18 Months Old

It is so hard for me to believe that Anna is 18 months old today! Time really does fly by when there are two little girls to chase! I was so sad that Anna was not home with me on her big day. Since she has croup and Molly Kate came down with some crazy fever virus thing, we had to separate them. Anna and Eric went to stay with Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Nana and I kept MK here at home. I cannot stand seeing my girls so sick and hated that we had to separate them, but the doctor said it was best since Anna is on steroids and is thus so prone to infection. Eric took plenty of pictures of her for me though and I had a post my favorite so you can see how big she has gotten.

She is really starting to talk a lot now and gets so excited when you know what she says! She also loves to look at books (finally! Note that I said "look at" them not "read" them - she has no patience). She also does the wooden knob puzzles and is generally, just BUSY - getting into something constantly, strowing toys everywhere (not really playing with them just dragging them out and tossing them!) and climbing on everything! You can't turn your back on her for even a minute. The other morning was the perfect example, while the girls were eating breakfast, I went to dry my hair. Not more than 5 minutes later (since it was almost dry already from not drying it before they woke up - big mistake), I returned to the kitchen to catch Anna in the act of throwing waffle all over the kitchen. Yep, I caught her launching a piece to the remote corner of the kitchen before she saw me coming...busted! It was everywhere and I will have to say that she did help me "clean up, clean up." A couple of minutes later she was in the den with MK watching a show while I fixed their lunches for school. I walked in this time to catch her pulling every tissue out of the Puffs Plus box! I put them all back neatly and made her come in the kitchen with me. She emptied the utensil drawer of all of my ladles, serving spoons, etc while I wrapped up lunches and could move on to getting her dresssed and ready. Needless to say, the girls looked cute for school but I looked like a wreck - I was so embarassed to even walk Anna in the the building and see her teachers! Oh well, life with a 18 month old...I wouldn't trade it for anything!

School Days

The girls both started "school" on August 17th. Molly Kate is in 4-K with Ms. Rhonda and Ms. Fay 5 days a week and she is so excited! At Orientation, I learned that all of her friends from her small 3-K class of 6 last year were in the other class for 4-K. I was worried that Molly Kate would be upset. She might have been a little confused at that, but has bounced back and loves the fact that she is getting to meet new friends, but still see her old ones on the playground! She was so excited about finally taking the tags off her Tinkerbell lunchbox (I was afraid she would change her mind and want a different one with her name or something, so I made her wait until the last minute). She was so proud walking in the first day and putting it on the bench and hanging her backpack in a cubby like a big girl! I think this will be a GREAT year for her - she will start learning sight words very soon!

Anna is in Mother's Day Out on Monday and Wednesday with Ms. Vicki and Ms. Karen. I was a little worried about taking her and how she would react being away from me for the first time, but she just walked in and started playing with the toys and ignored the fact that I was walking away for 4 hours! It was worse on me than on her - who would have thought! She has her own hook in the class for her backpack and lunchbox and as long as her diapers are labeled with her name, she has a full lunch, and can ride in the bye-bye buggy at the end of the say, she is in good shape! This will be a fun year for her.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Eric! We all love you so very much and think you are the best Daddy ever! The Lord definitely chose little girls for Eric because he is such a great loving, encouraging and FUN Daddy - just what every little girls needs!

More new posts below...

Date Night in Empire

The last Friday night in June, Eric had planned for us to have a date night. When he asked me what I wanted to do, I told him that I would love to go to my Grandmother and Grandaddy's to visit and pick their blueberries. My grandparents are a big part of my heart and I never get to go and just visit anymore. You know what I mean, just sit around and talk like adults, play cards, or walk around in the yard without having to do little girl stuff and keep the two of them out of trouble. This time, I knew the blueberries had been ripe for a while and it was killing me that I couldn't go up there and help them. Besides, my stash in the freezer had been depleted! You can't exactly pick this beautiful fruit in the heat of the day and when your 15 month old goes to sleep by 7:30 at the latest, it is just not gonna happen. I am not sure whether the pictures will do it justice or not, but the bushes were loaded down and beautiful! We picked for 4 hours with Grandmother helping and I think we pretty much had the ripe ones picked, but after another week or so, there will be plenty more to harvest. I hope you can tell on the center picture that my Grandaddy has this contraption rigged up out there with two plastic bags flying in the wind, draping over the bushes. It also has two coke cans on the bottom that circle around making a banging noise with each revolution - all of this to keep the birds out of out loot! We want them all and can smell the cobblers already!
The picture of Grandaddy on his tractor was when he was plowing up the rows of potatoes he'd planted. We also dug those while we were there and were very thankful that he shared those as well. They are new potatoes - I have always called them "Pa Pa taters" from when my great-grandfather used to grow them. They are so yummy cooked with thickened soup!
Thanks Eric for being a great husband and going out there with me - I know you enjoyed it too, even it was really hot!

