The green bean face-off!

Motherhood is such an adventure! Especially when you are raising two kids at very different ages. Taylor came into my life (I officially became "mom") at the age of four. I had no idea all the things that I had missed, but Ava is giving me a crash course every day! I realize I am probably biased, but Ava is pretty stinkin' smart. She talks in these elaborate, complete sentences lately. And she calls me "mom." Not mommy or mama, just mom. "I'd like to watch a movie now, Mom." or "I'd like a fruit snack, Mom." I can have these entire, in-depth conversations with a two year old, and what's funny about it is I'm not sure if many other people can understand fully what she's saying. She speaks pretty clearly, but I think I know some of her words just because I'm around her all day.

We had a big moment last night. Let me preface this by saying this is a spanking story. Yes, I believe in spanking my kids. I don't abuse them, but I do give them spankings when the situation requires it. So, lately Ava has been testing me on every level. She pushes me to the limits and sees just how far she can take things. I always said I wouldn't be a "threatener." I honestly have bad mouthed other parents for threatening continuously to punish their kids, but never following through. That was before I had a two year old! So, last night after Ava had spit out all of her green beans and telling me "No mom, I don't like that. I'm not eating that." We went back and forth several times. Alan can straighten her out with just a look, but she does not respond quite the same way to me. Alan tells me that I have to be consistent or she will always run over me. So, I stuck to my guns and gave her a spanking. Now, Alan says that Ava is just like me, so I shouldn't be surprised that my spankings don't do a lot for her. I used to actually laugh at my mom when she gave me spankings. I thought it was funny! I'm not sure what the difference was last night. I have spanked her on many occassions, but she didn't seem too affected by them. This time, she really cried and looked at me and said "That hurt Mom. That spanking hurt my bottom." I told her it was supposed to hurt a little bit, or she would never learn her lesson. We finally had a breakthrough! Don't worry, she has no bruises, I didn't spank her too hard, but it finally worked! She finished all of her green beans. It was actually comical. She really didn't like them, but, she ate them. She shuttered and made faces the entire time. She even kind of gagged a little bit, but she ate them!!! Advantage: mom!

Veggie Tales!

Yesterday I took Ava to see Veggie Tales Live! We had a great time! We met up with our friends Jonah, River, and Marla and the kids really enjoyed it. I think the moms enjoyed it almost as much though! Here are some pics of our fun time!

Getting ready for the show!

I think Ava clapped the entire first half!

Intermission....get ready for the hats....

Jonah got Larry Boy...

Ava got Bob...

The stars of the show, Bob and Larry!!!

Ava's favorite, The Cheeseburger Song

Hooray for Veggie Tales!

Heading home after a fun show!

Daily Blessings

Well, yesterday I whined a little bit. And as I got in bed last night, ready to crash I started thinking about all the little (actually, huge) blessings throughout the day. First off, my amazing friend/cousin Abby offered to keep Ava for me yesterday. This was so helpful as I had about a million things I needed to get done and doing them with a two year old can be a challenge. So Ava had a great time with Abby and Jantzen and I got a lot of things checked off my list! (you know I love that!) I bought bunk beds yesterday so all my kids will have a place to sleep when baby #3 gets here in 7 weeks!

There were lots of other great blessings, but the other one I want to comment on is my sweet Taylor. Last night we were picking up the house because the cleaning lady is coming today (I know I'm spoiled, my husband lets me get someone clean the house every two weeks!!) Getting the house ready to be cleaned is a lot of work in itself. Well, I was absolutely exhausted and Taylor just took over! She told me to sit on the couch, came over and put my recliner up and she went to town! She cleaned her room, Ava's room, the living room, even my room! She then brought me some water and got the laundry out of the dryer! I just couldn't believe it all. She helped me fold and put up the laundry and then said, "I'm going to get ready for bed now." Taylor has always been a great kid, but her amazing attitude last night blessed my heart so much! As a parent it makes you think "Finally! I've done something right!" So last night I went to tuck her in and took her a little bit of money and told her that she had worked so hard and had earned it. She told me she didn't do the work to get money, she just wanted to help me out. What an angel!

