Please Vote for Carlie

I'm copying this from BBC because I've already written it a few times and it keeps getting eaten! lol!

Let me start by saying that I've never entered my kids into any kind of contest like this and I've never tried to solicit votes, this is just really important to me!

My daughter Carlie was recently diagnosed with ADHD. She has been having some problems with self esteem and thinking that no one likes her. This awesome local photographer is doing a photo contest so I decided to enter Carlie into it in hopes that if she won, it would maybe boost her self esteem a little to know that she won her family a photo shoot. She has no idea that I entered her in case she doesn't win. This photographer is amazing. She did my sister family pictures. I'm not sure exactly what the prize is but I think it's a $500 photo package of some sort. All you have to do is become a fan of Meagan Jackson Photography on Facebook, then go to "Sweet Little Faces Entries", and then under her picture, write "vote" in a comment. She is the 3rd picture. She has blonde hair and is wearing a red dress with her chin in her hands. Her name is in the caption. It seriously only takes 30 seconds to become a fan and vote. You can only vote once per person. She is in 3rd place right now. The first place cutie has about 35 more votes than she does. Voting doesn't end until Dec. 6th. Thank you so much and I appreciate and votes that she can get!!!
Here's the link!
http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/North-Little-Rock-AR/Meagan-Jackson-Photography/78998681708?ref=nf

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Wordless Wednesday

They're here!!!

I kept my nephew Trae Saturday night since we went to the fair. Sunday morning Liz called me to see when I was bringing him home and said she was having contractions. She started crying through them while on the phone so I told her she might want to go to L&D to have them check her. She was only 33 wks 4 days. She called me a couple hours later and said that they checked her and she was 5cm dilated! I grabbed Trae and told Rick that I was heading to the hospital and I was leaving the girls with him. We got there and they were already prepping her for the c-section. About 2 hours after getting to the hospital, Kerrigan and Aimslee were here!!! Kerrigan weighed 5lb 2oz and Aimslee weighed 5lb 1 oz. Both were 17 1/2 in. They had to be put on oxygen and a feeding tube but other than that, they were perfect! They are now less than 72 hours and both are off of oxygen and the only thing they're connected to are feeding tubes. They were going to let Kerrigan try and nurse yesterday but they were scared to push her too hard. The doctor thinks that both girls have reflux and Aimslee is having a little trouble digesting her food properly. Liz finally got to hold them both yesterday for the first time. They are so tiny and adorable and I can't wait until I get to see them face to face and hold them!

Daddy getting ready to go in.

Big Brother Trae, patiently awaiting! lol.

Kerrigan 5lb 2oz. 17.5in

Aimslee 5lb 1oz 17.5 in

Mommy seeing Aimslee for the first time!

Kerrigan (L) and Aimslee (R)

Kerrigan (I think)

Aimslee (I think)

Jacelyn's Haircut

Jacelyn got her first "real" haircut Saturday afternoon. She had a trim a few weeks ago but she wanted more cut off. I decided to try my hand at cosmetology and started chopping. I think it turned out pretty good! lol.

The only good "before" pic I could find. It's from May.

All the hair I cut off my baby!

"After!"

My Big Preschooler!

The Fair

Saturday I took Jacelyn and Trae to the county Fair. They had so much fun!!!

They are in the second cart.

Where to begin...

I'm going to break all of these up into several posts so lookout! lol.

The weekend before last was my sister Liz's baby shower. She is pregnant with identical twin girls, Kerrigan and Aimslee. I was a hostess along with my older sister Cara, and a friend Kristine. I was so happy with how it turned out. The guests were so generous with their gifts and I know it meant a lot to her. She has a 5 year old son so she didn't have anything for the babies.

Edited: I forgot to mention that Jacelyn not only poked her finger in the middle of the cake, she also decided that she didn't like the taste of it, tried to spit it out, started gagging, and then threw up all over the place that the table where people were eating. Didn't get a picture of that, sorry!

The onesies I made. They each had their name and a removable tutu!

Opening the blankets that I made them.

Liz with her cake!

A few of her gifts.

The party favors. It says "Double diapers, Double Love, Double Blessings, From Above"

The goodies!

First Day of School

(Please excuse the grassy flower bed. Rick planted grass seeds in the yard and they migrated to the flower bed and we haven't fixed it yet!)

