What a week?!?

Let me start by saying, I love this picture of Ellie.
For several reasons.
One, because she is my first born and I love her dearly.
But also because I finally convinced her that a side ponytail would be cute.
And I can't help but notice the blue toothpaste on her shirt and the big wet spot where she tried to clean it off herself. :-)

We have had some good times lately...
and some really bad times.
I guess it could always be worse though, right?!?

Jeff's Christmas present:
UK tickets at Vandy.
GREAT game!!
Then, we spent the night with my parents because they kept the girls while we went to the game. At about 3am, my dad comes rushing in to my bedroom and said my mom was sick. I needed to get Ellie out of the bed with her. My mom was VERY sick. My brother and his family had it the week before and they were VERY sick.

So, we came home early the next morning and decided to play in the sunshine. That is, after we sprayed Lysol on everything, took hot showers, and washed all of our clothes. But, to no avail. This picture is amazingly cute and the girls look healthy as can be on their cute little scooters my parents gave them for Christmas...but Ava was SUPER sick that night.

Then, we got up Monday and everyone seemed fine, so we went about our business Tuesday.
Which is where this picture comes in. I get allergy shots now because I am allergic to EVERYTHING outside. They tell me not to let my injection site get larger than a quarter...uh, that was like 7 quarters?!? I finally measured it and it was over 3 1/2 inches! However, that turned out to be the least of my worries that night. Jeff came home SUPER sick...and I woke up at 1am SUPER sick. Thankfully (I guess is how you would put it), my parents had already had the bug and my amazing mom was able to come watch the girls. She stayed at our house, just in case Ellie got sick. Long story short, the girls ended up spending the night the next night at my parents' house and I don't remember much of any of it?!? It was HORRIBLE!!! I don't remember being that sick...except one time when we lived in Texas and I had to call my wonderful friend Sheri at 6am on a Saturday morning to come get Ellie because Jeff and I were so sick we couldn't get her out of her crib. Not fun! We are all over it now, though, and SO thankful...hope we are now immune to that stomach bug. (Everybody had different symptoms and thankfully, Ellie got the milder version with only a fever and sore throat.)

aaahhhh...back to my love of pictures.
I was so sick I didn't even LOOK at my camera those few days?!?
Now that I am better, let the nesting begin.
Not me, of course (although I have been doing some spring cleaning),
but we ALWAYS have little birds building nests in this house attached to our swing, so we watched out the window today as a bird chose this as its family's home.
The girls and I love watching the mama birds go out and get food for the babies, but have never seen them actually building the nest. Very cute!

Here's hoping for a better week.
Starting with Landy's (or Merk Merk's) birthday party tomorrow,
tubes again for Ava on Wednesday,
then we will be packing for a mission trip to Texas next week!

I'll tumble for ya...

So, Ellie has been working really hard in her tumble class and it has really paid off!! She can do her back roll...but only on the trampoline. Not on the floor yet...but she will soon! She's such a hard worker!!

JD!

My sister-in-law had minor surgery last week and needed someone to watch her 15 month old, so my nephew came to stay with us for the first time ever. I was a little nervous, not knowing how he would do, but he was amazing! WE LOVED EVERY MINUTED OF IT! I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do, but here are a few.


Isn't this the cutest frog you've ever seen??

My girls LOVED having JD around.
Naturally, Jeff and I asked them if they would like to have a baby brother or sister sometime.
Ellie said, "Nah, we can just borrow JD!"
HA!!! Good plan.

My little ladybug isn't so little anymore.
We called her "Mama Ellie" while JD was here.
She was a HUGE help!
(FYI: Landy used to call me "Mama Becky")

Ava knew JD made a "cheesy" face for pics and this is her version.

He is such a doll!!
Cutest boy I've seen in a while!

Sharing a seat with Ava - and making more cheesy faces!

I was nervous about how he would sleep...
he slept WAY better than I expected! I can't complain one bit!
One night, Ellie even found him in my bedroom floor on his "bed" holding his pooh bear (which he called "pooh-pooh"!). I guess we wore him out - he was ready to sleep!

I Love...

In trying to come up with a good valentine's day post, I thought I'd write about some things I love. One being a new blog I discovered of The Pioneer Woman. She's amazing. She does so many things that I love!! She started a list and I thought I'd do the same.

I love...

family. (I could list SOME of them individually, but don't want to play favorites, although I do have my favorites!!)

pictures. (Taking them and looking at them.)

babies.

hugs and kisses. (not the chocolate kind)

funny people who don't have to try to be funny. (Landy!)

good food and new recipes.

sweet tea.

Michael Jackson's music and dancing.

fun country music. (not the kind where your husband left, your dog died...)

music in general, most of the time.

adventures. (like the kind my parents took us on growing up)

bargain shopping.

my van.

my house.

Texas. (fort worth, anyway)

organization. (although I have none!)

snow days. (but only the first 1 or 2, then I'm done)

flip flops.

sunshine.

warm weather.

dancing. (although I want you to teach me the dance, I'm not good at freestyle!)

