I've been a Mom for a decade

Sometimes I don't feel old, and then today I woke up with a 10 year old daughter. Yeah I feel slightly old now.

How quickly 10 years has flown.  Evelyn has grown into a unique and beautiful young lady. To tell you the truth, its kinda scaring me a little. I don't know what lies ahead but I know it will be full of fun, interesting, amazing adventures with this girl. 💗

20 years young mother & baby girl

30 years young mother & grown up girl

Cool Kids

They were willing to take a picture together to send to their Great Grandma Crandell to wish her a happy birthday, so of course I'm going to plaster this all over internet land!


Gosh these kids are cool.  I really should be filming my life, cause some of the things that come out of their mouths, the ideas they have, quirks they have can not be fully captured by words and pictures alone. Maybe I should start doing video clip videos, probably not vlog that could be a little ambitious too for me right now, but we'll see. What I do know is these kids are special and I love that they are mine.

💗💗💗

My daughters are growing up

I realized I hadn't posted about the kids back to school. Most importantly I hadn't documented on here the back to school pictures here. My oh my, how much kids grow each year.

The first day of school this year it was raining cats and dogs out side, we attempted good first day of school pic but humidity and rain plus foggy glasses isn't the best combo, but we got them, and made it to school only half soaking. LOL.

I love seeing how much they spring up each year!

Don't worry about the terrible collage pics, it is what it is, and it gets the job done. :)

Sweet Amelia girl. Such a big 2nd grader. It's hilarious to compare her 2nd grade pic with Evelyn's 2nd grade pic. 😂😂😂 These girls are polar opposites in every way possible.

Oh Evelyn. She hates smiling for pictures and I'm so confused by it, but its who she is. 😄 At least she learned what to do with her hands while getting her picture taken. She is growing into a fun smart young lady.

Their individuality is really blossoming especially how different their styles are. They have a love for pattern mixing that makes my heart swell.

Evelyn outfit

Shirt: Target

Leggings: Target

Amelia outfit

Shirt: Walmart clearence

Leggings: Walmart Clearance

Summer Break Is Over

Well we made it through summer break.

The girls started school this past Monday.

They woke up around 5 am and got ready right away and were walking around with their heavy school supply filled backpacks for 2 hours.  They tried to be super quiet for my sake, and not bother me cause they know I don't get much sleep at night yet. I guess they played with Leo in the crib next to me for awhile so he would be quiet for me too.  They are such sweet girls and I will admit I do miss them during the day.  They are so willing to help with Camden and Leonard.

Whoops kinda got carried away there for a bit.
 
They are loving school, sure its only been a week, but I'm hoping that they continue to love it as the year goes on.

Camden had to get in on all the picture taking action before the first day too.  

I love the first day of school pictures cause its the perfect time to compare at how much my girls have grown and this past year they have grown a LOT! 

It literally blows my mind!! I know kids grow fast but just seeing this jump is unreal! My grown up girls!

bring it around town

so we've been actually normalizing around these parts.

 

it feels normal. haha.

 

camden is growing like crazy!

love this little brother.

little brother 1 day old

 

 

 little brother 3 weeks old

his little belly has grown and he is out of most of the NB clothes.

my little cutie.

 

the girls have been having a good time being big sisters, playing in the back yard and going to grandma and papas house.

 

 

amelia's mugshot. with pudding mustache

 

this past tuesday the 19th my brother and sister in law welcomed their little boy!!!

Rhett Nathan!

he is the cutest guy and a little chunk.

i love him already!

i got to go see him on wednesday, he is so sweet!

 i mean seriously look at this guy.

he was 8lb 14oz!

bigger than Camden!

go baby RHETT!

 

after i went to see him i went and got the kids and we went to my parents to keep rhetts brother and sister company.

my girls love their cousins.

 

i was swinging these two in the back yard and they both feel asleep.

my cutie pie niece rylee and little camden.

 

little people are so much fun.

even when they are pains in the rear end. :)

 

hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

when babies grow up.

This is what your child looks like when they are little and helpless. Adorable little baby. This is Evelyn, when she was a sweet little babe.

