Remembering...

It is so funny when I hear Mia and Chloe talking about things that they remember from when they were even younger than they are now. My earliest memories are from about their age and up, and they are few and far between until I get to about middle elementary school age.

So, it makes me wonder how much they will really remember as they grow or will it be memories formed from the stories that I tell them about their lives? They have asked about their birth story so many times that they know all about my water breaking and the epidural and the c-section (plus, they've seen the video...nothing grosses them out!). Today while we were waiting at Aamco to hear about my van's transmission they asked me to tell them the story of when they were born. I'm sure the guy in the office enjoyed hearing all those details! Then here is how it went:

Mia: I remember being in your tummy, Mommy.

(really?)

Mia: I used to play with God when I was in there.

Chloe: Me too.

Mia: I remember what God looked like. He had brown hair.

Chloe: No, that was Jesus. God doesn't have ANY hair.

Love that...

Nightmares?

I was just completely engrossed in The Bachelorette Finale when I hear Mia jump out of bed upstairs and in the hallway crying to Kevin about something. I know she should be totally asleep at this point of the night, so this frightens me and I run upstairs and she is in the hallway telling Kevin that she is hearing a very loud sound. She looks so scared and when I go to hug her, her little heart is pounding a mile a minute. I picked her up and carried her back to her room and she keeps saying, "It's so loud, it's too loud!" I put her in the bed and sat next to her and was trying to talk to her about what it was she was dreaming and she seems coherent and then she looks right through me and puts her hands over her ears and looks so afraid and she begins shaking and saying it's too loud again. I called Kevin to grab some water to help me to wake her up and he says to bring her to the bathroom where the light is on and I am wiping her face off with a wet wash cloth and she is looking at herself in the mirror, but I can tell she is confused. I ended up lying in bed with her and I think she finally woke up enough...to go back to sleep.

What was that all about??? It almost made me angry that her dreams were so scary to her. Whatever/whoever makes dreams occur better leave my Mia alone...only sweet dreams from now on...please.

Baby's got pink eyes~

Our sweet Quinnie has pink eye. It all started almost 2 weeks ago when she woke up from her nap and her right eye was so gooey. Poor thing. When she woke up the next morning, her little eye was "glued" shut. Mia and Chloe said, "Mommy, she looks like a pirate!". Well, yes, girls, you're right, she sure does... But she was smiling all the while.

The pediatrician prescribed an antibiotic ointment but for some reason it hasn't kicked it completely yet. On Saturday, I called the Dr. again and she prescribed some antibiotic eyedrops...so hopefully this will clear it up. I'm ready to see her sweet bright eyes again!

These 2 pics are from Friday evening before I called the Dr. on Saturday morning for some new treatment:

American Girl Land

Well, we did it...Nana, Grammie, Chloe and Mia (and myself and Quinnlan) made the trip up to Northpoint Mall to go to the American Girl store. You would have thought it was Christmas morning...the night before, Mia came into Kevin's office late on Monday night while he was doing paperwork and told him that she just couldn't sleep she was so excited. She ended up falling asleep on the guest bed in the office.

As visions of American Girls danced in her head...

We knew that Chloe wanted Julie Albright, so we went ahead and found her first and then it was time to figure out which doll Mia wanted. We looked and looked and read about each doll and where she was from and what time period and she finally settled on Elizabeth. She is Felicity's best friend and is from the 1700s. She is very "princessy"...totally Mia.

After we left the store, we went up to the food court and Mia and Chloe shared a milkshake to celebrate their new dolls. Mia had brought her purse with some change in it and had asked if she could have some gum if we saw one of those little bubblegum kiosks. She spotted one (of course) and so we headed over to it. As we are looking at all of the flavors, I notice that Mia is digging in her purse and I look down and see Elizabeth FACEDOWN ON THE MALL FLOOR! I tried not to freak out, but I think I may have just a little bit...obviously she has no idea that her Grammie and Nana just spent $100 on this doll and that it needs to be cared for more than the toy inside of a Happy Meal! Anyway, she jumped and picked it up and made sure that she was ok. She even apologized to her (the doll). Funny...

