She took 3 steps!!!

The kids and Santa! Raven asked for a stuffed animal whale! Why? Where on earth is Santa going to find that?

She kept staring at him! But at least she didn't scream like my other two did at this age!
This is Raven after her school Christmas program. She wore my necklace and let me curl her hair. The kids all looked so cute!

Here's the cutie upclose
ok and then her ghost costume! She found this in our box of dress up clothes so this was last minute, but I had fun with the makeup and the serious shots of her dressed like this fit her well at times!

Like this one..... when she's not getting her way!
Or in the middle of the night when I awake to her standing at the end of our bed!
Little miss hambone loved her ladybug costume! Just loved it!She was warm but a bit heavy to carry to the few neighbors we went to. Should have put her in the stroller.
This is the whole gang. Ryker is in the scary movie mask and his friend Duncan in the other.

The scary guys didn't bother Paisley a bit!
This is how she looked by the time we drove over to Grandma's house! A big tired out butterfly all cosy in the chair!
Isn't it cute from behind?

She had a blast! This was taken the night of her birthday. I was sick with sinus infection/headache but still managed to get some cute shots. More to come from her little party we had for her!

She loves stuffed animals and gives them loves all the time. She figured out that you can push the bears hand and the bear will light up, so sometimes we can hear her doing this in the middle of the night. on, off, on off, on off, ok you get the picture...Here she is in her pretty dress with her Dad at a wedding we went to. She can cheese it really hard!
Or she'll just stick out her tongue.
ok can you tell I'm always taking the pictures! Jeff actually moans if I give him the camera! I actually found this big brown and pink poka dot bow in clipped on my flowers in the front of my store! I had been looking for some big bows and then there it appeared!
Aunt Judy wanted to see her in her pretty dress
This is Aunt Judy that came all the way from California to be here when Mom had her lung surgery. The kids were very excited to see her and besides the 15 minutes at LA airport, she got to spend quality time with her new niece, Paisley.

I have LOTS of pictures to post! And I've decided to make this blog invite only soon. I don't keep it up that much but really I want to just journal things about my kids for the future and share pictures with those I know. It creeps me out to think "who" might be viewing all our info.

Paisley had her first birthday last week! She just LOVED all the presents. She would giggle and squeel everytime she saw a present. She loved them all. We gave her a little car that is also a little walker she can push. She stood up to it, grabbed ahold and the next thing you know she is almost RUNNING across the room with a bewildered look on her face like, "what the heck just happened!" It was the cutest thing. Now she will go to the side of it because she knows otherwise she will have to move fast across the room. Especially if she is on the tile.

This week she's taken 3 steps a few times! It's so exciting! Tonight we tried to get her to do it but she would just stand there and keep clapping. Ok girl it might be a little hard to be clapping and walking all at the same time to start! But she was just too excited. She's always so happy and fun. And she still loves to cuddle in my arms before bed just like a little baby all nestled in your arms. I'll be sitting there watching tv thinking she's asleep and look down and she is just staring up at me! You can't help but kiss on those cheeks!

She loved her cupcake at her birthday party of course! She ate the whole thing and would have had seconds if we let her. I'll post pictures of the cupcakes I made and her birthday party pictures later. For now I just threw in some pictures I'm way behind on posting.

All my links of other blogs disappeared when I changed to this new template! When I have time I'll hopefully be able to copy and paste them all in.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Halloween!

A little frustrated I can't post pictures yet!!!!! I have 2 issues. My very nice digital camera suddenly quit working. I lost the cord to my smaller digital camera to get pictures on my computer so I've just switched the memory cards and used the other camera to load pictures onto my computer but now that one isn't working. So I may have to break down and buy a cord and I hate to hear what is wrong with my good camera and how much it will cost to fix. Makes me sick! I have no luck with cameras. And this one I didn't even drop into a large martini or drop onto a wooden floor like the other two!
Paisley LOVED her warm cute lady bug costume. She just glowed in it! Her Dad put it on her and she just giggled. Raven decided an hour before we went out that she was going to be a scary ghost. I had a costume we found that I must have bought on sale after Halloween last year. So I did scary face makeup and she had a long white robe, hood, and white hair. Ryker said he wansn't going trick or treating this year and just wanted to have a friend over to pass out candy. But then they started going through the costumes and decided to be scary guys. We went around to a few homes by us. Paisley started getting really heavy on my arm! She would just grin at the people opening the doors and then she would wave bye-bye and blow them kisses! Raven ran right up to the doors telling the boys she was supposed to be first. Then we drove over to Grandma's so she could give them their Halloween bags. She's had them for months I think. She forgot about getting Paisley anything but was very generous and had a little envelope with cash for Ryker's friend since she didn't have any candy or gifts besides what was in the kids bags. Mom is doing great and just lights up when the kids come over. But can get really aggitated when they are there too long because they all tend to be loud and full of energy. I helped out at Ryker's fall party this afternoon and that was great seeing all the kids and finally having a little time to spend with him at his school. I'll post pictures when I can! I'm so behind! I have great new shots of all the kids with their Aunt Judy when she was here for 2 weeks when Mom had her surgery. Raven says Aunt Judy is her favorite and even told her Aunt Renee that this weekend! She loves to tease her Aunt Renee! We went to the pumpkin patch and the play station with their cousins and they all had a blast! BUT it was freezing at the pumpkin patch. Of all days for us to go this fall we pick the cold one! Miss Paisley and I went into the barn while everyone else did the corn maze. Of course my little princess Raven fell and scratched her leg and her Aunt Renee had to carry her awhile. Then the kids drank hot chocolate and ate pumpkin bars, pretzels, nachos, cookies, and chili! They had a blast. The older boys really wanted to stay for the haunted corn maze but they didn't recommend it for anyone under 15 and what the heck would the rest of us freezing cats do while they did it anyway?! Ryker and his friend did go to a haunted maze tonight not far from us and they liked it. Jeff said it wasn't the least bit scary but the boys were funny because the people working there made a big deal about the giant spiders there and they'd have check points where they were supposed to check themselves for spiders. Jeff said the spiders were freaking the boys out more than anything. LOVE Halloween!

