ONE DAY AT A TIME....

Ayla's Arthritis Journey Video and Arthritis walk Information

2011-03-28T14:05:00.001-04:00

Please watch Ayla's Journey with Juvenile Arthritis and then take a moment to either register for the walk or contribute a donation! Please help us find a cure for this disease!

I am so excited to announce that the First Annual Arthritis 5k walk/run will be on September 10th at 10 am this year! I encourage all of you to go here and show your support by either registering to walk or by making a donation. If you are from this area and do not have a team please feel free to walk with Ayla's team, "The A Team". It costs nothing to register, the race is donation only. If you raise $100 you will get a free t-shirt. There will also be different awards given out throughout the day, every person that is registered will have a chance to win!

This is so important to me and I am working hard to make sure that this will be a successful walk! I know September is still several months away BUT it is very important that we start forming teams and getting donations now. If anyone has a business and would like to be a sponsor of the walk, let me know, I would be happy to meet with you. I would like to offer your business a unique sponsorship opportunity to reach new audiences, build consumer loyalty and be part of the Arthritis Foundation Tradition. The Arthritis Walk provides visibility among affluent consumers and the prestige of affiliation with a recognized national organization. Additionally, sponsorship is a great advantage to enhance employee morale, consumer satisfaction, and a community presence! The Arthritis walk is the Arthritis Foundation's annual nationwide signature event that raises funds and awareness to fight arthritis, the nation's most common cause of disability!

Ayla's Rheumatology appointment and EXCITING NEWS!

2011-03-09T14:01:00.004-05:00

Ok, wow, I realize that it has been too long in between posts but this Winter has really been bad for us. With the exception of the last two weeks, someone in our family has been sick (including myself) for the past 8 weeks! We have had the flu, croup, respiratory infections, strep throat, stomach virus... you name it and someone in my house has had it. I am so ready for the warm weather to get here, it can't come soon enough :)

Ayla had her Rheumatology appointment a few weeks ago. She was actually excited to go so she could give Dr. Huggins a Valentine treat! Ayla made her a card and took her candy. She really likes Dr. Huggins and has always felt comfortable with her. We are so blessed to have such a great provider for her. I honestly can not say enough for Cincinnati Children's Hospital, it is a WONDER facility and I am so thankful for the care that we receive there! I just wish it were not almost 4 hours away :( it makes for a long day that's for sure!

Ayla's appointment went well. She is still doing well and her labs look great so we decided to start decreasing her Methotrexate. If all goes as planned, she should be off of it by August when she starts Pre-School! She is and will still be on Enbrel for at least another year, she still complains of neck pain occasionally, but at least we are headed in the right direction!

So for the exciting news, this Month marks the third year since Ayla was diagnosed. One of the first things I did when she was diagnosed was check into seeing if our area had a local Arthritis Walk. I was so eager to advocate and raise awareness for this disease, most people do not know that Kids can get Arthritis too! I was upset to learn that my state did NOT have a walk nor did we have a local Arthritis Chapter. I called the nearest chapter and discussed starting a walk with the person who is over the walks. She encouraged me to try and get a committee together and to actually start one in my area. I was excited about this opportunity but was let down pretty quickly. I could not get enough people interested and it was such an overwhelming task for me because Ayla was not yet in remission and less than two years old and Brennan was only a few months old. I decided that I would have to wait until there was a better time.

(This is Ayla on the day of diagnoses, three years ago, so precious!)

So out of the blue a couple of weeks ago I get an email from a local young lady wanting to know if I was interested in helping her with getting an Arthritis Walk together. What? Really? I was so excited and what an answer to prayer. I have wanted this for three years now! Her niece was diagnosed with arthritis two years ago at age three so this is very close to her heart as well. So we had our first committee meeting last week and we are having our FIRST ARTHRITIS WALK/RUN on September 10th, 2011! This is a HUGE task but one I am ready and willing to take on. Our main focus at this point is getting sponsors and raising money. I know a few of my fellow JRA moms have experience in this area so PLEASE I am willing to listen to any advice that you can give me! Erica, you out there..lol!!! I am just so excited for the opportunity to raise money and awareness for the Arthritis Foundation!

These next few months will be so busy but SO worth it! Let the advice begin!!!

It's A New Year

2011-01-10T23:16:00.005-05:00

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! I love Christmas and this year was no exception. The kids had a blast baking cookies, singing Christmas songs, decorating the tree, seeing Santa and of course opening their gifts! We were able to help two families have a Christmas this year and for that I am so grateful :) At times, we didn't know if we would have the extra money to do it but God is GOOD and HE always provides!

I always talk to the kids about the real meaning of Christmas and how it is much better to give than to receive. They are three and four so I know that they do not completely understand yet BUT they will one day. Okay a funny story. As I was putting out our Nativity Scene, I was explaining about baby Jesus, how he was born in a manger, how Christmas is his birthday, etc. After I was done Ayla looked at me and said, "so they waved the magic wand and Jesus was born", so that is what she got from the story. Her magic wand for some reason always seem to end up in our conversations. I guess I will try again next year, lol!

The few days before Christmas were busy as usual! We celebrated Christmas with our good friends and neighbors on Wednesday, on Thursday Kaleb had his friends over and they exchanged gifts, on Christmas Eve John's parents and Grandmother came over and on Christmas Day, we celebrated with my family. The kids were completely exhausted by Christmas and they were not interested in letting me take too many pictures, they were completely over it at that point! So here are a few pictures of our Holidays! I am looking forward to what 2011 will bring, hoping and praying that all of you have the best year EVER!

Happy New Year to everyone, I am expecting nothing but the BEST in 2011!!

Favorite Christmas Recipes

2010-12-21T21:08:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone is getting ready to have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I just started baking a few things this evening and thought I would share a few of my favorite recipes! Please share one of your favorites with me too, I love to make new recipes BUT they have to be EASY,lol! Someone on fb just gave me this recipe a couple of weeks ago because I mentioned that Kroger already had Cadbury Creme Eggs and that I was going to be in trouble..hehe... so thank you Sharon for sending me this recipe!! I just made it tonight! I have not tasted them yet, but they look awesome! If you like Cadbury Creme Eggs (like me) then you will love this recipe!

Cadbury Creme Egg Brownies

6 Cadbury Creme Eggs
430g (~15 oz) Cadbury Bournville chocolate
45g (~1 1/2 oz) sugar
115g (~4 oz) butter
140g (~5 oz) flour4 eggs (original recipe called for large, I used medium though)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Method1. Pre-heat the oven to 325ºF (170ºC).

2. Grease a 9 × 13 inch pan with butter.

3. Pre-mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl (you will not need to fit anything else in here).

4. Gently melt the butter, Creme Eggs (not the real eggs) and chocolate together. This is easiest to do in a double boiler, or bain-marie.

5. Hopefully, the melted mixture will become smooth and silky. It did not for me. If this doesn’t melt correctly, but instead, after mixing, is more of a soft fondanty consistency, don’t despair, mine went like this and it was still fine after the next couple of steps.

6. Remove the chocolate/Creme Egg/butter mixture from the heat, and mix in the sugar. The original recipe said to use a whisk for this step and the next, but my mixture was too thick for that, so I used a spoon.

7. Wait until you think it’s cool enough that the eggs won’t cook (it should not be very long if you didn’t overheat the chocolate), and add the eggs one by one, mixing each in thoroughly.

8. In three batches, gently folding, mix in the flour (with the baking powder and salt from the bowl you premixed them in earlier).

9. The mixture should now be smooth and silky, quite thick, but thin enough to pour.

10. Pour the mixture into the pan you greased earlier. Pour into the middle, and it should run into the corners. You can use a spoon to flatten it out if you need to. If it’s not flat on top, or you just want to get some aggression out, lift up the pan and drop it on the table a couple of times to even out the top.

11. Place the pan in the centre of the pre-heated oven.

12. Cook for 30-40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a cocktail stick or chopstick into the centre of the pan. When you remove it, it should have moist crumbs all over it, but no hint of actual liquid batter. If the stick is covered in brown batter, it’s not done yet. If there are no crumbs at all, you’ve left the brownies in for too long!

13. Remove from the oven and leave in the pan for two hours on a wire rack to cool (I know, I know, but it’s worth it!).

14. Cut into squares as you serve. If you don’t want to eat it all at once (or maybe just can’t eat it all at once), leave the remainder uncut in the pan covered in cling film to seal.That’s it! You probably won’t be able to not eat it when it’s fresh, but I’d say it definitely tastes better after a day or two.

My other recipes are on a post from last year so click on the highlighted link for more of my favorite Holiday Recipe's including "Winter Chex mix" which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE.. makes a great gift to give as well!!

If anyone decides to make any of these, let me know how you like it.. you REALLY have to make the winter chex mix, I promise you will LOVE IT.. I know how everyone loves the "puppy chow mix" well this beats that hands down..lol...do I have you interested now?

An update on Ayla's Arthritis

2010-11-11T15:12:00.003-05:00

A very long day at Ayla's Rheumatology appointment!

Wow, It has been a while since I have updated about Ayla's condition. Since starting on Enbrel injections last year, she has been doing wonderful. The plan was after being on the Enbrel and Methotrexate for one year without ANY signs or symptoms of arthritis, we would start decreasing her medicines and eventually she would be medicine free. Well, I honestly believed that would happen BUT we have learned recently that the arthritis is still affecting her little body. Over the summer she had complained of her left knee hurting every now and then and if she hits it or moves it a certain way she will complain. She does not like to walk long distances and will ask to be carried because she will say her knee or feet hurt. There is a little fluid on her knee but not enough to be a major concern. She also has just recently started complaining of neck pain, mostly when she is looking down while writing, working a puzzle, coloring, etc. I tried to ignore it as first and was in denial about it being arthritis, but now she tells me at least once a day that her neck is hurting. We had an appointment with her Rheumatologist last week and it was confirmed that she does indeed have arthritis in her neck. She also had Physical Therapy after her Dr. appointment and the PT did all kind of measurements and exercises with her neck and said that her range of motion for her neck is not where it is supposed to be. Although I knew it already, it still broke my heart to hear. I was so looking forward to taking her off of the medicines or at least decreasing them so her little body could have a break. The Dr. told us that having arthritis in the neck was very concerning to her. We are not allowed to do gymnastics etc, until her neck is showing some improvement :( The PT gave us some daily exercises to do for her neck and some for her hamstrings as well. The muscles in her legs are tight so we need to work on this and try to get her muscles stretched out. We also have a shoe lift for her to put in her right show because due to the inflammation in her left knee, that leg is longer than the right and it throws her off while walking, etc. I am ok with this, I was assured this will eventually resolve itself!

I am really heart broken over this, I know it could be worse but it still hurts when it is your child and when you have to watch them cry and plead with you to NOT give the shots every week. At times, I lie in bed at night and cry thinking of what these medicines might do to her body in the future. It breaks my heart that she may have to deal with this her WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE, she was diagnosed as a baby, it is just not fair. I wish there were some way I could take her place. So as of now the plan is to stay on the same medicines, we actually increased the dosage so she is taking the max dose for her weight. We will re-evaluate everything when we go back in February. Until then we will still have our eye appointments and routine lab work to make sure everything is okay.

I am sorry for being such a downer with this post, but some people just don't "get it". For example on Halloween, Ayla walked half way around our subdivision and then wanted her Daddy to carry her, she did not feel like walking. So as John is carrying her someone passing out the candy made a smart remark like, "isn't she old enough to walk herself", I was very proud that John did not say anything back, because he definitely wanted to. I was thinking to myself Lady if you had arthritis and it is cold outside, your body may be hurting you too but I didn't say it, just kept walking. Another JRA mom says it best on her blog, "Our Journey with Arthritis",

"Some of you may think that arthritis is no big deal. It's not cancer right? How can it possibly be a life threatening issue? Cancer kills people, arthritis does not. Can I tell you how WRONG you are? If you have a healthy child, be thankful. And while you are being thankful for your healthy child(ren) please say a prayer for the children that are not."

Anyway, I am a positive person most of the time, but we ALL have our moments! Here are a couple of pictures of me and the kids at the beginning of the appointment (remember its almost a 4 hour drive)

and here is one towards the end..lol

Even though there are some people who do not fully grasp what we go through or what "Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis" means, I know there are alot of you that are praying for my sweet Ayla, I have support from family, friends, and other JRA moms I have met, and for that, I am very thankful!

Trick or Treat ( a little late)

2010-11-11T14:45:00.005-05:00

The kids had a great time this year, they actually "got it" for the first time and it was sooo fun to watch! Brennan was the trick or treat pro, he was the leader of the pack and was always first to say "trick or treat". He is so funny, one lady passing out candy had grey wavy hair, the first thing he said when he walked up to her was "George Washington", omg John and I could not stop laughing, it was hilarious but she had no idea what he was talking about. He knows what all the Presidents look like, lol.

And here is my Prince and Princess!

So Ayla changed her mind a few hundred times about what she wanted to be for Halloween. She wanted to be a cheerleader for the longest time because Kaleb's girlfriend is a cheerleader and she loves going to games and watching the cheerleaders. Of course I try to steer her in that direction as well since I was a cheerleader at one time (many, many years ago ) After I searched forever and finally found her a cheerleader outfit she then decided she wanted to be a princess. She wanted to be each and every one of them but finally decided on Ariel. Her Mama Sandy had bought her the gorgeous Ariel dress for her birthday so Ariel it was! She did however get to wear her Cheerleading costume at a Halloween Party on Saturday night so it all worked out!

Brennan did not care what he was, he still doesn't get that part so we decided to make him "Prince Charming" and I have to say he pulled it off very well! What a handsome Prince Charming he made!

While we were out trick or treating big brother Kaleb decided that he wanted to get in on the fun. We were in stitches laughing when we saw him walking down the street in his bathrobe and wild crazy hair. He said this was his "just got out of bed look",lol.

The kids got enough Candy to last until next Halloween, our subdivision gets around four hundred trick or treater's so it is a ton of fun. Our neighborhood is nice because there are so many young kids right now, Ayla's best friend Hilary lives only two houses down. Most of the pics are all neighborhood kids and friends! It was such a fun night, I look forward to many more in the future!

My baby is THREE

2010-10-25T23:55:00.004-04:00

This past Sunday we celebrated Brennan's third birthday with friends and family. On October 18th, 2007 our family was finally complete when God blessed up with our sweet, precious, baby boy, Brennan Gage. I am so sad that my baby is now a toddler, I try not to think about it too much because it makes me sad. What a year, my first born will be graduating and going to college and my baby is now a toddler. I am just thankful that I am blessed with three amazing children whom I love more than anything in this world!

Okay back to the Birthday boy! He is a mommy's boy for sure and he loves to be loved on, lol. He is the only one out of three that will just sit on your lap and let you cuddle and love on him. He still sucks his thumb and carries his "wankie"( aka his blue blankie) everywhere. He sleeps all night and takes naps occasionally. We have not made the switch from his crib to a big boy bed but we need to do that soon. He loves food, books, music, cars, trains,computers and his Iphone! He loves the Disney movie "Cars" and knows all of the character car names. Of course he has most of them :) He also has the talent of learning a song only after hearing it a couple of times. He can belt out Amazing Grace like nobody's business...lol. I will have to try to post a video of that, it is too cute! Every night before he goes to bed he asks to say his prayers and sing Amazing grace. He is really NOT into sharing these days, and his favorite word at the moment is "mine". This is a daily problem at our house because he basically wants everything his sister has even if she had it first. Hopefully this phase will pass soon! Oh I forgot to mention how smart this kid is..lol not to brag or anything but he is a little genius!!

(These pictures are soo funny, when we told Brennan to blow his candles out, he wasn't sure how to do it so he was making the "f" sound, it was hilarious!)

Brennan, you have a heart of gold, you are always concerned if you think someone is hurt or not feeling well. There are not enough words to describe my love for you. I am so excited to see your big, beautiful blue eyes every morning. You always greet me with a huge smile on your face. I am so sad that you are growing up but at the same time excited to see what the future holds for you. I KNOW that you will do great things! Please always remember that even though Mommy loves you so much, Jesus loves you even more!!

Best Friends

Here is the dance portion of the party with Ayla and her friends. They were dancing to Justin Beiber.lol!!

Thank you to our friends and family who helped to make this day so special!

Today is World Arthritis Day, Show Me Your BLUE!

2010-10-12T15:08:00.003-04:00

ARE YOU WEARING YOUR BLUE TODAY?? WE ARE!!

Arthritis is a painful disease that affects over 46 million Americans, including about 300,000 children. Can we count on you to "Do Blue"? Please remember to wear blue to raise awareness so that someday we can find a cure for this disease!

Brennan knows the Presidents!!

2010-10-11T14:25:00.004-04:00

Brennan is like a sponge, he soaks up everything, lol. Seriously, I am not just saying this because he is mine, (well maybe a little) but this boy is smart!! He learned all 44 Presidents in three weeks. I am so proud of him. He is still two, almost three! Remember he knew and could recognize every letter of the Alphabet at 22 months :) He has known all of his shapes including, hexagon, pentagon, octagon etc since he was a tiny thing!! We are doing the "My baby can read" program right now and I am looking for State flash cards so I can teach him the states next! So here ya go, my little genius saying the Presidents. This is truly hilarious to watch because of how he pronounces some of them!!

Four and Sassy

2010-10-06T23:36:00.003-04:00

These pictures were taken on her actual birthday (August 31st). We got up that morning and she wanted to wear her cupcake dress. I thought it was fitting especially since I took her to the bakery and let her pick something out! Daddy of course brought home a few presents for her to open as well.

I wanted to note a few things that I forgot to write about on my last post. Ayla loves to help me with household chores. She makes her bed just about everyday and she loves to help me fold and put up clothes. She has to get them just right when she folds them or she will start all over. Speaking of clothes, everything has to match including her socks and underwear. She once cried after we put her to bed because her panties did not match her night gown! She likes to get dressed up and wants me to take pictures, she will say, "take my picture like this" and she will continue to do all sorts of hilarious poses. She calls me "girl" a lot and the way she says it cracks me up. She says, "get over here girl" or "come and help me girl". She just started calling Kaleb "boy" too. Today she said, "My boy is home", I need to go see my boy" too cute! Oh and I will NOT correct her when she pronounces her favorite cereal as "yucky yarms", of course it is "lucky charms" but the way she says it is much cuter..lol!

She is such a blessing, I just wanted to share a few thoughts while I still had them. I have so many posts that I am working on including what my sweet precious Brennan has been up to and trust me you will be very surprised!! Ayla also had a visit to her Rheumatologist a few weeks ago so I will be updating on her JRA soon.

I have been missing blogging and all of my blogger friends, I hope to get back into the swing of things very soon.. soooo much to talk about!