Chloe, on the other hand, would barely let me hold her doll as she waited on her milkshake~she had to be sure that I knew to hold her arms by her sides and hold her close to me as I walked back to the table.

"Nobody bought me anything and I'm still smiling"

Mom wanted to buy some clothes for them at the A.G. store, but my friend, Kellie, had informed me that Target carries doll clothes that also fit American Girl dolls. Much more economical. So, we made a trip to Target after we dropped off Grammie and we found a couple of outfits and a Slumber Party set for each doll. As we were trying to decide on the outfits, Quinnlan is leaning out of the shopping cart and reaching to the shelves. I looked at what she was so interested in and it was this little small baby doll that was only $2.99. She was in LOVE. I had tears in my eyes, it was so precious. She was hugging it and saying "awwww". The cashier had to use the "gun" scanner to ring it up because there was no way she was letting go.

She calls it Dada. :)

Needless to say, they have SO enjoyed their new dolls. Mia loves to find clothes around the house so she can be dressed like Elizabeth. Her Sleeping Beauty dress semi-matches the dress Elizabeth came in and Mia has a slip that she wears to bed like Elizabeth wears her slip to bed. Chloe pretty much just takes Julie with her all around the house and is VERY careful with her.

A couple of mornings ago, as I was still dead asleep, I woke up to Chloe asking me to tie Julie's leather braided belt around her waist. REALLY? I was still dreaming...no, let me have a cup of coffee before asking me to play dress up with the new dolls.

Also, Mia came into bed with me yesterday morning while Chloe was still sleeping and I hear Chloe wake up and here is how it went:

Chloe: MIA!

(silence)

Chloe: MIA!

(I looked at Mia who was wide awake and told her to answer her sister)

Mia: What.

Chloe: Did you brush Julie's hair?

Mia: No

Chloe: Tell me the truth. Did you brush Julie's hair?

Mia: No, I didn't

Chloe: OK, well, if you decide you want to be honest, you can come and tell me the truth later.

Mia: I didn't do it. For real.

Chloe: You can tell me the truth later then.

She is my Mother Hen...nobody messes with Julie Albright.

These are a few of my favorite things~

Today I baked a trial-run batch of cupcakes for Mia, Chloe and Quinnlan's birthday that will be in August. I had searched on the internet for the "best" cupcake recipe and I swear to you, I think I've found it. I'm not a huge fan of cake, but for some reason, I LOVE cupcakes (who doesn't???) This recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich village in NYC. I've never been there, but I've seen it in enough articles or random news stories to have always wanted to check it out next time I hit the Big Apple. They are amazing...love love and more love in a cupcake wrapper. Mmmmmm...

When I was eating mine, I was thinking, this may possibly be one of my favorite things.

So, I started thinking, what are some other things that are favorites??? And the list began. I'm sure I will be adding to this over time.

Remember, these are just things so I will not be listing beautiful sunsets, or hugs from my children or the love of my man, etc...

Many of these things will probably be products (namely beauty products) because I am a self-professed Product Junkie...yes, admitting it is the first step to recovery...And I am by no means loyal to any brand...I LOVE IT ALL :)

Favorite Things:

1) the cupcakes I made today:

This picture is of an original Magnolia Bakery cupcake...mine weren't this pretty :)

2) Smashbox O-Glow liquid blush:

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This is the most amazing product I have come across in a long time. It is in this little tube and is like a mood ring! It is so cool...I was in Utopia, I mean Sephora, and I was on "the hunt" for a new blush that was not powder...I had been using Bare Minerals blush for years and I just felt like it was too heavy, so I asked the sales lady her opinion and she lead me to 2 products, Tarte stick blush and O-Glow. I liked the Tarte, but I was SOLD when she showed me the O-Glow. She put a small drop of this clear gel on the back of my hand and it immediately began turning this perfect shade of pink. Crazy...then she put it on her hand and it did the same, but what's amazing is that the sales lady was black and it turned the perfect shade FOR HER! SO cool... I was SOLD. (The folks at Sephora see $$$ when I walk in, because I ask a ton of questions. But, the problem is that I am a great shopper, but a terrible buyer. I have a hard time making the actual purchase unless I absolutely LOVE something...it can be very annoying for anyone that shops with me, which is why I usually shop solo.)

