The Pennington's

To Catch You Up

2011-06-29T13:30:00.001-05:00

Anna Claire finally gave up her tricycle a few weeks ago and was so proud to be riding her big girl bicycle.

The storms on June 18th that seemed to come out of nowhere, did some damage to the side of the house. It sounded like someone was throwing rocks at the side of the house and I was thankful that the hail didn't bust the upstairs window. Here's some of the damage.

Anna Claire and I made some super fun cupcakes. I didn't taste them, but she seemed to enjoy them. Cupcake batter in an ice-cream cone freaked me out a little bit, although they were cute!

We made some other cupcakes, but I didn't take any pictures of them because I was exhausted and stressed out by the time we finished them. I DO NOT recommend the Lighting McQueen cupcakes on the Disney Family website. They look way easier to make than they actually are.

We made some flip-flops, actually we decorated some flip-flops.

Here is one of her Cars flip-flops and one Tinker Bell flip-flop.

The flip-flops were much easier than the Cars cupcakes!!

This past Saturday Anna Claire, MeMe, and I went to see Cars 2.

Anna Claire loved Cars, but she got bored during Cars 2. I even got bored during Cars 2. It was more about clean energy than it was a race. Anna Claire did enjoy the Toy Story mini movie at the beginning. : )

After the movie, Anna Claire asked to go to the pink ice-cream place, so we went there and then to Merle Norman (aka the Hello Kitty store) in Tullahoma.

Her dance recital pictures came in yesterday.

We are still waiting on the DVD of the rectial. I cannot wait to watch it again because it was priceless!!

1st Dance Recital

2011-06-20T08:18:00.000-05:00

Anna Claire had her first dance recital a few weeks ago and I must say, it was an experience! Dress rehearsal about did me in. LOL!! Anna Claire did fabulous and she loved every minute of it. I'm sure this is a shock to most of you because we all know how shy Anna Claire is {yeah right}; she definitely entertained the crowd. The first dance was tap and the song was Blame It On Your Lyin' Cheatin' Heart by Patty Loveless. As the girls were dancing, water dripped from the ceiling right in front of Anna Claire. She leans over to where Mrs. Lisa was standing behind the curtain and tells her. You can see the look on Anna Claire's face that she was very concerned and that she did not appreciate the water dripping from the ceiling. LOL!! Here are a few tap pictures, most are from dress rehearsal.

These are also her pre-school friends

The second dance was ballet and the song was Evangeline from Princess and the Frog. During the ballet dance she kept giving her Daddy the "stank" eye and she finally, in the middle of the performance, yells, "DADDY STOP HOLLERING FOR ME" and rolls her eyes at him. It was priceless. I heard some men talking when we walked in about the best part being the little ones because you never know what they are going to do and I can tell you, Anna Claire did not disappoint them. LOL!! Here are a few ballet pictures. Anna Claire really enjoys ballet more than tap.

In the next picture, I was one proud Momma!! They had to stand on their tip toes and walk slowly in a circle and Anna Claire never let her heels touch the ground!!

At the end of recital the Daddy's got to go up to the front of the stage and give the girls flowers. They were treated just like Princesses. : )

After everything was said and done, we had a blast and cannot wait for dance to start back this Fall.

Hopefully I'll be able to share the video once it comes in from recital night.

Mother's Day

2011-06-17T19:16:00.000-05:00

I got a new Vera Bradley bag for Mother's Day, but I wanted to share the most precious gifts that I recieved from Anna Claire.

The one with the yellow hair is Anna Claire and that's me with the purple hair. : )

I'm a blessed Mommy!!

Strawberry Shortcake w/ a Splash of Chuck E Cheese

2011-06-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

Anna Claire had her 4th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. For the past 3 years we have always had her party in the backyard with a bounce house, but this year I wanted to attempt to enjoy the party a little more and let's face it, I can't top the fire truck from last years party, so I let the fabulous staff @ Chuck E Cheese handle everything. They were awesome! This was also the first party that Anna Claire had friends at that she has made on her own, without me knowing their parents first. There were 8 little girls at the party and lots of adult family members and friends. Thanks to everyone that took the time to drive to Murfreesboro to spend Anna Claire's special day with her. We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

I ordered her invitations from Etsy.

Her outfit came from My Red Lady Bug.

Anna Claire and her Big Daddy

Anna Claire's expression when she first saw Chuck E Cheese walking through the door.

Oh, the cake and Berrykins cookies!! Made by Valerie at Wild About Cakes!

Are you over it yet? LOL!! : ) It was a wonderful day!!

She Can't Be 4 Already

2011-05-16T15:05:00.001-05:00

Anna Claire celebrated her 4th birthday on April 26th. It's hard to believe it's been 4 years. She is a very special little girl and such a blessing to our family!! She started her birthday with presents and then she took 45 cupcakes, which I forgot to take a picture of, to pre-school to share with all the children and teachers. Anna Claire got balloons delivered from Kerry and I, as well as Uncle Josh to pre-school and she chose "Mexico", El Mexico as most people know it, for her birthday dinner. I think for a 4 year old, she had a pretty special birthday.

She got her birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy before getting ready for pre-school because Daddy had to work that night.

We are preparing for our first soccer season this Fall and she is so excited about it.

After presents, we got ready for pre-school and work for the day.

This is what Daddy did most of the the weekend before Anna Claire's birthday. Big Daddy and Uncle Josh helped some too.

Anna Claire's birthday dinner at El Mexico.

You can see the redness on her cheeks. LOL!! It may be the first time that I have ever seen her embarrassed.
Then we had CAKE!!

The Saturday after Anna Claire's birthday we celebrated with family and friends at Chuck E Cheese.

Easter 2011

2011-05-10T16:34:00.001-05:00

Anna Claire and I colored Easter eggs the night before Easter.

I would not recommend the glitter egg kit because it is messy and our eggs looked nothing like the picture on the box.

Anna Claire woke up to find that the Easter Bunny did make a stop at our house this year.

After checking out what the Easter Bunny left, we got ready for Church.

After Church, Anna Claire hunted eggs with her Daddy.

Happy Birthday!!

2011-04-26T07:09:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday Anna Claire!!

We love you to the moon and back!!

Look how you've changed!!

Time......

2011-04-25T15:25:00.001-05:00

How did she go from this...........................

........................to this in just 4 years?

Not for the Weak

2011-04-21T15:22:00.000-05:00

Anna Claire loves this man............

............and that man loves to torture me!!

Anna Claire is such a girly girl, so it may surprise you that she loves dirt, worms, snails, just about anything except spiders. She panics when she sees a spider.

I picked her up from daycare one day and she had been carrying around a baby worm to show me. (like I really wanted to see it) Anyway..................Wednesday afternoon I went over to Momma's to get her bc we were going to Murfreesboro. Big Daddy had picked Anna Claire up from daycare and she was outside with him and Pops. I noticed a bowl of what seemed to be someones internal organs. I inspected the bowl until I got completely freaked out. It looked similar to this, but WAY WORSE!!

Momma rounded the corner and I asked her what it was. Pops had gone turkey hunting that morning and killed a turkey, so it was the turkey's heart and 2 other organs, but I completely tuned her out once she said heart. She told me that Big Daddy had to explain what everything was to Anna Claire. I then turn around to Anna Claire walking in the door carrying a wild turkey foot/claw that looked similar to this, but the leg part was longer.

Anna Claire comes over to me and begins to pet my arm with the turkey foot. This would be the turkey foot that had been attached to the live turkey earlier in the day before Pops shot it!! Big Daddy comes in cracking up because he knows that I have to stand there and take it because if I acted freaked out, he'll fuss at me. He doesn't want Anna Claire to be afraid of things like that, so he makes me act like I'm not either. I took it for about a minute and then I couldn't stand it anymore. Thankfully, she took the foot back outside to Pops!!

4 Years Already?

2011-04-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that 1 week from tomorrow (April 19), Anna Claire will be 4 years old. Where did the time go? Easter Sunday has really messed with me this year because there is only 1 day between Easter Sunday and Anna Claire's birthday. I am prepared, so far, for both. Her birthday party is planned, but it seems that getting people to RSVP is like pulling teeth. Normally we have her a party in the back yard, so RSVP'ing is not really an issue. This year we are going to Chuck E Cheese, so RSVP'ing is very important because we are only allowed 2 extra kids over the amount that I planned for. I know Anna Claire is not concerned with how many show up, but I don't want anyone left out. Speaking of being left out, by the end of next week Anna Claire may be sick of cake. LOL!! She is taking 40 cupcakes to pre-school Tuesday, I've ordered her a cake for Tuesday, and then another cake for her party. We decided to do a cupcake for every kid at pre-school because she couldn't invite them all and I didn't want anyone to feel left out.
Yesterday we had an Easter egg hunt at church. I was surprised at Anna Claire's egg hunting strategy. She's very competitive, so her strategy surprised me. There was a ton of eggs laying around when we walked outside and Anna Claire was being picky about the eggs she picked up. I expected her to grab every egg she could, but she didn't. She picked up one egg and said, "nope not this one, I've already got a pink one in my basket." Anna Claire was very laid back about the whole egg hunting experience this year. She may have been tired from all the talking she did during the children's minute at church. : )

Being very selective about which eggs to put in her bucket.

Dance and Gymnastics

2011-03-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure some of you have already seen these pictures on facebook, but I thought I would post them for those that haven't. Anna Claire has been taking ballet and tap since August of last year. They are getting ready for recital in June and got to try on their costumes a few weeks ago.

This is their ballet costume and they will be dancing to a song from Princess and the Frog.

This is their tap costume and I'm telling you, this is a dance you will not want to miss!! The parents got a preview of it and it was hilarious!!

Anna Claire has been taking gymnastics on and off for about 2 years now. We just recently changed from Murfreesboro to Tullahoma. Tullahoma was closer and the time frame worked better for us. Little did we know, it would also be a better gymnastics class for her age. If you haven't seen the video on facebook, go check it out. Miss Anna Claire can pull her legs up and flip over backwards on the bar, all by herself. She is in a Mommy and Me class right now, so that allows me to help her, even though she really doesn't need it anymore. She's old enough and strong enough to move to the next class, but she just doesn't want to yet.

As you can see, all I do on the balance beam is walk behind her with my hand on her back. That gives her just the right amount of reassurance that she thinks she needs. : )

I do have to help her with her handstands because they flip on over in to the center of the circle on the one below. It amazes me that when we first started the new class in February all she could do was stand on her head and now look as those "strong arms". "Strong Arms" is her cue to push and hold herself up.

