Back to School?

So I'm pretty sure that the kids' preschool teacher thinks that I'm an idiot. If she doesn't then she has a heart of gold. Not only did I miss the open house and then see her later that night looking like an idiot like "uh, was that today" but I got up this morning, got Haylie all dressed and ready, ( I even straightened her hair and painted her toenails to match her outfit) only to show up at the school and find out that school starts tomorrow. Nice. The awesomest part was that nobody was even in the house. The teacher was gone dropping her own daughter off at her preschool. So we just go in, as per the instructions, take off our shoes and go down the stairs. To the unlit, silent basement. Maybe at that point I should have sensed that something was wrong and taken my kids outside to sit and wait on the porch. But not me. Oh no. We just plop down and wait. I am the greatest mother in the world. Oh well. We'll try again tomorrow.

I would just like to say that I took some really cute pics of Haylie getting ready and walking to school that I will post on Thursday. On her real first day of school.

3! (A little late, but better than never)

Haylie turned 3 last month!! I can't believe it! She is just the cutest, sweetest, sassiest girl ever. Here are some funny things she does now that (can) annoy the heck out of me but I'll undoubtedly look back on and miss. Not anytime soon though.

-Her voice. It's very sweet unless she's yelling. Or whining. Or crying. Then it gets into octaves only dogs can hear.
-Her sass. She is so good at turning my own words around on me. And she puts her chubby little hands on her hips almost all the time when she talks. Adorable.
-Her need to be heard. She's at the stage where she has absolutely no patience. She needs you to listen to her. Right now. So she'll do things like not even saying things in a normal voice but going straight to yelling. Or she'll turn your face so you're nose to nose with her so she has your undivided attention. The other day she was outside with a bunch of kids and she stood in the middle of the circle waving her arms yelling "guys, listen to me!!".
-Her heart. She is so loving. She tells me so many times a day that she loves me. It makes me feel guilty when I'm upset about something and I'm about to reprimand her and she comes up, grabs my face and says, "Mom, I love you". Melt my heart.
-Her eyes. All of my kids have beautiful eyes. But how she uses them to express things is awesome. She will tell some great stories and the best part is her facial expressions.
-Her stubbornness. Man this girl is stubborn. It's great because a lot of the time when she doesn't want to do something she just pretends like she can't hear you.
-Her inability to walk on flat ground. This summer she has gotten more bumps and bruises than I have ever seen on a kid. It's amazing how she cannot walk across a room without falling or running into something. On my birthday last week she fell down The Loveridges back stairs. Nothing tripped her. She just can't put one foot in front of the other. And I tend to ask her to not run because I know it will end in her eating it.
-Potty training. Well, the lack of it I guess. This is also where the stubbornness comes in. She just won't do it. She could if she wanted to. She knows when she's "going" and makes me change her right after but she won't do it on the potty. Whatever.
-Her hair. She has perfect little ringlets right now and I love them. I love how if I leave it down by the end of the day is it crazy. She is in a phase right now where she doesn't want me doing her hair so most of the time she looks like a ragamuffin. Oh well.

We didn't really do anything on her birthday because Brandon was working and I have been ridiculously stressed out. It just wasn't worth it to stretch my sanity any more to throw her a party that she didn't care about and won't remember. So I took the kids to Cocoa Bean and we had cupcakes. Then on the Saturday after we went to Seven Peaks and then to McDonalds after. Which is pretty much a perfect day to a 3 year old.
Wearing the apron Grandma Carol made her.


Posing in a borrowed dance costume. Dress up is a new favorite game.

Too much!

I cannot wait to move. We just got back from our trip to Washington (post and pictures to come) and I brought back a van full of stuff. My step dad's been trying to get me to take all of my stuff that's stored at his house so I'm obligated to bring at least a few things back every time. This time I was looking for things to decorate our new house with cause that's the kind of mindset I'm in. Sorry Dan, the Barbies will have to wait until next time. Or the time after that. So since we're moving VERY soon, we've been sort of accumulating "stuff". And I don't really feel like re-organizing our storage unit AGAIN, it's all just sort of getting stuck places. I am needing a nice three car garage to store our stuff in. Which I will have. I cannot wait. Until then, I'm going to try and not go crazy at our bursting at the seams apartment. Help me.

We did it!

