Daffodil Garden

Today Jeremy took off half a day and we got Camden out of school a little early and headed to Mrs. Lee's Daffodil Garden in Gladewater. I was hoping to get some cute pics of the girls. Nice weather, pretty flowers and cute outfits...what could be better? I thought it would be a nice relaxing day, enjoying the family and taking in some of God's beautiful creation. Well, we enjoyed the scenery, however, relaxing is not the word I would use to describe our afternoon. Stressful, frustrating, and exhausting are a few adjectives that come to mind.

Claire remembered our trip to the daffodils from last year and assumed she was wearing her "daffodil dress" today. When I pulled out a different outfit, she immediatlely crossed her arms and said, "I'm not gonna smile". Ugh...and so it begins. After getting her dressed in her outfit, she asks me if she can get some ice cream if she smiles pretty, just like last time. I'm not against bribing, and if it can get me some cute pics of the girls without fits, I'm all for it. So, that was our deal...smile for pictures=ice cream.

Once we got there we drove through until we came to a parking area. I was hoping to start the "photo shoot", but there was so much sun. I was needing a lot more shade. After walking all around trying to find shade, we headed back to the car to search some more. The girls weren't too thrilled about having to exert that much energy. We finally found an area that would work and I start with Camden. Of course, she smiles and is happy. Claire's turn...she did great. Then I decided to try for a shot of all 3. Carlyle was not cooperating so I decided to take a break. A nice gentleman asked if we would like a family photo. Of course!







After a short break, it's back to business. Miss Priss was definitely not in the mood for posing, but I was able to get a decent one of her and some of all three. I may or may not have had to call in the reinforcements: aka goldfish and puffs. Not the best smiles or poses, but I love these girls, regardless of what these pictures look like. Be sure to scroll down to the last picture...it's my favorite!

17 months

I'm only a week late at posting these pics. Last Friday, Carlyle turned 17 months. I didn't manage to get any pics of her on Friday, or Saturday for that matter. But, Sunday I remembered to get a few pics as we were walking out the door for church.

At 17 months, you may ask...what's Carlyle up to? Well, she is saying LOTS of words!!! She continues to say "hi baby" when she sees a baby, which is just about one of the cutest things ever! When asked how old she is, she will say "two". I have no idea why she says this. The only thing I can think of is that the girls will count to her and maybe she just picked up on the number 2. Well, in 7 more months "two" will be accurate! Just today, Carlyle tried to mimick what someone said at school and attempted to say "lemonade". She has also said cookie, juice, please, more, mommy, and daddy. When we get in the car, she immediately points to the DVD player and says "movie". I know I'm biased, but I think she's pretty smart...and cute! Even though she hasn't started walking yet...ha! I guess she feels no need to walk. Carlyle gets wherever she wants to go, whether it's by crawling or someone carrying her. I'm not really wishing she would walk, but boy, she sure does get heavy after awhile!

The last couple of weeks she was fussier than normal, with a runny nose, cough, etc... I knew it was a cold, but I thought it might be teething, too. Finally, Monday morning I noticed that another tooth came in. She has been so much happier, which makes us all happy!! I'm definitely glad she's feeling better.

Carlyle is a great sleeper, especially at night. I hate to have to wake her up in the mornings to take Camden to school, so I started putting her to bed around 6:30pm and it's been great! She goes straight to sleep and will sleep all night until around 6:30 or 7:00am. WONDERFUL!!! I love her SO MUCH for that:)

We are definitely seeing more of Carlyle's personality each day. She is funny, sweet, kind of sassy, and makes me smile more times than I can count. What a blessing she is to our family! We love her so much!

President's Day Fun

Monday was President's Day and a holiday for Lindale ISD. So, Camden and Daddy were home. Since the weather was so nice, we decided to take the girls to the park and have a picnic. When we told Camden and Claire that we were going to have a picnic, they were SO EXCITED! Claire was very concerned that I didn't have any lunch meat to make sandwiches, because after all, you eat sandwiches on a picnic. So, I headed to Wal-Mart and the girls went with me. They picked out what they wanted for lunch and when we got home we packed it all up. They were beside themselves. All they could talk about was the picnic. When we got to the park, we sat down on the tables and had lunch. We were the only ones there, which was so nice. I realized I forgot my camera, so I took a few pics with my phone. Sorry that the quality is not that great. After we ate, we had fun swinging, sliding, and running around. Poor Carlyle wanted to be like her sisters, so we finally put her down and she crawled around and around. She was filthy when we left, but she had the best time trying to keep up with Camden and Claire. Carlyle's favorite part was climbing up the steps and when she reached the very top of the slide, she and I would slide down. She never got tired of that game, unlike her mommy. We had a great day spending time as a family. It makes me look forward to summer!!

