Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach

Beach Trip 09

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Claire

My little Claire-bear is not little anymore. This summer I have started teaching her to read. It melted my heart when she read her first word all by herself a couple of weeks ago. I remember crying my eyes out because we were not sure if we would ever be able to have children and here I am with two amazing blessings and I am teaching one to read and another one to stay in her bed. Claire has grown up on me so fast and she soaks up information so quick. She can write all the letters of the alphabet and she does a really good job of staying in the lines. Her coloring skills have gotten so much better. She loves books! She is such a big helper with Maggie. We are learning scripture and at Bible time she prays for most of you guys out there. She amazes me everyday! I love you baby girl!

Maggie

Oohs and Ahhs has kept me busy so I have not had a chance to write about my babes in a while. Maggie finally cut her 4th tooth. She has a nice little gap in between her top two teeth so that her bottom two fit nicely in between. Instead of signing words she is speaking them. She can say the words more, bye bye, light, dada, and mama. These are the main ones she says. Over the past couple of weeks she has developed quite a little temper. Not sure where she gets that from. Maybe Rodney... :)
She is walking with help and is pulling up on everything. She has the cutest little smile where she scrunches up her nose and smiles from ear to ear. It makes your heart melt. She tries to brush her hair with the brush, put on a purse strap over her shoulder, and talk on the phone. She does love food but she has gotten a little pickier these last couple of months. At her year check up she weighed 18 pounds. Rodney built a little bunk bed to put over Claires bed and so now we have Claire on the top and we are training Maggie to go on the bottom. We have done it now for two nights and it has not been as bad as I thought. Nap time is a little tricky but I will say after 45 min of putting her back in her bed she finally took her first nap! yipppee!

Maggie's 1st Birthday

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Camping with the Bests

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Maggie turns around

Well, my little Maggie is growing up. The week she turned 1 (July 28) we turned her car seat around. So for Maggie's first birthday Claire got a new car seat. It's pink of course!

More video of Claire and Madyson on roller coaster

Alabama Adventure

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Alabama Adventure-the roller coaster

Claires Party at Mimi and Papas

Celebrating Claire's 4th Birthday

Celebrating Claire's 4th Birthday

Maggie celebrating Claire's 4th Birthday

Claire-bear

The point in life that your baby girl can ride a roller coaster by herself allows you to know that she is growing up. Last week our dear friends the Bests went to the beach and opened up their home to us. Rodney was able to take some time off from work so we just made it a mini vacation in Trussville. Granna and Pops gave us season passes to Alabama Adventure for Claire's birthday. Last week we were able to go three days! We had such a great time getting away and having family time just the four of us. Claire loved the water park but I do think she loved the roller coaster more. I watched as she rode in the bumper cars (keep in mind Maggie sitting in stroller hot and hungry), rode the ferris wheel, thunder river, log ride, and the really loud one that goes round and round ???? .
Claire is now 4. Yes, she is 4. What I thought might not be possible and God gave me two! What an amazing God He is!! I love you sweet claire-bear.

Maggie Rie

My little Maggie is not so little anymore. Since I last posted about her she now has her second tooth on the bottom and is currently cutting two on the top. She has been a bit fussy but overall not to bad. She had her first ear infection about 3 weeks ago. She did not struggle has much as Claire did but I think we were able to catch it pretty early. She is crawling all over the place and loves to get into josh's food and water bowl. Stubborn little monkey she is! She waves and says bye-bye and when she lays down for a nap or for bed she is gone and you never hear a peep out of her. I think back to the paci and bottle prayers and smile. She is now onto the steak and chicken :).
She smiles from ear to ear and she absolutely loves Claire. She will be a year old this month. What a year its been but it would never have been the same without the Maggs! I love you baby girl!!

www.oohsandahhs.etsy.com

As you can see I have not nurtured my blogging lately. If you will look to the left of my blog you will see some pictures of my new etsy store. Rodney emailed me yesterday and informed me that he added the store to my blog. Over the past two months I have been sewing and researching and sewing and researching my heart away to get the etsy store up and running. It is now official!! My website is www.oohsandahhs.etsy.com. My mom loves to crochet and so we joined together and have this cute little shop! Last week I received an email about a question on one of my dresses. This little question turned out to be my very first sale!! It was for a size 2t peasant dress. I was able to finish the dress and ship it out yesterday. This was an exciting moment for me! Thank you for all the encouragment and support!!

