a few more..

tonight ella kate handed me an envelope for "cooking a good supper!" i opened it up and found a dollar:)

bill tries to "date" our kids as often as he can. since i am able to stay home with them during the day, he wants to make sure that he is spending quality time with them, too. last week, he took josiah to the savannah rapids and walked around. tonight, he took miley to burger king to get a $1 icee and a teddy bear ring from the quarter machine:) easy enough! so as they were sitting across from each other in the booth, sporting their burger king crowns, bill starts asking miley what some colors are. (she has always struggled with certain colors). he pointed to something brown and asked her what color it was. she said, "purple?" "no, this one is brown. what about this one." pointing to something green, and she guessed right! then orange, yellow, pink.... after she said all of those he pointed back to the brown and she said, "purple?" "no, this one is brown. remember?" being her cute, sassy self she replies ," ok. it's brown. but i really fink it's purple." :)

tonight after i bathed the kids, ella kate asked if she could sit and hold adalyn for a second. as soon as she gets her, adalyn starts sucking on ella kate's bare chest. "uhhhh mom?? i think the baby is hungry and i can't feed her 'cause i don't have any mommy nickels!"

where dreams come true..

but first.. check out these pics of when ella kate was a baby. she was a little older than adalyn, but i feel like they definitely resemble each other:) cute little chubby thang:)

ella kate still looks more asian than adalyn, but i do feel like she is looking more and more like her big sister!! (ella kate's dream)

isn't this just ridiculous?!? or maybe, these cheesy hats just don't look right on my kids.
ella kate always wants to pick out adalyn's jammies, and she ALWAYS chooses the ones that have these silly hats. haha.. it makes me laugh:)
but, you know jos was lovin' it:) another thing that makes me laugh is this cute, hiney right here.. miley has more panty issues and wedgies than anyone i have ever known:) but, don't you even try to help her out... she would rather walk around all day with a big, fat, wedgie than for you to "fix" them for her! ok.. so back to the blog title...

ella kate asked me today if mermaids were real. without even thinking about it, i said, "no baby, they are just pretend." she sat there silently for a few minutes and i started to feel bad. after all, that is what she wants to be when she grows up. mermaids are her most favorite things EVER! then she asked, "well then, why are there real mermaids at disney world?" i didn't want to be this big, gloomy rain cloud crushing her spirits, so i just said, "uhhh... you know, i'm not sure." she looked out her car window with a smile and said, " 'cause disney world is where ALL your dreams come true!!" :)

aww..i have to admit.. that totally should have been their commercial. it was perfect!!

and i must also share a secret.. i have always thought that if this wife/mommy thing didn't work out, then i would absolutely go to disney world and be a princess!!

but, too bad this wife/mommy thing is working out perfectly:)

car ride conversations..

on the way to pick up miley and josiah from preschool today, ella kate was talkin' up a storm. first, she wanted to play a guessing game. she would ask questions like, "momma, who is a girl and has orange hair and is really pretty and has a little brother that is a big boy?" i didn't have a clue who she was talking about! i started guessing random people and she would shake her head no every time. then she said, "we are fixin' to see her momma at school." i smiled and knew who she was talking about so i said, "brittney??" (mrs tk's daughter) she excitedly said, "YES!! that's it!!" then she said, "i got another one. who has long brown hair, green eyes and has a LOT, a LOT a LOT of kids and one of them is a baby?" i named a few people before i said me, then she smiled and said, "you are so smart! it IS you!!" :)

that game lasted a while until we saw a lady in an electric wheelchair riding down the side of the road. ella kate was amazed and shouted, "look!! that poor, little, old lady is riding a motorcycle chair!! she better be careful!!" i said, "i know, maybe we should pray and ask god to keep her safe." she said, "ok. let me do it.... dear god, thank you for this day and please help this poor, little, old lady to see, so she wont get runned over by a car! 'cause that would really, REALLY hurt! amen." :)

when we picked up the other kids and got everyone buckled up and on the road, miley pulled out her prize that she got from treasure box. "look momma! mrs. lori gave me this 'cause i obey da first time!" (we've been working with our kids about 1st time obedience. i read something somewhere that said, 'delayed obedience is STILL disobedience.' ouch! so we have been trying our best to train our kids to obey the FIRST time when they are told to do something. needless to say, it is a work in progress:) ) miley then said, "i'mma good drawler. i'mma draw you da gwinch!! (grinch) and he's gonna scare ya 'cause he's not berry nice!!" and then there is my sweet sweet jos.....

it takes us about 25 minutes to get to their preschool on the other side of town. and when we were about half way there this morning, josiah's flip flop breaks. he was playing with it in the backseat and was almost in tears when the strap broke off:( i didn't know if i should turn around and go all of the way back home to get some more shoes, or if i should just pull in to wal-mart somewhere and unload all of the kids to get another pair of cheap shoes for him to wear. (i really didn't want to do either...) but i pulled into target and started to get the double stroller out when i saw a pair of miley's crocs. BINGO!! i brought them around to jos and said, "look here buddy, these are blue!! i need you to wear these for me today, and maybe we can get you a lollipop after school!" who said bribery never worked?!? :) i had to pull out all of the jewels that were on them. it was bad enough sending my boy to school in girl shoes, so i HAD to take off the princess crowns, butterfly and ladybugs:) he never once complained or argued about wearing them. what a sweet heart!!
one of ella kate's "projects" today was to make a letter "F" page and cut and paste pictures of "F" things. she loved it! although, the only magazines that i had were 2 pottery barn kids. i need to get a better variety. i went into adalyn's room to feed her while ella kate was supposed to be cleaning up from school. instead, when i came back to the kitchen, i found her doing this... she made a "prize" for josiah!
she told me, "i made a 'siah a shark page 'cause he LOVES sharks!! i think he is going to be so excited about this picture!"