First Sleepover

Claire and her friend, Charley, have talked about having a sleepover for some time now. So, several weeks ago I offered for Charley to spend the night with us. We had actually planned on last Wednesday. But, since the weather was supposed to get bad, we opted to postpone to this week. So, today was the big day!! Claire and Camden were really excited. I picked Charley up this afternoon before we got Camden from school. When we got home, the girls played really well together. They played with babies, with the dollhouse, played pretend and went outside for awhile, too. They had a great time together! We ordered pizza for dinner and then the girls went outside and played in the playhouse. After baths, the girls watched a little TV and then headed to bed. Since Camden and Claire have two twin beds, I offered for two girls to sleep in one bed and the other to get the other bed. But, they ALL wanted to sleep together. Our solution: a pallet on the floor. I tried to make it as soft as I could. I wasn't sure about them sleeping on the hardwood floor. But, then again...they are kids and I'm sure they'll be fine! Our first sleepover went exceptionally well! I'm sure with three girls, our future holds at least a few more!! I can't wait...bring on the fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Valentine's day started off with a sick kiddo. Camden woke up around 3 am and told me that she was freezing. She didn't have any fever, but I put her in bed with me and tried to warm her up. After a few minutes, she told me that her throat hurt, too. I immediately thought she might have strep throat and didn't want to wait until the doctors office opened to make an appointment. So, I called Telecare about 3:30 this morning and made an appointment for 9:30am. I went back to bed, trying to go to sleep. I finally managed to fall asleep around 4:45am, only for Jeremy's alarm to wake up around 5:15am. Camden also woke up then and told me she needed to throw up. So, we both went to the bathroom where she did throw up a little bit. She then went to lay on the couch, where she stayed for about an hour and a half. After a little Gatorade, she said she felt better. Then she said her throat didn't hurt. So, I decided to cancel the appointment. I was still making her stay home, just because she threw up and I didn't know if she had any kind of virus. Apparently, she was FINE! She was bouncing off the walls ALL.DAY.LONG!

Carlyle was up around 6am so Jeremy got her up before he left for work. We got each of the girls a Valentine's balloon to go with their gift. As soon as Carlyle saw hers, she got so excited about it and wanted all 3 of them. Jeremy helped her open her gifts, but I definitely think the balloons were her favorite!!






Camden and Claire opened their gifts and Camden immediately wanted to eat some chocolate. And I'm sure she thought I was mean when I told her "absolutely not". I finally did give in after lunch.








I'm not sure what got into me this morning, but I started doing a little cleaning and couldn't stop. I cleaned all three bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen counters, did all the laundry, dusted, vacuumed, and mopped. I felt SO productive today. And, on top of that, I made chocolate covered strawberries, per the girls' request. We even managed to make personal pizzas tonight for dinner. Yeah for productivity and a clean house. Too bad the house will be a disaster by tomorrow afternoon.






And, with all the work I was doing, luckily this kept Carlyle entertained for a long time!

Valentine's Parties and Date Night

Thursday, Claire's class had their Valentine's party. They decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles and exchanged Valentines with their classmates. She had alot of fun with her friends and even more fun when she got home as she looked through all her loot. Candy, pencils, sweet valentines and more!!






Friday was Camden's class party. I went a little early to bring all the goodies and then had lunch with Camden. It was so nice to enjoy lunch with my girl without having to wrangle a 16 month old...ha.

Camden's class also decorated cookies with frosting and sprinkles. All the kids were so sweet and appreciative of everything. After they decorated their cookie, they got to eat it, along with a few other treats. Then it was time to open their Valentine's bags and check out all their stuff. They all had the best time reading their cards. Daddy surprised Camden and stopped by for a few minutes! What a fun party!!






That night, Jeremy and I went out for an early Valentine's date. We went to Kiepersol Estates for a yummy dinner. It was so nice and GOOD! Of course, I knew Jeremy would order a steak, but I had no idea how delicious it would be. I actually tried something new...the sea bass. And it was fabulous!! And we had their signature chocolate cake....to die for! What a great Valentine's dinner with my sweet Valentine! Thanks for the fun date night, Jeremy!