Happy Birthday Princess!

2010-08-26T23:55:00.004-04:00

Today is my sweet Ayla's 4th Birthday!!!! We actually had an early birthday party for Ayla over the weekend. Her birthday is August 31st, but she wanted to have a pool party so we had it a little early. She requested a princess birthday party with a princess cake, so of course that is what she got!! It is rare that a day passes where she does not have a princess dress on with a tiara on her head and a "magic wand" in her hand, lol, so a princess party was a perfect choice..lol. The only thing she has been asking for lately is a scooter, so we bought her one (with a helmet and all necessary padding of course!). The really neat thing is that she started swimming under water for the first time at her party. She has been on the verge of swimming all summer and after watching a couple of her friends swim at her party, she finally did it. I was so proud of her, she basically taught herself since she has not had lessons, etc.

At four years old Ayla is such a sweet, caring and loving little girl. If she thinks you are hurt or not feeling well, she will just rub your face and ask you over and over if you are okay. She still loves anything to do with babies and animals. She plays Dr. with all of her animals and babies and says that she wants to be a Dr. when she grows up and take care of the sick babies. She loves to sing and dance and can learn a song just by listening to it a couple of times. She loves taking care of her little brother and is constantly trying to teach him new things.

She loves to learn and has been doing "school work" everyday and working on reading. She has a larger than life imagination and can make images out of anything. We have a marble tiled floor and she will always find images in it and point them out to me. She does this with her food alot too! She loves that she is a big sister and ALWAYS says, " I can do this but Brennan can't because I am BIG and he is little", we hear this no less than ten times a day,lol. Of course she loves her big brother too but sometimes she thinks she is his momma and tells him to "get off of his game and clean his room", hehe, not sure where she got that from :) Did I mention that she has a great sense of humor!! She is definitely a girly girl and loves to wear dresses, makeup, jewelry, perfume, high heels, etc and I love it! She is so much fun and I am so glad that I have a manicure and pedicure partner for life!!

Last but not least, she is BRAVE, COURAGEOUS and STRONG and doesn't even know it! She has been through alot over these past four years but her spirit remains unbroken. I love you more than you will ever know my sweet, beautiful little angel. I thank God every day for letting me be your mommy!

Happy 4th Ayla,

Mommy and Daddy love you mostest :)

Summer Days

2010-07-29T15:50:00.002-04:00

Wow, I can not believe that August is almost here and that the Summer will soon be over. We have had a blast this Summer and I hate to see it end. We have been doing the typical Summer activities, going to the pool (everyday), cooking out, spending time with our friends, traveling etc. Basically staying busy and not sitting down until 9 or 10 at night. Hence, the lack of blogging on my part! Actually the only reason I am blogging now is because the kids are taking a nap which NEVER happens anymore!

Oh, the last post I was talking about losing weight, I am proud to announce that I have lost 15 pounds!! I feel so much better already and I still have 15 more pounds to go! John, Kaleb and I have also started working out together everyday. We found a program like cross-fit that combines cardio and weights and we have been doing that for 3 weeks now. Our friends who are also our neighbors, are going with us as well. It is a nice break from our every day routines and we actually look forward to it!

Kaleb's birthday was yesterday. He is 17 now and will be a senior in High school. I am so sad that my baby will be graduating. I honestly can not think about it for long or I will start to feel depressed. He is such a great son, I am so very blessed to be his Mom. The only problem that we do not see eye to eye on is him keeping his room cleaned. I guess if that is our ONLY problem, I should not complain :)

Ayla and Brennan are doing great! They both are growing up so fast! Ayla has almost taught herself how to swim. She can do it in the baby pool but is afraid to try in the big pool. Brennan thinks he is as big as everyone else and will only go in the big pool. He has all the little girls taking care of him and holding him at the pool and I have to say he enjoys the attention..lol. He is as smart as ever, no one believes me when I tell them he is two!

I will leave you with some pictures from the 4th of July. We had a cookout at our pool, it was a day full of food, friends, family, games and FINALLY fireworks!!

and before the fireworks!

I apologize for all of the pictures, but I am sure Grandma and Grandpa are happy :)

A little break

2010-06-05T23:51:00.004-04:00

I know I have been MIA lately but I felt that I needed a little break from the computer. Every once in a while I go through periods where I get a little burnt out. I was getting to the point to where all of my spare time was spent in front of the computer and I just felt that I needed a change! Since summer is here, we plan to spend more time outside and at the pool so it looks like my poor blog will suffer even more.

Last week was spent getting ready for our subdivision garage sale. Ayla had a ton of fun. She was my little helper, she wanted to take and give out the money! We also baked cookies and sold them, so she was in charge of that. She had plenty of toys to keep her occupied, I was pleasantly surprised that she did not get upset when we sold her toys! Of course I did tell her that we would take the money and buy her "bigger" toys, so that may have had something to do with it!

We have also spent many days doing this. The weather has been beautiful lately so we take advantage of it as much as we can!

My mom just retired from her job of 20 years (maybe more) so I am very happy for her! She has worked hard all her life raising her children as a single mother and she deserves to relax now and not worry about working. She only lives a few minutes from us, so I am sure we will be seeing a lot of her this Summer! Her work had a retirement lunch for her a couple of weeks ago so my sister and I were able to go and be there with her. We love you and are so proud of you! Of course Ayla had to open all of her gifts!

I guess that's it for now. Oh and I started a diet, it will be two weeks on Tuesday. I lost four pounds last week but have not weighed myself for several days. I was weighing myself everyday and getting upset because it was not changing so I just decided to put the scale away..lol. I am on a 1200 calorie a day diet and I have been going to kickboxing 2-3 nights a week as well as walking 2-3 miles every night. I am really determined this time and I hope I can lose at least 25 pounds by the end of August when we go to the beach. I put on an extra 20 pounds since Ayla and Brennan and It has been very depressing for me. I am hardly in any pictures with the kids because I hate seeing how terrible I look. Anyway, hopefully this will all change....SOON!! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Movies, Bracelet and Dolls

2010-05-23T22:24:00.002-04:00

I started this weekend out by seeing "Letters to Juliet" with my girlfriend. Okay ladies, you MUST see this movie. It is the romantic " only in the movies kind of romance" that us girls go gaga over...lol. If you like romantic comedies, then you will definitely like this movie! Oh and Dear John is coming out on dvd Tuesday so I can't wait to watch that too!!

On Saturday morning I scored this Fisher Price Loving Family doll house and accessories for Ayla at a yard sale. She LOVES it and has played with it all weekend. The best part is I only paid $20 for all of it. It is in perfect condition with not even a scratch. She loved it so much that she has been asking for a car to put her "family" in, so of course Mommy took her to the store today so she could get a car for her family!

On Saturday Ayla and Daddy had a date to go and see Shrek at the movies. I snapped a few pictures before she left. And yes she always picks her clothes, shoes, necklaces etc when she goes somewhere. She is also very particular about everything matching! She actually had a purse that she took too! She stuffed all of her doll house figures into it, I guess they wanted to see Shrek too!

Last but definitely not least I received all of these goodies in the mail this weekend. I joined a bracelet swap over at Maria's blog, "Two Hearts Made Four" and Maria and I ended up being partners. She was so sweet to send me this pink beaded bracelet (which I love) and some other goodies for the kids. Ayla was so excited about the princess socks, she loved everything and kept saying "Thank you" over and over. Thank you Maria, you are too kind, I am so glad we have became friends!

Kaleb got his License!

2010-05-18T15:50:00.003-04:00

Okay I just wanted to brag on my first born, Kaleb finally got his license yesterday and I am so proud of him! It has been a long time coming, right after he got his Lerner's we had a ton of snow and bad weather and then he broke his collar bone and was out of commission for over two months. Soooooo now he can run errands for his momma and I am so excited...hehe!

I really feel like I have been out of the blogging loop lately. I have been so exhausted at night (when I normally blog), that I have been going to bed instead of staying up late blogging and reading the blogs that I follow. I hope to get caught up with everyone tonight (fingers crossed). I am sure that you all know that it is impossible to do anything during the day especially when most days my children do not take naps. Anyway, here are a few pictures to show you what we have been up to lately!!

We let Ayla use sidewalk chalk for the FIRST time last week. I know we are bad parents, but she really had no interest until now. After she made a mess, I mean drew lovely pictures on our front porch, she went to ride her brand new bike that Daddy just bought her. He surprised her last week on "shot" night and she loves it. She rides it every day. She can pedal it all by herself and she actually rode it around our subdivision the other day for a mile and a half!!

Here she is on her new bike!

Lastly, we went to a local Armed Forces day Parade on Saturday and the kids had a blast. They were decked out in their red, white and blue and were waving flags the whole time. They were so cute and they didn't mind the candy that was being thrown at them either!! Brennan actually made the news!!

I hope everyone has a great week. I am excited to watch American Idol tonight and the Biggest Loser! AI is down to the last three, I think the final two will be Crytal and Lee. Either one winning would be fine with me. They will both get a recording contract I'm sure! The Bachelorette starts next week...yippee!! How funny, a commercial just came on for Kings Island (an amusement park) and Ayla said, "Look Mom, super cool"...oh how funny, three going on 16 I tell you!!

Hollywood Studios

2010-05-16T22:24:00.002-04:00

We had an awesome day at Hollywood studios. We spent the entire day there and had a blast. We got there early so the kids were able to see all of the characters again. The Rock and Roll roller coaster, Tower of Terror and the Toy Story ride were among our favorites. This is the first year that Kaleb has rode any of the roller coasters, so it was a lot of fun! They have a variety of musical shows that the kids loved as well. All of the guys went to a stunt show while the girls went to watch "The Little Mermaid". Oh and they have the best parade, I think it was called the "Block Party Bash", where for thirty minutes the Disney Pixar characters have a huge dance party in the street. It was a ton of fun an the kids loved it. Ayla even decided to get her face painted for the first time ever. She has always been scared to do it but after she saw her friends Ella and Makena do it, she wanted to join in on the fun. She picked out the "Tinkerbell" face and all day long she kept saying, "Mom am I still Tinkerbell", it was sooo cute!

The "Block Party Bash"

For lunch we had reservations at the Prime Time Cafe. It is a great 50's style restaurant that has black and white TV's at most of the tables. The TV's played clips of the 1955 sitcom "Father Knows Best" and the original "Mickey Mouse Club". The waitresses were so funny, if you had your elbows on the table, they would kindly remind you to get your elbows off of the table. They are known for their delicious fried chicken, meatloaf and pot roast cooked the way "Mom" used to make it.

Brennan was hanging over his high chair playing his I Pod....don't ask, I have no clue!

After a long day, we decided to go to Down Town Disney and eat dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. By the time we got there Brennan had ruined the shorts that he was wearing (for the second time). As I went to change his diaper I realized that we had ran out of diapers. So everyone starts walking all over Disney to try and find a diaper. With no luck, one of us comes up with the idea to find someone with a child close to Brennan's size and ask if we can "borrow" a diaper. Omg it was so funny, all of us stalking all of the moms that were passing by. Finally someone was kind enough to loan us a diaper. Brennan still did not have any shorts because they were wet and I had already bought him one outfit that day because he ruined the first one he had on, so I just took him in with a diaper and shirt on and THEN....as we were eating he threw up everywhere....so I just took him outside while everyone else finished eating. He was a MESS, but thankfully he felt ok after that. We finished the evening by doing a little shopping, the stores there are fabulous and they have the LARGEST Disney store I have EVER seen. It was great, the kids loved it. There was a Stitch Character on top of the store and every few seconds he would spit water out of his mouth. The kids thought this was the funniest thing ever. We must have sat there and watched it for at least 30 minutes. It was a very long day but Hollywood Studios is definitely my favorite part next to the Magic Kingdom of course!

Here is Stich spitting water....

and the kids thinking it is soooo hilarious!!

Oh and just for fun, look at ALL of these strollers....

The Magic Kingdom

2010-05-12T15:42:00.003-04:00

So after our character breakfast, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. I will never forget the look on Ayla's face as we entered. Her jaw just dropped open, she was so amazed by everything. As soon as we got there, the parade was just about to start so we got a good spot and watched our very first Disney parade. The kids loved it. It had all of their favorite characters and at the end of the parade the characters got off of the floats and danced in the streets. Ayla and Brennan were both out there dancing but I didn't get any pictures because I was with them :)

After the parade we HAD to go and see the princesses. Ayla and Brennan were both in awe of them because they were so beautiful. I was not sure if Brennan would go up to them or not but he was so sweet, he went up to them and would gently place his head on their shoulder. It was the sweetest thing ever. He called all of the princesses "Cinderwellwa", he is so dang cute!!!

We grabbed lunch at the park and took the kids on several rides before we went back to the room for a little rest that afternoon. Their favorite rides were Dumbo and It's a small world. Brennan LOVED It's a small world, their is so much to look at and he was literally amazed at everything. Needless to say, we rode these a couple of times!

We met our friends at Disney who are actually more like family, and Ayla loved hanging out with Ella and Makena! It was their fourth birthday while we were there, so we celebrated all week. Mama Sandy had bought them all matching shirts, they looked so cute! It was so great going with a group of people because we ALL got to ride rides. There was enough of us that we could take turns watching the kids so everyone could enjoy the rides.

To end Day one, we ate Dinner at our friends Hotel, the Contemporary and then spent the rest of the night back at the Magic Kingdom. I think we got back to our hotel around 10pm. It was a long and exhausting day, the temperature was in the high 80's I believe. Overall we had an awesome day at Magic Kingdom! For the rest of the week whenever we were at a different park, Ayla kept saying that she wanted to "go to Disney", I kept telling her we were at Disney but she didn't understand. The Magic Kingdom was Disney to her..lol. So I think it was her favorite park, of course, right??

Mother's Day, Ayla's Garden

2010-05-10T20:53:00.004-04:00

These were the best Mother's Day pictures I could get!

I hope all of you Momma's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. We had a great day. John's parents, grandmother and my mother all came over for a little visit! John surprised me with this Willow Tree collection. I had mentioned a while back that I would love to have these and he remembered and bought them for me. Thank you sweetie, I love them and I would LOVE to have the Willow Tree Nativity set ONE DAY too...just saying..lol.

Isn't this the perfect Mother's day gift. The couple is named "Together", for those who have found their true partner in love and life. Then we have the little boy named "Inquisitive child", which is definitely Brennan and the little girl is named " Spirited Child", which again describes Ayla perfectly. The older boy is named " Heart of Gold", which represents my oldest son Kaleb. He absolutely has a heart of gold and I have said this many times!

Kaleb had to work all day so I did not get a picture with all of my little loves, but when he came home from work he gave me a gift. This is the first time he has actually went out and bought me something with his own money so I was very surprised to say the least. When I opened it up, it was a pandora bracelet. I couldn't believe my 16 year old did that for me. I was so happy and proud of him it made me tear up a little. Of course I did ask him if it was real, hehe and it was, he HAD to show me the receipt. Anyway, I just thought that was the sweetest thing ever! I love all of my children so much, I am truly blessed to be their Momma!

After everyone left, we helped Ayla plant a "garden" as she says. She is always wanting to plant something, she has all the tools to do it, lol, so John took her to Lowe's this morning and they picked out some vegetables to plant. We planted, tomatoes, carrots and green beans. I really hope everything turns out, if not, we still had the best time working on this together. She loves to water the flowers, so we thought this would be fun for her to do everyday. We usually buy flowers and plant them on Mother's day but it was freezing this weekend so we decided to wait for a better weekend!

It looks like we have a lot of work to do!!

First Day of Our Disney Vacation

2010-05-08T23:21:00.003-04:00

First I wanted to show you a few pictures of Coronado Springs where we stayed. I had mentioned before that we did not spend much time there, and although the resort is nice, I think I would want to stay somewhere closer to the Magic Kingdom the next time we go. The only bad part was waiting on the bus every morning and evening. It was a minimum of 30 minutes to go anywhere on the bus and most nights it would take us at least 45 minutes to get back to the room. We would definitely consider staying somewhere with access to the monorail because it is just much easier with young children, especially when you have a double stroller. We actually met friends at Disney (there were a total of 13 of us) and they stayed at Bay Lake Tower (which is awesome) and it is within walking distance to the Magic Kingdom so we spent a few afternoons there, it was much easier than going all the way back to our room.

This is the little area where we would eat breakfast every morning!

On our first morning, we had reservations at the Polynesian for a character breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, Pluto, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. We had an awesome time at breakfast, all of the characters came to our table and spent a lot of time with the kids. They took pictures and signed autograph books. The food was amazing and it was overall a great experience! At one point all of the characters formed a conga line and danced around the dining room. They passed out maraca's to the kids and had the kids dancing, it was a lot of fun! Brennan was not afraid at all. He just jabbered in his own little language to all of them. Pluto was so funny, he got down on his knees and chased Brennan around. It was so cute, Brennan was just laughing! If you are going to Disney and want to do a character breakfast, I would highly recommend this one. Our friends that we were with have been to Disney many, many times and this is their favorite one by far!

Day ONE to be continued, lol...................................................................................

p.s. Hope all of you are having a "Happy Mother's Day", you ALL deserve it!!

We are Home

2010-05-06T15:02:00.005-04:00

Our Disney vacation has finally came to an end and we enjoyed every minute of it. The kids had such a great time and we made memories that I will never forget! Ayla cried when I told her we were leaving Disney to come home! We got home late Monday evening and I have been trying to get caught up on sleep and laundry. The kids did great on the plane, they actually enjoyed it. It was a little rough for Brennan the first and last 10 minutes on the plane because you have to turn off all electronics and so he was not happy that he had to turn his phone off..hehe! We stayed on Disney property, so the Disney "magical express bus" picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. We stayed at the "Coronado Springs Resort", the property was gorgeous, we stayed in what was called a "cabana" that looked out over the lagoon. We did not spend much time in our room, we were on the go from 8 or 9 in the morning until at least 10pm at night. The last night we were there, we actually didn't get back to the room until 1am, so needless to say, we need a vacation from our vacation..lol! Here are a few pictures on the plane, I plan to blog about each day at Disney, I am still getting pictures uploaded onto the computer, it will be hard to narrow them down to only a few, as I only took 400 pictures..lol. The plane pictures are not great because they were taken with my cell phone. Can't wait to see what everyone else is up too!! Tomorrow we are driving 3.5 hours to Ayla's Rheumatolgy appointment. I am praying that maybe we can start to decrease her meds! Wouldn't that be awesome!

There he is, doing what he does best!!! My little I-phone genius!!

Seven Year Old Singing Amazing Grace-AMAZING!

