A first for all of us

Ok, I want to start by apologizing to all the parents who's children have ever had ear infections and I thought under my breath "how hard could it be?" I'm so sorry, so sorry that your baby/toddler/school age child had to go through anything like that, hurting and not being able to tell you where they are hurting or if they do tell you, you still can't do anything about it. I'm just so sorry. My children have never had an ear infection. I know now that I've been extremely blessed by this. I can now no longer say "never" for this statement. My sweet Ryan got an ear infection right after school started in August. She came home from school, played, ate dinner and had a bath. We got ready for bed, we had prayer and I sent the girls to their room for the first time that evening. Not more than 30 minutes later, Ryan was screaming uncontrollably like a mad woman. I went in her room and screamed back at her to stay quiet, we live in an apartment, we have neighbors, etc. Basically, she was yelling and so was I. I went through the obligatory questions about pain, nausea, vomitting, etc. She denied all the symptoms I brought up. She'd quit for a few minutes then start up again, louder than before. After this went on for about 30 mins, I called Urgent Care, they returned my call but sadly it was too late, they were closing and all "urgent" needs would have to wait till the next day. By 9:30, I couldn't take it anymore so I called Joe to come home from work so I could take her to the ER or at the very least further away from her siblings for the night so they could get some rest. I don't know how, but both Britt and Hunt were very sleeping soundly and I didn't wanna rock that boat. When Joe finally got home, I was able to take Ryan to the new children friendly TMH ER and that's where they told us that her right ear was "terribly inflamed." I was shocked but I was also relieved that we have a diagnosis and she would be able to get better, which she did. It must have been festering since our beach trips this past summer, was the only reason I could think of. I just know I don't ever wanna see my baby scream like that again.


**MSL**

Back to School, 1st Grade Style

Ryan is always so excited to start a new school year. I hope she feels that way for many years to come, I think I say that each time I've posted about a new school year. I just hope that her excitement carries her throughout the school year and if I'm lucky, over to her Brittyn and Huntington as well. Ryan is very excited to go to first grade, she's an excellent reader and will do well with the curriculum. I hope she enjoys her teacher, Ms. Tharpe and she continues to make lots of friends. I'm pretty sure Brittyn and Huntington will have a great year at Grandma's school, they've got their backpacks ready too. While Ryan is at her school, the other two will be at Grandma's school modeling and learning and getting their creative on! Let's head out to school!!!





**MSL**

Hello summer, again

We do lots more than have birthday parties all summer long. We crash our friend's beach vacations and hang out on Saint George Island for a few days, we have cousins/friends over for a back to school sleepover, complete with a smelly, awesome vinegar explosion, we battle major ear infections for the very first time (I don't ever wish that pain and the accompanying volume it emits on anyone) and we get over it, thankfully. Lastly, once we are sufficiently "summered" out, we back our backpacks and get ready for a new school year. That's the kind of summer we have, they aren't much, but to me, they get better every year.














**MSL**

Birthday season

Yes, at our house, summer is the official kickoff to birthday season. All our family's birthdays are in the last six months of the year so I usually spend the first six months worrying, planning, prepping purchasing for these parties. It's a lot of work for a little amount of time and I always see other people on blogs and friends who do more than me with awesome and lots who do less than me with awesome results and I'm jealous. But my kids don't have to weed through all that, they just give me 75 of the same ideas 77 different ways of what they want for their party and I do what I can with my limited imagination to make it somewhat happen for them. As long as they're happy and they always are because it's their birthday, I'm happy. I can't ask for more than that. Thankfully, Britt is in the phase where she wants what party Ryan wants. Sadly, I didn't saw Ryan's decor for Britt's party. Next year I will try to be smarter. I love each of them and their very different, very precious personalities and I love to celebrate them on their birthday and everyday. I hope we throw many large, small parties for lots of years to come!!!
































**MSL**

LONG HOT SUMMER

It's gonna be a long, hot summer. There's a country song on the radio with that title and for me, that fella didn't know how true that would be for me this year (and every year really but who's counting?) After Easter, one might think they are winding down at the end of the school year and getting ready for a relaxing summer, but even on the most relaxing of summer days, it takes a lot of work. I went with Ryan on the last field trip of her kindergarten year to Wakulla Springs. I haven't been there in a long time, but thankfully, not much has changed. We didn't get to ride the glass bottom boats, I never got to do that, I was mildly sad that Ryan and other kids won't get to do that either. But, we had a good time, playing on play grounds, looking out at the native animals to the springs, telling the kids to stay seated and don't try to touch the water and then we saw Old Joe's replacement. The largest alligator since Old Joe swam at the springs. We had lunch and then had a class picture in front of Old Joe before we left. We also saw a turtle mama laying her eggs in the parking lot. We definitely got our National Geographic for that day!