Carlie started the 1st grade and Jacelyn started Pre-K3 on Wednesday! Carlie was really excited the night before and got up early that morning and got ready so quickly! We got to to Jacelyn's school first. It's the same "daycare" that she's been going to since January but she was moved up to the Pre-K 3 year old room. They had a big sign that said "Welcome to School" and balloons everywhere! It was so cute. We dropped Jacelyn off with no problems and headed to Carlie's school. We got there a few minutes early and had to stand in the hallways before we could walk to her classroom. She went to a different school last year for Kindergarten so she didn't really know any of the kids or teachers and she was out of town for their Open House last Sunday. We found her classroom and met her teacher. She seemed nice enough so I sat Carlie in her assigned seat and then she LOST IT! She started crying and saying she wanted to go home and that her belly hurt. I felt so bad for her but I knew that if she would just give it a chance, she would love it! I finally pulled her claws out of my arms and ran out the door. That afternoon, after waiting in line for 45 minutes, I finally picked her up. She jumped in the car and told me that she had such a great day and couldn't wait to go back the next day! She said she loved her teacher and made so many new friends. We then went and picked Jacelyn up. She also had a great day in her new class, minus the part where she punched her best friend Zoey in the head...

Carlie's new Boyfriend..

Carlie got in the car after VBS tonight and very enthusiastically informed me that she has a new boyfriend. Her "old boyfriend" was a pre arranged love affair between her and my friends son, Michael. He always denied the relationship and gets very embarrassed when we call Carlie his girlfriend. She said that she was standing on the playground and he was walking towards her with a flower in his hand. Her exact words were "Mom, I'm so in love with him!!!". She just kept repeating how much she loved him. I'm sure that won't be the last time I hear that right? She said that she gave him her number and he said he would call her. When she was going to bed, she said "DO you know what me and my boyfriend are going to do?? Go to dinner! He asked me to dinner!!!" and then she said "This is what I'm going to do to my new boyfriend" and she kissed me on the cheek. I quickly informed her that there would be no kissing of any boys anywhere for at least 20 more years!!! She's only 6 1/2!!! I asked Carlie what her new boyfriends name was and she didn't know his name or his age. She said she forgot. I mean really, does age really matter? And also, who needs names when you have such a...connection right??? RIIIIGHTTT!!!

Seriously?!?!?!?

I copied this picture from our hometown newspapers website. I'm sure it'll illegal but please don't sue me! lol. Yesterday, I got off work early and went to Carlie's new school to do the new student registration since we moved zones. While I was filling out the paperwork, the tornado sirens started going off! The ladies in the office were just standing around like nothing was going on!!! I walked in and said "Umm...do ya'll hear the sirens going off?" and they said that they had just realized that it wasn't Wednesday or 12pm (when they test them) so they turned on the weather radio and the news and couldn't find anything about a tornado in our town. We had been having bad weather all day but it seemed to clear up when I got off work. I even went by my house to let the dogs out before heading to the school. It started raining pretty hard while I was sitting there (right beside the huge glass doors!) but then it stopped. No wind, no rain, nada. And that's when the sirens went off. The paper said this morning that there was a tornado sighted seriously about 1/4 of a mile from my work which was about 1 mile from where I was and about 1 1/2 miles from where Jacelyn's daycare is (and where she was at the time). Carlie was all the way across town at my parents house w/ my Nanny. The tornado didn't touch down until it got to the lake which is also very close to my work(the picture) so it was then considered a "waterspout". It was such a crazy day! Looking at that picture, I can't believe how close I was to that! Oh, and there were no reports of damage or injuries, thank God!

And Then...

Rick's truck wouldn't start!!! AAARRRGGG!!! He stopped at the store last night. I was at dinner w/ MIL and SIL while the girls were at VBS and my towels were in the washing machine at my moms house and I got THE call. Thankfully MIL had a jumper thing and was able to jump start it to get it to the house. He had to go get a new battery and now it seems to be working fine. Thank goodness it wasn't anything more serious or more expensive!