2010-05-01T00:20:00.000-04:00

Someone sent this to me on FB and I had to share. This little girl is only seven years old. I had chills the whole time she was singing. She is simply A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T08:58:00.000-04:00

Oh boy, I think I might be in trouble!!

March of Dimes Walk, Disney

2010-04-26T22:48:00.004-04:00

I feel like such a bad blogger lately. I have so many things that I would like to blog about, just not enough time! I have spent the last few days trying to get the house clean and laundry caught up because we are leaving for Disney on Wednesday!! We are all so excited, Ayla talks about it everyday and has been counting the days down. So if you think about it, please say a prayer that we have a safe trip. We are flying, this is the first time the kids have been on an airplane or "hair plane" as they say, and John is not a huge fan of flying so hopefully everything will go smoothly. He at first wanted to drive but I talked him out of it because I could not imagine over 14 hours in the car with Ayla and Brennan. I told him he would be thanking me on the way home when we are all exhausted and it only takes us two hours to get home.lol!

We participated in the March of Dimes walk this weekend with my sister and bil. We had such a great time and the kids really enjoyed it. It was at our State Capital, and it was a beautiful day. Ayla and Brennan actually stayed in the stroller the whole time and did not complain. Yea, it's real hard sitting in the stroller and being pushed for three miles in 80 degree weather..lol, what a life!

After the walk, they were giving out pizza and as we were sitting there eating, a camera man approached us and asked us if we wanted to be in a commercial. He really wanted Ayla to be in it, so I think he asked the rest of us just to be nice.lol. The commercial was not for the walk, but was something to do with West Virginia. He said it would run for about three months. Ayla actually did well, she was just smiling at his camera, it was so funny.

After the commercial shoot, she decided that she was in a modeling mood and so I took advantage and got a few pictures. These are too funny, everyone was laughing at her, it was so cute. Oh and look at the tulips, they are so beautiful!

And to end a great day, Aunt Amy was nice enough to take the kids down the inflatable slide. This was the first time we have let them do it, so they were very excited.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, oh yeah, we watched Avatar this weekend and really liked it. So if you are on the fence about this one, I think it is definitely worth renting! I can't wait to get back next week and share pictures of our trip!

Ayla's Etsy Dresses

2010-04-24T20:54:00.007-04:00

Edit to update: All sets have been sold! Thank you Ladies!!

Is anyone up for a little blog sale?? Here are a few sets that I purchased from Etsy last year that Ayla has outgrown. (She is getting so tall!) If anyone is interested in these, just send me an email, I will accept paypal. The prices will be much cheaper than what I paid and they are all in excellent condition only worn once or twice! Whatever is left will go to ebay! We are leaving for vacation on Wednesday, so if you want anything let me know and I will get it mailed out before we leave!

Etsy dress Ayla wore for 4th of July, bought from Cora's. Size 3/4. Perfect condition!

I candie (pish posh girls) custom knot/apron dress will fit 2-4 because of the length on the knot straps. We also put a long sleeve shirt under it for Thanksgiving! In perfect condition!

Etsy I candie (pish posh girls) knot top for 3 year old, dress for 2 year old and matching ruffle capri's made my Kissing Kumquats on Etsy. This set is beautiful!

Etsy Kissing Kumquats "Lotus" Knot dress size 2/3. Love this print, she is actually still selling this on her site. She can make matching ruffles and her ruffles are the best in my opinion! Iwas honestly getting ready to have ruffles made to match and it is just too tight on Ayla.

This is a Gen Marie Custom Sundress size 4, should also fit a size 3. New with tags.

Icandie (pishposhgirls) butterfly knot/apron dress, 2/3

Just email me if you are interested in any of these!

The Best Toy Ever

2010-04-22T15:37:00.004-04:00

THE PLASMA CAR

Okay like most you, we have owned um quite a few toys over the past three and a half years. Hands down we have found the BEST toy EVER and I wanted to share it with you. If you are looking for a gift or just something fun to buy, this is what you need and I am sure your kids will LOVE you for it! We found this car last year at Target. Every time we went into Target Ayla would ride it around the whole store. We did not buy it right away because I wasn't convinced that she would play with it when we got it home. There is nothing worse than sinking alot of money into a toy and then they never touch it again when you get home. Eventually only one car was left at Target and John and Ayla were at Target and he caved in and bought it for her, yes she is a Daddy's girl! It has been over a year later and both of my kids love this toy more than anything. Brennan took to it right away and was riding it before he was even two years old. We bought him one for Christmas so now they both have one! Everyone is amazed when they see him ride it, he rides in circles around our furniture in our great room and I swear he is a little pro at it, (hence the Professional Plasma Car Driver on my sidebar). He whips by everything at lighting fast speed..lol and sometimes he will have his cell phone in one hand playing a game and he just moves right along. Cracks me up!

All you have to do is wiggle the steering wheel to propel the car. No batteries, pedals or pushing required. It will even hold up to 220 pounds so it is suitable for all ages! We paid around $60 for Ayla's car but you can find them on Amazon for alot cheaper. I promise you this car is worth every penny!

A Few Good Reads

2010-04-20T16:53:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to share a few of the books that I have read recently. I am looking for a new book to read so I would love some of your suggestions! Has anyone read "The Help"? I have been thinking about reading that next, would love any input!

I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan, I have been reading his books for years now. It's so funny, every time I am crying and reading a book John says, " I guess your reading Nicholas Sparks again"..lol. Anyway, I just finished the "Last Song" and I loved it. It is a story about first loves, family and forgiveness. It is sure to tug at your heartstrings so do not be surprised if you shed a few tears here or there. (Or if you are like me, you will sob like a baby). I wanted to read it before I saw the movie because we all know how different the movies are. I saw the movie last weekend and I did like it but the book is SO MUCH better. There is so much information that is left out of the movie. If you have seen the movie and HAVE NOT read the book, I strongly urge you to read the book. It is definitely one of my favorite books after "The Wedding" and "The Note book", of course.

I also read "Dear John" a couple of months ago. Another classic Nicholas Sparks book. I would have preferred another ending but none the less it was a great story about what one will do to make sure the person they love is happy. This is a movie as well, I did not get it see it, but I can not wait to rent it as soon as it comes out on DVD. It may be out already, I am not sure.

My mother in law introduced me to the author Debbie Macomber last year. She is great at writing romance novels and I have fallen in love with one series in particular called, "Midnight Sons". This is a series of three books and I just finished the last book. It is about three brothers finding love in the Alaska Wilderness. A GREAT READ, you will love it. This was the type of book that you can not put down and you find yourself reading every spare minute that you have!

Okay, moving on, last but not least, I am re-reading "Eclipse", the third book in the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. It is not a secret, I am obsessed with this series. I honestly never thought I would like it and I picked up the first book just out of curiosity. Once I started reading, I was hooked. I wrote a review of "New Moon" here if you want to go back and read it. Trust me, if you have not read it and have had the same thoughts, go and get it, I promise you will love it. It is a good read for EVERYONE! I will admit I am an Edward fan and I can not wait to go and see the movie when it comes out in June, thus the whole reason why I am re-reading this book. I want to refresh my memory before I see the movie. My girlfriend and I have even talked about going to see it at midnight when it comes out..lol.

Okay, can't wait to hear some of your favorite reads, I need a new book!!

Potty Training and Bottles..

2010-04-13T14:45:00.004-04:00

Okay, first of all I just want to start out by saying that I am not the Mom that has to do things when "society" says I have to. Like potty training for instance. I know "most" parents start PT around 2 years old maybe even sooner. Not me! I do not start until my children show an interest in going to the potty. Ayla is 3.5 and she is just now potty trained but still not 100% . She wears panties all day and never has any accidents BUT she will not poopy in the potty. She does not want to, it scares her for some reason so I will not force her to do it. I do not want her crying, throwing a fit and even holding it if I make her sit on the potty when she does not want to. In my opinion, that would cause even more problems, (like constipation) for instance. Every time she has to do #2, she goes and gets me a diaper and then I put it on her and then she goes and does her thing..lol. I do not stress out over things like this, it really doesn't bother me at all. She will go when she is ready and like everyone has said, there has never been a child that is NOT potty trained by the time they start school. I just think there are more things to worry about and get stressed out over than this. Of course I would like to stop buying diapers one of these days, but we will get there. Okay on to Brennan. He is just now 2.5 and shows no interest in going to the potty at all. I have not "tried" to potty train him, I didn't start with Ayla until she turned three. Every once in a while I will ask Brennan if he wants to go to the potty and he screams 'NO" like the potty is evil so I will wait. I guess Ayla thinks that he needs to be potty trained NOW because this is what I saw the other day...

I asked Ayla what she was doing and she said that she was teaching Brennan how to go to the potty! Alright then, just go right ahead. Oh and Brennan went right along with her... I phone and all!!! I do want to add that he did NOTHING in the potty, he sat there and just played on the I phone. Good try though Ayla!! I have to admit this was very cute and it made me laugh a little. Ayla loves being a teacher to Brennan!

Okay now that we have covered the potty issue, let's move right along to taking a bottle. Okay, it is a known fact that most pediatricians suggest stopping the bottle at ONE years old. Ayla was sick and not feeling well around her first birthday so I did not take it away from her. Shortly after that she was diagnosed with JRA and she was crying ALL THE TIME, so if a bottle made things better than a bottle she got. Again, It was not a big deal and even if she wasn't sick, I would have continued giving her a bottle if she wanted. I would however NOT put her to bed with one, I believe that could form bad habbits not to mention it is really bad on the teeth. So Ayla happily took a bottle until she was three years old. She would get one before nap time and one before bed time, so only twice a day. At three years old she decided that she did not want one anymore so I have to admit that I was happy about that, I was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to give it up. In my mind, my cut off age was four. I had already decided that if she was still taking a bottle at four, that I would have to take it away from her. I did not want her taking a bottle at four years old, the same age that she would be starting pre school, I thought that was a little old. Brennan on the other hand was off of the bottle at 18 months old, one day he wanted it and the next day he wanted nothing to do with it. So he made it very easy! Each child is different, and I truly believe that they will do these things only when they want to and when they are ready to....but then I saw this picture yesterday of four year old Suri Cruise taking a bottle

I was a little flabbergasted and I have to admit that I was SO GLAD that it was not my child this time..hehe...like I said, in my mind four years old is too old for a bottle but of course it is really none of my business, so I am curious, what do you all think?

I Scream, You Scream

2010-04-10T23:02:00.001-04:00

WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!!

One day earlier this summer, I promised to take Ayla and Brennan to the Clay Center to play and watch a movie. They have a free day every year on their Anniversary and I planned to take the kids on that day. I kept telling Ayla about it (mistake) and she was so excited to go. We have been there several times and she remembers the Clay Center quite well.For those of you who don't know, the Clay Center is a 240,000 square foot Center for the Arts & Sciences. The Center houses the performing arts, visual arts and the sciences. They have a huge play area for the children with a ball pit, a bridge and tunnels to crawl through.

So it turns out that I got the dates mixed up and when we got there we discovered that in fact it WAS NOT the free day. We decided to leave and come back on the actual free day. Ayla had a major meltdown. She was screaming and crying and nothing I said made her happy.

Until.....

I had the bright idea to go get an ice cream.

Ayla thought this was a great idea and the tears immediately stopped !

You see our kids have never had an ice cream cone before, just bites here and there...

It definitely made up for the Clay Center fiasco, Don't you think?

(*FYI-this post was from last summer, It was still in draft, so I thought I would finish it! Took me long enough hu?)

Easter Morning

2010-04-06T23:00:00.005-04:00

The Easter Bunny was very good to the children this year! They both got the Zhu Zhu fun houses and accessories to go with their Zhu Zhu pets. Ayla also got the Princess and the frog DVD and Brennan got the Toy Story DVD. I only put Jeally beans in their baskets because #1 they do not need alot of junk to eat and #2 I knew if they had candy, they would NOT eat breakfast and #3 it would just be a huge fight before Church so I decided to just leave it out. Bad Mom, I know!

After Church I tried to get a few pictures of the kids together, yeah that was NOT happening. I can rarely get one of them together anymore. Brennan is on the move at ALL TIMES! Kaleb went straight in the house and changed his clothes so he did not cooperate either!

We had my family over for Easter dinner. It was a beautiful day, we were able to sit outside and talk and enjoy the nice weather. And of course we had ANOTHER Easter egg hunt..lol. Ayla put her dress on inside out and backwards and refused to put it on right. I finally just gave up and let her wear it like that. Oh well, you pick and choose your battles, right? It was too hot and I was too tired, so I just let her wear it like that. I mean seriously, I didn't really want any nice Easter pictures in her Easter Dress anyway...

Like the dress, it's a new look I guess!!

My sister and her hubby Neil

My Mom and nephew Kurt

The Family

Kurt and Samantha

Cousins

My niece Angel

The handsome boy

If you have made it this far, thank you for suffering through!! Trust me my fingers are suffering from copying and pasting all of these pictures!! I am officially finished with Easter pictures now!! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-06T22:25:00.004-04:00

Okay this is my attempt to get caught up, I am so behind on blogging lately! This Easter Egg hunt was one of three that my kids went to this year, I was afraid that the kids were starting to think that finding candy in eggs was a daily thing...lol. Anyway, this Easter Egg hunt was so much fun! It was on Saturday, it was a beautiful day, we met family there and had a great time. The kids also got to see the Easter Bunny AGAIN but we did not do pictures this time. Here are some pictures of our day!

Ayla and Auntie Amy

Playing games with Katie and Evie

and they loved the snowcones....

Collecting our goodies!!

Mommy's boy!!

and Daddy's girl

We had such a great time, I love seeing a smile on my children's faces...

What a fun day!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T18:44:00.002-04:00

HE IS ALIVE!!

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross so that we can have eternal life! God is so good, I do not feel worthy....

Hope everyone had a most wonderful Easter!!

One Sweet Chick

2010-04-02T08:44:00.004-04:00

We have just been hanging out this week, having playdates, playing outside, coloring easter eggs and watching the Chipmunks! The new Chipmunks movie came out on Tuesday and I swear I already know every song to that movie. My kids love the Chipmunks more than any other movie! For some reason Ayla's favorite is Theodore, she keeps telling me," I love Theodore, he is so adorable". It really is a cute movie and that is saying alot because I never thought I would be a Chipmunks fan but it turns out they are not so bad after all...hehe!

We went to a friends house this week and colored easter eggs. That was alot of fun and we plan on coloring some more tonight! We are having family over for Easter dinner on Sunday so I am hoping to have an Easter Egg hunt outside as the weather is supposed to be beautiful the rest of the weekend.

Ayla loved playing with this Kitchen while we were at her friends house this week. We have one of the plastic walk in Kitchens like this one,

but she liked this wooden one much better. With the walk in Kitchen, the stove, fridge etc are not big enough to put anything in. She likes this wooden one because she can actually put food and pans inside of the stove. So I am thinking about selling the one we have and buying a wooden one. She also loved all of the wooden appliances, the toaster, blender, coffe pot. She has been asking for the coffee pot EVERY DAY since then. She helps her Daddy make coffee everyday so I guess that is why she likes it so much. I can not find these around here anywhere so I guess I will have to order them on line.

Brennan was fascinated by the Zhu, Zhu pets and he played with them most of the time. I think the Easter Bunny might have a surprise for him!!

Remember the $9 outfits that I bought for Ayla at Walmart? This is one of them, I love them and she has actually wore two sets this week. She loves the zip up hoodie jacket and I just think they are adorable! Oh and her shirt says, "One Sweet Chick"....

and that she DEFINITELY IS!!

Hope everyone has a great Easter Weekend! We are going to an Easter Egg hunt tomorrow and then WV plays Duke in the final four tomorrow night, so if you think about it, please help a friend cheer on the West Virginia Mountaineers!! GO EERS!!

Weekend shopping and the FINAL FOUR BABY!

2010-03-28T23:55:00.009-04:00

On Friday, John and I drove to Louisville Kentucky for just one night. We had to get Kaleb on Saturday so we just decided to stay in Louisville and do a little shopping while we were there. We ate at Stoney River Friday night and it was awesome. It is a steak house and one of the best that I have been too. We do not have one here, so that was a nice treat. We ate at the Cheese Cake Factory for lunch on Saturday and oh my word, the Red Velvet Cheesecake is AMAZING. If you live near a Cheese Cake Factory, PLEASE go and get this. It is the best cheesecake I have ever had. I swear it melted in my mouth..lol.

Okay, moving right along, Since it was my birthday, I did decide to buy myself a few things, shocker, I know! I needed some new perfume so I bought some "Baby Grace" by Philosophy.

I have had it before and loved it, it is so light, fresh and clean, just like a baby! I actually love all of the scents by Philosophy but this is definitely one of my favorites. If you ever pass by a Philosophy counter, try it out and let me know what you think! They also have a new make up product called "The color of Grace Amazing Grace Shimmering Face Powder".

I have been looking for a nice highlighter for awhile and I was able to test it and I loved it. It really makes your face glow and gives you that dewey look! You know how much I love beauty products, so this was a great treat for me!

Lastly I bought this Vera Bradley travel organizer. I have wanted one forever and when I found it on sale, I broke down and bought it.

This is perfect to fill with everything you need while out of town, all of your everyday necessities, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Then when you are ready to go somewhere all you have to do is throw this in your suitcase and your done! And I love that you can hang it on the door-Genius! This will be great for our trip next month. By the way, only a few more weeks until Disney. I am so excited, I can't wait!

So it was a great birthday weekend, thanks to everyone for the sweet gifts and cards. John bought me a beautiful new watch and Mama Sandy surprised me with a Burberry coat ( I will never wear another one, I love it) the kids gave me a card, m&m's and chocolate cupcakes! This is the only picture I have of my birthday weekend. It was taken at the Cheese Cake Factory with my I phone so it is not that great. I really need to invest in a smaller camera that I can carry in my purse. Suggestions anyone??

Last but definitely not least, the West Virginia Mountaineers are going to the FINAL FOUR baby! We defeated number one seed Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night. I was so proud of the Mountaineers, they played amazing. Kentucky is an awesome basketball team and they did have a bad night, but in WV's defense, they played their hearts out and were on fire! Our starting point guard fractured his foot last week and he was not even able to play. Our back up point guard Joe Mazulla played an awesome game scoring 17 points and surprised many by his performance. This is the first time in 51 years that WV has been in the Final Four! We play Duke on Saturday so hopefully we can pull out another victory! I am so proud to be a MOUNTAINEER!!

And just because, here is a picture of Kaleb and his "friend"..lol. It is great to have him back home!

Oh and Ayla is feeling much better, thanks to all of you that have asked! Here she is today before we left to go out. She loves her high top tennis shoes, she calls them her "Hannah Montana" shoes!! Have a great week everyone!

