As summer break is coming to a close...

I thought I might try and finish off my dailies from July :) Actually I was told by a friend she was sick of seeing pics of Daytona when she comes to my blog :) Can you say slacker?

How many little girls can you fit in a sandbox?

The oldest girls. Both are the best big sisters around!

The 6 pack from the visit with our Ohio family.
Who would say "Bye Bye Bye" to the 'N Sync boys? These cracked me up when I saw them at Goodwill and immediately thought of Hanna and her love for the boys :)


It's Ruby's world to do with what she wants and we just live in it.

A pet skunk. For real! Not ours though :)

From the Ryder man! Sweet boy <3




My The girls favorite song at the moment.

Big girl dangly earrings. They thought they were so cool.
Hoola hoops have been HUGE here this summer. I even learned how to do it again! See you CAN teach old dogs new tricks :)


Rounding out this post today with some food.

Specifically hotdogs. I love a good Chicago dog. This was my version

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PSA or IBMM (Irresponsible Bad Mommy Moment)

Call it what you will. If you know me personally you know that I am a bit on the overprotective side. I know this. It was also how I was raised by my great grandmother so why wouldn't I be the same? My kids aren't the "cool" kids, they are the ones who have to play it safe because "My Mom won't let me." Bummer right? Recently I learned a very valuable lesson. Being overprotective isn't all that bad.

Last week a friend invited us to their community pool to swim. I am a nervous wreck in pool situations. Like until this season I have made our 5 year old wear a swim vest (insert *eyeroll* from 5 year old here). I don't let our girls outside of our fence without a life vest on because we live on the lake. Our water isn't even over their heads but still it is a "wear it or don't go!" Period.

My friend, Steph, and I decided to order pizza for the families and Ruby asked to take off her vest. I have never let her do this. After a few times of her asking I let her. Where was my head? What was I thinking? I didn't want to hear her whine? Plus we were eating away from the pool. Everyone was told not to go in the water and to let their stomachs settle. While Steph and I were cleaning up the table Violet yelled "Mama, Ruby isn't wearing her life vest and she's sinking!" Oh.My.Gosh! My heart stopped. Thankfully Steph was already running and jumped in and got her. She was fine and was holding her breath trying to doggie paddle but definitely under water. That fast. Steph was shaking. I was shaking. Our baby loves the water and just wanted to put her life vest on and get back in not even realizing how dangerous of a situation she was in. 3 year olds don't understand drowning and I failed her by allowing her to wear me down and take her vest off. Again, what the heck was I thinking?



I know my child will never get to take her vest off again. We have all probably heard a similar story before. It can happen in an instant. There was no splash, there was no struggle, my girl just basically sunk even trying to swim. I have beat myself up so many times over the past few days over this. I have cried over it. I have major guilt over it. It was the first and ONLY time that I ever let one of my kids around water without their vest and my girl almost drowned. Water should not be feared but it should be respected. Valuable lesson learned the hard way!

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Anticipation

Sometimes during our lives we build up an event so much in our heads that we become crazy with emotion anticipating how good or bad it will be. This is me right now. The weeks leading up to what would have been Milo's due date have been some of my worst since we lost him. I wish that I could stop the bad dreams at night or the sad memories that replay in my head during the day. There have been some very grateful distractions but even with them my heart is broken most days.

I feel different inside and I am still pissed off. This is obviously seeping into my everyday. Sometimes I feel like my joy is gone and wonder if it will ever return. None of this is fair to our family, I know this, but even on days that I get up trying so hard it just takes one small thing to throw me all the way back down into that very sad spot. Sad and angry feel a lot alike to me with both leaving me very empty.

I have still been taking my iPhone pics every day and one day (maybe even soon) I will post them. For now I will try and concentrate on Piper's birthday coming up and all the fun we will have when our Ohio family comes to stay with us. Maybe the great weight I feel will ease after I get through Sunday. I can only hope.

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MerleFest 2012

This was our first year going. I told my husband that Alison Krauss was playing on Sunday afternoon and that I thought we should go. I had "liked" MerleFest on Facebook and saw that it is a family friendly event and kids under 12 get in free. Where does that happen these days. Not to mention they have a huge kids area with a ton of crafts and shows for the littles all for free. What sweetened our deal was last week I won tickets to go. Super cool!

There was this awesome Steampunk hat so I had to have one of my kids try it on. Then the guy told me that it was $350. That's him in the background probably laughing at us when I said "Be very careful with that one because we can't buy it".


This is a sand sculpture. Ah-mazing! Let's see if our girls can do this in the new sand box out back next week. I have high expectations don't I?


Again, SO much for our kiddos to do. We weren't even able to do it all! Next year we will start on the kids tents earlier.


Fun interactive show that our girls didn't get up during one time! I enjoyed it very much as well which is pretty cool if you are a parent of littles. Sometimes kid shows are painful to get through!


Why he thought carrying his 46 pound 6 year old was smart I don't know. He will say "She was right" tomorrow :)


I took this after people were leaving. It was shoulder to shoulder on the hill watching the fabulous bands all day long. Act after act didn't ever disappoint. The evening ended with Alison Krauss and Union Station. Her voice is angelic. Hearing Dan Tyminski sing gets your toes tapping for sure. Definitely a band to see!


