Selfies in the Rain

We spent Saturday at a... drumroll please... softball tournament! Shocker. We left really early that morning because we stopped in Bryant to pick up our new car. Friday night was basically like Christmas Eve for Drew and me. We were so excited to go see our new car!

We stopped for breakfast on the way. Can you tell she had powdered donuts?

After we got all the paper work signed for the car, we headed on down the road to Jacksonville to play a little softball. The weather felt awesome that morning. It was actually a little cool and cloudy with a gentle breeze.

And then it got H.O.T.

And then it P.O.U.R.E.D.

So we took selfies in the car. Totally Livy's idea.

The tournament ended up getting cancelled due to the bad weather, so we settled for a good supper at Logan's Steakhouse before heading home.

Night Owl

Friday night Charlotte was in rare form. She is usually out like a light around 8:30-9ish every night but on Friday, she was wide awake! She was so happy and smiley. We kept getting tickled at all her faces and expressions. I just love her.

The New Mommy Mobile

Check it out! This Mama finally has a mommy mobile! No more groceries rolling around spilling out in the bed of the truck. This is the first vehicle we've ever bought. Drew and I have both been driving the same vehicles we got as teenagers, until now. I am so thankful and grateful for a husband who works hard to provide for his family. We all LOVE the new ride. I'm pretty sure if Livy said it once, she said it a hundred times...

"This car is sooooooo COOL!"

The Bubble Story

Yesterday, Andee came over and spent the day with us while her mom and dad were at work. She's about 4 months older than Charlotte but they're about the same size. I would bet that Andee actually weighs less. She's such a tiny little thing, and Charlotte... well, she's just not so tiny. 

They were hilarious to watch together. Their facial expressions were so funny that I couldn't resist writing this little story... 

 

Livy Had A Little Lamb

Yesterday we spent the day in Hot Springs at a softball tournament. It was pretty hot all day, but the girls were so good! After Drew's 4 o'clock game, I loaded the girls in the truck and we headed out to do a little shopping. I needed to get a few things, but mostly we were just trying to stay in some air conditioning.

We parked at Hobby Lobby, and as I was getting Livy out she insisted on bringing a little toy sheep with her. It came with a tiny Lalaloopsy doll set, and I mean, it is tiny. It's about the size of a dime.

"That's fine, you can bring it but you have to keep up with it. If you lose it, we won't get it back."
"Ok, I'll take good care of it!"

She did a pretty good job and only dropped it out of the buggy once. We were done shopping when she said,
"Mom, I really need to go poop right now!"

So we turned around and headed towards the bathroom. Sure enough, she did need to poop. When she was done she asked if I would help her pull her shorts up, so as I reached down for her shorts, my hand accidentally hit hers sending the sheep plunging right down into the toilet.

The toilet that hadn't been flushed yet.

The toilet that still had poop in it.

A very public toilet, I might add.

Yep.

So. There we were. I'm pretty sure time stood still for several minutes. Or maybe it was just a couple of seconds, I'm not entirely sure. But the way I saw it, I had 2 options:

1. Just flush it. Like I said, it was tiny so it would go down no problem. After all, we were in a nasty public restroom.
or
2. Get it out. I knew there would be lots of tears involved if I didn't get it for her, and after I made such a big deal about keeping up with it, technically it was my fault. If I hadn't knocked her hand we wouldn't be in such a predicament.

So I did what any good mother would do. I went in. I stuck my hand into a public poopy potty for a dumb little plastic sheep. Livy shouted cheers of joy as I scrubbed my hands with as much soap as I could get my hands on.

We paid for our stuff and got out of there as quickly as possible. As we were driving back to the fields, I asked,

"Liv, you still have your sheep?"
"Umm..."
"What do you mean? Where's your sheep?"
"I think I left it in Hobby Lobby. I'm sorry."

So there ya have it. My sacrifice was all in vain, and I'm still not over it.

Saturdays

Last Saturday while we were at the softball tournament, I had taken the girls out to the truck so I could feed Charlotte. Livy was having a blast pretending to drive the truck and asking me a million questions. This one was my favorite...