Stain Removal 101

2010-03-26T00:05:00.002-04:00

This week at Kelly's Korner the topic for "Show Us Your Life" is cleaning secrets. I do not have any cleaning secrets, but I do have some laundry tips I thought I would share. I have actually had this post saved for a while and thought this would be a perfect time to share!

Okay so I am OCD about stains on my children's clothes...I think everyone that knows me, knows this by now.. but to justify my obsessive compulsive behaviors...hehe.. my children's clothes are an investment for me because I sell them on ebay when they outgrow them! Of course they have play clothes and with those, they could go and roll around in the mud if they wanted to... well not really, I mean maybe if it were dry mud...lol. So my friend Molly has shared some of her awesome stain removal "magic tricks" with me, and I would LOVE to share them with you.... you know cause I'm nice like that-ha!!

OK, I keep a bunch of "unusual" items in my laundry room for tackling stubborn stains....it wouldn't be my laundry room without them....MEAT TENDERIZER (unseasoned) I use this for any protein based stains blood,milk etc

WD-40 OR Dawn dish washing liquid...either of these will take care of grease spots on clothing. DO NOT use the WD-40 on silks

LEMON JUICE: put on a spot on a white top and sit in the sun...TA_DA! add a bit more lemon juice before laundering,works wonders on those formula stains

RUST SALT mixed with Lemon juice will take out mildew stains, soak dingy white socks in hot water(hotter the better) and lemon juice then launder like usual they come out bright whites

For ink pen or marker try alcohol or cheap hair spray (Aquanet is the best for this)

Okay, I also never put the children's clothing in the dryer (unless they are play clothes). I wash everything on the hand wash cycle and only a couple of things at time. This prevents piling and keeps the clothing in fantastic shape. It also helps if you use lingerie bags like these from Nordstroms...it has two sides and you can put two pieces of clothing (or more, if you would want to) in one bag! These prevent clothing from piling, snagging and if you have something with buttons, sequins, beads, etc these are perfect for that! Oh, these are great for tights, leggings and hose as well, they do not pile at all!

Okay, well I hope you have enjoyed all of these wonderful stain removal and laundering tips!! If you know of any others tricks, I would love to hear them!!

Oh, by the way, I just recently learned about the oxi-clean gel stick. It is awesome, it is great for grass stains, you MUST get one of these!!

Multitasking!

2010-03-25T15:50:00.003-04:00

Who says you can not watch TWO shows at ONE time??? This cracked me up last week when I saw Brennan doing this. We bought him the fisher price kids dvd player for Christmas and he LOVES it. He knows how to put his movies in, how to rewind, fast forward, push play, stop etc...and so at certain times during the day he will sit in the stool in the kitchen (this is known as Brennan's chair now) and watch some of his movies. He rarely watches a whole dvd, I think he just likes putting them in and taking them out. Anyway, he is also addicted to my I phone and plays games and watches videos on it as well. We have a few videos on it for the kids and on this day Brennan was watching "Clifford, the Big Red Dog", on his dvd player and "Max and Ruby" on the I phone. It was so cute how he had the phone propped up on the dvd player. I thought this was so funny, John said he is a multitasker..lol.

So Ayla is finally feeling better, she has been sick all week and because of that we think her arthritis is bothering her. She has been crying about her left knee and holding her elbow so now that she is better hopefully her joints will feel better too. It stinks when she gets sick because we can not give her arthritis meds to her because she will have an even harder time fighting off the sickness, so we have to wait until she is well. Yesterday she started feeling like herself again and today she is doing even better so I think we are over the worse part! Tomorrow is my birthday so John and I are going to drive to Louisville KY and stay Friday night. We plan on having dinner and doing a little shopping! We will be home Saturday, so it is just a little one night get away..lol. My sister and brother in law have offered to stay with the kids Friday night so we can spend some time together for my birthday. We have to pick Kaleb up Saturday in KY also so that is another reason why we decided to go. So I will be MIA for a few days, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Dresser, Toy Story and Dancing with the Stars

2010-03-22T23:32:00.004-04:00

Are you guys as excited as I am about "Toy Story" coming out on dvd tomorrow? I love these movies, I can remember watching them with Kaleb when he is little. I can't wait to take Ayla to see Toy Story 3 when it comes out in June. At target the combo packs (dvd/blue ray) are on sale for $22.99/ea but if you buy both (Toy Story 1 and 2) you get $10 off instantly. In addition to this you can use these coupons from the Disney site. Works out to $12.99 each.
There is also a 10 dollar coupon for the "Princess and the Frog" if you are interested. These will make great gifts for the Easter Basket!

So we, I mean John finished Kaleb's dresser yesterday. It really turned out nice, he put several coats of stain on it and with new hardware it is just like new! I love the retro/vintage feel it has to it! Actually, I think this dresser was made in the 70's. Like the lamps? We found those at Homegoods. Have you noticed that we are lamp people? There is just something about having matching lamps on a piece of furniture!! I will have to show you some pictures of our lamps, we do have some interesting ones!! Oh and I am loving how the middle panel opens up and there are three drawers that pull out. That is a really nice feature. So here are a couple of before and after pictures, what do you think?

Hope everyone has a great week! Ours has not started out so hot. Ayla woke up sick this morning and has been throwing up all day. I hope she is able to sleep tonight and I hope everyone else stays healthy!! Oh, I almost forgot, did anyone watch Dancing with the Stars? What a cast, it will definitely be interesting this year and did anyone else think Pamela Anderson was acting weird? She was definitely um not herself..lol!! Okay, I am tired so I am going to bed early tonight. It is only midnight!!!

Vintage Lucy Giveaway

2010-03-22T14:43:00.004-04:00

Okay one of my new found loves is the Etsy store "Vintage Lucy's". The owner makes the cutest, sweetest and funkiest (is that even a word) vintage designs on children's clothing. If you are not familiar with Vintage Lucy's, please go here to the Etsy store and enjoy! I have ordered these two shirts recently and I can not wait to get them! She does more than just children's clothing, she offers an array of things, in fact, she has about 700 items in her store now!

I let Ayla help pick them out and I was not surprised considering her love for babies. For all of you Matilda Jane fans, they also match the MJ perry ruffles and the hello shorties!! I would love to eventually buy this dress below, it is so dang cute and these shirts are adorable!!

So why am I telling you about Vintage Lucy's? Well one reason is because I love it and want to share the love with you and the other reason is the owner has just started a new blog and she is having a GIVEAWAY! If you would like a chance to win a cute shirt, tank or dress, go HERE to enter!

Sunny Days are Here Again!

2010-03-20T21:19:00.003-04:00

Okay I know I have been a bad blogger lately but the weather has been so beautiful and we have been playing outside non stop! I have a feeling my blog will be neglected a little this summer..lol. It seems like the only time I have to blog lately is late at night and I have been so exhausted that I have just went straight to bed. Today was gorgeous, around 75 degrees here.I was on the road all day taking Kaleb to meet his Dad in Lexington Kentucky. It is spring break this week so his dad arranged a few fun things to do . They are going to Atlanta on Wednesday to watch the Atlanta Falcons play and then flying to Chicago on Thursday to watch the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat play. Kaleb was excited, he is a big basketball fan and he got to take a friend with him so I am sure they will have a great time.

After I got home this afternoon, I played outside with the kids all evening. We just bought an older dresser off of a co-worker and John spent the afternoon sanding it down and staining it. Kaleb needed a new dresser so we found this one at a great price and decided to refinish it. It is solid wood and a nice piece of furniture so hopefully it will turn out okay. The three panels in the middle open and there are three drawers that pull out. Pretty neat hu? Kind of reminds me of the Brady Bunch a little..lol! But not to worry , it will be the updated Brady Bunch dresser when we are done!!

Oh and the funniest thing happened after I was home. Out of the blue Ayla looked at me and said, "Mom you are out of control", and I said, "What do you mean I am out of control", as to which she replied, "Look at all of those clothes in the closet, you are out of control"... I started laughing because I knew she was probably repeating what her Daddy had said as he was getting her dressed this morning. So I had Ayla repeat what she had said to John and he started laughing...BUSTED!! I told him it wasn't really as bad as it looks, I have a system with Ayla's closet, he just doesn't know what it is (wink, wink).

So Brennan has been in dire need of a hair cut lately, John took him to the barber shop yesterday afternoon and as soon as he sat him in the chair he threw a fit. The barber refused to cut his hair so John brought him home and cut his hair all by himself and he didn't even move. So here is his new hair cut, isn't he handsome? I could just smother him with kisses all day and all night..lol!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend, is anyone watching March Madness? We are huge basketball fans so we are watching every chance we get! So far our team is still in it. Oh and actually West Virginia won the Big East Championship last week!! Today while I was in Kentucky, almost everyone I saw was wearing blue and white. I didn't realize until later that they were playing tonight so then it made sense. Kentucky has some die hard fans, I know that. We are fans of Kentucky too because one of their players, William Patterson is from West Virginia!

Have a great Sunday!

THE Easter Bunny Picture!

2010-03-16T15:48:00.004-04:00

Ayla's first picture with the Easter Bunny!

We had to return some things at the mall on Saturday and when we got there, we realized that the Easter Bunny was there as well. Ayla just had to see the Easter Bunny, so we waited for an hour because he was taking an hour break when we got there. She told me that she wanted to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap and get her picture taken. I kept asking if she was sure because last year we just looked at waved at him from a distance. Soooooo, we waited in line for at least 30 minutes and when it was finally her time to visit she all of a sudden wanted nothing to do with him. It was kind of funny, she was walking real slow up to see him and I had to talk her into sitting BESIDE him and not on his lap. John got it all on video, it was so funny. So she did actually sit beside him for a few seconds but she did NOT want him to touch her AT ALL. I was able to take one picture with my camera because I was not going to pay the outrageous price that they charge and this is what I got .....

This was her waiting in line, she was so happy and excited!!

and this is her when she finally saw the Easter Bunny....

she is like, get your hands off of me...lol. So she wanted to leave as soon as she sat down and then as we were walking out to our car she started crying saying that she wanted to go see the Easter Bunny again..lol! I thought this picture was priceless, we will have to go back and see if Brennan will set beside the Easter Bunny, but I have a feeling that he will NOT. These days he barely gets out of my sight, he is such a mommy's boy!!

Liberty of London at Target!

2010-03-14T20:26:00.004-04:00

I am sure everyone knows by now about Target carrying the "Liberty of London" print. Up until now, you had to pay big bucks to own any of this clothing. Well Target has came through for us again and is offering Liberty of London items at Target prices. I knew it would be released today so I went to Target eary this morning to get Ayla a few outfits. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, you never know until you see it in person, but I LOVE EVERYTHING!!! If I could afford it, I would have bought it all. So of course, I had Ayla do a litle fashion show for you so you can see how cute it is and so you can hurry up and get to Target. No kidding, this line is flying off of the shelves! Oh, and it is not just kids clothing, they have bags (which I got), wallets, hats, gloves and even bedding with this print. They also have Women's clothing which I briefly looked at but what I did see I really liked! So here is Ayla in her new Liberty of London!

This first dress is GORGEOUS and is my favorite. I think this may be her Easter dress with a little white cardigan!

and how perfect would this be for July 4th.. Love the navy and red colors!!

oh and they even have rompers.. this one is so cute, it is smocked and it has two little pockets on the front....

and this is a little halter set, it has the navy print on the pockets but you can't see it in the pictures..

We also got her another romper and another short set but she was done modeling for the night..lol. Oh and here is my bag that I bought, I thought it would be perfect to carry on the plane with all of the kids things in it next month. I love the print and color, this was the only one left so I didn't even get to see the other ones they had. The lady checking us out said that people were at Target at 8 this morning buying Liberty of London items, she said they had sold a ton already and this was at 11 this morning.... so if you like anything go NOW...lol! Here is a picture of the bag....

So what do you think? Do you love Target as much as I do??

Mystery Solved!

2010-03-13T22:35:00.004-05:00

One day last week John came home from work to have lunch at the house. After he went back to work I realized that it was getting very cold in the house. I went and looked at the thermostat and to my surprise it read 69 degrees which put it into emergency mode, which explained why it was cold. We normally leave it on 72-73 degrees during the Winter months. I know I didn't change it so I just assumed that John had set it lower because maybe it was warmer outside that day, after all, I was the only other person home, Kaleb was at school and Ayla and Brennan can't reach it sooo...John was the ONLY person who could have changed it. When John got home later I asked him if he changed the thermostat and he said "no". I was baffled, I just didn't know who could have done it if he did not. John suggested that maybe Ayla or Brennan did it. Nope no way, I was not hearing it, they could NOT reach it and besides I would see them if they tried to do something like that.....so the VERY next day, this is what I saw

MYSTERY SOLVED!

Yes my precious two year old had been carrying his trash can from his room and standing on it to push the buttons, I couldn't help but to laugh! So, I had to have a very serious conversation with him because he was making me look bad. See what happens when you take up for your children? They prove you wrong every time...lol. But I do have to give him credit, he was smart enough to figure out a way to actually reach the buttons and do it when I was NOT looking!! Life with a two year old, gotta love it!!

HOLD ON TO YOUR DREAM, THE JEFFREY GOTTFURCHT CHILDREN'S ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION

2010-03-11T17:08:00.003-05:00

This week at Kelly's Korner, the topic for "Show us Your Life" is favorite charities. I found this foundation a few weeks ago and it means the world to me. This foundation works by granting wishes for children who have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. My husband and I are going to be donating to this organization and if you feel led to do the same, I will attach the link below. Thank you for reading about something that means so much to me!

About Our Mission

The Foundation is a wish-granting organization whose mission is to make dreams and wishes a reality for children living with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

About JGCAF

The Jeffrey Gottfurcht Children’s Arthritis Foundation (the “Foundation”) was founded in September 2009 by Jeffrey Gottfurcht. Eight years ago at the age of 27, Jeffrey was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. He had periodically experienced swollen fingers and wrists and had stiff joints throughout his late teens and early 20’s: he thought these were merely an allergic reactions. Finally, a Rheumatoid Arthritis specialist at Stanford confirmed the diagnosis. In 2009, Jeffrey’s symptoms significantly advanced and he learned that he would be functionally immobile within a few years. An avid mountain climber, Jeffrey decided he could not just give in and with a can-do attitude committed to training for and climbing Mount Everest in 2010, thereby fulfilling his number 1 dream. Jeffrey wanted to share his determination to fight Rheumatoid Arthritis while bringing joy, strength and support to others afflicted with this lifelong disease. Jeffrey chose to focus on fulfilling the dreams of children suffering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis because as a father of 3, he understands the importance of creating positive memories in a child’s life. The Foundation hopes to inspire, educate and generate awareness while those suffering with this lifelong disease optimistically await a cure.

Granting Wishes

The Foundation’s mandate is to fulfill the dreams of children afflicted with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Referrals for dreams will come from parents, guardians, members of the medical community, support-related websites and children suffering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. The Foundation’s Dream Team will select the dreams that are prudent and possible to make a reality. The Foundation’s president will visit the child and present the dream come true. Wishes should fall under the following categories: 1) “I wish I could go…”, 2) “I wish I could meet…”, 3) “I wish to be…”, and 4) “I wish to have…”.

Please watch the videos of two children who this organization has helped and made it possibel for their "wish" come true!

The Jeffrey Gottfurcht Children's Arthritis Foundation

Bedroom Makeover and a Surprise!

2010-03-08T21:02:00.005-05:00

The weekends are just too short!! We didn't do too much this weekend, John was on call and had to work Saturday so Ayla and I did a little shopping. Speaking of which, I put a new Matilda Jane skirt on Ayla before we left. I paired it with a long sleeve pink shirt that matched and a pair of polka dot leggings. There is a polka dot ruffle in the skirt so I thought it looked cute. Well, Ayla liked the polka dot leggings but she ALSO wanted to wear a polka dot shirt (which she does have, and I can't believe she remembered) anyway, she cried for at least 20 minutes because I would not let her wear the polka dot shirt. She said that the pink shirt did NOT match. She is into matching and her clothes have to match at ALL times. It is so funny, she also has to have perfume on and her cross necklace on when we go out. It is so amazing the little things they pick up. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures before we left on Saturday. You can tell by the first couple of pictures that she was STILL upset about not wearing the polka dot shirt...lol.

We also have been doing a little mini makeover of our bedroom. We upgraded to a king bed several weeks ago and so we had to get new bedding. Then we decided to paint because the old paint did not match the new bedding (there's that word again) and we bought a few new accessories etc. The only thing left to do now is get new blinds and curtains. At the last minute we decided to paint one wall a burnt orange color as an "accent wall" to bring out the orange chair and accessories in the room. I really like how it turned out, I love a little color in a room!! What do you think? Well it's really not orange but you get the picture. The pictures are not that great because they were taken at night without any natural light.

After the "orange wall"

I just realized that I did not take any pictures of our night stands so I just went and took a few!

and finally some pictures in the picture frames...lol!

And for the surprise, guess where we are going next month? Oh, okay you do not have to guess, I will just tell you!! We are going to ...............

DISNEY WORLD!!!

We are all so excited! We are meeting friends there and they have four year old twins and that is all Ayla is talking about these days. Take my advice on this, never tell a three year old that she is going to Disney in APRIL because they do not understand that APRIL is still over 4 weeks away. No kidding, she asks every single day if today is the day we are going to Disney. We were in the car a few days ago and she saw the green interstate signs and she said, "Look daddy it says this way to Disney", we couldn't believe it, we both just started laughing. Just today I was getting ready to go to the post office and I asked her if she wanted to go with me and she said, "No I am just going to wait for daddy to get home so I can go to Disney with him"..lol. So I kind of wish I never said anything to her BUT it is so cute to see her SO EXCITED.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I am off now to watch the "Bachelor Wedding".

Also, I have some of Ayla and Brennan's clothes listed on Ebay right now, if you are interested and want a link to my auctions just send me an email! I am listing some of Ayla's cute custom outfits!

A Typical Day

2010-03-04T21:25:00.005-05:00

Today at Kelly' Korner the topic for "Show us Your Life" is to share what a typical day is like for you. First of all, there is never a "typical" day at our house..lol. My children continue to amaze me on a daily basis. I never know what is in store for me from one day to another. The only thing they do every day that is routine is that they wake up between 9 and 10am and never a minute sooner! That is about the only thing that I can count on! During the day I try to give them things to do like color and paint etc, but at two and three, nothing keeps their attention long. This is what they prefer to do..........

they would rather play in the toilet

or take their clothes off a gazillion times a day (this has been a big problem lately) obviously nothing has changed much since this post!

or find new ways to climb into Brennan's crib

or pull the ottoman over to the dvd player and push every button in sight

or some how sneak our huge fake palm tree plant into their bed..lol..

