should i really be doing this????

he is showing interest.

he knows when he is going in his diaper.

he likes the attention.

he is 19 months old.

he is a boy.

i thought that for sure... i had till he was at least 2 -- 2 1/2 before this started... should i even attempt to potty train???!!!!???

shhhhh.....

some nanny time

my mom was in town for a couple of days. she is doing really well... feeling much better than she has been in quite some time. we are so thankful that she is doing so well.




the kids just adore her. she is fun, funny, and a true blue - nanny -




we went to lunch and had a great time just relaxing with her. enjoying every single second that we could. we are going to visit her and pop-pop sometime in march.










it was a wonderful visit. thanks mom for coming and just being you!
love you so much!

nanny is in town

my mom is in town... she looks great, is remembering things, and is doing really well. pictures are to come... God is Good.

saturday

ma and pa with their collection of kids and grandkids!



the girls


we had such a big day on saturday, it was FULL of chris' side of the family!

we haven't see phil, charise, carla and andrew since we were in michigan last march! it was a big deal!

so, we all were there, 14 total, ma, pa, mike, andrea, laura, elaina, phil, charise, carla, andrew, chris, me, ella, and fisher! ALL! with the exception of bubba and gracie- (carla is scared of dogs... and well, bubba is a BIG dog and, well, gracie is just a dog- so they took the day off and slept at home)

it was a beautiful day- we got to have a FANTASTIC LUNCH (meatloaf- my fav!) and then went a played outside after the boys took their naps.


worm hunting... ella wasn't a huge fan, but she did touch it! along with fisher and elaina- who said girls couldn't be tough?


pa had some walnuts to plant (yup, you read that right) and so, three shovels, three sons, and lot's o' grandchildren went to plant them. it was so nice out! made me crave spring time even more! anyway, the kids were great-- seeing those four girls together was cracking us all up! what little personalities they have!


pa and fisher taking a break. this is one of my favorite pictures of the entire day!

fisher stayed out the longest... he was quite the helper! he carried around either the shovel or bucket o' walnuts the entire time he was outside-

now, fisher is usually too much for me to handle... but outside-- he is a DREAM! not once did i have to correct him, tell him to come closer, or anything- he was happy to just be! i cannot wait for FISHER OUTSIDE! it was so wonderful. the boys were hilarious in their own right as well. this is really the first time (they are 18 & 19months old) that they have been at ma and pa's together. they pushed each other down, ran around with each other, and really seemed to enjoy the "male company"


it looks like fisher is saying "what... what man!"


charise and andrew

so, it was great times, really one of the BEST times that i think we've had together. this family is really coming together with all these kids running around! i loved every second of it!


the girls




me with laura and andrea- laura is such an amazing girl! and a REAL cheerleader! ella was so impressed!

the "UGLY SEASON"

i hate the "UGLY SEASON" it puts me in a funk. and i am in a bad funk. i'm still happy, hanging out with the husband, playing with the kids, i am not curled up in bed, whiny, and complaining (most of the time) but i am in a FUNK!

i feel bad for those that have to endure "true" winters. i don't like winter, i don't like cold. i would rather be nasty, sweaty, stinky, hot, but outside!

since the kiddies are trapped in the house, we have watched lots of tv, had several dance offs, played endless hide-and-go-seek.

i am ready for the days of cooking out, playing in the backyard, jumping on my trampoline, sunshine and some good ol' VITAMIN D! come on old man winter, go back to where you came from! (canada i think- hahahaha) and give me humidity, bugs, ants, sunscreen, good naps, fresh watermelon, and sweat! i am READY!

breakfast for dinner

so... i have a horrible time cooking chicken... it was on the menu for tonight and i just couldn't do it-

so- we made breakfast- it is one of my favorites! i love all things breakfast and i loved our dinner- or brinner- or supfast-- whatever you want to call it!

menu

bacon
eggs (scramble for me- over medium for chris)

homemade waffles
homemade toast

the kids had
waffles and bacon and eggs

chris had
toasted cheese, bacon, and egg sandwich

i had

one waffle and toast and eggs and bacon

oh my! i loved every single bite!

wish you could have been here!

the best breakfast i have ever had!

