Fun in the Sun!

Some summer fun in the sun underway! I am a little behind no surprise at updating the blog, but it is really difficult to keep up right now...a good thing I may add...but I have missed my late night and before bed blogging efforts:) I don't have too much to say other than this is the last picture that shows 5 little birdies...it was taken last week...did I mention I was behind in postings? Now we only have 4...it was sad because I checked on them the next morning after I took the picture and it just vanished :( Wait until I get caught up - you should see them today...they resemble the "adult" version so much now. I'll have to do more posts later tonight on that one and some more fun stuff!

Just some pretty flowers I thought I would share...I am still growing impatient at my hydrangeas that I have never had problems in front:)...but these will do for now...they are 'kind of' located in my little "purple" section of the flowers. I didn't intend for that to happen but it ended up so.
Now these pictures were my intentions. I took a night off from everything and just set up the sprinkler when Bobby was out of town - a spur of the moment kind of thing...the girls LOVED it! However, I only did 1/2 power as to have Hayley feel more comfortable. Madison kept sneaking to the side of the house to turn it full blast....then it was a "please stop so Hayley may have fun too or it will be turned off." I just thought these were some cute pictures of the girls having fun...Hayley wasn't too hesitant, and of course Madison thought she was speed demon through it! They had a lot of laughs which always makes everything fun!
Kind of blurry....but I still love the picture...you can still see how excited she was:)
These were just one morning the girls before our run...they looked cute in their hats. I didn't realize the one of Hayley turned out blurry until now...gotta love their smiles though.
Blessings from all of us!

Family Visit!

We had family up from Thursday until Monday during Father's Day weekend, and it was such a fun time. However, I am missing pictures from the entire week prior to Father's Day and during the family visit...these are all that I have of our weekend...I am missing Hayley's first time at the pool, Madison's videos at swim lessons, some pictures of Hayley and I, as well as more pictures of my nephews. Madison grabbed my camera and was acting like she was taking pictures of Hayley which she has never touched this camera before. But ALL of the pictures were erased. Yet again!:) Nothing I can do anything about, but for me since I know the pictures were there it was a little difficult...obviously I didn't get her in trouble or anything...however, she did seem to fix an issue we were having with the camera when she had it...so a little plus I guess you may say too. So we will just have to plan on redoing Hayley and Madison at the pool this weekend hopefully!

My sister and nephews came up to visit from Arizona which we haven't seen in a really long time so it was a fun weekend. We BBQ'd, swam at the pool, ate at the Cheesecake Factory, celebrated Father's day, and had some fun in the evening together:). On Saturday, my Aunt Mary and cousins Addie and Lexie came so they could see my sister and nephews too so we had a really fun day at the pool and at night together.

Connor really took special note of Madison since she was able to really play and everything...they would chase one another around my parents home and he came over on Saturday for a bit after Madison woke up from nap - Hayley really slept long that day from being at the pool earlier...it wiped her out! But Madison and Connor played in the loft for awhile before we headed back over. Here is Austin and Hayley using the easel and chalk...Hayley is really started to get into chalk outside, on the easel, and with colors. Although we have to watch her with crayons still...

Madison and Connor sitting on my parents sofa together...they were so good with her over the weekend!

Hayley was napping at my parents house when this picture was taken so that is why she isn't in it...but just a cute picture of Madison with her cousins she hasn't seen since she was 4 months old!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!!!!

The girls just love their Daddy so much, and we spoiled Daddy with all kinds of gifts that day for Father's Day...so that is always so fun because Bobby always gets excited about gifts for him and especially ones that the girl's made. I took the girls to Imagination Pottery in town because after the girl's turned 1 - I take them to make a plate for Daddy. Madison wanted to make another one too - so Daddy has 2 from her now...but that's okay...they had so much fun doing it. However, the day I took them she tried to tell Daddy so we had our first little discussion about how it was a surprise for Daddy and one of the only times you don't tell something to someone until you give them the surprise gift. She really listened because she didn't say a word about it and would talk to me about how it was a surprise for Daddy! How cute:)

