A Hog and a Frog cavort on the Blog...

We're losing em' left and right folks.

2012-02-13T18:33:00.001-08:00

Well it has been an exciting 3 days for Abra. Her front two teeth had been loose for a few weeks (not to mention her permanent teeth had already broken through completely) and they were hanging by a thread this past weekend. Daddy had given them a tug every night before bed for the past week. We finally had her first official lost tooth on Saturday night right before bed. She is quick to point out that "it didn't fall out, Daddy pulled it out." :-) The tooth fairy WAS able to find our house and left a little present. Abra was elated.

So before I even remembered to tell the family, her other tooth was looking really loose tonight in the bath. Daddy tugged a bit and sure enough, out it came.

Isn't it interesting that the two front bottom teeth were Abra's first two that appeared at the exact same time at 4 months old? The came together. They went together.

The torture chair.

Checking our her new look.

She was so proud.

Showing off to Derek.

Then 2 nights later, tooth #2 is out! She is a pro now.

She went to bed wondering aloud if the tooth fairy brings the same thing every time....:-)

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

2012-02-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Abra awaiting her guests.

Fancy Nancy coloring pages

Calla and Mercy lovin the paints

Quite the Juliet creation

Maycie so proud of her painting.

Mom reading Fancy Nancy books - they loved it.

Abra during the "happy birthday" song

Neiv during the song

Eat it Juliet.

Waiting for presents...

Lots of little girls.

The present-opening was a bit chaotic.

Sweet girls.

Happy Birthday Neiv-ster.

2011-12-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

My little stinkbug is 3. She just gets cuter all the time.

Weirdos

2011-12-05T11:48:00.001-08:00

Abra showcasing her work titled "An Easter Egg on Wheels" and Neiv shoving a magnadoodle pen up her nose. Strange children.

the after-shocks of "fall-back"

2011-11-13T18:42:00.000-08:00

Eating a PB&J is completely exhausting.

What a cast of characters....

2011-11-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Aren't they sweet? They are always kissing on each other.

Fall means fun at the Fair!

2011-10-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

The State fair is just getting better every year as the kiddos get older. They had a blast this year and the weather was perfect. Alan's Uncle Foster has a big tractor display and tent which is what we use as "base camp." It is like having VIP passes. We are getting seriously spoiled.

The girls contemplating the plight of the farmer.

O was diggin' it.

Oliver's weird "taking it all in" face.

The carousel - always a crowd-pleaser.

For $9, two little girls and their grandma can go in circles for 45 seconds. Who are the suckers here?

My deep-thinkers.
As in, what should we eat next? A turkey leg? An elephant ear? Hmmm.

This was fun to watch - mostly for Anita's facial expressions.

Neiv in her element.

Abra looks scared out of her wits but she immediately said, "I want to do it again!"

Nit was having a blast.

Back to the tractors.

Picture with Alan's cousins' kids (facing the sun of course). Aren't they cute? Sweet kids.

Rather stoic goats.

We were so glad Gingy got to come this year (although we missed Uncle Ben).

Great face O.

Ended the day with ice cream since hot days are coming to an end.

He liked the ice cream.

Some Neiv cuteness

2011-10-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Had the brilliant idea of making short videos of them reciting the Awana verses on the itouch so we can look back over them to review. They love it. And I love their little voices (and facial expressions).

Summer fun

2011-08-22T10:46:00.001-07:00

This summer has flown by and I am sad to see it slipping away (although definitely ready for cooler temperatures). Summertime fun as gotten better with each year as the kiddos get older and more independent. It is too bad that it didn't occur to me to buy an oscillating sprinkler until 2 weeks ago. :-) Oh well - we will be ready for next year.

This was at "Acwoth Beach" which isn't even 20 minutes away. The kids had a blast and it was also another late-summer discovery. We will definitely utilize this more in the future. Next time I will also remember all of our bags so Alan doesn't have to go all the way home to get Oliver's swimgear. :-p

We were spraying them with the hose. It doesn't take much to entertain these kids.

Washed their hair in the hose while we were out there.

Sprinkler time

Boy do I love being with these kids all the time.

I miss being a kid

2011-08-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Forts. What a awesome part of childhood. This inspires me to go find some of those tents that you stick on their twin-size beds. Lots of good memories there.

I wish I could build a fort, crawl up underneath, pretend that no one knows where I am, and then read a good book for a couple hours.

Unfortunately the Mulleni kiddos aren't quite old enough to appreciate reading a good book for a couple hours so they make a fort, play inside for 5 minutes, tear part of it down (that would be O's doing) and then come looking for Mommy to fix it. Put this on repeat and it is a recipe for Mommy meltdown.

But hey, they're having fun.

Heard

2011-06-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent conversations in the Mullenix house:

Abra has been on a "who eats what" kick lately.

A: Mommy, what do squirrels eat?
Me: nuts and seeds
A. What do birds eat?
Me: seeds and worms
A: What do bears eat?
Me: Hmmm. Honey? No that can't be right. That bear was eating some blueberries in that book but I don't know if that is accurate. I know they eat fish sometimes. And probably other small animals.
A: Oh. What do Alligators eat?
Me: Ummmmm. Fish maybe? And some birds on occasion?
A: How do they get the birds?
Me: I think they wait for them to land close to water and then they snatch them.
A: Oh. **long pause while thinking** Are the birds sad when they are in the Alligators mouth?
Me: Not for long.
A: **long pause** Mommy, What do pigs eat?
Me (relieved): Oh good -an easy one. Slop.

Apparently I need to brush up on my general animal/nature knowledge. Where is a "circle of life" book when you need it?

Yesterday while reading a book about 4 yr olds vs. babies:

Me: Babies make up words because they can't talk yet but 4 yr olds can make up songs and stories.
Abra: Oliver is just a baby - he says funny words.
Me: Yup.
Abra: I think Oliver speaks Spanish.

Last night at 9:30 pm (after two girls took long naps yesterday) heard through the door:

A: Neiv?!
N: Yes?
A: Do you know that Nit had two babies? Their names are Daddy and Uncle Ben.
N: (doesn't get what Abra is saying). What two babies? What their names?
A: Daddy and Uncle Ben.
N: What two babies? What their names?
A: See our Daddy had me, and you, and Oliver. Uncle Ben doesn't have any babies. That's because he doesn't have a girl.
N: OOOHHH.
A: Maybe when he grows up he will have a girl.

This morning while listening to the Jesus storybook Bible:

A: Mommy, Jesus is not right here.
Me: Yes he is. He is with us all the time.
A: But we can't see him.
Me: Right, he doesn't have a body like ours anymore but he is still with us right now, even though we can't see him.
A: Oh yea, because he is just pretend.
Me: No, No, No.... (followed by long explanation with plenty of "what is pretend and what is real" emphasis).

They definitely keep me on my toes but at least I get a good laugh out of them almost every day.

Cute and Crazy.

2011-06-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Abra likes to have her picture taken with good things she has done - artwork, magnadoodle, dress-ups, and writing Neiv's name along with other random letters on a piece of paper. I think the other letters say "Oliver."