Yes, these are the "typical" things that they would prefer to do on any given day! I do try to get them out of the house at least a couple of times a week even if it is just to go to Target. We also like to have playdates and we actually had two this week so that helps the day go by faster. We used to have a very strict nap time but since the kids sleep in so late, they have not been napping as much. I do however make them stay in their rooms and rest for at least an hour, trust me, it is good for my sanity, what little I have left..lol! The upside to no nap is that they are totally worn out by the end of the day and they go to bed early!! Before bed we ALWAYS rock in the rocking chair, read books and sing a few songs and of course say our prayers.

That's about it for a typical day at my house. I am sorry it is not more exciting! I am sure you ALL are so jealous..hehe! We are so eager for the summer to get here so we can go to the pool and play outside! Please summer get here SOON!

Meet Jessica, you will be so glad you did!

2010-03-02T22:51:00.004-05:00

Presently there are around three hundred thousand children living with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have just recently became friends with a 15 year old young lady named Jessica. Jessica was diagnosed with Juvenile Rhuematoid Arthritis at the age of two years old. I met Jessica on facebook where she was kind enough to share her story with me. As you will soon find out, Jessica is an amazing young lady with a huge heart. Tears rolled down my face as I read her story and everything that she has had to go through. Even though I have never met Jessica, she is very special, I think you might agree too! Because it is important to me to put a face to this disease, Jessica has agreed to let me share her story with you! After reading this, you may agree that the "small" things in life that seem so bad just might not seem so "bad" afterall! Please continue to pray for Ayla, Jessica and all children living with this disease.

My journey with JRA begins at age two. One afternoon, my mom came home from work to discover that my right knee was very swollen. Alarmed, my mom took me to the Johns Hopkins Hospital ER. Within a week, I was diagnosed with Pauciarticular Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. My case was referred to Dr. Sills who placed me on Naproxen, Methotrexate (an aggressive chemotherapeutic agent), Prednisone (a harsh steroid), and Folic Acid (to thwart some of the effects of the Methotrexate) to combat the disease. After a few months my disease progressed and I had inflammation in virtually every joint in my body; Dr. Sills labeled my disease as Polyarticular.
Around age four, my mom and I relocated to Florida. There, my care was referred to Rheumatologist, Dr. Rivas-Chacon, at Miami Children’s Hospital and Ophthalmologist, Dr. Miller. Soon after the move, it was recommended that I see an aqua therapist and a physical therapist. We quickly became acclimated to my new schedule which included AT and PT visits three times weekly, eye exams once a month, rheumatologist visits and blood work every other month and, of course, meds every day and injections once a week. Within six months of enduring this treatment plan, the majority of my inflammation was completely gone. I was taken off the Prednisone and my doctors agreed it was safe to end the AT and PT and lower my dosage of MTX. I had achieved my first remission!
Every time I went to see the Rheumatologist, he decreased my MTX dosage more and more, until a few months later, I experienced a flare-up, beginning in my right knee. As the disease progressed, Dr. Rivas-Chacon amplified my MTX dosage and suggested I have two cortisone injections in my knees without any form of anesthetic. I underwent this procedure and experienced no benefits whatsoever. This infuriating cycle of getting better, then flaring-up continued for years. Throughout this never-ending rollercoaster ride I was never taken off of Methotrexate; yet, I remained very active through dance, karate, and soccer. I was always doing something!
Around age 11, I experienced yet another flare-up, and my MTX dosage was, again, increased, but this time my liver had a nasty reaction to the drug, and I found myself almost confronting a liver biopsy. The dosage was promptly lowered in hopes of showing improvement. My liver quickly recovered, but my joints didn’t. With the help of Prednisone, my disease went into remission. This remission lasted three lengthy years! It was great! Though I still had to take my MTX and Folic Acid, I didn’t suffer any pain from the JRA.
I am now fifteen years old, and just about two months ago, after we all thought I conquered the JRA for good, my right knee became inflamed. But, that wasn’t my biggest dilemma. I was just diagnosed with osteoarthritis (due to the damage the JRA had already done to my joints) and malalignment of the patella in my right knee, both of which cause me discomfort. In addition, I was recently referred to a cardiologist and nephrologist due to hypertension, shortness of breath, and chest pains. Plus, I’ve had a few episodes of nystagmus, so my ophthalmologist referred me to a neurologist. The past two months have been packed with doctors’ appointments, scans, ER visits, blood work, tests (including a thirty-day cardiac monitor), EKG’s, and echocardiograms; and in addition to MTX and Folic Acid, I shortly found myself taking Lisinopril, Zofran, and Naproxen. After all of this: still no diagnosis.
As I reminisce on my battle with JRA, I can remember the pain, the doctors’ appointments, the shots, and the pills, but I don’t recall ever feeling upset about it. It truly didn’t bother me. I think that’s what amazes me the most about children; no matter how bad things are, they are always blissful. We can learn a lot from little warriors like Ayla. And although I’m not happy I have JRA, I believe I have reaped many benefits from living with it. Having JRA has taught me to have empathy for others who are in pain, not to sweat the little things in life, and to be thankful for my wellbeing; sometimes I may not feel healthy, but there are many others who have it a lot worse. It has also given me the opportunity to meet a lot of great people and learn a lot of things. Whenever I go to the Rheumatologist’s office, I show the medical students how to do things! As for the future, I plan to beat my JRA (and keep it away forever), become a Pediatric Rheumatologist, and find a CURE for Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Hope Ayla and everyone else is well!
Take care,
Jessica

Feel free to leave Jessica a word of encouragement, I am sure she will be reading this post :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about something that means so much to me!

And The Winner Is.......

2010-02-28T15:19:00.008-05:00

FIRST OF ALL

Thanks so much for entering my very first giveaway. This has been so much fun, I plan on having many more in the future! With that being said, the winner of all of the pretty hair goodies is.....drum roll please.....we did it the old fashioned way ........

here is Ayla pulling out the first winner......and the winner is.......

Nicole, your comment is too funny......and yes I did say winner's, because Ayla picked TWO more names...I thought I would send a few more goodies your way as well!!

SO,

Paige @ http://mommy2charli.blogspot.com/and
Rachael @ http://averys-paige.blogspot.com/ you are also winners!

Congrats to all three of you, just send your contact information to my email and I will get your box of goodies out to all of you!!

MOVING RIGHT ALONG.............

Okay, this week at Kelly's Korner the topic for "Show us Your Life" was "What do you collect". My first thought was that I do not collect anything because clutter stresses me out and so I try to avoid it if I can!! Then as I was reading all of the posts on this topic, I started saying...oh yeah I collect that, I collect that too..lol.. so I thought I would put a little post together about a few things that I DO collect!!

I love crosses and although I would love to collect crosses by Jan Barboglio, I am poor so I just collect crosses that I can afford...like this one I bought right after Christmas at Hobby Lobby on sale for 80% off, for only FIVE dollars... the reason why I love crosses and why I wear one around my neck is because when I look at that cross I know that I am forgiven and it is a daily reminder of his sacrifices for you and I and for the salvation that is ours because of HIM!

and here are a few others I have around the house

I also have a rather large collection of purses although I would not say that I "collect" them. To me to collect something means that the item you collect has meaning to you and purses well are purses and I am not emotionally connected to any of my purses.. well maybe the very first one John bought me when we were dating, it is a small coach purse and now Ayla has it..lol!! Oh and I just recently purged some of my purses and sold them on ebay because you know that gave me room to get more..hehe!! I also have a rather large collection of sippy cups and hand sanitizer, oh and then there is the collection of random objects that I have on top of my fridge

let's take a closer look shall we....

Okay, this is the COLLECTION that I COLLECT throughout the week, you know like when I take them away from my kids..lol. Each week I have a different COLLECTION!

This week we have a box of rice Krispy treats because my kids get them out of the pantry ALL DAY LONG, Scissors- I think we all know what would happen if those were within reach, knives-self-explanatory, a turkey bastor- Ayla chases Brennan with this and tries to suck his nose, she doesn't believe me when I tell her it is NOT a nose sucker..lol. A bottle of lotion- Caught Ayla shampooing Brennan's hair this week, side walk chalk- they do NOT understand that it is meant for OUTSIDE and lastly a set of paints- Ayla likes to paint anything and everything. So that is my collection of things for this week. I am sure we will be adding to it again this week!!

Okay, I hope everyone had a great weekend! I am going to go listen to Michael Buble sing now, he is singing at the Olympics and I love me some Michael Buble!!!

Nap Time..... I don't think so!!

2010-02-25T23:48:00.004-05:00

I think naps are finally a thing of the past for Miss Ayla. Whenever I put her down for nap time, I pretty much know that she is not going to go to sleep, however, I do think it is important for her (and me!) to just relax in her room and have some quiet time at least. Usually she "trashes" her room when she is left alone for nap time. She gets all of her hats and bows out and scatters them everywhere, or she gets every book that she owns and scatters them as well. Honestly, I never know what I will find when I go to check on her at nap time! So with that being said, this is what I found a few days ago when checking in on her at nap time.

Yes people, she is sitting in her dresser drawer!

Is this not H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!! It was so funny that I HAD to run and get my camera when I saw this. You can tell by the look on her face in the first picture that she knew she was doing something that she probably should not be doing! I am telling you, I could not make up the things that my children do! I know I tell you all the time that there is never a dull moment, I am sure you are probably beginning to believe me by now..lol!

Anyway.... thanks for all of the input about the Chi flat iron, I found one on ebay for $70 (including shipping), it was new and in the box, so I figured that was a good deal. Everyone has said that it will last me for years, so that was my justification for buying one..lol!

Also, thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Wright, after I posted on here about John and I forgetting our Anniversary, these showed up at our door a couple of days later. Thank you so much, they are beautiful!

Last but not least, my sister Amy has just started her blog and I would love for you to hop over here at "Amelia's Corner" and show her some love. She is a doll and I am sure you will think so too!

I will be picking a winner this weekend for my giveaway, so if you have not had a chance to enter go here, there is still time!!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

My Boy.....

2010-02-24T00:23:00.000-05:00

is 2 years and 4 months old.

loves to snuggle and is a Mommy's boy for sure. He will sit in my lap forever and cuddle, he is so loving and caring, such a sweet soul!

sleeps with his blue blankie and carries it everywhere he goes (calls it his "wankie").

is extremely smart, he can count to 15 and he knows and recognizes every letter of the alphabet, he also knows all of the colors and most shapes.

has an infectious laugh that makes everyone smile and with those beautiful blue eyes, who could not resist!!

is infatuated with "The Wiggles".

is obsessed with dvd's, this is his toy of choice, he has them with him at all times and even takes them to bed with him, he calls them his dd's. He will sit at our kitchen counter for hours putting dd's in his dvd player.

loves to play on the computer, he knows how to go to the Nickelodeon page and play games, he even know how to use the mouse and has for a while.

talks in full sentences, when he gets upset he always says the same thing that goes something like this, "Stoppickenitme", I have no idea what that means but I am sure it probably isn't very nice!

loves to eat, his favorite food is pizza and fresh fruit.

loves to sing, his favorite songs are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus loves me.

still sucks his thumb and still sleeps in his crib.

still takes a two hour nap every day.

loves people, he does not know a stranger and he says, "hi" to everyone he sees.

loves books and loves for Mamaw to read them to him.

likes to play with my I phone and has since around 18 months. He knows how to do everything on it, he can answer it, play games, go to You tube and watch videos, listen to music, he can probably work it much better than myself! He loves to play matching games and he is so good at it too!

loves his big sister, in the mornings he always gives her a hug and kiss, he calls her "sissy" or "Aya".

is such a blessing, we love him so much!

Ayla Playing Guitar, Disney on Ice and Our Anniversary

2010-02-21T21:53:00.008-05:00

This is Ayla's favorite thing to do! Every evening she plays Van Halen's Guitar Hero with her Daddy! There are three songs that she plays over and over and she already has the words memorized. Cracks me up! Here is a little video of her, John and my brother in law playing a song. This is HILARIOUS!! Trust me it is worth watching the whole three minutes!

She loves music so much, and she actually has pretty good rhythm for her age! She would stay down stairs and play the guitar for hours I think!

On another note, I wanted to thank everyone for entering the giveaway. I love giving to others, so this is so exciting for me. I also make jewelrey and a few other things, so I already have other giveaways lined up!! I will post a winner this Saturday so you still have time to enter here if you have not already!

This Thursday we took the kids to see Disney on Ice. Ayla absolutely loved it. She sat and watched the whole entire show while clapping her hands. She was so cute, she had to know EVERY single character's name. For the ones we didn't know, we just started making them up..lol. Of course her favorites were all of the Princesse's and Mickey Mouse. They had all of the Mickey Mouse Characters except for Daisy Duck. Ayla asked the whole night where Daisy Duck was and you can't just say, "I don't know" to Ayla, she wants an explanation. So I was telling her Daisy wasn't feeling well etc..and then at the VERY end they finally had Daisy in the last act so she was thrilled! Brennan was interested in about the first 45 minutes and then after that he was bored, so he played games on my I-phone the rest of the night! Luckily, we were able to make it through the entire show without buying ONE THING. They did not ask for anything while we were there, no toys, no food, no nothing!! So it ended up being a pretty cheap but very FUN evening! I love seeing my kids so happy, I would do anything to see that smile on their face!

So Friday night my baby sister came over and stayed the night. Her husband was out of town for the weekend and so we had a slumber party..hehe! We ate popcorn and watched American Idol, It was a great time! She is working on starting her own blog and I am sooo excited. She is an excellent writer, she just wrote two articles that were published on line and I can't wait to share them with you! She is such a cutie, you all will love her!

Saturday was a lazy day. John was on call this weekend so he was working Saturday morning. At some point Saturday afternoon, a friend texted me wishing John and I a happy anniversary. What? Did I read my text right, it can't be my anniversary...gasp...look at the calendar, sure enough it is our 6 year anniversary! How terrible is that? I mean I know I am lucky if I even know what day it is much less the date but... I felt really bad. After I spoke with John from work that afternoon, I felt a little better because he had forgotten too!! My sister was nice enough to come over so we could go out to dinner and a movie. We saw "The Edge Of Darkness" and I don't want to spoil anything for you if you want to see it, but If I were you, I would wait and rent it! Yeah, um not a anniversary type of movie! When we got home from the movie, my sister and the kids had made us brownie cupcakes...yum!!

Today was grocery store day so nothing too exciting going on here. It was 50 degrees and sunny so we were able to take the kids outside and go for a walk. It was so nice, I am so ready for the warm weather. Our vacation is not until August so we are debating on going to Disney at the end of April! One day we want to and then the next we are like well maybe we should wait until next year. So, we are not sure yet, they are having a special right now and it ends in March so we will definitely have to know before then!

Do you all remember how Ayla just got a new bedroom makeover? Well, we bought the flower and butterfly wallie type things. John painted the stems of the flowers and then we used the wallies for the flower part. And we placed them strategically throughout the room so it would not look like we just slapped a bunch of stickers on the wall.....well....as I was putting Ayla down for a nap a week or so ago, I saw this....

I guess Ayla had her own decorating ideas. She had gathered almost all of the flowers and butterflies off of the wall and lined them up on the wall inside her bed! So now there are a bunch of flower stems painted on the walls without a flower (you can see a couple of them in the pic) I just had to laugh about it. I guess John will have to PAINT all of the flowers now!!

Two more things, I noticed that everyone in blog land has a CHI flat iron. I have been looking for one and I can not believe how much these things are. Seriously $110 and that is for a cheap one. Is it really worth it? I really want one but I am not sure that I want to pay that. I mean for that price my hair should be looking like I just stepped out of the saloon each time I use it. So I need your advice on this one. Is there some place to get this cheaper or is that price about right?

Okay, lastly I thought I would share another GREAT find I found this weekend while at Target. I just happened to walk by the shoe department and these caught my eye.

They look just like Lelli Kelly shoes but much cheaper. In fact they were on sale for $12 a piece! Ayla wore the sandals all day Saturday, she calls them her princess shoes! Anyway, just thought I would let you know in case you are like me and you can't resist a cute pair of shoes!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I can't wait to check out all of my new follower's blogs! I am so excited to meet my new friends!!

Show Us Your Ministry and My First Giveaway!

2010-02-18T23:31:00.009-05:00

This week at Kelly's Korner is "Show us your ministry week". Although I do not have a ministry, I do have a story that I would like to share with you. I have also have a few new readers, so I would love to take this opportunity to tell "Ayla's Story". I actually posted this last week on mistake so I know alot of you have already read this. If you have not read Ayla's Story please click HERE to read! After you have read this, please come back and join my very FIRST giveaway!!

To celebrate my new blog makeover and my two year blogging anniversary, I have decided to have a giveaway. I love to make hair bows, flower clips etc, for my daughter and have been doing it since she was a baby. I actually had an Etsy store for a short time selling my items. Since I appreciate everyone of you that take the time out to read my blog, I am so excited to give back to you something that I enjoy doing! I am giving away a HUGE lot of hair goodies for your little girl. If you do not have a little girl, I am sure you know one that would look adorable in all of these goodies!!

This give away includes:
Two crochet beanie hats (one pink and one black) you can clip the flowers or any bows that you may already have on to these!
Two large Flower clips (these clip on the hat or headbands or can be worn alone)
Six Crochet headbands
Two small flower clips, (these look cute on headband or worn alone)
Four hair bows (red, pink, white, ivory)
Fifteen crochet flower clips (these can be used for babies and older girls) all are lined on an alligator clip. Some of these are crochet watermelons and cupcakes.. so cute! Ayla still wears these to pull her bangs back!

All you have to do to enter is:
leave a comment for one entry
become a follower for two entries
blog about this give away on your blog for three entries and
post on facebook for four entries

It's that simple! Make sure you leave a post for every entry! I will pick a winner some time next week!

And thank you Stephanie from Dirt and Lace Designs for my new blog makeover. Your work is awesome and you are wonderful to work with! If you are thinking about a new blog design, go and see Stephanie, you will be glad you did!

Here are a couple of pictures of Ayla wearing some of the hair goodies! She actually loves the hats and wears them all the time!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

My night with Harry and some great deals!