Dry Spell

I guess I'm in a bit of a funk. I find myself just getting through each day and being so glad when it's time to go to bed. And then when it's time to get up, I just want to keep sleeping. 7 weeks from today little Molly Kate will be here, so I am very excited, but still have so much to do to get ready for her arrival and not a lot of motivation to do it. Here are things that I am currently avoiding:


1. Laundry- hate it. Always have hated it, but really despise and loathe it right now. If I could think of stronger words to use, I would use them right here.


2. Picking up Ava's toys- this is a never ending task. No matter how many times I throw everything back in the right basket, I turn around and it's all back out again. I told myself to just let it go and do it once at the end of the day, but by that time, I just want to go to sleep!


3. Buying a new dresser for the baby's room- the nursery is a breeze this time. I am keeping everything the same except for the ghetto dresser that we bought for Ava and is falling apart. Drawers are literally falling off. Knobs are missing. This thing needs to find it's way to the dumpster...fast! But do I want to go find another one....not really.


4. Consolidating Taylor and Ava's stuff into one room- My goal was to do this during the summer. We need to buy a bunkbed for the girls and I need to move all of Ava's stuff over. None of these things have happened. I also need two giant toy boxes. One for each kid so they can keep their mounds of stuff separate (see #2) but again this is a project that has yet to be done.





Did I mention I only have 7 weeks!!! Ok, I'm feeling a little bit motivated. Or a little bit overwhelmed, one of the two.





Here are things that I want to do, but really help me in no way accomplish the things that need to be done:


1. Go to the Fair- I know this sounds ridiculous, but I want to go to the Fair. Take Ava through the petting zoo, eat a corn dog (new craving), see the cows (yes, I like to look at the cows), and top it all off with a fried peach pie.


2. Go get a pedicure- I got two gift certificates for my birthday to get a pedicure and I think it's time I use them!


3. Go get a massage- again, I have a gift certificate and I think the Pea in the Pod massage sounds really good right now.


4. Go see Veggie Tales Live with Ava- this is something I am actually doing tomorrow at 3pm! Ava is so into Veggie Tales right now and I can't wait to see her little face watching the giants legumes dance around!

5. Take Taylor out to ride her horse- Taylor got a horse for her birthday from her grandmother, and I have yet to see it. She wants to go out riding today, and I think we should just squeeze that in!





Ok, there are my lists. I am quite the list maker. I will write things on my list for the day that I have already done just so I can mark it off and see how accomplished I am. Now you all know how crazy I am!

Scary Day

Today has been a little scary for me. Last night, I got in bed and had a few false contractions. No big deal, just a little tightening in the stomach. And I've read and been told that they are perfectly normal. Well, today at church I was singing in the first service and they started up again. This time Molly Kate wasn't cooperating and she just started pushing and kicking like crazy every time my stomach would tighten up. All the while, I am trying to hold it together and keep leading worship. I was just trying to breathe and all I wanted to do was go lay down, but I kept going. So, once we were done singing I think it all hit me and I got a little panicked. Then I really had trouble getting a breath! I grabbed my mom and freaked out a little bit more because for some reason it's ok to freak out in front of your mom. Finally, I was able to calm down a little bit, the contractions let up and I could breathe again! So, now I am at home laying down watching HGTV and making all kinds of plans for remodeling my house. Thanks for all the comments, text messages, emails, etc. I am feeling good, and Molly Kate is staying put for two more months!

I guess it's official, her name is Molly Kate!

Big Day!

Well, today was another milestone. Ava started "school" for her second year. She goes to PDO at Lakeridge Methodist. I decided to post a few First Day of School pics and I'm also putting up some of Taylor's first day, because I forgot to when she started!

Ava's birthday!