Grandma is doing well

My mom had lung surgery on Tuesday and I was so worried about her. She is 83 and has some lung issues do to years of smoking. She was in intensive care overnight. I hate it in there! My sister flew in a couple of days before her surgery. So she got to witness me blubbering in the ICU! Mom just looked so bad and I was so worried. She seemed in a lot of pain so they ordered a different med. Then later she waved at me when I came in, still seemed in pain and grabbed my hand and didn't want me to go. I had only slept 1-hour the night before due to miss Paisley girl coughing all night, as well as myself doing the same. Judy told Mom we couldn't stay in there long and she needed to rest. So I didn't sleep much again worrying about her. The next morning when I went in she was talking and sitting up! She didn't look like the same person! She had gotten sick from the heavy breakfast they gave her. But felt good otherwise. They got her out of ICU later that day. That was yesterday. Today she was feeling great, but then tonight was in a lot of pain. They had not given her any pain meds since 9:30 this morning! I was so pissed! I had to take 2 kids to the Dr.! (so much sickness here!) I left instructions in her room on pain meds and spoke with mom and the nurses about it. Tomorrow should be better.
Thanks for everyones prayers.

First Ear Infection And Our Girl Knows Shoes!

Ok it wasn't teething. Well she could be teething but our poor Paisley girl had her first ear infection. After 2 nights of misery, the next morning we woke up to green snot. Oh oh not a good sign. Sure enough she had a really red ear. Just one luckily. Then we deal with the yucky diapers from the medicine. Then poor Raven wakes up with a fever of 100.5 and the drama queen of the world was LETTING ME KNOW SHE DIDN"T FEEL GOOD! She thought we should go get 7-up since she got that when she was sick once before. I had to explain that she was not getting pop, she didn't have the flu but she could have orange juice. That was a fun day. But she did play pretty well in spurts by herself, then they were both on my lap. But truely the best part of all was that I could stay home with both my sick girls and not feel guilty. What I mean is thanks to my great employees at our store, this is the first time since I've had kids that I feel like I can be here for them. The times before I would be there, but feel guilty about missing work or putting something off. Why is it us Mothers go through so much guilt with our kids? Now, I get to have lunch with them at school, help with school projects, come up with fun activities and crafts. I do not want to miss any of these things again. Hopfully this will continue for the Christams Season. That may be tough with how busy the store is that time of year but I hope and pray that I can be there for the school parties, cookie making, decorating, shopping and fun cooking this Holiday.

Funny thing our little Paisley girl did today. Now I remind you she is only 9 1/2 mos. old! She is starting to crawl VERY fast. And she is so funny because she has that one leg that she kicks off with like it may make her stand up. TODAY was the first time I saw her walk around furniture! She was slowly walking around our round ottoman. She is also getting further away from us exploring the house. So tonight Jeff called me over. She was in the hallway where the kids dump their shoes. She was playing with Ryker's shoe. Then she was trying to put it on! Is she smart or what?!!! She knows where they are supposed to go! And the girl has only wore some little boots I got her a few times. Then tonight my Mom called to tell me what she saw her do today. She saw her playing with Raven's dress up/play shoes. Then she also tried to put it on her foot. How cute is that! I just love seeing her do new things everyday! She also wants to help hold the spoon when you feed her. That can be a bit messy and she will throw a little temper tantrum if you take it out of her hand. She can be a little stubborn! Why do we have so much of that in our family?!!

She's teething and letting us know!

