you gotta fight for your right

. . . to dress your children!

not long after i had carter, i began to form my own ideas about how i wanted her to dress. i have worked with children of varying ages for as long as i can remember and the first decision i made was that i wanted my babies to be dressed like, well, babies. down here in the south, that entails bloomers and bows and smocking, trunk shows and boutiques, bubbles and jon jons, and so on. and, i am more than happy to oblige!

as she has grown older and more have come along, i have learned that the advice "you have to pick your battles" is entirely true, especially with children. so, we have "rules" (this is a term my friends have given me, i prefer "ideas", as rules implies that i enforce them on others). for example,

some days are bow days

no black (unless part of a costume)

no characters 

well, and, sometimes you have to pick your battles!

especially when they are FREE!! that's right, FREE! thanks, jen and emma, we appreciate the hand-me-down!

and, especially when they make this little boy so happy! he loves some cookie! loves! so this mama will forfeit this one. thank goodness they don't light up!!

bloggers, did you know . . .

have you ever discovered a simpler way to do something and wondered why you didn't know this before? well, that has happened to me once again, and, rather than keep the tidbit to myself, i thought i would pay it forward.

do you use google reader?? it is fabulous. no more wasted time spent checking to see if any of my favorite blogs have new posts. my one complaint with google reader or any such aggregator is that i missed everyone's cute blog decor. it made me sad to read about your latest fun adventure or newest mommy meltdown on a white background without a cute header. but, alas, did you know about the next button?? it is the solution to my problem, and maybe yours! i love it!

would you like one, too? okay, go to your google reader page, click on settings in the upper right hand corner. it will go to a new page with a yellow box. click the goodies tab in the yellow box. and, there it is, second item down, the next button. it takes two seconds to add to your bookmarks bar. then, next time you check your blogs, just click the next button and it will take you to the first blog with a new post. click it again, and it will go to the next one and so on and so on. how cool is that?? i hope this helps!

if everyone already knows this cool tip and i am the last to know, don't laugh too hard! and, help a girl out! seriously, i have three kids, i don't know that my brain will ever recover! and, speaking of my kids . . . 

look at this smiling cutie!! isn't she presh! and, can you believe she will be 3 months old on sunday?!? seriously! with each one, time seems to move faster. i am trying desperately to enjoy each and every second!

sing, sing, sing

recently, carter has become very finicky about music. we actually see this as a somewhat positive experience in our family because we believe not all music is created equal. we have a very musical extended family and both grew up with music playing an important roll in our lives. we want our children to love music as we do. we want our children to feel the intense emotion a song can produce. the smile it can bring, the goose bumps it can raise, the connection it can make. 

our church just released a worship cd. it is really good, and i am not just saying that because josh played on it-it really is good. we have been listening to it a.l.o.t. so much so, that carter can sing along to almost every song. there is something so cool about watching your child sing about jesus. i know she may not understand all of the concepts, but years from now she will remember those words and the promises that they hold. and, hopefully, she will get it. 

it is this same cd that has made me think about worship music as a whole which brings me to the following questions: 

at some point, as a christian, you fear that you may have to listen to sub par music for the rest of your life. have you ever noticed how if someone isn't good enough to cut it in pop or rock music, they go country, and if that doesn't work, they become a christian artist? if you are only singing for jesus to bring fame to yourself, i think you need to rethink singing for jesus.

and

when recording live worship music, why do some people feel it is a good idea to also record the prayer spoken before or after the song?? it is weird. i feel like i am eavesdropping . . . on someone's personal conversation with jesus. weird.

eight days a week

carhop at sonic: "did you get your hair cut? it's cute." 

me: "uhh, yeah. thanks."

d**n you, sonic diet coke! why must you be so good?!?

woohoo!

go tigers go!

no such luck!

isn't that what today is supposed to be about? well, i have one area right now that while lucky for most, is not so lucky for me. as you know, we have an 11 week old baby. oh, she is precious! but, that is besides the point. she is also breastfed. so were the other two. i know that breastfeeding alone comes with all sorts of baggage, but this is not that kind of post. this post is about me! ha! see, most of you who breast feed love it (and hate it) for many reasons, but you really love it because of how it makes you look. most of you find the girls growing while your tummy is shrinking. in fact, you may look a little like this:

me, not so much. see my weight hangs on. and on. and on. until i ween my child. so while you feel like that, i feel like this:

seriously. it sucks. we are hitting the beach in a little less than 7 weeks, and so i have been trying to look a little less like the above by watching what i eat. but let me tell you the problem: i am ravenous. i am hungrier when i nurse than when i am pregnant. it is horrible. and, if you have never nursed (and i am not judging), you do not understand what i mean by hungry.  it strikes out of nowhere and only gets worse until you put something in your mouth. it doesn't matter what, just how much. and the answer is A LOT. because i am a busy mommy of 8 piglets 3 children what i usually grab to stuff my face with is not the best choice. it may include, but is not limited to: goldfish, cheeze its, chips, lofthouse cookies,etc. i know there are better options, but when the hunger strikes, i would eat my hand. seriously.

