We're back

Well, we are back from our wonderful vacation to the beach. We had such a great time and there is way to much to write about and I know y'all really like the pictures anyway. So here goes. You will notice that mine and Keri's pictures are very similar. Keri again, I'm trying to be just like you. Seriously, she takes such great pictures so I'll take all the help I can get.

View from our condoWalking to the beach hand in handWhispering somethingMarty and Andrew playing frisbeeThe girls laughing, this how they were most of the weekKeri and I took the girls for ice cream one day while the boys were naping Everyone tickeling Abbymini Vegas fountain, we could walk to the fountain from our condo

Thank you Keri and Rusty for such a fun week. We are so blessed to have y'all as friends.

Foto Friday, because I missed Wordless Wednesday

So long, farewell, it's time for me to go. . .

To the BEACH. Finally. See you all in September.

What doesn't belong?

So, here you have Abby all pretty in her school uniform. Nice, crisp white shirt, wonderfully pleated plaid jumper, matching hairbow and then her purple crocs. Not just purple crocs but purple crocs that have Disney Princess jibitz on them. It's crazy because they have this nice uniform policy at DCA, everything except shoes. Well correction, they have to wear closed toe shoes and on days that they have PE (not just recess) they have to wear tennis shoes. I'm not complaining because we spent a small fortune on clothes so it's great that she can wear shoes that A. we already have and B. shoes that she likes.

Day 2

Don't worry, I am not going to give you a daily report of how Abby did going into school but I did have to brag on her a little bit. Day 2 was much better than day 1. She was still a little shy but she gladly went in and put her things away. Yesterday her teacher told them about the kissing hand. You kiss her palm and whenever she gets nervous she puts her palm to her cheek and remembers the kiss. Pretty sweet I thought, but even better it worked. Marty and I both kissed her palm so she should be set for the day.
She ended up having a great day yesterday. She really enjoyed it and was excited about going back again. It did slightly break my heart when she realized that she will go to school everyday. I told her that she will go to school everyday that I go to work (we'll discuss holidays later) She then said "Does that mean I don't get to play with Andrew?" AWWW. She was so excited because they went to the chapel and to the library yesterday. We also took rice krispie treats cut out in a star shape on sticks (ya know a magic wand for the princess themed party) so she was liked from the beginning. Hey, I have no problem with a little bribing. All in all it went good. I feel much better about the day.
We'll see what happens when we take her out of school for a week to go to the beach. We'll have to start all over but it will have been so worth it.

Not so Wordless Wednesday

Abby all excited about going to school

There were tears, more mine than hers though. In the car on the way to school Abby was so excited about going, once we got there it was a different story. She was all shy and teary eyed. Marty and I love her teacher and know Abby will too once she gets adjusted. We are thankful that Abby's school does phase in days, only 5 kids come at a time. This way Abby will get to know a few kids in her class and the teacher well before the whole class comes together tomorrow. I hope the adjustment is quick because I don't know how many days of tears I can take.

Do you know how hard it was leaving her like this? No wonder I had tears.

5 years ago

5 years ago today I was no longer just Robyn but I also became "Mommy"

Today Abby turns a whole hand, I can't believe that she is 5 years old. For some reason this birthday is harder for me than any of the others, I guess 5 just seems so old and my baby can't possibly be that old.

Happy birthday sweetpea. You are such a delight and have changed our lives for the better in so many ways. You're independent yet so loving, fun, silly, caring, sensitive, smart, helpful, creative; the list could go on and on. Abby, to sum it up you are amazing. Thank you for making the transition into mommyhood such an enjoyable one. I love you!

Please say a small prayer for me because not only does Abby turn 5 today but she starts kindergarten tomorrow. How am I going to make it. Lord, give me the strength.

We survived and it was a success

We had Abby's birthday party this past Saturday and I think everyone had a great time. I have been stressing all week because they were predicting 97 degree temps here and of all things, we had rented a jumpy for the kids to play in. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all. The humidity was down, there was a nice breeze and our backyard is shaded by mid afternoon. There were supposed to be 17 kids but 5 ended up not being able to make at the last minute, which I think was a blessing. Abby got a great surprise for her birthday; Eddie, Gidget, Bailey and Matthew came up for her party (thanks y'all, Abby loved it) All the kids had fun jumping (even the adults had fun jumping too) and playing in the sprinkler. They also loved the 120 water balloons that Marty and Eddie blew up. It took about an hour for 5 minutes worth of fun but the kids had a blast.

When we asked Abby at the end of the day what her favorite part of the day was she said Bailey coming and the fireworks. Fireworks you ask? Marty and I tend to spoil the kids but no we hadn't set up a fireworks display (shh don't tell Abby that) For some reason fireworks were being set off Saturday night. Not little ones, but the really big 4th of July ones. Needless to say, Abby thought it was great.

Ahh, no more birthday parties for 8 more months.

Wordless Wednesday

The last week

This is the last week of summer for Abby before she starts school, real school. I am so very sad. I am way more sad than Abby is, she's excited and can't wait to go to school (we'll see if she feels the same next week) I just hate that she is going to miss all the fun things that they get to do during the day with Marty. It makes me sad to think that Andrew is going to get to go swimming and do other fun stuff and Abby will be at school. I think it will be very beneficial for Andrew though. He will get the one on one time that he's never had and I know it will help him verbally.
Next week is going to really hard for me. Not only does Abby start kindergarten but she will also turn 5. Oh my, how am I going to handle it all. Five just seems so big to me. I'm going to have a pity party for myself and I have already begun.