Happy Father's Day to Bobby for being a terrific Dad the girls just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!
While Mary was up for the weekend...my mom celebrated her birthday and of course Madison wanted to sit with her while she did cake:). Connor and Austin's birthdays are in July so we also did that celebration on Friday at the Cheesecake Factory, and Madison just insists her birthday is coming soon again too:)

And here is a picture of all us girls (cousins and my sister)...now that I think about it we are also missing a picture that Bobby took of my entire family together...darn! But I am pretty sure you may be able to tell who is my sister...just don't look at the hair color...we had a fun night on Saturday staying up late together!
Some of my favorite things about seeing the boys and things they did was:

Connor - he came over for a bit by himself on Saturday with the girls and wanted to paint on the easel. Of course...Madison had to be "project manager" which we are working on that she isn't too "bossy" with that, but she wanted Connor to paint a princess crown for her...he did and it was soooo cool! He did a fabulous job and made Madison's day! The funny thing is when Austin came over on Sunday he wanted to paint too which I hadn't changed over the paper and he painted right over the crown! That just shows you brothers! How funny.

When we were headed to the store with the boys...we saw my biggest fear...a snake in the road. My dad said something to the boys about it and of course they wanted to see it so my dad backed up (we were still in our subdivision). Austin made me die laughing! He said "OMG...it's ALIVE!!!!" I just lost it with laughter because he was sooo surprised it was alive. My nephews are 8 and 6...well after their birthdays in July. It was nice to see family, and we are gearing up for next Saturday now to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday with my Dad's side of the family!
Even though I don't have pictures to show Hayley's first day at the pool she did great. She wanted to be held and sat in this flotation crab with us playing with her too. It was so fun to see both of my girls just loving the water! Madison was a natural and so comfortable in the water. She had a vest on, but one that allows her to still move about and swim...how fantastic she did...playing with Hayley too until everyone else arrived at the pool.

Blessings from all of us!

More Surprises on Monday and Tuesday...

What I just thought about after downloading these pictures was that I hope everyone is okay with the pictures of these cute little birdies...and their lack of hair in most of them doesn't gross anyone out. I don't typically get bothered by much, and I have relatively a strong stomach so I forget to think about that for others...

Anyway, I just did a posting on the lil' guys the other day but exactly one day later - two more hatched and how cute are they?!

So on Monday before I layed Madison down for her nap I took her outside to see them, and she was so excited and you can see her peeking in...she just loved see how small they were!
And on Tuesday....this is what the little nest looked like...all of them were hatched and apparently a little hungry too. After dinner last night, I got this fun sprinkler out for the girls which I will have to show later too, but the little momma was so upset because we were in the front yard and she kept flying to the neighboring homes with a worm ready to feed her little babies... I hope you enjoy the pictures of the birdies...I feel way behind with posting other fun things so I will need to do that soon:)

Blessings from all of us

And a baby has arrived...

We had family up over the weekend so I will have another post about that maybe later tonight...but a neglected yard I had last night after arriving home...no big deal...however, I decided to take a peek at the little birdie eggs...and we now have a little baby bird...why of course...I then had to get a few pictures to share...so here you go...and oh how cute the little baby is...of course it didn't make the little mama happy at all that I took my hanging plant down to take a peek :) I hope you this cute little bird as much as me!

Blessings from all of us!....And this fun picture of Bobby is him getting rid of a wasp nest in our drain...if any neighbors saw us they were probably laughing because he looked ridiculous ... and mostly hilarious at the same time:)

