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!

Growing in Numbers...

Just a short little post, but I wanted to give an update on the growing number of our friends - which I actually checked on Wednesday...the numbers have increased so much since my last checking...I just couldn't believe it! I have never had this happen in my plants before and so neat where I can check on them a few times a week...you know it is the little things like this that can make you smile :)

Blessings from all of us!

My little Fish!!!!

Today was Madison's 1st day of swim lessons!!! (As you may tell I am having to backdate this because it took all week to get these downloaded...so very frustrating as I have had so much to say this week!) Anyway - it is finally completed so here is how her first day went:

Madison did so well today and was sooo excited - I was a proud, proud...did I say proud Mommy?! (Or lately it has been more of calling me "Mom"...which is so grown up but a whole other topic too :)). She just so easily makes friends too - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that about her. She sat right down when we go there and just got into her swim lesson! I had so much fun watching her. The best part is that she made me feel so good while I was there! Every once in awhile she would glance back at me just to make sure I was watching her to see all the new things she was doing. It was just so neat to see how independent she is (I think you have read that before from me :))...because believe me independent she is, but all that she is still my little girl who loves to know that I am around to see her do such neat things too! My sweet little girl took the time to help the little girl next to her with her belt too - I got a picture of it, but a little hard to see - but you can tell. Just a sweet girl she is. I love her willingness even at her age to be so nice and helpful to others (and to me too!). She had so much fun and same time and same place through Thursday of this week and then next week too...more to come later in the week too.

Blessings from all of us!

Here she is waiting for class to begin!




She was all smiles almost the entire time - she got right in all by herself after her instructor told them too.

And she is already kicking the water - always has been one of her favorite things to do in the water.



Here she goes - the kickboard - and she did so well. I didn't post this picture but when her instructor had her turn around to come back - the first thing she did was look for me :)

Here is the picture I was talking about - helping the little girl with her belt - just so cute! The next picture I just loved of her because she didn't know I was watching her.

At the end of the first day they did a little train where they kicked their way around and as they went by us - they waved (awe!)

Madison really enjoying the kickboard again. I know there is a lot of pictures but hopefully you enjoyed them as much as me.

***Update on our new friends!***

No pictures today...but I am happy to report that we now have 2 blue bird eggs in my hanging plant - HOW neat. I went to check to see how they are doing and the mama flew out...I saw an additional egg.

On another note, I am highly disappointed. Madison started swim lessons yesterday and boy how exciting. She is marvelous and LOVING it. However, for some reason my pictures will not upload so I am post poning that post because you won't want to miss how stinkin' cute and brave she is! More to come this week...but that's it for now...just a busy week and trying to keep up.

Blessings from us! Martha

An "Old Friend" plus a "New One" Possibly Arriving

An "old friend" is back again. He has been here for 4 summers now...such a cute little guy. I guess we assume it is the same toad...but it has always been the same spot. He started showing how big he was when I had the camera lens right in front of him because the flash went off since it was night time...but he didn't run off. I guess after 4 summers of us picking him up, the puppies sniffing him out, and showing our girls...he is getting used to us perhaps. The funny thing is we never named him, and I suppose maybe that is because he has been out so late at night that the girls are already in bed, because I was going to have Madison help with that this summer. Last summer she was a good sport and actually touched the toad...it was cute, but I don' t think she has actually seen it yet so far this year. Anyway it is always nice to see an "old friend" in your yard again...at our 1st home we had a GIGANTIC one in our yard that was so cute too So hopefully this one will continue to grow over the years too :).