This is our first child that let's us know she's teething. Our other two would just have a tooth appear! It was great. I didn't know what people were complaining about when they said their child was teething. She just started drooling like crazy, has drippy nose, fussy butt at night, screaming, and NOT sleeping! Hope this passes soon! Momma needs sleep!
Today for the first time she raised BOTH arms up high to tell us how big she is! "SO BIG!" She waves goodbye now, knows where her head is, stands up against everything and anything she can get up by, and the cutest thing of them all....I tell her to give me some love, and she lays her head on me, pats me on the back and and says ahhhh like I do! She will do it to anyone and all stuffed animals! She is such a cuddly lovely dovey baby. Can't ask for better than that!

Thanks to everyone that has sent their prayers our way for Mom and my hubby! Jeff finally went back to work 1/2 days last week after being off for 3 weeks! He was in the hospital almost a week and was even worse the week after he came home spiking high fevers and barely moving out of bed. It was so scary! In the hospital his white blood cell count went really low, his blood pressure got low and his liver enzyme tests came back really high. He had every test known to mind kind done. Everything is better now but there are a few things they are keeping an eye on and he has a few more tests coming up. It's been very hard on him since he's Mr. Type A and likes to work, work, work! He was just so worried about his yard! We managed to keep it looking ok for him! Even had some help from our neighbor which was nice. We also had MANY friends bring us food! I had no idea how much we would appreciate that until this happened. His Mom also came for awhile and she was so much help, as well as my Mom helping as much as she could with the older kids. He's on the mend just still very fatigued and weak.

Mom goes in for lung surgery in a couple of weeks. She was diagnosed with stage one lung cancer. (that's hard to type!) We are kind of in denial since she feels better than ever. They found the small nodule on a routine chest x-ray. Then she went through all the other tests and then a biopsy recently. The one thing that really concerns me is she had emphysema and asthma from many years of smoking (no longer) so they are not taking the whole lobe which they normally do. (the right lung has 3 lobes) They will take a good portion but can't take the whole thing because it would be too much for her lungs. She just doesn't have enough lung capacity. So for all you smokers out there........ Mom wouldn't have had her aortic valve replaced in her heart, lung cancer, emphysema or asthma if she hadn't smoked. Just a FEW things to keep in mind!

Our smarty, outgoing 5 year old got her progress report from her teacher today. We were so excited that she is on the "wall of fame" for knowing her vowels! And it doesn't suprise us that she only had "Satisfactory" for listens to and follows directions, stays on task, and obeys classroom rules. Everything else she got "Good". She said that sometimes she is still talking to her friends and it is so hard not too! That's our talker! She literaly NEVER stops! Sometimes I tell her, "Let's not say anything in the car today so we can listen to the music". But it works better if I put in a CD she likes and we can sing along to the songs. We love to sing to number 10 and 13 on Fergies CD! Beautiful songs and my girl has a voice to go with Fergie! I love listening to her sing! I keep telling her I'm going to get her in the local childrens theatre since she loves to perform. The only thing is she can get really shy around people she doesn't know. But it usually doesn't take her long to warm up. I'm currently trying to take all artifical colors out of her diet. We may try other things as well like dairy. But I can totally tell if she's had something with artifical colors and it's in EVERYTHING. Well not everything but you know the junky snacks kids like! I found suckers, gummy bears, cheese nips and mac and cheese that doesn't have it. We're ok as long as she continues to love fruit. But try going to any friends house or party! And what about the snacks that others bring to school? Do I just furnish other snacks she can have? I did that at her day care because they were giving M&M's when they were good in the afternoon. I had to put a stop to that! She would be wild and crazy all night! Any tips on this appreciated!

She's standing up!

She went from just getting up on her knees a week ago to now being able to get in a full standing position! She hasn't really tried to walk around the furniture yet, but I'm sure that is coming soon. She gets so tickled when she stands! But it is oh so hard to get a picture of her like that!I know she will be mad at me when she gets older for this picture. But I thought we needed a shot of her chubby belly since it may not be here forever! She is crawling fast and standing up so much, she ends up sweating! I bought her these cute white boots in brown, pink and white. They stay on her feet so I love that!


Why are you staring at my cheeks?
I had to take a picture of her arm rolls. Now I have to try to get the leg rolls!

Posing with all the new shoes.
Loving on her sister.
My rugrats!
ok this purple thing is too small for her thighs!

She LOVES to swing!
Paisley and friend Maclain, he loves to hug and touch her!
Loves the sink!

Mom made my hair look funky!

I love kisses from my sissy!
Going for a strollCheerios stuck to my face!
The girl LOVES to eat!

Raven had to have cavities filled and her face was "asleep" as she called it so she had a crooked smile all day!
Sitting pretty, just waiting for my food.

1st day of school

Posing on her first day!

Not real thrilled about her classroom yet.

Getting out all her new school supplies is fun though.
Rare shot when I'm not taking photo.
Friends Rachael, baby Rylan, Leah
Very upset that I was leaving! Put her head down on her arms on her desk and sobbed!