Neiv, on the other hand, likes to have her picture taken mostly naked, holding a couple bottles of sprinkles. Although you may be fooled by her belly pooch, I don't let her eat them.

Alan Mullenix P.E.

2011-05-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to give a shout-out to my husband, the Professional Engineer. He passed his big test on the first try. So he is qualified to stamp drawings now but we still question whether he is mature enough to be a parent.

He is about to flip Mommy the bird if you can't tell. :-)

Slow down child.

2011-05-26T12:53:00.001-07:00

It is quite shocking to think that this little boy is going to be 1 in just a couple of weeks. This might have been the fastest year of my life. And the most physically exhausting. That is ok - it was all worth it right? Blah blah motherly sentiment. :-)

Oliver is taking steps now and is as destructive as ever. He has a beautiful smile and a laugh that is exactly like the younger daughter. Actually there are ALOT of similarities between O and the younger daughter. This keeps me up at night.

Everywhere we go people who have been around him at church/playgroup/playdates etc. say he is SO SWEET and they can't imagine how he is a handful at home or ever. Yes if he was so sweet he would value his mother's sanity a bit more. Don't get me wrong, he IS a sweet boy. A sweet, opinionated, physically combative, whiny, and highly reactive boy.

Oh but I love him. I caught Abra pinching his cheeks earlier today and thought it was mighty hypocritical of me to lecture her on not pinching those chubby cheeks when I do it all day long.

He loves the "van tractor." Can't tell you how many times he has become wedged underneath it.

This was such a boy moment. We are in the kitchen, he hears the "beep beep" of a backing up truck and he is at the front door in a flash, terribly excited about the work being done in our neighbor's yard.

Dirt. I have a feeling I'll be seeing alot of this.

I guess it tasted pretty good.

Music and Movement

2011-05-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

Alan's cousin Tami got this for the girls a couple years ago and they are lovin it these days. Abra already knows some of the movements that match the music after doing the songs just a few times. Neiv only lasts through a couple but is catching on quick. I love watching Abra do this - so dang cute. The girl loves to dance.

Isn't she lloovveellyy....

2011-04-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

I have had that ridiculous song stuck in my head for a week so I took a picture to match it when Juliet came over the other day.

This $2 box of dress-ups is getting some serious mileage....

Thursday thoughts...

2011-04-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

These might be the sweetest girls on the planet. Abra and Neiv get along better with each passing day. They certainly have those days when they constantly harass each other but on the whole, they love each others' company. Yesterday morning, Abra got up before Neiv and was hanging out with me and Oliver in the living room. She made a "Neiv is sleeping TOO long" comment and I said she was tired and needed the sleep. I go to start breakfast and next thing I know, Abra prances in saying "Neiv is up!" and poor sleepy Neiv stumbles in behind. Well Neiv had NOT woken up on her own of course - Abra decided she had waited long enough for her companion to appear.

Trouble

This boy is so busy these days. He moves at lightening speed when he wants to and may prove twice as destructive as either of the girls. He has many diverse interests - pulling books off the shelves, emptying the diaper drawer, pulling over all my cookbooks, snatching salad dressing out of the fridge and sucking on the tops, destroying the tupperware cabinet, and eating play-do, crayons, and coloring books.

Don't be fooled by this angelic face.
He will dominate you.

Growing Growing Growing

2011-04-19T05:53:00.001-07:00

This boy is growing fast. He's been crawling for a month and started pulling up almost immediately. I wish I could say I am sad about this but that would not be true. I love seeing him catch up to his sisters and I am excited about the day he and Neiv will be great buddies. I know that 18 months apart with be tons of fun pretty soon. :-)

It is only a matter of time until he figures out how to pull a knee up. Won't life be fun then?

He is so proud of himself.

He sticks his tongue out alot now - loves to feel those teeth (6 total). Makes for some funny faces.

We made them sing for cake

2011-03-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

She's at it again...

2011-03-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Abra is back to magnadoodling after taking a winter break. Here is a house with a car driving up into the garage - but you already knew that now didn't you? She is quite good. And awfully cute. A friend told me about a preschool craft class that I am excited about signing her up for in the fall.

Wook

2011-03-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

There is so much to say, so many pictures to take, so many cute and adorable things that they say. But oh so.little.time.

And energy. I have occasional bursts of energy that occur about 15 minutes after I drink a cup of coffee. These are very beneficial but only last until I have the kitchen cleaned up after breakfast and everyone's clothes on.

I've been eating chocolate to carry me from the morning coffee to my afternoon cup and then to the bed but I really need to cut that out. That is on my to-do list. Kick chocolate habit.

Well that is enough whining for one post. Here are some cute and adorable pictures of children.

Glad I got a picture of this because Neiv has been bending her
elbow and saying "Wook!" for weeks now. She is very very proud of her tattoo. And the tattoo is the most stubborn little sucker I have ever encountered. It refuses to wash off. So for weeks Neiv has been trying to get the attention of every stranger at the grocery store or park to contort her elbow and say "wook!" This could go on for a long time.

Abra on the other hand, still does not speak to or look at strangers in the grocery store. She loves to look pretty and have her picture taken though. She has her Daddy's sweetness and her Mommy's vanity. We'll see how this turns out.

What can I say about this face? I love him. If he were only as docile as he looks.

Winter Fun aka Mommy is going to lose her mind if the sun doesn't come back soon.

2011-01-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

Neiv got some play makeup for her birthday. Makes the girls
really happy and Mommy really paranoid.

No, that is not snot pouring out of Abra's nose, it is
beautiful lip gloss action.

On snowy days, Abra is allowed to dress herself. See why
getting dressed is a daily battle in this house?

The elder telling the younger how to paint, why to paint,
and what to paint. It is fun to be the boss.

This is a very cute reading ritual that has resulted in the destruction
of one very useful book basket. Oh well, I am trying to come to
terms with the fact that things wear out quickly with 3 little kiddos.

This is the latest favorite -Neiv as passenger. A few months ago, I
would not have let them do this but alas, they have worn me down.

Abra asked the other day when we were going to go swimming again.
Amen to that sista.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T19:03:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. The girls are finally at that age where they feel the excitement and are so fun to watch. The only problem is that I asked Abra a few weeks beforehand why we celebrate Christmas and after thinking about it for a minute said, "to get Christmas presents?" Oh well, there's always next year to straighten them out. With all of the Christmas story books they got this year along with Mom's commitment to drilling them about it on a regular basis, there should be no confusion come next December.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just our little family (which includes Uncle Greg these days) and headed toward grandparents awhile after it started snowing Christmas afternoon. It was the first time I ever remember seeing snow on Christmas (despite 3 yrs in Illinois). Fun times!

emerging

He slept through the fun part but it's going to be crazy next year...

There was a gorgeous sunrise.
Here is my $2.50 thrift store find.

It's been a huge hit.

hambone

Ready to open presents.

