was really excited to be one of the first viewers to email and respond to 

the "Axel & Daddy" YouTube show last week. He'll be getting a piece of real

silver in the mail and gets to a be a special "Secret Agent" for their program. 

Exciting things for an 8 year old boy! :) 

Hope everyone is having a great week! I have another fun review coming up soon and my first giveaway coming up too! :)

You can see my past reviews here, here and here. 

busy week

We have had such a busy, busy week and I haven't really taken that many pictures. 

I got a free Graze box in the mail a few days ago. The mixes were delicious!! 

My birthday was a few days ago and I spent the morning at the DMV renewing my license. Then we met friends at Chik-Fil-A for lunch and met Indie's new occupational therapist when she came by that afternoon. She's super sweet and Indie really liked her! 

My oldest made the birthday banner for me and made a variety of sandwiches for herself and the other kids for dinnner. Alex made me scrambled eggs with cheese. They did all this while I was laying down with a migraine and called me to come downstairs when it was ready. They also had Toby Mac (their favorite!) music playing on YouTube. It was so cute and sweet! 

J works a late shift and didn't get home until 9:30. He surprised me 

with this delicious Oreo ice cream cake after work!

Thursday morning poor Sol had to go to the dentist to have 2 cavities filled. It wasn't fun and she 

cried through half the procedure. I had to hold her hands down part of the time. :( Thankfully she

bounced back quickly. Unfortunately she has two more upcoming visits within the next month or so.

I asked about putting her under next time but that seems a little over the top. They said she could take Valium but that could make her sleepy and out of it for the whole day which I know she would hate. I guess we'll just try the laughing gas again next time and hope it goes a little smoother. She's looking forward to getting a "fancy" toothbrush that she can decorate with stickers after her next appointment. :) We stopped by McDonalds for a strawberry shake after her appointment on Thursday. 

I don't remember McDonald's shakes being this fancy when I was a kid. 

This looks like a pink frappucino!

 We went to the pool a couple afternoons this week. The kids are still

having so much fun with the watermelon float.. if they're not fighting over it ha!

Indie will sit on this thing, all by herself, and float around the pool! This child has made a complete turn around since the beginning of summer! I'm sure I've said it before but the pool is like therapy for her. We are so amazed at all the progress she's made since early June. 

We have a busy weekend coming up and an even busier week, next week, 

with fall activities starting up again! 

I'm linking up with Friday Favorites, 
High 5 For Friday and Friday At The Fire Station