Hooray! Ava is now officially 2. I can't believe it. Time has flown faster than I ever thought it could. We started the celebrating on Saturday with a fabulous Backyardigans party! Honestly, I don't have a lot of great pictures of the party. I was a little busy trying to keep the party going. 2 year olds don't stay focused on one thing for very long. So after we had some yummy snacks, including Goldfish, carrots and ranch, mini Nilla Wafers, fruit snacks, juice boxes and of course cupcakes, we moved on to opening presents. Ava really was a trooper. I realize that it's kind of cruel to expect a two year old to understand that she gets to open the present, but then has to move on to the next one without getting to take the first present out of the box and play with it. But, she did great. After the presents, we moved outside for a "parade" down the block. Basically, it was the kids in wagons and on tricycles riding down the sidewalk. After that, we had a Uniqua pinata. If you are not familiar with Backyardigans, Uniqua means nothing to you, but if you are a fan, you realize I am talking about the little pink creature (I'm not even sure what kind of animal she is supposed to be.) Following the pinata, we took the party inside for some dancing! We cranked up the Backyardigans music and the kids had a blast dancing around the living room. All in all, it was a great party. One that I hope Ava will remember and enjoy looking back at the pictures. Like I said, I didn't get a lot of pictures, but my sister Paige put up a blog about the party and she is the unofficial family photographer, so she has some good pics.

Ava with Grammy (Alan's mom) The spread...gotta love 2 year olds favorite foods!

Ava and her friends, Noah, Jonah, and Annie.

Today, was the "real" birthday. Ava and I had a fun day. I did try to take some pictures today to document this special occasion. Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!

We started the day with Barney! Ava even got to talk to Papa Jack on the phone.

He is in Africa, and was sad to miss her birthday :(

Lunch with GiGi at Markey Street. Ava just wanted "Roni" for lunch.

Cupcakes...Round 2!

Ava finished off the day with lots of snuggles and loving!

Pregnancy Confession

I have a confession to make. I have denied it for quite some time now, but I can not keep up the lie anymore. I have an addiction to Starbucks Apple Fritters. It is the one and only thing that I constantly crave. Everyday I find myself wanting to pull through the Starbucks drive thru and order one. I don't let myself everyday, but I would be honest and admit to a 3-4 fritter a week habit. Last week I had already hit my 3 fritter limit and it was only Wednesday. I was on my way to church and instead of driving my usual route, I found myself headed down Quaker and about to turn in to Starbucks. I denied myself the indulgence and from 82nd and Quaker all the way to 98th and Slide I was thinking (obsessing) about the apple fritter. So my compromise was to pull into the 7-11. I thought I would just grab something to drink and be on my way, but I got distracted at the pastry display. Unfortunately, Starbucks has not packaged and sold their apple fritters to 7-11 stores, so I left the aisle with an enormous blueberry muffin. And then, as if it couldn't get any worse I had another slight craving. What better way to top off a high calorie, fat loaded blueberry muffin than with a pack of hickory flavored beef jerky? So there I was at the register, purchasing the muffin and beef jerky. I got nothing to drink, I was just trying to fix the fritter craving. I refused to look at the labels. I did Weight Watchers for a long time before I got pregnant again. I know the numbers, I can imagine the points. I'm pretty sure that I maxed out a few days worth of points on that little 7-11 trip. I'm sure the apple fritters are no better. I will admit that I'm doing better this week. I actually have not had an apple fritter at all this week! I realize it's only Wednesday, but I'm going to see how long I can make it. I'm sure the fact that I'm thinking enough about them to devote an entire blog to the apple fritter still proves that I have a problem, but I think I'm making progress!

Family....it keeps growing!

We have had a very interesting last two days around my house. On Monday, I found out that we have a nephew that I didn't even know about! One of Alan's older brother's has a son named Matthew. No one in Alan's family has seen him since he was three years old. Alan was just a kid at the time, so he doesn't really remember that much about him. I was kind of freaking out. I was asking Alan "why didn't you ever tell me about him?" Of course Alan's response "I forgot." Well, Matthew found Alan's sister through myspace. He found Alan, but his myspace hasn't been checked in about 6 months. Matt is really anxious to catch up with everyone. He is about to be 18 and just wants to know his family. I don't know the whole story or what all has gone on in the situation, but we have decided that today is a new day, and this kid is family. So, we were super excited when he called Alan last night! They talked for almost an hour, just catching up. Matt has just moved back to Waco. He has lived in California the last few years, but is back in Texas with his grandparents. After the phone call, I checked myspace and he had added me as a friend. Late last night we got a message from him. He called Alan's dad (who happens to be about 20 minutes away from him) and they are going to meet today. Alan's dad was crying on the phone when he called. It is just so exciting to see God working and I hope that Matthew will feel love and acceptance and a place to belong in this family.