I mixed two family traditions - the Johnson strawberry
bread and the Mullenix sausage egg quiche.
(the technical, very southern, term is "sausage pie" which
kind of grosses me out - tastes great of course)

Already playing dress up...

This morning Abra says, "Mommy, I'm ready for Christmas again."
I think this year was the first year that I was ready to be done with the festivities
by New Years. As much fun as it is, it is quite a bit of work for Mom. I now see why my mom
was so ready to take the decorations down a few days after the fact. :-)

Handprint snowman ornaments

2011-01-07T04:52:00.000-08:00

My friend Mary brought the goods over to make these when we hung out right before Christmas. It is an easy, quick, and fun craft which is the only kind this Momma of 3 little ones can handle these days. All you need is blue ball ornaments , white craft paint, and a good set of paint pens. You could really doll them up with ribbon, sequins, buttons or whatnot of course but then who has that kind of time and energy? We did the bare bones version and they came out great. Maybe I'll upgrade to sequins next year if I'm getting more sleep or Alan finally gets me that nanny I've been asking for.

All you do is paint the kiddo's hands and get them to grip the ball by putting it in the palm of their hand and wrapping their fingers around it. Even Oliver could do it which was challenging but worked out just fine. Gotta love those pudgy little fingers.

I went in search of blue ornament balls for next year when we hit the mall's 75% Christmas clearance this week and found every color EXCEPT blue. I'm going to keep my eye out so I can do the ornaments early next year.

Happy 2nd Birthday Neivster.

2010-12-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

Oh I love this little girl. She keeps me very very busy but her smile is contagious and I know exactly where that mischievous spirit comes from - so I can't hold it against her. I am fairly certain her "two's" will be harder than Abra's but that's ok - I'm pretty sure she's worth it. The girl has personality coming out of her ears.

brand new

1 year

2 yrs old!

Loved the cake.

Hambone.

Gifts! She'll have the unwrapping thing down by
Christmas this year...

Well that 6 months flew by.

2010-12-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

Happy 6 months Oliver! We started non-rice solids the other day. Oliver is not so sure about pears. I'm not worried. He is a Mullenix.

I actually gave him his first round of pears at Mcdonalds last week on a day when we just had to get out of the house and go somewhere. I called Alan while there and he pointed out that when we did solids with Abra the first time, he came home early from work and we videotaped it, then with Neiv we at least did it at night with pictures. With Oliver, he gets his first solids at Mcdonalds and Daddy hears about it later. Oh the third child. :-)

Abra loves to dress up during "rest" time. This is her
accessorizing. Takes her cues from Rambo.

I could eat him up.

2010-12-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

I took these a month ago or so and am actually impressed with myself for posting them so quickly. :-)

Neivikins strikes again

2010-11-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

I was blow drying my hair the other morning while Oliver was napping and the girls were "playing" in their room. It was eerily quiet when I turned off the blow dryer so I went in search of the younger daughter. As soon as I walked into the bedroom the smell of nail polish hit me like a ton of bricks. In that moment I remembered that I had left some nail polish on my bedside table the night before.

There she was, frozen in the corner with the nail polish in her hands. I ran over to find one set of toes (the entirety of her toes) already painted and drying. She had moved on to her fingers and only gotten a couple done before I arrived.

That girl is good with her hands. I don't think Abra could have twisted the top off that nail polish. I don't know if she has a future in nail painting though. I just hope she doesn't try cutting her hair next.

Dressing up

2010-11-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

We had alot of fun halloween weekend. On Saturday night we went to our neighborhood party and met some new neighbors with little ones. Sunday we hit up the reformation day party at church then met a few neighbors we had been wanting to meet afterward. Thank goodness Jama came to stay with Oliver so I could enjoy some adult interaction!

Abra has been on a dress-up kick ever since. Most days, during her "rest time" she ends up in some sort of costume. A few times I have gone in her room to find a "tinkerbell" asleep under her covers.

2 butterflies for the reformation day party

For the neighborhood party, I tried to put Neiv in Abra's old
chicken costume (she wore it last year too) but it was a bit small. ;-)

This little boy is going to have alot of fun.

2010-11-17T05:19:00.000-08:00

It has been a blast to watch the little siblings interact already. I know it is just going to get better and better.

Mo Pumpkins

2010-11-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Ah the Pumpkin Patch. Abra had been asking for a year when we were going to go back.

So many good memories from last year. We had planned to go on a Sunday night in October - about a week after we moved to Marietta. I had been feeling that something wasn't quite right for several days so that Sunday in the afternoon, I went to Wally world to pick up some house things, along with the good ole pregnancy test (without telling Alan of course - no need to alarm anyone). I was so worked up about it that I almost passed out walking around in the store. I thought that might be a bad sign. I got home, waited for Alan to get distracted with something, and went to take the test. It read positive within 30 seconds, of course. I walked out of the bedroom, threw the test at him, and burst into tears.

So after a good cry (and a good laugh on Alan's part - not sure how he takes these things so well), we headed to the pumpkin patch with the girls as planned. It was actually an encouraging experience as we encountered several other families who looked to be in the same situation as we suddenly found ourselves in. They looked tired but not out of control. Apparently 3 kids under 4 was not the end of the world.

And where would we be today if little Oliver had not come into our lives at the exact moment he did? Life would be much less challenging, I could not have conned Alan into getting me a 4 bedroom house so soon, we would be getting WAY too much sleep, Abra would already know how to read, Neiv would be potty-trained, we would be attending "biblical counseling" seminars at our church, I would be crafting and couponing left and right, we would be downright prideful of our mad family-planning skills, I would be a much better cook, we'd keep a clean house, every day would be "predictable," and Alan would be ready to run that marathon he always talks about.

Ok maybe that is a bit optimistic. Yet even with all that, life would be much less satisfying. I look back and laugh at last years' pre-pumpkin-patch-pity-party. I could not imagine life without little O. His smile melts my heart every time and makes each exhausting day worth it.

So with that said, here are the pictures from THIS year's trip to the pumpkin patch. We are so thankful that the Lord, in His graciousness, gave us Oliver.

And with or without him, our chances of taking a good family picture were pretty bad anyways.

If he is anything like his Daddy...

This makes me feel old.

Neiv, typically destructive, liked to throw the pumpkins.

Neiv and the ugly gourd (sp?) she picked out.

Attempt to get all three in a picture. Yes he fell over right afterwards but Daddy caught him.

Two out of five smiling ain't bad. :-)

Painting pumpkins

2010-11-08T04:03:00.000-08:00

This eased my guilt a bit for never letting the girls paint (Neiv with paint inside is a terrifying idea). I figured she couldn't do that much damage with washable paints on the porch.
They had a blast. It rained a few days later so now the pumpkins are ready to be painted again. Cheap fun. That's what I'm talking about.

Fair Highlights

2010-11-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to the GA state fair a few weeks ago. The weather was typical for Georgia- stinkin hot in October. It gets old but I'll take it over snow any day. It turned out to be a great trip - Oliver cooperated and we had plenty of hands ready to hold babies. Makes my life easier.

Next year I'll get pictures of the ridiculous amounts of junk food we ate.