 

 

 

 

This is what happens when your sweet little babe keeps growing right before your eyes and you can't stop it from happening.

 

 



 

 

I now have a 5 year old child. They grow up so flippin fast. It is sad but i am actually kinda relieved about that at the same time too. 

 

Things this 5 year old is looking forward too this year and talks about every day.

 

-starting kindergarten in the fall

-baby brother being born

 

yep besides it finally being her birthday she is looking forward to those two things! She can not wait for both! I'm excited to see her be a big BIG sister, and be a big BIG school girl.

 

I love this girl.  She is difficult and stubborn but she is so fun and full of life and cracks me up multiple times every day with the funny things that she says.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MISS EVELYN!! LOVE YOU SWEETIE!

 

and i'm sorry you are so sick on your birthday. :( we'll make the best of the day regardless! lets celebrate!

oh hi there

yeah hi. remember me. the girl that disappeared for a week with no trace of her what so ever.

sorry about that. the week just flew by it was crazy, but crazy fun. :)

so here is a little update for ya.
highlights from our thanksgiving

• yummy food
• laughing
• kick ball (ps. i would not recommend playing while 26weeks pregnant, but i never take my own advice. i was tired and sore but it was so fun!)
• competitive family members
• great deserts
• having fun with family.

i love my family! 

 i was in charge of making potatoes for the feast.

note to self: my range is too tiny for three pots

and 20lbs is too many.

 put of the tree the day after thanksgiving

we have the grown up tree and the kid tree.

they've been having a great time decorating it everyday, over and over and over again.

oh Christmas tree.

 yesterday was my nephew rigden's 3rd birthday!

he invited us to celebrate his big day at bounce u.

the girls had so much fun and they were wiped out when we got home.

they could barely stay awake to eat their dinner.

 

 

see i haven't gone missing. this weeks is going to be another doozy. evelyn is recovering from a mad cold, making ornaments, and getting everything ready for my sisters baby shower this saturday. woot.

 

oh and my little amelia will be THREE next monday! so many fun things happening!

 

I really hope y'all had an amazing thankgiving and make it the best day and week ever!

 



 

 

what evelyn thinks

last night as i was falling asleep i thought that today would be a good day to do a small interview with evelyn about her thoughts on thanksgiving.

just a few simple questions.

i need to interview her more often. she is a silly girl and makes me laugh with some of the things that come out of her mouth.


i hope you enjoy this video. maybe next time i'll be more pro and use an actual camera instead of my phone.

 

 

 

playing dress up

asked my children what they would like to be for halloween.

there answers didn't really surpirse me at all.

amelia- she didn't really answer, but she said she wants to be pretty. so i'm thinking some sort of princess. really as long as she is wearing a poofy skirt and her pretty sparkly shoes she will be as happy as a clam. :)


evelyn- this girl is funny. i asked do you want to match your sister and be a princess or ballerina. She laughs and says "no mom, i'm gonna be spongebob!"

yeah. hahahaha this girls just cracks me up!! she is so not girly and i love it!!

reminds me of myself when i was her age. :)

 

yep i was an army dude sportin a sweet mustache and a quasi-mullet. :)
thank you momma for letting me be me.

2 hours of quiet

yesterday was a BIG day for evelyn.

she started her first day of preschool and last first day of preschool. haha. it's pretty crazy to think that she will be in kindergarten next year. to that i say....AWESOME!! i can't wait.

anywho.


before school shots. she was super excited!

 

 

 then amelia decided she needed to join in the picture taking fun.
poor girl thought she was going to get to go to school too. it was sad.  don't worry next year amelia.

after i dropped evelyn off i got home and amelia fell asleep with in minutes of getting home. 

2 whole hours of quiet time during the middle of the day! i had no idea what to do. that hasn't happened in years!!  i decided to enjoy that time just this once and do nothing. haha. it was nice.


