International Left-Handers Day

Happy International Left-Handers Day

In honor of my favorite Left Hander in the world 

here are some interesting facts about Left Handers, check out this link.

TICK......TOCK......

TICK...

TOCK...

TICK...

TOCK...

DO YOU HEAR IT?

That ticking noise.  It is the clock counting down the last few moments of summer.  School is starting.  I have only one more full day with my babies before three of them head off on their own to school.  The twins start Kindergarten and John David is off to First Grade on Wednesday.  I can't believe it is already here.  The summer absolutely flew by and we didn't get to do all the fun things I had hoped and envisioned we would.

I am heartbroken school is already here.  I'm excited school is already here. Obviously I have very mixed emotions on the subject.  I could use some quiet time to get some things done around here.  Most importantly, I need time to finish the dresses I am making for the girls to be flower girls in my brother's wedding.  At the same time, I am heartbroken that the twins are old enough for big school and will be gone all day, every day.  I will miss them.  I will miss John David.  I will miss the noise, chaos, laughter, arguments.....EVERYTHING.  I don't want any of them to grow up, but I guess I don't really have a choice.

So...I'm off.  I'm off to make the most of this time with them.  They are only little once and I am going to enjoy every second of it.

Happy Birthday Baby Twins

Today the twins turn 5.  I can't believe it.  One whole hand old.  It is impossible.   They can't really be 5 already.  On the way to school this morning I told them I must have counted wrong and they weren't really turning 5 already.  They were really just turning 4.  They didn't buy it.  5 years old.  Somehow that seems infinitely older than 4.    When they were born, a friend's two daughters called them the "baby twins."  It stuck.  I still think of them as my baby twins even though they are not babies anymore.  They have grown up so fast.  Kindergarten is right around the corner.  Then in a flash they will be graduating from high school and moving away from home.  I'm not ready.  I need more time.  Days like today remind me how little time we really have when our children our young.  It makes me stop worrying so much about the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of my house or checking things off my never ending "to do" list.  I remember they are all only little for such a short time.  To make the most of it.  To stop cooking, cleaning, reading email, surfing the internet, and enjoy them while they are young.

Just yesterday they looked like this.

And the day before yesterday....this

Just last week I swear they looked like this

And now today....

The past  5 years have been full of smiles, laughter, bumps and bruises, trips to the ER, trips to the zoo, hugs, kisses, bedtime stories, and load after load of laundry.  We have had good times and we have had bad times.  We have bought cars and baby dolls galore.  We have also had to pay the plumber to retrieve a little boy's underwear he flushed down the toilet.  Through it all I wouldn't change a minute of it.

Ella and Harrison....I love you both with all my heart.  I am the luckiest mommy in the world and it is such an honor and privilege to be your mommy.  

Happy 5th birthday baby twins!

Sibling Day!

According to Facebook, wikipedia, and www.daysoftheyear.com today is National Sibling Day.  To be honest, I did not know there was an official day set aside to honor your siblings.  When I first saw people on Facebook posting pictures, usually old(er) childhood pictures, of themselves and their siblings I wondered how this all got started.

Here is a little background information for you straight from wikipedia.

Siblings Day is a celebration held annually in the United States on April 10 to honor the relationships of siblings.  The holiday was originally conceived by Claudia Evart to honor the memory of her brother and sister, both of whom died.  

It is a nice idea....Sibling Day.  Your siblings probably know you better than almost anyone.  And they know all of you, the child that hid in the bushes and ate all the Easter candy in one day, the teenager that came home tipsy hoping Mom & Dad wouldn't notice, and the adult with a mortgage, career, and kids.  They know your embarassing stories, your secrets and your fears.  They know what you wanted to be when you grew up and what you actually grew up to be.

I have the best brother and sister in the world.  We had our fair share of arguments and hitting matches as kids.  We picked on each other, tattled on each other, and got on each other's nerves.   Over the years we have grown up and grown closer.  Right now, neither my brother nor sister lives close to me.  Hopefully someday in the not too, too distant future that will change.  But without a doubt I would not have seen and experienced what I have seen, accomplished what I have accomplished, or be the person I am today without them.

So in their honor.....here we are.

It was more difficult that I would have thought to find a picture of the three of us without raiding my mom's picture albums.  I think that means we need to do a better job of getting current photos of all of us.  This was taken almost exactly 5 years ago at my brother's graduation from medical school.  That little bundle in my arms was a newborn Ella (or maybe Harrison, hard to tell from the photo) who will turn 5 next week.  She sure has grown but we haven't aged at all, have we?

John Robert and Anna, I love you both and am so proud and honored to be your big sister.

This Crazy, Busy Life

Life has been such a whirlwind these days that I haven't had a spare second to sit down let alone write a blog post.  Numerous times over the past months that I have been away I have thought to myself, that would make a great blog post but I haven't found or made the time to sit down and commit my thoughts to cyberspace.  Now that I sit down and start writing I realize again how much I miss blogging.  I miss the creative outlet writing gives me.  I miss putting my thoughts into words and communicating with others that are not under the age of 7.  And I miss having a record of my life, my family's life, my children's lives.  When I take a minute and reread older posts I am always struck by how much my children have grown and changed in such a short time.  Being with them every day, I don't always see the little changes that happen every day.