Neiv loves some Uncle Ben.

The carousel. The one thing that will ALMOST make Abra smile.

Handsome boy. He is gonna love all the tractors next year.

This was my favorite part of the day. The "exotic" animal tent which had a few "exotic" animals and alot of donkey/sheep/pony types. Neiv was hysterical in here. I had to keep her from climbing into a cage housing an enormous bull at one point. She was all about getting up in the animal's faces. And pushing strangers out of the way for a better view in typical Neiv fashion. Abra really liked looking at the animals and we finally found a sheep - which she had been asking for all day.

We saw this coming for a couple hours. They finally
gave it up. Too bad this never happens in the car.

A boy and his cabbage patch doll

2010-10-28T13:03:00.001-07:00

The girls try to be very helpful. They always feel the need to give Oliver things to entertain himself- a toy, book ect - even though he still can't really grip anything. The other day I turned around to see "Judy" staring Oliver down under the little playgym. It was slightly creepy. O does not seemed phased.

It will be funny to see what these girls try to get him to play with in a couple years...

A moment of quiet

2010-10-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Not very common in this house. I'm shocked I was able to record it before it ended.

Pretty accurate

2010-09-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is aunt Beth and her baby belly. I wrote "Beth" on a piece of paper and let her copy it - she decided to throw in a backward "e" just for kicks.

Rockin the shades already

2010-09-30T12:55:00.001-07:00

Fun things about our new house...

2010-09-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

We had our friends Teale and Derek over for dinner last Friday night. After we had eaten and everybody got up to start taking the dishes to the sink, Alan took the opportunity to slip into the bathroom. He closed the door, then opened the door, and said, "Ruth, you need to come see this." My first thought was that it was my cell phone in the toilet (Neiv has been into the toilet water some lately). Then Alan says, "No I think everyone should come and see this."

Since then, frogs in the potty has been a hot topic for Abra. We are riding down the road and she suddenly says, "Mommy, I don't like to go potty when there is a frog in the potty." And then
right before bed, "Mommy, I don't want that frog in the potty to come upstairs and get me."

I assure her that all frogs are nice frogs. As far as I know.

Little bookworms

2010-09-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

Abra and Juliet. A match made in heaven.

If they were all this easy, I'd have 10.
But.....Neiv.

More Magnadoodle

2010-09-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

She did this one right before Oliver was born. First picture with all family members represented.

Strange looking characters but isn't she cute?

"a carousel"

A scary girl.

The faces of Oliver

2010-09-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Aunt Nora gave us these super cute onesies although I feel as though I need to clarify that it isn't completely true. I would put Oliver at about 30% fun at this point. A bit of a crab most of the day. But it is getting better (or I have learned to better manage it). Regardless, this stage does not last long and before I know it, he will be running and playing and trying to keep up with his sisters. I am trying to enjoy him at this age despite his neediness. He is rather cute of course.

Just when you thought I gave up blogging...

2010-09-10T12:14:00.001-07:00

Self portrait

One day several weeks ago, Abra was looking through the viewfinder at some slides of snow white and the 7 dwarfs. She tells me that she is having a hard time seeing the images. I explained how she needs to point it toward the light and it will make the pictures much easier to see. She did this and was very impressed. A few minutes later she put the viewfinder underneath a blanket that was sitting next to her on the couch. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm letting them go to sleep." :-)

2 budding artists

two men on a boat

2010-05-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

Abra's skillz improve by the day. The girls loves a magnadoodle.
We have now collected 4 of different sizes.

Fanny-pack cuties

2010-05-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

I picked up a purple princess fanny-pack at a garage sale last year that Abra has always used as a purse. It has been a favorite item so when I saw a similar one in pink at a garage sale the other month, I thought the $.50 would be worth each of the girls having their own one day to avoid arguments. Then Abra discovered somehow that you are actually supposed to put them around your waist instead of carrying it like a purse. So I snapped them on for the both of them and I discovered quickly why fanny-packs were such a hit back when function trumped form. The girls think they are super cool AND useful. Neiv loves to try and cram things 3xs too big in hers and Abra will use hers as a diaper bag for baby Alice. At least they will be ready if we decide to up and take them on a trip to Europe.

Mothers day gift

2010-05-03T14:02:00.001-07:00

Anita got me a very cool Mother's day gift this year. She brought some pots and flowers and had the girls attempt to do their handprints on the sides. Great idea and Abra at least had fun making hers. Neiv still tries to pick all the flowers off of the stems and dumps the water down her front when she "waters" them. We'll see how long it takes me to kill them...

Bunny bows

2010-04-07T04:47:00.001-07:00

Last week Vanessa posted a cute little Easter craft on her blog - making bunny bows from buttons, ribbon, and hair ties. Genius. Abra had a bunny shirt that someone gave her so she wore it several days last week with the bunny bows I made her. She thought it was rather cool.

Here's a link to the ones Vanessa made:
sillyeaglebooks.com

Alan always uses Vanessa as the example of the "mother I'll never live up to." This makes me laugh every time. I tell him, some people are creative and some people love to copy exactly what the creative people make, thus pretending to be creative. It works for me! :-)

Skillz

2010-03-30T05:51:00.000-07:00

Abra has been showing a real inclination for art lately. She is doing alot of coloring, painting and playing with playdo. We also picked up a large magnadoodle at a garage sale and she loves to sit and draw random things on it. Sometimes we are completely amazed at what she will produce with no prompting whatsoever. It's fun to watch her grow and learn.

This was a picture of an alligator that we thought was very impressive. She even drew it in a moving car. Not bad eh? Apparently in her world, alligators have lots of legs.

This one made me laugh out loud because she said she was "drawing a picture of Daddy." Not sure if that is just his head or his entire body. Love the hair though.

Two different little girls

2010-03-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

Neiv and Abra are two very different little girls. Of course we've seen this since birth with Neiv's colic and general demanding personality as opposed to Abra's quiet passiveness. The funny way these differences come out is in how active and "dare-devilish" Neiv is. It took us probably 2 yrs to get Abra to go down a slide by herself with much coaxing and cheering. Neiv threw herself down face first by the time she was a year. This shocked many parents at the park since she is such a little bald runt. It keeps me busy at the park but at least I just have to keep up with her as opposed to the constant coaxing. The negative side of course is that she has taken quite a few good tumbles. We went to pick her up from the nursery at church yesterday and apparently she had waited until both workers were occupied with criers and then threw herself off the top of a little plastic slide. Much weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued and the poor nursery workers were wracked with guilt by the time I got there. Oh my little drama queen. You can't help but love her.

Birthdays

2010-03-15T12:14:00.001-07:00

Well it has been forever since I posted so I need to do some catch-up. Both munchkins celebrated birthdays on both sides of a busy holiday season. Miss Neiv enjoyed being star of the show, of course, and Abra was very quick to offer help in opening her presents. Life with Neiv can be quite a challenge but it is getting better and better as she grows. I am glad she is now 15 months and doing so many fun things on her own. She has alot of personality.
We had tons of fun celebrating Abra's birthday this year. The day before her official birthday we took her to the cabbage patch baby hospital about 1.5 hrs from here. It was the perfect birthday day trip for baby-obsessed Abra. She absolutely loved it. I just hate that I left the card for the camera at home. :-) I'm sure we will be back again one day. Neiv is showing an inclination for babies as well so I'm betting on more birthday trips to Cleveland GA in the future.

