A day in the life....

Being a Mom is so glamorous, isn't it?! Today, has been one of those days, so I thought I would share. If nothing else, you other Moms can relate! :)

We had Dixon stay with his Vet. while we were out of town this weekend, so that left the task of going to get him today on me and the girls. Now, for those of you that don't know, I drive a Honda Civic...so, I will give you a min. to get a mental picture of Me, the girls and their big car seats and my 90lb dog sitting in the FRONT with me. Okay, got it....Anyways, we leave here around 11 to go pick him up. This is a trip that should take no longer than 1 hr. 10min.

Five minutes into the trip, Abby needs to pee and it's another 20min. or so to the vets, so I don't want to risk telling her to hold it, so here we all go into Casey's (a local general store) to use the bathroom. Back on the road, we finally make it to the vet. Now, I am thinking, 'oh, we will just be in and out, no need to put Olivia in the stoller, I will just carry her!' We get in the office, get Dixon and Abby needs to pee, again. Now, I say this EXCLUDING those of you from here that we LOVE, and you should know who you are :), but 75% of the people that live in this general St. Louis area are, how can I put this nicely...a$$holes! (and, yes, that is putting it nicely). So, everyone watches me drag my 90lb. dog and my 2 small children to the bathroom and no one offers to hold Dixon for me, so off we all go....into the little bathroom. Anyways, I get Abby off the pot and onto washing her hands (which is a 20min. process). She manages to pull all the paper towels off of the roll, but at that point, I didn't even care, because I was mad that no one had offered to stand with my dog, so whatever! haha! Then, as I am wrestling Olivia, because holding her is like holding a greased pig these days (all she wants to do is get down), she leans over and I guess the pressure on her stomach helps bring up what she just ate and she spits up ALL over the floor. And, you guessed it.....Dixon starts licking it up! OMG! REALLY!? So, now I am frantically trying to pry Abby away from the sink, while trying to get the dog out of the spit up so I can wipe it up (good thing Abby had pulled all the towels off the roll now-ha!), all while trying to not drop Olivia. We finally make it home 2 HOURS later!

The rest of the afternoon contains the REAL good stories, but I won't share them in detail, because some of you might have a weak stomach, so I will just tell you that it involves my entire bar being covered in squeeze yogurt and Olivia ALMOST eating a turd! And, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! :) haha!

Weekend in Paducah!

We got away this weekend, and went to stay with Scott's sister in Paducah. Scott's mother was born and raised there, and all of her family is still in the area, so we LOVE going to see everyone.

Aunt Sara and Uncle Jeff put in a pool last summer, so we didn't waste any time getting in! Olivia just wanted to go to bed..ha!

We didn't get there until dinner time, so we promised Abby she could stay up late and swim at night. She LOVED it and thought it was the coolest thing EVER! She was wound up waaaay past her bedtime.

It didn't take anytime at all for her to warm up to the pool. She is doing SO good. She wears one of the little vest and she jumps in and swims all over by herself.

Yesterday, we played in the pool and grilled out with the whole family. It was the first time that Scott's Aunts and Uncles got to see Olivia. We had a blast.

hahaha...love this picture...it is SO us!

While we were all getting dinner ready, Abby sat up her own little stand and sold 'lemon pie'! haha! And, they are all big suckers, because they actually paid her..ha! She made $4! hahaha!

Aunt Marcia buying some lemon pie.

Daddy and Livi!

And, big surprise...Sara and I in matching dresses...haha! I think if I looked back through all my pics from the last 10yrs, I would find enough pics of us in matching clothing to really embarass ourselves, but then again, you can't really embarass Sara and I, which is probably why we will still be in matching clothes when we are 70! haha! (really, we have the SAME EXACT sense of style, so she will show me something she bought and I will have to go buy the same thing for myself and vice versa)

Thanks, for a great weekend Aunt Sara and Uncle Jeff. Hopefully, we will be back soon. :)

And, a funny little Abby story...