First trip to the dentist

Abby went to the dentist for the first time yesterday and let me just say that I feel like the worst mom ever. I will preface this post by saying that we brush Abby's teeth everyday and limit her sugar intake (at almost 5 years old her juice is still diluted with water) I guess that's my way of trying to make myself feel better.

We took her to a pediatric dentist and that might have been a mistake we later found out. When we first went back Abby was doing ok, she had to show them how she brushes her teeth. They then asked us to leave, they prefer to have the parents stay in the waiting room. I thought Abby would be better without us there but I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the cleaning I was called back because they couldn't get Abby to cooperate (yes that's a tear stained face in the picture). She would let them brush her teeth with a regular toothbrush but she wouldn't let them near her with the spinny round one (nice name huh) And there was no way she was going to let them take an x-ray, no way no how. Once I got back there she did let them clean her teeth with the spinny brush, 1 down 1 to go. We still needed the x-rays. After what seemed like forever, and many bribes later, she finally let them do the x-ray. We knew she had one cavity because we could see it but we never imagined it to be this bad.

The verdict: 4 crowns, 2 root canals and 2 fillings, I cried (literally) when the dentist told me all this. Yes, for an almost 5 year old. Go ahead and give me the bad mom of the year award.

Marty called his aunt that's a dental hygienist and she thinks we need to get a second opinion. So we have an appointment with her on August 26 at the beach. They are going to be right down the road from us when we go to the beach later this month so she's going to bring down her tools and look at Abby for us. They even serve margaritas at this appointment. We will spend the $600-700 on Abby's teeth if it is necessary but I just don't understand putting crowns on teeth that are going to fall out. And the root canal, don't even get me started. She hasn't even complained about her teeth hurting.

Ugh, what a day yesterday.

Wordless Wednesday

Cute quotes heard around the house. . .Part 2

The other day Andrew had a boo-boo on his foot so he asked for a boo-boo aid instead of a bandaid. I had never thought of it, but I guess it should be a boo-boo aid, that's what it's helping afterall.

We have been talking alot about babies in our house since Shelly is pregnant. So yesterday morning Abby woke up and came downstairs and told me that Biggie spit up in her bed because her baby in her tummy kicked too hard. Biggie (nice name huh) is a penguin from a McDonald's happy meal that Abby insists is pregnant. So yesterady afternoon, I asked Abby if Biggie had had her baby yet and Abby looked at me like I had 2 heads. She said "No mommy, Biggie can't have her baby yet, she's not married. She has to get her wedding dress, pick out her flowers and get a husband first" I guess Biggie is just pregnant but can't have her baby until she gets married. Since Biggie looks about 8 months pregnant already, she better get on the hunt.

Fun on the farm

This weekend I took the kids to my sister's husbands family reunion (did you get all that) in Kentucky. The reunion was on a farm that had cows, horses, geese, mules and lots of kitties. The kids had a blast and Abby has asked constantly since then if we can take Daddy to the farm, Marty had a show in Alabama so he had to miss all the fun. Abby's favorite part was riding Clay and Andrew's was most defintly not riding Clay. His was probably the 3 cookies that I let him have. Needless to say the kids were pretty tuckered out (and straight up nasty dirty) after the fun day on the farm. Enjoy the pictures.

Abby petting Poco
Her favorite horsey, Clay

Nice horsey
Maybe not

This is more Andrew's style

The little things make me happy

So, last night I printed out pictures of 5 different backpack that I thought Abby might like. I even printed out ones that I didn't really like but I though she might. I already knew which one I liked best but I was going to let Abby choose for herself (I'm really trying). I put the pictures in front of her and she instantly chose the one that I liked, she made my day. I'm sure you can tell why I liked it, I love pink and brown.

I think this is it

Ok, thanks for bearing with me. I think this might finally be it, but who knows, there's always tomorrow. I can't take all the credit though (I'm just not that creative) After searching on the internet and seeing what I liked, this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

One year ago

One year ago today we moved into our house. I can’t believe it. Some days it feels shorter and some days it feels longer, but hey we have survived. Not just survived, we have done pretty well.
Marty and I had to laugh because we closed on our house in GA on July 21st and where were we one year later, yep we were in GA. We moved up here to TN on July 22nd, although we had no place to move into, and closed on our house on July 24th. We drove home from the wedding on the 22nd, yes one year exactly from the day we moved. In fact, we even stopped at the same McDonald’s on top of Monteagle that Marty and his group stopped at. It has been a great year full of many ups and a few downs along the way but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Although Nashville isn’t “home” I can’t complain. I promise to take pictures this week of the inside of the house so you can see everything we have accomplished in the past year.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us transition into this stage of our life. We would not have survived if it hadn’t been for you.

Good times

One of our old clogging team members got married over the weekend and we had such a good time. You would have never known that 2 and a half years have passed and none of us dance anymore. We slipped right back into friendships and fun times. We even pulled off a clogging dance complete with bride front and center hiking up her dress to dance (I vaguely remember doing that 7 years ago). I love that the kids were able to see a glimpse into what mommy and daddy used to do. Abby was sitting on the side cheering “Go mommy, Go Daddy” It made me a little sad because clogging was such a huge part of our lives and I wish the kids could have been part of it too. Abby has been to many competitions but doesn’t remember them and we quit before Andrew was born. Hopefully one day we can get the kids into it because some of my most treasured memories came from the group that we hung out with this weekend.

I'm not there yet, but I'm gettting closer.