We also had a family party for Abra that turned out to be just what she wanted in a birthday party. Lots of good food, princess balloons, and all of her cousins there. She is already talking about the party we will have when she turns 4.

Conversations from Yesterday

2009-12-11T04:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those days where Abra kept saying goofy things. Of course I can't remember half of them but here are a couple:

I am in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast and Abra is sitting at her little table with a small bowl of cottage cheese. Neiv is up and about and apparently keeps trying to get at Abra's food. From the other room I hear Abra say "Neiv, I'm gonna schmack you!" And then she giggles. I came around the corner and said, "Wait, what did you say?" To which she repeats, "I'm gonna schmack you Neiv! hahaha."

Ok this is not something we say to our kids. Promise. But it IS something Mommy and Daddy say playfully to each other (in a non-sexual, purely domestic-violence type of way) all the time. Guess we should come up with a new phrase.

The other conversation went like this:

Me: It's Neiv's birthday next week! That is going to be so fun.
Abra: There will be balloons there?
Me: Sure. We'll get some balloons.
Abra: I want balloons at MY birthday.
Me: What color balloons do you want?
Abra: Pink.....green.....blue......red.....yellow.....white.......pause...... I want ALOT of balloons at my birthday.
Me: We'll see about that.
Abra: I want PRESENTS at my birthday too!
Me: What kind of presents?
Abra: Pink ones.
Me: What do you want inside the pink presents?
*Pause while she is thinking*
Abra: A Pillow!
Me: Really? You want a pillow?
Abra: Uh-huh. For my bed.
Me: Like a fluffy pillow?
Abra: A pink one. And I want some clothes too. Some blue pants and a pink shirt.
Me: Wow. A pillow and an outfit. This is not what I expected. :-)

Thanksgiving trip to the zoo

2009-12-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

We headed to the zoo the day after Thanksgiving to see what Abra thought about the animals. The last trip to the zoo she was about 18 months and could only see so much. She seemed to really enjoy the zoo this time around and even ran toward the carousel. She was pretty bummed that they didn't have horses on the carousel but settled for the zebra after a little persuasion. I sure enjoyed going to the zoo and can't wait to take Neiv when she is a bit older. Thanks Pops!

We got some good face time with one hungry giraffe and one hungry elephant. Abra ALMOST fed the giraffe but chickened out at the last minute. Can't blame her considering the size of his tongue.

So much personality.

2009-11-24T18:44:00.001-08:00

Daddy dropped by the house this morning to pick something up and this is how he discovered Abra. I am not phased by this since I see it every day but he thought it was hysterical to see her dressed her in tutu and dancing shoes immersed in a pile of books. She actually only briefly looked up for us to take a picture. She is quite the little reader - and the little dancer. I guess she had been dancing hard to her "Jesus music" for long enough that she needed a nice long reading break.
Then, as I was making dinner tonight, she sat at the table and played with her magnadoodle. She announced that she had drawn a picture of herself so I came over to see it. I was amazed that her picture actually somewhat looked like a person! I have never explained to her how to draw people but she has watched me do it a few times. What a smart kid. I am realizing more every day how much she is capable of at this age. It is exciting to watch her grow.

Priceless

2009-11-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

So Shelley and her boys came to visit for part of Saturday/Sunday this weekend. They had some awesome "cuzzin time" and we are glad to see more of them in the future.

When Shelley and I were trying to get the babies down for their naps, we left Abra and Ethan playing unsupervised for a few minutes. When we emerged, we found that Ethan had decided to try Abra's gold "ballerina" shoes on. He thought he was looking pretty good. We could not stop laughing.

At least he is holding a toy truck right?

These two had fun together as well although someone was always
after the other's paci. Neiv likes having someone else around to bully
once in awhile.

The Chicken and the Ballerina

2009-11-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

So this year we just headed over to our friends house here in Atlanta for a fun gathering of little costumed people and pizza, candy, etc. for everyone. It was lots of fun and it took Abra 2 hrs to fall asleep that night despite our limiting her candy intake to just a few pieces.

Neiv might be the cutest Chicken yet.

Abra and Juliet were really into the M&Ms. Not into making them into shapes so much.

Juliet showing Abra her princess dress.

This suit fit Abra like a glove at 8 months but was really big on Neiv at 10 months. :-)

Keeping me busy...

2009-10-30T12:35:00.001-07:00

Our little princess ballerina. I was trying to get her comfortable with the idea of wearing the tutu to Juliet's house on Saturday but it turned into a ballet-dancing obsession. Now she wants to wear the tutu all the time and watch youtube videos of 3 yr old ballerinas. I have to admit though, she has some pretty good moves when she decides to bust out on her own.

Today we weaned the ballerina from the paci. We met Mary, Lucy, and baby Elle for lunch and gave the pacis to Elle as a gift (since only "babies" need pacis and not "big girls"). It went really well and Abra seemed to be completely on board. She is skipping her nap in there right now but at least not crying hysterically. Hopefully she will be so tired tonight that she will fall asleep without too much trouble. I am glad to have those pacis out of the house though. Down to just one baby with pacis.

Look at this cutie pie. She likes to prop her foot up while eating. Her favorite new food is broccoli and she has decided that she dislikes most other food (except bread of course). Always the tyrant. Darn cute though.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Greg come to visit.

2009-10-27T05:54:00.000-07:00

Aunt Beth captured Neiv's 2 massive teeth coming through on top.

Neiv tolerating Abra.

Abra can't get enough of Uncle Greg.

Neiv not sure about the hayride.

Pumpkin Patch round 2

2009-10-27T05:36:00.001-07:00

It was much colder this round.

As good as it gets for a picture of the two of them.

We spent a little cash this time - $2 for mini pumpkins and $3 for boiled peanuts. Tried to convince Abra to get some face paint but she would have none of it. :-)

Neiv was pretty sick this day believe it or not. The only time she smiled was
when we put her down next to the pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch fun

2009-10-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of one of the two pretty days Georgia has had since we arrived to visit the local pumpkin patch. The girls loved it and it was free! Next time we'll buy a couple little punkins to do our part. :-)

Daddy and his punkins.
Took some coaxing to get Abra on the hay ride but she loved it in the end.

Not hard to get a good picture of this cutie. Can't you just smell the cider here?

Abra loved "sittin on the punkins lika chair." I thought Neiv's face was funny as well (click on the picture to see closer).

Just wouldn't smile for (or look at) the camera.

Farmer Abra.

Finally "playing" together

2009-08-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

This N That

2009-08-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of blog-age. Alan has been hogging the computer. And I have been lazy. So there.