Mothers Day

Sundays are always a bit tricky for us. Most Sundays Rodney has to leave early to practice at the church. On the days he preaches he is able to hang around a little longer and we all ride to church together. Last Sunday morning he needed to leave early. The first one up of course ready to wish me a happy mothers day was.... yep, the maggs. I dont think that she was worried to much about wishing me a happy mothers day as she was about eating. This is something the child thinks about often. Rodney started getting ready in hopes that Claire would wake up before he left. Now let me back up a day. Rodney took the girls and went to the store. He did not tell me what store he went to so I had no idea. I was making Claire's lunch and she said, " mommy, we got you a..." "wait, wait, dont tell me claire its a surprise". "Oh thats right mommy, I forgot. Daddy told me not to tell you". That afternoon I took Maggie and Claire to Hobby Lobby. I did not tell Claire we were going to Hobby Lobby so when we pulled up she said, "Hobby Lobby, but mommy I have already been to Hobby Lobby today." She was the funniest thing trying to keep it from me. Okay, fast forward to Sunday. Rodney was headed out the door and he said he wished Claire would wake up so they could give me my presents. I told him not to worry about it until later because Claire would have been heartbroken if she could not do it. He was getting in his car and I heard claire's door open. I ran out to the car (because i was not excited about receving gifts or anything)and told him she had just gotten up. He came inside and him and claire gave me my gifts. One single gerber daisy and a gift card to hobby lobby. Him and the girls had also made cards for me. What a beautiful moment it was for me. I even got to pick where I wanted to go to lunch -milos it is. Going to eat after church seems overrated to me. Mr. and Mrs. Calfee went out to lunch and took Claire with them. When we got home we put maggie to bed and ate lunch just Rodney and I and then on the couch we plopped. It was a really neat time. Thank you Rodney for making my mothers day special! I love you girls!!

The Water Park

The park over by our house recently built a little water park. It is the culest place! Claire and Maggie both love it!!

Mommy and Claire-bear date

My sweet Claire is growing up before my eyes. This past year has been quite interesting in our lives. I feel that is has passed by so quickly yet extremely slow at the same time. I now have a ten month old and a four (in a couple of weeks) year old. Rodney and I have been blessed by these two miracles that God has given us to raise. I decided a couple of weeks ago that Claire and I were going to have mommy-daughter day. Maggie spent the day with Mimi and Claire and I headed off on our adventure. The first stop was the zoo. We rode the train, got ice cream, and saw a lot of neat animals. After that we grabbed some lunch and went shopping for a bit. What a beautiful day it was.

Claire, there were many long days and nights of tears and prayers poured out for you. Each month I would pray for a baby. In his perfect timing He did. He gave me you. What a beautiful time we have had together. From carrying you around for nine months(which was a wonderful pain free time) to bringing you into this world and now watching you turn four, I am speechless. You melt my heart and I praise the Lord that He gave you to us. I love you Claire-bear!

Madyson's birthday outfit

Madyson's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I decided I was going to make her something. A tiered skirt and top to match was what I came out with.

The Easter Dresses

For Christmas Rodney gave me a pleater. So Brook and I started on our journey of making the girls Easter dresses from start to finish. After several months, lots of frustrations, and lots of learning they are finished!

The Easter Party at Park Place

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Easter

Easter morning we woke to eggs filled with candy, a new toothbrush, a bunny in a car that says "Happy Easter", and a rolling play toy for Maggie. This was really fun but most importantly we got to celebrate the Ressurection of our Savior. The night before we made cookies that explained the Easterd story. We beat the nuts with a spoon just as Jesus was beaten. We added vinegar because this was given to Jesus to drink on the cross. We added some other ingrediants and put them in the oven and shut the door until Easter morning just as Jesus was put in the tomb. We opened the oven door to find our cookies that were hollow inside that represented that the tomb was hollow-EMPTY because He is alive and no longer in the tomb!!

Easter at Mimi's house

The week before Easter the girls and I headed to Mimi's house for some Easter Fun. Mimi went all out and bought candy baskets for the girls and dye for the eggs. Claire had so much fun with the dye but I think if my OCD had not kicked in then Claire could have really gotten her hands dirty or should I say stained. Maggie just sat and watched Mickey Mouse with cookie in hand of course and had a ball. Thank you Mimi for making Easter at Mimi's house so much fun!!

The girls

Things have been a bit busy in our world but that has not stopped Maggie and Claire from growing and learning knew things. Maggie will be 9 months old on the 28. I cannot believe it. She really hates being on her belly but in order for her to start being mobile this is just something we have to do. Up until now I have not encourged the crawling or the walking. Claire started crawling at 6 months and started walking at 9 months so we missed out on the sit in the floor and play with toys phase. Maggie is now getting really bored with this so crawling here we come. The times that she is on her belly she scoots herself backwards. Her pudgy little tummy and legs hinder her from moving forward but we are doing baby excersises so she will be crawling in no time. I also realized how much maggie is costing us in baby food so we have introduced solids. I could make one jar of baby food last like three days with Claire but Maggie could eat two jars three times a day and that really adds up! We are waiting on the 2nd tooth to pop through. There have been some tough days but she seems to be doing better with this one than with the first one. She has also started saying words. Baby, dada, bye-bye, mama. These are four she can say really well. This morning I asked her where's dada and she looked over at Rodney and smiled. That made up for last night when I handed her to Rodney and she started crying. Alright Maggs, two more months and we have to call it... :)

My Claire-bear is getting so big. She is coming up on four now. She knows her letters and numbers and has started writting. It has been really neat teaching her all of these things. She catches on really fast. Claire loves to play with Maggie and I realize when Claire is not around how much she helps me take care of her.