We have been out and about all morning. Library time, post office, walk, etc. We got home around lunch time, Abby was tired and wanted to watch a show . Well, the show went off and I turned the TV off. Usually, she doesn't care, but every once in a while she will want to watch TV, and today was one of those days. Anyways, the TV goes off and she starts, 'I do NOT want to turn the TV off'.....'please, one more show' and so on. We don't even acknowledge when she starts this, because she's over it in about 30sec and moves on to something else. So, as she is finishing up her fit, she turns around and says, 'I am SO angry about this. I am not gonna do NOTHING the rest of the day. I am not even gonna eat!' hahaha! Oh, and I love her threats to not eat. Really, I was expecting that around 12 or 13, BUT 3!!?? *sigh*

If I ever get the baby book caught up....

Yesterday, June 24, Olivia FINALLY got her first tooth! :) And, continuing to be the little sweetie she is, we never would have known. Not a single teething symptom! Abby was over a year old before she got her first tooth and when she was teething she would be up 5, 6, 7 times a night. So, I really didn't know what to expect with Olivia. I will try to get a pic. You can see it really good when she laughs. It's on the bottom, right in front. :)

For my records....

I was just sharing this with some of my friends, so I figured I better add it here, so I don't forget..so for my own records, Olivia's Newest Adventures! :) (some of it, I briefly touched on yesterday!)

She can now stand by herself for short periods of time. She LOVES it and thinks it is the greatest thing ever. She will stand up, but has to clap for herself, and will fall and get mad, and does it over and over forever. ha! She is going to be walking before we know it. I can't believe it. Yesterday, she was half way up the bar stool. She is like a little spider monkey. She can climb ANYTHING! And, she also got a hot tamale in her mouth yesterday. Yes, a HOT TAMALE. I was about to pee in my pants and we just got home. I ran the girls in, layed my purse down in the living room and ran to the bathroom and there was a box of them in my purse. When I came out of the bathroom (maybe 30-45sec. later), I see red dripping from her mouth and thought it was blood. I paniced and ran over to her and there it was. I fished it from her mouth and she was SO mad. She loved it. I am pretty sure Abby would cry if she bit into a hot tamale, but Olivia loved it. And, Abby also gave her a piece of gum that she was chewing. Thankfully, I saw this happen and had it from her mouth before she even had a chance to know what was going on, but she was mad that I took that from her, too. ha! She says 'MOM!' plain as day. It is hysterical. She will yell MOM! just like a teenager. haha! She says 'night night' and will hug or wave bye. So sweet. And, yesterday, she also climbed into Dixon's crate (and clapped for herself, of course-ha!) Well, Abby thought this was the funnies thing ever, so she climbed in the crate, too and they played in there for like 20min. Yes, I got pictures and they are TOO funny, but I will not post them for fear of someone calling CPS..ha! And, she is a dancing fool. Which is good, because Abby and I are, too.:) But, she will dance anytime she hears music, so theme songs, etc. and now when the phone rings. haha! I love it. And, I have been trying to get it on video, but when we sing, 'clap clap clap your hands, clap your hands together!' she will immedately stop whatever she is doing and clap her hands real slow and gently. It is SO funny, so of course, we do it all the time. Abby loves doing it, too.


And, now some Abby's latest.

**The other night we were saying our prayers and I asked if there was anyone else that we needed to pray for and she said, 'yeah, Nanny's boyfriend!' hahaha! We have no idea if she was referring to Dad or not..ha! But, we all got a good laugh from it.


**This morning she was trying to tell me something about a dance recital for Olivia and she kept talking about a baby dance recital. Well, I had no idea what she was talking about (and most of what she says is made up and/or imaginary situations/people/etc.), so we just keep her going because the things she comes up with are SO funny. She got so fed up with me asking what she was talking about, she finally turned to me and said, 'I am talking about the damn baby dance recital! I can't get any of these babies to listen to me.' I just had to walk away and laugh.