There have been many many funny things said recently by the older runt. She is getting pretty sophisticated with her sentences and it seems as though her speech has gone from a word here or there to a complete thought in the matter of weeks. It is a fun age (despite the constant whining and tantrum-throwing).

A couple weeks ago Alan and I were chatting playfully in the kitchen while the girls were at the table eating their dinner or whatnot. We didn't really think Abra was paying any attention to us until she piped up with "Mommy spanked Daddy." I told her to keep that one to herself. :-)

She is always pointing out how one thing resembles something totally different - like with the half-eaten sandwich being a boat or a dinosaur. Today we had our 6th successful poop in the potty. As we were going through the motions of dumping poo from Abra's potty to the "big" potty she said "Look Mommy- caterpillar poo-poo." We've been reading alot of the hungry caterpillar lately.

Now look closely at this picture and see if you can guess what she was painting a picture of:

Yep, I thought it was pretty obvious too. It's a picture of Jesus sliding down a slide.

You can't make this stuff up folks. :-)

Runt 2 is calling my name. Check back later for more.

Neiv obviously has a bad sense of humor....

2009-07-17T13:28:00.001-07:00

If she thinks Daddy is that funny.

Happy Birthday Pops!!

2009-07-15T09:40:00.001-07:00

Potty accomplishments!

2009-07-13T18:18:00.001-07:00

I have to update since I have had an exciting day (except for Neiv and that awful diaper rash which led to 1.5 hrs of crying tonight - I guess you could consider that exciting though). Abra has really turned a corner with the potty. A friend told me to make her be naked since the theory is that they won't want to pee into thin air - unlike having panties on and knowing the pee will be soaked up. So this morning she got up and I said "you wet all your panties so we are going to have to be nakey" (Abra-ism). The funny thing was that she felt so uncomfortable naked that she would ONLY sit on the potty. For hours. So lots of pee went into the potty with plenty of praise and treats. She hardly even ate she was so nervous about being up from the potty. So at lunchtime she finally started sitting at the table to eat and getting down every few minutes to sit on the potty. This ended with her peeing which was the first breakthrough since she got off the potty then sat back down willingly when she felt that she needed to. Awhile later I coaxed her into joining me on the kitchen floor about 15 feet away from the potty and building blocks. We played for about 10 minutes when suddenly, very calmly, she got up, said she had to pee, and went and sat on the potty - and peed within 30 seconds! I was shocked. After that she got up and down with a bit more confidence and went back to the potty to pee 5 or 6 times. Poop did end up in her pull-up after nap but I think that will come soon enough. I am just soooo glad there is no more hysterical crying and she seems really excited about her new ability.

Potty-training diaries and other musings

2009-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bathing beauty. Neiv has been very sweet (for Neiv) the last few days while I have been pulling my hair out with Abra. Probably because I just end up holding her more (translation: no laundry, cleaning, cooking etc. is getting done). She is sleeping really well at night and even took a 2 hr nap the other day. She is a more cuddly baby believe it or not, compared to Abra. She will give us real hugs/kisses and her little face just lights up when we get her up from a nap or come rescue her from the strangers in the nursery.

I was so proud of myself for taking step #1 in making Neiv's baby food instead of paying $1 a pop for the gerber sets. I steamed up a bag of frozen peas then pureed them down to a nice consistency and put them in little freezer friendly containers for future use. I then fed some to Neiv who thought they were gross but I figured she'd get used to them - she has to - I have alot of pureed peas now. Unfortunately a couple hours after I gave her the peas she started having an upset tummy which turned into the worst diaper rash I have ever seen. This led to lots of screaming last night and this morning when I tried to change her or put cream on it.

So much for my nice little frozen pea containers. Of course she had no reaction to the gerber peas. Foiled again.

Abra is having a hard time with the potty. It took one entire day (friday) just to get her to not cry when she sat on it. But she can hold her pee for long periods until she is not on the potty so I know she is ready - it is just a matter of it all coming together. We are making baby steps in the right direction. This is day 4 of staying in the kitchen all day not to mention that Alan had to work all weekend. If I make it through this with my sanity, it will not be on my own strength, that is for sure. The weather forecast for the next 3 days is 104, 102, and 101. I guess staying in the AC isn't all that bad.

The picture was a cute moment yesterday though. I made her a grilled cheese for dinner and she took little bites out of it in a sloping direction from one side then held it up and said "look Mommy, a dinosaur!!" So I told her to hold the dinosaur up for me to take a picture. It is so funny to see where their little imagination takes them.

Gettin' cuter all the time

2009-07-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

She is doing so well on solids that we just gave her a drumstick the other day.

Look at those teeth!

She is super smiley when happy. When she's not happy, it's scary. A woman with extreme moods. Fun times.

Making a mess with some carrots.

This is Neiv with our friend Josh. I thought it was a good
picture to show how roly-poly she's getting. She loves to pose while chompin' on one finger huh?

We hung out with Josh and KC at a starbucks and then ate at the Mongolian BBQ joint next door last Saturday. Pretty dang tasty and Neiv was chill the entire time. Shocking.

Back from my sabbatical

2009-07-06T05:01:00.000-07:00

I am back from my blogging sabbatical. Thanks for allowing me the time of reading, reflecting and refocusing.

Just kidding. There has been none of that - except maybe reading if you count "Toilet-Training in a Day." Other than that, any spare time I get I have just been sitting and staring at the wall. Or eating cinnamon rolls. Sometimes both.

Neiv has been doing great on her solids! She has probably gained 4 lbs since we started. The amount that she is eating has really shot up in the last week. She has liked almost everything we've thrown at her. Maybe she'll turn out to be a good eater like big sista. I hope so. I take her to be weighed tomorrow and am excited to see how much poundage those new leg rolls have added.

Abra took her 2nd ever boat ride while we were in Augusta and really loved it (despite the questionable look on her face). Now every time we see someone pulling a boat around town she says "I LIKE Papa's boat!" Very cute.

Splash Park

2009-05-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

As you can tell in this first picture, Abra has had a blast at the splash park so far this year.

No really, she loves it. I am not sure why every time I bust out the camera she has to frown and look completely unhappy.

Although maybe it is because we gave her a huge piece of chocolate cake (this was at our little neighbors 3rd birthday party) and then sent her out into the hot sun to run around.

It's hard to be a kid.

The plight of "new baby"

2009-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

She just can't catch a break around here.

Where is "home" anyways?

2009-05-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

This morning for breakfast Abra had some oatmeal and then some "fa-baby yogurk." After cleaning up some dishes and dealing with Neiv I turned to find Abra looking intently at her spoonful of yogurt then taking a big bite. This convo ensued:

Abra: "Uh-oh! Fa-baby yogurk went home!"
Me: "Where is the strawberry yogurts home Abra? "
Abra: hmmm... (thinking)
Me: "You said the strawberry yogurt went home - where is it's home?"
Abra: (whispers) "mouth."

She cracks me up.