So what is this with a new friend?....well I don't know about you all and your home but the BIRDS are stinkin' crazy or something this year!!!! No joke! Everytime I go outside they fly away from my yard, flowers, etc. in BIG groups. I mean there are usually always a handful in the back yard too, but they are picking the flowers off of my plants and just so close to the house. It almost drives me crazy! But as I was going to water my hanging plant...which I have had suspicions about this for about a week now as the birds are always at this hanging plant (yes, I have watered this plant more than just once a week, but last night I took it down to water and take a peek inside to confirm what I thought.) Yep, I was right...the blue birds have made a nest in my hanging plant on my front porch!!! Part of me was "oh, man...my plant" but a bigger part of me was "how neat...a real bird may come of this right in front of my eyes!!!!" I am secretly excited so I was asking Bobby...if I still water my plant will the birds not come back or will it hurt the egg too much...he just smiled because he knows I would prefer the egg to stay. So now after the birds DRIVING me CRAZY everytime I walk outside I kind have grown fond of being able to see this take place...although I don't know if the chances have been ruined now with me watering or taking the hanging plant down to take a peek...we will see...but I just have a soft spot, of course, for little babies of all sorts...even animals...well, don't get me wrong...not all of them...but most :).

So I have included some pictures of the little egg all by itself, but the birds really created a deep nest in protection of that egg...you can really see it with the second picture. Can you blame them for picking such a beautiful home really though? The last picture is just of their "little nest area...my hanging plant."


Just a few more pictures of my asiatic lillies that started blooming. The odd thing is that those plants are about 1/2 the size of last year...which we were going to split them anyway because they grow bigger each year so it was kind of nice not to have to do that...but the blooms are beautiful! Everytime I see those my lillies bloom it always takes me back to our wedding...neat to garden or plant with a purpose you know with flowers and plants that are significant to you! Now with the hibiscus trees in the back I have a neat reminder of our honeymoon. I love those types of reminders!...Now I am having some impatience take root as I am waiting for the hydrangeas to bloom....my very favorite flowers!

Perhaps this post isn't as interesting as ones about the kiddos but I should have some updates of them later today with another post...that will have to be tonight as I have a work engagement today! Although not too much happening as it was a lay low kind of weekend with Hayley not well at all since Friday so it was a kind of take turns kind of thing with Bobby and I getting things done with taking Madison to a friend's party, errands, and mowing the lawn, watering, etc. Although last night was a nice relaxing night for Bobby and I...after the kiddos were put to bed we just sat on the front porch for about an hour and a half on our bench together...that was nice! It was a nice evening that we enjoyed and appreciated as Bobby leaves town again for the week but just a nice night...we laughed so much about the stories from our 1st house and how horrible the move-in was...icky is all we have to say! Enjoy your day everyone and Blessings from us all!

Really?

You know those days where you look at your children and think, "WOW! How blessed am I?" They are just both growing so much and just watching their minds develop. Hayley's words are just spilling out everyday it seems. I was getting her ready for bed and putting her nighttime diaper on and she always has to hold something because she refuses to sit still during changing so I handed her what we would do next - read a bit from her Bible. I just handed it to her and she said "Bible!" without me even saying anything! At first I really thought she was just saying things, but nope - she sure said it because she said it again! My blue-eyed girl just melted my heart...just sweet and a really loveable girl which I love. Her other new word as of last week and a half is "Mine." Everytime she sees her milk, snack, or really anything that she really loves a lot like her mini giraffe, etc. she says "Mine!" It is so cute...I just cannot believe how quickly she is growing up!...which brings me to my next picture...as we were at our photographer's home, I looked down and noticed Hayley's little bitty cutesy toes were hanging out of her little shoes! I swear two days ago when she wore them they were not like that, but they were...so these shoes shown are the ones we will have to move to...she outgrew size 3 shoes so now we have these cute polka-dot shoes which are very cute I may add. So as we changed her shoes today, she was thrilled...mind you she LOVES shoes...that is one of the first things she wants in the morning to put on and she screamed a little throw-down tantrum when I took them off for bedtime.
I just love the polka-dot and will now have to be on a quest to find new tennis shoes for playing in on a more day-to-day basis.
So mid-week with Daddy gone and today was a great day which usually Wednesday sometimes is the difficult day for all of us, but we all had so much fun today...girls were in less whiney modes, I got so much productive things for my business done...WOO-HOO! BUT more importantly had so much special time with the girls too. My Aunt Mary and Mom did an impromtu visit which definitely was so nice to see them. It worked out perfect time when they stopped by - right before nap to tire them out. We love visitors!