3) Aveda Foot Cream:

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My mom bought this foot cream for me a couple of Christmases ago for my stocking in a little trial size set with their hand cream. I had never used a foot cream before but thought I'd give it a whirl since with running, the heels of my feet and this one spot on the top of both of my feet where my running shoes hit can get pretty callused (TMI?). I am not exaggerating when I say that within 3 days of using it before bed, they were so soft! It also has a great lavender sent that is very relaxing... The hand cream is OK, but I hardly used it because I could always rub any leftover foot cream into my hands when I was finished.

4) Burt's Baby Bees Apricot Oil:

When Chloe and Mia were born, we bought this oil and used it on them since it is all natural and as a bonus, it happens to smell so delicious. It makes baby's skin so soft after a bath and I think we even used it on their heads when they had a touch of cradle cap. This was the one product that I could not wait to buy when I found out I was preggo again with Miss Quinnie. It lasts forever because you only have to use a tiny bit for their entire little body. That is a smell that will always take me back to the "Baby Years".

I will add to my list as I run across other things that I love...that's all for now~

Working through it all...

Well, I just booked our tickets to New Zealand for Thanksgiving. We are planning a trip for about 10 days (give or take the 20 hr. plane ride).

I am very excited...

I did my student teaching (a college quarter of studies through a program at UGA called COST---the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching) in Spring 1998---or in NZ it was Fall 1998...crazy, I know...It's all backward. :)

I lived and taught in this quaint seaside town that is a suburb of Christchurch (the big city on the south island) called Sumner. It was incredible. I lived with an awesome family (The Davies) in their B&B that was one block off the beach. It even had a name, Rock Villa.

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Rock Villa

I walked to school everyday and made some amazing memories at Sumner School.

I also got engaged there (beautiful)...Kevin came to see me for 2 weeks and when we were traveling around, he proposed in a town called Cromwell and the rest is history.

For years, New Zealand was always a very fond memory for me (and Kev), but I never really let my mind "go there" because I am a Georgia Girl through and through...no plans for leaving the southeast in my near future...or so I thought...

It all started one datenight a couple of years ago when we went to Brick Store Pub for dinner and we just randomly started talking about NZ.

Then we started talking about "what ifs"...you know how that goes, right? I won't go into it all the details, but basically, the idea of making in international move kept coming up over and over again...we couldn't ignore it. So, finally, a few months ago I had emailed the lady (Carolyn) that was the head of COST and asked her if she still had Neil Anderson's email address (he was the contact for the teaching college in Christchurch that served as my liason while I was teaching there) from 11 years ago for me to ask him a few questions. She not only had his email address, but he was coming into Athens for a COST conference in the US SouthEast in March 2009. I was shocked, but we went ahead and made plans to meet with him and Carolyn for lunch to pick his brain a little bit about a possible move. He was incredible. He was very objective in telling us about NZ. He told us the pros and the cons---mainly being that unless you wanted to go to Australia, you were at least 12 hours away from anything else. We drove home from Athens and I called my mom and was testing the waters talking to her about it and she seemed very supportive at first. So, I just went on and on, I'm sure, jabbering about this and that that we had talked about and then I realized that she had been pretty quiet.

She had been crying.

See, my brother just moved to Africa with his wife and 2 kids in January, so the move of one child was pretty fresh...

This completely burst my bubble about the whole idea...remember, I'm a people pleaser...

When we got home, I Skyped my brother, Pat, in Africa to talk to him about it and he told me that Mom had already talked to him and with the homesickness that Paige (his wife) was dealing with---she is just as close to her mom as I am to mine---he told me to look for every reason NOT to go before we make any decisions.

