A Long Overdue Catch-up Post

It has been forever since I have posted a blog.  I don’t even know if anyone reads it anymore, but I need to do a catch-up post so we can save our memories. 

The last few weeks have been busy!!!  I have hardly had time to write a blog, much less read my favorites.  However, I have become more interested in The Small  Things Blog.  This girl is cute as a button, and teaches you how to do many different hairstyles on her Youtube channel.  I have had lots of fun learning how to manhandle this mop.  Here is one attempt:

She talks about different hair products, and I have fallen in love with some of them.  I will have to post a Favorite  Things soon and share them with you.

Valentine’s Day came and went, and Rob and I had a hot date the weekend before to celebrate.  I surprised him with tickets to see Merle Haggard.  We had so much fun just spending time with one another.

I tried to get a good picture of the two of us, but we had a hard time.  Rob didn’t want to cooperate:)

So I decided to give up and join him!!!

We did get one really good picture of the two of us.

 

Rob and I celebrated early because the High School girls in our youth group had a GALentine Date at the bowling alley.  I have some cute pictures, but I don’t have their permission to post them.  We had so much fun and they are always such a blessing to me!!!

Speaking of youth, Rob, myself and our High School Sunday School class pulled an awesome prank on our youth pastor.  We have been told he is the ultimate prankster, but we got him good.  That will be a post all to itself tomorrow.

The kids have been doing great.  I don’t ever have any pictures of Cade because he thinks he is way too old and way too cool to have his picture taken.  Especially if he thinks it will end up on the blog.  He is doing so well, and is a great big brother.  He is my heart, and I love him so much!!!

Sassy is as sassy as ever!!!  She wears uniforms to school, so she has to sass them up with some cool shoes.  Every girl needs some glitter combat boots!  She is such a joy:)

Emmy celebrated her three-month birthday in the pediatrician’s office with a nasty cold. 

She weighed 12 pounds 6 ounces, and is so laid back.  She is a doll baby!!!

My last update is on my book.  I actually spent a couple of hours working on it last week.  I have really had a hard time getting motivated to work on it, but it’s coming along.

Hopefully now that we are all caught up I can do a better job of keeping up. 

Earrings for Emmy

Several weeks ago, we took Emmy to get her ears pierced.  Beas and Jah got her a gift certificate for Christmas, so we finally got to go use it.

I couldn’t possibly be the one to hold her during this ordeal, so Aunt Beas volunteered.  That’s what aunts are for, right?

 

 

She is always so laid back.  She’s just the sweetest thing ever!

Emmy had quite the cheering section.

Here is the finished procedure.  She’s still doing pretty good.

But boy howdy did her tune change.  If looks could kill…

I got tickled because we decided to do some shopping afterwards.  Because we had so many strollers we had to use the elevators everywhere we went.

This is a FULL HOUSE!

We are all going to Disney in a few weeks, so maybe this was great practice:)

My Favorite Things

I have stumbled across the best thing since sliced bread.  And I really mean it this time!

I am a busy woman.  But my hair requires a washing EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!  I do not have time for that.  If I wash it at night, I have to blow it dry because it will be a hot mess the next morning.  And I do not have the time to wash and blow dry my hair every night.  If I wash it in the morning and let it air dry, it is “flat as a flitter” as my grandma would say.  However, I have found the solution to my greasy, flat, lazy hair woes.

Everyone tells me that hair products make all the difference.  Y’all…I AM CHEAP!!!  And if I’m gonna splurge, it is not going to be on a hair product.  This product is both wonderful and CHEAP!

Dove Dry Shampoo:

The can says “invigorating.”  I’m not so sure what it is supposed to invigorate.  But I will tell you that I am now on day 3 without washing my hair.  And the funny thing is, my hair has looked better each day.  Go figure.  This stuff is easy to use.  You spray the roots, then massage it in with your fingers. 

There were some brands that were upwards of $20, but this was $3.94 at WalMart.  That is cheap, my friends. 

(I am not getting paid to endorse this product.  This is something I wanted to try.  I tried it.  I loved it.  I’m telling you about it.)

Emmy- 2 months

This precious girl turned 2 months old.  I.CANNOT.BELIEVE.IT!!  We went to the pediatrician yesterday, and poor baby had to get her shots.  I felt terrible for all of my children, but yesterday seemed even harder.  I think I must be getting softer in my old age!

Here is what Emmy is up to this month:

• 11 lbs, 6 oz.
• 22 3/4” long
• She in the the 75th percentile in all areas, which is funny because we have never had a kid get out of the 10th percentile.  Cade and SaraGrace are both holding steady in the 5th!
• She is in a size 2 diaper.
• She eats 6 oz at a time, every 3-4 hours except at night.
• She is sleeping through the night EVERY night (Hallelujer!!!)
• She is the happiest baby!  She is always smiling and laughing.  She was even happy yesterday with a bow in her hair.
• She coos and makes all kinds of noises which is absolutely adorable.
• I started using the sling to carry her around and she loves it.  So do I!