I enjoyed this picture of Madison trying to read Hayley's Bible and telling me what she perceives from the pictures - I love how you see part of her beautiful brown eyes. As I was getting the girls ready after bathtime, I was helping Madison with lotion, etc. and you know just let out a tired sigh - no big deal and really nothing, maybe and probably just tired but I turned around to start to find pj's for her and before I knew it Madison went into her room...pulled out pants, underwear, socks, and shirt for bed. She never picks socks to wear to bed but I was so impressed with not only how quickly she gathered those items but she did it to help me out without me even asking...just sweetness.

Just some pictures of exactly what I am talking about - just some moments where they look like they changed overnight in everything...these are from the other day when we did an impromptu BBQ (just the 4 of us) so that is why they are still in dresses and not in what I call "normal comfy clothes." They love the outdoors which I love. I guess two posts in 1 day but wanted to have some extra "no brain thinking time tonight."

Blessings from us all


Madison's flower in her little container! Just last year around this time she was calling them "Ballers!"








Hayley of course my Cadence "Cada to her." The indoor picture is of her feeding "Cada"...I think they have secret code between them because Cadence always seems to get food from Hayley which is a "No-No!"

"What's that Mommy?"

Today's post is kind of silly - nothing special - but I just died laughing this morning and actually we had a discussion about this on a friend's blog maybe about a week to 2 weeks ago...ironing. Madison happened to be up before Hayley for once...and yes the iron was sitting out from the night before and was used! I will repeat that just for my mom :) .....I was ironing the night before!

Anyway - me...I am just one of those persons that I never iron - everyone thinks my house is spotless until they see my bedroom where the mounds of laundry stay because #1 folding laundry is the last part of cleaning I EVER want to do #2 laundry gets folded once a week and then seems like another week before it gets put away (a true confession)...so what happens when I need to wear something or the kids do? I just pick it up and if it passes the "looks okay test" I wear with wrinkles in all...my mom always LOVES that one - she teases me in a fun and kind way so don't take that too seriously! Now if it doesn't - I am on a mission to get the laundry out of the dryer that were most likely sitting in the dryer over night...well to be honest...maybe 2 nights...find a basket to throw those in...and whatever has the wrinkles gets put in the dryer for 5 minutes at most and sometimes with a damp towel (people tell me that works too and sometimes I remember that one :) ).

So take me back to this morning - where Madison comes down the stairs with me and the first thing she notices (because it wasn't put away yet...and she notices EVERYTHING out of place) was "THE IRON."

"What's that Mommy?" she says - "Oh...sweetie...that's an iron. I had to iron some of my clothes last night." She looked at me strange - because she literally has never seen one from me or even seen me iron...FYI...I had to iron some of my shirts because I was getting a new picture taken for my business cards from my very talented family photographer helped me with...hard to do because not a fan of pics by myself but she does GREAT, GREAT work - her link is the right to her blog and website.

Hope you enoyed just a fun story...not any new pictures but let's see maybe I have some that I may attach...like kiddos...oohhh...forgot about these - just the other night at dinner - we were eating at our mini table in the kitchen and Madison and Hayley (usually Hayley starts the game) where they want everyone to raise their hands and say WHOO HOO!! Over and over and over and over again...pretty cute!

Blessings from us!

Trader Joe Withdrawls!

Our Top Ten Reasons Why We Love Trader Joes!

10. They have yummy cranberry/oatmeal cookies in their bakery section!

9. Always something to sample...today was yummy lemonade!

8. After having their coffee it is hard to go back to the generic brand.

7. Their candy/sweets don't make you feel as guilty when eating them.

6.Their Orange Bergamot Green Tea is soooo good!

5. Bananas are 19 cents EVERYDAY!

4. They have organic foods at the BEST price ever!!!

3.Madison has her own little shopping cart to push around and fill!

2. We always leave with a fun present - the balloons they give out...you even get to pick the color :))

1. It is always a fun family trip together!

Needless to say it has been awhile since we have been! We had committed to going every two weeks - it isn't that far away we just always end up getting cold stuff so it is pretty much there and back! We LOVE Trader Joe's as my mom's side of the family does too! They make special trips just to come so you gotta know it is goooood to shop there. We usually go every 2 weeks stock up on things and are set except odd and end stuff.