Good advice...I did just that and got caught up in school for our girls and church and friends, etc...

Then, a couple of weeks ago, it all started up again...I would see advertisements for traveling to NZ. Then I would see a random magazine article and would wonder who had written it and it would be a kiwi. The list could go on and on...

I talked to Kevin and reiterated that we would definitely have to make a trip back to NZ and "feel it out" to see if it was anything that we would be interested in pursuing. I was worried that that we had romanticized it all so much in our minds to be this utopia.

We decided that Thanksgiving would be the best time to travel because Kevin's work slows down during that time and after talking to my mom, she is fine with watching the kiddos while we go and scope it out.

Kevin has yet to broach the subject with his folks, so we'll see how that one goes...

Puppy Love

Mia and Chloe had VBS this week across the street and it was a lot of fun seeing all of their preschool friends there. Chloe was very excited to see her little friend, Spencer. I have mentioned Mr. Spencer on here before (the boy that said he saw Chloe's underpants and made her never want to wear a dress or skirt without shorts underneath again). We call him her little bug-hunting buddy because that is their big thing they love to do together. When I dropped them off, he was calling her name, "Hi Chloe, Hi Mia, Chloe come sit here!" (as he is patting the seat next to him) as we walked up the aisle to their pew in the sanctuary. She just blushed and smiled and slid into the seat next to him. She almost forgot to kiss me goodbye...almost.

When I picked them up afterwards, they came outside and they were inseparable~it was so precious. I think I actually saw cartoon hearts floating above their heads as they walked outside to the playground!

As I thought about them, I travelled back in time in my mind about 29 or so years ago when I first started going to Rehoboth. I remember my first day in Sunday School and the kids were all sitting in these little chairs in a semi-circle facing the teacher and I didn't know anyone. Then this little boy named Adam waved me over to sit next to him by patting the empty chair (on the "boys" side of the semi-circle) and I went over and sat there and I think I sat next to Adam every Sunday for a few years (on the boys side of the room)! Looking back, it is so sweet and Adam is still one of my oldest friends...I love reading his wife's blog and catching up on them through that---they just had baby #2 (a girl this time!).

We were supposed to have Spencer over for a playdate today after VBS, but Chloe started running a high fever last night and all day today, so she missed VBS and the playdate has been postponed. When we went to pick up Mia, Spencer's dad had just broken the news to him and he was crying when we saw him. I gave him a big hug and he told Chloe that he was going to buy her a present in Tybee Island this weekend since she is sick and give it to her when they play next week. So sweet...

Spencer's dad told me the funniest thing...he said that Spencer had come to him after the first day of VBS and said, "Dad, I just don't know what to do, I guess I'll just have to marry them both." Good thing it isn't too much of a dilemma because Mia is definitely more into being Barbie Island Princess than being a bug-hunter! I think Chloe has this one in the bag...

Ahhh...puppy love...

Spencer is the one on the right in the blue shirt and camo shorts...Chloe is in the middle with the pink sash and Mia is 2 over to the left.

Does it get any better than this?

This has been a great weekend...

After Kevin worked at the rental house Saturday morning, he came home and we had a quick lunch and went to the neighborhood pool. It is amazing what a little peer pressure can do...after seeing their friend, Liz, jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder all by herself, Mia and Chloe are now able to do the same. Last weekend, they were jumping in, but with swimmies and someone had to be waiting under the board to help them get to the ladder, but this time (after they both almost drowned me a few times by holding on for dear life when they jumped in), I coaxed them to swim closer and closer to the ladder alone until they did it alone...YAY!

When little Quinnie had had just about all she could stand, we headed home and put her down for a nap while Kevin

took the older girlies to the pet supermarket to get some new fish and a "bubbler" for Kevin's new favorite thing, his rain barrel (he plans to use it to water his new veggie garden with "fertilized from fish poop" rain water...mmmm). We accidentally killed the other 2 fish that we had in the barrell...long story.

