I am going to be an aunt!

Great news! I am going to be an aunt...and I am going to have a nephew! I am so excited; you'd think I was having the baby! (Actually, maybe that I don't have to go through the being pregnant part but can still love the cute little guy, is why I am so excited. See, I already know he's cute and I haven't even seen him -not even an ultrasound!) A big congratulations to Adam's brother Danny and wife Heather who are expecting their baby in early October. Can't wait to spoil him rotten! Best of luck in the months (and years) to come!

compliments of Lexi

I knew with three girls in my house, that this was bound to happen some day...but oh how I wish it hadn't! To my horror, this past Friday, Aubrey and Alexis came to me to show off Aubrey's new "do," compliments of Lexi. I was in a state of shock, wishing that somehow when she turned around that I would see all Aubrey's beautiful hair tucked away in a pigtail somehow, but no, it was gone, all gone. Lucky for Lexi, I was on the phone with my dad so didn't completely flip out. Really though, all I could do was cry. A lot. I wanted so desperately to cut Lexi's hair short too (they both loved their long "princess" hair) but I kept seeing in my mind the saying that my mom had hung on my bathroom wall when I was growing up. It read: "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind;" or in this case, with bad hair cuts! I cried and cried, and cried even harder when I saw the pile of long beautiful auburn locks of hair in the trash can. I picked out one bunch of it (as if that gave me some comfort to have some to hold on to!) and it measured around 8 inches in length! Oh, wow! What to say! What to do! I sat Aubrey down and evened the ends a bit and now we go on. Many people have complimented Aubrey on her hair cut and Lexi just loves it; since it was her doing! (The nerve!) While I recognize that it could have been FAR worse than it was, it was still a bit tragically devastating to me at the time and will likely be for a while. (Possibly for the two YEARS it will take to grow it back!) Aubrey hasn't been overly upset with it until this morning when she asked for a "long braid." I sadly informed her that she didn't have enough hair for that anymore. She said it was okay and asked for a "back pony". Not enough for that either sweetheart. She said, "could we get some tape?" Oh, Aubs! She knows it will grow back so it will be okay. She just has NO idea how long it will take. When this happens to you at your house, just hope whomever is doing the cutting is also the recipient of the trim so they can face the consequences of their choices. Alexis was reprimanded but it's poor Aubs that lost her hair! Good news for her is that she is still so beautiful and wears a smile anyway!



This is what Aubrey looked like when she first came to me.


This is one to the locks of hair I recovered from the trash can.



And this is the new "do".

Easter Celebrations

It is quite possible that we have landed ourselves smack dab in the middle of the three sweetest neighbors a family with three little girls could have. One helps us with our garden, one brings us all sorts of treats and fresh fruit, and the other just spoils us rotten. The latter is a kindergarten teacher and brings lots of books and worksheets over for Alexis and is just sweet as pie. She loves books and we have benefited from that on many occasions. :) This Easter weekend, she invited us to her home to decorate cookies and eggs with her granddaughters. We had SO much fun! She treated us all with matching Easter aprons, more books and See's chocolates! What a treat! When all the decorating was done, she fed us lunch and let the kids play hide and seek in her house for hours! Thank you to our wonderful neighbor for spoiling us and giving us a place to go for the holidays. This was just like what me Grandma B. used to do for us when my cousins and I were little. I have such great memories of Easter parties when I was little and was glad my kids will have them too.


This is Allie receiving a "Happy Birthday" song while we were at our party. She loved it and was all giggles and smiles!

Easter Sunday

A Birthday with Bronchitis

Allie celebrated her first birthday this week! This past year with her has flown by. She is such a sweet little girl! Allie's favorite foods include: chicken, spaghetti, and oatmeal with applesauce. Allie has learned to point to her nose(and everyone else's), give "Fives" and gives great kisses. She calls "mamama" whenever she's in trouble or needs help and will drop whatever she is doing to run to the door to greet her daddy when he comes home with an enthusiatic "Hi, Da!" She has recently been learning how to slide down the stairs backwards. She loves playing with phones and gets SO excited whenever she sees or hears dogs. Taking our lead from her interest in dogs, we had a canine theme for her birthday and since she loves phones so much, we decided to give her one of her own for her birthday. Her Aunt Lauren and Uncle Nate were right on track with that and sent her a toy phone as well. She loved it so much we had a hard time getting her to open anything else! Allie was thought of by many people this week and we thank you all for your cards, calls, and packages! Her birthday was a really fun day for us. It was nice to have a "pick me up" as Allie had been running a fever for five days prior to her birthday. She ended up coming down with infections in both ears and bronchitis! Poor baby! After a couple days of medication, she is doing much better and is nearly running at full speed again.