Halloween Costume 2014 and The Plague

Before I move on to important things (like The Plague being at our house) let me tell you about my cellular device. I got a new phone back in June because mine got dropped and the face shattered. Adam ordered a new face off of Ebay and fixed it (for the 2nd time). When he has to do this it is like an Olympic event at our house. I have to clean the bar off. I have to take the children to a location that doesn't cause a lot of distractions. He has to get out the hair dryer, tweezers, flashlight, and a set of tiny little tools. He has done this for me so many times that we have a zip lock bag in the drawer labeled "Phone Cover Kit". Before you judge me let me say that I always have a case on my phone but my children have a way of slamming it down that causes the case to be irrelevant. Anyway it was time for an upgrade and that phone was never the same, so I got a new one in June. That phone has been kind enough to remind me every few days that "Your iPhone has been backed up in ___number of weeks." And I kept meaning to do that, but with our sophisticated satellite internet it is not possible to do at home. It would take somewhere around 3 days to do. Weeeelllllll. Elynn dropped my phone 2 weeks ago while we were up at the new house and (you guessed it) shattered the face. I gasped in horror. Adam had already told me that he was not changing the face of another one. Over the weekend something happened and the touch screen went out. As in, I couldn't touch it and make anything happen. I took it to the Apple people Monday and wouldn't you know that they couldn't do anything with it. They gave me a "new" one and I lost all my pictures. Again. (I use the term "new" loosely because I have no doubt this is a refurbished that will probably die as soon as the warranty expires)  This makes the 3rd time in my iPhone history that I have lost my pictures. One wasn't my fault though. Remember when it got stolen at Target? I'm still pretty hot about that incident. What gets me though is that I can't seem to learn my lesson. Back the phone up Elena! Thankfully though all the pictures that I really cared about are on one social media or another.

Friday we had a shower for Allison and we did our annual Halloween costume picture. There was a crying pumpkin, lamb, and scarecrow.

From left to right: Reese is Little Bo Peep, Addie is Raggedy Ann, Jaylee is a pumpkin, Elynn is Little Bo Peep's lost sheep, Lawson is a scarecrow, MaKenna is Elsa, Anna Kate a cheerleader, and Emmalee a football player. Madilyn is on the run as a peacock.

Reese and Addie painted each other's faces.

Saturday we had family pictures planned. It rained all day, but I already had the smash cake and everything so we went on with them. By 7:00 that night Reese was up in Adam's lap sleeping because "my tummy won't let me go to the bathroom." She promptly held her head up and threw up for the next 4 hours. I could see the panic in Adam's eyes because he has thrown caution to the wind lately and hasn't been drinking his tummy bug juice. She said things like "I don't like to frow up. Take me to the doctor" and "Momma don't buy any more of those Pri Suns cause they make me frow up."

Sunday she felt better but napped from 12-4:30. I thought for sure Jesus was coming back because in all of her four years combined she has never napped more than 20 minutes.

She woke up and was back to her normal self. Elynn is really bad to pull hair. She pulls/plays in mine to go to sleep, but she pulls Reese's really hard. Reese always says, "it's okay Elynn. You can pull my hair if you want to." Sunday I popped Elynn's hand for pulling it. Elynn started crying and so did Reese. Here she is comforting her about it. It was so sweet.

They quickly went back to this though. And this? This is my favorite. Look how precious.

(P.S. Adam ended up sick Tuesday and Wednesday. It's all because he hasn't been hitting the hard stuff every day like he knows he should when school is in session and viruses are running rampant.)

House update: We dodged a bullet after my last post. We were expected to get 2 inches of rain and our shingles had not been put on yet. The Lord smiled on us and we did not get one drop. They put the shingles on that next week. The plumbing and electric is done, windows and exterior doors went in yesterday, and siding is going up today. We are waiting on HVAC and spray foam insullation before the sheet rock guys come.

This is the living room. Fireplace will go up the middle of the vaulted ceiling.

 And this...This is my favorite. I saw a picture on Pinterest and copied it. The transom window is not across the top yet, but that is an 11 ft window that takes up the whole wall in the dining room. I. Love. It. We have a long table that was at my parents when I was growing up that we are planning to use in front of it. I have this mental picture of some fancy upholstered chairs to go at the ends....that's probably one of those things I will still be wanting to get 20 years from now. 

And this is the master bedroom window off the back.