Then, when school gets out, the kids automatically get bored, restless, you name it. One Friday night, Joe came home from traveling for work and he was tired. Well, the kids are NEVER tired and it was too late to take them outside and they were too loud to keep inside while I tried to make dinner b/c Joe wanted to sleep so I did the next best thing, took them to Pizza Hut and let them use a booth as their own mini war zone and enjoy some pizza. Thankfully, Pizza Hut obliged me (they let us stay) and the kids enjoyed pizza and we went thru a drive thru and got yogurt afterwards. Maybe summer won't be so long and hot after all.


Summer seems to get costlier every year too. I swear, one stop ends up being three different stops. Brittyn was taking a dance class and I had some time before it started so I tried to run an errand and to make up for the kids getting stuck at the "it's not fun if I can't make a mess" watch battery store, I took them to get cupcakes. Ryan had a coupon for a cupcake from school and I had one from the paper so got them all cupcakes. Maybe this long hot summer can have some sweet moments along the way.


**MSL**

Easter 2014

I love Easter, I love all the holidays but Easter is especially wonderful for what it means to me beyond the chocolate and sugar covered bunnies and chicks hidden in baskets of fake, way too green grass. I love to remind and continue to teach my children about the Savior and His greatest gift. I try to do that everyday, but it seems I try to try a little harder to help the kids remember how beautiful and special the Easter season is.

However, to look at the kids tearing through their Easter baskets, you wouldn't think I do such a great job but I know they're just excited about the candy and goodies. We had a great Easter Sunday. We went to church in Bristol and then to Bubbles' and from there on to Joseph and Becky's to have another lunch/meal and to hunt eggs. It was a long day but a great day. I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even a little more sleep.











**MSL**

I love to see the Temple

I hope the kids loved seeing the temple. Kylia and I packed up my bunch and Addisyn too and went to the open house of the Ft. Lauderdale Temple in early April. The kids' favorite part was opening the gifts/treats we wrapped for each of them to make the 7 hour trip more bearable for us. I love those kids but those presents weren't really worth it. I mean, kids can fight over ANYTHING! They also loved the minivan that Kylia had rented where they could watch lots of movies. Brittyn loved the can so much that she colored in one of the cup holders in the back of the van with a beautiful purple crayon, probably a part of one of the gifts we let them open them. Either way, she wanted to leave her good review for the rental company to see. Thankfully, Kylia and I saw it first and were able to get most of it out with a magic eraser. I hope they remember their first time in the temple and have good memories of that trip because there were lots of memories made.

We have a lot to learn

I still have lots of pics to go through. I still have lots of stories to tell about my kids so one day we all remember all the fun times we had and probably some of the not so fun times too. It ain't all sunshine and ice cream my sweet babies, sometimes lessons have to be learned. Sometimes we have to learn to sit still and stop screaming and just touch the nice puppy. He will not bite you. Sometimes we have to learn to get ourselves out of the dryer and that mommy will not always be there to help us, even when she is actually standing there trying to document the whole encounter. Sometimes we have to learn the we are able to dance the big girl dance and that we have to try on the costume to make the whole thing come together for our good. Day by day, we have a lot to learn, some things fun and good, others not so much. One day, we'll get there.











**MSL**

The players take the field

Ryan participated in her first field day at her school this past year. Field Day is basically an intramural day or track and field day, like it was called when I was in elementary school. I know, that I remember that and that I can still remember events and outfits that I wore for track and field day make me feel super old. Growing up stinks. But now I have an awesome six year old and a couple of other awesome little one of my own too so it's nothing to complain about. So, Ryan's class was dressed in orange and thanks to her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Katie Cowart, the class had their names printed on the back of their shirts and all the girls were given ribbons to put in their hair. Mrs. Cowart is like me in that we believe that our girls should have their hair out of their way and look good doing it, and a cute hairbow or ribbon goes a long way in achieving that. So Ryan got her ribbon, I sent her with a hairbow but it wasn't like Mrs. Cowart's ribbon so she switched it out. The kids participated in several events like running drills, rope pulls and pseudo-tire drills to show off their skill and agility they've learned over the school year. My favorite was the rope pull or tug of war, girls VS boys. The girls gave it their all and gave the boys a diet snack, yeah they won!!! Ok, so it wasn't that dramatic, these are kindergarteners after all, but it was super cute to watch the kids play and have such a fun day!

**MSL**

When stars collide

Ok, so I don't know what actually happens when stars collide beyond what I see in movies and hear in love songs. So, Ryan and I made our own predictions and we created a planet, a planet we named ORYAN.

Ryan had a school assignment to create a planet. We had been watching a lot of the Toy Story movies and Ryan has always had a fascination for "Pizza Planet" so we decided to make an actual pizza planet! What could be more fun or delicious?!! We used a round cardboard cake board for the pizza, red tissue paper for the sauce and various pages, Pom poms and fuzzy pipe cleaners for our cheese and toppings. We had a delicious time and she did really well on her assignment!