Today was a pretty fun day...swim lessons cancelled AGAIN! But the afternoon turned out pretty lovely! I took the girls running after their lunch time with me...a few weeks ago as we were driving out of our subdivision I had to stop my car not far from my house because a turtle was crossing so I just grabbed it to put it across the street. Anyway - for 2 weeks Madison has been talking about finding another one because I promised the next one we found or saw we could bring it home so she could really see it. What do you know right as I was coming around the turn on our street on the way back we see the turtle in the middle of the street. Madison was so excited so we carried it home...and I grabbed the camera. As I stopped with me holding it...I wanted the girls to touch the shell...of course...Hayley was like "let me see it!" and touched the shell. Madison was a little more hesitant...thinks and evaluates everything...like me...and decided to give it a go and touch the shell too. She was soon very fond of the turtle after that! I put the turtle by some flowers in a mini flower bed we have so she could get a closer look. How neat...This next picture it kind of looks "not happy" at all...but it gives you a great look of it. It was soon trying to get to the grass to go across our street, but along the way I got some great pictures of Madison with it!Madison has a cute little face when she got out of the jogger to see it. She was so excited to bring one home!
As it was going through our grass to cross the street. Madison very matter of factly told me "she was going on a walk" with the turtle!

I love these next two pictures...I only made them smaller so hopefully they would be side-by-side but you never know since it changes when you post sometimes:). But so cute as she is right there to look at the turtle and see what it is up to.
The turtle finally made its way to the street to go across since there is a creek across the way...Madison turns to me and says "The turtle needs to go back with its Mommy and Daddy now. BYE Turtle!" she says. I was grabbing Hayley to walk to Madison to ensure she wasn't crossing the street with the turtle...she turns to me and says "Mommy you didn't tell the turtle bye! Tell the turtle Bye!" Oh Madison....I said now how should you ask me that... She says "Please Mommy!" Then of course I told the turtle bye and we watched it cross the street (our street is not really busy at all so it was okay to do that:))
In the meantime Hayley was trying to move the rock...how cute:) Right in there with the mulch and dirt - I love it! Maybe too because we weren't going anywhere and I was all yucky too from running myself:)
One of Hayley's favorite things is to play peek-a-boo and hide and "look around" things. We were playing, and she climbed on the porch all by herself. Of course I said "peek-a-boo" to her because she loves when I do that out of the blue, and she peeked her head around...I just love that shot of her:)
And what do you know...the one place we don't have mulch because we keep FORGETTING she finds and dirties up her sandals and outfit...no big deal...washable right...the best thing was she picked up the mud to just squeeze between her hands...we headed in after that because naptime and so I rinsed her off in the sink because bathtime at night. She loved it...Hayley thought it was the best thing and cried when I took her out:) I guess another Lowe's trip :) HA! You know we went there actually last weekend just to get mulch but walked out with "no mulch."

Have a great day everyone! Blessings from all of us!

It is so fun this summer...as a side note...because I dropped a responsibility and have so much more time for fun, family, work, and running! I never realized how much time I did devote until these past couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong...I loved the serving part of the position and doing things for others...but I really enjoy more time too now! :)

La, La, La, La....

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the least...of course it started off with thunderstorms and rain which I typically LOVE just because the sound is so calming and peaceful...plus it is an easy excuse not to go anywhere :)...sometimes that is nice :)

Well when both of the girls were up eating breakfast when it was storming - and a big thunder happened...Hayley's eyes got huge...and Madison says "It's okay Hayley - no windows are broken!" .....hmmm.....what?! I died laughing because I had never heard such a thing come out of her mouth...I didn't know she knew noises from Thunder could do that...she has never seen any windows broken before...or anything broken for that matter....just cute though because it was so matter of fact and so serious :) She knew exactly what "Madison was sayin'!"

Madison's swim lessons ended up getting cancelled...but we didn't know until we arrived in the down pour of rain...the experience to get there was once again hilarious because of Madison of course. So because it was the down pour of rain...I was going to pull the car into the garage while Madison was sitting on the potty before we left...oh my goodness...well I was just about to pull in the garage and she comes running out...completely naked to the end of the garage right before I was going to pull in (naked because we had to take her swim suit off to go potty)...granted our garage is an entire other topic...but she then let Cadence out, our dog, so she was starting to dart out of the garage...then felt the rain so I was able to catch her...meanwhile I am yelling at Madison - oh yes...I yelled at her for this - to get back in the house "right now." She has never been left I don't know why she thought I was going to leave her today...plus she was outside naked for about 30 seconds...I was completely mortified...mortified for real and praying the neighbors didn't actually see this take place. I am completely soaked...Cadence is as well...I go back in and just upset with Madison...still mortified about her being naked OUTSIDE! We had a discussion about that where I also explained that she was not being left - I was pulling the car in the garage since she was safe and sound on the potty (which I have done before when it was raining...no big deal before).

