no time to talk

I told myself at the beginning of the week that since I had so much to do I wouldn't let myself blog until I got it all done (you know, part of the whole "balance, prioritize" thing) SO, because I'm not finished with everything yet unfortunalty I don't have time to tell you about my trip to King's Dominion that I took with just Madison the other day...

I wouldn't be able to tell you how proud I was of myself for overcoming my rollercoater fear. I'm just too daggon stubborn to allow fear to keep me from what I used to love so much. But unfortunately I don't have time to tell you about that or how when we first got there & I saw this...

...& I almost passed out because I knew it was the first ride on the list of coasters that I had already promised Maddy I would ride with her. I wouldn't have time to tell you that I closed my eyes the entire time we clinked our way up that big ol' hill...

and flipped through that big ol' loop...

I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a moment or two from sheer terror. Thankfully, I survived (obviously) 

I also don't have time to tell you that after I rode that I conquered these as well...

I say I was so proud of myself because by the end of the day I talked Maddy into riding on the FRONT seat of the very one that scared me so bad at the beginning of the day...

AND I kept my eyes open the entire time... but we don't have time to go into those kind of details!

I also don't have time to talk about our recent hopscotch adventures...

OR share how I finally captured a picture of those 2 tiny teeth....

SO, I'll just say Hi instead & ask that you say a prayer for the upcoming missions trip!

OK, I'm off to study...

(No glamour here people)

like I did ALL day Saturday- "AKA- the kid's "Entertain Yourself Day"... but we don't have time to go into all that, now do we? 

who needs a baby book when ya got a blog

That's what I always say (OK, I don't... but seriously, by the time the 3rd one rolls around who keeps a baby book anyway... I mean really?) 

Hmmm, let's see here... 

1st smile. I'd say that was around 1 & 1/2 months or so...

1st giggle... I'm thinking 2 or 3 months. Somewhere around there sounds about right. 

1st time she ate baby food. Wait, I KNOW that. I remember because I blogged about it here. 3 days before she turned 4 months. Score! 

1st time she rolled over and 1st time she sat up. The average timing for those sort of things is around 3 to 4 or 5 months. So, yeah, that sounds about right. Wait, I know she did both of those before she crawled & she crawled at 7 months, so... confirmed. 

I know she crawled for the 1st time around 7 months because I have a dated video that says so... 

this wasn't the 1st time she crawled, but definitely one of the 1st... I think.  

1st word was "dada" @ 6 1/2 months. How could I forget, my heart was crushed. 

mama & bye bye are now a part of her vocabulary as well... even though I'm pretty sure she has absolutely no idea what she is saying (except for mama... of course!) 

Ummm, what else. Oh, 1st time she pulled herself up. Well, this picture was taken June 11th...

& I remember that I took this picture b/c I was so excited (but apparently not excited enough to actual WRITE the date down) that she had just pulled herself up. So that means she was 7 1/2 months when she pulled herself up for the 1st time. 

1st time she played the piano. EASY.. 8 months...

Oh, you didn't know I had a baby genius?!?!

Reece turned 9 months yesterday & her latest tricks include... Pointing, mimicking, waving bye bye & blowing kisses...

We found a tooth about 3 weeks ago (bottom middle)... 

We just discovered a 2nd tooth a few days ago, right beside it. 

She is also eating a little bit of table food, in addition to the regular baby food. We started her on baby puffs & now she eats peas, cut up carrots, mashed potatoes, ice cream cones...

You know, the baby basics. 

Happy 9 months my sweet little Reece! 

Boy am I glad I documented all of that before I forgot! Gosh, I'm such a good mom {patting myself on the back}

Independence Day 2009

We had a wonderful 4th of July. Stephen spent the day at the beach with the YAM group from church. The original plan was for all of us (minus Maddy, who spent the day with her dad) to go to the beach with them... but on second thought we decided the beach all day w/ the kids (especially on a crowded holiday) was not such a good idea SO I took Reece & Olivia to the local botanical gardens instead... 

They had free admission for the holiday... and I'm so glad they did b/c we had a great time! 

Apparently we made the local news as well. 

It all started under the big tent... We decorated the stroller for the upcoming parade... 

Then in a long line of decorated strollers & wagons we marched through the children's garden proudly holding up our American flags & waving to all the passerby's . Olivia was so sweet... "I've never been in a real parade before mom!" 

as we were rounding the last curve of the parade a gentlemen stopped us & said that I looked mighty festive in my sparkly hat

so he wanted to interview me on camera. As it turns out it was our local 12 news camera guy. Apparently we made the news b/c I got a text from Robin last night at 11:07 "love the hat on tv" & a Facebook message this morning from my cousin "Hey Hollywood... saw you on the news last night". We don't have TV at the house so I asked mom to record it. (well we have TV, but no channels. We watch our few shows online & have the TV for movies). Anyway, Olivia thought it was really cool & she kept calling me a TV star. 

The gardens had a really neat butterfly display. It was a big green house with 100s of butterflies flying around... 

And of course there were a bunch of beautiful flowers everywhere. 

After we went home to rest a bit we met up with Erica & ventured out for fireworks. Can you tell Olivia was the photographer for the evening...

Very lovely Liv! Happy belated 4th everyone! 

A Little Progress & KD Pics

Well I didn't get as much done around the house as I anticipated. Home improvement projects are over for this week. I will be keeping 2 of my friend's children tomorrow (2 new ones) & I completely forgot Stephen has off on Friday (for the holiday). We'll probably go to King's Dominion as a family. We'll see. 

I did get the kitchen walls sanding this week though. All I have to do is putty a few holes & they will be ready to paint... finally! 

As far as the antique piece of furniture... for now, it sits.... chipped wood, crayon marks & all....

I'll make some more progress next week... I hope. 

~~~~~~~~~

I finally got the pictures from last week's King's Dominion trip uploaded. The kids had a great time. They were really good for me. Everyone had a buddy, which helped. I plan to take them all back some more this summer. Since we have season passes (with parking included) it's a free day trip... we pack a lunch & eat at the picnic tables. We've also been known to fold all the seats down in the van & chill in the A/C !  As long as the kids behave it's really a great time to be had. See.... 

I'd say Olivia has definitely overcome her fear... 

No Reece, that's NOT grass... stop picking Blue's face hair!