Finally warming up

2009-05-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well Texas is finally getting hot enough for summer activity. We had a nice weekend and mother's day actually turned out sunny and warm. We got out and worked in the yard and Abra had a blast filling up her dumptruck with dirt and blowing some bubbles. She was getting pretty red-faced so I asked if she wanted to take her clothes off and get wet. I was surprised at her enthusiasm. Water activities this summer will be more fun than in the past I think.

Here's one of the terror. Yes, she is still a terror. Most people are sad to see how quickly their babies grow up. Not me. I am thankful every morning that Neiv is one day older. Or maybe I should say that I am thankful that I retained what is left of my sanity for one more day.

It's time to update

2009-05-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

well I have been lazy of late (not to mention a bit short on time/energy) and have not updated the blog properly. Please forgive.

Here are a few things that are happening around here:

This morning Neiv rolled over on her own for the first time. Then she couldn't figure out how it happened to do it again. It is pretty hysterical to watch her rolling and squirming back and forth like a fish while trying though. She is an active little thing when she gets going. Last night after bath she was eating her toes. So darn cute. Here's a picture.

Abra is same ole' sweetheart. The other day I was going to run to the store after dinner so I was throwing on some clothes and she was standing right in my way in the bathroom. I said, "Abra why don't you go play in the kitchen where Daddy is so I can get ready?" She nodded and went to walk off but then turned back around and peeked her little head back into the door frame and said, "Mommy sooo pretty." My heart melted.

We have started potty training and when she successfully goes pee-pee on the potty she gets a big "yayyyy" from mommy with hand-clapping (which she loves) and a treat of 5 or 6 mini marshmallows. She calls this her "treep" which I think is so cute that I haven't bothered to correct her pronunciation. In general potty-training is a nightmare in case you are wondering. The child pees all morning long in small spurts. Yikes. I put her in training pants yesterday and today and she has wet them 8 xs I think. Maybe I should take a different approach. She sure is cute though.

Lastly, in case you are considering going on an egg, dairy, wheat, caffeine, chocloate, and peanut-free diet, don't be deceived into thinking that "Rice Dream" is an acceptable substitution for ice cream. It is not. Not only does it taste funkdified but you can't stop thinking "this is made of rice.....this is made of rice." Not worth it.

Instead, make a good granola or fry up some french fries for dessert. :-)

A Picnic and Friends

2009-05-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had the annual Walter P Moore summer picnic at a park down the street in Plano. Abra was super excited to see Josslyn since it had been awhile and they chased each other around for the duration of the picnic (mostly Abra chasing Josslyn - the girl doesn't stop moving). They were sad to part ways so we had them hold hands out to the car. The entire ride home Abra said "fun - Josslyn."

Sweet sisterly moment

2009-04-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Although I wonder what Neiv thought about it...

Beff and Deg

2009-04-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

We had alot of fun with Beth and Greg although Alan and I felt like completely lame hosts. At least they don't mind us just sitting around and looking at each other.

Abra was sad to see them go and today she decided that we should "go Beff and Deg's house."

$$$$

2009-04-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Are dollar signs written all over this 2 yr old's artwork or is it just me? :-)

4 months this week!

2009-04-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Neiv will be 4 months on Wednesday! I'm so excited that Beth and Greg will be here to celebrate (we'll eat some blue bell in her honor...). The good news is that I think - knock on wood- that she is coming out of her difficult stage. We have had less screaming the last few nights and longer stretches without waking. This is what is supposed to happen as you get closer to 4 months according to people in the know. I hope they are right.

She is still the cutest baby I've seen yet.

Little Diva

2009-04-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

Not sure where she got this but when Abra plays outside, she always manages to find her sunglasses and then tries to rest them on the top of her head. This day she also walked around with the broken hose sprayer b/c she couldn't quite figure out what to make of it. :-)

Ice Cream Cone

2009-04-04T11:51:00.001-07:00

Abra is always talking about ice cream cones - not because she had ever had one before today but she has pictures of them in her books and remembers what ice cream tastes like from her birthday.

Today I saw that Mcdonalds had a sign out for
$.29 cones and I said, "why not let the girl live
a little?" She certainly enjoyed it...

together again

2009-03-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is Neiv last weekend - very pleased to have Mommy's undivided attention while Daddy and Abra went to visit Gingy for her 80th birthday.

This is Neiv confused as to why she has to share Mommy's attention again after 3 days of bliss.

No, she definitely missed her big sister and daddy. I definitely missed them as well. I'm glad to have Daddy back so that Mommy isn't the only one getting up in the middle of the night.... :-)

ooooooh I could just eat her up!

2009-03-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

If only she were as happy as she is cute....

My new favorite Abra-ism

2009-03-20T07:08:00.001-07:00

strawberries="fa-babies"

Big Sisda and Baby Sisda

2009-03-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

What will she say next?

2009-03-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Abra has said some goofy things lately. For instance, last night while I was grating cheese for dinner, I could hear her playing behind me. A minute later I hear "I pray pasta and cheese....AMEN!." I turned around and her hands were together and eye's closed. I asked if she was praying for pasta and cheese because that is what she wanted to eat for dinner? "Da!" :-)

This morning I went in to get Neiv up and was letting her chill in the crib for a minute while I looked for something in the closet. Abra climbed up onto the side of the crib and was leaning over the railing saying "Hi baby sisda!" A few minutes later she climbs down, comes over to me and looks at me with those big confused eyes and says "Baby sisda's toes fall off!" I went over to Neiv and she had pulled her leg up out of the footie part of the sleeper so that it was hanging limp. I then showed Abra how baby sister's toes magically reappear when you push her knee down...

She must have really enjoyed the beach because she will randomly ask to "go beach?" To which I always reply, "No more beach for a loonngg time." This mommy is taking a break from road trips.

Picture is Abra with "Aunt Beff." There were watching a guy throw a tennis ball into the bay for his two dogs. Abra thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Extra furry friend

2009-03-03T14:03:00.001-08:00

Abra had alot of fun this weekend with Callie - Tami and Dan's dog - while they were in Augusta. She spent most of the weekend chasing the poor little thing saying "Tallie, Tallie, Tallie." When she would finally catch Callie, she would put her in the choke-hold and get real close to her face and say "Hi Tallie." It was fun to watch.

In other news, earlier today while I was getting ready, Abra was sitting on the bathroom floor reading her little toddler Bible. She got to a picture of someone (I'm sure it wasn't Jesus) looking sad and said, "Jesus crying." I said, "Is Jesus crying? Why is he crying?" She said, "No obey Mommy." Oh, so Jesus is crying because He didn't obey His mommy. I just said, "No, Jesus ALWAYS obeyed His mommy." We'll just leave it at that for now. :-)

And the star of the show is...

2009-02-27T06:12:00.000-08:00

Her stage name is "the enigma." Daddy came up with this one.

That pretty much says it all.

"I see the thumb, and it looks worthy of eating. But how do I get it in my mouth?"

The letter-eating dragon

2009-02-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

Here is one of Abra's new favorite games in the bathtub. I discovered it on accident.
The main player is Dragon - also known as Drake the lonely dragon (I believe this is what he was named in our Christmas game last year):

She picks out one of her bath letters and feeds it to Dragon, who gobbles it up and says in a funny voice, "D?! D as in Dog? I love D's!"