**She has hit Olivia a few times lately. Not angry, mean hitting, but getting mad if Olivia tries to get what she is playing with, etc. Well, that doesn't fly in this house, and she goes straight to the naughty chair. So, we put her in the naughty chair last night and she is sitting in there and she yells, and Olivia yells back and so on and so forth (Abby has a very short fuse and Olivia is really good at pushing it, so the more Olivia would yell back, the angrier Abby would get). Scott and I were in the other room cracking up and then finally Abby yells, 'I am a MEAN girl!' She is too much sometimes. (we got it on video, too!:) Oh, the memories! haha!

Father's Day!

Okay, this blog entry better post. Not that anyone cares, but I don't really like my new laptop. Grrrrrrr.....

Anyways, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, to all the Dad's in our lives. We have been very blessed in the Dad dept. :) We have Fantastic Father's, I married a man that is the most amazing father, our Grandpa's, Abby's Uncles....we have a lot of special men that love us and take good care of us. For those of you that know Scott, he hates attention, he doesn't really care to celebrate things like birthdays, Father's Day, etc. but if you know me, I love nothing more than a reason to celebrate! haha! So, I have learned to meet him in the middle. Scott and I both just got new bikes, so he wanted that to be his Father's Day gift. Fine, whatever...but, Abby insisted that he have something to open. (that's my girl!) So, Olivia and I got up early Sunday morning and made blueberry muffins. We had a nice breakfast and then Scott opened his gift....with a little help from the girls, of course! :)

Yay, Yard Games. He has been wanting washers for a while now, and this has washers, bean bag toss and bocce ball. Since it's been about 112 with the heat index, we have played LOTS of indoor bean bag toss. ha!
After breakfast, Scott and Abby went fishing. It was SO hot, but they fished for an hour or so and caught 2 fish! That was enough to make Abby happy! We just spent the majority of the day hanging out and playing with the girls. :)

Oh, and I had to get a picture of Abby with an ice cream, because the child HATES sweets. She won't eat ice cream, cake...nothing, so this was worthy of a picture, but no worries....in true Abby fashion, 30 sec. later she threw the entire thing in the trash can because Scott took a lick off it, God forbid! haha! Oh....what a girl! :)

***So, I know my blogging pretty much stinks lately, but 1. I don't have an editing program that I like on this new computer, yet, and most of the programs remove the picture from our camera card and I DON'T want that, so I don't really play around with the pictures and I am scared to risk losing any really good pictures until I can figure it all out, 2. We are so insanely busy. Any spare minute that I used to have has been filled with work, reunion planning, etc. and by the time the girls are in bed I am BEAT!, 3. my chilldren are INSANE lately, and I can't even turn my head from Olivia (or Abby, for that matter) for even 1 sec. or all hell breaks loose. And, there is no nap time/quiet time in this house, no sir re! If we are lucky, Olivia will take some good naps, but Abby hasn't napped in over a year, so.....anyways, back to what happens if I do something like, oh...go to the bathroom, try to load the dishwasher or take a call from work. If I do said event, I am met with something like, a hot tamale or a piece of chewed gum in Olivia's mouth, Abby hitting Olivia in the head with a bowl, Olivia trying to climb a bar stool (yes, at only 9mo. old...she is OUT OF CONTROL!), Abby locking herself in her room, and so on and so forth. But, we are here and having a fun summer, just a little busy (and insane) at the moment! :)

Craziest Chics in Town!

Never too young to start putting them in cheer uniforms-ha!, especially when they each have about 5! :)

Every time Olivia wakes up from a nap, Abby runs in to see her and play with her. Lately, she has been climbing into the crib with her and they will play forever. It's hysterical the things they come up with. We have been trying to teach Olivia how to do roll overs-ha! She's doing pretty good, if I do say so!

Abby giving her a little lesson!

My WILD monkey's!