"Mom, what day is it today?"

"It's Saturday."

"Oh great. I just LOVE Saturdays."

"Me too, baby. Why do you like Saturdays?"

"I just love the sound of Satur."

That's a new one. I assumed she was going to say something along the lines of getting to spend time with her daddy. 

Nope. I shouldn't assume. 

She just loves the sound of Satur. 

Bug Skills

You're looking at the 2014 church league champs! We wrapped up another successful season of church league softball tonight and came home with the trophy!

When we got home, Livy noticed a bug crawling up the door in our bedroom. She hollered for her daddy to get the bug, and he did, just like always.

"Thank you, Daddy. You're our hero!"

"You're welcome."

"You've got bug skills, Dad!"

Has there ever been a better compliment?! I don't think so.

Happy Father's Day, Drew!

Happy Father's Day to my best friend. After church, our day consisted of playing with Livy in her $9 plastic kiddie pool, hitting some golf balls in the yard, snuggling with Charlotte, and catching a nap during the US Open. It was a great day.


I love my babies' Daddy!

Happy Father's Day, Pappy!

It's no secret that I think Drew is an amazing husband and father, and I try not to let a day go by that I don't tell him so. But he gets it honest... he knows how to be a loving, caring husband and a selfless, doting father because he was raised by one. There really aren't enough adjectives to describe how good Pappy is to us, and Annie, too, of course!

Back when Drew and I were first married, we were discussing God's love, how much He loves us. I remember Drew made this comparison - "Just think about how much my dad loves us. How he'll do whatever he can to help us and he'll give up anything for us... I can't imagine someone loving us more than that, but God does." The depth of God's love for us really is unfathomable.

Pappy is the prime example of a selfless, drop-whatever-he's-doing-and-come-help father.

He never lets us buy our own meals when we go out to eat with them.

He's come to our rescue countless times when we've had an emergency (a fridge go out, a leaking roof, a dead battery, etc.)

He worked for months on our new house when we bought it scraping the popcorn ceilings, replacing sheet rock, painting, installing floors, hanging light fixtures, and so much more.

He loves his grandbabies, spoils them rotten, and drives them a little crazy, all in good fun!

I'm pretty sure they bought the party barge just so us kids and grandkids could use it every summer.

He prays for us everyday, and he doesn't even have to admit to that, I just know he does. That's the type of father he is.

He is quick to forgive when we make bad decisions or goof up or break a beam off the boat trailer... woops! 

He never misses a dance recital, an AWANA closing program, a parade, a birthday party, or a holiday. He's always there, no matter what.

He's one of the best men I know, and I'm so glad he raised Drew to be just like him. I'm proud to call him my father-in-law.

That's Not a Reason to Cry

Here lately, Livy has been a little on the dramatic side when things don't quite go her way. And in true 3 year old fashion, it's usually something really insignificant that sends her running away crying. I try to nip that in the bud, and I always tell her that's not a reason to cry.

For example, after church tonight she asked if we were going to eat supper in the gym and when we told her no, she broke down in tears. Drew told her that's not a reason to cry because no one was eating in the gym!

Tonight, we were all hanging out in our bedroom watching the basketball game and Drew was messing with Livy. I don't remember exactly what he was saying to her, but he started pretending like he was crying and she looked at him and said,
"Daddy, that's not a reason to cry."

So funny! And apparently she does listen.

Garage Overhaul

For the past several weeks I had been racking my brain trying to think of something special to do for Drew's Father's Day gift. I know he would be completely fine with only a card, but he deserves more than that. I wanted to do something big! Well, sort of. Something big on a budget.

Somehow I came up with the idea of redoing our garage. It desperately needed it, too. We didn't do a thing to it when we moved in 4 years ago, so it was in sad shape. The ceiling had mildew spots all over it, the walls were painted a dark, dreary brown color, and it was just an overall disorganized mess. It was so embarrassing that every time we were expecting company, we'd close the garage and make them come through the front door so they wouldn't have to tread their way through the nasty, cobwebbed, dingy, dirty garage of doom.