2010-02-18T10:11:00.005-05:00

Last night John and I went to see Harry Connick Jr. in concert and it was awesome! He was amazing and to my surprise very funny! He had us laughing the whole time, I felt like we were at a comedy show with the added bonus of a concert..lol! Honestly if he is touring in your area, you really should go see him, it is a great time. Just as an example of how funny he is, while he was singing his second song of the night, several people came in late and their seats were up front. All of a sudden he told the band to stop playing and he stopped singing and said ,"We need to wait for these people to find their seats". It was hilarious, he went on talking to them forever asking them why they were late etc, and then he saw that they had a camera and he said lets just get this over with and he took pictures with them right in the middle of the show. Oh and then there was this guy on the very front row recording him ALL NIGHT on his I phone (which is not allowed) so at one point Harry made a comment that he had noticed him doing it and he went up to the guy and said ,"You like taking my picture?", "Let me take your's", he then grabbed the guy's I phone and threw it behind stage and just continued singing. It was the funniest thing ever. After the show he gave it back to the guy and said that they had erased 70 pictures and three videos. Yes that Harry, he definitely has a personality to say the least!!

I also have found some great deals lately and would love to share them with you. We just recently upgraded to a king size bed and with that we bought a memory foam topper and new pillows. First of all, I am not a good sleeper and have not been for quite a long time. I have also had problems with my neck and back when I wake up, like I did not sleep the right way maybe and my neck is stiff more than it should be. Well let me tell you these pillows that we bought are the BEST EVER. They are designed for side and back sleeping . Each pillow is individually air-molded and is designed to ensure support, comfort and increased circulation for the head, neck and spine. We bought these at Sam's and I think they are made by "Nature's Sleep", I need to check with John to be sure because he bought them but after looking at the website, it looks like this may be the one. I love, love, love, this pillow, I have slept the best EVER since having this and my neck and back feel great. I hardly ever sleep a whole night without waking up but since we have made the change, I have slept like a baby. I am sure it is a combination of the memory foam topper and the new pillow, but I am a firm believer that a nice pillow is ESSENTIAL for a good night's sleep. I think John said these were twenty something a piece, but to me they are definitely worth it!!

Okay moving on, ya'll know I love finding a good bargain. Last week at T.J. Maxx, they had these boutique brand denim shirts and dresses by "Paper Denim and Jeans" for Ayla. They had several different styles but we went with this tiered peasant top/dress for... are you ready... only $12.99. The original price on the dress is $48.00. Score! This will look so cute with a pair of ruffles as a shirt or you can size up for a longer dress look. Once you see this in person, you can tell that the quality is awesome! I took a pic so you could see how cute it is!

Ayla "posing" for me, this picture cracks me up!!

I also ordered these three skirt/jacket sets from Walmart. They are only $9 for BOTH pieces and shipping is only 97 cents. They are the brand Faded Glory and they wash up really well! I am going to pair these with some cute Mini Boden applique shirts for the Spring/Summer. I am all about a good deal and I think these are a great find. The skirts have the little shorts under them and they actually look just like the Mini Boden skirts for a WHOLE lot less! I think they are adorable and you really can't beat the price at nine dollars. They also have a cute red set but they are sold in stores ONLY. Only certain Walmarts are carrying these in store, so I went ahead and ordered mine online.

Cute, huh? I hope everyone is having a good week. We are taking the kids to see Disney on Ice tonight. Ayla is so excited but she thinks she is going to Disney World! I hope the ice skating show is not a disappointment for her..lol!! Oh yeah and I am having a giveaway starting tomorrow!! I am so excited, it will be lot's of fun!!

Happy Love Day

2010-02-14T22:42:00.010-05:00

First of all I just want to thank all of you that left a comment on my last post. All of your thoughts and prayers mean the world to me. I had tears running down my face as I read through each comment! It has been a rough two years, but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so I feel as though I can not complain!!

What a busy weekend! On Friday John and I went out to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant, ALONE. Yes, we had a night out with out the kids. My mom, sister and niece came over and watched the kids so we could have a night out to celebrate Valentine's Day. We have been the last three years so I guess it is our tradition now! After dinner my other sister and her hubby came over to watch WVU play Pitt, otherwise known as "The backyard Brawl". I am sad to say that Pitt beat us in THREE overtimes. Oh well, it was fun cheering them on and of course we all had our WVU attire on....even Ayla and Brennan!

On Saturday we met my sister and her hubby again for lunch at the Grand Prix. My poor husband stood in line for over an hour just so Ayla could ride in one of the cars with him. After seeing the smile on her face, it was all worth it. She loved it, this was her first time, she kept saying, "Go fast,fast, fast". Oh, yes she is truly a daddy's girl. I did not get any pictures, I only had my Iphone and they turned out blurry, but I did want to remember this because Ayla had such a good time!

Today we did not do much, we had to run a few errands and then I went to kickboxing class. I have been trying to do it three days a week and I have also started the 30 day shred so hopefully I can lose these last 15 pounds! For Valentines day we got Ayla a little stamping kit Brennan a Boz and Veggie Tales movie and Kaleb a kit for his car so that it will play his Ipod. They were so happy with that but Daddy went out early this morning (before I was out of bed) and brought home more gifts as well as breakfast! He bought Ayla a set of music cd's, Brennan a Wiggles movie and Kaleb a new x-box game! Oh and he bought me a new external flash for my camera. I love it! I have been trying to get extra's for my camera here and there, this really helps with taking pictures inside. I honestly didn't expect him to get me anything since we had our dinner, so It was a nice surprise!

I have had fun this week celebrating Valentines day with the kids. We have made heart shaped cupcakes almost every day. Ayla and Brennan made Valentines with glitter glue and stickers. Ayla was so excited, she gives one to anyone that walkes through the door. I also bought some little wooden Valentines characters and Ayla has loved painting those too.

I hope everyone had a great Valentines weekend with your loved ones!! I am so ready for the warm weather. We have been stuck inside for the last couple of weeks because of the weather. I have started ordering some spring and summer clothes for the kids. This is fun, it makes me think that Summer is just around the corner!!

So I guess it's time to get ready for Easter now!!

Oh yes and did anyone notice anything different about my blog? I love my new makeover! Stephanie from Dirt and Lace designs has been wonderful working with me on this. She is such a great person, if you are wanting a makeover please go and visit her site. Thank you Stephanie!

Ayla's Story

2010-02-11T21:45:00.010-05:00

(Picture taken on March 24, 2008, the day of her official JRA Diagnosis)

This week at Kelly's Korner is "Show us your ministry week". Although I do not have a ministry, I do have a story to tell. I have also had a few new followers lately, so I would love to take this opportunity to tell "Ayla's Story". Okay, I just found out that this is not until next week at Kelly's Korner.... Leave it to me to get the dates mixed up. Oh well, I will just leave this up and link to it again next week!

Not too many people know that "Kids can get Arthritis Too". This is my daughter Ayla's story of her diagnosis and struggles with Juvenile Rhuematoid Arthritis at the age of 18 months. I am writing her story to raise awareness of this disease and to encourage others that are affected by this disease. I know how hard and frustrating it can be, so when you are feeling down, please think of my little angel Ayla and I hope she will brighten your day! She is fighting hard to beat this disease, and so can you!

It all started in February 2008 when I noticed that Ayla was limping and crying in the mornings when she woke up. At first it was just a little , I really did not think anything of it, I just figured she was still tired and wanted to be held. Of course now looking back, I can see how all of her signs and symptoms led to the diagnosis of JRA (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis). Ayla was also crying more than normal in the mornings but that really did not phase me too much because Ayla has always cried a lot. My husband always said, "I think she cries more than the average child". I can remember back to when she was 14 months, she cried ALL OF THE TIME. We even took her to the Dr. a couple of times thinking she may have had ear infections. There were many nights that she would wake up crying for no reason, so we thought. Of course there was never any medical reason for her crying, so we just thought maybe she was teething and that was that. I think now that was probably around the time when her JRA started. Around 17 months is when the limping began. I mentioned it to my husband a couple of times but by evening she would be walking and running without a problem. My husband suggested that maybe she was just having a hard time walking on the hard wood floors in the morning, so I thought that sounded reasonable enough. At around the same time, I noticed that every once in a while when I picked Ayla up to put her on my lap she would just start sobbing. I could not for the life of me figure out why because after all she was sitting on my lap. It was frustrating because I had no idea what was going on. I know now that if I picked her up a certain way and it twisted her knee or pulled her elbow, that she was in pain and would start crying. She would also cry if she barely fell down, I even made a comment to my husband saying that when she falls down you would think that she fractured a bone or something not knowing that once again she was in agonizing pain from her arthritis. It was not until early March one Saturday morning that Ayla was limping around in her diaper and my husband and I were sitting on the floor watching her limp and at the same time we both noticed that her right knee was extremely swollen. Her knee was hot to touch and she could not straighten it out. It was at that moment that we both knew something else was going on. I will never forget that moment for as long as I live. My husband and I are both in the medical field so a thousand things went through our mind as to what could be wrong with her.We took Ayla to the hospital for an x-ray that same Saturday. To our relief there were no tumors so that eased the stress a little. My husband took Ayla on Monday morning to see the orthopedic doctor. After an exam and hearing her history, he suggested that maybe she had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and he ordered some lab work. We then started her on Ibuprofen for the inflammation and pain. When my husband came home, he told me what the doctor had said, and my heart just sank. He assured me that if she did have JRA, she had the mild type because only one joint was affected and that she would eventually outgrow it. My husband went back to work and I proceeded to go to the computer and read everything I could about JRA. This was probably not the best thing to do because there are so many types of JRA and they all have different treatments and different outcomes. I just cried and wished that I could trade places with her. It just did not seem fair that an 18 month old baby had to be faced with this horrible condition. It seemed like for the next couple of weeks we were in denial. I think we expected the swelling to go down thinking that maybe she just had a bad fall and everything was going to be okay and go back to normal. Sadly, this was not the case and after we saw our pediatrician, she suggested that we see a pediatric rheumatologist to see if indeed this is what was wrong with Ayla .My husband and I were devastated and we started calling around to see who would see Ayla. We found out that were we live, there are not any rhuematology doctors that specialize in pediatrics, so we were referred to a Children's Hospital in Columbus Ohio.

Our first appointment in Columbus was on March 24th 2008. We saw the doctor there and after looking at Ayla, he confirmed that she did have JRA and that not only was it in her right knee, it was also in her right elbow. After he told us that her elbow was affected, I remembered that in the mornings she would cry when I put her clothes on. I never even thought about her elbow being involved. Of course I felt stupid then for not realizing that her arm was hurting when she had to straighten it out to put her shirt on. She was diagnosed with pauciarticular JRA and he said that she has a great chance for a full recovery. He said that she will hopefully outgrow this at some point and that it may never come back. This was very reassuring to hear but the only problem was he did not know how long she would initially have it before going into remission. It could be one year, it could be five years. He decided to put her on naproxen twice a day and wanted us to start her in physical therapy once a week. He also wanted her to wear a leg splint at night while she was sleeping. We were to see him again in six weeks for another check up and to see if she was showing any improvement with the naproxen and P.T.

By June of 2008 at 22 months, Ayla's right ankle also became swollen. She was still limping and at her worse she was dragging her leg behind her when walking. She was not able to run and play like most children her age. It was at this time that we decided she needed joint injections. Under conscious sedation, she had her right knee, right ankle and right elbow injected with a steroid. This helped tremendously, the inflammation in her right knee went down and she was no longer limping. Her ankle and elbow continued to bother her.

By August of 2008, Ayla's arthritis started affecting her neck. We noticed that her neck was stiff and she was having trouble turning it to the right or looking up. We actually noticed it right when we were leaving for vacation. I remember thinking how "frail" she was, especially at almost two years old. She should have been full of energy!At this point, the Dr. suggested that we start her on Methotrexate. We were devastated because this is a very aggressive chemo drug with a potential of bad side effects. We went back and fourth about starting her on this medicine, we were torn and didn't know what to do. We decided to wait it out a little while longer.

In October of 2008 we had discovered that Ayla's fingers and toes were starting to swell. It was when we found her left knee hot and swollen that we called the Doctor. She was started on oral steroids (prednisone) and after a few days, she was a new little girl. Feeling as we had no choice, we also started her on the oral Methotrexate.After being on oral steroids and Methotrexate for six months, we decided to wean her off of her steroids. During the six months that she was on the steroid, she was feeling great and her lab work was normal (for the first time ever). As soon as she was off of the steroid, her arthritis started to flare once again so we switched her to the injectable Methotrexate to see if that would help. She stayed on the injectable Methotrexate for another three months.

By June 2009, the arthritis was in her right jaw and she was diagnosed with TMJ. After an exam, the Dr. was also fearful that it was spreading into her hips. At this point we decided to add yet another medicine, Enbrel. This was another injectable medicine as well. She was up to around eight medicines a day by now and was getting two injections a week. The Enbrel was the answer to our prayers and after a couple of weeks, we finally had our little girl back. It took over 18 months to get her into remission with medications. She has had no signs of arthritis since the latter part of June 2009.If she continues to stay in remission for one year we will be able to wean her off of her meds. There is a 50% chance that the arthritis will come back. Because of Ayla's multiple joint involvement, the Dr's have told us that she has only a 30% chance of going into remission without meds. It is likely that she will carry this into adulthood, however, we do not know what the future holds, there is only one person who does and we will trust in him and we will deal with whatever hand life deals us one day at a time. We will always stay hopeful that she will beat this.As parents, we strive to be the best advocates we can for our daughter. Most people do not know that "Kids Can Get Arthritis Too". It is our mission to raise awareness for this disease.There is still much research that needs to be done so maybe one day our kids will not have to suffer with this. Below are a few articles that Ayla has been in regarding her Jra.

Local Newspaper Article

Online "Therapy Times" Article

If you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading "Ayla's Story". It really means alot to me! If your child has JRA or if you yourself have RA, I would love to hear from you!

Have a great weekend!

Who Remember's these Toys?

2010-02-08T23:45:00.003-05:00

This was my husband's fisher price farm house from when he was little. Okay I am showing my age here but I am thinking it was in the 1970's.....

and this is Brennan's Fisher Price farm house that he got as a birthday gift last year. When John saw this he had to get it. It is the new version of the "old" farm house.

I have to say that the kids still play with the "old" version more. Surprisingly, it is still in working condition. The door still opens and it still has the "moo" sound...haha...and it is much bigger too. So now Fisher Price is duplicating the toys that we played with way back when..lol
For some reason, it is neat to see your children playing with the toys that you played with as a child! Oh and Fisher Price has figured that out, and they are going to make you pay triple than what it is worth just because they know us parents can not resist!!!!

We were at Target a couple of weeks ago and we found these.....Remember the classic teaching clock?

and the Two Tune Television?

and the pull toy Chatter Telephone?

Yes, I remember them all! We almost bought them for the kids but we finally came to our senses knowing that they would never get played with. It is neat to see the "older" toys make their debut again. So I am too old or do any of you remember these too? I am probably going to be sorry I asked that, I may not want to know the answer!!!!

Catching up and some Blog Awards UPDATED

2010-02-06T14:51:00.014-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have had some snow here this weekend so we are just taking it easy hanging at home! Last night we bought the kids the first Chipmunks movie and watched it while we ate Pizza!! The movie was so cute and the kids really liked it. Ayla cried when it went off and so we put it back on..lol. This morning John and Ayla went out for a little bit while I cleaned house and he brought me back the cutest surprise, I will post pictures later!! He's the best!

Okay here is the surprise John got to me today!

A pair of black coach tennis shoes! Yeah... these are so cute and he know's I never buy anything for myself so I am excited to wear these this spring/summer!! Oh and is if that was not enough, he also bought me some "hope in a jar" because he read on my last post that I was out of it. He said he called around everywhere at work on Friday to try and find it for me! He is so good to me, I am blessed beyond meausure! Thank you honey! Oh and by the way he bought the shoes at Marshall's at a great price! I also have had several people ask me about Ayla's red and pink outfit she had on in a previous post, I got it at Naartjie earlier this year when I was in Louisville for the day. They also have a website, I just bought Brennan an oufit from there last week. They are always having great sales and on Tuesday's they have a mystery outfit which is very cheap!

Kaleb had a Dr's appointment on Wednesday and his x-ray actually looked worse than the first one. We are trying a different brace for one week and if that doesn't work then he will have to have surgery some time next week. He only went to school a couple of half days last week, every time he went he would call me saying he was in too much pain to stay so I had to go and get him. I feel so bad for him, he is getting a little depressed because he can not do anything. So please remember him in your prayers. I have been helping him with his homework so I feel like I am in school again!!

I have a couple of blog awards that I have received lately. I am so behind on this so I am trying to catch up. I actually have so many posts that are in draft right now, I just never have the time to finish them. I am also in the process of getting a blog makeover and I can not wait! I have been blogging for two years now so I think it is LONG overdue! Stephanie at Dirt and Lace is doing my makeover and I am so excited. John is even getting in on the action and helping me! And in honor of my new blog makeover (and getting ready to hit my 200th post), I am going to have a giveaway very soon!! I am so excited and you all will LOVE the giveaway especially those of you who have little girls!! As soon as I get all of the details together, I will let everyone know!

Okay on to my blog awards. This first award, the "Sugar Doll" award was given to me by Christy Rose over at "The Secret Life of An American Wife and Mom". Christy is an amazing person and mother to FIVE children. Yes, she is my hero! Christy loves the lord with all of her heart and she is a great inspiration to me. Christy you are definitely a "Sugar Doll" and thank you so much for my very FIRST award. Now go over and meet Christy, you will be so glad you did!

The rules of getting an award is you must tell ten random facts about yourself and then pass the award on to some of your bloggy friends. They then continue to pass it on. I think it says twelve friends, but I am going to split mine up between both awards! I guess I am not one for following the rules..hehe

So I would love to pass the "Sugar Doll" award on to

Amie at "Hansen Happenings" Amie was my very FIRST bloggy friend, she is a great mother to two beautiful boys and an AWESOME photographer!

Katie over at "Life in the Fulmer Lane", I met Katie several weeks ago, she is so funny and her posts ALWAYS bring a smile to my face. She reminds me of my little sister, she is definitely a Sugar doll!!

Maria over at "Two Hearts made Four". Maria is awesome, you will love her!

Sara at "Just Inspired". I think Sara is the only othe blogger in WV...lol. Go and give her a shout out!!

Stephanie over at "Dirt and Lace". Stephanie is a sweetie, she has two little ones like myself, and she is doing my new blog make over. Go see her and if you need a makeover she is the person to see!

Brandi over at " The Borchardt Birdies". I found Brandi's blog a few weeks ago and I enjoy it so much. She is so adorable and so sweet!

The second Award is the "Sunshine Award", it was given to me by Maria over at "Two Hearts Made Four". Maria is a beautiful person inside and out, she is as sweet as can be and by getting to know one another, we have realized how much we both have in common. We both have a two and three year old, so we can definitely relate in that department! Thank you Maria for this award, you definitely are a ray of "SUNSHINE" my dear!

I would like to pass the "SunShine" award on to...