**Just to brag a little (since that is what we do when we are Moms:), Abby's coach let us know after class on Wed. that she is ready to move to the next level (gymnastics). She is doing such a good job. She wants to start working the spring board with her and some real beam exercises. Not sure if we will just keep her in the class she is in now until the session is over, or go ahead and move her. She really loves it, and loves her new coach.

Wrote a song about, Wanna hear it, Here it goes....

So, this morning we are playing in the living room and it was time for Olivia to eat. I came in and sat down to feed her. Apparently, I didn't get the memo that the chair I sat in was Abby's Chair for the day, and she got quite upset that I sat down in it. In her diva-filled fit, she stormed off to her room (her new favorite thing to do when she is mad....good for her, though, she ends up playing in there and forgetting the issue in 30sec. and I don't have to deal with a meltdown...it's a win/win, which means she will stop doing it-ha!). Anyways, I feed Olivia and then had to run into my bedroom for a min. and I hear through the monitor, in a beautiful alto singing voice....'she took my chair, I don't like my Mom'....'she won't let me eat m&m's, I don't like my Mom'....'she's so mean, I don't like my Mom'....and so on and so forth! At this point, I am cracking up and I head down the hall to spy on her. It was SO funny. She was just singing along, changing clothes. I go in her room and tell her that I could hear what she was singing and that it wasn't very nice and that it hurt my feelings. She just grinned, said she was teasing and then tried to convince me that she didn't need to wear underwear today....oh, to be a three year old. hahaha!


Abby-you are quite the character, my dear!


Some other funny Abby stories....

*We saw a preview for Nemo. I say, 'oh, Nemo, remember you have that movie? we should watch it soon.' Abby responds, 'I don't want to watch that movie about a cartoon fish!' Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were 3, not 20....my bad!

*A few weekends ago was the city wide yard sale. I tell her we are going to go out and go over to our friends house (who was having a yard sale). She says, 'oh, good, I want to get a scooter, just like I did when I was out with Karol!' Ummmm...Karol is my Mom, her NANNY! haha!

*When we first brought her new bike home, she was mad because the seat was too high, Scott fixed the seat and then it was something else, finally she had enough and she gets off the bike, takes her helmet off, tosses it on the floor and says, 'I'm outta here!' Oh, Abby.

Weekend Jamboree!

Mom and Dad came this weekend to stay with us. Yesterday was the New Baden Jamboree, so we headed over to watch the parade.

Me and my girls, waiting for the parade.

Still waiting, Abby's losing interest..ha!

So, Papaw took her to get a Ski. Ever heard of Ski? It's some relation to Moutain Dew, I think. I've never tried it, but it's bottled here.

Yeah, parade time....here's Ronald! I don't know if it's an Illinois thing or what, but everyone in the parade hands out goodies to the people watching. You should see the stash of candy Abby got. More than Halloween. And beads, koozies, balls, balloons, even popcicles and fresh fruit. It was so fun. We had a blast.

The nose wrinkle that they both inherited from me....

...hahaha!

Abby and Papaw. They spent the day playing outside in the pool, etc. And, I went and got a new bike and abike trailer to pull the girls. I am SO excited. I am sure we will have pictures of it soon. :)

And, Abby surprised me and made me fresh orange juice this morning for breakfast!

She's such a little sweetie! :)

When Daddy's Away.....

The Girls Will Play! :) Scott has been gone the last few days on an all guys fishing trip. Friday's during the summer, a little town close by, has a peanut butter and jelly festival. This Friday was cool and over cast and I thought it would be the perfect day to head over and have a little fun. Of course, we get there and it's the ONE Friday that they don't have it, because there is a big festival there this weekend, and they were setting up for that.....GREAT. I had been talking about it all morning, 'yay, we are going to the festival...you can get your face painted, and they will make a balloon animal, blah blah blah.' And, now no festival. :( Thankfully, Abby could really care less. We decided to go get quesadillas for lunch and head home for some fun, instead.