one more thing.... ella kate was talking about how much i would miss her if she was in "big school" because she is my "helper girl and she helps me so much with the baby". after a few seconds she said, "but hey.. you could always get nana to help you with our baby because she LOVES helping with adalyn:)"

question:

guess who forgot to go to the store today to get more ziploc baggies for lunch... and is now packing their kids' lunches with breast milk storage bags??? THIS MOM:)

my twinkie

me and ella kate are buds.

there is NO DOUBT that she is a momma's girl through and through! she likes to be thisclose to me all.day.long. it really is sweet, but let's be honest.... it really drives me bonkers! heaven forbid i use the bathroom upstairs and steal 2 minutes for myself, because she will come running and looking for me. and she would get major anxiety on monday nights when i would leave for bible study. bill stayed home with the babies every time, and they had a blast without me, but it was so hard everytime i would first leave. then, i would have to promise that i would check on her as soon as i got home! i know that i should be loving all of this and soaking up every minute of her love for me, because one day she WILL be a teenager and i WILL NOT be so cool anymore:)

tonight when she got out of the bathtub, she asked if i could fix her "head towel" just like mine:) she LOVES to talk about how me, her and adalyn are all twinkies and daddy, jos and miley are twinkies. she likes to point out every little small thing that we have in common. for instance, she will say, "momma, me and you have long brown hair and we both like pink, and we like to snuggle and we like sprite and we color in the lines and we both like ariel and we LOVE popsicles and we are very careful holding the baby....." ( and so on and so on)

here is my creative little booger who made a drawing of her room and all of her furniture it.

she really is one of the most creative kids i have ever seen! right now, i cannot find a single ponytail holder in the house because she has learned how to do her baby doll's and barbies' hair. she does braids, ponytails and "p-tails" (pig tails). she also likes to pose her dolls on her bunkbed ladder like this...

and if all of the ponytail holders aren't being occupied by her dolls' nappy hair, she grabs them and turns her scuffed up shoes into fun maryjanes with straps:)

unloading...

ok.. our first day of home school was a success!! ella kate LOVED it and was so sad when we were finished! she made sure to tell josiah and miley that "SHE was the ONLY one who gets to do home school! the others are just too little!!" we did some reading, well.. actually a lot of reading, then we did some bible, then some spelling/letters, a science "project" and a little math! successful day, indeed:)but it all went downhill from there.. well, actually.. it all started rough, then got a little better, THEN went downhill....

you see, it all started when miley woke me up this morning whining for her "cup and wunch!" (meaning lunch which is really her breakfast). sadly, i did not get a sweet good morning hug, or a friendly voice saying, "good morning momma! how did you sleep??" nope. i got a grumpy little 2 year old with wild kinky blonde hair, her thumb in mouth, a big scowl on her cute face, her hot dragon breath beating down on me demanding "her cup and her wunch!" good morning, sunshine:) she chippered up some after a few pancakes and some "lemma-laid". but ella kate must have gotten bitten by the same grumpy bug, because after school, she was a mess. every little thing would bring her to tears. but thankfully my jos-man was along for the ride and as happy as a clam and my sweet little adalyn was her usual easy-breezy self:) she will be 5 months old on friday and i just now started her on some rice cereal. i think i started my other ones on baby food much earlier... but seriously, what is the rush?? she seems to be gaining weight and filling out just nicely on milk:)although, she LOVES her rice cereal:) she is a great eater and is usually sad when the bowl is empty! i am not looking forward to all of the baby food, though. that is one part of the "baby phase" that is my least favorite. i feel like it is such a hassle.. that is one reason why i have been so laid back about her cereal. i just wish that babies could go straight from milk to table food:) oh well... she is worth it:) we love us some adalyn grace!! josiah ALWAYS greets her when she wakes up from her naps by saying, "good morning sunshine!! did you sweep good? did you miss josiah?? i wuv you so much!!" miley was laying on my floor this morning with adalyn when i hear, "you want some?? here.... suck it!!" then she giggles and giggles... i look to see what is going on and find that miley has shared her thumb with adalyn who is actually enjoying sucking on it! gross!

school!

preschool started this week and miley and josiah were super excited to go back! miley is in the 2's and she goes a couple of mornings out of the week. so far, she has LOVED it!! she adores her teacher, mrs. lori! and i have a hunch that the feeling is mutual:)

here's the sassafrass on her first day of school!josiah is in pre-k now and he LOVES it, too! he has mrs. tk, who is ella kate's best friend and teacher from last year:) in the car yesterday morning, ella kate told him,"now, 'siah... you are gonna have a GREAT day! i was a little scared at first, but mrs. tk is so nice. and you get to do centers, and play outside and eat lunch with your friends!" :)after much prayer and consideration, bill and i have decided that i will keep ella kate home with me and home school. she has a late birthday, (aug 24) and i was struggling so bad with the fact of sending her to the public school that we are zoned for. part of me didn't feel that she was ready, and the other part of me was scared for the environment that she would be in. i don't know how long i will home school her or my other kids, but i do feel that right now, this is what i am supposed to do. so we will just take it year by year:)

......and lastly, i will leave you with this smiley face:)ella kate picked out this outfit for adalyn. she says she looks like rainbow sherbert:)