Whitney over at "Treasures from our Family". Whitney is awesome, she has two beautiful little girls. I know you will love her blog!

Julie at "Wife.MoM.Nurse." Julie is a wife, mom and nurse..lol. Her blog is wonderful. She has the best stories EVER. I love keeping up with Julie.

Theresa over at "Grammy Girlfriend". Theresa is wonderful, I love reading her blog, she is a beautiful person with a sweet spirit!

Maria over at "Beautiful Life". Maria is one of my newest "bloggy friends". Like the title of her blog, she is Beautiful and I mean in every way. Go and read her blog and you will find out why!!

Heather at "Step Inside". Heather is the the kindest, sweetest and most caring person. Her blog is another inspiration to me!

Thanks girls, you ALL are great. I know some of you will probably not have enough time to follow through with the award, but that is okay, It took me all afternoon just to type this post out..lol. I just wanted to pass these awards on to you anyway because I do consider you all "bloggy friends".

Okay and now for ten "fun" random facts...let's see......

1. I love popcorn and m&m's. Plain not Peanut!

2. I am obsessed with cleaning, I clean all the time.

3. I dislike cooking and I am horrible at it, although I do love to bake!

4. I love the warm weather, my favorite place is the beach!

5. I put myself through college as a single mom while working full and part time.

6. I love beauty products (as I am sure you all know by now) and would buy them all the time if I could!

7. I sanitize everything, esp since my daughter has a weakened immune system.. clorox wipes are my best friend!

8. I met my husband at work, we went out on a date two months after I started, we were engaged a year later, and the rest is history!!

9. I have learned in life that "true" friends are hard to find...

10. Last but definitely not least, I Thank God everyday for his grace and mercy as I need it EVERYDAY. I am so thankful to the Lord for saving me and am continually amazed at the love and mercy he has given me!!

Favorite Beauty Products!

2010-02-04T23:47:00.000-05:00

This Friday the topic for Show Us Your Life at Kelly's Korner is, " Favorite Beauty Products". Yeah, my favorite thing. I know I have said it before, but I am a beauty product junkie. I have always loved makeup and skin care products and hair products..etc. I have tried just about everything I think!!

For skin care, I use Philosophy products. I love their moisturizing cream called "Hope in a Jar" after only one use, I could tell a difference in my skin, from that point on, I was hooked. Like right now I am out of this and I can tell a huge difference. I started using a clinque moisturizer that I have and my skin is already breaking out and it's just not the same! I also use Philosophy's facial cleanser called, " Purity made Simple". This is a great gentle cleanser that literally melts away makeup, dirt, etc and it is great for sensitive skin. I have used many more skin care products from Philosophy but these are just a couple of my favorites. They also have great fragrances, "Amazing Grace", and their Shower Gels are the BEST in my opinion!

"hope in a jar is a world-famous, daily facial moisturizer originally created for the medical market to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, skin discoloration, rough texture and dehydration. hope in a jar is an award-winning facial skin care cream loaded with antioxidants in a unique soufflé texture. it hydrates the skin to reduce dryness as it gently exfoliates to leave skin smoother, healthier and more radiant."

Okay first of all the ONLY makeup I use is Bare Escentuals (Bare Minerals). I have been using this for at least six years now and I will never use anything else, especially for foundation. I can't even imagine using a liquid foundation now. It is so healthy for your skin with no chemicals etc.. and the coverage is awesome! I have both of my sisters using it now and at least three girls at work! I work in surgery so even with wearing a mask all day, the makeup looks great and stays on all day! I also use their eye shadows, blushes and all over face radiance's. The all over face radiance colors are awesome, they make your face glow. This is something that I apply after I have all of my makeup on! Another great thing about this product is it LASTS FOREVER. Seriously I have eye shadows from five years ago! Philosophy also has a great mineral makeup that I also use, It is called the Supernatural, it is a great foundation!

Okay, I am always on the look out for a great eyeliner. Right now my favorite is the 24 7 eyeliner by Urban Decay. It does not smudge and it really does stay on all day!! Bare minerals just came out with a stick eyeliner so I can not wait to use it. My sister already has it and she loves it!!

Glide on color that stays put for the duration of your non-stop, on-the-go day! These cushiony, creamy eye pencils deliver powerful, vibrant color that slides on smooth and stays soft and creamy for blending (about 30 seconds), then dries to a long-lasting finish that won't budge. Line eyes with a hint of color or go for the full artistic, multi-hued effect. Truly inspired, these pencils go all day and all night. (they really do!)

moving on to mascaras.....

I swear I have found the Holy Grail of Mascaras. I have tried every brand from the most expensive to the cheapest. By far my favorite is "lash stylist" by Maybelline. Yes people my favorite mascara is only six dollars! I love, love, love this Mascara and if you are looking to try something new, please try this one, I promise you, you will love it! I like the brush, it is a little comb that separates and defines your eyelashes... it also thickens and lengthens as well! You can not go wrong with this one!
Oh, and I always have to curl my eyelashes, this is a must for me!!

I like to wear alot of lip glosses, my favorite right now is a long lasting Kiss and Stay lipgloss from Rimmel. The glosses themselves are some of the best long staying glosses I've tried. Unlike everything else, this gloss does not give the super dry feeling that I get with every other long stay gloss. It is just like a regular gloss to apply. Its the same routine, you apply the color first and the shimmer transparent gloss on top of it. It seriously stays on for hours together ! It does not wash off with water. I personally love the color "nude" in this gloss! You can get this at any drugstore!

Okay, well I think I have covered most of my favorite beauty products. Trust me there are alot more..lol, but I do not want to bore you to death, so this will have to do for now. I didn't even get to my favorite hair products, that will have to be another post!! I am so excited to read all of the posts from this week, I am sure that I will find some more amazing beauty products that I just can't live without!!!

Happy Friday Everyone, have a great weekend!

Double Trouble

2010-02-03T10:02:00.002-05:00

My Children are "losing it" at the ripe young age of two and three. This morning as I was washing the dishes I heard the kids in Brennan's room just laughing and singing. As I listened more closely, I recognized that they were singing "Happy Birthday". So I continue to clean in the kitchen and I continue to hear them sing and laugh. At one point they are laughing so hard that I had to go and check out what they were doing. Okay this is the scene, Brennan is sitting on the floor with no clothes or diaper on and Ayla is sitting across from him with a birthday hat on and they are singing hysterically, "Happy birthday to you..hehehe, happy birthday to you..hehehe, happy birthday dear pee pee", happy birthday to you". Yes that's right, you heard me right!

I immediately told them that they should not be singing happy birthday to you know Brennan's pee pee all while trying to keep a straight face. I preceded to put Brennan's diaper and clothes back on and dared them to take his clothes off again.

A little later as I was changing Brennan's diaper, he started singing the happy birthday pee pee song AGAIN.... Oh my word, what is it with my kids? Someone needs to tell them that you really DO NOT have to sing happy birthday in your "birthday suit"!!!!

and while they are at it, they should tell Brennan that PINK is NOT his color!!

A Better Weekend

2010-02-01T19:31:00.005-05:00

Yes, I am happy to report that my weekend went much better than my week!! By Sunday I was feeling "normal" again..lol. We did not do much this weekend, we are big basketball fans so on Saturday we stayed home and cheered on the Mountaineers who defeated Louisville by only three points in the last couple of minutes. What a great game!...GO EERS!!!

Saturday evening we went to Sam's for a couple of things and Ayla somehow spotted a Chipmunks cd and HAD TO HAVE IT! It is the sound track from the Chipmunk movie that is out now. I kept explaining to her that it was a MUSIC cd and NOT a movie. She said that was okay and so of course we bought it for her. I had the idea that maybe we should go to Target and get her a portable cd player with headphones so we DID NOT have to listen to the Chipmunks over and over...lol. While we were at Target she spotted the Kids Bopz cd that is playing on commercials so guess what, yes we got that too. I know, she is so spoiled!

So she LOVES, LOVES, her cd's and cd player, she carries it everywhere and she actually fell asleep listening to it on Sunday. John was worried that she might wrap the cord around her neck (only John hehe) so he bought her a little cheap cd player on Sunday evening. So now we have heard the "Chipettes" sing Beyoncee's "All The Single Ladies" about a gazillion times. She LOVES this song and will not listen to anything else.

On Sunday my friend Summer and I went to a neighbors baby shower and I thought it was funny because we both won a game where you had to figure out the correct nursery rhyme by descriptions that they had...yes, that is what having a three year old does for you. Knowing all of the nursery rhymes-CHECK!! I particularly loved this baby shower because the prizes were all "beauty products". The mom of the girl (that is pregnant) owns her own beauty saloon. So I was trying so hard to win a prize. Finally at the end everyone started giving me their baby pins so I could win a game and get a prize. You know the game where every time someone says "baby", you take their pin. So I won and I got some Biolage hair styling gel. Yeah... see it doesn't take much to make me happy!!

Sunday evening I watched the Grammy's and recorded the Duggars. So I was watching the Grammy's and wondering if I am the only person on this planet that thinks that Taylor Swift does not sing that well. Okay, I do like Taylor Swift but I just don't think she can sing "live" very well AT ALL. Seriously ya'll, I felt horrible for her last night. I love her cd's and I think she is a doll but last night was NOT her night. Oh my word and what about Pink? She did a whole circus act performance where she was hanging upside down singing and to make matters worse, she was nearly naked. Oh and she was also dripping wet with water so when she was twirling around water was flying everywhere. All I could think was that I would be totally ticked off if I was sitting there getting wet in my nice, expensive, Grammy attire. Lastly, Lady Gaga, one word-weird. I swear that lady lives in her own little world. Okay enough said!

After the Grammy's I watched the Duggars. This was the new episode where Michelle had her 19th baby at 25 weeks. She had a little girl who they named Josie, she weighed a little over a pound. Okay I was balling my eyes out at the end when all of the kids went in to visit little Josie. I love the Duggar's, I think they are an awesome family! I was glad to hear after the show that little Josie is doing well, she is stable in the NICU and she is up to two pounds. That made me so happy!
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Today I took Ayla to get her lab work done. Because of the medicines that she is on, she has to have it checked every eight weeks. She normally does pretty well with it especially considering we have been doing this since she has been eighteen months old. Well today, as soon as I put the numbing cream on her arms she started crying. Then when I pulled into the hospital parking lot she started crying, she basically cried the whole entire time we were there. She kept saying, "don't do it, not today". John and I had to hold her down while they drew her blood. She was crying so hard she almost made herself sick. It broke my heart, I guess now that she is getting older, she is understanding more of what is going on. So after that, I took her out to lunch and then bought her a slushee. She was supposed to get her two injections tonight but we are going to wait until tomorrow because we didn't want to put her through that again tonight.

This is Ayla before we left today. Notice that she is not at all happy but she did remember to take her cd player with her!!

Kaleb is still hanging in there. He went to school for half of a day today but he said he was miserable. I didn't want him to go at all but he insisted. At least he did get his homework. He fractured his left shoulder, so it is in a sling. I was glad it wasn't his right shoulder until today when it JUST hit me that he is LEFT handed! He doesn't know how he is going to write yet... poor thing, I feel so bad for him.

Okay, I think I have talked enough. Can you tell that I am at home all day with no adult conversation..lol. Hope everyone has a GREAT week! Now, off to watch the Bachelor!!

Not a Good Week

2010-01-28T23:00:00.006-05:00

It started on Monday when I started feeling sick to my stomach and just not feeling like myself, on Tuesday I was a little worse, still sick to my stomach with a headache that would not give up and my body was aching all over, on Wednesday I basically watched the kids while lying on the couch for most of the day, wishing I could have a sick day! Ayla was not thrilled with the idea of making lunch, breakfast and dinner for herself and Brennan, so I did have to drag my aching body off of the couch to do that! Trust me, they took full advantage of my sickness... I will have proof in later posts..lol! To make matters worse, John was on call Monday and Tuesday and worked late both days ....on Wednesday evening John decided to take the kids out for a little bit so I could have some time by myself. Kaleb was skiing with his school so I had the perfect opportunity to get a little rest and relaxation. Until.....

The phone rang and Kaleb's number popped up on my screen, I got a bad feeling right away that something was not right because it was early and he usually does not call until he is on his way home. I answered the phone to a girl saying Kaleb needs to talk to you. Kaleb gets on the phone and says, "Mom I think I broke something". My heart sank, trying not to panic, "what do you mean, are you okay? He continued to tell me that he had an accident and landed on his shoulder the wrong way and could not move his arm. Once they got him inside and evaluated him, they said that his bone (clavicle) was definitely protruding from under his skin. Of course I am in bed feeling like I have been hit with a sledge hammer feeling terrible that I could not be there for my son. They decided to end the ski trip early and head back home so we can take Kaleb to the hospital.

It took an hour and a half for him to get home. John had called a friend of ours and arranged to take Kaleb straight in for an x ray when he got home. Some shoulder fractures require surgery right away but 90% of them only require immoblization of your arm in a sling for 6 to 8 weeks. Kaleb's fracture does not require surgery at this time but in a couple of weeks if it is not healing like it is supposed to then he may have to have surgery. Being an OR nurse, I know this is one of the most painful fractures you can have. With that being said, he is being a trooper. We are giving him his pain meds consistently so he will not be in pain. He is pretty bummed because he was getting ready to go snowboarding in Colorado with Mamaw Sandy in two weeks and he only got to go on two ski trips with his school. I know things could always be worse and I am very thankful that they are not! So we are praying for a quick recovery for Kaleb and hoping that his fracture heals properly so he does not have to have surgery.

Today is the first day that I have felt more like myself. My stomach is still bothering me but at least my headache is gone and I dont feel like I have been ran over by a mac truck..lol..Im sure a lot of it is due to stress as well, I worried about Kaleb all night and was up frequently checking on him. So, I am hoping the weekend goes much better than my week and that my sickness does not spread to anyone else!

What a week! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Brennan is getting new teeth in and has been up several nights this week, he just grinds his teeth over and over...last night he was up from 1:30 until 5:30, so throw almost no sleep on top of everything else...SWEET!! Okay, sorry for complaining... but sometimes you just have to do it!!

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend, I know I am looking forward to one!!!!

Wordless Wednesday.......almost

2010-01-26T22:34:00.003-05:00

......................and I thought they had "skipped" this phase

I should have known better.............

Kaleb's Winter Formal Pictures!

2010-01-26T13:41:00.006-05:00

Here is a few pictures of my "first baby" going to his "first" Winter Formal on Saturday and proof that they do grow up..sniff, sniff... He was so handsome in his Tux and his date is just stunning!!

Kaleb and his Date

The Gang

The Girls

The Boys

Of course we could not leave Ayla and Brennan out!

Brennan was flirting with Kaleb's date, he could not keep his eyes off of her, he kept turning around and looking at her and he had the biggest smile on his face, it was so cute!

Oh boy, I think I am going to have my hands full one day soon!!

Will You Pray For Haiti

2010-01-24T22:23:00.010-05:00

It has been on my heart lately to write a post about Haiti. We watched the fundraising event on t.v Friday night and I can not stop thinking about what these people in Haiti are going through. I could barely hold back my tears as I sat and watched it with Ayla. I explained to Ayla what had happened and why the boys and girls had bandages on and told her that we needed to pray for them. She immediately went to her dad and said, "awe daddy look at the poor little girls and boys in Haiti", John was then on the verge of tears and suggested that we should adopt one of these Haitian children. I told him that it was nearly impossible for the people who have been trying to adopt for years to even get them NOW under these dire circumstances. It makes me so mad that the government makes it nearly impossible to adopt these children who do not even have food to eat.

If you notice on the side of my blog, thanks to my bloggy friend Stephanie, I have added a Red Cross donation button. If you wish to give a donation, just click on it and it will take you directly to the Red Cross website where you can give a donation. You can also use a cell phone to text the message HAITI to 90999 and a $10 donation will be made from the cell phone account to the Red Cross for earthquake emergency relief.

I know times are hard and everyone may not be able to donate at this time, but will you please do one thing for me? Will you please pray for the people of Haiti, that God will be with them and comfort a Nation of loss and mourning.?I wish I could do more, I feel so guilty that I have the skills to go over there and help these people medically, but there is just no way that I can. I would go in a heartbeat if I could! It will take a long time before I can lay in bed at night and not feel guilty that I HAVE a bed to lay in....I wish I could do more....feel free to grab the Red Cross button if you would like, just go to Stephanie's blog and the html code is on her side bar.

Thank you for praying with me!

Favorite Places To Shop

2010-01-21T19:44:00.005-05:00

Today I decided to join in the fun at Kelly's Korner and participate in this weeks "Show Us Your Life". Today the topic is "favorite places to shop". If there is one thing I like to do, it is shop, so I thought I would share some of my favorite places to shop. First off, I live in West Virginia and believe me when I tell you that we DO NOT have a alot of GOOD shopping here. I mean we have a Macey's and a Gap and a Gymboree for the kids and thats about it! Pretty sad,hu? I do at least 90% of my shopping on line and of course when we go out of town, I usually try to do some shopping then. Trust me, I am ALWAYS looking for a bargain and I hardly EVER buy anything if it is not on sale!

I mostly shop for my kids, I rarely ever buy anything for myself and buying for my kids is what makes me happy anyway! I do not like buying myself clothes right now because I am still not at the weight I want to be at so I refuse to buy myself anything until I lose weight. I am a beauty product junkie, so occasionally I will buy something from Sephora. Love this store! I also love Target for everyday items and go there at least once a week if not more. If I am buying for the house, I like to shop at Homegoods,T.J Maxx, Marshall's, and Pier One.

Okay on to the fun part. I am addicted to Ebay and Etsy. If you do your research and spend the time, you can get some great deals on ebay. If I find a boutique item that I really want, I will find it on ebay and most likely always get it for a lot less. I also like to buy custom clothing on ebay. If you click on clothing, shoes and accessories, under infants and toddlers there is a link that says "custom clothing" click on that and have fun!! I promise you, if you do this, you will be addicted like me!!! Here are a couple of sets that we have got from ebay..

If you have not shopped on Etsy, you must go there NOW..lol. Everything is hand made and I love to buy Ayla cute custom made outfits from there. One of my favorite stores on Etsy is Icandie, Laura is the owner, she is sooo nice and the quality of her work is amazing! Here is Ayla in some of her Icandie dresses

Another Etsy store is Kissing Kumquats, Kerri makes the cutest knot dresses and if you ask her, she will make a matching pair of ruffle pants for just about anything. She has made us several pair of ruffle pants and we love them.