She giggles that super cute giggle. Then Dragon spits the letter out at her and she giggles again.
I love how easily amused 2 yr olds are. It makes me feel like I am pretty dang funny.

If a penny saved is a penny earned, I think I'll consider myself a working mother...

2009-02-20T13:17:00.000-08:00

So my newest hobby is couponing - otherwise known as tightwadedness. I think I started getting into it when we landed at our church and I met some other really great, really cheap young ladies much like myself. Suddenly I realized that you can save all sorts of money with a little work. And now it is a bit of a game.

I have to have something to challenge me other than cute little 11-pounders who occasionally scream for no reason. Not to mention the cute 36-pounder who also likes to scream for no reason.

So basically couponing is my way of restoring reason to the Mullenix household.

Here is my deal of the day - 3 boxes of cheerios (ever had multigrain cheerios? they are really good) for $2.20 - or $.73 a piece - I used 3 different coupons matched with a sale to get that price. Not bad eh? I also threw some lotion in the picture that I got for free last night from a different store. Couldn't resist.

Although I really don't need lotion right now but it was free, so if you need some, let me know...
(I am also obligated at this point to send out a big thank-you to mom for organizing all of my coupons - see, I WILL use them) :-)

A bit from here and there

2009-02-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

Abra has been saying some funny stuff lately. Alan keeps saying that this must be the best stage of parenting. I'm not sure every parent would agree. :-)

Her favorite thing to say in public these days is "Mommy Daddy sooo happy poo poo on potty." Not that she ever has - but I told her we WOULD be sooo happy if she did. At least that is better than the previous favorite statement of "Mommy hit! Obey Mommy!"

She has her bedtime routine down now and she repeats Mommy's instructions several times before we leave the room (Keep head on pillow, stay under blanket, no get down). I don't think she has gotten out of bed in quite awhile. So then the other day we were reading her favorite story of all time - Jesus and the boat (when Jesus calms the storm). We got to the part where Jesus lays down in the back of the boat to go to sleep. I tried to turn the page but Abra stopped me, pointed to Jesus and said "No get down!"

I told her that we don't tell Jesus what to do.

She also finally did the one thing I have been waiting for since we had Neiv. She is always talking about Mommy feeding the baby and the other day I looked over while feeding Neiv and there is Abra with her baby's head under her shirt. She smiled at me and said "Feed baby!" I told her that her babies get a bottle with milk. She still seems confused about this. Go figure. :-)

And lastly, today out of nowhere she sang almost the entire "Jesus loves me" song. She also got very annoyed when I tried to join in.

Is she a goofball or what?

Chubby Bunny

2009-02-08T15:21:00.001-08:00

Two Wonderful Years

2009-02-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

Crying, Craziness, and Cookies

2009-02-03T05:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those days. Both girls were acting out but Neiv especially. Alan had to work late so by about 8 pm (Neiv had not slept in several hours at this point) I was about to lose my mind. I threw together some chocolate chip cookies before I put the girls in the bath, hoping that once they were down for the night, I could enjoy them (the cookies - although I am sure I enjoyed the girls more when they finally went down...). Since I had to feed Neiv one more time I thought I would give Abra a couple as a special treat and let her watch the potty video. After devouring the cookies she turned around to say thank you and this is what I saw:

Not to mention the chocolate on the pillow she was sitting against and anything else she touched. At least I got one good laugh from the day...

Neiv, you are my hero.

2009-01-31T06:04:00.000-08:00

Guess who slept an 8 hour stretch last night? I feel like a new woman. I think she was cuter this morning than ever before.

And here is a little smile.

If it's not one thing...

2009-01-30T14:53:00.000-08:00

We have been having problems with Abra getting out of her big girl bed for the past week or so (which we think may be disrupting her sleep since she is suddenly trying to skip naps). This is mostly our fault for being soft about it from the beginning. She didn't try to get out for the first couple of weeks so we figured it would be fine.

Then a couple baby dolls appeared in the bed during nap. The next day it was a couple baby dolls and some fake food. The next a couple baby dolls, fake food, and a few books.

We decided something had to be done.

So today we came home from a fun morning at a friends house right before nap and I was determined to be serious about the getting out of bed issue. I carefully explained probably 5 times that getting out of bed meant a spanking. She had to keep her head on the pillow and stay under the blanket. I knew she understood as I was walking out and she said "no get down bed."

I was too occupied with Neiv to stay right next to the door but she seemed to fall asleep pretty quickly without getting up. I deemed day one of the "nap intervention" a success.

After sleeping a good solid 2 hrs, I could hear her starting to chatter to her friends. I thought I better go get her up before she was tempted to get out of bed. I opened the door real quick to find her standing up on the bed. As soon as she saw me she dove for her designated spot to put her head on the pillow.

I walked over to the bed and said "what were you doing Abra?" to which she responded, with a sheepish grin, "jump."

If it's not one thing... :-)

Texas Weather

2009-01-28T06:21:00.000-08:00

So here us a sample of our crazy TX weather.

A few days ago it was about 75 so I let Abra play outside in the dirt for awhile. She loves to scoop dirt with her little shovel into a variety of cups. She will do this for an hour. I love it.

The weather takes a turn and here we are today with serious ice on the roads and everyone freaking out I'm sure. I assume the schools are closed and most grocery stores are running low on milk and bread. It is a good idea to not mix Texas drivers and ice (the driving here is slightly better than South Carolina, but not by much).

This kind of weather makes for a nice cozy day inside on occasion. Unfortunately I have been inside for weeks and the sweatshirts, slippers, and hot chocolate are getting a bit old.

I hate to not "enjoy every season in it's fullest"
but spring really can't come any faster.

New Paci

2009-01-26T15:02:00.000-08:00

I realized last week out of nowhere that pacifiers have sizes (I knew this a long time ago) yet I had not bought a new one for Abra since maybe 6 months. This poor girl's teeth...

So I bought an 18 month+ paci at the store and we decided to make the switch a few nights ago. She started to get upset at first and kept saying it was "too big." Alan thought a little parental modeling would help. Amazingly enough, it did.

Now I find I can hardly fall asleep without it....

Abra's "must put random clothing items that I find around the house on my babydoll" obsession (got that?)

2009-01-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was trying to clean a pretty gross bathroom while Abra was awake. This is never a good idea because she loves to get her hands on everything off-limit in the bathroom when we are in there. I am often focused on getting ready or cleaning etc. as quickly as possible so I don't see that she has picked up a razor or some other sharp object until she holds it up in my face. I know - super mom.

This time I thought she was just playing with her babies until I looked down and noticed a pair of undies that I hadn't seen since, um, our honeymoon, carefully draped over her baby. Couldn't say how she got a hold of them. :-)

She keeps things interesting.

2008 New Years resolution fulfilled. Boo-ya.

2009-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Hey family and a few desperately bored friends - it's a blog! Aren't you proud of me?