And I cannot remember if I shared or not that Anna Claire has moved in to her "Big Girl" bed. She LOVES it and sometimes it secretly hurts my feelings that she wants to be a big girl and sleep in her bed. : )

Her baby bed went to a toddler bed and then to a full size bed. I was afraid she would just play on the foot board, so we left it off.

Granny

2011-03-23T13:16:00.001-05:00

My Granny (my Mom's Mom) passed away on March 14th. I say my Granny, but she was everyone else's Granny too. Momma had hoped before Anna Claire was born that she would call her Granny, but Anna Claire knew she only had one Granny and she decided to call my Mom, MeMe. Granny passed away in her sleep.  I'm happy she went peacefully, but it was unexpected. She had not been sick and I had seen her outside on Sunday night messing with her trash cans. I can see her side door from our kitchen window, so any time I saw her outside messing with those silly trash cans, I made sure to watch her until she went in and shut the door. She never knew how many days and nights I stood at the kitchen window watching her.

I explained to Anna Claire on Monday night that Granny had gone to live in Heaven with God and Baby Jesus, as she likes to call him. It was the hardest conversation I think I have ever had to have with anyone. I could tell that she didn't understand, so I didn't push it and just let her go back to playing.

By Wednesday my talk with Anna Claire was forgotten.  Anna Claire was taking pictures with her camera and asked Momma to go take a picture of Granny. Momma wasn't prepared to have the talk with her, so she told her she wasn't at home.

Friday we had graveside services and as we waited for the service to start I saw a yellow butterfly. Granny loved yellow butterflies, so I knew at that time that all was well with Granny. I love her so much!! After the services Cliff went and picked up Anna Claire at daycare and brought her to their house so she could visit. She was outside with Cliff and Kerry and Kerry noticed she was at Granny's beating on her door and hollering for her. This was totally normal for Anna Claire. LOL!! Kerry went over and sat on the steps with her and explained to her that Granny was in Heaven. As he is telling me this story, I realize that I am glad it was him having this conversation with her and not me. He told her that Granny wasn't at home, that she had gone to live in Heaven with God and Baby Jesus, and Anna Claire's reply was, "well Daddy, I can go in and pretend that she's at home."   You see why I was glad he shared that conversation with her and not me. How do you respond to that? Her innocence amazes me.

Sunday during the children's minute at church, Heaven was mentioned and she told everyone that her Granny was is Heaven. I, along with half the church, had tears in my eyes. It was tears of sadness, but more so tears of joy knowing that I get to share my life everyday with such a wonderfully sweet child.

We love you Granny and will miss you so much!

FiRsT hAiR cUt AnD mOrE......

2011-03-12T21:04:00.001-06:00

Anna Claire had her first haircut on March 7th. She was so excited and loved every minute of it. I think she felt like a "real" big girl getting her hair cut. It wasn't much, she got her bangs trimmed and Sondra fixed the mullet she had going on. LOL!! She loved Sondra, as do we, and decided before we left that she wanted her hair the same color as Sondra's. I don't think Daddy is going to go for it. : ) She can't wait to get another hair cut.

The Friday before, Daddy took a vacation day from work and took "his girls" to get manicures and pedicures. (don't mind the bandaids, she needed them for her fake boo boo's)

Other than that, we have just hung out,

dressed up like Cindy Lou Hoo,

and took some naps. : )

My Baby Girl..........

2011-03-02T13:31:00.000-06:00

..........is just precious,

...........and entertaining,

.............but most of all one of the sweetest children that you will ever meet, even on a bad day.

Mommy loves you Anna Claire!!

Health

2011-03-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

I know some of you have seen my posts on FB about all the tests that have been run on me. So far I have had 2 CT scans, an Echocardiogram, 5 sets of blood work, and a 24 hour urine test. The Dr still does not have an answer to this:

That up there showed up over night back in January. I've been to see Dr. McGowan, as well, and even though it looks like it, I am not pregnant. My blood pressure went wild for a little while, but now that I am no longet taking the "pill of death", as I like to call it, my BP has gotten better. The "pill of death" is HTCZ or Hydrochlorothiazide. It's a water/BP pill that just made my BP sky rocket and I'm pretty sure it helped cause the above bc it all started when I began taking the HTCZ daily. It caused lots of other side effects as well. I did change Dr's a few weeks ago, which caused me to have the 2nd CT scan, the 4th and 5th sets of blood work, and the 24 hour urinalasis after I gained 7 pounds in about 4 days and had zero change in my eating habits or anything else. He does seemed concerned and has scheduled me an appointment (since the last office didn't follow through) with an Endocrinologist. I go see this Dr on April 1st, unless he deems me more needy and reschedules me for earlier after he sees my latest test results. They sent those to him today. The Endoctinologist is at Saint Thomas, so hopefully he will "fix" me. In the mean time, I have joined MG Sports & Fitness to attempt to get whatever that is above, off of me!!

So, there you have it, incase you have been wondering. : )

Sharing

2011-02-16T21:30:00.000-06:00

I have seen these on TV and thought they looked awesome, so I bought one to try it out.

It is a memory card reader. Instead of plugging my camera in to the computer, I just take the memory card out, stick it in the reader, and can use it on any computer that I want too. Mine is similar to the pictures. I got it at Wal-Mart and only paid about $5 for it. I LOVE IT!!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T12:48:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day was fabulous this year. It's one of my favorite "holidays" of the year. I think it's the colors. I'm not sure what got in to my husband this year, but he did great!!

Anna Claire got me a new Pandora bracelet for Valentine's Day. Her MeMe helped her out. : )

Kerry and Anna Claire got me a pearl bracelet to match the earrings that they got me for Christmas.

Kerry also did some shopping at the Pomegranate for Anna Claire and I.

This is what he got me...........

and this is what he got Anna Claire.

Big Daddy sent Anna Claire and I both flowers. I got mine at work, here they are............

and Anna Claire got her's at school. Anna Claire also got the rest of her Strawberry Shortcake dolls that she has been wanting. We were spoiled on Valentine's Day and loved every minute of it.

Left Over Christmas Pics : )

2010-12-29T13:16:00.000-06:00

Anna Claire had Christmas with Mommy and Daddy on Christmas Eve, well what was left from her opening some of her presents from us early.

She made this rug for us at COF for Christmas. The little Snow People are her foot prints.

And below are some bells, that I'm ok with never seeing again. LOL!!

Christmas at MeMe and Big Daddy's House

2010-12-27T13:15:00.000-06:00

Santa came there too!!

She asked for GoGo for months!!

The Barbie Jet from Uncle Josh, that is HUGE!!

Santa Came!!

2010-12-26T12:31:00.000-06:00

The title says it all!!

And there he is..............Mr. Buzz Lightyear

Christmas with Grammy

2010-12-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

We had Christmas with Grammy on the 22rd. Granddaddy had to work, so he couldn't come. Anna Claire is no doubt spoiled rotten.

It was pajama day at school, so that's why she was in her PJ's.

REAL JESSIE BOOTS!!

You can see her excitement even from her profile.

She LOVED Rex!!

The 23rd we went to Nana and Papa's, but I left the camera at home. I did take the above picture of her before we left. She is growing so fast!!

The Weekend...........

2010-12-20T13:32:00.001-06:00

Anna Claire made this rug at school for me. {Not that I have put it in the floor!!} The snowmen are her foot prints and as you can see the Anna Claire snowman is wearing a hair bow. We LOVE COF!!

Our weekend was pretty busy and lots of fun! Friday, I took a half a day vacation and finished Christmas shopping. Friday night Kerry, Anna Claire, and I decorated a Gingerbread house.

Anna Claire was really more interested in eating the candy and the icing, than she was decorating. I guess the icing around her mouth gives that away. : )

Saturday morning they had open house at Dancy's, so we got to see Anna Claire dance. The dress code was Christmas attire. You know, red, green, white, tutu, leotard, etc....... I found the cutest Christmas tutu and stressed until I found a red leotard to go under it. Friday night after making the Gingerbread house, I was cutting and sewing a pair of my socks to make red and white stripe leg warmers because I felt like she needed something extra. It's a good thing that I did because the tutu didn't last long. I managed to talk her in to 2 pictures before she took it off, during a dance I might add.

How cute is she? You can tell how unhappy she was, regardless of how cute I thought she looked. All the little girls had on some type of tutu as they do every Saturday, well all of them except my child. Mine is apparently to cool to wear tutus. She claims they make her "itchy", but it's funny that this just started last month and she's been dancing since August. Anyway.......

Here she is tutu less and about to cry because she needed a hug from her Mommy.

She got her hug and was good to go.

What about those leg warmers?!?! LOL!!

After dance class we went home, changed clothes, and then headed to see Santa.

And she LOVED him!! She asked Santa for a Buzz Lightyear and a baby sister. She doesn't really want a baby sister, her Daddy put her up to asking for that.

After the Santa visit and some shopping, we headed home for a nap, before heading to Christmas with part of Big Daddy's Family.

She changed clothes for the 3rd time before we left.

Here she is rocking with her MeMe.

She loved Charli-Ann until it came to sharing the rocking chair and her new baby doll with her. This proves that she does not want a baby sister and if she decides that she does, we will just go borrow Charli-Ann. : )

We Danced, Partied, and Shopped

2010-12-06T13:32:00.001-06:00

That pretty much sums up our weekend. Friday night the guy came over and hooked up the new HVAC unit for our upstairs, so after he left Anna Claire and Kerry played upstairs until bedtime. She loves her new playroom and bless her heart she only got to play in it for about a week before the heating and cooling unit went completely out, but she is back in business again.

Saturday was a very busy day!! We got up, got ready, and took Anna Claire to dance class. After dance class we headed to Bell Buckle to a birthday party, then we dropped Daddy off at home so he could get a nap in before going to work, and Anna Claire and I headed to meet MeMe to watch the Christmas parade. After the Christmas parade we did a little shopping in Murfreesboro with MeMe. Anna Claire spent the night with MeMe and Big Daddy, so I wrapped a few presents and put some bows on some of the gifts.