When we get to her swim lessons they are cancelled...after dragging them out again...I wasn't the only mom who showed up #1 I didn't get the call until after I already left #2 when all this was going on I didn't see any lightening...otherwise I wouldn't have been outside myself having that experience with Madison...oh well...what could I do other than laugh at that point, right?

Before we left I thought I would go ahead and change Madison into her regular clothes and I brought her rain boots to help her not get too wet. Can we say "drama" with her. Sometimes I don't even know how to handle it other than pray that this much drama will soon pass...is that getting my hopes up too much :)? We were literally in the restroom for 15-20 minutes because she had to go potty but wouldn't go potty. Everytime I said we were leaving if she didn't go she got upset because she needed to go "tinkle" she said... but would never go everytime I put her back on the potty. Come to find out she didn't want to leave because she thought I was punishing her with no swim lessons because of her attitude. Quite frankly I was about to anyway...so with Madison...she likes to see things for herself...so I told her that if she would go potty I would show her the pool was closed for the day and "no one" was actually in there. She was okay with that...I showed her and she said "that pool is not closed!" (well she thought so because water was in it). Oh yes it is my dear...do you see anyone in the pool? No...then it is closed today because of the weather, rain, lightening, etc. I also had to explain they don't drain the pool everytime it is closed. She was okay to go after that.

So on the way home I decided to stop at my favorite Hallmark (one reason is because there is actually room to push the stroller in there unlike the one we have in our town and secondly, their stuff is really cute and so many choices!) We were already wet anyway so no big deal to get out of the car anyway and a perfect time to get Father's Day cards. Since she had her boots on...she jumped in a couple of puddles of water...kind of fun...made me want to have rain boots on too...but I had sandals on...not exactly the right shoes...and I was chilly from being soaked for the 3rd time already!

Later on that evening, I used a massage a friend had gotten me for my birthday...oh so wonderful and was over 3 years since I had one last...very, very nice! When I arrived home Hayley had the best hug for me - just basically jumped in my arms and wouldn't stop hugging me...now that is a great welcome home. Madison was on the potty - pulling with Daddy now that she didn't want to go but complaining she had to to him...I don't know why she is doing this all of a sudden because she has been potty-trained forever now it seems, but just a phase I guess like everything else she does. Bobby and I ate after Hayley was in bed...I started dinner for the girls before I left so we could eat later. Bobby said Madison didn't eat much so she wanted to eat "again" with us. This was honestly soooooo cute...she turns to me and says "Mommy what was your favorite?" My heart just sunk out of joy! When Daddy is home and we are eating dinner together I typically have us all go around saying our favorite part of the day so far...and since we all ate at different times last night...we didn't do it, but she remembered and it felt sooo good that she did. Bobby said "you don't do that when I am gone?" To be honest...not that often because all Madison usually says is dinner...which is sad that I say that and don't do it when he is away... I just didn't realize how much Madison loved to do that so I will have to start doing it regardless if Daddy is home or not.

You know what I realized...no pictures to post from today...sorry about that...just a story...well actually I have this one that Daddy must have took when I was gone...not from today...but it could have been :) since Daddy always puts Dora on for them...something I forget to do for them...maybe that is why Daddy is much more fun?! :) That brings me to my next little story...Hayley totally freaks out when she sees Dora - I mean dancing and trying to jump up and down, laughing...cannot even contain herself so excited...she loves Dora that much!

Oh...and before I forget you are probably wondering why I put that title...well on the way home a song came on where they said just that and it made me laugh because that is all you can do sometimes...I don't know what song it was...I am not good at song names...never have been...but it came on exactly the right moment when everything seemed to be going hectic!...Perfect timing nonetheless!

