Doctor visits

We had a fun day to celebrate Lani's birthday, but it was followed by a busy day of doctors appts. We started the day off by going to the dentist at 8:00. Dr. David found a small cavity in a back tooth. They had said last time we were in that her molar's have deep grooves (not sure what you call it), but food gets stuck in them much easier and it's hard to get out - even when you brush good. My teeth are the exact same and I have 3 of them filled from cavaties when I was younger. I think there is not much way around it. The hygenist said she didn't have any plack so I guess we are doing ok with the brushing. When she gets her permanent teeth, we will just have to put seelants in there to help avoid those cavities.
So we get out of the dentist much later than we wanted to to get to school. About 30 min late, she gets to school with her birthday snack and Ella and I go to run a quick errand. We come back in time for snack to find the kids sitting in the hall. One child had a little potty accident so they were cleaning up the room. They found another room to have the cookie cake for Lani's birthday. So after a quick celebration, we were off to Dr. Morrison's for Ella's 18 month check up and Lani's 4 yr check up. Isn't it nice to do both at one time. Typically, my girls are pretty good at the Dr's office. Dr. Morrison always says he likes to see us b/c the girls are calm. Lani really does like to go see him and Ella might fuss a little, but she is good. So, here is our appt. First, Lani has to get her finger pricked. No big deal. She has done it before and been just fine. She had already started crying and didn't want to give the nurse her finger. We get through that and head back to the room. Lani of course did great with Dr. Morrison, Ella cried a little, but did fine. So now we wait for the nurse to bring the shots. Lani knew she was getting shots, but when that nurse came in, she started freaking out. She wanted Ella to go first, but they did not have Ella's shot's yet. So, Lani starts to cry and is sitting in the corner. The nurse asks if we need some help. I said yes, thinking I could give Ella to another nurse and help Lani on the table to get the shot. So here came the nurse and I put Lani on the table and she is screaming. I took her off and had a quick talk and we got back up but started screaming again and kicking our legs. The nurse ended up bringing in one more nurse to help hold Lani down while they gave her the shots. What was funny is that when they finally gave her the shot, she started to calm down b/c she realized it really wasn't that bad. So, Lani was done and now had time to calm down while Ella got her shots. Of course she cried a little, but by the time I picked her back up, she was fine. I had to have a little talk with Lani in the car that we were not going to act that way in the Dr's office. I told her it's ok to cry with the shots, but we are not going to scream and throw a fit like that.
Whew, that was a lot of Dr's appts and issues to deal with, but we made it through.

Happy 4th Birthday Lani!

It's Lani's actual Birthday and I can't believe she is 4 years old!!! She is so excited it's finally her birthday. I planned a fun day for her! Birthday's are my favorite so I love for them to be special. We got ready and went to Pump it Up with the Cantey's and Gracie Phillips. There were a lot of kids there, but they had fun playing. Then I thought it would be so fun to go to the Mexican restaurant, since we go so often, and let them sing to her. I was hoping Mattie would be back from the beach because we usually go with her to eat Mexican, but she hadn't made it back. So we headed to Jalapenos at the mall so Robert would be closer to meet us from work. (Robert wants me to tell you the health rating was 86 b/c of of roaches and improper food temp - Robert says CLEAN UP!) Camille and Cami got to join up with us as well. So after eating, here came the 3 men to sing to Lani, which we surprised her. I got the video camera and camera out and just knew Lani was going to love this - but she didn't! She jumped in Robert's lap and would not even look at them. I don't know what the deal was!
From there, we went home for naps and then got dinner ready for Mimi and Grandpa and G.G. and Grandy to come over. She had wanted to dress up for dinner, so she put her new dress that Robbie made her on along with her birthday tiara, earrings, shoes, bracelet and ring. Check out the pic, didn't she look cute! After eating dinner, she got to open up her gifts from us and them. She was so excited about her Annie movie, her sleeping bag and her large box of dress up clothes. She put an outfit on and got up on the ottoman to sing us a song with her microphone. She was loving it! And then her last surprise was to go out to get ice cream. She loves to go out and get some ice cream. We went to Cold Stone and she got mint ice cream with oreos and loved it! I think she had a really good birthday!!

William Bozeman's 1st Birthday!