That being said, I always struggle with whether I should do a "catch-up" post when I have been away.  Should I try to document all that has happened in the past few months that has kept me so busy I haven't been able to get life into words.  Or in trying to catch up the blog will I only get further behind as life keeps going and time keeps passing faster than I would like.  It is quite the dilemma.  I think I have decided to do one, very brief, high level catch up to so that at least I have some small record of the past few months and all their goings-on.

My last post was Thanksgiving night when I gave thanks for some of the many, many blessings I have in my life.  Since then here's a little taste of what has been keeping us busy around here.

• A trip to the Christmas Tree farm to pick out the perfect tree

• New Christmas Pajamas for the "big kids"(Check our the 3 Southern Chicks facebook page for more photos of kids clothes and other adorable goodies available for sale.)
  
  Harrison's (John David's matched but didn't get a picture.  Ooops!)
  
  
  
  Ella's (Not a great photo, in fact, a terrible photo, but the nightgown was adorable & she loved it)

• John David's Christmas party at school
• Christmas pageant at church on Christmas Eve

So proud of my cow, angel and shepherd

• New Vests for the boys for Christmas Eve

I made the vests to coordinate with the girls red courduroy dresses.  They all looked adorable.  As you can see, Harrison was not interested in having his picture taken and wasn't shy about letting me know.

• 3 fabulous Christmas(es) with lots of family, fun, food, and laughs

Christmas #1

Christmas #2

Unfortunately Ava wasn't feeling well and we spent that afternoon at the after hours clinic at Arkansas Children's Hospital.  It turns out she had ear infections in both ears.  Poor thing!

Christmas #3

• Someone turned 2 ....How did that happen so fast?

• Snow..or really Ice days at home
• Scraping popcorn ceilings that were painted of course which makes the process much, Much, MUCH harder.
• Living in the guest room while our master bedroom is a construction zone.  The guest bedroom bed is a full rather than the master bed which is a queen.  You would think that would mean I would not be sleeping as well but the matress on the guest bed is so much better my sleep has actually improved.  
• Bring your Valentine to Ballet day (Husband was such a good sport)  I have photos and video of my husband in his first ever ballet class but they are all on his phone which is obviously with him at the office.  I will have to swipe it some night and share the fun.
• Helping put together a Mother Daughter tea party fundraiser for the dance studio
• John David's 100th day of Kindergarten

• Trips to the Museum of Discovery
  
  
  
  
• Helping plan and put together a big silent auction fundraiser for John David's school
• Teaching tap and ballet classes
• Choreographing dances for the upcoming recital....even choreographed a tap dance.  There's a first time for everything.
• Knitting Ella a scarf.  Ava's is started (barely) and then it will be on to the boys'.
• Making wreaths as part of my side business 3 Southern Chicks (check out our facebook page 3 Southern Chicks)

• Nights at the gym.  Husband and I joined a local gym in order to get back into shape.  My brother's wedding is coming up in September and that has given us the extra incentive we need to make nightly trips to the gym.  We joined one that is open 24 hours so at night, after all the children are asleep, we tag team and take turns sweating it out at the gym.  

Now Husband and I are off to Las Vegas for a few days by ourselves.  This will be the first time we have gone on vacation alone, without children since John David was born.  Thankfully our wonderfully families are sharing the child/dog/house watching duties.  My in-laws will be here running the show for the first two days and then my parents are taking over.  Getting ready to leave town and all that that entails, is more work than if I was just staying home.  I am a little overwhelmed trying to get everything accomplished but I know once we get there it will be worth it and it will be nice to get away just the two of us.  Husband has a work conference (the actual reason we are going) and I am tagging along.  The nice thing about this conference is he only has meetings until lunch each day and then has his afternoons free.  That means I can sleep in in the mornings while he goes to class, get my daily work out in, maybe sit by the pool and read, and then in the afternoons and evenings we can take in the sights, eat, catch some shows.  An added bonus is that my brother and soon to be sister in law live only about 7 to 8 hours away from Las Vegas and already had taken some time off from work at the same time we are going to be out there.  They are driving over to spend a few days with us which will make the trip even more fun.  This will be the first time since meeting Jessica that we have gotten to spend time together without children.  The first time I met her was on vacation in Orange Beach, AL.  Husband had to stay home and work, but my parents, a pregnant me, and the three big kids drove down to spend the week with them at the beach.  It was lots of fun and I knew right away Jessica was part of our family.  She became Ella's BFF immediately, a fact which hasn't changed in the 2 years since then.

Whew!  That's a lot to happen in the span of a few months.  I'm sure I left things out but I tried to hit the highlights.  My brief, high level catch up seems to have gotten kind of long but I guess that 's what you get when you take a 3 month break from blogging when you have a life as crazy busy as ours.

Baseball season is just starting, spring break is upon us, and recital time is approaching so there is lots more fun and craziness on the horizon.  Plus I promised you photos of husband in ballet class.  Stay tuned!