I thank God that He gave you girls to Rodney and I. We love you!

The first tooth..

Well, its official- the first tooth finally came through on April 3. Maggie actually slept from 7pm to 7am solid. I was the happiest mama ever!! Claire did not have this much trouble with her teeth. I could always tell when she was about to get one because of her diapers (i will spare the details..). She might have been a little fussy but honestly I think she was too busy with other things to be upset about her teeth. Maggie is a bit different. She must sit around all day and think about her teeth.... how much they hurt and see how miserable she can make all of us because she is in pain. I do have to give a shout out to mickey mouse clubhouse that has gotten us through some incredibly whiney moments (for both me and Maggie). I will also have to say Praise the Lord for the makers of motrin and tylenol!! So yah for the first tooth!! I do remember the words coming out of my mouth... when she starts getting teeth then there goes the nursing for sure.. yeah right!

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Mimi's Birthday Wishes

Shopping with my Claire-bear

I am one of those women who does not really enjoy shopping. I will say that I do enjoy looking (notice I said looking) at shoes and bags/purses. Every now and then I do make a purchase and it is usually a bag. You can buy bags or purses cheaper than you can shoes these days. I have started pulling out the spring and summer clothes for Maggie and Claire. I have gotten everything for Claire that she needs except flip flops and a bathing suit. I thought I would not have to buy anything for Maggie but it looks like I will be purchasing a bathing suit for her as well because the one that Claire had at this age is too small (shocker). I decided I would look online since I have looked at some stores and have not found what I am looking for(ask granna or my mom about the search for that "perfect" big girl bedding for Claire- and yes they think I am crazy). I was sitting at the computer looking at the swimsuits at target. Claire comes out of her room and here is our conversation- Mommy, what are you doing? I am looking at swimsuits for you and Maggie. Oh, can I look too? Sure. Climb in my lap. Ooooooooo I like that one, no mommy I like the blue one, wait no I like that purple one. Look at that pink one. Well Claire, which one is your favorite? The pink one. Ok, well lets see if we can look for some flip flops. Yeah! What do you think about these Claire? I like those, no wait I think those are cute. Wait, I like the pink sparkly ones. You do. Well, maybe we can get to target and see what they have at the store. OK mommy. -
About 3o min later Claire asked me when she is going to get her sparkly flip flops. I said we would need to go to target to look. She said, "its ok mommy, papa will get them for me (this is her new phrase since papa has a surprise for her every time he sees her... thank you Brunos for going out of business...). I passed this information on to mom and she told dad that Claire said he was going to buy her some flip flops. Yesterday afternoon he came home with not only one pair but two pairs. We went over to their house this afternoon to visit. Dad came home from work and pulled out her shoes and let her open them. The first box had a white and pink pair of flip flops that light up when you walk in them. How fun were these. They are really cute. Claire was really excited about these. Claire got the second box and took the top off and was so excited to find a pair of pink "sparkly" flip flops with butterflies on them. She jumped up and jumped in Papa's arms and hugged him and told him thank you. I am sure at this time Papa's head grew about three sizes. He had a grin on his face and was really excited to see her so excited about the shoes. We have now decided that Papa will be do the shoe shopping. He does a great job. Claire has asked for a swing set and trampoline- we will see how this one ends but I tell you something, if Claire had asked for anything else in the moment right after she hugged papa's neck and told him thank you then I am sure no matter what it was he would have gotten it in a split second. It is such a sweet bond that grandparents have with their grandchildren. Yes, they spoil them and then laugh at us as they give them back to us with chocolate mouths and bags full of goodies but it melts my heart to see the love that they have for one another. And its ok if we are the bad guys sometimes....they are just getting us back for all those fits and long nights.. after all you can't go to grandparents house without some candy. We love you guys!

