Back to reality

Last week Kylie and Audrey were out of school for spring break. I have to say for the most part it was a glorious week. Sure there was a little bickering and we didn't have the chance to go anywhere particularly special, but we really enjoyed out time off. It was nice not having to cook at a certain time, make sure everyone was bathed and in bed at a certain time and definitely nice not having to play the part of drill sergeant in the morning trying to get everyone out the door in time. We swam, went to the park, played dollhouse, worked puzzles, caught up on some reading and just acted like total bums for a week. 
      But all good things must come to an end. For us it came to a screeching halt as opposed to a gentle tapping on the brakes. Sunday night I spent sitting on the couch holding Sophie and trying to get her settled down. She was screaming and crying with her ear and didn't fall asleep until sometime around 6:00. You know right around the time I'm supposed to be getting up and getting everyone ready for school. Needless to say I was pretty much a zombie all day yesterday. I lucked out and got her a doctor appointment yesterday and as I pretty much knew when I made the call it was an ear infection. Sophie has only had one ear infection prior to this and it was one of those that was only discovered during a routine well visit when she was a year old. Audrey has had a few of them so I knew when the doctor gave me the diagnosis that we would be getting an antibiotic. Not good. Sophie is one of those weird kids that would rather have a shot than take medicine. Last summer when she had a pneumonia she opted to go to the doctor for several days and get a series of shots as opposed to just taking her medicine. Like I said, weird. So the doctor prescribed capsules so I could empty them in some pudding for her to take. Easy peasy right? Nope, she gagged both times I gave it to her. I'm really looking forward to the next nine days of fighting her on this. 
     As if an ear infection wasn't the best way to start off the new week Kylie has another project for pace class. In other words I'm going to have to stand over her all week and nag, nag, nag until she does it. She's a very smart child, but horrible about procrastinating. No clue where that comes from. No clue at all.
     And Audrey? So far so good with her. No projects, illness or meltdowns. I just jinxed myself there didn't I?

Random ramblings

• My children have been on spring break this week. It's been a really relaxed, lazy time and I have loved it. I'm actually sad to see it come to an end and am already dreading school starting back next week.
• Audrey has her first sleep over tonight and I'm nervous as can be. She's been dying to spend the night with one of her friends and got an invitation to a sleep over a week ago so she's insanely excited. Yes, I'll probably cry when I drop her off tonight. I'm such a sap.
• I finally bit the bullet and joined twitter. I'm probably one of the last five people in America to open an account. What can I say I'm slow to change. I'm slowly, but surely trying to figure it out. If any of you want me to follow you on there just leave a link in the comment section and I will. 
• I'm kind of, sort of wanting to do something new in my kitchen. It's really small so there's not a ton of change I can make beyond paint and accessories. If any of you are good at decorating (especially small spaces) I will gladly welcome any and all input. Or if you have some website/blog recommendations for me please let me know. 
• I have a sort of big birthday coming up next month and I'm really, really starting to freak out about it.  

Easter at Bellingrath

On Saturday my husband and I took the girls to Bellingrath Gardens for the annual Easter egg hunt. Even though we go to the gardens for Halloween, Christmas and other random times throughout the year this was our first time attending the Easter egg hunt. Let me tell you this is going to become an annual thing in our family. We all had such a fantastic time!

Sneaking up on the Easter bunny.

 They had three separate hunts which I thought was wonderful. Usually when we go on egg hunts my younger two end up getting upset because all the big kids get to the eggs before they do. Sophie hunted with the 4-6 year olds.

 As you can see she found quite a few eggs.

Audrey and Kylie were with the 7-11 year olds. They did pretty well too.

They take after their father.

They also had lots of fun activities for the kids to do. 

And Kylie has already told me that when she is in high school she is going to be an azalea trail maid. God help me. I need to practice my sewing now.

Hope all of you have had a great weekend and have an even better week ahead!

To fake or not to fake........

As I mentioned in my last post earlier this week I decided to do some spring cleaning. One of the things I decided to organize and put away was the girls keepsake books and other baby memorabilia. It had been sitting in the top of the closet gathering dust and taking up valuable space. I gathered all of it up and brought it into my room to put away in one central location. I wanted to go through everything and make sure that I did not have any of the girls things mixed in the wrong box, etc. and I'm kind of glad, but at the same time upset that I did. You see I found out while doing this that I was missing something and now I'm kind of upset over it.
Every year on each of my daughters birthdays I sit down and write them a letter. I've done this since Kylie's birthday and plan to do so for many years to come. In the letter I basically wish them a happy birthday, talk about how much they've changed over the past year and mention different things they like to do at that point in time. The girls have never actually read any of the letters, I've just set them aside in a box and plan to give them to them one day when they are adults. While going through the letters I realized that I'm missing one. It's the letter I wrote Sophie on her second birthday. I have searched and searched and it is nowhere to be found (yes, I know that I did in fact write her one). I have been so upset all week just thinking about the letter and I don't really know what to do. I figure that I have two options. One I can just not include that letter. That probably makes the most sense, but I hate the thought of her not having a full set especially when her sisters will have theirs. Two I can fake it. I can write one now and slip it in there and hope she is none the wiser. The problem with option two is that she is five now so her second year isn't exactly fresh in my mind. Now had this been Kylie or Audrey it wouldn't be a problem to go with option two because they actually have a baby book and a fairly detailed scrapbook. Sadly, Sophie being the youngest does not. I know I'm horrible. So I guess I'm writing this looking for some advice. If this were your child what would you do? Option one just do nothing or option two fake it?

