...how sweet it is

We had our darling baby Peytons 1st birthday party today. Her birthday is on Tuesday... more on her actual birthday to follow. I just really wanted to post the slideshow I made of our girls 1st year with us. It has been a great time. We love you Peyton!

Giving Thanks

Here it is. The Thanksgiving Thank You post. I know you all have been anxiously awaiting it. :-) No no! Don't say anything, just enjoy...

1. You Trav. For everything you do for me & our 3 growing girls. You are an amazing husband and father. You treat me so incredibly well. Better then I deserve probably. I love you so much, and you are there for me in everything that I do. Thank you.


2. Oh, my 3 wonderful daughters. I love you SO MUCH. You are so good and kind, and exactly everything we could have asked for in children to raise.

Thank you girls.

Maddy.. You are the sweetest big sister. We can just tell by the way you treat your little sisters that you truly love them. Even if you don't like Alex very much sometimes. You are so smart too. Even your teacher says so. Thank you for coming into our lives 1st.

Alex.. Oh Alex. Thank you for, at the age of 4, knowing who you are and what you want. And doing EVERYTHING in your power to get it. You my child are a free spirit. Don't ever ever change. Keep challenging me as a Mom. Make me be the best mother and person I can be. You are my strong one. Stay that way.

Sweet baby Peyton. You my darling baby, are our light. You make all of us smile. Your laugh is infectious. Your squeals of delight lift all of our hearts. I pray daily, that you will remain a total and complete joy for everyone who knows you.


3. For our HOME. Even though we are just about bursting out of it, its ours.


4. For my parents. You guys are great people who deserve so much. Thank you for being great parents and grandparents. We couldn't raise our girls with out you.
5. For my other Mom & Dad, Travs parents. Same goes. Thank you.
6. For my niece Olivia. You are such a great baby. I am so lucky!
7. For my niece or nephew (we don't know which yet, but we will on Peytons birthday!) who has not arrived yet. We can not wait to meet you! You are so loved already.
8. My sisters. You probably should have gone before your babies.. But tough luck. :-) You guys are great. I love you!
9. For all 4 of my bro in laws. Dang guys. I never had ONE brother, now I have to deal with FOUR! Thanks to the ones who married my sisters. For making them happy. And to my other brothas. You guys are some cool dudes. :-)
10. For the Bruceter (actually its Bruce..But if you knew me, you would know that I change just about every ones names) my new "nephew". He's a Boxer puppy. And he just makes me happy.
11.For our Small group. It is so great to have a consistent group of friends. And those we can count on to pray with us and for us when we have been down. (we are also thankful for those who have left our small group, we miss you guys!)
12. For my job. And for my hubs job. In this economy. We are ever so grateful to have "secure" employment.
13. For Dianes Daycare.. So we can go to work and have our "secure" jobs. You, Diane, Corrie, & Michelle mean so much to our girls. Thanks you for teaching them and helping them become who they are. We love you!
14. For my 2 big girls' teachers. Whose passion it is to TEACH and mold young minds. I have the utmost respect for you and what you do. Seriously. I could NEVER do it. Ever.
15. For Coffee, and my hub who makes it for me every morning. Even though he hates the stuff. How cool is that?!
16. For the fact that gas prices are now under $2.00 a gallon. I mean, I know its supposed to be not a very good sign & all.. but heck, we are saving a bundle of money right now.
17. For everything my mind couldn't wrap around this morning. I am thankful.

There you have it folks. Thank you for reading my blog. I am not sure of how many of you there are.. I wish I did. I would be VERY thankful if you were to comment. :-) Love and blessings to you all.... Stace

Sorry in advance..I am reminiscing.

I was going through my pictures tonight, and I just HAD to blog this one. Um, hello! My daughter is pretty much feeling Winnie the Pooh up. Ooops.

 

She might look innocent..

 

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I have some seriously pretty girls!

 

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Don't look so awake Trav, gosh. People might think you are having a good time. We wouldn't want that. Oh no.

 

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Give Thanks to the...Penguins?

"Hey Momma, did you know, that the penguins came over on on the Mayflower and thats why we eat Turkey?" Maddy J age 6 1/2

Huh. Guess you do learn something new everyday.

The Belly Laugh

Obviously you can't hear it, but I think I captured it pretty darn well. She was just laughing like crazy at her big sissy Alex this afternoon!

 

Look at ME!

Here I am. Testing out my skills.

 

Gosh Momma, I was so tired. Eating breakfast is exhausting!

 

So big with my big girl teeth and bright blue eyes!

 

Encouragement please!

I had a bad day. Scratch that. Alex & I had a bad day. Wait. Scratch that too. Alex had a bad day at school, which stressed me out, which caused me to have a bad day. Better. So, we had 2 weeks of good behavior. 2 whole weeks. Today it stopped. She had to go to the principals office. This time she kicked the teachers drawers. (When she first told me what happened I thought she said she kicked the TEACHER. I didn't hear the drawers part. I actually started to cry. Whew. I was actually glad when I caught the drawers part. Is that bad?)