Bad Luck

So we've been having some bad luck lately. Last Saturday, Carlie stayed the night with my sister Liz so Jacelyn wanted to stay with Rick's mom. We didn't really have anything to do so we rented a few movies (Push and Knowing). Here's the setting: Rick is on the love seat, I'm on the couch, the dogs are playing underneath the coffee table that is right in front of the love seat. Our coffee table is wooden with 3 glass pieces on the top. Gage (our boxer) tried to either stand up or sit up under the table and popped one of the pieces out. It flew up and then came crashing down on the corner of the table. It shattered all over Rick's feet. He had two puncture wounds on one foot and then it actually cut between his pinkie toe and the toe next to it. He also had a puncture wound on the other foot. He was bleeding pretty badly. I rushed over and gave him a paper towel to soak up the blood and picked up a few pieces of glass. The movie only had about 10 more minutes left so we just sat there, as still as possible, to finish the movie. As soon as it was over, we started cleaning up the mess when Rick cut his finger! THEN he started having an asthma attack! He hadn't gotten his inhaler refilled so we had to rush over to my sister Blair's house to borrow hers.
Now on to yesterday...Rick was mowing the yard and came running inside because he burnt his wrist on the dang thing!!! It was really bad and had already started bubbling up! I doctored him and he went back to his duty. About 30 minutes later, I hear this really loud noise coming from the washing machine. It sounded like a monster was in it, banging around, with the top coming up and down and all. I yelled at Rick to come in and he discovered that the agitator cover had come off. We couldn't get it to drain the water so I had to pull out all of the clothes and ring them all out. It took two separate small loads in the dryer at two cycles each to get all of the clothes dried. Lowe's didn't have whatever part Rick thinks he needs so we are still without a washer. I just hope it is fixable because I don't want to have to buy another one!!! They say things happen in 3's so hopefully this is the end of our bad luck!

The girls and Keenan

The girls finally got to meet and hold my newest nephew, Keenan a few days ago. Keenan is the one that was in the hospital for several weeks right after birth. I'm happy to report that he is doing great and that he loves his "Aunt Ya Ya" (Me, lol). He is now about 12 weeks old. I got to hold and love on him and he fell asleep in my arms. Nothing better than holding a sleeping baby. BTW, Jacelyn was REALLY jealous and wanted to be in my lap the whole time.

Keenan being cranky baby.

Jacelyn holding her baby cousin

Everyone looking a little awkward. lol.

Several posts in one and some Pictures!!!

These are the geese that live in the pond in our neighborhood. We started Spring out with about 20-30 adults. Two of them (I thnk) laid eggs and now there are about 50-75 depending on the day. We watched the babies from just being eggs, to looking like their parents in just a few short months. It was a really neat experience. Sometimes they're annoying, like when I'm in a hurry and they're crossing the road. For the most part, we love them and are so happy to share our neighborhood with them.

This is Carlie getting her "Most Curious" award on the second to last day of school.

Jacelyn decided that she needed a hair cut after watching Carlie get a trim. She took it upon herself while I was working our yardsale (and daddy was "watching her"). This is the after. Before, her bangs were the same length as the rest of her hair.

This is most of the hair that she cut off. It was A LOT and it just kept coming out in clumps.

Carlie making a funny face at the firework show Saturday night.

We also have another new member of the family. He is an almost 6 month old Boxer puppy. His name is Gage and he's such a great dog! We are so glad that we found him. He is so good with Cooper and the girls. He thinks that he's a small lap dog and not a 35lb beast! He was born on Carlie's birthday and we got him for Rick's fathers day present a few weeks early. Here he is sleeping with Cooper.

One where he's awake.

He curled himself in a ball on Coopers bed. The brown part of the bed isn't supposed to be laid on. It's the rim off the bed. The cream color is the actual bed part! I was laughing so hard when I walked in and saw him like this! I guess he got embarrassed so he hid his face! hehe.

Here is Carlie being goofy at dinner one night! (Excuse the messy face and hands, it was Chick Fil A)

Carlie and Gage "Sleeping". She had him covered up with a blanket and his head was on a pillow. He was actually asleep but opened his eyes when I took the pic, Carlie was faking.

Sorry these are off. I got a laptop and I'm not sure how to move pictures after they post. This is Jaceln at the firework show last Saturday. She was hot and grumpy and didn't want her pic taken. BTW, this is the dress that she was wearing when she said "Black is NOT my color!".

Can't forget a picture of Cooper!

Jacelyn swimming in Cara's pool!

Jacelyn and friend Ava being DIVAS.

A picture of Jacelyn showing how old she was on her birthday.