Have a great day everyone and Blessings from all of us!

And when they are unattended for a minute...

Just a short little post when I went downstairs to grab drinks for the girls and myself (on Thursday)...and came back to them being just cute...well Hayley doing trouble...but it could be much worse you know...

Madison has her own style going with her hat and wrapping her water headband around it...I love how she creates her own style...much more than her mommy has :)

Hayley has found her ways to open her drawers...tip toes work...
A big grab of my clothes...yes!!!

This would be great on the floor....
And another grab...

A much better angle to grab more...
What's going on mom? Smile and cheese...I am being good:) And of course Madison was trying to help put the clothes back in the drawers...one who is organized and one who intentially loves to create messes :)
Have a great weekend everyone! Blessings from all of us!

Crazy Hair and a little more swimming...plus an experience after the lesson

Sweet Sisters! Hayley woke up on Tuesday from her nap with some pretty crazy hair. Madison always loves to go in Hayley's room with me when she wakes up to help me, and the 1st thing Madison said was "Hayley has crazy hair!" It was so stinkin' cute. I get asked all the time if Hayley's hair has been cut yet because it looks styled (when it isn't crazy hair)...but it hasn't been cut yet. She has a bit of a wave to it and it is just growing so cute and thick, but this is what it looks like when she wakes up..so cute! We laugh because Madison used to have a little bit of a "Baby mullet" that everyone says I was in denial about...which now that I have seen some pictures...yes, I probably should have cut it sooner...the 1st hair cut is just so hard (for me).
Now I couldn't get over this smile below...just a cute face.
Miss Hayley having a graham...but with her not feeling well lately she really hasn't eaten much so this week she is doing better...and I'm trying to get some of the weight back on her...she is honestly the pickiest eater ever so very difficult...but all you can do is keep on trying!
These pictures from Madison's swim lessons below are mostly from Thursday. Tuesday - the day I didn't bring my camera - Madison jumped in the pool all by herself and without the floating belt on! So proud of her...for those wondering yes, the instructor was right there...But Madison hasn't done that before so I was super proud of her. Now they didn't do it on Wednesday so at the end of the class she just did it herself :).

This picture below - she did so well after a day of practice laying her head completely back.

This picture is pretty cute of Hayley looking at a Dora book. She does pretty good in the stroller - she doesn't last the whole time in there but even 1/2 of the time is nice for me and extremely good for both of my girls that have a difficult time sitting still :).

Madison for the first time went under the water by herself. Not her favorite thing to do and never has been...I was proud of her for doing it...I still think it scared her a bit...but you always have something to work on. She did so good and so neat she did it...she didn't want to do it a 2nd time though :)...once was enough for now.

To finish it off she was kicking pretty good again with the board! How fun!

So on Thursday we had an interesting experience after her swim lessons. I have debated whether or not to even blog about this...but I have always said you have to share those stories too, right?

The chlorine has been bothering Madison's eyes and I have a wash that takes off the chlorine, etc. so I brought it to rinse her off after swim lessons...so it isn't staying in her hair, face, eyes, & body until later on when we do bath time. So anyway...they have these family rooms - 2 of them...well I was going to use one of the them because in the locker room - they just have stalls of showers in a row which isn't too convenient with having Hayley with me too because I don't want all three of us getting wet...you know...plus I didn't want to sit Hayley in the aisle by herself as I rinsed Madison off. So I would have preferred to use one of the family rooms and one looked like it was open so I was about to walk in...and a mom came around the door or actually was standing in the door way (just couldn't see her until I walked up). So I stood there waiting for our turn...absolutely no big deal to wait. Well...it was one of the mom's from Madison's class...she has 2 girls in the class...she was waiting there all by herself...no kids...nothing...so you know what she does...stands there and holds the room...she has trained her kiddos to meet her there after each swim lesson...and she sneaks out a couple of minutes before to "hold" the room. Now granted her kiddos are around Madison's age - one older and one just a bit younger...so it would be way more convenient for her to use the locker room than me with a baby in a stroller that I didn't want to sit in the aisle by herself while I showered Madison...I just thought I would use the family room.