We then played on the new playset with the neighbor girls, Meredith and Genevieve, and then grilled out and had a fun family dinner on the screened porch and then put the baby to bed.

How much do I LOVE The Coffeehouse on XM??? That is our favorite music channel on DirecTV and on Kevin's Sirius Radio. So so so good... We have many dances to it...with each other (which Mia and Chloe LOVE---remember, kids marinate in their parents' love) and with our girlies.

Kevin and Mia boogying

Kevin also made a "fire pit" in the backyard and we made s'mores and read bedtime stories before bed outside. It was such a sweet time.

These are the times that I wish we could bottle up.

On the contrary, though, on Sunday, Kevin's back/leg/sciatica problem caused a little problem. We were all dressed and driving to church when he literally had to turn the car around to head home because the pain was so bad! It eased up a little, but we did schedule a massage for Kevin that afternoon at our gym. We took advantage of that by taking the kids to the gym's playcenter and we went out and had an hour vacay by the gym's outside pool. It was so nice~I seriously don't know the last time I sat in a lounge chair with a book and read by the pool! (I am reading Jodi Picoult's newest book, Handle With Care, and it is AMAZING! She's the best...) Then we got the older girls and let them swim for about a half hour before I headed home for the baby's nap and Kevin had his massage.

More pics to come...for some reason, I am having some trouble with IPhoto...

To American Girl or not to American Girl...that is the question

Oh my...

I just picked up Mia and Chloe from their Grammie's house.  They had an incredible time.  It was Grammie Day and originally, Grammie (Kevin's mom) had wanted to have them separately to spend the night and have Grammie Day one-on-one with each girl, but they didn't want to be separated, so they did it together.  They had pizza and ice cream last night and had planned on going to the Nature Center and Ice Age 3D today.  Well, the Nature Center got rained out, so they decided to go to North Point Mall and walk around before the movie.  That is where American Girl comes in...

Chloe and Mia had seen the American Girl catalog at my mom's house a few months ago.  I think my niece, Madison, had it.  They thought it was so great...especially when Mia saw that the 2008 limited edition doll was called Mia.  That made her day.  So, we had said that if they really wanted that, then Grammie and Nana would go in together to buy them one for their 5th birthday.  (too bad the Mia doll is no longer available now that it is 2009)

I asked Grammie to take them by the store to see if it was really something they were dying to have because to spend $114 on a DOLL is insane in my book.  But, it's not my money, right???  (their gift from us was the playset...Kevin's blood, sweat and tears included)  

So, they go in and Grammie even told me that it is very overwhelming, to say the least.  I am amazed just hearing about it!  I knew the dolls had accessories and extra outfits and extra books and DVDs that go with them, but I was shocked when Chloe showed me the doll she has fallen in love with (Julie, the 70's hippie doll with long blond hair and a Lauren Conrad braid that has divorced parents and a love of chocolate fondue in San Francisco...see, there is so much to learn!) and the bed that she sleeps in is $118!!!  What?!?  I think the entire Barbie dreamhouse was probably $50 at most when I was a kid and I never received it and I was probably 8 or 9 when I asked for it (not 4, almost 5)!  Ok, enough about me...

After hearing ALL---and I mean all---including the DOLL, not child, hair salon ($20 ka-ching!), the ear piercing station for the DOLL ($20 ka-ching!) the cafe for the DOLL and child (who knows how much that costs?), etc---I decided that we would have a talk and I would tell them that we are going to wait on American Girl until they are around 7.  As I'm telling Chloe this, she just breaks down sobbing.  It is so pitiful, but it is so REAL in her little world.  She is telling me how I promised that she could have one when she turned 5 if Grammie and Nana wanted to buy it for her and how she loves this Julie doll and how she has already gone to the other room where it was quiet to ask Santa to please bring Julie's bed and PJ's for Christmas so Julie can sleep next to her in her own bed.  

Needless to say, I caved.  