Summer in the South

Why does it have to be so HOT outside? We just want to be able to go outside and play.

Race Car Buggies

OK really, whoever invented these buggies (shopping carts if you are more proper) that look like race cars and thought it was a good idea? I know you think I am a nut for taking a picture and blogging about this, but it is a BIG DEAL in our house! We go to Publix almost every Sunday after church (to get the kids cookies and specials only of course!) and let me just say that if there is not one of these available, we might as well turn around and go home because Molly Kate is going to blow a fuse! She is not the only one either - you can hear children whining all over the store if their poor parents have not been able to magically make one of these special carts appear when they walk in the door! Seriously store management, if you are going to have these buggies, please at least make sure you have enough of them! At least these newer ones are more like a normal buggy and don't steer like a diesel truck! Enough of my rant...

Boomerang Express

We had VBS last month and had so much fun! It was Anna's 2nd year and while she didn't exactly love being left for about 4 hours everyday, she survived and had such great people loving on her all week. Molly Kate loved every second of it (well, except for wearing the VBS shirt every day) and especially enjoyed "Mrs. Lindsey and the other girls doing music on the big stage." She also took pride in bringing her offering and putting it in the bucket each morning. She was so upset when Mr. Andy reported each day that the boys were in the lead for giving more offering. She told me every day that she really didn't want the girls to lose. Thanks Andy for never declaring a "winner!" Wonder who she gets the competitiveness from?

My friend, Kelly Hall, and I taught a 2nd grade class and had such great kids! I think we have found our age to teach and will be sticking with this one for a while. We had several make decisions during the week and cannot thank God enough for letting us be a small part of that! We pray that all of them continue to cling to Him and His plan for their lives. It was so special - I truly cannot wait to share that moment with one of my own children!

Eric was in Las Vegas the entire week for work so Nana came to stay with us and went to Family Night on Wednesday. As you can see in the pictures, she got to enjoy the grilled hot dogs and popsicles and loved all of the big balls being hit around before the assembly! Molly Kate was so excited to show Nana both her room and ours - VBS is just plain FUN for everyone!

Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day! Yes, I know this post should have been done before the beach and recital pictures, but at least I am posting it! Eric kept asking me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day, and I reassured him each time that all I wanted was to picnic in our den (with him grilling out of course!) and watch a Braves game. Yes, actually sit and watch them from start to finish...ahhh! We all donned our gear and had a great time - we even had Braves peanuts from Publix so it was like being at the game only cheaper and cooler! Anna didn't make it thru the whole 9 innings, but we didn't care. Molly Kate, Eric and I cheered on Francoeur and McCann without her. What a great day - hope you enjoy the pics!

Dance Recital

Molly Kate had her 1st Dance Recital on May 30th. She was so excited to be able to "dance on the big stage with the red curtain at Mommy's school!" She has been saying that since watching Maggy and Mallory in last year's recital at Samford's Wright Center. Her routines were to Toyland for ballet and Lollipop for tap. She was "leader" for the tap routine which definitely made me more nervous than it did her and I have to say, her little class did great!! They looked so cute in their outfits and I even did a successful bun! There is a first time for everything, right! I have a sneaky suspiscion that this is only the first of many dance recitals for Molly Kate! She has found something she truly loves!