After a fun day of celebrating Lani's birthday, we got to go to Bham Sunday afternoon to celebrate William Bozeman's 1st Birthday! Melissa and Emily came down for Lani's party which is always fun and so sweet. Of course we didn't want to miss Williams's birthday. Melissa tried, several times, to tell us we didn't have to come since we were having some much rain from Hurricane Fay and there were tornado warnings around the state. We checked out the forecast for the afternoon and it looked like it was going to be ok, so we headed up the road. The kids had a great time playing and we always love when we get to see Melissa and Brian. The little girls played in the playroom with the dress up and kitchen items. Then Melissa let them make bracelets which was fun. When it was time for William's cake, he wasn't so sure to begin with, but he started to dig it into some. The lime green and blue from the cake mixed together as he ate and turned into a darker green which someone commented he looked like the Incredible Hulk! It was very cute! He was rubbing his hands all over his face and just smearing it on - that's the best part of that 1st birthday cake! We had a great time - the girls fell asleep on the way home and got put straight in bed when we got home! Happy 1st Birthday William!
(when watching the slideshows, to see the captions you have to click on the caption box in the bottom left corner)

Lani's Birthday Party

Lani's birthday party was planned for Saturday morning as a water slide party. We did the same thing last year and the kids love the big slide. I had already thought how easy the party was going to be because there was not much to set up and I was just going to do a little snack food. Then Hurricane Fay came into the picture! So Tuesday I started checking the internet, quit often, to see what it was going to be like by Saturday. Of course the Hurricane could not decide what it was going to do, therefore I could not decide what to do - go for it, reschedule, do something different! I changed my mind a couple times, but we decided to go ahead with the party, switch it to my parent's garage (another room in their house) and let the kids do crafts. The easy party turned into running around on Friday to the craft stores to gather all the materials we needed. Then going to moms to set up the stations for our crafts. We had a table to make salt dough ornaments, a table to do sand art, and a sea mural for the kids to paint. It really was not that bad, just a little more time and planning. Lani was excited though because she loves to do crafts. The day turned out great and the kids seemed to have a good time with all the crafts.
After crafts, we of course had cake and ice cream. Lani had picked out a princess castle cake pan that I had her cake made from and then she also wanted birthday cake ice cream. We also got to have a princess castle pinata - which was a surprise for Lani and she had really been wanting the pinata. Can you tell Lani is into Princess things? :) We finally got to open presents of which she got so many cute gifts and lots of princess items!
It turned out to be a fun birthday party and a great outing for the kids since we had so much rain!

I find myself taking pictures of clouds...

These have been over the past month and taken on my cell phone camera...

First day of School!

Today was Lani's first day of K4 school at Frazer! She was very excited. We had parents night the night before and Robert took some pictures of her teacher and room to show Lani. Lani loved it! We even had to draw a picture of our child so they could have it the next day. I'm not such a good drawer, but I did my best for her. Her teacher is Mrs. Cobb and she is very sweet! I have been told for many years if I could ever have Mrs. Cobb, I needed to get her b/c she is the best and SO nice. So we were very excited to get her this year. Not only does she have a great teacher, but she has all kinds of friends and people she knows in her class. There are 3 other children in her class that we go to church with, John Hixon (our neighbor), Luke Pittman, and Landon Perdue. Then there is another boy that we had just been to his house about 2 weeks prior and his grandmother and Mattie are best friends. His name is Preston Macrory. She did meet a little girl the first day and they seemed to already hit it off. Her name is Peyton. So, I think she is going to have a great year with her classmates and teacher. (Mrs. Cobb hurt her back so for the first couple weeks, Mrs. Bridges will be her teacher)

She will only be going 3 days a week so I can keep her at home with me a little still. They have a pretty stict schedule to make sure they get through everything that the 5 day 4's are going through and learning. I think she will be just fine and hopefully ready for kindergarten next year. Her first project was to make her "comfort bear" that will be hung up in the room and then she can tell about it on the day she brings snack this month. She made hers last Friday and had a lot of fun. I told Robert that when I tell Lani she has to decorate her bear for school she would first thing say she needed to get down her arts and crafts box. Sure enough, that's what she did. She put eyes on him and drew his nose and mouth. Then I thought she could make a necklace for her bear. So she strung the beads on and we attached the necklace. Then she wanted to make something sturdy for her feet and then gave her a belly button (Lani has this thing with her own belly button - she can pull it all the way out!) Then of course we had to use the stamps so she decorated his shirt with her stamps. And finally we were suppose to put a picture of the family on his hand. Her "comfort bear" turned out very cute! She did a great job!

Lani unclothed with her unclothed bear Lani with her finished bear!

