stupid blogger won't let me post pictures right now.

Fall fun

Last weekend we went to my aunt's cabin in Silverthorne. We had a great time just getting away for the weekend. The girls were so excited about going to the mountains. They had a blast running around and playing hide and seek. The weather was nice and cool and it just felt like a beautiful fall weekend. I wanted to capture some of the beauty. The aspens were just beginning to turn.

Two words.....

Bowling balls. OK, I guess three words......OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missing.....

This post is dedicated to my faithful friend Amber who is probably the only one that actually logs on to check this thing! Sorry it has been so long! So much has been going on....I can't even begin to back track so I will just start over again.

We recently went on a vacation to Missouri to visit my parents and relatives. It was great seeing my parents because I hadn't seen my dad since Jan. and my mom since March. I had an enjoyable time and the weather was awesome! I was dreading MO in the middle of July, but it was in the 70's and low 80's, not too humid and even a bit breezy.

The girls got to go to a county fair and ride some of the kiddie rides. We indulged ourselves on carnival food and made a night of it. The girls also got to ride my uncle's horses. Ella has been into horses so much since she watched the movie "Flicka". Abby did surprisingly well. I think they had the most fun doing that. They got to play all over my grandpa's property in the country, rode the tire swing, and rode bikes.

It is good to be home now and get back into a routine. Unfortunately I had to return to that dreaded place called work. It actually hasn't been too bad to come back to this time. I hope you enjoy the pics and I'll try to keep more updated posts!!!

Happy Belated Easter!

OK, so I'm a few days behind. What can I say? I had every intention of getting some pictures posted in time for Easter, but never got around to doing it until now. I try to keep up with professional pictures as much as I can. I started with high expectations with Ella. Abby came along and I missed her 9 month pics. I've promised myself that I have to at least get as many pictures of Lily as I did of Abby. I have so many pictures I don't even know what to do with them all. It's going to get harder and harder to keep up with all of them and not spend so much money. The girls did pretty well this past week with pictures. Lily surprisingly smiled and Abby didn't so much. I guess I'll take what I can get. 2 out of 3 isn't bad. Hope you all had a Happy Easter!!

Lost Tooth

The toothless smile!

THE tooth, guts and all!

Right after Ella pulled it

Working on it amidst the drama

My baby girl is getting big! Not my little baby, my big baby. Ella has had a loose tooth for a couple of months now. She's been wiggling it every now and then. This morning she showed me how loose it was and I told her it was loose enough to pull. So...we worked and worked at it. The tooth really didn't need a lot of pulling on, most of the work came from convincing Ella to push on it and that the blood wasn't hurting at all. The moment she saw blood the drama began. I left her alone after a while to work on it herself. She then asked me to help her. I gave it a good push and then she did the rest. She was so excited about it! She has a little box that she got as a souvenir from South Dakota a while back. It's actually a tooth fairy box. She has been sleeping with it by her bed for a while in anticipation. She put her tooth in it today and has it under her pillow. Now, just waiting for the tooth fairy.....

Happy 1/2-ish Birthday, Ella!

Ella's Birthday falls in the summer and isn't able to celebrate her birthday during the school year. Miss Bortner wanted to celebrate summer birthdays during school so Ella got to celebrate hers a couple of weeks ago. I brought cupcakes, juice boxes, and goody bags for her classmates. They were able to party for the last 20 minutes of school. Ella had fun and the kids enjoyed their treats.

Spring Break

Even Lily got her feet wet!

Ella and Chad playing Dancing with the Stars

Spring Break has come and went. We decided to take a trip to South Dakota while Ella was off from school and before I went back to work full time. The girls hadn't seen Old Grandma since last summer and Chad and I even longer than that. We were worried about the weather and spring snow storms, but we lucked out. The temperature was in the 40's and 50's and was extremely nice for South Dakota! The girls did a lot of swimming! When we book hotels a swimming pool is a must! We stayed in Rapid City, Aberdeen, Sioux Falls, Rapid City again and then home. We took Chad's parents' van and rode in style! 7 people in the van was a tight squeeze at times, but we managed. The girls had a dual DVD player in back so they watched several movies and loved it!! We did too as it helped the time pass and kept them from fighting so much! Lily did awesome and was the best girl of all!!! She traveled very well and only fussed when she was hungry. It was great seeing Old Grandma and several other extended relatives. The girls had a blast swimming. Abby even got brave enough to go down the big water slides with an adult. She is making progress each time she goes. Ella is just a fish and would swim all day if she could. Thanks Golf Papa and Grandma for a great Spring Break!!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