The gang. So.much.fun!


And the ride home. I carried Ruby to and from the car in the Beco so she took a 2.5 minute cat nap and then resisted falling asleep in the van. Eventually she did but she chatted with us half the ride home which was like 30 minutes.

Again, such a great day! Not to mention everyone there is planning on going again next year! Can't wait!

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How she rolls

She has her own style. I accept it. Somedays we match and others, well, I am happy she is dressed. Girls got issues with clothes! Serious issues! Baby doll is a must though. I can't name how many times we were running behind but she had to dress that baby. I now accept that we are always late :)

BTW, had to shove her in front of the rhododendrons so that I could say that they actually do bloom sometimes. Normally we don't get enough sun and they bud but don't bloom. Not sure the difference this year. Mild winter?

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Hairy Caterpillar Project

This is a fun project that was actually sent home from school. We have been watching and watering our little caterpillar regularly and the results were just what any little kid would want. A very hairy caterpillar. I posted when we got it but I am combining everything again in this post.

What you'll need is:
4 cups potting soil
4 tablespoons quick-sprouting grass seed (we used ryegrass seed)
Small yogurt container or paper cup
Knee-high nylon stocking
Colorful ponytail holders
Scissors
Plastic bag
Bobby pin
Googly eyes
Pipe cleaner
Small pom-poms

Instructions
1. Combine the potting soil and grass seed in a large bowl.
2. Cut the bottom from a small yogurt container or paper cup for a funnel, then slide a knee- high nylon stocking over it.
3. Pour or spoon 3⁄4 to 1 cup of the soil mixture into the stocking, then slide a colorful ponytail holder over the end of the stocking to section off the pocket of soil. Repeat this process to make 5 soil-filled segments. Tie a knot in the top of the stocking and trim away any excess nylon.
4. Submerge the caterpillar in water for 10 minutes, then place it in a plastic bag and let it sit overnight.
5. Remove the bag and loop a semi-straightened bobby pin through the front of the stocking, then glue a googly eye onto each end of the pin. For antennae, cut a pipe cleaner in half, glue a small pom-pom onto one end of each half, and stick them in place.
6. Set your caterpillar on a plate by a sunny window and generously water the whole thing every other day. Your critter should sprout hair in about 4 to 5 days.

First day in the sun

After a week

After 2 weeks

Piper thinks that it needs a trim. Here is the actual link from Pinterest. We didn't quite get these results but maybe we just needed more grass. I plan on doing this during the summer when we have our 1st Annual Mom Camp with a group of my girlfriends. I hope the other littles enjoy seeing their caterpillar sprout as much as our family did.

Source: familyfun.go.com via Jessie on Pinterest

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Mama...

Can you braid my hair please? I get asked this all the time. I will admit that about 50% of the time I say no. Lazy? Yep and the girls have issues staying still AND they have short hair so it is sort of hard. Since spending the night at their friend's house last week though all 3 have asked for braids daily. Daily people! I saw a blog post with this style on a little girl so I braided V's hair because I thought a side pony would be cute on her. It is.

Then my girlfriend said that she saw it on Pinterest. Of course it was on Pinterest lol :) What isn't these days?

Source: bellamumma.com via Jessie on Pinterest

My girl asked for this braid the past 3 days. I obliged. One day I will be good at it :) The smile on her face the past few days tells me she thinks I am good at it.


Then there is this one. She goes between "1 big braid" and "2. 2 braids Mama. 2." You know just in case I didn't know she wanted 2.


She's watching intently for the ducks to come. She has bread and doesn't understand why they just don't hang out at our dock waiting for her to call them. Total sweetness ♥

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How does your garden grow?

Have you started your veggie garden yet? We got ours in the ground last week when it was averaging 80 degrees everyday and then this week the nights are getting cold again. I am sitting here in my home with all the windows closed because it is 46 degrees at almost 9am. What happened Mother Nature?

This year we scaled back a little and planted 3 yellow squash, 3 zucchini, 3 eggplants, 2 red pepper plants, 2 jalapeno plants, and 5 tomato plants. I also have a patio tomato on our deck as well as 2 pots with peas that I am not sure will do anything but Piper brought them home from school.

We won't get quite enough produce to make it all summer without buying veggies but besides buying peppers we might be close on everything else. We eat a ton of peppers. I wish that I were more of a green thumb but it doesn't really come naturally for me and I tend to kill things. The veggie gardens that we have had in the past have ranged from very nicely weeded to full of morning glory after I am gone for 2 weeks in the summer. I am going to have the girls help me this year though as a sort of learning experience.


The day that I get to pick my first tomato will make all the work that goes into a vegetable garden so worth it!

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Ruby's Elmo Party

Our Ruby turned 3 on Friday. 3! She still loves Elmo. It's kind of funny because none of my other girls really cared for the character but she loves him! Loves him! So when she told me she wanted Elmo cupcakes for her party I headed to Pinterest to find some inspiration.

