Potty Training Success

I've held off on posting anything about potty training because I didn't want to jinx it. Jacelyn is now 100% potty trained! Woo Hoo! She hasn't had a pee pee accident in over a week. Not even at night or nap time. She hasn't had a poo poo accident in about 3 days! I'm so proud of her!

That's a Banana Spider...

Says my 5 year old.... We were sitting on my grandparents patio yesterday after lunch. I noticed a HUGE spider web in the bushes and made a comment about it. Carlie came running over wanting to look at it. Then she said "Yeah, and look at that big spider in it". We could only see the belly of it at that angle but it was HUGE HUGE HUGE. Seriously, the biggest spider I've seen in person without it being in a cage or on television. She ran to the other side of the bushes and proclaims "It's a Banana Spider Mom!!!". I thought she made it up because it had yellow on it, like a banana. That is, until I got home and started telling Rick the story and he asks "Was it yellow and black?" I said "Why yes it was". He said "Well that IS a banana spider". How the heck does my 5 year old able to name the species of spider when I've never even heard of a Banana Spider!

I decided to Google "Banana Spider" and I found some interesting facts about them. They are actually called Garden Spiders or Yellow and Black Garden Spiders. They are harmless to humans but will bite and leave a harmless welp. They usually do not enter houses. They make a zig zag of thick silk in the center of their webs called a stabilimentum. (The web that we saw had this and I thought it was really neat).

Double D...are you kidding me?

I decided it was time for a new bra. I went to the store and searched through about a bazillion bras. Some were so tiny that they wouldn't even fit my knee caps. Some were so big that not even my head could fill the cups. I finally found my normal size...a D cup. I took it home and tried it on. It was too tight and I was hanging out everywhere! I took it back the next day in search of the next size up in the width, not the cup because surely I wasn't bigger than a D. I thought maybe I had just gotten bigger around. The only thing they had in that next size up width was a DD cup. I took it home and tried it on thinking that it would make me look deformed with the HUGE cups but guess what....it fit perfectly. When did they get so big???

Yearbook Pictures

I got this awesome site from Christine at http://fromstormstosunshine.blogspot.com/. (I don't know how to do short links, sorry. lol). It is so much fun! Thanks Christine!!! The ones of Rick are the best so that's why there are so many of him. His are just too dang funny!

Carlie in 1954 Carlie in 1964

Jacelyn in 1974

Jacelyn in 1992 Me in 1964

Me in 1966

Rick in 1970

Rick in 1976

Rick in 1980

Rick in 1982Rick in 1996

Reuniting with a long lost love...

Carlie has been in Kindergarten camp all week. She is loving it BTW. I think Kindergarten is going to be so great for her. Today was the last day. To celebrate the end to a great week, they had a cookout. One of the local banks came and cooked hot dogs and we had chips, cokes, and popsicles to go along. I was the second parent to arrive so I just sat on a bench by the play equipment where all of the children were playing. Carlie eventually saw me and came running. While I was asking about her day, I saw this little boy looking at me. I looked at him for a minute and then I thought he looked a little familiar. I looked down at his name tag and at that second, I realized who he was. He was Carlie's long lost love, Landon! They had been in daycare together when they were 2-3. They were the best of friends and talked non stop about each other. They only played with each other and rarely let someone else in on their fun. He taught her how to be a baseball umpire and they always said they would get married. We moved too far away to attend that daycare so Carlie was switched to a new school. He was the only thing I was sad about losing from that school. I got a call one day a few weeks after we moved that Carlie had been invited to his birthday party. She was the only non family member invited. We lost touch after that so it's been about 2-3 years since they've seen each other. While Landon was looking at me, I asked him if he remembered Carlie and sure enough, he did. I asked Carlie if she knew who he was and she said yes. Mind you, they were about 2 or 3 the last time they laid eyes on each other. His mom came walking up right about this time and she said "I thought that was ya'll!". She said that when the teacher called Carlie's first and last name, Landon looked at her and said "Is that MY Carlie?!?!?!". She said that she wasn't sure but it looked like her. We got to talking and it turns out that he is riding the same after school van and they are going to the same after school program even though they won't be in the same classroom. I just thought that was SUCH a sweet thing! They both still talk about each other after so long and then they end up at the same school together! (There are about 10 elementary schools in my town). Him and his mom ended up eating with us and they both played and talked together like they hadn't ever lost touch.

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!