Evelyn loves school and can't wait to go every week and neither can I! i'm terrible but i want more opportunities for silence. hahaha.


i'm gonna have to start being the cool mom now though and have great after school snacks! pinterest here i come for ideas!  any one have a really great idea for after school snack please share!!

experiments

to sum up this last week i can use two words...really children?!? 

yeah it has been a week of seeing how far they can push me. When they push they go all out 100%, they sure don't hold anything back.

i can't even remember what days exactly these all happened, i tried to block it all out.

day one: chocolate nesquik powder all over the family room (couches included), bathroom, and children. ugh. both busted.

day two: baking powder all over family room (couches included). at least they chose a deodorizer to spread around. :) both busted.

day three: 10 koolaid packets dumped, seasoning salt, meat rub, and pepper dumped out in the family room. ugh. oh and it smelt terrible by the way. i can still smell it sometimes. ewww.  evelyn busted.

day four: crushed red pepper packet and parmesan cheese packet on family room floor. both busted. they only opened a few thank goodness. found the rest stashed away in one evelyns bags.

day five: vanilla frosting on couch and faces. both busted. amelia immediately blamed evelyn and i believed her. :)

day six: confetti cake mix in family room (couches included) they were eating it up with a laddle and spoon. both busted.  i was going to make cake cookies for chris's birthday and that morning we found this mess. yeah no very fun.


these all happened while we were sleeping.  it's not like we sleep in till like 10 or something we actually get up around 7 or 8. they just get up way before that and have time to experiment.

oh and the koolaid incident happened while amelia was napping and i had fallen asleep too. i can't help it sometimes i'm just so flippin tired. ugh. i haven't napped since then and i'm trying not to at all so these things do not happen.

i hope everyone had a great week and have an amazing weekend!!

evelyn says...

okay i have to post about this.....too funny not to share.


my little evelyn is exploring her ability of speech to a whole new level lately. her logic is her own for sure and it just cracks me up!

she just told me this..

"mom my boobies hurt and i think it's because you need to get me more sprite cause then they will be better."


WHAAAAAAA?!

hahahahaha. i didn't know how to respond so i just laughed and then she started laughing too. 


she is so entertaining, and i never know whats going to come out of her anymore. full of surprises. oh four year olds, they so much life in them. :)

oldie but goodie. :)

birthday blowout

it's wednesday so it's phone picture time. weeeee!!
but, my phone was having some problems sending pictures, so i have no pictures for you. lame. but one thing did send over! this video, but it is sideways. lame. just tilt your head a bit and it is perfect!


evelyn in years past has scream bloody murder when we've sung happy birthday to her, but this year she did something different. enjoy.



happy wednesday y'all!!

what stage?

i went to a baby shower this past weekend.  it was super fun. i love getting together with the girls i grew up with. good times. i did not take any pictures. slacker, right here folks. oops.
well anyway. the first time baby momma (woot!) asked me what stage i like the best.  i said i like the baby stage, from like 3 months on.  The more i think about it i'm not sure what stage i really like.

there are good and bad to each stage.  i'm just not sure which one i've enjoyed most. 

i love babies, they are so cute, smiley, happy, just simple, and they stay put.
but i do like when they learn to get around, watching their face as they discover new and interesting things, and seeing how many times they can get away with something.

the talking stage is a fun one to reach.  finally able to communicate. evelyn took her time to start talking, and mia started talking a little bit sooner (still working on it a bit, but i can understand her for the most part). its fun to watch them put two and two together, follow directions because they understand. pretend to tell jokes the laugh their faces off when they are done, and you laugh with them, just because, then you both are laughing uncontrollably.  good times

i can't wait to find out what happens in the 4 and beyond. i'm a little nervous. :)

i'm just feeling sentimental with evelyn growing up and amelia not being a baby anymore. i've been spending more time just watching.  just been observing them and it amazes me every time how freakin lucky i am to have such cute little ones. They are smart, funny, kind, generous, friendly, and so many other things that i was hoping to see in my own children.  I just hope that i'll be a good enough mom to help them keep those qualities as they grow up.

4 years ago

It's a special day. 

4 years ago today, drugs forced this little bundle of cuteness to finally come into the world.

only 10 days late weighing 8lbs 1oz, 20.5 inches long.

i was happy she came at 5pm. so i had time to recover and get settled in my room so we could watch The Biggest Loser together.

my little peanut.

How in the world did my little baby go from this...