Sunday we headed to Church and after Church I went grocery shopping. It was my birthday, but it was so cold and snowy I chose not to go out to lunch. I just wanted Anna Claire home and not running around in the cold, so she went home with MeMe and Big Daddy while I grocery shopped. Kerry slept while we were gone because he had to be back at work Sunday night. Everything was calm all day and Anna Claire even behaved all day long!! LOL!! At one point she rounded the corner in the Kitchen and broke out singing Happy Birthday to me. It was so sweet!! It was a great day!! I got new black boots, 2 pairs of flats, and some Under Armour pants from MeMe and Big Daddy. Kerry and Anna Claire got me a new Vera Bradley purse and wallet. He was relieved that the ladies at the Pomegranate took care of him. Bless his heart!! Kerry and I don't usually do gifts for each other on birthdays and Christmas, but this year it had to change. Anna Claire is old enough now that she wants to give Mommy and Daddy gifts for their birthday and Christmas too. So, back in November, her and I went to Murfreesboro and got Daddy's birthday present. She was so excited to give him his gifts and then a few weeks ago her and Kerry went shopping for my birthday gift. {I've actually had the purse since November 26th, I just waited until today to carry it because as soon as I walked in from shopping on the 26th Anna Claire came running with the gift wanting me to open it. I think she may have gift keeping issues like her Daddy and I.} The best gift though was having my family around and everyone being healthy and happy.

Now, I'm sure you remember this picture from when Anna Claire went to the pumpkin patch, right? She was telling the Scarecrow all about it!

Well, Santa wondered in to the birthday party Saturday in Bell Buckle. They were having Christmas in Bell Buckle last weekend, so he was out and about.

So, here she is telling Santa all about it!! She LOVED Santa this year and could not wait to see him when we passed him in the parking lot. She, of course, thought Santa was only there to see her because in her little eyes it's all about her. LOL!! She did ask Santa for Buzz Lightyear for Christmas, which was a relief because some days she tells me some off the wall things she wants for Christmas.

A Break.........

2010-12-01T12:43:00.000-06:00

During Thanksgiving I took a break from bow making and bell painting. It was a much needed 4 day break. I enjoyed not having to work on something every day and I was refreshed when I started back Monday night.

Here are some of the things that I have worked on this week.

These are hair bows that look like Christmas package bows. I needed something to do with this odd size ribbon and I knew I needed to make 2 bows with it because the ribbon matches one of Anna Claire's outfits and I want to do pigtails with it.

I LOVE this ribbon. I'm not sure what it is about it, but I love it!! {It could be the touch of pink on it}

My new korkers!! I was VERY excited to finally be able to figure out how to make the korkers so full. Apparently it's a korker makers secret!!

A bell for a Mickey Mouse lover.

I did not make this sign, but I did redecorate it. : ) The sign came from Trees N Trends in Franklin, for anyone who is interested in one. I thought it was super cute!!

See, the break did me good!! : ) I completed another bell, but it got picked up before I could get a picture of it.

Thanksgiving and the Weekend

2010-11-29T15:28:00.000-06:00

I was actually off 4 days straight for Thanksgiving this year. That NEVER happens, but since Christmas falls on Saturday this year, everyone got to choose what day to use their Christmas holiday. 2 of us chose the Friday after Thanksgiving, which was great!

Thanksgiving day we.........

looked cute as could be,

we gave thanks,

we ate {thankfully not off of Anna Claire's menu} : )

and we went to see Tangled at the theater in Tullahoma.

MeMe made sure Anna Claire had all the Rapunzel accessories that she needed for the movie. I only let her wear the dress to the movies and Moms, if you are considering buying the Rapunzel hair, DON'T DO IT!! It is a full wig and sheds like crazy!! I've had Rapunzel hair on my clothes, wrapped around my feet, in my mouth, you name it!! We won't talk about what a knotted up mess the wig gets in!

Over the weekend we shopped,

we put up a Christmas tree,

or two.

Daddy hung the outdoor lights and then went to work.

Anna Claire got in trouble and then went to sleep on the couch, which was probably the best thing for her. : )

............and Sunday morning before Church, Anna Claire starred every so patiently at the Christmas tree waiting for one of the gifts to jump in her arms. She didn't care that they are all teachers gifts.

More Bells

2010-11-23T14:47:00.000-06:00

It takes me about a week to the paint bells, so if you are interested in one, please let me know as soon as you can. I can only work on them in the evenings and on the weekends, when we don't have family things to do. It takes about 8 coats, on just one letter, of white paint to cover the red bell and then I usually end up putting about 8 or 9 coats of clear coat on the entire bell, so it's a time consuming process. I enjoy making them for the most part. LOL!! I did consider tossing one out the kitchen window last night because I just knew it wasn't going to look like I wanted it too. Here are the 3 I finished last night. The first one is the one that I considered tossing out the window, but once I was finished with it I was glad I didn't. : ) It has green and white polka dots on it.

The purple bell has white, bright green, and bright pink polka dots on it. The leopard ribbon was the only request.

This bell has red, green, gold, and silver polka dots on it. The ribbon I used reminds me of Santa. : )

Jingle Bells Jingle Bells

2010-11-22T15:04:00.001-06:00

The past few weeks all I have done, other than my normal stuff, is make bows and paint bells. I am grateful to be so busy and I love it when people trust me enough to order before they even see it!! I am done Christmas shopping for Anna Claire, so that is a plus. Now I just have to finish everyone else!! Kerry put the lights up on the house yesterday, but I have to go buy more because we didn't have enough. I thought 4 boxes would go across the front of the house, but I was wrong. I'm looking forward to my 4 day weekend {that never happens where I work, but 2 of us took our Christmas holiday this Friday} Thursday we will eat and then we plan to take Anna Claire to see Rapunzel. I plan to shop Friday and Saturday We I plan to put the tree up.

Here are a few of the bells. I'm hoping to finish up a few more tonight.

And here a couple of things that Anna Claire did at school last week.

Click on the Menu, to see a bigger picture, and let me know if you would like to join her for Thanksgiving Dinner. : )

Dance, Halloween and Fall School Pictures

2010-11-12T15:18:00.000-06:00

Big Daddy came to watch her dance performance on the square for Halloween.

Jessie the Cowgirl giving the peace sign. LOL!!

Anna Claire and her friend Jaycie

Fall school picture. I promise the colors look normal in person. This is a picture of a picture under fluorescent lights. Blue Moon always does a great job with Anna Claire and can always get a real smile out of her.

Something New for Christmas

2010-11-08T09:05:00.000-06:00

I can do just about anything you can imagine on the bells. They are easier to decorate as far as having options on colors, ribbon, flowers, etc.............. They are like the pumpkins as far as being forgiving when you make a mistake. If you make a mistake you better fix it quickly or you can hang it up. This is why the "P" bell above has to P's on it, even though you would have never known had I not told you. : ) It's my bell, so it's OK. That's why I always do a P and a C first. The "C" turned out much better. {"P" for us and the "C" for Momma}

I would only recommend a single letter on these because they are taller than they are wide. I am going to attempt to put three initials on one for Anna Claire to see how that goes. I'll post pics when it's completed. I plan on using Anna Claire's bell as a tree topper for the Christmas tree that goes in her room.

The Newest Hair Bow Additions

2010-11-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

Bouquet ordered for a baby shower.

I added holly leaves to the snowman's hat.

This matches the Gymboree line Alpine Sweetie.

SuPeR gIrL

2010-11-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

The title says it all.

This is Super Girl flying through the air and..................

this is Super Girl's mean face. : )
{note: this was not her Halloween costume, it's just an average night with Anna Claire}

The Weekend

2010-11-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

Make sure you scroll down because there are some more new posts. : )

Friday Anna Claire had her Fall party at COF. Saturday Anna Claire had her 2nd dance performance for Halloween, then we finished trick-or-treating around the square. After nap time we went to Wal-Mart, so she could spend her Halloween money. She bought Rapunz, as she calls her. Sunday we rested until time to trick or treat.

She LOVED the spider web tights.

Jessie, the rootinest tootinest, Cowgirl and her feckles. : )

Chili Supper and Dance Class

2010-10-31T14:46:00.000-05:00

COF had their anual chili supper a few weeks ago and the children got to perform. Anna Claire won 1st place for selling the most chili supper tickets!! Anna Claire sang her little heart out!!

A few days later she had her first Halloween dance performance and she sang her little heart out again.

You gott love her!! After hearing her singing her Big Daddy said, "it's a good thing she's cute." LOL!!

Whew........................

2010-10-30T16:36:00.000-05:00

I uploaded 207 pictures off of the big camera last night and some off of the little camera as well. I must never get that behind again!! I'll start with the pumpkin patch pictures. October 8th Kerry and I went to Cedar Rock with the Circle of Friends gang. It was a great morning of fun!! It also gave Daddy a chance to see Anna Claire interact with her class and the teachers. It was a HUGE difference this year compared to last year with the "other" daycare.

I will try not to overload you with pictures, but it's going to be hard!

She was digging around in the hay like a little animal and I couldn't figure out why until she showed me her baby pumpkin that she dug up.

She fed the baby cows, talked to the scare crow forever, and more, but it's not letting me upload my pictures correctly so this will have to do.

More Pics by Kristy Michelle Photography

2010-10-29T08:46:00.001-05:00

I see two people getting ready to get leaves thrown on them in the above picture.

Real smiles all around! YaY!!

I posted the above pictures to show Kerry's "sexy" face. LOL!! Seriously!! I don't know how he every picked up any woman using that look before I came around. I can promise he didn't use it on me. Before I showed him the picture I was describing his face in it and he said, "did I have the side of my mouth in, like I was biting my jaw?" He knew exactly what look I was describing.

This picture is so sweet and oh so true sometimes.

New Bows and Clippies

2010-10-28T08:23:00.002-05:00

Here are some of the new holiday and non-holiday bows that I've been working on.

Anna Claire did not care for the Grinch clippie. LOL!! I'm getting ready to try a new bow that is super cute, so I'm hoping it turns out well.

Here are my two silly's the other morning. Daddy is wearing Anna Claire "hook" as she calls.

Why Are You Here?

2010-10-27T12:46:00.000-05:00

That was the feeling I got at the GI specialist appointment yesterday. He wasn't the friendliest little man in the world by any means. He seems to think that I had some type of bacteria infection (e. coli, salmonella, etc....) in my stomach and intestines that caused the excruciating pain I had a few weeks ago. He said that if it happened again that I would need to come back and he would do further testing on me. All of my blood work was good when I had this pain, so take that for what it's worth. He had the nerve to ask me if anyone in my family had been sick! Seriously? I know I looked at him like he had three eyes when he asked that. I am not an idiot! I would have known if this was a virus that was going around my family!! Anyway, he seems to think I am cured, so I hope he is right. : )

The dance performance was GREAT yesterday!! Anna Claire, once again, sang to the top of her lungs and danced great. She will be preforming on the square at 11:15am Saturday morning, for anyone wanting to come. All of the girls were super cute and you could hear Anna Claire over all the other girls. LOL!! I have pictures, but they are on the big camera. I'm going to attempt to get them all off tonight.

I put the finishing touches on Anna Claire's Halloween costume last night. The lady that I ordered it from sent a hat with it, but it didn't match good enough, so I added a few things and Anna Claire LOVES it!!