I called my sister and asked if she'd be willing to help me, and she graciously accepted the challenge. Then I began this overhauling by scouring over Pinterest. Of course. I found so many awesome organizational ideas, and that's when I came across the Rubbermaid Fast Tracks. It's basically a rail mounted to your wall and it comes with all different sized hooks to hang things up. I knew I had to get me some of these. So last week I went to Home Depot while Drew was at work and picked up these Fast Tracks and I also got a big metal shelving unit for storage. I hid everything in Pappy and Annie's shop so Drew wouldn't have a clue.

Then on Monday, I went to pick up the paint. I hadn't mentioned any of this to Livy for obvious reasons. I didn't want her spoiling the surprise! She heard me talking about it at the paint store, so I figured I better explain it to her.

"We're going to paint the garage and fix it up for Daddy as a surprise, so you can't tell him about it. Ok?"
"Ok."
"I mean it, you can't tell Daddy anything! It's going to be a surprise!"
"Ok, I won't."

When we got home from the paint store, I hid all the paint supplies in Charlotte's closet. I wanted to remind her about keeping quiet just in case...
"Now remember, it's a surprise, so you can't say anything about this to Daddy."
"I won't."

"Good."

"I'll just say 'Hey Daddy, Mama has something verrrrrrry special for you!'"
"No!! You can't even say that! Just don't say anything about it."

Later on that evening Drew got home and while we were all hanging out in the living room, he just casually asked Livy what she did that day...
"We went to the paint store!"
I just shook my head. I knew she was gonna blow it!

"Oh really?"

"Yep! But I can't say anything else!"

At this point, Drew and I were both trying not to crack up. He asked me,

"So do I need to keep asking her questions?"

"No! Just stop. I don't know what she'll say."

Then Livy said,

"It's a surprise. So don't look in there."

"Don't look in where?"

She cupped her hands around her mouth and whispered, "In the closet!!!"

We lost it. I'm pretty sure we both had tears in our eyes we were laughing so hard. Lesson learned. Don't tell your 3 year old something that needs to be kept a secret! Thankfully, Drew didn't do much digging to figure out what we had up our sleeves, or in the closet, rather.

Lori came down Monday afternoon, and we woke up bright and early the next morning to get started on it. Annie kept the girls most of the day so we could work. We cleared out the garage, painted the entire thing, and reorganized it all. I hung up a "Happy Father's Day!" sign so it'd be the first thing Drew saw when he opened the garage. It took nearly all day to get it done, but when he came home and saw it, it was all worth it. We had pulled off the surprise and he loved it!



First Baby Sister

I FINALLY ordered pictures of the girls that my friend, Jennifer, took when Charlotte was a newborn. I framed one of the small ones and set it on the end table by the recliner in the living room. When Olivia saw it the next morning, she was so excited!

"MOM! You put that picture there of me and Charlotte???"
"I sure did. You like it?"
"Oh yes! I'll never forget the day I got my first baby sister!"

She's quite the little drama queen. And she sure does love her first baby sister.

Bog Neadles

On Saturday, we dropped Charlotte off with Pappy and Annie and we headed to Lake DeGray with Olivia. We spent the day cruising in the boat, laying out, and swimming. It was so relaxing!

When we first got out on the water, Livy noticed some of the boats had rooster tails spraying behind them...
"Mom, those boats that have the water coming out behind them-- Ok, I know this is silly, so please don't laugh-- but is that how the boats teetee?"
"That is an excellent question, but no. Boats don't teetee, baby."

While we were hanging out on the boat we saw a buzzard fly overhead. Livy said,
"There's a bog neadle!"
"A what?"
"A bog neadle!"
"Umm, a what?"
"A bog neadle. You know, they're black with white feathers and they carry sticks to build their nests. I learned it on Little Einsteins."
"Ooh, you mean a bald eagle?"
"Yea! A bog neadle! On Little Einsteins, the bog neadle took Leo's baton because he thought it was a stick but it wasn't. It was a baton."

So all day long, every time we say a buzzard in the sky, we celebrated seeing another bog neadle.