...to this!!!

She is growing up so fast and it's freaking me out.

i went though pretty much all the pictures of her from the day she was born until now.

i did notice that she makes the same crying face now that she made when she was a baby. i guess i get to hold onto that baby part of her.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little 4 year old!

bed time

I'm sitting here in a quiet house. Husband is off at his friends house, and i'm so bored.  I'm  not tired enough to go to bed just yet.  i've already done my workout and holy moly!! I am feeling it.  I hope anyone else that is doing the 100 workout is feeling it too. (if your not and its a breeze, please lie to me.)

anyway, my children are tucked away all snug in their beds.  That's right, i said beds, plural.  Amelia is officially a toddler!  today is the second night she has been in her 'big girl' bed.  oh but this is not all!!  My girls are in the SAME room!

::applause::

Thank you, thank you! i know, amazing things are happening at our house. Sure the first night of them sharing a room Evelyn woke up at around 2am crying and screaming cause she wet the bed and woke up Amelia, then they just played till about 4ish when then finally fell back asleep. (they were so cranky today)

I'd say its been a huge success!

I did take everything out of their room though.  I'm a mean mom.  the only thing in their room is (of course) their beds, a rug, and a couple of stuffed animal.  stuffed animals are much quieter than blocks and cars. quiet sleep = happy momma.

I'm hoping that with less distractions they will sleep better. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that all thing will go well tonight!

goodnight y'all

its a party

okay so my little girls have been invited to their FIRST friend birthday party!
uhhhh HUGE!! 

I mean they have been to some cousin parties but this is so different.

I'm more excited then they are. Amelia just smiles at anything i say, and I was telling evelyn about it and she was like "yeah, okay" the.end.

now i must figure out what to get their little friend. hmmmm....

what a great gift for little girls ages 2-4??

anything out right now that is popular with this age?
-your probably thinking aren't my kids this age too?!
-shouldn't you know?!
yes they are this age and no i don't. 
i know what my kids like and it's usually a used piece of paper or something broken.

help a momma out?!

thanks so much!

dancing

have i mentioned how much we like to dance in this family??

well i love dancing and i have passed this love on to my little ones.

best birthday gift given to me is Micheal Jackson Experience Dance game on wii.
like really super fun...anyway. miss evelyn has come to LOVE LOVE this game as well. 

i'll have to get a video of her dancing to a whole song, but she is 3, so this comes with a short attention span. 
this IS what i was able to capture though.... enjoy :)

hair fail

so i consider myself an okay hair trimmer. i trim my kids hair. i have never attempted to actually cut some length off. a minimal amount is my kind of cut.

well i was trimming evelyns hair it grows really weird and uneven. so i told her to hold still.
fail #1. Don't tell your child to hold still they will do the exact opposite.
fail #2. continue to cut even though she moved. GAH!

that's right i ended up cutting about a 4-5inch chunk of hair off the back of my daughter beautiful long hair. i had no choice but to cut the rest. it was sad. PLUS i have no idea what i'm doing. so its a bit uneven but i did the best i could.

her hair was getting so long!!

welp here is the after.....

she does look a lot more grown up. i didn't want that yet!! but she did tell me the other day to stop calling her my baby and that she was a big girl. ::sigh::

oh and big girls get to dress themselves. 

"fancy" sunday shirt with fruit shorts. cute! :)

i love my girlies.

mud pies

my backyard is small and simple. grass usually overgrown or dead, but i still love it.

my girlies love, LOVE venturing outside.  even if its 110+ outside they will try to escape to the backyard.

it was overcast a bit and a little cooler so i let me go outside. with water and they had the best time. they were out there for a couple of hours just playing and doing their thing.

i love outside time too. perfect time to take pictures of their adventures in the backyard.

yes the good mother i am.  i saw them having a hard time digging a whole in the mud with their little toys, so i went and got some spoons and gave those to them. they were very excited when i handed them those. they dug a great hole after that!

MY LITTLE CRAZIES!!  I remember growing up playing in mud, and loving it.  Looks like my kids will do that same.

Oh and they also painted the house too. child labor?? yep. they did a great mud painting job. :)