Laura's Shower

Brook, Cristy, and I had the honor of throwing Laura's baby shower for the church. We have a group of girls who have hosted the last 3 or 4 baby showers we have had and they have done an amazing job so when it came time for us "old schoolers" to have our turn we found ourselves under a little bit of pressure. We started thinking about what we should do or not do and threw out the ideas that back 10 years ago would have been so great but not so much now. We decided to go all out and do fine dining. We needed to find some fancy dishes and decor. I was in charge of this. I had a thought to check thrift stores and some flea markets but I was running out of time. I started praying for free dishes. (and hey, we are not afraid to ask for free stuff these days!) Mrs. Calfee told me that Maw had a ton of dishes that she collects and that she would love for us to use them. I had forgotten that she collected them. I was so excited when we got up there and found so many things to choose from. She showed me her milk glass collection and it was beautiful. I decided this is what we would go with. She had the punch bowl, candles, and other platters to match it. So leave it to me to bring up death in this situation. As we were packing these dishes up I asked Maw (and before i realized what was coming out of my mouth) I said something to the affect of "so has anyone claimed these when you go and see the big man upstairs" - which could have been taken- when you kick that bucket i want those dishes you hear. As I have analyzed this in my head over and over that is the only thing it sounds like to me. She was so gracious and said no would you like to have these. Yes! So my free dishes were beautiful for the shower. We needed to find some thank you notes that did not cost us a ton of money. So we began to pray for free thank you cards. Cristy J went into target and found some cards that were damaged. (the boxes were damaged not the cards themselves) She grabbed them up and went to the customer service desk and started asking how much she could get them for. After a little process of negotiating she walked away with two boxes of really cute thank you cards for 6.00 total. Now I realize these were not free but God never said He would give it to us I just felt I needed to ask and His favor was with us. The next day I had to buy flowers. I went in to walmart and just before walking in I prayed that God would help me to find just what we need for a great price. He did! I found several bundles of flowers that were half off and ended up spending 2.50 a bundle. I was so excited! I called Brook and Cristy and shared my excitement. I am sure the people in Walmart thought I was a fruitcake and thought they were too because you could hear them squealing through the phone. It did not matter to me one bit. Cristy J had an idea to get boots and put flowers in them and make it a little cowboy theme. She even pulled some bamboo from her back yard and we used that with flowers. I was sweating it a little bit when Mrs. Calfee came in and saw the bamboo sitting in the floor and said what are you going to do with those weeds! I told her we were going to put them in boots for Laura's shower. The look on her face was so cute. I went over to Brooks on the Friday before and we spent the day getting everything set up. Cristy joined us by phone for most of the day but it was so much fun. We set the flowers up in the boots and it made the cutes arrangements. We got a picture so I will upload those a little later. The shower was beautiful and we were all really pleased at how everything turned out. Laura said she really enjoyed. Now either she really enjoyed or she did not want to hurt us old timer's feelings.

The incredibly chaotic day!

Monday morning I got up ready to start my monthly grocery shopping. Rodney was so great to offer to keep Maggie at the church while Claire and I headed to do all the shopping. It started off really great. I got through Sams and called Rodney to check on Maggie. He said she was fine and for me to finish up my shopping at Walmart. So Claire and I get into walmart and get halfway through and Rodney calls with this child screaming in the background. Normally I would have recognized Maggie's scream but it was so high pitched that I could not tell. By the tone of his voice I could then tell it was Maggie. He informed me that he was suppose to be in a meeting and normally she would have been fine sitting there playing with toys or eating but she would not do either. I decided I better head out since it was a 10-15 min trip back to the church. I got in line with the groceries I had and stood there for 10 min and realized that all the lines were this long and none of them were moving. I knew I had to get out and could not wait so I parked the buggy(don't tell anyone) and darted out with Claire. I got almost to the church and Rodney called and said Maggie had fallen asleep (of course) and for me to finish. I told him I was almost at the church and I would just come and get her and go home. I got home and spent about 30 min on the phone with the insurance agent trying to explain to me about our renters policy and even he was confused on it because the lady in his office put it in the computer wrong. And could someone tell me why on earth when you pay your insurance monthly that they charge you for this. This does not make any sense! During this time Claire walked out of her room and said mommy in this low pitiful voice which can only mean one thing- tete accident. I got her cleaned up and about that time Rodney came in. This certain afternoon I wanted to run to the door and jump up and down and say Rodney's home, Rodney's home. Claire usually gets this job every afternoon. He told me to go on to walmart and finish up the shopping while the girls were still napping. What a great idea. I was able to go by myself and blow off some confusion and just not think but drive to walmart. I got there and let me just give some advice. Do not go to walmart on a Monday afternoon at 4:00. It was a mad house. That should have been my first clue to turn around and go back home. I instead pressed on. I went through the aisles and realized I could not find anything because there were so many people in the way. My buggy was so full that everyone started looking at me like I was going to feed an army. It became embarrassing. After being there for 2 hours I finally got in a check out line behind "that" woman with the two kids screaming whose debit card would not work. Luckily her friend was on the other side of walmart with her kids and she was going to come and pay for her stuff. (now, let me take a moment and say that i have been "that" woman with the screaming kids but for some reason when you are by yourself and you see other people with their screaming kids you think to yourself why did they not leave their kids at home). When I was checking out the woman at the counter asked me how often I buy groceries. Now, I could have taken offense to this but I had first made the comment to her that I was not the only one eating all this food. So we were able to just laugh about it. I finally got checked out and was headed out the door. Luckily I had put the eggs on top so they would not get smooshed. I hit a bump and yes the eggs fell off the buggy and onto the floor. All of them were broken. There happen to be a big garbage can sitting right beside me and I just picked those eggs right up and threw them in the garbage and started walking to the car and never looked back. I know the right thing to do was to turn around and go back in and get more eggs. I called Rodney and told him I was headed home and that Pops would have no eggs for breakfast because I was not going back. He laughed and said that was fine. I think that was one of the most stressful times at the store. I think I would have done better with the girls with me. I had layed some chicken out to fix for dinner. I was planning on baked chicken with veggies. Since it was 6 when I got home I had to revamp my plan quick. At this time Brandon and Laura came to bring the truck back that they borrowed that afternoon. They ended up staying for dinner so I had to make sure we had enough for the six of us plus a child who honestly doesn't count because she eats like a bird (and if the pudgeball ate chicken then we would have really been in a mess). At this time I was praying over the chicken so that it would feed us all like Jesus did when He was feeding the five thousand. It ended up all working out fine and Mrs. Calfee so graciously said that next time she would go with me. I don't care what anyone says-Mondays are so hard!

