4th of July Family Pictures

My Mom's birthday is the same week of Independence Day. I decided that it would be a great idea to get a picture of all 4 of her grandchildren together in red/white/blue. We actually only have two or three pictures of all four of them together! One of my sisters decided that we should also get a picture of the 4 of us girls together. It was fun but something that I wouldn't want to do again for a while. The only time we could all get together was on a Friday night after work/school. My girls were so worn out, hungry, and sleepy. I think they did pretty good with just a few fits. I made mom a collage that we had framed in an 8X10 frame. We put one of the pictures of us 4 girls in a frame that said "The Girls". The picture of all 8 of us was put in a frame that said "Family". We also HAD to put the goofy picture of all 8 of us in a plain frame that matched the rest. My mom LOVED her gifts!

All 4 of the Grandkids

Blake (7)

Carlie (5) The sun was in her eyes!

Trae (3)

Jacelyn (2)

Aunt B had the candy!

Jacelyn was so over taking pictures!

Blake and Carlie

All 8 of us!

I love Jacelyn in this picture. We just said to be goofy and she flopped back and stuck out her tongue! I thought she was throwing a fit until I saw the picture on my screen!

Left to Right. Liz (Youngest), Cara (oldest), Me/Lara (Second from the oldest), and Blair (3rd oldest)

This is how we really felt!

This one is in birth order...oldest to youngest

Carlie's Future Occupation

I believe Carlie wants to be a manicurist when she grows up. What do you think?



This happened a few weeks ago but I'm just now getting the time to post it. I painted my nails one night and Carlie wanted hers done also. It was right before her bedtime so I told her I would paint them the following night. The girls were in bed when I finished and I'm ALWAYS up before them during the week so I just left the bottle of polish out, not even giving it a second thought. The next morning, Carlie woke up before I had even taken a shower. I told her to sit quietly in the living room and watch cartoons while I showered and dressed for work. I got done, picked her clothes out, dressed Jacelyn, and was about to head out the door. Carlie comes out of left field and says "Mommy, will you paint my right hand tonight?" I didn't think anything of it until I looked down and saw her feet. One painted, the other untouched. That's when I noticed her hands. Again, one painted, one not. She said it was too hard to try to paint her right hand so she just did her left hand and left foot. Like always, we were running late so I didn't have time to get the nail polish remover out so I sent her to school with her new artwork. Remarkably, she didn't manage to get any nail polish on the floor, furniture, or anywhere else on her but her fingers/toes. I think she did a great job for a 5 year old!

Jacelyn's Big Girl Bed

Jacelyn has been in her "big girl bed" for about 5 weeks now. She had a little trouble the first few nights. She would just scream and scream. We quickly realized that she was scared of the baby gate being at her doorway. She did good for a little while after that. Recently, she has started getting out of bed just moments after putting her down. She has also started with the excuses. The most common are "I pee pee hard" (translated to "I need to pee"), "My arm hurts", or "I hold you". Usually, she either doesn't need to pee or she's barely wet her diaper. In a normal day she doesn't give a dang whether her diaper is wet or not. I have no idea where the arm hurting excuse came from. When she says "I hold you" it means that she wants to hang out in the living room with me watching tv until I force her to get back in bed. Most of the time when I finally get her down, she stays put until morning.

This weekend was totally different. Saturday morning I woke up to her sleeping in the little sliver of space between my side of the bed and the wall. Seriously, this space is about a foot wide, just to fit my tiny side table. I have no idea how long she had been there. I woke up to her rolling over and hitting her head on the wall. I picked her up and put her in bed with us. She wanted to play and it was still very early so I turned on cartoons. She laid at the end of the bed for about 5 minutes before big sis Carlie decided to wake up. It was barely dawn.

Very late Saturday night she came walking into my room diaper less saying she went potty all by herself. Of course there was no pee pee in the potty when I checked it. Last night (Sunday night) it took me over 2 hours to get her to her bed and asleep. Sometime throughout the night, she must have made her way to my room yet again and climbed in bed with me. She was there passed out when I woke up around 2:34am. I just picked her up and put her back into her bed where she remained until morning. Who knows what tonight will bring.....I pray that it brings sleep for this deprived mommy!

