Summer's Over...

Random pics from Summer Travel St. Louis Arch
Yes, Blaire is thrilled with all the photo taking...

St. Louis Zoo

Magic Time Machine....they sat us all in the short bus :0

The Dallas Aquarium

Well, my last post, Summer's here, only to be followed by Summer's Over. That is fitting because I have been too busy to really keep up lately. That plus something is wrong with the modem and I lose internet at least once a day and it is a pain to reset. I check email, facebook occassionally and move on. But now that 2 out of 3 kids will be gone at least part of the time (insert halleujah chorus here), maybe I will at least update my blog. Time has flown by this summer. Sadly we did not do many of the things we had on our list. My motto has become, sometimes less is more. We did take several trips this summer, none of which I blogged about. We went to Dallas for a few days and did lots of fun things like the aquarium, Rainforest Cafe, and Magic Time Machine. We traveled to St Louis to visit Ayric's family and did lots of fun things there. We went to Sci Port and the Boardwalk in Shreveport. So I guess when we weren't traveling I really didn't feel like dragging 3 kids to the movies or bowling in the HEAT, so we hung out around here and mostly relaxed. I think it was a good summer overall although as with all moms, we all feel like we could be doing more. I am ready for school to start just to have a good routine again. But once school gets going we are heading to the beach for Labor Day.

Summer is Here-

Blaire at Story time
Brooke- Kindergarten Graduation
So proud of her!
Brynlee has learned to balance a plate on her head! Don't know where she got this?!
My beautiful ballerina!

I just wanted to add a new post so that when I check on all my other blogger buddies I won't see a month old post on mine. I love to keep up with other people and check facebook more regularly, but seem to let the blog slide. I mean I really don't think I have but maybe 1-2 readers, so maybe they will forgive me. Let's see...we have made it though Kindergarten graduation and the chicken pox, a dance recital and are finishing up swimming lessons this week. We are trying to get in a summer routine but when I have anything in the way like swimming lessons this week, it seems to just be survival mode that day. But next week we will start activites like bowling, the movies, park, or library. Whatever we feel like tackling that day!

Not Me Monday!

It's Monday again...and you know what that means! Lots of things people from all around the globe would never do.

As for me...

I would never get teary eyed as they played the wedding march this weekend when 2 of my 3 were flower girls thinking it would someday be them. Why would I do that, they are 3 and 6. I've got plenty of time and time definitely does not seem to be going way too fast!

I would never let my newly turned 3 year old have a paci on the way home from the wedding because I knew she would fall fast asleep and there would be quiet in the car! I mean she is way too old for that. Along these lines I have avoided telling her NO to the paci and making a big deal because of times like these when I know I will revert. I have been trying the subtle encouragement instead.

I did not wake up from my mothers day nap to find these things going on:



The girls must have heard him snoring and covered him up. He went in there to play with them-LOL



Brynlee found the paintbrushes but luckily no paint!



Blaire decided she didn't like the church dress on and apparently put herself down for a nap.



Can you find the girl in the mess? They had even stacked furniture on top of each other- oh my!

Not Me Monday

Ok this may be a little lame but I really wanted to post to be entered to win that necklace!
I do also make Mommy Bracelets and could possibly still get you one by Mother's Day! email me! robyn@braceyourselfdesigns.com view bracelets at http://www.braceyourselfdesigns.com/


This past week I didn't forget to feed Blaire breakfast and then mid morning when she told me she was hungry let her have a cupcake for snack because I totally forgot.

I did not make 48 cupcakes for a baby shower and realize that that was about 40 too many!

I would never put adorably cute but too too small clothes in an actual trashbag for lack of a better container, only to have Ayric mistakenly throw them in the TRASH instead of taking them to Goodwill. Arrgghh

Easter

Yes...I'm behind but thought I would share a few Easter pics. If you are on facebook..you have already had a peek. It rained here so we stayed indoors. Luckily we had a hunt Saturday when the weather was so nice.

The STROLLER!!!!

I ordered a stroller (yes, another one) for our Disney trip. I am a bit of a stroller collector. I have had 5 now...all different kinds. I thought I had found the perfect one on eBay. The Zooper Tango. It is a side by side yet slim and seem to get good reviews. I mean if you have to have a double stroller your life is already a bit chaotic so you better have a good one. We already have a double stroller, a sit and stand and a single. Ayric says we could tote 6 or 7 kids around at any given time. Anyway, this dream stroller which retails between 300-400, was used and a few years old but looked like it had minimal wear and I won it for 95.00! Well after shipping, 145.00, but still. So I emailed the seller BEFORE bidding to make sure it could be here before we left. She said no problem and she would ship it the fastest way. I fully expected to get an email asking me to pay more shipping, etc to have it here guaranteed. There were 8 full days so I thought that could work. No contact from seller and no replies asking when she sent it, etc. Ok well SURELY since I paid a stranger money and she promised me to get it here it would arrive-Yeah, I know, I know. Anyway, I was so busy packing and running around and keeping the Disney secret from the girls that Friday passed and I hardly noticed, no stroller. I remember thinking as it was getting dark that sometimes UPS comes late. Again, I know, I know.