Daddy takes Claire camping

Last week Rodney decided to take Claire camping since I was going to be at a conference all weekend. He pulled out his big tent and they had a practice night. He set up the tent in the living room and for about an hour they had a camping trip. Everything was going great until it was time to go to bed. Claire wiggled and squirmed and moved and grooved and finally Rodney decided "off to her bed with her." I was able to catch a few moments on the camera. Claire was so excited. It ended up raining this past weekend so Rodney and Claire were unable to go on their "real" camping trip. I think I got the best end of the deal because Rodney braved it out with both the girls and allowed me to go to the conference baby free. Maggie was such a trooper. Out of sight out of mind. As soon as I walked in the door and she saw me she remembered " oh yeah I am hungry." This is the first time I have been away from Maggie for longer than a couple of hours. Rodney met me around lunch and I was able to feed her and then took her back home. Thank you Rodney for being with the girls and thank you Maggie Rie for allowing me to slip away this weekend.

I asked Rodney if we had anything that would work for Claire to slide down the hill on. He came back with a baking pan which worked quite nicely. I even got to take a ride on it and had a great time.

A day up at Grandmother Allreds

We took a trip up to Grandmother Allred's house a couple of weeks ago. Grandmother had saved a limb that Claire played with when we were up there last. She pulled out some crafty materials and her and Claire made a beautiful masterpiece. Claire loved it! Maggie enjoyed herself as well.... eating of course.

Snow Day

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Claire-bear

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Maggie

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Rodney and Maggie

This has to be one of the cutest pictures ever!

Another random thought

Before I had kids I use to wonder why every baby doll i saw whether it be at the thrift store or at a person's house never had any clothes on. Since Claire-bear has come along I have laughed at how so many of her dolls dont have any clothes on anymore. Yesterday afternoon she played in her room for several hours for room time. That night I went in to change Maggie's diaper and I found her dora doll on the bed with her clothes taken off and put in the closet. The really funny part about this is that Brook posted a blog about Chesney and her dolls she put to bed and the exact same dora doll was laying there with no clothes on. So now we are the people that have all the dolls with no clothes on.

