A few things I am thankful for...

paper turkeys,

a few baby curls,

a big head of curls,

sisters,

going to the beach in the fall!

Lazy Sunday

I love lazy Sundays. I love Sundays when you stay in your p.j.s all day and have nothing on your calender, especially in the fall. Those days are when I pull out the sewing machine and wish I really knew how to sew. I usually don't have plans to sew anything significant, but today I really wanted to sew some ornaments ('tis the season). So between trying to be creative and keep the kids busy with their own projects, Maddy on her own little sewing machine and Haley learning how to stitch on a piece of felt, there were many interruptions (needles falling off, cutting fabric, and watching Mad with a sewing machine hoping she wouldn't sew a finger), so I decided to work on a project with the girls. We made the cutest pillows, the design is all theirs, the drawing, the fabric, the hearts. We had so much fun with these and best of all the memories that were made are priceless. We should definilty plan or unplan some more "lazy Sundays".

Happy Birthday Madison!

Maddy is 7! Magical, lucky #7 we've been told. I'm not sure what magic is gong to happen, we will have to wait and see. Maddy has been counting down the months, weeks, days to her birthday. I can remember as a kid doing the same, you just couldn't wait for your special day that is all about you, the day that you are asked to make important decisions, like what you want for dinner, what kind of cake do you want, and of course the presents. So what did Mad want for dinner?...hot dogs. Cake choice?...the letter "M"with chocolate. And of course she wanted everything for her birthday, every toy commercial that came on she wanted it. I decided to keep it simple (great advice from KC) and got her the little things that I've heard over time that she would really like...Mr. Sketch smelly markers, new sketch book, feetie-jamies and a box of legos. Can I tell you how excited she was to open up those markers and sketch book! Mad opted out on having a birthday party with her friends and decided to go see HSM3. Afterwards we came home and had dinner with our family. She had a great day and most importantly she felt like it was her special day!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is such a fun time for the kids and I will have to admit I also have a lot of fun. To play dress up and to be able to walk around all day long in your dress up clothes, it can't get better then that. For Haley it was pretty easy finding her costume, an adorable 50's girl, with the full poodle skirt, Letterman's jacket, and pearls to finish it off. Didi found that one the first day "costume shopping", and when I say the first day "costume shopping" yes that means there were many "costume shopping" days to follow. Maddy on the other hand is not that easy and never has been from the first Halloween. She is the kid that walks around with half a costume or with something out of her closet we have transformed into a costume (which I love, way more original, and costs nothing). But every year when Halloween is nearing we ask what do you want to be? And I don't know if she forgets that shes not a "costume type girl" (her words), but every year we go from store to store looking and trying on all the scratchy, too tight, "I don't like it" costumes. And every year we end up with something we already had. So this year it was a cheerleader, she looked adorable and most importantly she felt good!

Happy Birthday Haley!

Hay-Hay's 4th birthday! If anyone was more excited to have a party, it was Haley! And when I say a party I mean the family over for pizza and salad (Haley's dinner choice). The day was all about her and she played it up in every way, down to wearing the birthday crown (Maddy thought she had to have) all day. We spent the day making a "horse cake" together and prepping for her guests to come for dinner. She was a perfect little hostess and the smile on her face that evening was priceless!

Blogging

I've been contemplating on starting a blog for a couple of months now, but where do you start? Especially when your kids are not babies anymore, I can't blog about their first day home from the hospital, their first smile, their first words, or their first birthday (when we just celebrated Haley's 4th and soon Maddy's 7th). So where do I start? Yesterday morning I went in the girls room to straighten up (my daily ritual) when I could barely close their drawers because of too many clothes (a problem with girls), so it was time to weed out the clothes...again. This is something I dread doing because it is a process physically and emotionally. First off you have to pull all the clothes out, refold, decide what to keep for hand me downs, what to donate, and lastly you have to let go. And when I say let go its not the clothes, its the memories that go with the clothes, its the favorite shirt that Maddy would wear over and over again when she has many more to choose from, its the Elmo underwear that Haley had to have when she was in love with Elmo and now she would prefer Hannah Montana (how sad at 4), and finally the hand me downs that have gone from Maddy to Haley that I now have to let go of because there is no one else to hand them down to. The whole process is such an "in your face" reality check that your kids are growing up and that we can't freeze time and keep them little forever, its a reminder to live in the moment because we wont get these moments back will only have the memories. So where in our lives do we start blogging? I will start it with the everyday moments that will eventually be just a memory, the days that we will look back to and say remember when...?