33 Hours

That's approximately how long my mom and second youngest brother, Nolan were in town.  They helped my (third youngest) brother and his wife and baby move to MO, then drove down through MS to visit my oldest brother, then to LA to visit one of my older sisters, then to Beaumont to visit my younger sister, then here to visit us, then drove back to Utah.  Whew!  I'm exhausted just typing that!

Shelby was SOOOO excited when I told her grandma and Uncle Nolan were coming on Wednesday.  So excited, in fact, that she didn't want to go to preschool because she thought they were coming during the day and that she would miss them if she went.  So sweet. 

I took the day off on Thursday and we spent the whole day playing and visiting.  Nolan wanted to go to the grassy knoll, so we went downtown, he looked at the "X" on the street, and said, "Eh, ok we can go."  Hahaha! 

After that we hit up the mall and mom and I hit up a sweet shoe sale.  After dinner Jeremy went to pick up my dad who was flying in that night so that he could help drive back the next day.  While we waited there was lots and lots of wrestling and playing with Uncle Nolan.

And then Grandpa finally arrived.  How excited do you think the girls were when he walked in the door?!

It was such a short trip, and we were sad to see everyone go.  Luckily for us, dad flew back in to Dallas tonight and has to work in Ft. Worth for the next 2 weeks, so we'll get to meet up with him some more! 



Long Weekend

We left Saturday morning at 12 am on the dot.  We've done the middle-of-the-night thing before and in the past it has worked out much better than trying to leave right after work.  However, this time, Joey decided to give us a hard time.  I think she slept less in the car than I did.  It was a rough 8 hours.

But, when we got to Hattiesburg and she saw Papaw everything was good again.  Shelby and Joey had such a fun time running around playing with cousins, making 1,000 paper airplanes (Thanks, Brock!), and eating (duh, it's Bill Gore's house!).

Shelby was in cousin Heaven Saturday when Peyton got to spend the night with us and we had a little sleepover. Peyton is 11 days older than Shelby. If we lived closer I think those two would get in lots of trouble together! ;)

I don't think Shelby wanted me to take her pic.   

The following pictures crack me up.  This is what happens when you try to get a bunch of kids to smile at the same time.

Sunday morning I was drying my hair and heard a strange noise.  I thought maybe it was the tv, so I turned the hair dryer off, but no, it wasn't the tv.  I suddenly realized that it sounded an awful lot like a tornado siren, so I quickly turned it to the news in time to hear, "tornado...Hattiesburg...you can probably hear the sirens".  I ran up the stairs and grabbed the kids and yelled to Jeremy and Papaw that that was the tornado siren and we got in the hallway.  Thankfully it was over pretty quickly and we never saw a tornado.  I guess we thought that the worst of Tropical Storm Lee had passed after that, and didn't even check the weather when we left last night at 7 pm to make our way to Bastrop, LA to visit Jeremy's other grandparents.  As soon as we left the driveway it started to POUR down rain and it was SUPER windy.  Jeremy and I drove through the beginning of Katrina, when it was the outer bands and was probably only tropical storm strength.  It was something we said we would never do again...especially with kids in the car!  Again, suddenly, I started to hear a strange sound.  It was hard to hear over the hum of the car, but as we slowed down and came to a stop light it was so loud- the tornado sirens again.  Let me tell you how scary it is to be in a car, in the dark, no visibility, with two kids in the car, and you hear tornado sirens.  Let's just say I'm surprised my seat was dry after that.  We quickly looked around and there really wasn't anywhere to stop.  We quickly said a prayer and just kept driving.  I looked on my phone as fast as I could to see where the tornado was and where it was going.  Just as I saw on the phone that it said, "tornado will be in Mt. Olive at 8:25" I looked up and saw the "Mt. Olive City Limits" sign and looked at the clock.  8:10.  So I am guessing we were 15 minutes ahead of the storm.  We just kept going and didn't stop or slow down until we got to Vicksburg and stopped to get milk for Joey.

After such a scary night we woke up to one of the most BEAUTIFUL days I have ever seen in LA.  It was a cool 64 degrees and breezy, not a cloud in the sky.  Gorgeous.  We had a wonderful visit with Jeremy's dad, great uncle, and grandparents.  It was nice to be able to all sit outside the nursing home and visit while the girls ran around in the grass. 

It was a great long weekend visiting family!

First Day of Pre-K

Today was Shelby's first day of Pre-K and boy was she ready for it!  She woke up bright and early and was so excited she barely ate any breakfast.  She had her clothes all picked out and couldn't wait to get her lunch packed and her backpack on.

When we got to the school we were a little early so we waited outside with some of the other kids.  Shelby immediately set her backpack down and went over to be with two other girls.  You can't really hear anything on this video, but I think it's cute to watch her interacting with other kids.



When the doors opened we went in and Shelby found her spot to hang her backpack.  She then went right in to the classroom, gave Ms. Tammy a HUGE hug and went to play with the other kids.  I had to call her back so she could say goodbye to me.  Haha!

When I picked Shelby up she told me all about what a great day she had.  They read some stories and did some worksheets that corresponded with them, made a poem/hand print for the parents, had a Spanish lesson, and a few other things.  She ate most of her lunch, including her carrots, but saved her Rice Krispy treat for when she got home.  I asked who she sat by in class and she said, "This boy, Connor.  He was wearing blue.  And he told me he liked my purple dress and my sparkly shoes."  I've got my eye on you, Connor.  Lol.  I asked who she played with at recess and she said, "The girl wearing pink.  We played princesses, and we were sisters".  So cute!  She is so excited to go back on Wednesday.