Elmo is normally more boyish but I wanted bright colors so I started with the invites. I made simple ones in Photoshop and I think that they turned out nice. I want a cricut. I don't have the money for a cricut. It is on my forever growing wishlist.

We borrowed a cupcake stand from a friend and I spray painted it hot pink and glued some ribbon on the edges for a very bright girlie feel. It was the leaning cupcake tower but would you expect anything else at our house? Piper had fallen over it and almost busted it a few days earlier. Left feet run in our family :)



Ruby wanted Elmo cupcakes so Elmo cupcakes were what she got. I have made these before but used icing for the mouth instead of Oreos. I had Oreos and used them this time around. Of course I ate the middles. They were double stuffed after all :)


For the food I did rainbow fruit kabobs, goldfish, pb&j "Dorothy" sandwiches for the kiddos, chicken salad sandwiches for the adults, cheese & crackers, and finally Frito salad. I thought it looked very nice. My girlfriend had the pom poms from her daughter's party a few weeks back and since I was planning on making them asked her if I could have hers when she was done. Less work equals happy Jessie. The banner came from Target and matched perfectly to our theme!


When she first walked in and saw everything decorated she said "Wow". It is then that all the hard work is just worth it. We sang. She blew out her candles perfectly one at a time :)


Then they ate! I warned guests that to have their kiddos wear play clothes because red cupcakes were being served.


Saturday at 3am our area got nailed with a really, really bad hail storm. Not us though, we didn't get any and were only maybe 1-2 miles away. Our home got some earlier in the day but not much. Check out the eastern side of town. This photo was taken by Triple Cross Ranch. That is all hail! WOW!


Then there is the rain to talk about. Forecast was for rain all day. I was stressed. 9 kids in our little house. What were we to do? Didn't have to worry, it ended up cool and sunny in the afternoon. Yay! So we fished. Baby girl was tired can you tell? She was a good sport though.


Guess who was the only one to catch a fish?


Our resident fishing expert Piper. Now that I feel more comfortable with Ruby by the lake I will take them down there more this summer. They loved it! What else is there to do on a cold March day in NC?


What? Yep, almost the whole party of kids jumped in to swim. Not the adults though, we aren't crazy that water is still cold! Marley even got some more water time. We finally let her swim again on Friday. It was a long winter for her :)


It was tiring, a lot of work, but once everyone got here I think it was one of my most favorite parties yet. Little in size but big in fun!

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Life is funny

Well no it really isn't funny because just when you sort of see a little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel it closes. I am down and life just keeps on kicking me. Yesterday I made an appointment with the doctor because I was experiencing some things that didn't seem right only to find out that there is still part of the placenta left in my uterus.
*kick*
It sounded like an easy fix as he was explaining the medicine I would need to take. It was a form of the medicine they gave me at the hospital. The side effect is that I would once again experience contractions. "Probably lighter though".
*kick*
The problem with the medicine is that it only works about 50% of the time. What happens the other 50%? They have to do a D&C. Are you kidding me?
*kick*
The medicine did nothing. Not the slightest cramp so next week on my birthday I will get to schedule an operation after they give me the u/s that says the tissue is still there. Why? Because my body has failed me once again. I will now take a moment to feel completely sorry for myself.

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Project 366 - Week 7

50/366

Hey sweets! Sunday I went to the Sweet Tooth Festival with the ever fun Kisten. Our friend Rachel was one of the fairies behind the event. It was wonderful. And sweet! This is what I brought home for the family. You can probably imagine the girls were beyond excited to try everything. Sugar coma ensued.

51/366

This isn't the best picture of my cup of tea that I enjoyed on Monday. It was dreary out and the tea was so good. I am not sure why I don't brew it more often. Too much of a coffee addict maybe?

52/366

While I was at the Sweet Tooth Festival my friend Martha was at a bridal show. She got to take home this big, beautiful flower arrangement. Only problem with it was it made her eyes itch. Poor Martha but lucky us! We get to enjoy it for the rest of the week.

53/366

I can't leave a good thing alone so I took that arrangement apart and made 2 vases full of flowers and then grabbed these and made a little windowsill display as well. A few of the bud vases are the girls from their great grandparents and the bottles were something Matt and I came across years and years ago. I think it is cute and enjoy looking at them while doing the dishes. Or loading them in the dishwasher because I don't do dishes.

54/366

She is still sleeping with us. 3 weeks now. With our new bed island it isn't a big deal and maybe tonight we will have a big old slumber party.

55/366

Started walking again. Wow, I am so out of shape from not being able to do much the past 4 months. Walking makes me feel amazing but my shins hurt like crazy :) Marley is giddy!

56/366

How can you stay mad, say no, or not just plain out smile at this face? Oh my Ruby ♥

That is all this week. It has been busy and flew by. Monday we saw old friends and some new ones at a get together. We all had so much fun! Not only do we now have beautiful flowers in the house but while getting some Mardi Gras supplies at the party store the nice sales lady gave Ruby a dozen heart shaped balloons. She even blew them all back up again so they will last longer! The small things that happen that bring smiles to everyone's faces are what keep me going right now.

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