Elynn: 11 months

Serious business, people. The second baby grows up twice as fast as the first one did. While I'm busy meeting the never ending demands of baby #1, baby #2 went and turned 11 months old on me. 

Weight:

Height:

She has been practicing her standing for several weeks, but the day after she turned 11 months she took 3 consecutive steps. I guess the beauty of being behind on posts is that I can include that milestone. 

She goes to sleep in her bed every night around 8:00, but wakes sometimes at 11, sometimes at 2, sometimes at 3, and gets in our bed. 

For me, another thing that is different about baby #2- I can't make myself do some of the things I did with #1. At this point Reese already had pierced ears and had cried it out and was in her own bed all night. Elynn's ears aren't pierced for 2 reasons: 1. I haven't had time to take her and 2. she is going to cry for like 10 seconds and I dread that. 

Months ago I let her cry it out, but it caused my milk supply to decrease when she didn't nurse at night, so I had to go back to letting her nurse at night when she wanted to. Since then I can't make myself do the cry it out. She is so precious, and babyhood is fleeting so her being in our bed isn't as big of a deal as I thought it was when Reese was a baby. Actually, Adam and I have both softened up because Reese even slept with us 2 nights this weekend, and got in the bed yesterday and today around 4:45 AM. She never wants in our bed, but she requested it and we gave in. 

Elynn wears size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes, and I'm not sure about a shoe size. She hates for anything to touch her legs or feet. Cold weather will be a real adjustment for her. 

I know y'all will gasp with horror when I say this, but she sits in Reese's old car seat that faces forward. I know. I know. People are now trying to get you to wait until they are 2 to turn them around, but y'all. I was ready to declare us grounded until she straightened up in the car some. It was terrible. She would SCREAM from the moment she got in until we got her out. Between that and Reese needing me to "turn up my movie" or "I need to tee-tee" or "momma did you bring me a drink" I would be driven right to the edge any time we tried to go somewhere. If you have seen me and I was less than pleasant, please forgive me. But I will say this- I love the stage they are both at right now. Reese is so precious now that she isn't 3 (3 was not my favorite age), and Elynn is starting to have her own personality and since she is mobile they "play" together and. it. is. adorable. 

Elynn is a big eater! She loves everything, but bread is her favorite. 

She had 4 teeth when she turned 11 months, but since then has cut 3 more. We didn't realize she was cutting them because she never fussed or had a fever or any of the signs Reese always showed when a tooth was around the corner. 

The big first party is in a few weeks. We are having pictures made this weekend, and I can't wait to see how that goes. 

Reese's 4th Birthday

I can't even believe the title of this post. 4 years? How's that possible? If the next 14 years go as quickly as the last four, she will be entering college like...tomorrow. (And that's where I had to stop typing and gather myself because I was doing the ugly cry.)

Her birthday was on Saturday, but because she wanted a party at Giggle Time we had to wait until Sunday for a private party. 

 

If there is one thing this girl loves it is the movie Frozen and Ana and Elsa. So we started partying on Friday at daycare with cupcakes, cheese puffs, and CapriSuns as per her request. Her BFF Addie went home with us after the party to meet up with Adam and take them to the movies to see Dolphin Tale 2. The weekend before Reese watched Dolphin Tale and loved it, so we thought they would enjoy the second one.

On the way to the moive-

Reese: I want a house like Addie's.(She is clearly being exposed to a lot of house talk these days.)

Me: Well we are getting a new house. They just have to finish building it first. 

Addie: Just tell your daddy. He will buy you one. 

Adam rolled his eyes no less than 22 times during the showing of what he claims is THE cheesiest movie of ALL time. Earlier last week I told Reese we could go eat whatever she wanted after the movie: "I want to eat at SAMs. Pizza and an icee. Deeeellliiccious!" So after the movie we went to SAMs where we got 4 large pieces of pizza, 2 icees, and 2 drinks for $10.90. 

Saturday morning was officially the day! She had to wait in her room while her loser mother wrapped her presents. (I have no excuse. I fell asleep in her bed Friday night before I had a chance to wrap them.) She had requested roller skates, a Snackee, and she saw an Elsa dress (that sings the forsaken song Let It Go) at Target and her daddy wasn't going to rest until she got that dress.  

This my friends is marking at its finest. She has seen the famous Snackeez on the cartoon channel for months and every time would say, "I wish I had a snackees. You put your dwink in fuwst, then your snack."