Here are some new hair bows {I take these with my cell phone}

The Ghost for Halloween was pretty popular, so I made a snowman. He does have a long carrot nose too, you just can't tell in this picture.

Go TiTaNs!! {I can do other team colors by request}

Go VoLs!!

Our Weekend.............

2010-10-25T13:16:00.002-05:00

.........................was jam packed with fun. Friday night we sang as loud as we could and off key with the other children at the COF chili supper, but it was still the cutest thing I have seen in a while. I haven't uploaded my pics yet, so here is a pic from Grammy's camera.

Saturday morning we went to our usual dance class, then after dance class it was home for lunch and a nap. After nap time we headed out to meet Kristy from Kristy Michelle Photography for some family pictures. Kristy is absolutely awesome. She did an amazing job, especially with a child who claimed the sun was always in her eyes {and it wasn't} and then this child got so wound up it made me wonder if the KitKat was a bad idea. Here are a few of my favorites and I haven't seen them all yet.

See, I told you Kristy was awesome!!

After pictures Saturday we ran home, got changed, grabbed our pumpkin, pumpkin carving tools, and headed to a pumpkin carving party hosted by my friends Holli Adams and Susan Pinkston. We had a great time and look forward to it again next year. Kerry is even looking forward to next year!! I borrowed 2 of their pictures. : ) I'm a picture thief today, sorry.

Anna Claire enjoyed cleaning out the pumpkin, with a scoop of course, and then her and I had a snack and played while Daddy carved.

Anna Claire requested a Jack-O-Lantern face, so that's what she got. Thanks again Holli and Susan for the invitation. We had a great time!!

Sunday morning I attempted to finish a hair bow order and then we headed off to Jaycie's Rock Star 5th birthday party. Anna Claire had a blast!!

After the party, we have now added a new guitar to the Christmas list because she loved the regular guitar that was at the party.

After the party, I finished one of my hair bow orders, Daddy carved another pumpkin, and Anna Claire and I finished her treat bags for her Fall party at COF on Friday. Daddy said that the pumpkin carving totally worth it seeing how happy it makes Anna Claire. It has been a wonderful family and friend filled weekend!!

This week Anna Claire goes for her 6m check-up on her tubes today. I go to the GI specialist Tuesday and Tuesday afternoon Anna Claire has her Halloween dance performance at the nursing home. Friday is Anna Claire's Fall party at COF and Saturday she performs her Halloween dance for dance class on the court house lawn.

Pumpkins and Hair Bows

2010-10-24T13:20:00.005-05:00

Here are some of my most recent orders and/or creations.

This hair bow is super funky and the picture does not even show everything that is going on with it. I actually made it to match Anna Claire's outfit for the Rock Start party, but with Anna Claire's hair being so short and thin right now, it just doesn't work for her.

I have a few more orders to fill and then I hope to start Thanksgiving and Christmas items.

MaKe ThAt.......................

2010-10-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

$415.00, that Anna Claire raised selling chili supper tickets. OK, well just maybe it was $415.00 that Big Daddy, Uncle Josh, Daddy, and I raised for her, she is only 3 after all. ; ) Big Daddy and Uncle Josh ran a tight race for the most tickets sold. LOL!! {I promise I didn't keep count on which person sold the most. I'm not THAT competitive.} Mrs. Renea did tell us Wednesday afternoon that "so far" Anna Claire was in the lead and yesterday was the last turn in day, even though I turned in $10.00 this morning. I can't help that Uncle Josh is a procrastinator and then forgot to buy his own tickets. Moving on..............................

Poor little Cricket! Anna Claire aggravates the fire out of her. I tell Anna Claire AT LEAST 25 times a night to "LEAVE CRICKET ALONE", she doesn't want a pretend bath, she doesn't want to play dress up, she doesn't want Joey {the stuffed snake) to lay in her bed, she doesn't want you to feed her, she doesn't want to sit in your lap...................I could go on and on. I guess the good thing is that Cricket knows she is loved or maybe she thinks she is being tortured, who knows. I do know that Cricket loves her very much because it drives her crazy when Anna Claire goes over to MeMe's without her. Cricket is very good with her too. Last night is the first time that Cricket "snapped". I would have "snapped" too if Anna Claire hit me with Joey. I've tried to teach Cricket to run from her, but she eventually just gives in to her and stops. Anna Claire loves it because she was NEVER able to catch Harley and if she did, he snapped at her. Anna Claire talked me in to buying Cricket a Halloween costume a few weeks ago, so last night I had to put it on her. Hey, it was either me put it on her or Anna Claire and I figured Cricket would rather me do it. So, here she is.................................

Princess Cricket or maybe she's a Fairy, I'm not real sure.

She had to stop and "pose" when she realized I was taking her picture. Anna Claire fixed her crown for her because I, in Anna Claire's eyes, did not have it on the right way. {which it did look better after Anna Claire fixed it}

Anna Claire wanted a picture with Cricket, but I spared Cricket and talked Anna Claire in to just letting me take a picture of her by herself.

That is one of her MANY fake smiles.

Chili Supper

2010-10-20T13:06:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank everyone that either bought chili supper tickets or gave Anna Claire $5.00 donations. It went to a wonderful pre-school, that Anna Claire LOVES. For those of you that do not know, Circle of Friends, Anna Claire's preschool, is a not for profit pre-school. Therefore, the check that I give them every week goes towards the pre-school, the teachers pay/raises, school supplies, etc........., not in to any one's pocket. The only fundraiser that they do is the chili supper/silent auction each year.
We won't know if she placed in the top 3 until the chili supper Friday night, so stay tuned because............................................

......................this little cutie

turned in $405.00!!

Thank you again for helping her!!

One Down..........

2010-10-19T13:12:00.001-05:00

.............four more to go. I was able to check one thing off of my pumpkin and bow making to do list last night. YaY!! I stayed up until midnight last night finishing the bows and clippies for my silent auction donation for the Circle of Friends chili supper this Friday night and here it is...............

My very first hair bow bouquet. It's hard to see everything on it, but for the price {if you were to purchase it} you would get your money's worth. These are perfect for Baby Shower gifts or Baby Shower decorations. I have another one on my to do list for a Baby Shower. I was able to find ribbon to match the invitation, so I'm excited to see how it turns out and to see pictures of it on display. I'm going to try something a little different with the foliage because I'm not completely happy with how the limbs are flowing, but it's cute none the less. It will be on display at the chili supper Friday night to be bid on. There is more than $100 worth of hair bows and clippies on this and you are getting a sneak peek. : )

Here is a picture of the flower on the vase. {it is attached to a headband}

..........................and here is the view from the top of it.

Here are some of the new bows I made last night.

I am planning on painting something for Christmas, so stay tuned for that...... For those that are interested the chili supper is Friday night and the children will be preforming at 7:15pm. Anna Claire will also be dancing on the square at about 10:30am on the 30th with her dance class.
We are having family pictures done this Saturday!!

I ToOk BaCk Over!!

2010-10-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

Our house, that is. Our house has been an absolute mess since I got sick last week. It has been driving me crazy, so Saturday night, I took back over!! I cleared off the kitchen table. Is my kitchen table to only catch all? I went to Anna Claire's room and hung up all her new Fall clothes and placed her toys back where they belong. Cleaned up our bedroom, made Anna Claire clean up the living room because it was all of HER toys scattered everywhere, and got caught up on laundry. Anna Claire and I, well mainly I, decorated the front of the house for Halloween finally. It was like a weight lifted off of me once I was done. I think Kerry was happy to see that I finally took back over. LOL!! He did say at one point last week, "geez, you don't realize how much she does until she can't do it anymore." Bless his heart, he tried and I think he finally just gave up. He did manage to sweep and mop the Sunday that I was sick and I think after that is when it all went down hill for him and he lost control.

Sunday we got up and I worked on finishing the laundry and tried to get caught up on my orders. I was able to get the names on 3 pumpkins, but I still have to do the dots, marabou, and bow, and tonight I need to try to finish my silent auction donation. I'm WAY behind on that and the auction is Friday night!! Sunday afternoon Anna Claire and I went to Murfreesboro to have dinner with the family, as this was Uncle Kirby's last dinner in Tennessee. It's a very sore subject for me, but he is moving to California today. Don't ask why because I don't really know why. All I know is that my brother and Anna Claire's Uncle packed up and is driving across the US today. Cricket also got a bath. I'm thinking she may be the stinkiest dog in the world, but she sure is cute!

Anna Claire did get her flu shot Saturday and her MeMe got her a Mermaid Barbie for being a big girl. Yeah, MeMe wasn't there!! She started crying as soon as we pulled in the Dr's office parking lot. She finally stopped, until it was time to go back to the room. I had to ~~drag~~ carry her back to the room and then chase her around the room, hold her down, and talk her through the shot. She never even knew she got a shot!! {seriously} She is also ~~not~~ still wearing her band-aid. We got Anna Claire some sea bands for her car sickness Saturday morning while she was in dance. Yes, she now gets car sick just riding to Murfreesboro and I'm talking throwing up car sick! Thankfully the sea bands seem to work, as we made 2 successful trips to Murfreesboro this weekend with no vomit. {vomit is such a nasty word} I also just discovered sea bands has cutie bands for kids!! {of course, if they don't match her outfit it WILL be an issue because she has now become wardrobe conscious}

Here are some pictures showing what we have been up too the past few days. I still haven't uploaded pumpkin patch pictures, sorry.

Of course she made Daddy try the big one on. LOL!! Some how I managed to talk her out of making me wear one too. : )

The newest and only hair bow that I made over the weekend, other than the order I filled Friday night. This is going to match her tutu for her dance performance perfectly!!

This hurt my feelings and my pride, but I did it anyway. :o
...........and you won't see it on Facebook. This is a blog exclusive, if you want to call it that. LOL!! ; )

The Weekend!!

2010-10-15T14:28:00.001-05:00

Although I've only worked 2 1/2 days this week, I am happy to see the weekend arrive. I plan to get caught up on my orders, start and finish my silent auction donation, take Anna Claire to dance and then for her flu shot, and decorate for Halloween. Most of this I had planned to take care of last weekend, but that did not work out to my advantage, so moving on..............I will try again this weekend. I guess God thought I needed some rest and boy was it good rest, once I was knocked out. LOL!!