We celebrated Abby's 3rd birthday on March 8th. She had been looking forward to her "mermaid" party. I don't know how to type how she says it, but it's pretty cute because she can't say her r's very well. We had family come over to celebrate with pizza and cake. Abby loved being the center of attention. Ella had a little bit of jealousy, but did pretty well except wanting to help Abby open presents. Ella even dressed for the occassion in her mermaid costume. Abby had a special treat: Sparky Grandma got to come out to visit for the weekend. Abby always wants her to stay longer, but she didn't have any more vacation days. So...we take what we can get. Abby enjoyed her color wonders, littlest pet shop toys, hello kitty tent, clothes, and other items. It doesn't seem like a birthday without presents when you are a kid, but as a parent more presents means more toys to pick up and so you almost don't want anymore!! We had a great time and Abby is excited that she turned "fwee".

Where does the time go?

Wow! I just realized that my last post was over 3 weeks ago. Where has the time gone? I have been crazy busy and am no longer a stay at home mom where I have a few spare moments during the day to blog. I promise to try to post some more by this weekend. I started back to work pretty close to full time this week. I've worked two days in a row and I am pooped!!! I am so exhausted. I can't wait for the kids to get to bed at night so I can go to sleep. Last week we were gone on vacation to South Dakota to see Chad's extended family. We had a nice time and the girls did a lot of swimming. The weather was nice for South Dakota (40's and 50's), but we missed the beautiful 70 degree weather in Colorado while we were gone. We got to enjoy one day of nice weather when we returned home. The week before last week is just a blur. I don't even know what we did. I have some pictures to post as well. Oh yeah, Abby turned 3 in the midst of it all and my mom came out to visit. Wow, a lot has happened. I have a lot to play catch up on.

Back to the grind

Tomorrow I have to return to work. I'm really not looking forward to it. In fact, I've grown to like being a stay at home mom! Yeah, it gets a little hectic now and then and I want to pull my hair out, but if I had to choose I think I would stay home! Even working only 3 days a week would be nice. Oh well. I'm trying to start back slowly. Only one day this week. I think next week will be two, the following none because we will be on vacation, and then...full time. I've had to do this twice before and it is hard. This time is a little different because I'm still nursing so I get to deal with pumping at work. I'm willing to try it because Lily doesn't like formula so much. It should be interesting. It always feels a little weird going back also. You have been out of the loop and the swing of things, but somehow it all comes back to you, both good and bad. I haven't missed the gossip or babysitting! I have missed the people and the steady income. So, off I go to bed so that I can be rested for the big day! More to post later.

Day trip

Ella thought it was so neat that one landed on her finger!

Abby waiting for the butterflies to be realeased.

Friday my mother-in-law and I packed up the three little girls and ventured to Denver for a day trip. I had wanted to go to the Children's Place Outlet to find some good deals. The wind was blowing really hard that day, but it was a warm wind. We had taken her van and the girls rode comfortably. I couldn't find my big stroller to put the car seat in, but luckily the mall had some to rent. Lily had gas pains and cried the entire time I was trying to shop. It didn't make for a fun time. On top of it all, they didn't have a great size selection so I ended up with only 3 pieces and a couple of hats. I nursed Lily and she was much better! We grabbed some lunch and enjoyed a cinnabon, which I haven't had in forever!! We then trekked to the Butterfly Pavilion. The girls really enjoyed this as well as I. Abby loved looking at the butterflies but screamed anytime one came near her. We then went to Casa Bonita. If you have never been it is quite the experience. There is always a line to get in. They have diving shows and little skits. It is a Mexican restaurant so they have a Mariachi band. There are caves to play in and all sorts of stuff. We finally left Denver at 8 pm only to realize it was snowing! We had a fun day, but it was exhausting.

EARLY Service

We made it to church today!! I think that might be 3 weekends in a row!! We decided to go to early service so that Chad could go straight to work afterwards. 8:30 is when our early service begins, and it is truly EARLY!! I set my alarm for 6, but ended up hitting snooze several times and then turning it off completely. I woke up at 7 and decided we couldn't make it and dozed off again until 7:15. At that point I decided we really needed to go and could make it if we tried really hard. So...45 minutes later and we were out the door. I don't really know how we did it other than Lily slept until I changed her and put her in the carseat. Ella fed her a bottle in the car on the way to church. She can be a really big help when she wants to be. I'm glad we went. It's hard to get up and go sometimes but I'm always glad when we do.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our friends and family! We love you! Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. We didn't do much. Went to the grocery store with 3 kids. Lily started fussing half way through. Got everyone back in the car and packed up and Abby tells me she needs to go potty. I knew she would never make it home. Instead of unloading all 3 of them again I called into the store (which happened to be the store I work at, thank goodness) to see if someone would come out and watch Ella and Lily while I ran Abby in. It never fails! Chad got off work early and we spent a quiet evening at home with our family. Nothing too eventful, but very nice. Happy Valentine's Day!

