Mood Swings

This little girl has no middle!!! She is either in the best mood ever, all day long, or she is what the girls like to all "major grumpitude". Yesterday, she almost drove me crazy....she frowned, cried, clung to me, shouted NO, and whined ALL DAY LONG. The day started rough! Tommy was home in the morning, preparing for an afternoon flight out of town. He went to get her out of bed when she woke up. The minute he opened the door, she screamed "Nooooo, Mamaaaaa!!!!" at him and threw herself back down in the bed. He spent the next few minutes coming in and out of her room, while she screamed no at him and waited for me to come. It was down hill from there and she spent the entire morning grumpy!

Now today, she is the complete opposite!!! As many times as she made me nearly pull my hair out yesterday, today she has made me smile. She is full of laughter, smiles and fun playtime. She has been content and easy going. She woke up happy (though still asking only for Mama) and has remained that way throughout the day.She has played with her sisters and I and explored the house, her use of the word NO has even been minimal.

I think at this point, she is my moodiest girl for sure. Now if I could only figure out what it is that determines that mood, so I could have the happy version all the time!!!

Girl's Day at the Zoo

In keeping with my plan to have as much fun as possible before summer vacation ends next week, the girls and I headed to the zoo Friday morning. I managed to pick the hottest day of the week, with temps hovering around 100 degrees, but we still had a great time! The wild peacocks, birds and geese that roam the zoo grounds continue to be my girls' favorite things! We had a great time!

The Wildlife Experience

We are trying to soak up the last few weeks of summer and hit all off our favorite fun spots before we have daily commitments! Last Wednesday we loaded up and headed to the Wildlife Experience. We have a membership and go there often....the girls love it. The Dutcher girls met us and we had a great time.

Afterwards we headed to Castle Rock for a change in Chick-Fil-A pace. They have a different playground than ours and a little sprinkle bar for your ice-cream. The only downside was that it would be a 30 minute drive home and I didn't want Gracyn to fall asleep in the car. No problem, I just got her an ice-cream cone of her own to eat on the way. The barely put any ice-cream in it and she was thrilled. Happy and awake the whole way home. The only problem, I realized when we got home and there wasn't a trace of any ice-cream left. She ate the ENTIRE thing, including the small paper wrapper around the bottom of the cone. Oops!!!

Fudge Pops

The kids are happy, but it definitely wasn't my smartest purchase ever! Gracyn was easy, we just hosed her down. But, the big girls ate theirs fully clothed and I then spent 30 minutes that evening scrubbing chocolate out of their dresses! Oh well, they love them, summer doesn't last forever, and there are only 17 left in the box!!!

Fountains!

After Storytime last week, the girls and I walked over to the park behind the library for some playtime in the fountains. It was really warm here, so the cold water was nice! We packed a picnic and had a great time. Reagan loved it.....she was all over the place and splashing like crazy. Addison liked it okay, though I think she was too cold most of the time and she didn't care for being pelted with water. Gracyn watched from a safe distance, munched on Cheetos and played in the grace. She did venture in some when she discovered that she could fill the Tupperware bowls and pour water!

Texas Friends

Last week, our old neighbors from Texas were in Colorado on vacation and we got to spend the morning catching up with them. The girls and I got up and headed to Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs to visit Ann, David and Nathan. Nathan is almost 15 now, but he was always Addison's little buddy. For 2 years starting when Addison was 1, Nathan walked home from school to our house and hung out with us about an hour or two until Ann finished up work at her school. Addison was always delighted when "Napan" arrived. She bossed him around and he played everything she wanted him to. When Reagan came along, he held her occasionally and entertained Addison while I took care of her.

It was so good to see familiar faces!

Gracyn ran around checking things out.
Sassy Reagan was performing a show on their stage!

Here they are in the book-nook, no luck with the group shot!

We played at Focus until I was sure that Nathan and David were bored to tears, then we headed to lunch at Red Robin! I am sure it was an interesting lunch for them....never a dull or still moment with my crew!!! Thanks for making time on your trip to see us.

Free

I completely forgot to write about my favorite! I don't know how I could have left this out.

Last week at church, the girls learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors. On the way home we were talking about how his brothers were jealous of him and I asked them if they knew what jealous meant. Addison told me it was when you wanted all the stuff that other people have. We then started talking about how we should appreciate the things we have and try not to want for what we see others with.

It was a good serious discussion, until Reagan piped in, "Well, if you want something someone else has, you could just ask Santa Claus, because he will just bring it to you. For Free!!! Then, you won't be jealous about it anymore."

Wisdom, from a 3 year old.

Comedy Tour 2010

~Addison told Gracyn she was going to be a "Smarty-Pants Blondie" when she grew up.

~Addison told me, "I know how dogs and cats have their babies. They poop them out of their bottom. I saw it on Milo and Otis." Nice, thank goodness for C-Sections and the fact that all our babies just came right out of mommy's tummy.

~Tommy and Addison were on the bottom bunk getting ready to read bedtime stories. Reagan came running in the room, jumped on the bed and said, "Make some room for little Reagan!".

~Walking out of Jason's Deli, Addison sniffed the air and said, "It smells like giraffes out here".

~Watching the saddle bronc riders at the rodeo Addison looked at a rider and said, "Wow, he's really rockin' it!".

~My dad said was teasing Reagan, to which she replied, "No way hosey." I think she means No way Jose.

~Addison was looking at my bridal portrait and asked if I was a kid when I got married. I am not sure what that says about how the aging process has been on me for the last 8 years.