I am concerned about the flu shot, to be honest. I've never put much thought in to it, but I have this year. I got the flu shot September 28th and then got this mystery sickness on October 7th. I had some achenes and fatigue on October 5th and 6th, and then the stomach pains started on the 7th. I've read that if you are allergic to eggs that you don't need to get the flu vaccine. I'm NOT allergic to eggs, but it seems odd to me that the ER Dr {without any knowledge of my flu shot} informed me that eggs could cause the pains that I was having and then the pains started a little over a week later. Maybe I'm being silly, I don't know. All I know is that I DO NOT want my child to feel the pain that I felt Thursday through Saturday of last week, but I also don't want her to catch the flu virus either. If you would, please say a little prayer for Anna Claire that the flu shot goes well and doesn't make her sick. Thanks!!

The night the stomach pains started I had been up working on some new hair bows, so I'll finally share those with you. : )

Is that not the cutest turkey you have seen in a while? I love it!! {and my loving husband doubted that I made it. What is wrong with him?}

I'm sure some of the colors seem odd, but Anna Claire has outfits to match. : )

I'm Alive............

2010-10-14T14:35:00.001-05:00

I've been sick for what seems like forever, but thankfully, I am feeling MUCH better. Last Thursday I started having some stomach cramps that lasted all night. I sucked it up and went on in to work on Friday and finally about 1:30pm Friday I had, had enough so I called the Dr's office. They could not get me and told me to go to the Urgent Care office on North Main that is open during day time hours, so I did. They did some blood work, gave me 2 prescriptions and told me to call them Monday if I was better and if not to come back in, but if I got worse before Monday, then I needed to go to the ER. Well by Saturday afternoon I had, had enough again, so Kerry took Anna Claire to Momma's and he took me to the ER in Murfreesboro. I was in so much pain that I begged him to just take me to Shelbyville, but knowing Shelbyville's past reputation, he took me to Murfreesboro. I can tell you before finishing this story, that, that will not happen again!! We waited for, OK wait, we walked in and it looked the the waiting room for ER, you remember ER on channel 4, right? Yeah, the waiting room was PACKED!! I wanted to go back to the car at this point, but Kerry said no. So we sign in and Kerry tells the guy that I am in serious pain and that the Dr on Friday thinks it's my gallbladder. The guy behind the counter cringes and says, "oh man, I know she's in pain bc it has happened to me before." Fabulous, then he'll rush me on through, right? After all my sheet says 168, surely he won't make me wait that long, he's been there.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm, wrong. We waited for an hour and a half and never went back to triage. That's right, we never made it back to triage. The lady next to Kerry waiting to go to triage that felt good enough to go outside and have her a few smokes, told Kerry that once you made it through triage that it was still a 3 hour wait to get back to see the Dr. I am balled up in a chair in pain, while people go in and out to smoke, others chase their children around, etc........ and they are going in before me? Not to mention I was dying of thirst because I was on the verge of being dehydrated and there was only coke products to drink and the sprite was SOLD OUT! I told Kerry, in a very firm and not so polite tone, "LET'S GO!!" He didn't argue and we got in the car and left. He stopped and got me a Gatorade and then took me back to Shelbyville to the hospital. I waited about 5 minutes before I was seen in Shelbyville. They were very thorough and polite. They did blood work and an ultra sound, and everything came back normal. The ER Dr still thought it was my gallbladder, so I got protonix, Demerol, and phenergan in my IV. Oh, let's not forget the shot of benadryl in the hip because apparently I am allergic to the liquid Demerol and I started to whelp up and itch before I got the full dose, so the nurse had to stop and get the Dr, like the IV wasn't bad enough!! I also apparently have very thin blood because the blood withdrawal took forever!! I declined the pain medicine until they really didn't give me any other option. I'm weird about feeling loopy.

I got 2 prescriptions and was sent on my way. We had to give the insurance information after we were seen by the Dr, seriously!! I could barely hold my head up and she was asking me questions!! Anyway, I stayed knocked out until Monday afternoon, where I went for a re-check with my regular Dr. She gave me a new prescription and assumes that my stomach produced too much stomach acid and this is what caused my pain. I'm assuming she is right because I am finally feeling better and am only taking the prescription that she gave me on Monday.

It took 5 prescriptions and 3 different Dr's, but thankfully I am feeling better!! I will attempt to start catching up on life this weekend. I have to thank God for giving me such a wonderful husband and family. They took very good care of me and Anna Claire while I was sick.

Skirt or Skeggings?

2010-10-07T10:18:00.001-05:00

It has been brought to my attention the importance of letting Anna Claire's teacher know when she is wearing a skirt with leggings underneath it or skeggings. {skeggings - a skirt with leggings attached to it} Yesterday at nap time Anna Claire told Mrs. Renea that she couldn't sleep in her skirt, so Mrs. Renea told her to go ahead and take it off, thinking it was like the skirt she had on, on Friday that I had just put leggings underneath. WRONG!! Yesterday she had on skeggings, so when Anna Claire took off her skirt for nap time, the leggings were attached to it. Mrs. Renea said she turned around and looked and Anna Claire was sprawled out on her mat in nothing but her shirt and panties. LOL!! Need less to say, Mrs. Renea made Anna Claire sleep in her skeggings yesterday, once she got her to put them back on. : )

Here she is yesterday morning in her skeggings before school.

Love Her!!

2010-10-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

As sweet as she looks in this picture, how could you not?

Our weekend was very low key. Anna Claire had dance Saturday morning, then we went to the grocery store and that was about it. She's been stuffy for a while now, so we just stayed in. I cleaned house and made bows. Anna Claire watched TV, played, and rested. She was sounding better this morning, so hopefully it worked.

She is loving the fact that I can make her hair bows. It is so sweet to see such a little person so proud of something that you have done. She is a blessing!!

The above ribbon is reversable. The opposite side of the ribbon is used in the center knots.

This matches the Gymboree Dance Team collection. Anna Claire is also wearing it in the first picture.

How Hot is Hot Glue?

2010-09-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I cannot tell you the exact temperature of the hot glue that I use, but I can tell you that it is VERY hot!! It was apparently just not my night last night to deal with anything hot. I got the full effect of the hot glue last night and I did not enjoy it. Thankfully, my fingers are tougher than most skin on my upper extremities, so there are no marks. There must be an art to using hot glue and marabou together. After I burnt my finger tips, more than once I might add, I went to remove dinner from the oven and for some unknown reason, I hit my arm on the top burner in the oven. Now that left a mark, but I continued on. LOL!! I finished 2 of the pumpkins last night, made a few hair clippies, a bow, and finished the m2m Gymboree bow. I had another clippie in line to do, but it was almost 10:00pm and my mini-me will not go to sleep until I go to bed, so off I went.

Here are some pictures of the things I completed last night. {I did get all my ribbon in, so there will be more to come soon}

I must also tell you all how WONDERFUL my Mom is!! I no longer have to go buy shoes for Anna Claire this weekend because my wonderful Mother handled it for me yesterday! She went a little overboard, but a girl can never have too many pairs of shoes!! Thank You Momma!!!

She's Crafty........

2010-09-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

Ewww, did I really just title this post after a song from the Beastie Boys that has nothing to do with crafts? I think I did. I've been working on some more hair bows and my newest craft, pumpkins!! I did 3 over the weekend and am currently working on a few more. 2 of them should be finished tonight. My plan is to finish 2 of the pumpkins and work on some hair bows. I've got TONS of new ribbon and the order I placed hasn't even come in yet! This is what happens when you send Mom to get marabou and black ribbon with white polka dots. I got my center piece for the Gymboree hair bow on Monday, so I'm planning to finish it tonight as well. It is SUPER cute!!

Here are some pics.......................

Excuse the crayon on the one above. It's Anna Claire's and she needed something to "paint" too.

The Ghost now has a mouth and the pumpkin clip is the clip I posted previously that I re-did. I am MUCH happier with it now.

Anna Claire has the above bow in today.

She wore this on Monday with one of the new bows I had made. I love being able to just run in the other room and make her a hair bow, if she doesn't have one to match her outfit. {She loves it too}

Once my new ribbon comes in, I'm going to work on a Christmas clippie and I cannot wait!! We go to the pumpkin patch with COF on Friday, so look for pictures soon. I can't wait because Anna Claire will finally get to wear one of her many Halloween shirts. {Holli, I got you covered for Halloween outfits next year. LOL!!}

I Shall Finish Vacation Pics Now :)

2010-09-28T11:46:00.000-05:00

Vacation is over and we have gotten back in to our daily routine. It's hard to believe that Friday it will be October already!! I have gotten the Halloween costume ordered, we've got the trick or treat bucket, and now I've just got to get the decorating done. I will start buying Christmas presents, if I can every get my kid clothed and shoed. {I don't think shoed is a word, unless you're talking about horses. LOL!!} This morning I realized that she no longer fits in to some of her Shox. They FIT last week I tell you!! I had already planned to go get her some little "cutie" shoes this weekend to wear with her legging outfits, so now I guess her & I will buy some new shox as well. Thank goodness Kerry and I don't outgrow our clothes and shoes like she does. : )

Anyway, back to vacation pictures...............................

More Vacation and a Hairbow : )

2010-09-23T14:45:00.000-05:00

I forgot to tell that Cricket {the dog} did amazing with the trip to Florida and I managed to keep Susie {the fish} alive while we were gone!! Cricket rode in my lap all the way to Florida. She started out in Momma's lap, but she had been pretty nervous all evening because she saw me packing and loading the car, so she would not lay down until she got in my lap. The change of scenery never phased her and then she rode in Momma's lap all the way home. Cliff didn't know she was coming, so that reaction was questionable. As soon as we picked him up at the airport he asked where Cricket was {as in, who did we leave Cricket with in Tennessee} and Momma told him that she was at the condo. He was fine with it, which took us all by surprise. By the end of the week, him and Cricket were taking naps on the couch together. : )

Since getting home early Sunday morning we are all just getting back in to the groove of things this week. Anna Claire has had some issues with the early rising this week, which has caused some attitude. She is one of the only 3 year olds that I know that LOVES to sleep late. I've managed to get everything washed and put back up. We washed everything at the condo, but Momma bought Gain detergent and Anna Claire is a Tide baby, so the Gain broke her out on the way home and everything had to be rewashed. I rewashed mine and Kerry's clothes too, just in case, because I was a Tide baby as well and have never used anything else.

I did make my first made to match {m2m} hair bow this week that I am very excited about. I'm just waiting on the owl to get here to finish it off. It matches the Gymboree Fall Homecoming collection. There is a lady on Etsy making me a blue owl to go in the center of the bow that matches the blue owl on one of the shirts that Anna Claire has from Gymboree. Here is a preview.

I had to take a chance on ordering the right colors to match, but I did it!!

The lady on Etsy is also making me a T-Rac and a Smokey, so I will be making a new Titans and UT bow very soon.

On to some more vacation pictures................................

What can I say? You gotta love her!!