A day at the Lake

This past weekend we went to the Duggar's lake house for the day. They had up a lot of the college kids and it was a fun day to hang out and socialize with everyone. Lots of people wanted to go tubing so Chris was taking out different groups. They have this huge tube which 4 people can get on. It was fun watching different sets of people go out and seeing Chris try to get them thrown off. Well, me, LeeAnn, Danielle and the kids decided to go out on the boat. LeeAnn and Danielle were going to go tubing. It was fun watching them. After LeeAnn was done, they were trying to talk me into going out. I was definitely not planning on getting on the tube. I think the first and last time I went tubing was in high school. Somehow I got talked into getting on this huge tube with Danielle. I will have to say, it was pretty fun. I was holding on very tightly and trying to figure out how to balance myself with each turn. I will have to say, there were a couple close calls, but I never got thrown off. I did decide I had had enough. Danielle asked if I ready to be done and I quickly said yes, let's drop...and we both let go and fell off. It was fun though and I'm glad I did it. I was definitely feeling it in my arms and back the next day.

It was a great day at the lake and the kids had so much fun playing in the murky sand and water. They all did great! Lani was in heaven because Lindsay Crewe, Abby Morrison and Amy Trumbull were all up there. She just loves them! She thinks she is as big as they are. They are always so sweet!

Ella

Here are some pictures of Ella recently doing different things. She is just getting so big! This picture is from the first time I let her sit at the play table and eat without being in her chair. She thought she was so big. Lani sits over here sometimes to eat breakfast if I am getting ready so Ella was loving it.

ere I was trying to take some pictures of her so my mom could print one for a grouping she was doing. She is funny trying to take pictures. She does not sit still too long. She will say "cheese" and then she is up and going again. Lani was trying to help me and letting her drink water out of a cup thinking this was going to help her listen to me and let me take pictures. It was very cute. Then later I got some of her holding her 3 purses. Both my girls have always loved carrying around purses - I guess a girl thing :)

Then finally, Robert was out in the garage working on changing the tube on his bicycle tire. Ella was trying very hard to help him. She had the wrench in her hand and she was going to work hard to fix that bike.

My new bike!

Robert wrote a couple weeks ago about my new bike trailer I brought. And I think he mentioned that I had the bike trailer, but no bike. Well, I had a bike, but it was about 17 yrs old and needed some updating, although a good one. So I took it to the local bike shop to see what it would cost to fix it up. It started out to be under $100 for a tune up and new tubes, but then it needed new brakes, I wanted a new seat and maybe higher handles bars. So now we were up to about $200. Is it worth it or should I just buy a new one? The guy showed me a new Raleigh bike (for $300) which was really comfortable and l loved the look of it. Well, I don't make decisions quickly...especially when it comes to spending money. I took Robert up to see it and then was going to think about it overnight. He told me he would hold it for me. I decided I would get it but I had to work at the MetLife Chamber Golf Tournament the next day. I forgot to tell the guy that and then of course got busy and never called them. So when I went back the next day - No Bike! They had sold it the night before! I told them, I guess it wasn't meant for me, although I was really sad about it because I had finally made a decision (Robert loves when I make decisions) and then it wasn't there. So I went on a search online calling stores in Bham, Auburn and finally Prattville. During my search, I was told about a Trek bike (Navigator 2.0) that was similiar to the one I was looking at at the other store and the Prattville store had one. So out to Prattville we went on Saturday to check out the bike. I loved it! The design, the fit, the color - it was perfect! A bike that retails for $430, I got for $300 - Yeah, I love getting good deals! You can check out the bike here.
So I finally got to hook up MY bike to the trailer and go for a ride. We went Sunday afternoon and I pulled Ella while Lani and the Hixon boys rode their bikes for a fun ride in the rain. We've gone Mon and Wed morning for rides and then tonight, Robert got a new tube in his bike and me, him and Ella (Lani is spending the night with great grandparents) went for a ride and stopped by Amie's house for a short visit with her and Taylor. I am so excited about our rides!

Mattie, get better soon!

Mattie hurt her shoulder this past Sunday and now has her right arm in a sling which she can not move around. It has really been hurting, but she does have some medicine to help some. So tonight, we made dinner and took it over to Mattie's house to eat. We had a great time visiting and eating together. Aunt Ada even came over and we talked her into staying and eating with us - now that's a feat in itself. She brought some yummy cookies from Cafe Louisa which we all enjoyed. We ended the night with Lani rolling Mattie's hair with her velcro curlers. Since she can't use her arm, she wanted Lani to roll it up. We weren't sure how well that would go, but honestly Lani did a great job. Robert took a picture and will have to post it later (he is asleep in the chair while I'm watching the Olympics). It was a good night and we enjoyed being with Mattie and Aunt Ada. Mattie, we pray your arm will heal quickly and you will not be in much pain! We love you!

Thank you Lord!