~Reagan and I were going back and forth about something a few days ago. I was trying to explain something and she just didn't believe that what I was saying was true. Addison came across the room and whispered in my ear, "Sometimes you just have to tell her okay and pretend that she is right." This is hilarious to me, because we have to do that with Addison ALL THE TIME.

~Reagan is often working all angles to get something first. She will tell me, "Well, I am the one who is hungry, thirsty, etc...."

~Tommy told Addison, "Your Mommy, she is hot!". Well, she takes everything quite literally right now, so she proceeded to study me for the next few minutes. Then she pointed to a red mark on my arm, where I had been holding Gracyn and said, "Well, I guess you look a little hot right there."

15 Months

~22 pounds, average height, blond as can be and blue-eyed

~LOVES playing on beds, as pictured above

~has tons of words and picking them up daily, "baby", "no" and "mama" are the clearest and most often heard

~has to bring her 2 blankies out of bed with her every morning

~still not sleeping through the night, but takes a great nap and does great at bedtime

~nurses 3 times each day

~LOVES feeding Maggie

~discovered how to hunt for rolly-polly bugs with her sisters

~climbs out of her high chair to sit in my lap and eat off my plate at most every meal

~LOVES to dance

~puts a "show" on for us if we put her in a tutu and give her a microphone

~LOVES to swim

~LOVES going for rides in her pink car

~reads her animal book everyday, and every time says "uh-oh" when we get to the elephants

~LOVES birds

~bites when frustrated

~happy, sweet, funny little girl

My Little Gymnast

Reagan had her little gymnastics award's ceremony a few weeks ago. She loves gymnastics and her teacher, Mrs. Jill! Reagan has been climbing since before she could walk, and she is STRONG, so the sport suits her. She is getting better all the time. The bars are her favorite. I love watching her flip all around!

One More Weekend

For our final weekend in Texas, we drove back from The Woodlands and met Tommy's parents at the hotel we had stayed at earlier in the week. His brother and sister-in-law came into town too, so we had a great time catching up with everyone. We headed back out to the pool right away, and spent most of our weekend out there. We spent one day visiting with all the extended family at Tommy's grandmother's house. And, Tommy and Gracyn got to spend some great early morning time at breakfast together, while the big girls and I slept in.

Here is Gracyn taking a phone call by the pool.

The girls LOVE the luggage cart! On this day, I was trying to get showered and get packed up to leave. The only way Tommy could get Gracyn off of my hip, was to go get this for them to play on!

We had lunch at Babe's on Sunday....yummy!!! It was our second time there on this visit....no that I am back home, so far away from a good chicken fried steak, I am thinking we should have gone more often.

We were taking pictures on the patio afterwards. Addison was all about posing for us....we got some great shots of her! We took lots of family pics, though we are all glistening. It was 2:00 in the afternoon and probably over 100 degrees outside.

Here is an attempt at a photo with Great-Grandma.

And, with Uncle Steve and Aunt "Nea".

Gracyn loves this chair!!!

Happy 4th of July

What a great day! We started early, with breakfast at Einstien's Brothers to go and setting up in the grass for the parade. We met several neighbors there and our 8 little girls loved every bit of the show. They love, love, love catching candy!!!

Later we had friends over for dinner. We ordered dinner and our 6 little girls played. They had all had good long naps in anticipation of a late night of fireworks. They couldn't get outside fast enough. We had a few poppers for them in the backyard and then we headed out to our street for some neighborhood fireworks. The community show was cancelled due to rain, but my girls didn't even realize there was supposed to be more! They went to bed happy and tired at 10:15!

The Woodlands

Wednesday morning we got up and made the trek in to The Woodlands. It was the first time we have been back since we moved. We got to drive by our old house and catch up with great friends. We stayed with the Kuydendahl's and Sherry and the boys came over as much as possible. Poor David was on a work trip and missed all the fun. It took us no time at all to pick-up right were we left off. I also had Shipley's Donuts both mornings we were there, so that was a big bonus!!!

The evening we arrived we headed to Rico's. Yum!!! I thought I had found a good Mexican food restaurant here, but then I was reminded how great it is in Texas. After we ate, the kids played behind the restaurant. Don't ask me how we got them to actually pose for this picture. I know I have mentioned it before, but Addison.....she is TALL!

Sherry, Michele, and I

Gracyn....she was so charming, I am sure my friends are all convinced to have a third.

The were so happy playing in the dirt.

Here they are with a little dress-up time the next morning. Poor Wesley is running around somewhere in his Spiderman costume. He asked us after were were there awhile, if we had any boy toys with us.

Gracyn needs a costume.

Later, we took advantage of their amazing backyard and spent some time in the pool.

Here is our attempt at a family photo....never easy! We were headed out to Double Daves for the night. We met 38 of our favorite friends there and got to catch-up with everyone. It was complete chaos with all the kids running around. It was so much fun, but I never got my camera out, hopefully I can borrow pictures off of other blogs soon.

Just hanging out in the afternoon. The guys got to go to the gym and later the girls headed out for a nice, long pedicure. The kids snuggled up to watch a movie, played and destroyed Michele's house!!!

After Double Daves we walked down to a fun new yogurt shop. It is self-serve with a huge bar of toppings. They give you a nice big bowl to fill....but be careful, they then charge you by the ounce!!!

Friday morning, we played at the house a bit, packed up and then headed to The Woodlands mall. We let the kids play on the playground, visited the pet store and rode the carousel. Finally we had lunch and then said good-bye. Thanks sweet friends for a wonderful trip. We are planning on Great Wolf in November!!!