No big deal at first...I have grown a bit more patient with having kiddos...so I thought no big deal - she couldn't honestly take that long...we will just wait our turn because the convenience of that room was worth it because I could keep Hayley right by us in her stroller with the room locked and Hayley staying dry...but to where she could see us and be okay.

So...we wait...we wait...we wait...I was thinking 3-5 minutes went by but honestly without exaggerating it really was 5 minutes...she stood in the doorway waiting for her kids...not using the room and 2 more people were waiting behind me now!!!! I was so ticked off...I just thought "how rude!" She wasn't even using the room yet because her kids were in no rush...now for me...I would have let someone go ahead considering I was just going to rinse Madison off and change her and we are done. She just stood there and looked at me...I couldn't even make eye contact with her because I was getting really upset! So in the meantime Madison starts to throw a bit of a whiney fit because she is cold and having trouble getting her cover up on. Of course...I tried to help her...but need I mention again her independence & her never wanting "Mommy's help!" (under most and all circumstances). For me...I don't get embarrassed to let my child throw a tantrum in public...be whiney and if you don't want my help then that's fine, but she will have to figure it out until she lets me help her or she calms down. (My kiddos don't throw that many tantrums...knock on wood...in public...maybe why it doesn't phase me too much. I just always let her figure it out and don't play into those things because it will just encourage her to do it again if I do kind-of-thing. So you know what the mom does...refuses to look at me while she does this....walks up to MY DAUGHTER and helps her! I was still upset but trying to reinforce my manners with my child and telling Madison to make sure she says "thank you"...it is all about the manners...in looking back she probably was trying to help, but I was just really upset that she was "holding a room" and had the audacity to help my daughter when she was being quite rude by "holding the room while people even besides me were waiting." I wanted to say "please don't touch my daughter!" But I try to hold back when I should you know...just wouldn't have been right to say that in front of Madison and Hayley. So her kiddos finally get there....we wait another 10 minutes while the mom's behind me just say to me....you can go in the locker room to me! WHAT! "I wanted to say...you can too...I am waiting in line for the convenience of this one like everyone else." But of course...I just bit my tongue...said "whatever" to myself and walked off. So yes after waiting even longer...we ended up in the locker room and I just bit the bullet...Madison ended up crying because I was 1/2 out and 1/2 in to simultaneously help Madison and keep an eye on Hayley... Miss Hayley was growing impatient because she was back in the stroller...honestly I cannot blame her because she does so well sitting with me entertaining her for 1/2 the class. That was an experience after swim lessons for sure.

The whole time I just wanted to say to that mom "are you really making not only me wait, but everyone else too that was behind us...and holding a room that she wasn't using yet! What are you back in high school?!!!" But I didn't...I just didn't want her to get the best of me...and did not want her helping Madison since she was being quite frustrating to us...I guess that is where Madison gets the "I don't want your help" from, but it would have been different if she was not doing such a rude thing, in my opinion.

I just hope I am not the only one who would be bothered by that mom and incidence....

Thank goodness Madison just gave me a hug after it all...and we were ready to go!!! The rest of the day turned out nice yesterday with the girls...and I had a meeting that night. It was appreciation night for our husbands...but Bobby travels so I brought my dad...I wish I could have brought both of my parents...they are just a HUGE support in my business with help with the kiddos...but someone had to watch the kids and my mom does that most of the time so she wanted to do it again. But I just wanted to thank them for helping me out so much because before they moved here it was even harder and my parents are so flexible with me it is such a blessing to have that! My dad enjoyed it as several men were there too of course and some were asked to talk on how this business of their wives' has affected their life...so neat to hear their words and life changing for families...and what some have been able to do and how they have helped others because of our business.

That's it for today...I only blog about that because it is a BIG part of our life and me so I want to be honest and true to that too...so I hope no one minds that occasionally I like to talk about what I do and keep anyone from commenting :)

Blessings to you all!