Fast forward. Tonight. We skip small group. Which almost never happens. We skip it to have the "come to Jesus" talk, kiddiefied. We felt like if we didn't talk to her tonight and give her her consequence tonight that it would be less effective. Not sure if this is true...

Consequence. No Girls Night Out for Alex. (quick note on that: Girls night out is a slumber party for the big girls who go to Diane's daycare. This is a BIG deal. Huge. In the 6 1/2 years I have been taking my kids to Diane's this has never happened. My girls have been awaiting this for a very loooong time.) Alex is very sad. Mommy is very very sad. I personally didn't want to take it away from her, but Trav did and I felt like we need to stand together on this and his argument in favor was much stronger then mine against. Dang.

Tomorrow? We'll see.

Aahhh, Shopping

I was able to go shopping yesterday. Alone. With NO kids. Yes, my friends, zero kids. It was bliss. I was blessed with a Nordstroms gift card for my birthday the other week, and it was burnin a hole in my pocket! So, when my hub was at a Blazers game with his bro's, I pawned my girls off with my in-laws and headed off to Nordstroms Half-Yearly sale. LOVE IT. I was able to get quite a lot. And I have found a new favorite brand of pants. Not Denim. That's another story. But work pants. Say hello to Billy Blues. The best part about these, is that for the most part they fit like my fave pair of jeans. You know.. Seven For All Man Kind in Dojo. Duh. AND, my Billy Blues were on sale. I love sales. I also got a great new shirt, a sweater, a sweatshirt, a cami, and some great new makeup (with a free gift bag for spending $25 or more.) I also hit up J.Crew. Which is another GREAT store. Where I got more stuff off the sale rack for 50% more off already reduced prices. (Ok, so don't give me a hard time about sales. I mean, hello, I am raising 3 girls here!) I also got Peyton her Christmas dress. It's adorable! Oh, can I tell you a little secret? I kinda missed having some one there with me. I mean, it gets tiring lugging around all your shopping bags with out help! Maybe next time I will take the stroller.. :-)

Minty fresh...Hair?

Once upon a time, long long ago,(yesterday am), in a far away land (Sheridan) there lived a Royal family. In this Royal family there was a King, a Queen, and 3 pretty little princesses. Now, the King and the Queen, they share the royal throne room, (bathroom to all you non royal folk). In that room the King & Queen do all sorts of things. (Get your heads out of those gutters people.) They brush their teeth & hair for example. So on that long long ago morning, (yesterday am) the King was brushing is royal teeth with his royal toothbrush and toothpaste. The Queen came along after he was finished to brush and dry and curl her wonderfully beautiful hair among other things. After she brushed and dried said wonderfully beautiful hair, her 3 pretty little princesses were in dire need of some help, so the queen being a good and kind mother went to separate them before one princess got knocked out by the other princess. After that, she went back into the Royal Throne room to finish up with her personal preparations for the day. This is when she noticed that, gasp, something sticky was in her wonderfully beautiful hair. Not sure what it was, and no longer having time to deal with it, she pulled her hair back, and went out the door to ride in the Royal Grand Caravan to work with her family.

On the way, the Queen was making polite conversation with King who was driving, about how there was something sticky in her wonderfully beautiful hair and that she couldn't figure out what it was or when it happened. The King, looking fairly sheepish at this point asks the queen, "Did her highness use her hairbrush this morning?" To which the Queen replies, (with gritted teeth might I add) "OF COURSE SHE USED HER HAIR BRUSH THIS MORNING, why wouldn't she?" (in a much nicer voice)"Well" the King said, "Um, I might have, well, dropped some toothpaste on, gosh, the hairbrush while I was brushing my teeth this morning, and uh, I guess I must have forgotten to take the time to wash it off." "Oh my!" said the Queen. "You my dear husband, King Travis, are in for it now."

The Moral of the story (don't all fairy tales have story morals?) Look at your hair brush before you use it, or you too will have Minty fresh.. Hair.

My little peace maker

This is a drawing Maddy colored for me just today. Now..If only she could get along with her sister.

Peyton is 11 months old!

My sweet girl.. It seems like yesterday you came into this world, and here we are, a month before the big 1st birthday. You are such a darling baby. You have a strong spirit, and yet a gentle soul. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. We love you Peyton!

Introducing....

My new "nephew"! My brotha man Austin is getting this puppy in a couple of weeks. I seriously can't wait. Trav & I are not at the point in our lives that is, lets say, conducive to having a puppy. We are almost never home, we have 3 small children who demand a ton of time and energy, and lets face it, Dogs are expensive. All the above doesn't change the fact that I am desperately wanting one, but it does mean we just can't get a dog. Which is why I am so thrilled to become "Auntie Stacey" to the to be named brindled boxer shown. :-)