So we leave out Saturday with our old double stroller in tow. The wheel is a little bent or something but hey its never given us any trouble and who cares right, I'm going to the happiest place on earth. So we rush to the Princess Dinner the first night with the stroller and all of our little princesses and just before we get to the castle...yep, the wheel falls off. I always laugh at these situations, Ayric usually never does. But this time since most of Epcot noticed and asked if they could help, he did giggle a bit, probably nervous laughter. Who cares, right, we are going to have a birthday dinner with the Princesses and nothing is stopping us now! So we eat and get autographs and photos, etc, etc and go back out to claim the three wheeler and Ayric bends down to try to fix or adjust or something the stroller wheel and he literally POPS his knee out of place. Again, me laughing, him, not so much. We some how made it back to the hotel so he could ice down his knee and figure out how we were going to get these kids around Disney for 7 more days. We had luckily brought the single stroller. And as a side note, this single stroller was on sale for 19.99, 6 years ago and has been everywhere and still ticking! So we spent a whopping 120.00 to RENT a double stroller for the remainder of the trip. The kids didn't like it because it was a low seat and they couldn't see much and certainly could not lay down to rest. Brynlee had to be in the single because she would fall out of the rental. The only way to buy a new stroller was to rent a cab and find a Wal-mart, with 3 kids and a bad knee, remember. No, not happening!


So we get home and I find my stroller on the porch, it had arrived 3 days late. Ayric got it out and put it together and asked me if there were more parts somewhere? Nope,. Well this stroller that was advertised as like new, minimal wear, no damage, and I saw pics, had the back post cracked in half! Ok there was no picture of that. It was very wobbly on that side and there was a spring on the other side but missing from this side. As we looked closer, someone had tried to hold it together by screwing 2 screws on top and 2 on bottom of the broken area. How odd? I know I am naive but who would do this? So of course I emailed the girl and told her it was broken and please let me know what to do. She replied, it was not that way when I sent it to you, maybe you should claim insurance if it was damaged in shipping. I kept writing back detailed posts what was wrong, etc, I kept getting the same reply, claim on insurance. Ok the box is intact, so why would the post office believe it was damaged. Plus I guess the postal fairy put all the screws in to try and cover it up! Anyway, she just absolutely refused to reply to me so I opened up a case on paypal-item not as described. They saw the pic and took about 2 minutes to rule in my favor. She had the nerve to write to paypal and say that she thought I must have broken it in Disney-I WISH! But the catch is I have to pay almost 60.00 to send it back to her and I have nothing. Paypal will refund my 145.00 but then I spent 60.00 to learn a lesson about buying from idiots on eBay. I guarantee if I send it back to her she will go file a claim and say it was damaged on the way back to her. You have to have my receipt where I mailed it to file an insurance claim, I read, so that will never happen! Ayric and I decided to see if we can order a whole new back and if it doesn't cost 60.00, we will come out ahead. So I am going to spend the 145.00 to give her an ever so nice feedback. Happy eBaying!

ONE More Birthday

We celebrated Brynlee's first birthday the day after we returned from Disney. While I really wanted to have a party for all 3 at the same time, it just didn't work out. She still has an ear infection but was in good spirits for the party. We all laughed and laughed at this little girl eating her cake. She dove right in! Happy Birthday Brynlee!

The Birthday Girls

All my girls birthdays are within the same week. So this weekend was party time! Brooke and Blaire had a magic show at the party and Brynlee just dressed up and came along for the ride. I decided not to do her "first" birthday in all the chaos but wait until we return from the trip and have a family party. On my to-do list is to get some good pics of the girls in these outfits but the party was just not the place. I think I am going to tell them, we can go to Disney IF you agree to a photo shoot when we get back-ha. The girls helped make the tutus and thankfully wanted to wear them. Brooke had to take hers off most of the day because of all the activities, bounce house, etc. But Blaire as you can see, wanted hers ON.

Betcha can't beat this!