Here are a few more links to other Etsy stores that I like

DressReHERsal
PrettyMe
Ginger Louise Clothing
Sweet Plume

Okay my new found love is Matilda Jane Clothing. I honestly had not ever heard of MJ until I started seeing it on different blogs. I started doing research and found the MJ blog and website and I have been hooked ever since. Here is Ayla in some of my favortie MJ sets. If you are a fan of MJ, they are going to be having a sale soon, I have heard maybe 60% off so keep checking the MJ blog and they will let you know when it will start. I will also post the sale on my blog!

Okay, can you see why I LOVE Matilda Jane???

Other Online Boutique store's that I like.......

Achildscloset.
Tylerandtallulah
everythingbuttheprincess
trenditikes
littleskye
littlelunablue
darlingdivas
lovesmenot- this is a custom boutique- LOVE IT!

Okay you didn't think I could leave Brennan out did you? I buy most of his clothes from Gymboree, Gap and Old Navy. But my MOST FAVORITE store to buy for him is MINI BODEN. I love, love Mini Boden, they have the cutest appliqued shirts for boys and girls. If you get on their website and request a cataolg, they will send you free shipping codes and discounts all the time. I have never had to pay shipping from Mini Boden which helps, because they are in the UK. Here is Brennan in his Mini Boden....the shorts are so cute and soft. I especially love buying for him in the summer!

Okay, I hope you have enjoyed some of my favorite places to shop! I can't wait to go and see where everyone else likes to shop. I am sure I will be able to add a few more places on to my list...lol. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Until the next time!!!!

Ayla's Room is Complete!!!

2010-01-21T10:38:00.003-05:00

Okay here are the last pictures of Ayla's room. John added the shingles to the roof and he surprised Ayla by putting a mailbox on the side of the house. He is still going to paint a white fence and grass around the house as well. He also made a door out of the shingles but we had to take it down for now because the kids like opening and shutting the door and Brennan has already got his finger slammed in it so maybe one day when they are out of this phase we can put it back up!

I am really excited about how everything turned out! I think John did a wonderful job building the house, painting and putting it back together all by himself. It is so nice to have an artist in the family..lol. In college, John graduated with a Minor in Art! We were able to keep the walls the same color which helped out alot! I decided to take the shelves down and put up a beautiful piece of artwork that I found at Homegoods! I also added a little bling to the center of the flowers that are on her walls.

When we were first putting the bed together in her room John was upset because he thought it was going to be too big. But after everything was together, it turned out to be the perfect size. By having the extra space upstairs, she is able to put her babies and some of her toys, which helps out tremendously because her room is so small to begin with. There is also a little cubby area behind the stairs where she has all of her stuffed animals.

As I mentioned before, the bedding and accessories are all from target. The dresser and bookshelf are also from target from their Shabby Chic collection. I feel like we should be on a commercial for target..lol. I really wanted a Pottery Barn set but I think this set has the same look and I was able to save alot of money!

I know when she is a teenager she will of course want something different. But that is MANY years from now and that will be something fun we can do together when that time comes! Thank you so much for letting me share Ayla's bedroom with you. We have really enjoyed putting everything together and I appreciate all of your sweet comments....and John REALLY appreciates it...lol!

The Bachelor

2010-01-19T11:02:00.004-05:00

Oh my word, after last night, I don't think Jake should pick any of these girls. These girls are all so immature and I just don't think they are good enough for him. He is so sweet and nice and last night you could tell he had had enough. Poor guy, he delt with crying girls all night long and by the end he was exhausted. I was so glad that he saw through Michelle and Elizabeth and sent them both home. Michelle was just not playing with a full deck and she couldn't believe it when Jake called her bluff after saying she wanted to go home and he said I think your right, you should go home..lol.. I have only one word for her-PSYCHO...way to go Jake!! Oh and Elizabeth playing the whole I don't want you to kiss me game but giving him mixed signals in the mean time. She was so manipulative and I am so glad that Jake figured her out and sent her packing as well!

Okay, I am very disappointed in Ali, she WAS one of my favorites but after last night, not so much. She really showed a different side last night and I didn't like it at all. She was the ringleader of the whole Vienna drama and it really put her in a different category for me....like the "mean girl" category....so...

I am not sure what is going on with Vienna. Her date with Jake was nice but NONE of the girls like her and I think that is saying something. Even Gia who seems extrememly nice and was sticking up for her is getting irritated by her. I don't know, I will just have to wait and see some more before I form an opinion on her.

So the SeaWorld date was awesome of course. Jake was so sweet with Ella's son but I did not see any Chemistry between the two of them, so I do not think she will be around much longer, although I do like her and I think she is one of the more mature ones in the house.

So as of right now, the only hope I have for Jake finding someone is maybe one of the other girls that we have not seen alot from. Tenley and Gia seem really sweet, so who knows maybe something will develop there. If not, I think Jake would have better luck finding someone on his own. He is way to nice for all of the highschool drama that is going on with these girls. Poor thing, I feel that he played a therapist role more than anything else on the show tonight..lol.

Let's just hope next week goes a little better. Here is the link to Chris Harrison's blog if you would like to read his recap of the show. They are always fun to read.

Target, Parties and The Chipmunks!

2010-01-18T15:11:00.005-05:00

Okay so I have to brag about my Target shopping spree the kids and I had on Friday morning. Well the toys at Target had been marked down to 50% for a couple of weeks and I had heard that they would be further marked down to 75% but of course no one could tell me the exact date..... so I basically called every day until they said YES they are 75% off. I wanted to stock up on some toys for birthday's, and upcoming Holidays etc, especially when you can get toys for $5 or less, why not?

So off to Target we went, we did not get there until after 11 so most of the toys were gone already but we did manage to score a few amazing deals. I was able to get Ayla the "Our Generation" doll wooden kitchen. If you are not familiar with Our Generation brand, it is their version of American Girl.

This retails for $60 and I got it for $15, this is actually going to be a Christmas gift for next year. I also got the wooden baby doll high chair for $5, two baby dolls for $4 a piece, a Snow White barbie set for $6 and Zambi the Elephant for $9. So basically I got $200 worth of toys for $40. The man checking me out could not believe it, he was amazed! He kept telling everyone, look at all of these toys she got for forty dollars. It was so funny. It was also funny watching me trying to push a buggy full of toys, a double stroller and two kids through target! So anyway, I just wanted to brag about my deal at target!!

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On Saturday we went to a friend and neighbor's birthday party. It was at the mall at a new place called "Jump Street". It is basically a room full of inflatables so there were kids running, jumping and bouncing everywhere! Ayla was so excited to go "jump" but she got knocked down in the first thirty seconds that we were there and she was done. She would only jump if we were standing right beside her and holding her hands and at one point she went into one of the inflatables with her best friend Kelcee and played, it had cute race cars all the way around it.... it was a really neat place and she of course enjoyed the birthday party, she loves birthday parties, we have pretend ones here all the time.

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and speaking of cars, I just recently found this Matilda Jane "Auto Matic Love" dress and had to have it. Notice the cars on the top of the dress and the matching car ruffle pants. John loves cars so I thought this was one outfit that he would really enjoy. I took a few pictures before the party, this is definitely one of my favorites now!! This is an older Matilda Jane dress and is sold out now, but you can still buy it on Ebay! Someone on Etsy actually made the matching ruffles!

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On Sunday I took Ayla to see a movie for the very first time. I have been putting it off because she is not the type to sit down and watch an entire movie. I talked to her about going a few days before and she was very excited and wanted to go. I told her that she had to sit in her seat and watch the whole movie and she said okay (like that meant anything..lol). She wanted to see the Princess and the Frog but I did not know that it was not playing anymore, so we went and saw the Chipmunks instead. The Result-SHE LOVED IT! I couldn't believe it, she sat there and watched the WHOLE movie. She was laughing and singing the whole time. It was really a cute movie and I am so glad that I decided to take her. This movie had "the Chipettes" and they sang All The Single Ladies by Beyonce and Ayla LOVED this, she was dancing and singing.. it was so cute! Hopefully Brennan will be ready to go this summer because I know they have all kinds of summer movie specials for children! Ayla was amazed at everyone at the movie, she kept saying, "look at all of these people". It was such a fun time, I can't wait to take her again. She started crying when we got in the car saying that she wanted to go back..lol..
Of course I had to take pictures of her first movie experience, I know people must have thought that I was crazy... and maybe I am... a little..lol!

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Okay, sorry for such a long post, I am so excited, tonight is Monday... and what does that mean? The BACHELOR is coming on OF COURSE!!

yiiiiiiiiiipppppppeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sneak Peek Of Ayla's Room

2010-01-13T15:34:00.003-05:00

Okay here is a sneak peek of Ayla's room. We have already made changes since these pictures, these were taken on Sunday. We stayed up until midnight on Saturday putting her bed together. Since then John has already added the shingles on the roof and a few other cute surprises! I also found some art work that matched perfectly at Homegoods yesterday. As soon as I get the UPDATED pictures taken, I will post them as well!

It's safe to say that they both LOVE this bed!!!

Meet Daisy, our new family member

2010-01-12T13:27:00.003-05:00

My sister's family just brought home this sweetie. Everyone Meet Daisy!!

She is a Chinese Crested dog which means that she is hairless (except for the little bit on her head) and she is hypoallergenic! I have always heard about how these dogs are not so hmm attractive, but we fell in love with Daisy right away, I mean seriously look at this sweet thing.
She is darling!

Ayla absolutely loves her.. she would wrap her up in a blanket like a little baby and hold her.

once she was wrapped up, she fell asleep in Ayla's lap within seconds. Ayla loved that!

She is so tiny, they carry her around in a laundry basket. Oh and yes, I DID put the bow in her hair as soon as I had a chance..lol!!

p.s. Ayla's room is finished and we loooooovvvveeee how it turned out, I will post pictures soon!!

Our Weekend Project

2010-01-09T14:42:00.003-05:00

Look what we are FINALLY working on this weekend!!! I have been searching for the perfect bedding to go with Ayla's new cottage bed that John is building. Remember this post, when John started building Ayla's bed. Well, he has not been able to work on it for a couple of months and so he just started working on it again recently. I wanted a Pottery Barn feel to the room but I could not afford the bedding that I really wanted from Pottery Barn so I found a very similiar set at Target last night. Here is the Pottery Barn bedding and kind of where I am going with Ayla's room.......

and here is what I found at Target

Okay, it doesn't look that great right now (in the packages, etc), but I just wanted to give you a little peek!!

Of course I can not wait until the room is together so I can show you some pictures!

This is the cottage bed now, we are painting it today and then John still has to put the shingles on the roof and the shutters on the windows!!

and this is what it is going to look like (hopefully)and where we got the inspiration!

We will do the painting a little different on Ayla's bed, but I just wanted to give you an idea of what it will look like!

Okay, so back to work!! I am sure John is wondering where I disappeared too!! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Cute Valentines outfits!

2010-01-08T14:47:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to share with you one of the reasons why I am such an Ebay ADDICT!
I started looking for a couple of cute Valentines day t-shirts for Ayla and Brennan, and I found these two shirts for Ayla

the hugs and kisses shirt and this intial bling shirt

How cute are these! They will look so cute with a pair of matching ruffles! The best part is they are from Chasing Firelies and on their website now they are $34.00 and $44.00. I am happy to say that I only paid $12 for the valentine shirt and $15 for the Initial A shirt. SCORE!! I HEART Chasing Fireflies, you should check it out if you have not already! They are expensive but they do have some good sales....and I just enjoy looking at all of their cute stuff!!

So here are some other Valentines day sets that I found on Ebay as well. Aren't these adorable... I am loving the Zebra print and polka dots together!

and I can not forget Brennan, I found these shirts at Gap Kids..I will definitely have to get the King of Hears Tee..love it!!

In case you have not noticed, I have a little shopping problem..lol.. Oh well, I know it will not last long, one of these days they will be telling ME what they want to wear so I figure I would enjoy it while I can and to justify my addiction, I do always buy on sale and I am ALWAYS looking for the best deal!!! That makes it okay, right???

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T10:38:00.004-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year! Things around here have been uneventful lately. I know, hard to believe, right? I finally got most of our Christmas decorations packed up on Friday morning and then Friday evening we had dinner at my sister Lisa's house to celebrate the new year. On Saturday morning I got up early and drove to Lexington Kentucky to pick Kaleb up. His dad lives in Nashville so we usually meet half way. Well on this day they were running a little late so I ended up driving to Louisville Kentucky instead. It was farther away but I didn't mind, they have fabulous malls..lol. I actually enjoyed the four hour peaceful drive. For a change, I got to listen to my music instead of Barney or the Wiggles! John bought me a box set of Selah Cd's and I FINALLY got to listen to all four cd's. They are my favorite group, it was great, I sang and prayed and sang and prayed the whole way there! I love it when music stirs your soul, and these cd's do just that. I had plenty of time to reflect on the past year and to think about the changes I want to make in the NEW YEAR. I also enjoyed the ride back home. I love having alone time with Kaleb where we can just talk about whatever. He will be graduating and going off to college all too soon and so I cherish every moment I have with him!

While I was away for the whole day, John was home playing Mr. Mom to the kids. Shortly after I got home, John told Ayla to show me pictures of what they had for breakfast. This is what I saw!!

Must be nice, hu? Breakfast in bed!!

What an awesome Dad, notice the DVD player so they could watch their movies!!

John had also cleaned the whole house, mopped floors and all with two loads of laundry going....AND he finished packing the Christmas decorations AND he put them all up in the attic. Wow, I am truly blessed with an amazing husband! I know I do not show or tell him nearly enough, but I do think that he is the BEST!

This next year, I hope to be a better wife, mother, friend and Christian. We stopped going to Church regularly when Ayla was diagnosed with JRA. Mostly because she was in pain and she would cry most of the time. We could not leave her in the nursery like that. Then when she finally did start feeling better around 6 months ago, she was (and still is) on medicines that compromise her immune system and we made a decision that we would keep her at home and avoid places where she could easily pick up a virus. John and I will take turns going to Church, but it is not the same. This really bothers me because I want our "whole family" to go to Church together! So I hope that we will be able to start going back to Church together as a family this year. I also need to start reading his word again and focus more on my relationship with my saviour. After all, I would be nothing or have nothing without him!

I also want to be a better wife. This past year has been a struggle for me. It has been hard getting into a routine with the two children. I am so blessed to be able to stay home and I love it and wouldn't change it for anything, but it has been the hardest thing I have ever done as well. I am a busy body, I love going places and doing things but with two little ones, I have learned that you have to do things according to their schedule. Anyway, most days I would take out my frustrations on John and for that I am sorry and I know I need to work on that!

I also would like to be more healthy. I have gained at least twenty pounds since having the babies. I am miserable, stressed out and in a bad mood most days because of it. I have joined a gym so my goal is to work out there at least three days a week and hopefully lose a little weight.

Sorry to bore you with such a long post... I am writing this at 1:00 am so I hope I am not just babbling.. oh, also before I forget, look at what Ayla got today!!

Her new big girl glasses!! Last week she completely broke the frames and so we had to get a new pair of glasses. We decided on the square frames this time and she did not have to get pieces that go around her ear. They are a light purple, so stylish!! Let's hope these hold up and last for awhile. These babies are not cheap...AT ALL... and she will need another pair(tinted)for the summer!

Happy New Year Ya'll... I hope this year brings you everything that you wish for!

Christmas Day Wrap up

2009-12-31T13:30:00.005-05:00

Okay, I think we are all recovered from Christmas now.....Don't get me wrong I love Christmas Eve and Christmas, it is my favorite time of the year, but we stay sooo busy that we always need a few days to recover and wind down!!!

On Christmas morning we were able to get the kids to eat breakfast before they started ripping into their presents. They really do not know otherwise (yet), so it was not a big deal! Ayla was excited to see that Santa liked his cookies and milk left out for him, she also LOVED her new stroller that Santa brought. So after our traditional Christmas breakfast of french toast and bacon, the kids started ripping into their presents...with their matching pajamas on of course..lol.. here are a few (well alot) pictures of the morning!!

In the afternoon, my family came over for dinner and then after we all exchanged gifts, we had a surprise visit by Santa himself!! Ayla and Brennan must have been very good this year!!

my sister, her son, my nephew Kurt and his girlfriend Samantha

My Bil Neil and niece, Angel

Uncle Dunc helping Brennan with some presents!

My little sister Amy..

Sisters!!

Have you noticed that Brennan really likes his Dvd Player that he got from Christmas, he is in Wiggle's heaven!!

and then came.....

the look on Ayla's face was priceless...

and Brennan, well he just continued to play his I-phone, oh, I mean MY I-phone..lol

Santa brought lots of gifts for Ayla and Brennan...

We also had our very good friends, Summer, Greg and Kelcee stop by in the evening... Ayla was so excited to see Kelcee and exchange gifts with them.

This Christmas was truly a blessing. I am so thankful for all of my family and friends and for the time we got to spend with each of them. I enjoyed every minute of it and I know each year will only get better and better.

and that's a Wrap Up for Christmas 2009....WOO HOO!!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-29T16:04:00.003-05:00

We had a very fun and exciting Christmas Eve with John's parents and grandmother. We also celebrate Christmas with Kaleb and let him open his presents because he goes to Indiania and then Nashville on Christmas morning to spend the Holidays with his Dad. I can't beleive how tall he is getting, he is much taller than me now..sniff, sniff...

The first thing Ayla does when Mamaw comes over is take her to her bedroom. She loves for Mamaw to play with her. I think she thinks mamaw is her age because she is sooo little. I believe mamaw is around 4"11. Mamaw, Ayla loves you very much and she loves spending time and playing with you!! I am so happy that you always oblige her!!

Ayla was so excited to open her gifts. We ate dinner before opening gifts and she kept saying, "it's time, it's time". It was so cute. She dove right in and was throwing paper everywhere

and of course she had to help Brennan open all of his presents too. In fact, she had to help everyone open their gifts! She was so excited to get a Baby Alive from Grandma and Grandpa, afterall, all she wanted for Christmas was lots and lots of babies!

and Brennan got the coolest tool set complete with helmet, belt, drill, screwdrivers, etc..

and of course Ayla loved it WAY MORE than he did..lol... she got to work right away!

She was drilling, hammering and measuring everything....

Yep, she is definitely a Daddy's Girl! She kept saying, "these are just like Daddy's".

As you can see... Ayla was so very nice to help her big brother open his presents

We had a great Christmas Eve, the kids were so excited and they loved opening all of their gifts. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all of our nice presents!! I also want to thank Mamaw again for making a donation to the Arthritis Foundation in honor of Ayla. That was so sweet and we couldn't have asked for a better present!

Of course we will have more Christmas pics in the days to come....I feel like it lasted forever!

Cookies for Santa

2009-12-24T22:17:00.002-05:00

Dear Santa,

I hope you like your cookies, I worked very hard making these for you today!