When I called Mia into the kitchen, Chloe had calmed down, but was still upset that I even tried to go back on my promise.  What I love about Mia (in this case) is that she is easily distracted.  I asked her if she would be happy going on a field trip to Toys R Us with Grammie and/or Nana to pick out her birthday gift instead of having the American Girl and she said, "Yes!"  Perfect...

Then at bedtime, they didn't want a story, they wanted us to read the American Girl catalog about each doll.  I am nursing Quinnlan in the nursery and I hear Kevin reading about Julie (the doll that Chloe wants) and I wince when I hear him read the part about Julie coming from a divorced family and how that and her move to a new school is "what changed her" and his next words are, "No way...no way...this is total P.C. garbage.  They are too young for this."  

Uh-Oh.  

I guess we'll see where this one goes, but like I told him, Chloe wants the doll for the doll, not the book that goes along with it...the books are definitely for older kids...and there are plenty of little kids out there that come from divorced families (Kevin being one of them...not that he is a little kid or that he would have ever read an American Girl book) that would probably like to read and relate to a story similar to their own (minus the 8 track and the chocolate fondue).

Happy 4th of July!

This weekend was full of fun.  It has been awhile since we have had a big chunk of full-on family time and it was great being able to spend so much time with each other.  Saturday, we went to the annual 4th of July parade in our neighborhood (I think it may be the 45th annual or something like that...some of the old folks that live in our neighborhood have attended every single one of them!  Love that!).  We met the Brownlow's and their daughter, Libbie, and dogs and joined in the parade.  My mom made these adorable outfits for my girls and it is funny because Mia (of course) wanted a dress and Chloe did not want a dress (see the last posting about Spencer seeing her underpants at school), so my mom made a top for her to wear with shorts and Quinnlan also got a dress...Mandy monogrammed their names on them and they are so sweet!

We marched in the old-school parade complete with the bikes and wagons and dogs and my friend, Blake, carrying the boombox playing the patriotic music.  It was great.  I love our neighborhood~

After the parade they had blocked off the street for games.  They had relays with vaseline and cotton balls on the noses of the kids and relays to sit and pop the water balloons among others.  Chloe had her first lesson in never quitting the team.  When Mia and Chloe had their turn to pop the water balloon, their little 35lb. bodies were too light to pop them!  Maybe I should have fed them more breakfast???  So, with our help/weight lifting them up and smashing them down on the balloon, they finally popped, but this did put their team a little behind (excuse the pun...haha).  Chloe comes to us and says she doesn't want to finish the relay...oh no, honey, you don't quit the team in the middle of the game!  It was a little bit of a struggle, but we got through to her and she went on to sit on the last balloon (with our help again) and finished with her team.  Lesson learned...

Mia FINALLY popped the balloon

I dropped Kevin and the girls off at the pool and took Quinnlan home to nap and then we joined them after lunch.  Quinn has a new "circus trick".  She is all about saying "hi" and waving her hand...as her completely unbiased mom, I think it is so cute.  Hence, the video I am attaching:

The Hickey's joined us at the pool with their girls, Megan and Allison.  The pool was packed and Chloe and Mia both jumped off the diving board into the deep end for the first time...big girls!  More video:

Chloe

Mia 

We came home and everyone (including us) crashed, which was perfect because we had big plans for fireworks that night!  The Hickey's came over to grill out and then we headed to downtown Decatur for their fireworks show.  We set up camp right next to the courthouse across from Brickstore Pub and when the fireworks began, we realized we could not see anything because of a big giant tree that was in the way!  It was pretty hilarious seeing everyone around us scramble to pack up their things to move to a better spot.  We should have looked for all the old folks.  They were all set up with their lawn chairs in the prime spots behind the courthouse near the gazebo.  They know where to go...note to self...

Mia stood with her hands over her ears the entire time asking when we could go home and Chloe and Quinnie loved the show.  I was worried it might be too scary or loud for the baby, but she loved it.  She kept saying, "ohhh...ohhhh".  Sweet pea.  

Fun times...