BUBBLES...we got the biggest bottle of bubbles we could find. We have a bubble maker (those things are the BEST, by the way), so we needed LOTS of bubbles. :)

Abby has been so into hula hoops lately. Not to toot my own horn, but when it comes to hula-hooping, I am sort of a big deal...hahahaha! Well, Abby and I have created a little hula hooping routine. This is one of our big tricks. I start with the hula hoop on my arm and pass it to hers. (told you we were GOOD....I am sure Cirque will be calling now that they have read this...hahaha!)

And, WATER BALLOONS! I knew Abby would totally love this. We went through a TON of them, and even had some ready for when Nanny and Papaw got here! :)

Olivia got to throw a few, too!

LOOK OUT!!!

Horseshoes! Look at her. I am starting to think there won't be a sport she can't master. She is so accurate and athletic and coordinated. She really can beat us at horseshoes. Go, Abby!

Little relaxing.

'Mommy, you are a really good Mommy!'

So, some highlights of the day....

1.Olivia turns over an entire bag of pretzels on the living room floor. Do you have any idea how much salt is sitting at the bottom of one of those bags? I do...ha!

2. Abby sticks her glob of chewed gum on my WALL!!!!!!!

3. Abby is finger painting in the kitchen with her nice little craft mat under her easel. But, that doesn't matter, she gets RED paint on her foot and instead of staying put, she decides to run frmo the kitchen, through the house to our bathroom to wash it off, leaving a trail of red paint through 3 room in the house.


***Am I taking deep breaths? Yep. Does my blood pressure rise for a brief moment while I access the situation? You bet. Did I make a tanning appointment for later on, just so I can have 10min. out of the house alone. Yes, sir! haha! But, you know what? Carpets, floors, walls and kids can be cleaned. And, when Abby says something out of the blue like, 'Mommy, you are a really good, Mommy!' I suddenly could care less about the red footprints on my carpet or the time I spent vaccuming the salt out of my carpet or the threats of never allowing Abby to chew gum until she is 30! hahaha! and, even though I sometimes look forward to bed time, I wouldn't trade it for anything! :)

Our new pool-ha!

Yeah, so it's just an inflatale pool, but the girls love it! We bought it on a cloudy day, so I blew it up and they played with this thing in the living room for hours. Who knew?

It finally cleared up that afternoon, so we headed outside with the new pool and our bubble machine, and that is a recipe for a GOOD TIME! ha!
I mean, really...can you freakin' believe how fast Olivia is growing? :(

Yay, pool outside!

Strikin' a pose, as always! :)

BUBBLES! Aaaahhhhhhh! Kids are so funny with bubbles. They are truly the greatest thing EVER to the under 5 crowd! haha!

My Happy Little Peanuts! :)

Weekend!

We had a nice weekend at home. Scott's parents came Friday night and we went to dinner at a place we hadn't tried yet in a town near by. It was good. Saturday was the city wide yard sale. The town was a buzz...ha! We found book cases for the basement and High School Musical for Abby. I call that a success. :) Abby also got a new big girl bike this weekend. We have been wanting to get one for a while and she tried some out at the store last week, so I went back and got one of her favorites. At first, she was none too thrilled (typical Abby, doesn't like change-ha! At one point, she threw down her helmet and the bike and yelled, 'I'm outta here!' haha!) But, soon enough she was loving it and she has been riding it like crazy. Scott and his Dad build a work bench in the garage and hung some shelving out there. I have caught Scott out there just staring at it all more than once...ha! Sunday, Abby and I went to a baby shower and then I had practice with my Junior all-star squad and my first practice with my Pee-Wees (age 4-7)...HILARIOUS! So so cute. We had a great weekend.

Abby loves putting hats on Olivia...this one has always been a favorite in our household! :)

Abner with her new bike!

Go, Abby, Go! She's so fast now, we have to run to keep up with her on our walks.

Scott's new work bench!

And, one of the shelves!

Congrats, Scott....you know have the neatest, most organized garage in the neighborhood! haha!