My big sister

Today I have had Leanne on my mind all day. So I think I will write about her. She currently lives in Prattville but she is about to move back to Birmingham. YIPPEE!! She works for State Farm insurance. Guess she really wants to carry out the "legacy" that mom had working for John Hill there at the farm. She started off lowest man on totem pole (can tell you about that one... providing insurance and financial services this is melinda how can i help you. um yes, do you have a claim number-great! let me transfer you. you dont have a claim number, let me give it to you and now i will transfer you, but remember whenever you call (for goodness sakes) can you please have your claim number, in fact dont call us at all if you dont have your claim number!) and am so proud to say that she will soon be an agent- the top man. WHAHOOOOOOOOO!! Look out world because here comes Leanne Dickinson. I am smart enough to know that I have not always been Leanne's favorite person. When I was the youngin and Leanne had all of her friends over then I got to be the bratty sister that annoyed the heck out of her. But I will never forget all the bathroom trips that she got to take me on as soon as we would walk into a store, or the year she had to drive to roebuck to pick me up from school at Parkway(can we say fatty patty with the dorky glasses.. who was that kid and why would her mother let her do that :) ). BUT, those things were not going through her little mind when on that summer day she was talking to the big man Himself and prayed for a little sister. And here I am. Mom and dad had me 7 years after Leanne. I guess you could say that I was the big surprise. Doctors told mom and dad they probaby would not have kids. When Leanne came along they were so excited and felt like having baby #2 would not happen. Needless to say I came along and brought nothing but joy with me. :) Leanne always told me I was adopted. Maybe so but so sorry sis, you and me got the nose to prove we are related. Remember when you would tell me that when I was little a fat man sat on my nose and that is why it looks the way it does. I guess since Leanne asked for me she got to raise me. She was always so much fun. She took me and Cassie and Carman to the beach (but of course the dickinson luck kicked in and we went right in the middle of a hurricane and had to come back.) Really funny memories on that trip home. My senior year she let Sasha drive her blazer to prom. That was pretty cool. I even remember calling her crying because i had spilt tomatoe soup all over moms new beige carpet. She came home and helped me clean it up. She has worked so hard over the past 10 years to get to where she is now. I know looking back some things were harder to go through than others but isnt it nice to know that God is in control of our footsteps. It has been a very amazing experience for me to be a part of her life and to see how God is molding her and making way for what is to come. Its amazing how different Leanne and I are. We joke about how we are like mom and dad. We are both like mom in so many ways and BOTH like dad in so many ways. At the end of the day we are so much alike. I am proud of my childhood and very proud of my parents. I am proud that God placed me to grow up with each of you.
So Leanne, Aunt Leigh, Sis,
You are an amazing person. You put your mind to something and you do it. You care about others around you and you care that much more about your family. You are beautiful from your inside out and yes God has a purpose for your life and a plan before you. I am so excited to see the future before you. I pray that as the next few months of a "new beginning" come that you follow your heart, lean on the ones who love you the most, and allow God to take hold of your hand and guide you as He has already done in this past year. You have a very special place in my heart. I love you very much and I am very proud and honored to call you sister.

Annie Entrekin

Annie Entrekin is mama Mitzi's mama. She passed away on Feb. 14. Yesterday we had the pleasure of going to Gadsden to be at the funeral. Rodney sang with Micah (you guys will always be my favorite pair) three beautiful songs. Mama Mitzi is one of 11 kids. We found out that she grew up in a house with one bathroom. One bathroom and 11kids. And I thought me and Leanne had it pretty rough. God knows us best doesn't He. He knew that people like me and Leanne could not live "back in the day". Claire enjoyed it as we sat in the side room and drank sunkist and a bag of cookies. I think she had two bags of M&Ms on the way there, a bag of cookies, some cake at lunch, and cookies for dinner, oh and sweet tea. She wasnt bouncing off the walls like I thought she would be but on the way home she fell in a hard sleep. She sat in Mama Mitzi's lap during the graveside service and did great. Daddy Jeff was looking all good in his "dress up clothes" as claire put it. Maggie did pretty good. She was exhausted and it took a little TLC to get her to sleep but thank you God for rolls. She chewed on it for most of lunch and she was a happy little pudgeball. I on the other hand was not feeling the best. On the way up there I had this splitting headache and then started feeling really sick to my stomach. I felt really rough the entire day. For lunch I had a little bit of chicken (here is a random thought-why do you always find fried chicken at funeral lunches) and felt a little better but I am pretty sure it was a 24 hour bug. Hope none of you guys that were around me get it! My head still hurts a little this morning but all in all I am feeling much better. (by the way dad, you cant get my germs from reading this blog... :) )

My birthday

So I woke up early (thank you maggie) and got my shower and when I came out of the room I had a surprise waiting on me. Rodney, Claire and Maggie sitting all together wishing me a "Happy Birthday). I of course got the surprise card that Claire had made me (but talked about everyday leading up to my birthday). We met Rodney around lunch and headed to the zoo. We had such a great time and what a beautiful day it was. I was of course reminded by mama that for lunch she had liver and onions on the day I was born (no wonder I came on this day!!). The day was wonderful. I received so many happy birthday's and the coolest part of all is that my sweet Claire bear could tell me Happy birthday and she really knew what she was talking about! Thank you everyone for making it such a special day and thank you mom, dad, and Leanne for saying a little prayer so that God placed me into this world to be with all of you and grow up to pray for God to give me my own little blessings! I love you!