I gave Kerry the camera remote and I'm guessing he got excited about it because he moved. I did not have him standing to get part of him cut out of the picture.

......and I will leave you with this......

Florida 2010

2010-09-20T14:31:00.000-05:00

We just returned from vacation this past weekend. We had a wonderful time and feel blessed to be able to take a vacation. We went to the pool, beach, Pier Park more than once (of course), Shell Island, and had ice cream every night except for one. We took beach pictures this year. I wasn't sure about taking them or how Anna Claire would do, but for a 3 year old, she did well. Anna Claire is a Mommy's girl, so I didn't get as many "fun" pictures as I would have liked, but we have the memories in our hearts. : ) Shell Island was beautiful, but I have zero pictures because Shell Island was a lot of work. LOL!! I still managed over 200 pictures without Shell Island. :o

I have plenty more to share. The very first picture in black and white is my absolute favorite.

CrIcKeT GoT a HaIrCuT

2010-09-10T13:56:00.001-05:00

This week has been super busy and has gone by so quickly! Monday, of course, was Labor day, but I worked 1/2 a day. Tuesday Anna Claire went to the Dr with bronchitis. Wednesday I got a hair cut. Thursday I cleaned house and put out the Fall wreaths {after work of course}. Today Cricket got her vacation hair cut and Anna Claire goes back to the Dr @ 3:15pm, to make sure her chest and everything is clearing up. She was sicker than what I thought and never really showed it. My plan tonight is to finish ironing, wash some more clothes, and to start packing. I've also worked all week, gave baths, cleaned earrings twice a day, gave breathing treatments twice a day since Tuesday, washed at least a load of clothes each night bc my husband is a ~~freak~~ normal man and wears about 3 outfits a day. : o I could go one, but I won't. : )

I have to try to get as much done tonight as possible because I know tomorrow will be crazy. Anna Claire has dance in the morning and then I need to put gas in the car and pick up Big Daddy's medicine. After that, I'm taking her to get her finger nails and toe nails painted and then to Wal-Mart to get a spinning Mermaid Barbie {I hope}. I promised her that if she was good all week that she could get a spinning Mermaid Barbie to take to Florida with her and she has been PERFECT all week. If for some reason Wal-Mart is out of them, I guess I will make a trip to either Tullahoma or Murfreesboro for one because a promise is a promise.

Now, I have to talk her out of taking ALL of her Barbie Mermaids with us. We plan to take some family beach pictures while we are on vacation, so it is only normal that Anna Claire gets some big mark on her face. It happens just about every time she has pictures made. It used to be bruises on the forehead, but not anymore now that she can control her legs. LOL!! Yesterday she came home with a huge scratch down her cheek, a little mark at the corner of her eyebrow, and one above her eyebrow, along with a missing "diamond" from her flip flop. This is what happens when you walk up the red slide, instead of going around and using the ladder. {rolls eyes} I would love to tell you that it is trial by error, but I'm positive she will try it again.

I did manage to get the "diamond" back on her flip flop. She told me when I walked in to get her that her Daddy beat her up and then cracked up laughing. While it was humorous, I have to hope that she doesn't tell strangers this because they will not know any different.

I do plan to work on my header after vacation. It is blurry and I'm not happy about it.

Here are a couple of pictures of Cricket after I picked her up this afternoon. Anna Claire is going to be THRILLED to see that Cricket has a hair bow!! I just have to hope that it's still there when we get back home this afternoon.

And yes, Cricket got a vacation hair cut because Cricket is going to Florida too. Big Daddy doesn't know that yet, so when he arrives Sunday it will be a surprise. LOL!! It was MeMe's idea, I just went along with it. ; )

I'm Drawing a Title Blank............

2010-09-08T09:38:00.002-05:00

Anna Claire has been sick for about 2 weeks now. This weekend her cough got worse, so Kerry picked Anna Claire up from daycare and I met them at the Dr's office at 2:00pm yesterday. I'm glad I made her an appointment because she has bronchitis. From what I could understand, a lot of people have the bronchitis that she has, right now. We got a liquid z-pak and breathing treatments. She slept so much better last night, thank goodness!! She goes for a re-check on Friday to make sure she is getting better.

We haven't done a lot since the last post because we are preparing for vacation!! I made Anna Claire a Halloween wreath and finished it up last night. She is loving the fact that Mommy can make craft things and her hair bows. She told Nurse Kristen at the Dr's office yesterday, after Kristen asked if she could borrow one of her hair bows, that her Mommy could make her one. Last night I made a pumpkin clippie and made her bows for our beach pictures.

Here is the pumpkin clippie.

I'm not done with it yet, but I don't have any green satin ribbon, so it will have to wait until after vacation. I am also not feeling the green stones on the clippie, so they will have to go.

Here is one of the hair bows for the beach pictures. I am hoping to only use one, but if Anna Claire insists on pig tails, I will be prepared. : )

.......... and here the cutie is this morning getting ready to leave for pre-school.

Some of you may have already seen this on FB, but I thought I would share it here as well. The song is, "Your Love is My Drug" by Ke$ha. "That's Claire Bear's favorite song", as she would say. : ) {It's sideways, but I can't fix it on here, sorry}

She is awesome, isn't she!?!?

Go VoLs!!

2010-09-03T12:31:00.001-05:00

Today was wear your college team colors to pre-school day, so of course Anna Claire went in her orange and white! She looked like my Mini-Me this morning because we were dressed almost identical. The only difference was my UT shirt is black and I didn't wear a bright orange hair bow. She LOVED that she was dressed like Mommy.

{Oh and I didn't have my sunglasses on my forehead either}

I've made some more hair bows and hair clippies this week. Anna Claire is loving the fact that Mommy can make her hair bows.

The Alabama clippie took a lot out of me, but what else do you do with that design? Every time I see houndstooth I think of Alabama. Yuck!!

Anna Claire was so excited about her flower clippie above. I had to make her one to match her outfit for the next day, only to keep her from wearing the Halloween colored one.

We have to have UT bows and hair clippies!!

I love Halloween, so I've made lots of Halloween bows. The above clippie was a huge test for me!! Have you ever tried to hot glue marabou? {basically a big wad of feathers}

This one is my favorite. I LOVE the little clay spider.
I should be getting some more ribbon in within the next week. I get very excited when ribbon comes in. Who knew that I would enjoy making hair bows? Vacation is coming up and I'm looking forward to attempting family pictures myself. I'm waiting on my remote and tripod to come in. Kerry didn't seem to think it would be a good idea to use the timer on the camera because for some reason, he kept seeing me with a mouth full of sand. : l

The Weekend

2010-08-30T14:56:00.001-05:00

Anna Claire decided last week that she wanted to get her ears pierced. I made her get her Daddy's approval and we were going to take her Friday afternoon, until she changed her mind. Saturday after dance class, she changed her mind again, so off we went to Claire's in Tullahoma.

This picture really has nothing to do with this post, but I thought she looked so cute Saturday morning. {I made the bow : )}

Kerry refused to stay in the store with us, so he wondered around checking out all the food booths they had set up. The girl that was working was WONDERFUL!! When we walked in, I told Anna Claire to go tell the lady working what she wanted and she did. {this was my attempt to let the girl know that it WAS NOT my idea} Anna Claire was hesitant to let her clean her ears off, then she was hesitant to let her mark her ears, and then, well, it wasn't good..............

She pierced Anna Claire's first ear and she FREAKED completely out. Kerry walked back in about this time and thought we were done, but she had only done one ear. Anna Claire, being the huge drama queen that she is, was screaming, "THAT HURT!! THAT HURT!!", while big crocodile tears ran down her face. She screamed at me to put her down, so I did and she took off running. She ran to the left and then realized there was really no where to run, so she took off to the right. Kerry had to chase her down because she kept yelling as she was running, "I'm getting out of here!! One earring is fine!" All I could do was laugh because she was still crying and I knew that she was not hurting.

I finally talked her in to getting the other ear pierced, while we all sat in the floor. Again, thank goodness the girl working was WONDERFUL!! She pierced the other ear and the screaming started again, until I said, "OK Claire Bear, we are done!!" She looked at her earrings and was as happy as could be. The tears disappeared and so did the screaming. I looked at the Dad that was in Claire's with his daughter and said, "see, I told you she was a drama queen" and he cracked up. {and agreed with me}

She stopped every person she could to show them her earrings, of course some stopped her to look at them because every person in the mall knew she was getting her ears pierced. :o That mall is usually almost always empty, but not this past Saturday.

She loves her earrings and so far, has done very well with them. She lets me clean them without any tears {which obviously is a good thing} and she hasn't complained about them at all. You would think, after the show she put on at the mall, that her ears could possibly be falling off by now, but they're not. : )

That smile above, is right after getting her ears pierced. Can you imagine? I'm sure a few people that left the mall before "it" was over probably thought she would never smile again.

Saturday night we went to the horse show to watch Papa show. Anna Claire LOVES going to the horse show. She's an animal lover and Papa always lets her pet the horses. Her Daddy loves the "food" and by the looks of the next picture, I don't think Anna Claire minded the "food" either.

Friday night {before our drama filled Saturday started} I received some of the ribbon that I had ordered in the mail, so I took the opportunity to make some bows, since Kerry was at home to entertain Anna Claire.

I have fluffed these more since taking the picture.

I gave this one to a co-worker because it is too big for Anna Claire's head since she is still "hair challenged" compared to most 3 year olds her age. : )

I have a New Hobby

2010-08-25T14:38:00.000-05:00

Kerry has been on me about finding a "hobby" since we got married almost 6 years ago, even after Anna Claire was born he mentioned me finding a hobby. I'm guessing being an employee, a wife, a maid, and a Mom just wasn't enough for me in his eyes. :o I tried to explain to him that they are my hobbies, but he has never gone for it. Anyway, I was looking for hair bows on the Internet the other day because Anna Claire only has 1 set to wear when she has pig tails and they are lime green. I just wanted plain white bows because white matches just about everything. I realized that trying to find white bows small enough for her pig tails, at a price that I was willing to pay, was just a pain in my rear, so I started looking for ballet bows. I ended up paying about $12 for 2 bows and that included shipping. $12 for 2 bows is actually cheap, for you none bow buying readers. : ) It is frustrating when you need a hair bow because you have to either order one off of the Internet {& hope they don't ship it Fed Ex} or drive to Toodles in Murfreesboro to get one. After all of this, I decided to go investigate Anna Claire's hair bows and hair clippies.

