HappyMom

My kids are so lucky to have David as a daddy.  He is a great dad, and this is one of the many reasons I wanted to marry him.  He loves kids and especially ours.  We try to be intentional about doing special things with our kids and they love "daddy time".  I will admit he sometimes teaches them things that make me scream later.  Like the time Brayden put his little friend Henry in an "arm bar".  That was thanks to ultimate fighting during daddy time.  I love that David will stop what he is doing if our kids ask him to play with them.  He is always up for a game of hide N seek, candyland, or even playing house.  He is has fun with them, is patient with them, and teaches them.  Patience are definately required when you have a two year old who likes to poop and take his diaper off.  It doesn’t end there.  He then rubs it in to the carpet.  This has happen more than once, and daddy cleans it up.  They love for daddy to tuck them in, read to them, and hear their prayers.   What a great dad! 

Not too long ago Laney, 3, had her first dance recital.  This was great fun for me.  I grew up at the dance studio and love just being at the theater.  I had my first recital when I was four.  We performed Mr. Bo jangles on a high school stage.  These days’ recitals are at the Gwinnett Civic Center with real dressing rooms, a huge stage, sets, and lights.  I remember being in the band room with the other dancer waiting to perform.  My love for being back stage lead me to sign up to be a back stage mom.  That was quite an experience, 50 girls under 8yr old in a room from 6:30-11:00pm.  They were not the only ones who were hungry and tired at the end of the day.  Little Laney made her debut and was quite a star.  She was very confident even though she was not always correct.  She really got the audience laughing.  What a cutie! 

So I really love the idea of a blog and I have composed many a blog in my head, but to actually have the time to post it is a feat itself.  My day usually start’s a little before 8am which I know it not early especially when you have three young children.  My husband says I have trained them to be like me.  It is not that we are lazy; it is rare for me to be in bed before midnight.  8pm to 1am is the most productive time of the day, and I can actually clean something and no one messes it up before I go to bed.  Carley who is almost 10 months is usually the first to wake up, followed most often by Brayden, then Laney.  Laney is a solid 12hour + sleeper.  I have mastered the group shower suggested to me by a fellow mom friend.  The children love to shower with me which allows me to get ready and know that they are not destroying another room in the house while I am doing so.  Yes even little Carley loves the shower. 
This summer has stared off great.  Laney had her first dance recital and loved it.  We have been going to the Library weekly to check out books and DVD’s.  We continue to enjoy various play groups.   Our evenings have been spent on the play set and in the sprinkler.  Don’t worry we are not watering illegally we have new sod which is great.  Brayden in particular loves to run through the sprinkler.  Today we went to the pool.  I wasn’t sure how it would go with three non-swimmers under my supervision, but they did well.  We are scheduled to begin swim lessons in a few days.  We are taking the ISR swim lessons, and by the end even Carley will be able to float on her back if she were to fall in.  It really is amazing.  Check out www.infantswim.com.  
Well I hope to be a better blogger this summer.  We have lots of fun things planned that I would love  to share with everyone.

Today we celebrated the letter "Z" by going to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day, perfect for the zoo. 

 Here’s the class checking out the turtles, or is that a tortoise?

Monkey see monkey do!       Chillin in the retile exhabit.

Pretty giraffe.

Whoo whoo we love the train!

The little ones are hanging in there!

                           Bye ZOO!!

It is hard to beleive it is already May.  April was busy as I began coordinating all children’s activites at our church.  Blogging took a back seat, and my nights were devoted to organizing the childrens curriculum and volunteers.  My days were devoted to the kids, laundry, dishes, etc.  So here is what we have been up to.

Carley is close to crawling.  She is nine months as of last Sunday and always a joy to be around. 

We have been enjoying our playset in the back yard.  It is especially enjoyable in the evenings. 

Laney and Brayden painted a few beautiful pictures.

Laney has been taking ballet this spring and loving it.  She got her costume last week and has been practicing "Broadway Babies" for her upcoming performance.

Here are some other fun pictures from April.  Hope you enjoy.

We spent most of our day at home today.  I like to have Monday’s at home to recover from Sunday.  Currently our Church involves a set-up and breakdown process.  We have a wonderful team of volunteers and staff who help, but to be honest I am exhausted when Monday rolls around.  I feel like we need some down time on Monday to recover. 

Couch Cuddling.

Always smiling!

This was taken by Brayden (2 yrs old).

After our day at home we headed out to cheer on Daddy at his basketball game.  Laney and Brayden love to watch Daddy play ball.  They cheer from the sidelines "go 2, 4."  Daddy’s team lost tonight, but they did care, he was the best player on the court in their eyes. 

My girls seem to have a common problem, no hair.  This fact leads to a bigger problem, "what a cute little boy."  We have all made this mistake, but I have tried to resolve the problem with a little bling. 

This is beautiful little Carley before the earrings.

This is Carely after the earrings.

Still beautiful!  And for those of you who are wondering, yes she did cry.  She didn’t cry for long, less than 30 seconds.  It was worth it.  Her big sister thinks so anyway.  She had her’s done at 7 months. 

Today we reinforced our letter of the week, "F," by having Family, Fun, Fish, Friday.  We headed out early this morning to go to the Georgia Aquarium for the first time.

We met up with the rest of our "school" and began our adventure!

Time to go exploring……

It was amazing to see so many different types of fish, and what we saw was only a glimps into creation.   It really makes you realize what an amazing, big God we serve.  Looking at some of the species I would even say God is humorus. 

Laney loved the jellyfish and Brayden loved the sharks.

They made a new friend! 

They also sported some great homemade "fish" shirts.

It was a "short day" as Laney very often states.  The short days are the ones that are a lot of fun and go by too fast.

This is Laney and Brayden resting on the couch.

I think we will be returning to the aquarium.

During the last month our church, The Vine, has been collecting eggs for our first annual egg hunt in Braselton.  Our poor kids have been looking at close to six thousand eggs in our garage asking "today?"  They were ecstatic when Saturday finally arrived.  Brayden wanted to get "five" eggs.  Though we tried our best to be prepared for or first egg hunt, we had no idea what kind of turn out we would have.  Wow it was crazy.  The toddlers and preschoolers were the first to hunt.  When the children were released Laney and Brayden froze in the masses of parents and children.  It seconds the eggs were gone.  They hadn’t even gotten one egg.  Many children were quick to share and I tossed a few eggs in the empty baskets that many children were left with.  It didn’t even faze them.  They had a blast helping mommy pick up the empty eggs at the end of the day, and are still enjoying the few eggs they did get.  What an amazing, exhausting day