What a joy Emmy is to us!!!  Her brother and sister think pretty highly of her too:)

Red Box Review

I haven’t done a red box review in a while, but we watched a few movies this weekend that are worthy of a shout-out!

I had heard so many wonderful things about “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” 

Let me tell you…this was one of the BEST movies I have seen in a while.  It was so heart warming and refreshing.  It made me appreciate my children so much more:)  A very sweet movie.

The kids’ favorite was Ice Age: Continental Drift. 

I have never been a huge fan of these movies, but this one was HILARIOUS!!!  Sid’s granny makes this movie a must see!

My favorite movie from the weekend was Pitch Perfect!

I love a good musical, and this one does not disappoint.  It has great music, a good story, and a lot of great laughs.  Fat Amy is my favorite character!

Red Box always provides great entertainment in our house since we do not have cable.  I’m so thankful to have a few kiosks nearby.

The Difference between 1 and 4

This little girl has brought so much joy into our lives.  We have enjoyed every minute with her.  She has even slept through the night the last two nights!!!  We laugh at how differently we do things now compared to when Cade was a baby.  Here are just a few:

• Cade was a Pampers only baby.  Emmy gets whatever is on sale.  (Publix brand diapers are actually pretty good.)
• Cade had every piece of baby gear known to man.  Until recently, Emmy only had a pack and play, a stroller and a car seat.  We just borrowed a swing and bouncer from Aunt Beas.
• Cade was dressed to the nines each and every day, down to shoes and socks at all times.  He NEVER wore a onesie unless it was to sleep.  Emmy is always in a sleeper or a onesie, and the girl has only worn shoes twice!  Hey…you gotta be comfy!
• SaraGrace (she is not Cade, but our first girl) always had a bow in her hair-even if we were just going to the grocery store.  Emmy HATES a bow, so she rarely wears one.  I don’t have the energy to fight with a bow.
• Cade wore a new outfit every day, rarely wearing the same thing twice.  Emmy has a few favorites, and we are wearing them out!
• If Cade cried in the car, we would pull over, feed him, change his diaper and do everything we could to pacify him.  Poor Emmy!  She has to cry it out until we get to where we are going (within reason, of course!)

My point is…I used to worry about all of the unimportant little things that I thought made me a better mom.  Because you know that using Pampers makes you the best!!!  With baby number 4, we are learning to enjoy every minute of every day with her, and not get caught up in the little things.  Maybe it’s because we are older.  Maybe it’s because we’re wiser.  Or maybe it’s because we are too dang tired to worry about any of it.

Christmas Vacation 2012 (a little late)

We were so blessed to get an extended vacation at Christmas this year, thanks to Christmas falling in the middle of the week.  Of course, we all packed up and headed to the Hun-Tin House for 10 days of rest and hunting.

Our trip started off a little scary.  We got 2 minutes down the road and we blew a tire.  It sent us into the ditch and scared this poor momma to death!  It happened to be freezing cold which only added to the drama.  We unloaded the back of the car, changed the tire, reloaded the car only to drive back home.  We then unloaded again and reloaded in Rob’s truck.  Whoo!!!  That was a lot of work.  But we got back on the road safe and sound, thankful for God’s protection.

Mom did a fantastic job of decorating for Christmas.  I wish I would’ve taken more pictures, but it was really neat to see all of our stockings hung by the chimney with care.  It took both sides of the fireplace!

 

We had an extra blessing this Christmas.  Rob’s dad, Grandpa Andy and Grandma Karen came to spend Christmas with us.  What a blast!!!

I started the hunting off right and in style with my new hat from Grandpa Andy.  It was so warm!

The kids enjoyed hunting too! 

Christmas day, we split up and hunted with our dads.  It turned out to be a 5 hour hunt in the pouring rain!!!  But it was such an adventure. (But didn’t kill anything.)

Speaking of long hunts, we had a marathon hunt one afternoon.  We hunted for 6 hours straight.  I was hunting by myself so I was so bored. 

 

But I did get to kill a hog.  (The only measly thing I killed in 10 days.)

One afternoon, Rob and I each took a child.  We had lots of fun. (But didn’t kill anything.)

When we weren’t outside hunting (which I stayed in every morning) we found plenty to do to keep us busy.

We dressed up and rode the tricycle inside.

We slept!  We did a lot of this!

Friday was Rob’s birthday.  SG baked him some cupcakes in her easy bake oven.

 

We also found time to play with our FAVORITE Christmas gift.  Sorry for the sound.  My speaker phone is broken, but this girl can get it!!!  She must get it from her Daddy!

 

We had an amazing Christmas, and spent time thanking God for all of His blessings in our lives.