Oh, a better day today after I think the worst day I have had as a mom yesterday. Both girls were very good today. No spankings- wow!!! Happy hearts, obedience, no yelling, both took great naps! Oh Thank You Lord!
Well, now a little about Ella I have been wanting to write for awhile. Ella has always seemed to like her books. She would go into her room and sit by herself and pull off book by book and look through them. A couple weeks ago she began to pull out 2 books, everyday, that she wanted me to read to her. The first is "Where's Spot?" Each page you are trying to find Spot the dog. It will say - "Is he in the piano?" and you pull the flap up and inside is another animal that says "no". Next page you look somewhere else and it says "no", until you get to the end and find Spot. So Ella reads the book and each time she flips up to look she would say "no" with the cutest inflection. The other book is "Goodnight Moon" - a classic. Her favorite part is when the old lady whispers "hush". So when we get to that page, she puts her finger up to her mouth and quietly says "shh". So every day and night she goes into her room and somehow finds these 2 books and brings them to me to read. Oh, those sweet moments!

It's been a couple weeks

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I have written in here. We've been pretty busy these last few weeks and the girls have had some changes going on. I'll probably do a couple different posts on things we have been doing, but here are the challenges I am having with the girls. Ella decided she didn't need that morning nap anymore...which can be a nice thing. I'm not scheduling around staying at home to make sure we get that needed sleep. But at the same time, it makes us a little more fussy trying to make it to the afternoon nap. We gradually made our way out of no morning naps. One day we would have one and the next we would skip. Then we would skip 2 days and I think last week she didn't have any morning naps. Humm...maybe that is one reason last week we were so cranky!! She also last week has had terrible diapers...several a day! It does look like she has a couple teeth coming in, but she has a mouth full and we have never had this before. I tell you, I don't mind changing diapers and never have really had a problem with it. But last Monday, I almost gagged changing her diaper...that was a first. Robert had to change it Tuesday morning and he said the same thing...whew!! On top of all that, we decided to bite a little boy...on the face...last week!! Yes, I was horrified! Now Ella has a little temper and can be aggressive and even act like she will bite you, but I just prayed she would never bite another child. Oh how God humbles you...quickly!! She even bite me on the leg later that week. We are working on it and Lord willing will be growing out of this quickly. I'm sure many of my friends with little kids will be wanting to avoid me for awhile :) I told Robert I was going to tell Ella she had to stay in her room and have no friends until she could be kind :)
Now Lani, she also decided around the same time as Ella, that she no longer needed her afternoon nap. Now, I knew this would happen at some point (earlier than later I thought), but I just was not quite ready. Most of her friends no longer take afternoon naps, but we kept getting in that 2 hrs of rest. So even though she was getting ready to get out of that nap, she was still needing some of that sleep. No nap still means we have rest time in our room and can read books and rest on the bed. Well, this took some getting used to because she didn't want that either. So needless to say, the last 2 weeks with her have been a little rough...less sleep, whiny, arguing, didn't want to stay in her room, but this weekend, we have done much better. The nap/rest time is very important to me because I have to do my little bit of work during that time, so this is another reason why it's been a little difficult.
Life with kids is never dull and just when you think things have been going pretty good, something gets thrown at you. I have to continue to seek the Lord for wisdom and guidance, strength and patience and know that He will get us through each trial. There is always something to learn and my faith grows stronger. "Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and HE will direct your path" Proverbs 3:5. " The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control." Galatians 5:22. I need to practice each of these, everyday, with my children. Thank you Lord for my children and that through them you are able to teach me so much!!

Cole's Bday Party

We got to celebrate Cole's 7th bday in Bham. I can't believe he is already 7 - he is getting so big! We took the blow up slide up to their house for the kids to play on for the party. With Ashley being so creative, she made it a water/sea theme party. She painted some soft canvas a solid blue and drew a sea scene on it for the kids to paint. As for the cake, Cole wanted ice cream cone cupcakes. Ashley wanted to make them and let the kids decorate them as octopus'. So we started to make them and decided to fill them up really high hoping they would make big rounded tops for the octopus'. Well, we don't know what happened, but they were a flop. The sides of the cones started melting down and they didn't puff up at all. So, we made some more and just didn't feel them up as high - they turned out just fine.
Oh, the party was for Cole and his friend David (who turned 8) who lives right behind him. They do their parties together some b/c Cole is always on the road with the family on his birthday and when they are home to celebrate, it's always close to David's. So all the kids got there and had so much fun playing on the big slide. They thought it was great! And then of course the paintng mural. It was fun and Lani stayed over forever painting. After we ate, they made their cute octopus' with spike icing, spice drops and gummy worms. Very cute! It was a fun birthday party for Cole and David. David even told Ashley it was his best birthday ever! Happy Birthday boys!

Anyone need a doctor?

After these pictures I am thinking medical school for sure....The future Dr. Lani and Ella