Little princess

We went to a consignment sale last week & Ella found herself a princess dress!  There was no leaving without this thing, it's not in the best condition, but great for dress up :)  Talk about a pathetic face when I told her she had to put it back....I couldn't disappoint her in that way.  I don't actually know if that gold head band goes with the dress, but it was with the dress so we went with it.  When she put it on once we got home, she said it was her "Cinderella" dress.  Although with Ella, every "fancy" dress is a Cinderella dress.  A recent occurrence with Ella is that when Jessie is in school & it's just she & I, she talks up a storm.  We were in the grocery store one day & she was helping push the cart....I truly couldn't believe all that she was saying.  One lady stopped me & complimented her on how much she talks for 2 1/2.  I realize I'm a bragging mom, but I am surprised by how much she says (when Jessie is not around, that is :).  She is also completely day trained with potty training & almost completely at night, she can go until from 7 pm until 6 am without needing to potty (I don't usually like for the girls to be up before 7, as they don't nap at all; for going potty, of course, I don't mind).  Good thing we are so close b/c she refuses to wear a diaper, pull-up, or good nights to bed (**update, I did find some Minnie Mouse pull ups that she will wear to bed, I told her they were for big girls to keep dry at night**).  Did I mention that she is strong willed also??  Thankful that I get some one on one time with my little princess & that she's part of our family!

Some are duplicates, just different editing, this is what happens when Michael is out of town!

School girls

The other day Jessie wore a new outfit for school & I just thought she looked so cute & grown up that I had to get a few candids of her.  Ella, too, looked adorable in a Halloween outfit given to her by some friends.  Of course, as soon as Ms. Ella saw me taking pics of Jessie she had to get in them also....so competitive!  Jessica is wearing a 4T pants & that shirt is 4T also, but look how long her torso is, she'll be in a 5 very soon.  She is easily the tallest girl in her class & the third tallest overall, with only 2 boys bigger than her.  Right now at school they are continuing to make their way through their letters (one new letter per week) & working on stories from the Old Testament...Moses & the burning bush was the latest.  Working on counting objects & sounds that letters make.  Eventhough, it's only 3 year old preschool, I'm a proud mama!  That hair, oh Jessie, you will be getting a hair cut soon & it will be short...more to come on that later.  As for Ella, when she goes to "baby school", she plays happily in the 3 year old room & tells me that she "Plays, friends".  She did her first little craft the last time she went, which was on the day of Jessie's field trip, it was hand print art..guess you can never have too much of that, right??  That's all I've got for now, have a great day!

Guys...seriously, I'm trying to figure out this back light thing...but as you can see below, I failed....

Special Oatmeal cookies

These are hands down the best oatmeal cookies I've made, with Fall here, I always like oatmeal cookies!  Here's the recipe & some of the pics I took of them, it's much easier to take pictures of food than children :)  This recipe is on the back of the Craisin's bag, just FYI:

Oatmeal, Cranberry, & White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 5-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original

Dried Cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and

sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and

fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour,

baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to

butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after

each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white

chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie

sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Water spray fun

Due to the dirty nature of Ella & the unusually warm weather this last week (like 80s), I allowed the girls to play in the water sprayer attached to my hose.  The sprayer has a setting for a fine mist & Ella just loved it.  I couldn't help but try to capture some of her joy with my camera.  Theses pics kind of turned out neat....due to the fine spray it looks like I added a texture to them or something, but no, the fine mist created this effect, no editing required.  Enjoy!  Is there anything more precious than the real faces of joy of a child?

Yep, she looks guilty in this one

Women of Faith

This weekend my small group ladies & I attended Women of Faith in downtown Pittsburgh.  It was a great time!  For those of you not familiar with Women of Faith--it's a Christian ladies conference filled with teaching & worship.  This years' theme was "Believe, God can do anything".  The worship music was outstanding, no guys, like seriously!!  CeCe Winans brought the house down on Friday night with her "Hallelujah Praise"...I'm talking folks dancing in the rows & then Third Day had a concert on Saturday....I truly have no words for how great these guys are.  They sing one of my fav songs, Your love is like a river, it's awesome live.  I have heard all their songs on the radio or sang them at our church, but to see them in person was quite something.  We even had the chance to get an autograph from these gentlemen.  Although, apparently, they are not about the pictures with their fans because they want to focus on worshiping God rather than themselves or their celebrity (which I found refreshing), I did get to shake hands with 2 of them (the lead guitarist & the drummer), not gonna lie, kinda cool! I brought Michael home an autographed CD for watching the girls all weekend, he was pretty pumped.  Two of the stand out speakers for me were Sheila Walsh & Tullian Tchividjian.  Sheila Walsh spoke mainly about the points she makes in her book, God Loves Broken People--so true & if you're like me you're glad for it!  Then Tullia Tchividijian, he's actually the grandson of Billy Graham, also spoke powerful words to me about "performance-ism" or the drive to perform to gain favor, trying to do everything on your own & the exhaustion that comes with all of that.  His new book is called, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, definitely going to give this one a read.  It was a great weekend of much needed girl time, thanks to Michael for making it possible for me!  

Sorry cell phone pics only this time :)

CeCe...about to bring it down

Me & some of my best girls waiting on our autographs


Beautiful worship

Third Day:

Little Pumpkins 2013

Because I can't help myself & I needed a new header on the old blog...I took some pics of my little pumpkins.  Got these cute shirts from Target for $5, not excellent photos, but cute nonetheless!  I had so hoped for one with them both smiling, but not gonna happen.  Have a wonderful day :)

Last Day with Kitty J

Yesterday, we said our goodbyes to Mr. Kitty Jenkins.  No, we didn't have to put him down, but we found a new home for him with a childless couple.  I must admit it was harder than I expected to say goodbye to Kitty Jenkins, who has been with us for 7 years.  Michael got Kitty J for me for my 24th birthday & he was my faithful companion through dental school & during my pregnancy with Jessica.  My fondest memories will be of me sitting at my desk on Friday nights studying while Kitty J slept on my lap.  He used to also lay on my tummy & purr while Jessie was still baking.  Kitty J, however, never recovered from us having Jessica.  As we have now discovered, Siamese cats are very territorial, so he did not like Jessica invading his space from the start.  With back to back pregnancies & children, he never did get used to us having kids & has been hiding in fear of our kids for over 3 years.  It's no way for a cat to live, so with that, we found him a good home where he will get plenty of love & no children will bother him.  The new owner said he will e-mail me pics as updates, but I feel good about this decision & told him I didn't require this; eventhough it was a tough one, I know the new owners will shower him with the love & attention he deserves.  Farewell Kitty J, thanks for the happy times you gave to us!

These were taken at our home in Alabama circa 2006-2007

April 2013

Our last picture together yesterday, he really is a sweet cat & deserves more than what I could give