MY GIRLS (and almost everything to do with them!)

oh, my list could go on and on, but I want to go play with MY GIRLS!

letting some frozen rolls rise for a new recipe I'm trying

(tonight we're having chicken parmesan and rosemary rolls from the pioneer woman's recipes)

1. I have never used a cast iron skillet.
2. I have never made anything with rosemary in it.
3. I've never made chicken parmesan.

should be an interesting meal tonight!

my valentine's day flowers

He's a Hard Workin' Man!

My Dad and My Husband worked their hind-ends off yesterday! My girls and I had a great day hanging out with My Mom and some great friends who brought ALL of us dinner. It was a good Valentine's Day celebration. Not romantic, just family friendly, productive, fun, and relaxing (for me, anyway). Our closets are impossible, especially the girls'. SO, my parents came and helped us organize (my mom put some shelves together for my bedroom closet).

They started by taking EVERYTHING out of the closet...

Then, built new shelves.
There were shelving units in the closet, but it was just one big tall one in the middle and the side space was lost because the doors made it impossible to get to.

Then I put everything back in the closet...
AND IT ALL FIT!!!
I was able to free up a lot of floor space in our tiny play room, which made it feel much larger, which makes for more space to make a mess in! :-)

THANKS MOM, DAD, JEFF, AND LAUREN!
for your work, entertainment, and yummy dinner - that I had nothing to do with!

my Tishie

My sweet Tishie went to be with the Lord yesterday.
I know she is rejoicing with Him and loving on her Daddy ("Red") and Lista,
but she sure will be missed here on earth.

Lessons from my girls

So, Ava asks me EVERY night, "Mommy, why it's night-night time?"

To which I respond (EVERY night), "Because God made the day and God made the night. When it is dark outside, it is night and we are supposed to rest."

Not satisfied, Ava says, "Why?" (every night...)

Me: "We have to sleep so we can feel good when it's day time tomorrow." (every night...)

Ava: "Why?" (every night...)

We go round and round and I continually try to answer her question until she is satisfied.

Ellie never asked why very much. I keep going, but we have the same conversation (and sometimes if she wakes up during the night) over and over and over again. She'll get it one day...right??


On another note, Ellie has really been thinking and talking about dying lately. This was one of our conversations...

Ellie: "Ava, we are going to live a long, long time. Longer than Mommy. Mommy will die before us because she is older than us."

Me: "Well, that is usually how it happens, but sometimes unexpected things happen and younger people die."

Ellie: "Like what?"

Me: "Well, like car accidents. People don't plan to have car accidents, but sometimes they are bad enough that the people don't live. We don't plan to get sick, but sometimes people get sick enough that people don't live..."

Ellie: "Like Lista. She died before Tishie and Tishie is her Mom."

Me: "You're right. She had cancer and the doctors couldn't save her. She was too sick."

Ellie: "Well, Lista just died because God needed another angel."

I had nothing more to say...
You're right, sweet girl. He needed a new angel and He got a good one!!

Maybe a dusting, even up to an inch in places...

So, our "dusting" of snow that we were promised before we went to bed last night turned in to
7 1/2 inches!!!!! (and that's before the drifts)

It's a beautiful snow, all powder.
Perfect for skiing!

But since we can't ski here at home,
we made the best of it and played in the neighborhood.

Jeff built a snowman (with a little help from the girls), but I don't know how...
the snow is so powder"y" that it doesn't pack well.

Is this not the cutest little snow bunny you've ever seen?!?

And since Mickey Mouse is so popular around our house,
we thought it would be appropriate to make a Mickey Snow-Mouse!

The kids loved it!

Ava is still not too thrilled about walking in the snow,
but she sure enjoyed riding in the sled today!!
Our kids love the neighbors' kids and some of them came to play with us today.
A treat for all of us - they are all in school and play ball,
so we don't get to see them very often during the school year.

Snow and Buddies

Ellie and her Diz

Ellie, Lydia, and Avie -
Lydia is Ellie's best friend that she met at Mother's Morning Out.
Lydia and Ava could pass for sisters!

Lauren, Me, and Erin
so nice to have good friends
They also have 2 girls each, so we hang out a lot!

Christmas in Murray
Ellie took this with her new camera - nice.
I've cut my hair since then...see below. One side is waaaayy shorter than the other!

So, I think they missed the forecast a little...they predicted less than an inch, possibly up to an inch...AND WE GOT 7?!? Seriously? It's a beautiful day...should make for some great snow day pics!

Happy Birthday, Issie!

Issie opening her presents -
JD was not interested!

My princesses

Dad, Avie, Mom, Ellie, and Landy

Jeff and Me

Issie turned 6!

Tea partying
(notice her pinky - Landy taught her that!!)

At the tea party

More of the tea party

My mom made these - aren't they precious?!?

Ellie wasn't fond of the gloves!!

Somehow, I ended up with no pictures of my brother and very few of Elizabeth and Cathi - I have a few more on Ellie's camera, so I'll post those soon.