And here at home things went great, too!  Joey loved having all the toys to herself.  She took a nap at about 11:30 and I was able to get lots of work done (too bad there's LOTS more to do!).  I hope things continue to go this smoothly!

Pooped

That's what I am - pooped.  This has been a busy week.  Aside from work, which has been super busy, I think we had some sort of activity or errands to run every night this week.  This has made for some long nights and I think that has taken it's toll on both Jeremy and me.  We both felt all week like we may be starting to get strep or something.  Thankfully it hasn't gotten worse (yet). 

Today was a long day as well.  First up was haircuts for the girls.  I was going to call our friend's friend who is a stylist in Frisco, but I forgot.  It all worked out though, because we took the girls to this cute place that kept the girls entertained and distracted.  Shelby was up first.  She was beginning to look a bit like Cousin It, so she definitely needed a trim.  I think she got about 2-3 inches cut off.

I just realized this picture kind of makes it look like she has short hair.  It's not, it's just behind her shoulders.

Next up was Joey.  (By the way, I totally forgot to charge my camera battery, so we're dealing with iPhone pics again.)  I was worried she would be super wiggly for her FIRST HAIRCUT, but she was perfect!  We distracted her with a sucker and she didn't even know anyone was even doing anything to her hair.  We didn't really have the lady cut too much of Joey's hair- all we wanted was for her to trim up the back where she had a super long piece growing (the hair she didn't lose when she was a baby).  It looks so much better now.

After haircuts we went to the mall.  I didn't think it was necessary to go "school clothes shopping" for Shelby since she is only going to pre-K, but I did need to get her a few basics- a couple pairs of jeans, some shirts, etc.  I also caved and got her some Skechers Twinkle Toes Light Ups that she was begging for.  Seriously, I don't think I cared much about what I wore when I was 4!  (Except for these super ugly shoes my mom tried to make me wear.  Ironically, those are really popular again.  Ugh.)  We did run into Debbie, Seth, Michelle, Kaitlyn, and Jared while we were there, so that was fun.

After the mall we hit up Old Navy, Target, and Walmart.  The girls were troopers to tag along and be so well behaved in all the stores.  After that we came home so I could sew 15 mats for the senior nursery.  (We originally wanted carpet squares for the kids to sit on, but ultimately decided to sew thin "mats" made of fabric and batting because it'd be easier to store them and they'd be washable.)  So that was fun.  Especially when my sewing machine is broken and the reverse doesn't work.  At least that is done and hopefully it will help keep those crazy kiddos sitting tomorrow.  Seriously, that is a wild bunch.

Anyway, THEN it was off to get some dinner and go to Target for the second time.  Now we are home and I am looking at the mountain of laundry that needs folding and debating on whether or not to do it tonight.  I feel like if I don't it will never get done since tomorrow is busy with church and a scout meeting, and then the whole week is super busy again.  Thank goodness we are taking a couple days off for Labor Day.  We need a break!



16 Months

I often feel like a failing mother for various reasons, one of them being my lack of record keeping for Joey.  I remember I used to write month by month posts for Shelby, and I haven't been doing the same for Joey.  So, here is just a little bit about her at 16 months.

-She still weighs around 21 pounds, which is what she weighed months and months ago.  She is just thinning out. 
-She is getting more and more verbal.  She can say mama, dada, baby, boots, hi, bye, snack, teeth, cheese, belly, booty, shoes...I am sure there are more I can't think of off the top of my head. 
-She is actually in the cute stage where she is repeating everything and starting to learn her animal sounds.  The cutest is when she roars like a lion.
-Joey is a great sleeper (thank goodness!).  She sleeps really well at night (unless she's teething).  She used to not be much of a napper but lately she has been taking really good 2 hour naps.  Now I just have to get her to nap a little earlier to make sure nap time coincides with when Shelby is gone at preschool.
-Her hair is getting pretty long, but she rarely lets me keep a bow in it. 
-Joey is so much more mischievous than Shelby was at this age.  She is always climbing on things.  Today I was working and heard Shelby's friend, Jaeda, say "Umm...Shelby's mom...Joey's stuck."  I ran into the playroom and found her like this:

-Joey has also grown to love Roxy.  She doesn't scream in terror anymore but squeals in delight. 

-Joey also really loves to do anything Shelby does.  This makes for lots of fights during the day when Joey takes a toy away from Shelby.  We're working on it.  I am thinking/hoping that will get better next week when Shelby is at preschool. 

Joey is such a joy to be around.  She can be loud and opinionated, but she is so fun.  Tonight we had a dance party and it was so fun to see both Shelby and Joey dancing together.

The Office

The end of every work day usually results in the office looking like this:

A jumbled mess of toys, trash, and anything else the girls got into and left behind.  I tried putting a gate up at the office door, but that usually resulted in either Joey or Shelby running to the gate as soon as they heard my phone ring and then screaming for me until I had to excuse myself from the phone to go get them.

I decided that this wasn't working.  I was tired of either having a huge mess to clean up every day, or being completely embarrassed that my kids acted like heathens while I was on the phone.  I decided to make the girls their own space in the office, that way I can keep the gate down, and when they do come in they can have their own stuff to mess with. 

We bought two small desks so the girls can sit and color.  I also created a new "reading area" for them and transferred all the children's books from the playroom into the office.

I think Joey is just a little bit excited about it.