After a very long day at the dentist getting a new grill and cavities filled. (Oh, and after puking all over the place and having Brandon having to come carry me out of their bathroom) I got to take a glorious nap, and the we went and BOUGHT A HOUSE! I'm super excited. Especially because we're building so we get to watch the house get built as we close. We did find out that we might have to wait a week longer to move in because of some inspections that the bank has to do but who cares??? We have a house all our own. And I can paint, and get a dog, and put holes in the walls and whatever I want! And one of the best parts is that Hunter will finally be moving out of our room! Hopefully he will start sleeping through the night. You know, cause he's nine months old and all and it's high time he gave up the boob at night. I'm sayin.

So everyone is welcome to come see our new digs after August 8th. Well maybe give us a week or two to move in and get things organized...

2 years

2 years ago today was one of the worst days of my life. I wish I was to a point that I could use today to remember all the happy times but all I could do today was think, 2 years ago today at this time I was sitting in a hospital getting the worst news ever. 2 years ago today at this time I was waiting for Brandon to fly in. 2 years ago today I was thinking that life will never be the same. And it hasn't. I still wait for her to call me. I still almost call her on almost a weekly basis. I am constantly thinking, oh she would have loved...(mostly things to do with my kids) Or when we talk about going on a cruise and we wonder who will watch the kids, I still get angry that I can't offer someone on my side of the family. I'm still angry. It still hurts. The rest of the year I tend to put my feelings aside and think that there's nothing I can do. But today, when the members of my family that also have a hard time with today call me and remind me, it stays at the front of my mind. All day. So this is how I deal. I close up. The good intentions of doing a balloon launch and thinking of how much I love her and miss her? Gone. I'm over it. Maybe next year I'll be able to handle it better. I wish I had gone home to Washington like I had originally planned. At least then I would have had people around me who feel the same way I do. Instead I was here, running errands and making meals and chasing kids.

It's funny how you think that because something's going on in your world that everyone else should know about it and feel like you do. But they don't. And life goes on. The world doesn't end because you lost someone. And it shouldn't. But it still hurts, and you kind of want it to. To remember.

I love you Mom, I miss you. I can't wait to see you again.

I may have started a war...

For those of you who don't know, our apartment complex had a large grassy area in front of it that the kids from the neighborhood like to use as well to play in. They also like to use our parking garage, our deck, our upper walk ways....anyways. Also, the entire neighborhood like to cut across our yard instead of walking around the corner on the sidewalk, wearing a nice path right through the grass. Nice.

So I was trying to herd my children into the van, which was proving quite a task since there were several other kids outside at the time when a group of boys came walking through. I took no notice of them until I heard a few of the choice words they were using. Normally I wouldn't say anything, especially to a group this large with boys aging from 8 to probably 14, but I was already having a hard time controlling my temper with my kids so I yelled at them to watch their mouths while on our property.

Well they all looked pretty surprised and sorry and continued walking away with their heads down, truly sorry for having cursed in our presence. I felt rather good, like an adult. I felt like they took me seriously and that we wouldn't be having any more problems with swearing from them. And then, just as they were nearing the edge of the yard, they yell as a group F*$# YOU!!! And then run for it, continuing a steady stream of obscenities until they're out of hearing range. Great.

Oh, did I mention that in being apartment #1 we get the privilege of a weekly water balloon to our front window, which faces the street? Oh yeah. I'm pretty sure that the culprit(s) of those were in that group, and I'm also pretty sure we'll be getting more than one a week from now on.
Anyone have any suggestions on what I should do? Cause I think I may have inadvertently bitten off more than I can chew.

On another note, all of my pictures and videos got deleted off my phone, including videos of Haylie crawling for the first time, Henry's preschool graduation, and all the pictures I took during our last week with my mom. So that's why there haven't been any pics attached to recent posts. But I'm trying to be better about bringing the camera along and using it so hopefully we'll have something for you soon!

Wanna hear a funny (and embarassing) story???

Yeah, so, this morning we had to be to a brunch at 10:00 so I told Brandon I needed to take a shower before he left because, as most mothers of young children know, getting a shower in every day is a luxury. So I took my shower and Brandon left so I started getting ready while the kids watched tv. I had to, you know, use the bathroom so I'm in there, doing my thing and I hear running and doors opening and I figure it's just the kids getting a little rowdy so I don't worry. Until Henry comes in and tells me that Caius, our neighbor, is here to play. Which means the front door has been opened. So I scramble out of my room to see Caius' mother standing in my living room acting worried. Then my phone rings and it's my other neighbor calling to see where I was and make sure I'm okay. Apparently Henry "couldn't find me" so he went outside and sent all of the neighbors on a man hunt. Great. And the best part is is that Caius' dad was the one to discover where I was by going into our room and seeing the light and fan on in the water closet and sent Henry in to get me. Nice. Luckily they're moving today and I won't ever have to look him in the eye again.