Growing so fast!

This week the girls had their well visits. It's so hard to believe that Abby is 4 and Liv is 16mo.!! WOW, where does the time go!?

*Liv is just so crazy about Abby and wants to be just like her and do everything just like her. It is incredibly sweet! Liv refuses to sit in a high chair or any type of booster anymore because she has to sit just like Abby/sit where Abby sits/eat what Abby is eating/where what Abby is wearing/if Abby's nails are painted, Liv's have to be painted! Sometimes I let them have breakfast at their little table! I just love this picture! :)


The beautiful princess, ready for the ball...check out that lipstick...YIKES! haha!

The princess no longer wants her picture taken! haha!

And, the greatest moment of Liv's life...Abby let her wear one of her tiara's! She was SO excited and just grinned and laughed like she was really getting away with something!

*So, the Dr.s office was the usual nightmare that it always is, but it's always nice to hear that your children are healthy and smart and gorgeous! :) Abby FINALLY hit a growth spurt...her first in 4yrs! ha! She now weighs 34lbs (40th percentile, first she has been above 25th percentile) and 38in. (12th percentile, first she has been above 7th..ha). Liv weighed in at a whopping 24lbs (I think that makes her the biggest of all the 'blog babies!' :) and it puts her securely in the 50th percentile!) and, just like the rest of the family, she's no where near tall. She was about 28 1/2 in. (right around the 10th percentile) .

***At 4, Abby is learning to read, she loves to spell and write words, she loves school and dance. She has tons of little friends and she has the most creative imagination. She loves to read and learn new things, she loves to do arts and crafts, she loves anything Disney princess/dress-up/beauty shop/playing house. She's kind and thoughtful and is always concerned with other people. I adore that about her. She is also very hard-headed and independent, and she gets frustrated if she can't do something and will try and try until she finally does it (I see so much of myself in her when it comes to these things). If she gets upset, she rebounds quickly, though, which is also like her mother! :) Scott always makes fun of both of us for this. We can be fighting mad, stomp off to our rooms and 5min. later come out smiling, wanting a hug and acting like there was never anything wrong! haha! It's like that line in The Notebook...'I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings...besides, you have like a 2 second rebound and you are right back to doing the next pain in the ass thing!' haha!

***At 16mo., Liv is changing and learning something new everyday. She isn't the chatterbox that Abby was/is...she can say anything and everything, but she only says what she needs to, when she needs to. She is very direct and there is never a moment when you don't know what she wants. She is very independent: she does not want anyone doing anything for her. She feeds herself, attempts to dress herself and has been showing signs of wanting to use the potty-YAY! She LOVES to read. She hates TV (I am not sure if she has ever seen more than 1min. of a show), she is waaaay too busy to sit for an activity. Her favorite things to do are read and play dress up and anything that Abby tells her to do. Even when Abby is at school, Liv will go to her room and dress up in something silly. It's so cute! She is the ultimate sweetheart but also a little beast. She can be quite the little turd when she wants to be. Unlike Abby, she does not get over being upset quickly. She will get mad and 20min. later seek her revenge on Abby...haha! She gets that pouting and being mad for a long time from the Utley's...or so I have heard! haha! She loves to hold hands and she loves her big sister, her dog and her Mommy and Daddy, and that is the BEST!! :)

SNOW!

Last week was snow week. It was so cold most of the time snow was on the ground we couldn't take the girls out, but we did get a little play time in!

Liv LOVED it!! It was her first time playing in snow. She would have stayed out all day!

Abby loves snow, too. They are ready made for the slopes! :)


Scott tried to pull them with Abby holding Liv in her lap...yeah, that didn't so much happen. She was out in about 10sec. haha!

She did great by herself, though, and loved it just as much as her big sister does!

Go, Abby! Scott is so wild with her on that thing! He pulls her so fast, over hills, etc. Makes me a nervous wreck but she hangs in there!

Ohhhh, yummy!

As most of you know, Abby would rather get 5 shots than take a bite of any type of sweet or dessert (which I am glad, but it's sort of funny at this point...everyone is amazed by it, her teachers bring her special snacks when they celebrate birthdays, etc...) However, Liv has quite the sweet tooth! After playing in the snow the other day, we came in to make hot chocolate for the only family member that will drink it...Scott! ha! And, she acted like she wanted some whipped creme, so I couldn't resist!