Madison is excited about her cart to push today! She was such a great helper!

Madison picked out some flowers...she LOVED that part...actually our first time buying flowers there, but it made her morning so it was sweet!

As always Miss Hayley enjoying herself and smiling and laughing! She was having a great time...you see below her enjoying a snack while we shopped...always a must, and we usually time shopping at snack time as it helps keep them happy and entertained.

Hayley enjoyed watching Sis push her cart today.

We just liked this picture of Madison in her little world pushing the cart...how sweet we thought. She was on a mission to fill her cart!

Madison is ready to go! I love to have such a sweet helper!

Blessings from all of us!

Some new friends and a Lowes Trip (again)

Mommy, Madison, and Hayley had a playdate with some new friends this past week- Amanda (the mommy), Zayda in the picture and Macy who is just 5 1/2 weeks old I believe! Yippee! The day before we went on a nice lengthy walk and played at our neighborhood play area (funny story with that one :-) ). Anyway the next day we had already planned on going to lunch together and have the girls play together so that was a lot of fun. Our conversation was so nice and easy! And just think - they live right across the street! We have so many little kiddos on our street now which is exactly what we were hoping for! And last night we all ended up outside as we were doing some things in the yard and they ended up on a walk so we got to talk again! (And the girls played - Zayda and Madison have so much fun together). Speaking of which our significant others had some visiting time too. And of course - Hayley migrated towards their pup... and then when she saw Macy she wanted to see her too! Hayley loves dogs and babies - she immediately wants to go right over to them...it is so cute!

Hayley as you can tell LOVES her Dora cup with milk after naptime! I was so excited to catch a smile on camera - and those toothy smiles are the best! The one to the right is the only one I could get of her in a dress she got for her birthday...I just thought it was cute on her.

Should I mention anymore that we ended up at Lowes again this week....well, we did. We got some paint to eventually finish the loft - no rush on that...it seems like one of those things where if you get it - you are more likely to use it than just keep saying to one another - "Yah, we will plan on painting it soon." We thought perhaps that having the paint can sit out is just a constant reminder for us to get it done sooner than later! Plus we needed some mulch to finish off a job from 2 weeks ago :) and some root stimulator for our trees - (they need the help in this rocky ground here!)

And do we also have to mention we always get the fun cart for girls? It always keeps them quite amused in Lowes and I happened to have the camera in my bag from going to lunch with some friends the previous day! Madison was such a helper and so cute with sis!

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures! Madison had her hat on too but since we were indoors at the store took it off - I forgot to grab their sunglasses before we left and we happened to have these hats in our car for them so it worked to keep out the sun a little. And help them forget that Mommy did forget their sunglasses.

Just a cute pic of Madison - I am teaching the Spanish alphabet to her so she is trying to sing it - she can count to 10 pretty flawlessly in Spanish - it is cute.

Blessings from all of us!

Date Day at the Wineries!

Today was date day at the wineries! We had so much fun! My mom watched the girls, and we had all day and were able to have enough time to visit 4! The quote of the day from my husband was "Sitting here and not doing anything is the best!" was his favorite part about the day. Oh yes, that was true! It was so nice to visit and have conversation and do wine tastings today! Bobby enjoyed the tastings and at our last winery found the perfect wine he LOVES - so it was a great day in my book as finding the perfect one for him isn't the easiest task. We had a fun day and the views were beautiful of course!


Our picture at the Augusta Winery












Our view at the Montecelle winery where we had lunch - it was an extra stop we made that we didn't plan on so it was neat to stop there!

After lunch Bobby at the Montecelle Winery












Our picture together before we left the Montecelle winery



Our beautiful view from Sugar Creek Winery!








And you may be wondering why this picture...well I just had to document our first time using our picnic basket in our well almost 8 years of having it! We brought some fruit to snack on...and had a glass of wine.

Our last stop was at the Wine Country Gardens - it was beautiful there! So much room and they had a nursery as well so yes we had to look at the plants! We didn't take any pictures there though. A fantastic day we had!

And I got a picture of the girls and myself for a frame that we have so of course I had to include that as they look so cute!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Blessings from all of us!