Friends and Flowers

Mindy invited Ashlee, Jocelyn the girls and I to the Botanical Gardens since Ashlee is here visiting. Thanks Mindy.

Beautiful Rainbow of flowers.

There was a 60's theme. It was kind of fun.

This was my favorite flower of the day.

The desert area was definitely without color.

See what I mean.

I asked Mindy to pose and this is what she gave me.

They were so cute, just peering into the coy pond.

Love my girls.

So glad to have you back in Indiana, Ashlee and Jocelyn.

Groovy.

Peek-a-boo

We had a great day hanging out with flowers and great friends.

P.S. I would like to direct your attention to the button at the right, which says "pathological picture taker"...so true.

Dear Sam

Girls, Girls

This is our life...baby dolls and purses, backpacks, shoes and dresses. These are only a few of the baby dolls and purses floating around our house and car. And every night they return to their baby doll size pack'n play.

Our little girls aren't so little anymore. Annalyse is pulling herself up now. She especially loves to pull herself up to peer into the toy box.

Ruby found a new seat today. I caught her sitting here three times, just putting on shoes or "nursing" her baby doll.

Assembly Line

Having babies so close together is mostly a wonderful thing. It's definately interesting. Sometimes it's even like an assembly line. For instance, today we came home from church and it was baby #1 remove dress, change diaper, put play clothes on, put in high chair and assemble plate of food then grab baby #2 to remove dress, change diaper, put play clothes on, put in high chair and feed. It's crazy.

So, confession time-I am a mom who yells. I try not to. I pray that I won't but something always upsets my plan. I mean, seriously, from the moment I wake up it's assembly line to change diapers, get the kids dressed and feed them breakfast. I normally don't get dressed, smelling acceptable and fed myself until ten and we wake up at 7:30AM. Seriously, I don't feel like doing a happy dance and singing a merry ol' tune when I see a plate of food being dropped or thrown overboard by not just one kid, but two. So am I a bad mom? I know that yelling is not the most righteous thing to do, but it is the fastest and easiest stress reliever I can think of. If you only knew how often I feel like yelling and I don't then you might be impressed, but the truth is that to be a good mommy I must not yell. I must remain calm and pray for patience, forget myself and laugh more.

DIY

I tried to tackle some DIY projects this week. Here is part of our new wall decor in our bedroom. Since all four of us share the same bedroom for now I decided to devote some of the wall space to the girls. Besides look how cute and colorful this is.

Of course, we needed another frame for the rest of the bows.

Speaking of hair accessories, I have fallen in love with rosettes lately. They are just so feminine and shabby chic. I found a tutorial online and here is the finished product. So fun.

Sam took this out of the vent in our bedroom before he remodeled it. He wanted it to be a wall hanging, so one year later I finally painted it and now it is ready to hang.

Birthday Girl

This is Ruby after everyone went home from her party last Saturday.

It was a Firecracker party, since Ruby is our July Firecracker baby. We had cupcakes with poprocks on top, star marshmallows and cake pops. Everything was red, white and blue.

Uh oh, little sister envy.

Ruby really enjoyed having everyone over. She gave lots of love after opening her gifts.

Another purse from Grandma Jan.

More bows!!!!! From Corrie.

Nana and Papa got Ruby a Dora plate set and Nana made her a huge hooded towel for bathtime. Thanks Nana and Pap.

She almost had the tiara thing figured out.

Sam and I got our birthday a bubble blowing lawnmower. She was trilled. Yay! I can't believe our Babydoll is two years old.

Air Show

We went to the Angola Air Show with my parents. There were hot air balloons, but we missed them. We did get to see a bunch of RC airplanes, a parachutor and kids games. Ruby got in the moonwalk twice and waited until all the kids got out to jump. Then us adults had to go in after her.

The "M" Word

Seriously...Monogamy, people, monogamy. When did it become overrated? Because it's not. It means being soley devoted to one's spouse physically AND emotionally. Don't worry folks, my marriage is sound I am just on my soap box. Again, I am not talking about my marriage. Sam and I are completely devoted to one another and to our family. I was going to post this on Facebook, but the truth is that I probably would get all kinds of hateful responses because sooooooo many people have had feelings for someone during their marriage or have done worse. In fact, I don't even mean to sound hateful I just feel very sad, disappointed and frustrated for those who find themselves involved with anything close to infidelity. Satan is attacking families. He CANNOT win. I know everyone has their own side to a story, I have just heard a few too many lately and frankly had to speak out about it.

Zoo Crew

Thanks Becca, Emily and Meghan for a fun trip to the zoo.








It was Anna's first time at the zoo. She kind of enjoyed the experience. And when I say kind of I mean that she enjoyed it as long as mommy was holding her.