She LOVED it! She will go to the fridge and look for it now! haha!

This one won't be getting special snacks at school...I have a feeling she will be the queen of cupcakes! ha!

Happy New Year!

Little behind on my blogging...AGAIN! Anyways, we rang in the new year much like any other night around here, except the girls banged pots and pans around 8 (they don't know what midnight is, right?...ha), and we did a little extra celebrating and let them stay up a little later than normal and that was our New Years! We had a lot of fun, though!

Abby asked me what New Years is, and I explained it to her, telling about resolutions, etc and then told her that you bang pots and pans and yell HAPPY NEW YEAR! She looked at me dead serious and said, 'and that's it...that's New Years!?' Like, no thanks, she would rather not even bother! hahaha!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 2010!

Just a Mom!

Okay, so today has been a rough day to put it mildly! To sum it up, I will copy and paste an email response that I sent to Scott earlier...

*We are fine. I figured my phone was just being a piece of sh!t. Olivia refuses to nap (or eat). It's a flashback from Abby at this age. I am about to lose my mind and shut myself in a dark room and cry. The minute you get home, I'm going tanning and I might drink an entire bottle of wine tonight. Just a heads up!

*Those of you that know me, you know that most of what I say is dripping with sarcasm and meant with humor...I am not really going to lock myself in a room and drink a bottle of wine, but I will admit that it crosses my mind from time to time! haha! Anyways, about an hour after sending that, I received an email that I had read before, one that I LOVE!....

*Just a Mom!

*A woman renewing her drivers license at the County Clerk's office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation.

*She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

*'What I mean is,' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job or are you just a......'

*'Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman, 'I'm a Mom!'

*'We don't list Mom as an occupation, housewife covers it!'

*I forgot all about her story, until one day I found myseld in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The clerk was obviously a career woman, posied, efficient, and possesed a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar'

*'What is your occupation?' she probed.

*What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. 'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.'

*The Clerk paused, ball point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right.

*I repeated the title slowly, emphasizing the most important words. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

*'Might I ask?', said the clerk with new interest, 'just what you do in your field?'

*Cooly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself simply reply, 'I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the labratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (first the Lord and then the whole family), and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?), and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But, the job is more challenging than most run of the mill careers, and the rewards are more of a satisfaction, rather than just money.

*There was an increasing note of respect in the clerks voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.

*As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamourous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants, ages 13, 7 and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern, I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy, and I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than, 'JUST ANOTHER MOM!'

*Motherhood, what a glorious career!


*This is something that really rings true to me, especially being a stay at home Mom (not so much now, as I seem to be working more and more hours all the time, but those hours are in the evenings and weekends, as I will never give up my time with the girls during the day), but there are so many times when people ask what I do, and I feel the need to immediately follow up telling them that I stay at home, with telling them of my actual 'job!' But, what is so wrong with just being a Mom!? NOTHING!! Even on these days when I am so mentally and physically exhausted, and I feel like I am about to lose it, there is no place I would rather be, there is no job I would rather have. I remember when Abby was just a few days old and I was sitting in her room with her in the middle of the night (might have been early morning by then-haha), rocking her and dirfiting in and out of sleep myself in the glider (I can't tell you how many miles I have logged rocking in that glider or how many hours I have slept in it), but I remember thinking, 'Wow, my Mom did this with me all those years ago!' All that work, all that time, all that parenting and at that moment I got it and wanted to make sure that she knew that at that very moment, every hour, tear, hug, lecture, etc was ALL worth it! I immediately called her the next day to tell her 'Thanks!' So, while it may be 25 years before I ever get a 'Thank You, Mom' that is said with 100% truth, meaning and love, that's okay...I will happily continue to log my own hours in the glamourous career of Motherhood. I'm quite content being Just a Mom! :)...Even on the toughest of days!

Christmas with Mom and Dad!

By Saturday night, we were all tired and grumpy, so we decided to make the drive on home from Paducah after the party. Mom, Dad and Grandma Jewell came Sunday morning to celebrate Christmas! :)

More gifts for the rotten children! ha!