Gulf Shores

It has been a long time since I have blogged - sorry! We went to the beach the week of May 15th and had such a great time! It was Anna's first trip so we were a little scared that she would either hate the sand or just want to eat it (like she does everything else) but she loved it and was content to play and play in it. It was hard to get a picture of her face since she was concentrating so much on the sand and kept her head down. Nana went with us and we all had such a great time! We just has to stop at Peach Park on the way down and once we got to the condo, Molly Kate found the bunk room and got so excited! She slept there all week and was never scared or begging to sleep with one of us. Anna's room, on the other hand, was her pack N play set up in our closet. She slept like a champ in the darkness! Molly Kate and Eric couldn't get enough of the sand castle making and wave crashing. They even went crab hunting at night. MK liked it but from a distance. She wanted to see the crabs Daddy caught, but didn't want to get too close to them or the waves that were crashing in at night. There was a lot of seafood consumed, of course, and we even got a book or two read. I am sad to say though that as usual on one of our trips, poor Molly Kate got sick at the end. She ran a high fever the last 2 days of our trip and started throwing up the say we left. She was so pitiful that she didn't even want to go out on the balcony to see the beach much less play. We know a good pediatrician in Foley should you ever need one and I recommend traveling with lots of Walmart bags if you have a sick little one in your car on a long trip - they saved my life (and my car!). Enjoy the pictures - we had a blast!

She's FOUR!!

Our little Tinkerbell is four today - wow...times flies! Her party was on Saturday and we all had a blast despite the threat of more rain. She finally got her bubblegum and has been chewing it ever since! She was thrilled about all of the family and friends that came to her party and has been overwhelmed with all of the presents, but is giving it a good fight to make sure all of them feel loved and played with! I cannot believe that she is four. For some reason, that seems to make her no longer a baby. I don't deny her the right to grow up and become exactly who God wants her to be - I just hope He gives me patience to grow with her! I sure do love that little blonde girl!

Hot Days = Ice Cream!

The hotter it gets outside, the more the Greens want ice cream! Molly Kate loved the pink cone and it looks like Anna is going to love ice cream just as much as the rest of us! Please note her looking over the table up at MK, wondering where her cone is - I love it! She will just have to settle for a spoon for now.

Little Helpers

Molly Kate and Eric have planted their garden for this year. We can't wait to eat lots of yummy veggies again this summer! MK has so much fun seeing all of them grow - it is so hard to wait to pick them though!

Anna loves to help me do the laundry! She gets so excited when I get it out of the dryer and can't wait to pull it all in the floor, piece by piece! It is a race for me to get it folded and keep it that way before she can get ahold of it.

Shhh...she's sleeping!

I love how Anna sleeps - bottom in the air, feet crossed and thumb in her mouth. I just had to take a picture of it and share it with you. She is the easiest baby to put to sleep and I sincerely thank the Lord for that. All you have to do is take her and lay her in her crib, turn on Sally Seahorse and walk out of the room. She screams like you have broken her little heart about three times (seriously - that is it!), then puts her thumb in her mouth and snuggles in. She never even hears Sally finish her list of lullabies. How precious - I hope I never forget the sight of her sleeping!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

At 8:00 yesterday morning, I decided to surprise Molly Kate and take her to her first Braves game! She was so excited when I told her and we got ready fast and headed to Atlanta for the 11:00 first pitch. Even though we had to stop a few times to adjust the movie she was watching and go to the potty, we still got there just in time. She wore her glove all the way!

We parked and headed in. Then, we rounded the corner and saw the ticket line...ugh! It was SO LONG - don't people work for a living?!? Anyway, she was being so patient (better than me) and out of no where this guy comes up to us, out of all those people in line, and gives us two tickets to the game! Now if that isn't the Lord (and a sign of how cute MK was in her Braves gear!), I don't know what it was! We had great seats in the outfield and got to move up to behind the Marlins dugout for the last few innings. MK didn't really like the $6 pizza or the $5 water, but the $5 cotton candy hit the spot! Chipper and Brian McCann had the day off, unfortunately, but we did get to see Jeff Francoeur hit two RBIs. It was not enough and the Braves lost to the Marlins again, but we had a GREAT Mommy/MK day - one not soon forgotten! I hope there will be many more Braves games in our future. She got a McCann jersey, new pink hat and a foam tomahawk - all necessities to remember the day!

12 Months Pics

Anna had her 12 month pictures made at the Botanical Gardens three weeks ago. Here are a few of my favorites...

The Big ONE!