but, while my skinny jeans might not fit yet, i have hope and, as luck would have it, a beautiful reason to be a little chubbier for the next few months!

and, let me tell you, she is worth it. worth every single pound.

perfect

finally after 8 inches of snow (still bitter, i know), the sun shined and the temperatures rose and we were able to go outside without coats and a bundle of blankets in a carseat. for a few short days, we played outside, went to the park, grilled out,etc.etc. on monday as we played outside, carter said, "daddy, today is what we call perfect!" 

this is miller's favorite thing to do right now-RUN!

what a boy!

a self portrait of mommy & spencer

a short walk to the park

i think she was right! i can't wait for spring!

oh, snow!

sorry for the long delay brought to you by comcast. comcast decided to take 5 days to get my chosen images from colonel awesome's computer to mine. (what do you think? is the name thing working? i didn't think so.) "ridicilus", as we like to say at our house. 

so, two weeks ago, it was rumored that we were in for more snow. carter had a birthday party to attend and josh had a bridal portrait to take, but the stars aligned and we were going to be able to do everything with a hand off at the portrait location. if you live in the south, you know that snow, real snow, is rare, and so is accurate weather forecasting. fast forward to halfway through the party when it starts to rain, then sleet, then snow in a matter of minutes. after i pried spencer from a grandmother's arms, we headed to meet the boys. by the time we made it to the location, the ground was covered and it was snowing hard. we headed home and i could hardly see a thing. my windshield wipers were not working very well and the street was covered in slush. by the time we made it home, it was almost dark. it snowed all night for a total of 8 inches! what?!?

josh played the guitar at an event after the portrait and the next morning at church. our kids didn't get to go play in it until the next day at 2 pm. look at how much snow was left!

snow is yummy!

so yummy, you should share it with a friend!

do you know what happens when you live in the south and you leave your umbrella up and it snows 8 inches~

that's what! nice.

4 days later after preschool, guess what was still on the ground? that's right, snow. now, don't get me wrong, i like snow. especially pretty, thick snow that makes everything look magical. i like it better when we ALL get to stay home and play in it and watch movies and drink hot chocolate while snuggled on the couch. i also like it better when it is gone when we return to our regular routines. this snow lingered, much like winter has altogether this year. and, i am SO OVER winter. 

my mom is not. she built this snowman with my kids after preschool. they made it a pirate snowman because that is the only hat they would let the snowman borrow. my dad found some sticks in the back yard and i pulled buttons from my stash. my mom found part of my broken tail light (from when josh backed into the fence ;) for the mouth and, voila! this was the response when i said, what does a pirate do? miller was heart broken about something. he never recovered. well, you can't make everyone happy! 3 days later we watched the last of our snowman melt. finally! and, it looked like spring was on it's way . . .

it's already starting

what? you ask.

this. this is what i dreaded my children would do. as a teacher, i dreaded they would be the free art kids. free art kids love the free art center. love it. they spend all of center time creating to their heart's content and then gingerly place each creation in their cubby for mommy to find. 

this is miller's first creation. i found it in his cubby a few weeks ago. as i removed it, the puzzled look must have said it all because one of his teachers quickly jumped in and said, "oh, miller cut that today and said, 'my mommy will love this.'" thanks, buddy!(insert sarcastic tone.)

why am i so unenthusiatic already? you ask. because below you will find a week's worth of free art from carter's first week of school. by the way, she only goes three days a week. 
this is the second year i have received such beautiful creations. please, don't get me wrong, i love that my children create. but what in the world am i supposed to do with it all. what?? please tell me. 
i mean how many pretend homework pages for miller can i own. notice not only does she make miller his own homework page, but she actually does it for him!

yummy fruit, anyone??

and, one of my favorites-this is from early fall, too. and, as it dictates, is a sweet picture of miller SO sad because he cannot find cookie. this i understand. this i want to keep, but what about the rest of it? should i feel guilty if i only keep the ones i think are special (because she thinks they are all special!)? help! otherwise, it is going to take over our tiny house!

same song, different verse

do you remember this?

well, look how they've grown! same kids. same chair. different wall color. different matching pjs.

bittersweet. (sigh.)

it won't be long before we squeeze three pajama clad cuties in such a picture. (sigh.)

the anatomy of an announcement

so several weeks ago, we loaded up the car and headed to my parents house in an attempt to capture the perfect photo of our new precious bundle of joy to use when we announced her existence to the world. i had the perfect idea in my head and i had to figure out how to get my idea through josh's eye and camera. let me just say that past experiences of josh trying to get the photograph i have envisioned have not always been pleasant, quick or successful. in fact, they are usually the opposite. my idea completely hinged on a vintage chenille chair at my parents' house. here is said chair:

. . . adorned with an adorable little boy who was more than happy to be our stand-in.

i could just eat him!

precious tiny baby feet

sweet big brother trying to make it all better. 

these two have such a sweet relationship. he says,"she's so cute. i love her."

the one. not exactly what i saw, but super close.

the runner up. also, not exactly what i saw and not as close as above.

and, now that they are in the mail, announcing . . .