Updating

I'm so sorry that I haven't been around in a while. I've had a lot going on. Thankfully, while other companies in my field are having to shorten days or close completely, we are booming. Also, both of my little sisters found out within a week of eachother that they were expecting. Sadly, they both also miscarried within days of eachother. My youngest sister had a blighted ovum and we are assuming that my second to youngest just had a typical miscarriage. They both took it pretty hard but seem to be dealing a little better now. My second to youngest sister is already planning on TTC again as soon as she gets the go ahead from the doctor.

On a good note. I got a new car! Yay me! This is big news for me because I've never had a *NEW* car. When I turned 16, I bought a used car that was one year old. Two weeks later I totalled it. Never even made a payment on it. When I was almost 18, my dad gave me his old car. It was about 4-5 years old. When I was 21, I officially BOUGHT and paid for my first car. It was 8 years old. I finally have a NEW CAR, smell and all! It's a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. It's a simple, cute little car. Nothing fancy, just what I need to cart two little monsters around. I still haven't taken pictures but I'll add them as soon as I do.

I guess I should update on the girls too. haha. Jacelyn is talking SO MUCH. She's saying detailed sentence now. I hit her on the top of the head with a balloon this weekend and she pointed her finger at me and told me "Mommy go time out, NO HIT!" She gave me a lashing for "hitting" her. It was so funny! I wish I could have gotten it on video. Carlie is FINALLY starting to learn that there are consequences to her actions and behavior. Just this morning she threw her play phone on the ground because the batteries were dead. She was so mad and started back talking and having an attitude. I explained to her that we don't throw things when we are mad and that her attitude wasn't acceptable. On the way to school, she said that she was very sorry for how she acted and that she loved me very much. Progress!!!

Ricks family has been in town the last few days. His great aunt from California that he's never met flew in for a visit. His grandmother and uncle also came in from Alabama to see her. She is a very sweet, cute little lady and I'm glad I got the chance to meet her.

I guess that's about it for updating right now. I will try to start posting more frequently as soon as things calm down a bit.

Carlie graduated from pre-school!

My baby girl Carlie is now a *gasp* PRESCHOOL GRAD! It's so bittersweet. I cried and I laughed. She had a graduating class of 5! It was supposed to be 6 but one little boy didn't show up. What kind of parents wouldn't take their child to their preschool graduation? Especially after paying $22 for a cap and gown and after their son practiced skits for weeks??? Anywho, she was so adorable! My child who has never met a stranger was so shy! Almost all of the pictures we got were of her back because she didn't like everyone looking at her. They sang "I had a bad day" by the Chipmunks to their teacher because she was so sad they were leaving her for bigger and better things. Carlie even received an award for being the most creative. I'm going to sound like one of those bragging moms right now but I have to add this in. The other awards were for Friendliest, Most Artistic, Leadership, and biggest helper or something like that. The director explained why each child received that specific award. Friendliest was giving to a little boy who got along with everyone. They described the most artistic by saying that he would turn out to be a famous artist one day from his drawings. Leadership award was giving to the teachers son because he went from a follower to a leader this year. The biggest helper one was giving to a little girl that was described as being the mother of the group. When they got to Carlie's award, they described her as the most creative child they had ever had at the center. They said that she can sing a song or recite a story word for word after hearing it once. They went on and on about how special, creative, and smart she was. I felt so proud of her!

The graduates singing to their teacher

The grads walking in (Yes, to Pomp and Circumstance)

Carlie

Carlie getting her certificate

Turning their tassels

Carlie and her proud baby sister Jacelyn

Me and my big girl

Carlie and some of her fellow grads

Carlie and her teacher

Beach Vacation!

Sorry I've been MIA the last few weeks. We just got back from vacation last week. We had a blast, minus the lobster that I turned into. Every year I tell myself "This year you will come home tan". What actually happens is that I burn so badly that I blister and peel. Thankfully this year I protected my face so it just got a little red. My back and shoulders are a different story. Neither of the girls burned so that was great. Carlie turned into a brave little girl this year. The previous years that we have gone, she's been scared of the water and waves. This year she didn't seem phased by it at all. Jacelyn was a little scared of the water but she was fine if Daddy was holding her. She loved to run and play in the sand. We ate a ton of yummy seafood! There's nothing like waking up and eating a bowl of cereal while watching and listening to the ocean!

I love going this early in the year for so many reasons. First, the beach is almost empty. There aren't many people there until June. Second, it's not too hot and it's not too cold. The sand is perfect to walk on and the pool is warm enough to swim in. Third, the condo prices are cheap! lol.

Enjoy the MANY pictures below!