What was I thinking? Why had I spent the past 3+ years buying hair bows when I could make them myself? I told my co-worker yesterday morning that I was going to attempt to make hair bows and clippies. She was ecstatic because after all hair bows can be expensive!! I told her to let me see if I could do it without getting mad first and then we would go from there. LOL!! I got all my supplies yesterday, including 2 types of WHITE ribbon, to make Anna Claire some bows for her pig tails. I spent about $20, but I got 30 hot glue sticks, a hot glue gun, 12 clippies, a big bottle of fabric glue, the sticks to make corker bows, etc......You get the point.......

Anna Claire wanted to go to her MeMe's yesterday afternoon, so I made bows while she was gone. I must say, I was very impressed with my first ever attempt to make a hair bow. : ) I made 3 bows last night, 2 white ones for Anna Claire's pig tails and a turquoise & white polka dot one. I had some extra ribbon at home, so that's where the turquoise and white bow came from. I even wrapped the clippies. : ) Anna Claire was not impressed that Mommy had made her some white bows, but she was pretty excited about the turquoise and white polka dot bow.

Here they are.............................................

I messed up on the polka dot bow. I wasn't paying attention {imagine that} and I glued the clip on the wrong side. It took me about 15 minutes before I realized why this bow was being so difficult compared to the other two. : P Never the less, I cut the glue off and fixed it.

When I got up this morning Kerry had tossed his hat on my bows!! I was not happy!! Thank goodness they fluff easily. He told me that he didn't know that I had made those and was wondering why I had been having "craft time" in the kitchen last night while he was at work. {the glue gun was still out} I told him that he should be proud because I had finally found a hobby. : )

I have huge expectations of myself, so I ordered some more supplies today. I ordered Halloween ribbon, Ballet ribbon, and Jesus Loves Me ribbon. I also ordered some things to make hair clippies and some other things to make a certain Halloween hair clippie, that I'm not going to talk about because I have a feeling it's going to make me mad. LOL!! I'm guessing glue and feathers may not be a good combination for me, but I'm going to try anyway. : )

Dance Class & the Weekend

2010-08-16T16:05:00.001-05:00

Anna Claire started dance class on Saturday. I gave her 2 choices. She could continue with gymnastics or she could take dance, but she could not do both. {dance class is waaayyyy expensive once you add in shoes, clothes, recital fees, etc.....} She chose to be a ballerina, big surprise. Yeah right!! Some days I feel bad bc she is not in gymnastics anymore, but like I said, dance class is not cheap!! Her MeMe is talking about letting her start back to gymnastics, as her expense, of course. Anyway................Anna Claire seems to like dance class, so we shall see. There is an attitude there that I hope stops with the adults. I hope this person does not talk to the children the way she talks to "some" of the parents. {me included} Thankfully, I brought my "A" game on Saturday and I spoke words other than the ones running through my head. The things you will do for your children : )

Here is Anna Claire before we left the house Saturday morning for class. She was so proud of her dance bag because she got to pick it out herself. {it was a relief when the bag came in to see that it was much cuter in person than it was on the Internet because I was not feeling it when she picked it out, but I ordered it anyway} I can't let her pick out her leotards because she wants every one she sees. LOL!!

I did let her pick out her leotard from the ones we have at home and for her hair, she requested "pig tails", with NO BOWS!!

After dance class we picked up Daddy and went to K&M to let Anna Claire get her finger nails and toe nails painted for using the potty like a big girl. She always wants flowers on her toes, but she has to settle for polka dots because Mommy doesn't do flowers very well. She was VERY excited that she had flowers painted on her big toes. The lady painted her finger nails and then got in the floor and did her toe nails where Anna Claire couldn't see her, so she didn't know she had flowers on her toes until we moved her chair. For the time that it takes me to paint her finger nails and toe nails, it was worth the price to let someone else do it. This may be her treat every other week. I have to paint them every weekend, so it will be a treat for her and a break for me to let someone else help paint them. : )

We went to Nashville Shores Sunday for Kerry's company picnic and I feel like I need to go buy Anna Claire a prize because she did not pee in the pool at all!! This was her first time going to the pool without a swim diaper on and she asked to go potty every time she needed to go! This is a huge ordeal since they had to close the wave pool for a while yesterday due to someone pooping in the pool. {seriously} Thank goodness we were not in the pool when this happened!! Kerry called me the "slide Nazi" while we were there because there were parents not watching their children and the children were cutting line to slide. Kerry wouldn't tell them to stop, so we swapped place and I handled it. LOL!! What is wrong with some of these parents?

WoW!!

2010-08-06T13:29:00.005-05:00

OK, first things first............... If you haven't looked at my facebook page today, please go look now, and find the wall post from Shannon. I promise, it's worth it. I'll wait.
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You laughed out loud, didn't you? I never know what that kid is going to say.

Needless to say, she still loves her new daycare. I cannot say enough how wonderful these women are!! Yesterday when I picked up Anna Claire, she had pig tails. She didn't have them when I dropped her off. Mrs. Renea said that Anna Claire and another little girl wanted pig tails, so they played beauty shop and gave them some. Anna Claire looked so cute and was so proud of them. That would have never happened at the previous daycare. I have seen the "boss" at least once everyday either during drop off or pick up, sometimes both, usually at drop off she is sitting somewhere playing with the children. This is a very nice change and something that I am not used to. They have potty trained Anna Claire themselves. I can honestly say, it was ALL them!! I just tried to not mess it up at night and over the past weekend. LOL!! I am happy to say that this weekend we will attempt to sleep in panties. She has only been wearing a diaper the past 2 weeks at bedtime. I've noticed that she is holding it through the night and last night she was not happy that she had to wear a diaper to bed, so I promised her that this weekend we would make the last change. My child was only wearing pull-ups and diapers full time 2 weeks ago!! She was using the pull-ups like a diaper. Now she is in panties pretty much full time and is happy about it!!

This afternoon we go get her fitted for her tap and ballet shoes. She has no idea what tap shoes are, so I'm sure once she puts them on that she will wear my hardwood floors out. I told Big Daddy that we would be sure to come show him the tap shoes. : ) She starts dance on the 14th.

We go on vacation in September and you may not see any pictures of Anna Claire until then and this is why..........................

I can't get a normal smile, she crosses her eyes (since she has learned how) in some pictures, and she will not be still enough for me to take a decent picture with my cell phone. This does, at least, give you a glimpse of one of her pig tails. : )

Out of the Mouths of Moms.........

2010-07-30T12:40:00.006-05:00

It is always funny to hear what the little ones say, but sometimes it's even funnier to hear what the Moms are saying. You can check out MckMama's blog to see what funny things other Mom's have said to their children.

Here are a few things that I have said to AC. Men, I must warn you.........There is at least one feminine hygiene talk that I have had with Anna Claire, sorry. : )

"Could you please go use the potty? The potty is really hungry and needs some poopy to eat."

"Well if you don't want to feed the potty, could you at least give him something to drink?"

"I realize that it's nasty that the potty eats poopy and drinks pee pee, but that's just the way it is."

In regards to a tampon......"Ummmmm, yes Anna Claire I just put that in my butt, no it didn't hurt, no Daddy does not put them in his butt, and no you cannot see, now will you please get out of the bathroom!!" What was I suppose to say? LOL!!

"No, you will not have that many bobbies when you grow older. Cricket is a dog and girl dogs just have lots of boobies."

"Did you just call me a crazy cracker?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to STOP LICKING THE TV!!......Because it's not safe for you or the TV.......If you tear up Daddy's TV because you licked it, he is going to be mad, and I'm going to tell him that you did it."

"Please get your head out of the dryer."

"You can play with the Play Doh as long as you don't eat it and please don't feed it to the dog."

"Please stop acting like your Daddy and go blow your nose on a tissue and not your shirt!!"

"Everyone in here heard you poot, so there is really no need to announce it."

I could go on for days with this kid................

Could it Be................

2010-07-28T15:18:00.000-05:00

.......that she really does love her new daycare? It's only day 3, but these 3 days have been the post peaceful daycare drop offs in the history of Anna Claire's daycare drop offs!! Up until July 15th (her first day out of the old daycare) I was leaving Anna Claire 3 days a week at a very well known daycare here in town. I was told how wonderful the daycare was and that it was the best daycare in town. I wanted her to go to the best, so we put her on the waiting list when she was born. She started in June of 2009. Long story short, it has been one of the worst daycare experiences of my life!! I left Anna Claire there 3 days a week screaming her head off for me. I would get to the car and would still be able to hear her screaming. She refused to potty train and got to where she wouldn't even sit on the potty at home. She would ask me every morning on the way to school if she had to go there. I had convinced myself, that I was her problem. She was too attached to me bc we are always together. I guess she really is a "titty baby" as some in the family call her. She wasn't potty training bc I didn't have the patience to deal with it. I left daycare in tears one day bc they said she had cried all day. The only thing I didn't blame on myself, was her sassy little mouth and the fits she would throw. I blamed that on daycare and I was right on with it!!

Was she really so attached to me that she was making herself miserable at daycare?

Since being taken out of the first daycare, her mouth is now only as sassy as you would expect a 3yr old's mouth to be, her fits have gotten MUCH better, and she even picks up her toys up without a fight!! {Remember about a month ago when I had to pretend to throw the toys in the trash?}

Last week I went and checked out her new daycare and then the next day I took Anna Claire to check it out. She was very excited and didn't want to leave. {What a relief!!} I could only hope that this feeling did not change on her first day and it DIDN'T!!!! She was very excited to go to her new school. We held hands as we walked up the sidewalk {HUGE change bc normally I would have had to carry her}. We walked in and it was like she was at home. I got a quick kiss and half a hug, then off she went. I picked her up early for her Eye Dr appointment and she was MAD at me. She informed me that I was not suppose to come get her yet. Tuesday morning we held hands walking in and she was a little shy for about 10 seconds when we walked in the door, and then she was gone. I had to make her come home with me that afternoon. This morning she hopped out of the car and RAN to the door!! She was truly happy to be there!!

On top of her being happy to be there, she is potty training again as well!! They don't allow diapers or pull-ups, so she doesn't really have a choice, but they don't force it on her. Monday, well I'm sure most of you have heard about Monday. She had 1 accident in 5 hours at daycare. She was with me less than 2 hours and she peed in the floor at the Eye Dr. I knew I should not have laid on my horn at that old lady!! Tuesday she had 2 accidents at school and that was it all day!! She used the potty at home, so she got to take a bath with ALL of her Mermaids, Dolphins, and Seahorses. She is usually only allowed 3 in the bath tub, but last night she had 14.

As you can tell, I am not her problem. The first daycare was her problem. She has a fabulous group of women taking care of her each day and I am so thankful for them and that Anna Claire is happy again!!