Claire reads to Maggie

This afternoon I was cleaning out the closet in our room (trying to find more space in these tight quarters). I had Maggie sitting on the bed and Claire came in and said "I am going to play with Maggie". I told her that was a wonderful idea. She went back and forth from her room back to our room carrying all the night nights that she has and that Maggie has. She brought her blanket to her and she also brought her favorite book- Brown Bear Brown Bear. I was focused on the closet but I stopped for a moment to see Claire reading her book to Maggie. It was the sweetest thing. Claire, you love your baby sister!

Claire quoting scripture verses

We have been working on memory verses with Claire. She has about 10 memorized. This morning Rodney worked on a couple of newer ones with her. I was able to get her on camera. We are so proud of you Claire-bear!

Making progress

I went to kmart the other day and went to the bottles. Its amazing how much time you can spend on this isle. Its like you are in some transe or something. I stood there examining each nipple, sippy cups, pacis and found myself starting to drool. I ended up going with this little sippy cup that has a nipple and a sippy cup top. It also has handles. Maggie of course just chewed on it when I gave it to her and gave me a "yeah right if you think i am going to take that" smile. Once she realized she could put her hands around it then she started to put it towards her mouth. I think she has yet to actually suck the thing but she is really enjoying "chewing" on it. One day at a time!

Maggie Pics

Maggie rolls over from back to belly

Well, she has officially done it both ways now. My little Maggie Rie has now rolled from her back to her belly. She is 6 months old today. I cannot believe it. She is such a blessing in our lives! Maggie, I love you sweet girl!

The girls and I loaded up yesterday (1/27) and headed to the zoo. Just the three of us. We had such a great time. Claire's favorite part were the monkeys. We got to watch the gorilla eat, take a break for a minute, throw up, and then eat the throw up. Talking about recycling. Maggie had a good time too. I sat her in the stroller without her car seat and she loved sitting up and watching all the action. There is not much going on at the zoo. So in the summer the animals are too hot to be out because they will have a heat stroke and in the winter they freeze so they stay inside. The sea lions were out and bathing in the sun... oh it made me want to go and sit at the beach and just sun bathe. Guess I better be getting this body in some sort of shape to even think about putting on a bathing suit. So back to the zoo... Its funny, when you go to the zoo without other people you can go through it pretty quick. I did a lot of look claire see the ____ . ok mommy where do we go next.
We had a great time. I have always loved going to the zoo with my claire-bear but this trip was the best because I was with both of them. I love you girls!!

Nashville Pics

Random Thought

Isn't it funny how babies can eat and poop at the same time. They really don't care. Think about it.. pretty appetizing isn't it.

A Paci and Bottle Prayer

There are many things to pray about in life. I guess two things that dont make the list very often is the paci and the bottle. These two things have made my list. My claire-bear took to a paci and a bottle like a pro. My sweet little Maggie is revolting. I have tried and tried and tried to give that little pudgeball both of these very amazing inventions and she will not have it. I will say that mimi gave her a paci a couple of weeks ago and she just played with it in her hands and put it in her mouth only to chew on it. Its the same thing with the bottle. I spent 15 dollars on this special bottle that was suppose to be "THE BOTTLE". She just chews on it. I do squeeze the juice in her mouth and she likes that but she is not doing any of the work. Tonight she screamed for 2 hours going to sleep. I will never understnad why babies fight sleep. I would gladly change places with her. So i guess at this time I will be like Dori on Finding Nemo... just keep swimming, just keep swimming.... just keep trying, just keep trying, just keep praying, just keep praying.
I do think God can find humor in all of this. He knows how much I love the paci and the bottle both... Not only will Maggie not take either of these at the present time she also LOVES to eat. Oh my sweet pudgeball. Looks like its me and you kid. One of these days I am going to sleep for 5 days straight!! yippe. i am looking forward to it.

The onion cookies

Claire was playing with her kitchen and she came and asked everyone what they wanted. She loves to make cookies so I requested onion cookies. You see we have gone through pretty much everything that I would like her to make me and she says "but i dont have that". So i knew she had a tomatoe, an onion, and corn. So i said I would love some onion cookies. She got so excited. I will have to say that the onion cookies were delicious. What a good little cook I have!

Trip to Nashville

Rodney had a church planters conference in Nashville this past Tuesday (1/20). Claire went to mimi's house and we loaded up Maggie and headed up there. Its been pretty neat because the past two overnighter road trips we have taken are places that I have never been. We were not the travelin family type growing up. We did go to the beach and I do remember a trip to Six Flags. I remember being so excited that I could not sleep the night before. C'mon six flags. I could understand like Disney World or something but like I said we did not travel much and this was a treat. I also remember listening and loving the music that Leanne grew up on. The song "every time you go away you take a piece of me (but instead of me I would say meat) with you". Not even sure what that song is called but Leanne made fun of me. I didnt care. So back to the Nashville trip... We left out early and arrived in Nashville around lunch time. After a class we headed to the Opryland Hotel. When i told Brook where we were staying she got so excited for me. They took a trip to Nashville around Christmas time a couple of years ago and she talked about how awesome it was. I was just so excited because our room was REALLY BIG compared to what it is now. We had a big king size bed a desk and a big bathroom. We had a meeting that night and then Maggie and I hung out in the hotel the next morning while Rodney went to another meeting. We left out around lunch and dropped by our friends George and Carol Vinson's house. We only stayed for a few minutes but it was a great short visit. We were soon home again. Wow what a fast trip but it was fun.

