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.