Ok I was doing some crazy shopping getting 3 girls coordinated for this 8 days we will be gone to Disney. Whew...Anyway, Ayric said he would watch the kids so I could get a little more done. I was zipping through the Gap and spotted a cute enough white tank, plain but even had a little rhinestone heart at the bottom. It was marked .97 so I could not pass it up. When I got to the register, I even thought would that not be funny if it were an additional % off or something. The little guy with no personality and even less brains, rings it up and looks at the register and then says, ".01." I repeated, ".01." He said , "Yes." No smile, no funny comment, nothing. I chuckled and dug out a penny and handed it to him and ran out before someone realized I was STEALING a perfectly good tank top from them. Even funnier than the top being .01, was that the guy did not think to ask anyone if this was ok that he sell a shirt for a penny, or even crack a smile when he told me the total. Oh yes, and I almost forgot, he actually said, "Do you want your receipt in the bag

Long Time No Blog!

Valentine Cuties

Brynlee learning her ABCs

And she's off...

Three Cowgirls

Wow... I have not posted in over a month. Let's see where to begin. We had my birthday, then Valentine's Day, 4 cases of the FLU, and now planning 3 birthday parties in March. But most importantly..we are packing, planning, etc, for our BIG surprise Spring Break trip to DISNEY! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. The girls have no idea. They all have a birthday the week of Spring Break (I knew this would be helpful one day) so it is going to be a birthday celebration! The first Sat of Spring Break is Brooke's actual birthday so we are going to schedule a call from Cinderella and wake the girls up. Car will be packed and ready Friday night. We are going to somehow ask Brooke and Blaire what they would like to do for Spring Break/Birthday etc and if it doesn't already come out of Brooke's mouth (she tells us quite frequently she wants to go to Disney one day, but we keep telling her Brynlee has to be a little older) we are going to say, "How about Disney World?" and all hop in the car and head for the airport! Ok that's how it goes in my fairytale but I will let you know how it really turns out.

Laughter Lives

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

Ok now I have a reason to share a couple of funny stories....

Blaire, oh Blaire, what can I say. She is a spunky 2 year old and I love her. Here is one of her latest stunts. Well, we have been having conversations when she gets in trouble about who is in charge and why. (God made Mommies and Daddies to take care of you and tell you what to do, etc, etc) She woke up one morning and at the breakfast bar I could tell she was in deep thought. She said, "Mom, God told me from heaven with his magic wand, that I was the boss!" I think she must have had a dream about it or something. I don't know where the magic wand comes in.

Blaire had this revelation this afternoon as Uncle Adam drove up. She said, Uncle Adam, (pause) Uncle Michael, (pause) Uncle Alan (pause).... Uncle Todd....HEY, they're all on the same team!


Brooke (our 5 year old) has been to the Bass Pro Shop many times but the last trip she made a discovery. She was looking at all the "stuffed" animals and naming them, asking questions, etc. She paused and got very quiet. "Dad, were all these animals alive one time and now they are dead?"Ayric replied, "Yep." She held her composure but said, "We have got to get out of here with all these dead animals!" She is our vegetarian from birth with such a sensitive heart. The kid has never digested a piece of chicken, beef, pork. I tried to sneak it on for her when she was eating baby food, and out it came. She can pick out the tiniest pieces of chicken in soup. And believe me she has really no idea where it all comes from because if she did, none of us would be allowed to eat meat. Recently she asked me where hamburgers came from and I said, "Well... you know from animals, like cows... " I was really pushing it. She thought about it but I really don't think she gets the whole slaughter the animal and eat it thing yet. My guess is that she thinks it "comes from" a cow much like an egg comes from a chicken.

Found this through one of my other blog friends. After years of infertility issues, Kelly was induced yesterday with baby Harper...all was well with the pregnancy but baby Harper is in serious condition with pneumonia.

Not me Monday

I must have been pretty good this week, because I really can't think of many things I didn't do. For one, I am not enjoying nursing my 10 month old because it gives me more computer time. I also do not sit in my computer chair and nurse. That would be much too uncomfortable.

Oh- one more thing I would never do. I wouldn't even think of reprimanding another person's child at the mall playground. Because first of all I would never take my children to the MALL PLAYGROUND in the middle of cold and flu season, that would be outrageous right there. But this child who was running around screaming a high pitch annoying scream everywhere he went got right up in my daughter's face and for no apparent reason let go of another scream. It just happened before I could stop it..I said, Oh, no please don't scream in her face. If I had done this, I would say it was because I was protecting my own child. If my husband had been there, dying of embarrassment, he would have told me never to do that to another person's child, just ask mine to come away. OK maybe next time...

Picture People

We had these pictures made last weekend at Picture People. My mom wanted all the grandkids while we were all together. Here they are Libby 11, Landon 6, Brooke 5, Blaire 2, Brynlee 9 mos, and Whit 10 mos. Quite the little stairsteps.

Wrapping Up Christmas

I found a few more Christmas pics to share. Random events in December...so much fun!

All decked out to go see the Nutcracker
Brooke and Mrs. Luna at the Christmas party
Brynlee-all smiles!
At the Galleria
Santa party
Brynlee checks out the strange man
All my girls at the Mistletoe Fair