Gator Golf! This was the only thing she asked Nanny for! The golf clubs have been taken away, so other than playing with it when she first got it, we haven't had the chance to really master this game. Maybe when the girls learn that the clubs are for putting ONLY, we can play a little Gator Golf-haha!

And.....Abby's My Twin doll!!!

So, I will admit, the thing is a little bit freaky, but insanely adorable! And, she looks JUST like Abby. Not sure if you have heard of these, but you fill out all this info: hair color, eye color, send photos, even a lock of hair if you want and they produce a doll that is a twin of you! You can get matching clothes, etc. Very cool!! :) And, Abby LOVES her!

And, only an action shot from this one...she is rarely still and she was in heaven with her new grocery cart and food! :)

Thanks, so much to our parents, family and friends. We had an AMAZING Christmas. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Christmas Day!

After opening gifts at home on Christmas Eve, we loaded up and headed to Scott's parents. Can you believe it, Santa came to visit Abby at Goggy and Gi-gi's, too!? What a very good girl she must have been! I can't explain how or why Liv got visited by Santa twice....maybe because she is so cute! hahaha!


Eyeing all the stockings and goodies!

Goggy and his girls. :)

Present opening madness!

Family Photo, Christmas 2009! How very blessed we are!

Liv and the boys...she prefers men over women any day! She was right at home with Uncle Kevin and Caleb!

Just a few of the kiddos. Gosh, who's OCD child is that, lining up all the toys in a perfect line on the floor!? hahaha!

More gifts!

I think that little devilish grin means she likes this one! Either that or it's about to be thrown at Abby's head...one of the other! haha!

My little readers. They both love to read and I LOVE it! Abby is starting to recognize and read more and more, and she's obsessed with how to spell everything and write it. And, Olivia reads and looks at books all day! If she had no other toys besides books, she could care less! She always has a book in her hands.

We had a great Christmas with Scott's Dad's side of the family. And, Saturday, we packed up and drove from Dixon, KY to Paducah, KY to visit with his Mom's side of the family and had a going away party for his cousin's husband, Kyle, who is going to Afghanistan. Please, keep him in your prayers!

I didn't get many pics from the party, but I got this cute one of Liv and Sara...look at her little belly!!! That's Baby Will, and we can NOT wait until he gets here in April!!!! :)

Christmas Eve Morning!

Since we had so much traveling to do, we let Santa know that it would be really great if he could visit our house Christmas Eve morning, and he did! :)


Abby only asked for 2 things this year: a yo-yo and a snowglobe. This very special snowglobe was waiting for her, along with a letter when she woke up! She was so excited!

Posing with her gifts, waiting for Liv to wake up!

She finally got her little lazy butt up and the girls were so excited to eat breakfast on their new craft table! :)

The yo-yo!

Liv could really care less about the gifts, but she would humor us and rip off a piece of paper or 2 and look at the gift for a second. haha!

And, they promptly piled all new gifts and toys into their new tent.

We LOVE games, and luckily Abby got a lot of new games this year! Hi-ho Cherry O is a favorite! And, that child is a Jenga pro! We had it build 32 levels the other night, and I believe 36 is as high as it can go!

Finally-The Start of Christmas Photos!

Once again, I am uber-behind on my blogging. But, I have a TON of Holiday photos that I am determined to get posted today! We will start with our trip to look at lights and see Santa and Abby's Christmas party at school! :)


Highland has the best lights around. This is our 3rd year to go, and Abby always has a blast. This is the first time we have visited Santa while were there! Abby pulled a total Ralphie moment and when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she just looked at him blankly and finally said, 'uuuhhhhh, a Barbie!' hahaha!

Anways, here we are looking at all the lights and exhibits!

Liv was in heaven running free like a wild woman! :)

Oh. My. Gosh! Santa was RIGHT inside there!!!

Not a chance that she was sitting on his lap, but she did get close enough for a pic. Liv on the other hand, did NOT! haha!

I got to go to school with Abby and be the parent volunter for her class Christmas party! We were both SO excited!!! I had a BLAST! The kids are so sweet and so fun.

The 3 Wise Men came to visit the class and told them all about the gifts they brought to Baby Jesus! :)
And, the class had a HUGE Birthday Party for Jesus! So fun! :)