Junkie?

I have to admit that I am an American Idol junkie. I watch it as much as I can when it is on. I have even called in to vote, not obsessively or anything, but I have called. I don't check out their website or chat about it or anything like that. This year is no different. Season 8. Tonight the judges narrowed it down to the top 36. I could not believe some of their choices. I guess they have to make a show for people to watch. If they didn't have some wackos on there nobody would watch. I want the guy that lost his wife several months ago to win...can't think of his name right now. I don't know if America will agree, probably not. I don't usually make good predictions. As much as I like watching, Randy is getting to be annoying. Paula has always been somewhat annoying, but Randy is getting more and more on my nerves with the whole "dawg" thing. I'm glad they added a new judge this year. So, call me a junkie if you like. I'm OK with that. Until next Tuesday...

Baby steps

This week I decided I had better just get used to packing up three kids to go anywhere. Chad has been taking Ella to school when it works out with his work schedule. If he can't then my mother-in-law has. Chad has been working early this week so I decided I just better do it and get use to it. It is interesting some mornings. Yesterday Abby decided to dress herself to go. She ended up with her shirt on backwards and tights on-no pants. She wore her boots too. Poor little Lily got thrown in the car seat with her snuggly on and had to crunch her legs up to get it buckled. I had sweats and the t-shirt I slept in on, along with my leather jacket. Ella was the only decent looking one out of the bunch, but I guess she was the only one that really mattered. I'm glad my car didn't stall or something. I don't think anyone would have stopped! Needless to say Ella made it to school and on time.
Another baby step....Lily slept 5.5 hours last night!!!! Yeah!!!! Hopefully this will become a habit and not just a fluke.

Made it!

I am glad to say that we finally made it to church with all three kids. Going anywhere with an infant is quite the task. You forget just how much time and planning goes into it. I had set my alarm for 2 hours before we needed to leave, but hit snooze several times. I made the mistake of not getting myself ready first. I woke up the girls and got them breakfast and dressed. Should have let their daddy do that part. So basically I had to get myself ready and Lily as well as feed her in the time that was left. I thought we might be late, but made it right on time. What a task! I even put Lily in the nursery, which I would have never done with the other two. She did just fine. Hopefully next Sunday we can make it two in a row although I need to plan it out a little better.

$$$$$$$

Just an update.....I ran around all afternoon yesterday collecting the necessitites to do our taxes. Appears that this year proves to be the same as the past-REFUND!! Big Fat REFUND!! Praise the Lord!!! I believe it is just about the amount we need to pay all of the bills looming over our heads. Of course, I admit I am greedy and always want more, but I'll gladly accept what is coming and be ever so thankful! Wish you all happy tax season, if you haven't already done them. (Dad, don't wait until April 14th like you always do!! A refund could mean plane tickets to see your granddaughters!)

TAX Time

It's tax time!! I am one of those weird people who like doing their taxes. Call me crazy, but I do enjoy it. I think the biggest reason is because I always get a refund back. I think if I had to pay-in my enthusiasm would diminish. I like watching the little green/red numbers in the corner of Turbo Tax go up and down. The biggest thrill is thinking about what all I can use my refund for. Unfortunately there are always some sort of bills that need to be paid off before we can splurge. This year is no exception. Having a baby one month ago kind of puts a big dent in our fun money. Some part of growing up and taking care of what you know you need to do first takes away a bit of the fun. I do however feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I can write "paid off" on my bills. The two things I would really like to buy with our extra is a plane ticket to Raleigh for a girls' weekend in April and a new bedding set. Our bedding set has lasted 6 years and is falling apart. I think it is time!
So, it's off I go to collect our W-2s ( I can't wait for them to mail them :) ). I have to go buy Turbo Tax today as well. Putting together all of our tax papers is the least fun. Wish me luck! I hope this year proves to be the same as the preceeding ones!! Think REFUND!! REFUND!!

Welcome baby Lily

Ok, so Lily is almost 4 weeks old, but she is the biggest news I have. We welcomed her Dec. 30th. The girls absolutely adore her even though Abby has some jealousy issues. Can hardly believe I have 3 girls. No boy luck at all. I guess God has a reasoning for giving me all girls. She is such a good baby. I'm really enjoying her!!

The world of blogging

So, thanks to my good friend Amber I am now part of the whole internet postings world. I started facebook earlier this week and am now giving a blog a whirl. Guess I'm moving up in the world. Please be patient as I try to figure it all out!