Claire roasts marshmallows

On the way home from running some errands Rodney decides that him and Claire are going to build a little fire and roast marshmellows. How funny it was when claire got so excited about the "fire" part. (she takes after her mommy). They had a great time and of course claire did not want to eat the dirty ones. She decided she would just stick to the ones fresh out of the bag.

Maggie rolls over

Last thursday (1/15) Rodney took Claire to work with him and I got to spend the day with just me and Maggie. I was playing with her in the floor and put her on her belly. She just leaned right over and did a roll. I could not believe it. She was so funny because after she realized she did it she just smiled so big. She has not rolled from her back to her tummy yet but i figure this too will come in her own time. Way to go Maggs!!

The Chunky Monkey

Well, our little Maggie is officially a pudgeball. She cannot fit into her 3-6 months clothes and I am making her Easter dress a size 12 months in hopes that even this size will fit her. She has enough fat rolls on her to last several weeks of no feedings but that does not stop her none the less. She loves eating fruits and is not loving the veggies all to much (dont we all) She is not afraid to tell you that she doesn't like it either. She will just spit it right back in your face. The first time was pretty cute. Now, not so much. Her ankles have kankles and her kankles now have ankles. My little pudge ball has not rolled over yet but I am 100% ok with this. My sweet active claire bear started crawling about this time and has not stopped yet. I have learned that "they" will learn it all on their own time. Plus I feel like I am making up for Claire not just sitting in the floor playing. Maggie will not take a paci nor will she take a bottle (of my milk even). She has found her thumb (we are not so excited about this) and when she is going to sleep she likes to suck on her lovie that Claire picked out for her. You are precious Maggie Rie

The Wagon

Mimi and Papa bought Claire and Maggie a wagon for Christmas. Claire absolutely loves this thing. Her favorite part about this is the door that you can open. It even has a bup holder. On Christmas Claire and Madyson sat in this thing and ate, watch movies, and just played. It was a big hit! Thanks mimi and papa!! You know how to pick them.

The Cage

Its not very often that you put your children in cages. I guess some really don't do it at all. Apparently we put Maggie in one everyday. I was putting claire to bed the other night and she said "mommy, will you get my teddy bear that mimi made me". I asked her where it was. She said "its over there in maggie's cage". All I could do was laugh. I guess it does look like one. Does she really think we keep her in a cage...

Last Saturday night we went bowling with our friends Andy and Rhonda from Church. This was Claire's first(and possibly last) time to bowl. Man bowling has gotten expensive these days. The first thing Claire wanted to do was put on the funky cool shoes but they did not have her size so she had to settle for her favorite brown ones. She did so good and she loves to bowl. Everytime any of us would get up and bowl Claire would be right there cheering us on. She even gave me a big thumbs up when i did not knock any of them down. We had a great time. Even Maggie seemed to really enjoy it.

New Years

Well, my sweet hubby got a fantastic deal on a hotel just outside of Chatanooga for just the two of us... well the three of us really because we all know Maggie is a "can't leave home without her" gal. Maggie did great! She slept all night and was just her sweet smiling self. Claire stayed at Mimi's house and played with all of her new toys from Christmas. Rodney and I had such a great trip (even if it was only for 24 hours) and it was much needed. We mainly walked around downtown and saw all the neat sights. We walked over the bridge and we also got to eat some yummy Japanese food. I am into the sushi these days. This thrills Rodney and it thrills me because what i get is cheaper than a regular meal (shout out to dad on that one). I lacked 8 mins to make it to the new year. (whats really sad is that it was on Chatanaooga time which was only 11 here) I asked rodney why he did not wake me up. He said I rolled over and said goodnight and he did not think i would have wanted to be woken. But what i really think is that he fell asleep too. So we just said happy new year the next morning. You know its funny with your first baby how you have to have all the bells and whistles. We were going to just make a place on the floor for Maggie that night instead of hauling a pack n play. She ended up sleeping in her car seat all night. A couple of sleepers and of course me and we were on our way. I think our first trip with Claire we packed up her entire room.
Thank you my sweet husband for a much needed little get away. I love you!!