Mommy's dirty little secret

Yesterday I finally decided to stop procrastinating and start doing some spring cleaning. I started in Sophie and Audrey's room, in particular their closet. Since we do not have much space in our house and no extra room for a playroom, most of their toys reside in baskets on the floor and shelves of their closets. To say it was a mess is putting it lightly.

Gah! I can't believe I posted those! Now anyone that knows me will tell you that I'm a pain in the butt when it comes to my house. I cannot stand to have anything out of place, but my closets? Well, let's just say over the past few years I've obviously lowered my standards. A lot. After hearing my friends talk about all the spring cleaning they've done and reading magazine articles and blog posts touting the wonders of a good spring cleaning I finally decided to get off my lazy behind and do something. So yesterday I got to work. I bagged a ton of old toys and clothes to donate, threw away tons of junk and moved some things that didn't didn't even belong in the girls closet to their proper spots. It's still pretty crowded in there, but not quite as bad. 

 I've still got to make a few labels for the baskets. I'm desperately hoping that will help the girls put their things in the proper spot. Wishful thinking I'm sure. And yes, I realize I really need to break out the cleaner and clean the doors, but for now I'm done. So have any of you ventured into spring cleaning mode? If so please share any advice that you may have.

Strawberries, sun and a surprise visitor

Yesterday my husband and I took a little trip across the bay with the girls to attend a strawberry festival. The funny thing? The only strawberry we actually saw was one of those 'strawberry go round' rides. No matter we had a great time anyway.

The girls rode the mini roller coaster several times and then we took them to the park to play. By the way, while some of you are enjoying the cool spring like weather we've decided to skip ahead to summer. It was 91 degrees here!

 When we came home we were sitting on the back patio enjoying a much need bowl of ice cream (my butt disagrees with that statement btw) when this guy decided to join us.

Billy Bob Jr. or Turtley checking out the kids sidewalk chalk

 He walked all the way across our backyard stopping to look at the kids toys. Audrey decided that he looked like a Billy Bob Jr. (no idea where she came up with that!) and Sophie argued that no, his name was in fact Turtley. The funny thing was after he walked all over the yard he came up on the patio to check us out! It was so funny because he walked over to each of us before walking away. Well, almost all of us. Someone got a little freaked out and went inside.

 Have a great week everyone!

My kids, they make me so proud

Earlier today Sophie and I went to Kylie and Audrey's school for the honor roll assembly. Kylie is in third grade and so far has made the A honor roll every quarter since she has been in kindergarten.

 

Audrey is in first grade and she too has made A honor roll every quarter since kindergarten.

 And of course not to be outdone by her big sisters Sophie decided to show me just how intelligent she was when we got home.

Because everyone needs a stool with skates on it, right? 

Charlie and Lola take two

When Kylie was about four years old she discovered the show Charlie and Lola based on the books written by Lauren Child.

An obsession soon began. After scouring the internet I was finally able to come across a few of the Charlie and Lola books, but as far as merchandise? Zilch. Naturally when her fifth birthday rolled around she told me that she wanted the theme to be..... you guessed it, Charlie and Lola. My children have always been really good about not asking for a lot so on the occasions when they do ask for something I will usually do whatever I can to get it for them. In this particular case I had to order party supplies from the U.K. The funny thing is that at the party none of the kids that came even knew who Charlie and Lola were. It didn't bother Kylie though, she knew and that was all that mattered.

Fast forward a few years and the Charlie and Lola phase kind of died out in our house. Don't get me wrong she still loves the show, but the obsession with it is no longer there. At least not for her. You see I bought the girls all of the Charlie and Lola dvds when they came out, but over the years they became very scratched up so they kind of quit watching them. Then one day I was browsing Amazon and saw that they had the box set on sale. I ordered it and now the obsession has been revived. In Sophie. For the past few months she has been watching the dvds everyday. Not only is she watching the dvds she has me read the books to her. Everyday. And she tries her absolute best to speak like Lola and now she is wanting to dress like her. I was browsing the Next website recently and she saw a dress that she insisted I buy her because it was "just like Lola's!" Being the pushover I am I ordered it for her and now of course she wants to wear it everyday. I can't really complain too much though because there are far more annoying things she could be obsessed with. I did however have to draw the line recently when she told me that she needed to have blond hair like Lola's. 

Weekend recap-shots, bikes, and other stuff

Is it really Monday already? This weekend kind of flew by for me, but it was such a great one I really can't complain. Friday was kind of a bittersweet day for me because I had to take my baby big girl in to get the last of her immunizations for school.

Still my baby.

 I cannot believe that in just a few short months my house is going to be empty of children from 7:30-3:30! I'm trying really hard not to think about it though. Anyway, Sophie did fantastic with her shots, not one single tear was shed. She's so funny, if I tell her she's going to have to take medicine she goes into meltdown mode. If I tell her she's going to get a shot, she's fine. Weird huh? 
Saturday was kind of busy. My husband actually had the entire weekend off so we tried to make the most of it. We took the girls to the library, then mom did a little shopping, then we stopped for lunch, and then we went to the movies to see Hop. To be quite honest I really didn't think I would like the movie, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. One thing that I really liked about it was there was no romantic storyline involved.  My kids always complain about "mushy stuff" in the movies so they were pretty happy too.
     On Sunday we decided to just hang out at home and be lazy bums all day. I'm really good at lazy so that worked out great for me. Audrey decided that she was tired of not knowing how to ride a two wheeler so she had her dad remove the stabilizers from her bike. After trying for several hours she finally was able to ride a few feet. I think with a little practice she'll gain some confidence and realize that she really can do it and will be riding all over the place.
I hope all of you had a nice, relaxing weekend too and here's wishing us all a great week ahead!