I simply cannot believe that Anna is ONE!! We had planned to have her party in our backyard, but it always seems to storm when we plan parties. Luckily, the church let us have it in the story area of the preschool hall. As you can tell, I made her cakes (only for first birthdays!) and we had some snacks. She had such a great time walking around wondering why everyone was there, staring at her in the highchair! Since I do not let my children have sugar until their 1st birthday, she had no idea what to think of the cake, but did a fairly good job of it. She got to spend time with her entire family, eat cake, get some really great gifts AND Daddy turned her carseat around all in one day - can't beat that!!

The Carnival Came to Town!

Every Spring Break, the carnival comes to downtown Trussville. We have always talked about going, but this was our first year. We had such a great time that we went TWICE and are already looking forward to next year when Anna may be able to do a few of the rides.

On Saturday, Molly Kate was excited to see Will and his family there. They even talked Molly Kate into riding the Scrambler! We wondered how many of the rides she would get on, but were shocked when she even wanted to do that BIG, TALL slide by herself! I guess she really is growning up! After it closed, she had a funnel cake with Daddy and a game or two to win a big pink flower and headed home, much to MK's dismay...

...so on Sunday after church, we went back for round 2! This time, I got the bracelet to ride with MK and Nana met us there to watch the action. As you can tell by the pics in the second collage, Anna didn't last as long as she did on Day 1, so Nana retreated to the back of my car to play with her. She had a blast eating goldfish and roaming all over my car! Nana seemed pretty excited too! Since I had gotten a prime parking spot right next to the carnival, she could still see and we went over to rest and visit some. Of course, we had to have a hand-dipped corn dog and funnel cake during one of our breaks! It was another fun day - this time we ran into Maggy and Mallory, the Hardin boys and Molly Horn! Molly Kate was absolutely exhausted after two days of action - it was worth so much to see all of her smiles!

My Beautiful Babies

These are the pictures that I sent in to Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby contest this year. Well, they may not have won the big scholarship money and the cover of Parenting, but they will always be THE most beautiful babies to me!! Don't you think they should have won!??!

Day at the Park

During Spring Break, Eric took a day off and went with us to the park in Leeds where the BIG slides are! Molly Kate and her friend, Will, had so much fun flying kites with Eric and playing on the playground. She is getting to be such a big girl and so independent. I must say that I was kinda glad that the tallest slide scared her and she wouldn't do it. All is not lost - she is still somewhat my baby!

Anna and I tried to stay in the shade with Katie and Reese. It sure is hard to keep Anna on the blanket - she is definitely an explorer! Molly Kate and I joke that Daddy and I should have named her Dora!! It does feel good to be able to get outside when it is warm and bright enough for sunscreen! Remind me that I said that when it is 100 degrees in July!!

Botanical Gardens

This week was Spring Break and we got to go picnic at the Botanical Gardens with Nana, Uncle Brian, Savannah and Lucy. It was an impromptu picnic but don't worry, a run into Publix saved the day! I mean really, we remembered the ketchup for the chicken but forgot plates - who needs plates?!? Anna thought she was big stuff eating crackers out of the bag (notice she tossed the baby food) and Molly Kate was so excited that Uncle Brian made her a ketchup dipping bowl out of her bread. It took her FOREVER to eat her one piece of chicken but she did finally eat it so she could have a doughnut. I ahve to tell you that she even tried "dropping it" on the ground but I surprised her by just blowing it off and handing it back to her. From where does she get that stubborn gene? Inside the gardens, we posed for lots of pictures and basically followed MK and Lucy around. They were our self-appointed tour guides! We had such a fun day!

Tent Camping

Eric decided to put up his tent in our backyard this week and "Camp Out" with Molly Kate. I admit that I was thinking, "Boy, Anna and I are going to get a great nights rest with the house to ourselves!" I also thought neither of them would really stay out all night, but they did! They watched a movie, read books, ate gummies and believe it or not, Molly Kate actually stayed in her sleeping bag all night - she NEVER stays under the covers! Anna, on the other hand, had a rough night and didn't sleep well at all, so the joke was on me. I thought about taking her out to the tent in the middle of the night since I knew Eric wouldn't get much rest sleeping on the ground. In the morning, Anna and I took them the leftover doughnuts from our trip with Nana, Brian and the girls to the Botanical Gardens and they gobbled them up.

I was so proud of my little campers! Molly Kate LOVED it and can't wait to do it again!

Sunny Days!

Finally, Spring is here and we are so excited! Along with the sunny weather comes the...

ICE CREAM MAN!!