We celebrated all day while she worn that gown.

The one down side to a Giggle Time party is that the decorations that they have up aren't exactly what you might call cute. And there are lots of rules that limit what you can do as far as decorating is concerned. I wanted a cute place to make pictures so I spent a ridiculous amount of time finding the perfect card board box to make a photo booth out of.

And I proceeded to hang my birthday banner in the only place I was allowed to- the table.

Reese had seen an Elsa cake on YouTube while she was watching the clip of Let It Go, and that was when her dream of an Elsa cake was born.

 

When we started seeing Ana and Elsa characters making appearances at birthday parties, her daddy planted the if-you-want-to-be-mother-of-the-year-you-have-to-have-them-at-the-party seed in my head. This face when they walked in the door made all the days of searching for an affordable Ana and Elsa all worth it. 

Adam, Adrianne, and Knox came over after the party so that Elynn could harass Knox. She loves to slap him in the head and pulls his hair.

At 4 years old Reese:

Wears size 8 shoes, and 4T clothes. 

Goes to bed between 8 and 9 and I get her up at 6:15 during the week. If left alone, she will sleep until 8. 

She loves her baby sister, her bunny and tiger that she sleeps with, and wearing dresses and her Frozen tennis shoes. She comes straight home from Liz's every day and puts on her PJs. She changes clothes at least 4 times before bed. I read an article about how society calls boys who know what they want and get what they want leaders, but girls with those characteristics are called bossy, so we jokingly say she has good "leadership" characteristics. She is the most persistent child in the history of EVER!  She will make a good sales rep one day. She says she wants to "wurk at Litabis's" (Mrs. Elizabeth's) when she grows up.

She says so many funny things but I can't think of them all at this exact moment. Here's what I can come up with: interuckting (interrupting), murgency (emergency) fuwst (first), homewuck (homework which she pretends to have), and peeno (piano). I asked her how much I love her and she said "a lot a bunch." 

I have possible already blogged about this, but this summer we were at Publix and they came over the intercom. She said "why they talkin'? Did somebody lose their momma? That's so sad." 

When we were shopping one day I told her not to get out of my sight because somebody might get her and I would never see her again. She said "I would never run away from my momma. I love her sooo much." 

 Her favorite songs are Let it Go, and God's Not Dead.

The past 4 years have been so much fun, and I tell Adam all the time how sad I am going to be when they grow up. I am exhausted and my house is a wreck, but these girls keep us laughing all the time. 

Happy Birthday Reese E Cup! We ADORE you!

Forever House

When I was a wee little lad, I told my momma and daddy that I was going to build a house on this hill one day. Of course, back then I said it was going to be a 7 story house with all my pets on the top floor. Clearly, I was out of touch with reality. I also agreed to pay my daddy somewhere around $40 an hour to build it. At this point, I wish I would have made him sign a contract on that price because $40 an hour is sounding cheap.

 They started digging the foundation Thursday, September 4th. By Tuesday of the next week the foundation was done and the flooring system started going down. It is distant, but here we are. Our first family picture at the Forever House. (And I say that because in the last almost 7 years of marriage, this is mine and Adam's 4th and final house project.The first house project we sold before we ever got married. Then we lived in the next 2 projects, but this is the last one. Adam enjoys this sort of thing, but me? Not so much. But the good thing about this not being our first rodeo is that we know what we like and we know what we want. Nobody will be waiting on us to make a decision, that is for sure.)

 

By the end of last week the walls were up. We had to make a few changes in the door set up in the girls' rooms and the window spacing in our room, but otherwise it has all gone as planned. 

 We have only had one minor argument at this point. I will just tell y'all that I married a good, good man. He is big enough to admit when I am right. Which I was, but I wouldn't dare say it to his face. I thought somebody needed to be there the day they started the foundation just to be sure that this Forever House was angled the correct way. Adam thought that was totally ridiculous. Just so you know, it all almost went south when Adam called me to say, "I hate to even tell you this, but they almost put the garage in wrong place." You can't even imagine how far back in my head my eyes rolled. See? Somebody needed to be there. Luckily, that all got handled and the garage is exactly where it needs to be. Which makes the whole thing about me being right irrelevant.

Adam predicts we will be in the Forever House in the Spring. If we get in it before school starts next year I will be surprised.