**MSL**

Picnic by the pond

Well, not exactly, but we still had fun. One Sunday afternoon in the early spring, it had to be before Easter, Joe brought Amelia to the house. He had gone to his mom's for something after church and Amelia asked if she come come over. So as soon as she comes over, Ryan has to plan something awesome and she wants to have a picnic! I had just made the kids plates of snacks but it was such a nice day, not too hot and definitely not cold so I packed some extra snacks and a blanket to sit on and we left the house and headed to the pond beside our house. I wrapped the kids plates clear wrap and let each one take their plates with them.

Now, what you don't see in any pictures is that no sooner could we get to the park is my precious Brittyn immediately spills her plate, onto the ground, food first. And yes, it was every bit that dramatic, I couldn't have planned it better myself. So, before I could get mad, we all went home, made some more snacks and made our way back to the pond.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to have a great time. We ate our snacks, we took walks and we had a lovely afternoon. Ryan hasn't stopped asking for another picnic since then, so hopefully we can go again once the weather cools down.


**MSL**

March Madness

Yes, this happened. The first Saturday in March, it happened. I had my girls and Addisyn and was being a good mommy/aunt and taking them to the play park and I couldn't even get out of my neighborhood before someone backed into the passenger side of my car!!! Thankfully, all the girls were secure in car seats and seat belts and everyone was fine. Everyone except for my Ford Explorer. My car. The car I'd had for 10 years, going on 11!!! The car I picked out myself, I loved it so much. The car that we came home from Atlanta in back in 2003. We went on trips, we moved across the state, we journeyed back to visit family, we moved back to Tallahassee and we brought all three children home from the hospital in my Ford Explorer. I loved that car and I hated that car but it was paid off and I kept on driving it because it kept working. The car I wanted to get rid of several times but when I finally had to get rid of it, I couldn't bear to. I laughed at Kylia when she got rid of her old car because she cried. Who would cry over a car? I am now eating my words.
I remember the day that I drove my rental car to gather my things from my explorer for the last time and I was crying before I could get into the lot. It was a cold day. My car was in the back of the lot, the poor fella brought me tissues. I couldn't park the rental too close to my darling b/c I didn't want it to see me driving another car. I was all by myself and I had to clean my car out all alone. So I cried, more than I should have. I took pictures of the inside. Pictures of the mileage, of the cracks in the back that I never got a recall notice for and still wonder why not. I took pictures of the junk that my kids left in the car, there was a lot. I took pictures of the blue Ford emblem on the steering wheel, the paint had come off because I put a sticker there of Ryan's and when I took it off, some of the paint came off too. I didn't feel too bad about it at the time but I do now. I gathered up everything I could and cried as I said goodbye to my darling. I still miss that car. I'm sorry I laughed at you Kylia, for crying over your car. I'll never do that to anyone again.





**MSL**

Another first for Hunt

As if his first haircut wasn't traumatic enough, the Sunday following his haircut, Hunt was finally old enough to go to nursery!
And, as I'm writing this in September and he started nursery back in March, I would love to say that he's totally gotten into the nursery groove, but alas, that is not the case. He is getting better but he still needs mommy to come in with him and ease out. I try to do this without him crying but that doesn't always work either so we just make the best of it until it changes. But I still love my little man and enjoyed going with him on his first day.








**MSL**

Making the cut

Why is it always another blog post about a hair cut? I know that it's really not, but I don't like the pattern I'm creating by making another blog post about one of my children and scissors. Thank goodness, this encounter with scissors involved an actual professional!
As much as I loved and still miss Huntington's curly blonde locks, it was time to cut them. I had always said that I would never have a baby boy with long hair and I'd cut his hair as soon as it got too long, in my book at least. But, when my blonde boy's hair got too long, when people started asking me "when are you gonna give that boy a haircut" I started to get the hint. I even had an uncle who told me, in his best low, slow Texas voice "that boy ain't gonna know he's a boy if you don't cut his hair." Message received Uncle Johnny. Shortly after Hunt turned 18 months, I decided it was time.
I called Mrs. Nancy and made an appointment and secured reinforcements via Kylia, of course, and set us up for a Saturday. We journeyed to Mrs. Nancy's shop and attempted to let Hunt be a big boy and sit by himself but he quickly realized what we were up to. I ended up sitting with him and letting him watch movies on my iPhone while Kylia wrangled the girls. We got some video but for now, photos will have to do. He looked like a totally different person when Mrs. Nancy got through. He was no longer my baby, he was officially my little man! Bitter and sweet all at the same time. He still is, and I wouldn't have it any other way.














**MSL**