insley grace

i forgot to post about miss. insley grace's birthday-- margaret (momma) told me to dress the kids in something that i wouldn't care if it got dirty... so i think... my kids are always dirty! haha! well... we took dirty to a whole new level! i love these pics! i don't know how i forgot about them!!!!






happy belated on my blog birthday to insley!

and even more happy times are to come now that you have a new baby sister! welcome to the world miss. addison grace! cannot wait to meet you and you have joined quite the crazy family!







can you imagine loving mess this way? i love that my kids do! i didn't think that ella would go with it-- but she did really well... loved the mess and loved wearing insley's clothes home even more!

a little bit of sunshine & pudding

blue skies and warm weather are calling my name. i am over gray skies and questionable temperatures. so... the sunshine was teasing us today... we lacked the warmth, but i had to get out of the house. so, bring out the toy cars and jackets and lets hit the streets baby!



then we came in and made pudding... i needed a treat (sugar free/fat free milk) and fisher of course went to town on it. chris actually handed it to him and said "buddy, don't make a mess" SERIOUSLY! HE SAID THAT!





but, the kids were really great outside... fisher does much better outside than inside... i like him better out there!

finally some pics!

here are some swimming pictures! finally! yeah for blogger!

facebook

okay... i am now on facebook... come and be my friend!

click here

thanks!

tuesday...

as i mentioned last week.. i'm not a huge fan of tuesdays...

let me give you a couple of reasons why...

1- i went to the ladies room (for less than 2 minutes)

and my darling sweet little angel ella -----
- pulled all the books off of fisher's bookcase
- put at least a 1/2 cup of lotion in her hair
- went under fisher's crib and peed ("just a little baby bit momma")
- and locked the door to his room

**** i didn't hear one sound the entire time... i knew they were up to no good!****

2- fisher stole my salad when my sister called me today... spit it out and was promptly put in time out

3- we lost power for three hours this morning... so, no yoga for me

hope you have a fab tuesday!

so... i dropped the ball

v-day has never been that big of a deal to me. or to chris. or to our kids.

but... chris did well this year and bought the kids and i all cards and chocolate for v-day and took us to panera bread (ella's request) for dinner.

but... i did nothing! i made cookies the day before, and had planned on making actual cards for people- sorry ma, pa, mom, dad,mike, charligne, kels, jopo, etc. that you didn't get any- but the kids went from bad to worse on friday... and well... i dropped the ball.

i feel pretty bad about it all. chris, i think was pretty dissapointed in me. i didn't think that it would be that big of a deal. but, i feel awful! sorry guys! and sooo sorry to my dear, sweet husband, who after 9 years wants a valentine!

baby-- i will be your valentine forever! i love you and i am so sorry!

swimming!

last week... i have tried and tried to get some pictures up... i took the kids swimming.

ella has a fear of water (i don't have much of a tolerance for this... but more on that later) she likes baths, little pools, small puddles, big puddles... but not large deep pools.

so i didn't think that ella would like it. i did it for fisher, i want to keep him loving water. so i thought that ella would just hang out by the pool until i could find a babysitter on wednesday's for her.

nope... just what i thought- as soon as i "plan" something, GOD looks down and says "hahahah... you really are trying to be a control freak... well i will show you!"

the kids loved it and i thought it was great! we will go from now till summer every wednesday!

i love water, chris loves water, bubba and gracie love water.... my children will LOVE WATER!

damn blogger

i don't like cussing on this thing... but i have been trying to upload pictures since wednesday to this damn thing and it won't let me!

i am pissed!

i hate it!

happy friday and i cannot wait for my 5 o'clock cocktail!

happy birthday molly girl!

two saturday's ago was good golly miss molly's birthday!

she had a beautiful princess tea party that they all enjoyed!

pink tea, heart shaped pb&j, crinkle cut veggies, mini cupcakes, all the goodies!

the kids were great and so was the weather!

we love miss molly to pieces-- i didn't take fisher with me (it was a tea party) and chris said he was devastated! he walks around the house calling for "mol-girl"

if you ask him who he loves- "mol-girl" i don't know how molly feels about being a cougar though? she is about 1 1/2 years older than him!




ella loved it- even though she was still under the weather- and it made it sooo worth it to have payton there. payton is the LOVE of her life-- she really takes care of him!



the two belle's-- can you tell from the back who is who?
happy birthday to you miss molly! thanks for being such a big part to my kids memories!