VBS and 3 Yr Dr's Appt

2010-07-26T12:49:00.001-05:00

We had VBS at church a few weeks ago and it was a blast!! Anna Claire LOVES VBS!!

VBS wouldn't be complete without Anna Claire rolling around on the floor!!

Remember this from last year?

On the 16th we went for Anna Claire's 3yr check up and then did a little shopping. She is in the 75th percentile in height and the 90th percentile in weight. She weighs 36 pounds and is 38 1/2 inches tall. We are moving in to 4T clothing because she is apparently going to be a giant. LOL!! I had to retire some of her shorts because they are so short now {they weren't when I bought them in April} and a dress she wore last month is now too short as well. She has gone from "Mommy, let me walk" to "Mommy, carry me". I was carrying her the other day, as her feet almost touched my knees, and her Daddy said, "whew Anna Claire, pretty soon you are going to have to start carrying Mommy." Who's he telling?

Anyway, she got 2 shots at the Dr's office and I'm sorry, but it was the funniest thing ever!! The look on her face was priceless. I would have taken a picture, if Kerry would have sucked it up and held her arms down, instead of hiding his face in the chair. You've seen the look on a kids face on TV, I'm sure of it!! Her eyes got HUGE, her face froze in that "what just happened" look, and then all of a sudden it was screaming. Chuck E Cheese and new Barbie Mermaid made it all better. Cricket got an extra bed for the living room, a new toy {a squeaky carrot like Bolt has}, and a new collar on our trip out.

Anna Claire started her new daycare/preschool today and the first drop off went well, thank goodness!! This is the first time I have taken her to daycare in probably the past 4 months that I have not left her screaming for me. She starts dance class next month!! Her goal in life right now is to be a ballerina. This afternoon I have to take her to the eye Dr because her vision screening at her 3yr appt came back abnormal. This visit should be a blast considering she HATES anyone messing with her eyes.

We Dominate Again

2010-07-20T14:35:00.003-05:00

It has been 2 weeks since I posted last. Where does the time go? Harley has still not come home. I had a few calls from the ad that ran for 6 days, but none of them were him. I did appreciate the people that called trying to help. There were 2 calls, that I didn't really appreciate. One lady was asking if we were giving Harley away. Ummmm yeah, that's why we placed an ad is the LOST section of the paper. Hello?!?! Another call was to let us know that the person calling had some mixed breed puppies that she was giving away if we wanted one. She must have been desperate to get rid of these puppies. We declined her offer because I had already seen and accepted an offer that I thought was to good to be true, but it wasn't!

Harley has been missing about a week when our Preacher's wife posted on FB that they were looking for a home for their 5 yr old Yorkie. I saw her post and immediately asked Kerry if we could get her. I wasn't trying to replace Harley by any means, but I thought maybe it would help Anna Claire, well actually all 3 of us. Kerry had mentioned getting her a puppy and I told him that I couldn't potty train my 3 year old, much less a puppy!! Cricket is already house trained perfectly!! I showed Anna Claire a picture of Cricket and asked her is she wanted Cricket to come live with us. Anna Claire responded, "YES MOMMY!!! Cricket can be Harley Bear's friend when he comes home." {I still struggle to say or type that without getting tears in my eyes} Kerry agreed to let us have her and agreed that if Harley came back home, then we would just have two house dogs. I fixed Cricket her own eating area with a rug away from Harley's area, but still in the Kitchen and I put Harley's bowls and rug up, so that if he were to come home, he would know that Cricket did not replace him and take his bowls.

Cricket has been with us a little over a week now and she has never missed a beat, that I have noticed. She has gotten used to Kerry's schedule and she decided last week that she needed to sniff me out to see where I had been. Cricket was none to pleased last Wednesday night when Anna Claire did not come home. She paced from the bathroom to the living room looking for her until we went to bed. Anna Claire, I'm sure, would tote Cricket around in a purse everywhere she went, if I would let her, but I wouldn't dare do that to Cricket.

When we first got Cricket, Kerry was not to sure about her, but oh how that has changed. He tells me all the time, "I just love Cricket." He even gave her a bath the other night and trust me, that is huge because Cricket is very high maintenance. LOL!! She is very bossy for a little dog and it cracks me up because Kerry says that now he has 3 females bossing him around. : ) When she wants a snack, she wants it right then!!

So now I guess you want to see a picture of Cricket, don't you?

Is she not the cutest little thing?!?!

Thank you so much Reed Family for allowing us to have Cricket. We are truly blessed to know and be friends with such wonderful people!!

I had to finally tell her that I was done taking pictures of her and Cricket for the day. : )

Cricket got in trouble yesterday for the first time. She walked to the neighbors yard {which is not hard to do since we pretty much share a driveway} and found her something to snack on. I fussed at her, made her spit it out, and go in the house. She snubbed me for about an hour before she got over it. Apparently Cricket has the same attitude that the rest of the females in the house have. :o

2010-07-07T15:10:00.004-05:00

Oh Harley Bear, Where are you?

2010-07-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

Harley Bear hasn't been seen now for about 22 hours. It is wearing on me and breaking my heart because this is not like Harley at all. Harley is Anna Claire's dog, but before he was Anna Claire's, he was mine. I've had Harley longer than I have had Kerry and Kerry and I will be married 6 years in September. I'm thinking that I have had Harley for about 9 years. Momma and Cliff are just as attached to him as Anna Claire and I are. Before I bought a house, I would take Harley to Momma's every morning bc I wasn't allowed to have pets where I lived, but I I had him anyway. Then I bought the house next door and now we live behind them, so Harley has always gone to Momma's during the day and still does.

Harley has the same routine 7 days a week. I let him outside to go to the bathroom every morning when I get up, he walks the neighborhood, and then he pounces on Momma's back door and she lets him in. In the afternoons, he meets me in the backyard and goes in with me. He may go in and out a few times before bedtime, but he always comes home or goes to Momma's. I saw him yesterday afternoon when we got home from the pool. Momma said he was nasty bc she let him get wet and play in the dirt, so she was going to give him a bath.

Anna Claire stayed with MeMe and Big Daddy last night, so when we walked over there I asked if they had seen Harley. I figured he was probably in the back bedroom asleep because that is usually where he is at when I can't find him. Momma went and looked and he wasn't there. She said she figured he was with me and he wasn't. It was 9:45pm and it is not like Harley to not be with one of us, especially when it's dark outside and with some of the neighbors shooting fireworks. He is terrified of fireworks. We looked around outside and then Kerry rode every street in the neighborhood when he got home. We haven't found him. It's kinda strange because when Kerry went looking for him I felt like a little girl again and hoped that if something had happened to him that Kerry wouldn't find him because I feel like Cliff should be the one to find him because he's the Big Daddy and I know that Cliff would get him and bury him before I knew that he had found him. It wouldn't be the first time he had to do it.

I feel like I need to go look for him this afternoon, but I'm afraid to find him. If I found him alive, that would be wonderful, but it's the other possibility that I'm afraid of. If he's not alive, I would want him buried in the back yard with Maci and Buck. {Yes, before to long we will have your everyday run of the mill pet cemetery in our backyard} Anna Claire doesn't remember a lot about Maci because she was so young. Maci loved Anna Claire too. She remembers Buck and knows that Buck went to be with Jesus. She swings Buck in her swing outside almost daily.

But, I'm just not sure how she will handle Harley being gone. Harley is her dog. If you see Anna Claire, you can bet that Harley is not far behind her. He has loved her and been interested in her since she was a baby and vice verse. He's bit her a few times, but only because she asked for it. When weigh more than the dog and you pounce on him while he's asleep, more than likely the dog is going to bite you. She prays for Harley Bear at gymnastics, she paints him pictures at school, she loves to give him begging snacks, she just loves him and I know he loves her.

All I can do right now is just pray that he comes home safe.

I have seen this picture a lot since Anna Claire started walking. He always lets her lead.

Love Her Little Heart

2010-07-02T14:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I had to run in Kroger's to get Anna Claire's sprite to take to school today. I decided while I was in there, that her and I would make 4th of July cupcakes. She loves to make cupcakes!! I think she actually just likes to eat the batter and the icing, but that's OK too. She helped me mix everything together and then she handed me each cupcake cup, so I could fill it. While the cupcakes were baking, I looked over and she was pretending to crack and break her plastic Easter eggs in to a bowl. Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled, it was time to put icing on them. I gave Anna Claire her own plate, icing, a plastic knife, and a cupcake to decorate. She decided to make a cupcake for her Daddy. {Bless him}

Here she is icing his cupcake.

{you can see the icing mustache bc she ate way more than she put on his cupcake}

Here is her Daddy's cupcake. She added some blue icing to it later on, but I thought she was finished when I took this picture. She licked it more than once and that is a little nibble out of the top/side of it.

He ate it when he got home from work this morning. : )

After the cupcake making, it was bath time. Anna Claire got her bath, brushed her teeth, and I cut off her rat tail. LOL!! For some reason her hair grows quicker down the middle, so I have to cut it every so often to keep the back of her hair even. When I finished brushing her hair, she told me she wanted a pony tail. I was kinda worried because as most of you know, she doesn't have much hair. I was able to make a small pony tail and she was so proud!! We walked next door to show MeMe and Big Daddy and she was yelling it across the yard. All of her friends at school wear pony tails and the 2 girls across the street had pony tails the other day when they came over to play with her, so I guess it's only natural that she wanted one too.

I put a ribbon in her pony tail and that made it even better!!

She wore a pony tail to school this morning, so those of you that will see us Sunday morning, don't be surprised to see a pony tail at Church as well.

Potty Training

2010-06-29T10:23:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to potty train Anna Claire off and on now for over a year. Nothing works for this kid. She cares nothing about using the potty. She knows what to do and when to do it because she has used the potty at home more than once. I've tried rewards, sticker charts, letting her go around in her underwear {tried this twice and the same thing happened both times}, pull ups, asked her not to pee pee on Dora, the Princesses, Ming Ming, Minnie Mouse, Hello Kitty, etc....., pretty much you name it and I have tried it. She started a few months ago using the potty at daycare on occasions. They would get her to sit on the potty and sometimes she would go and sometimes she wouldn't, but there was no drama about it. I had pretty much given up. I've been told more than once that she will go when she is ready. She is a very head strong child. She does what she wants, when she wants, and I cannot change that. It's not that she's not smart enough, it's just something she can control. {I guess she gets that from her Momma}

Well, she moved to the 3yr old class at daycare a few weeks ago and it has been a nightmare ever since. We have been on a waiting list for a new daycare for a while because of past issues. I thought it would get better when she changed classes, but that is not the case. I was told when she moved that she was not the only one not potty trained yet and that my price wouldn't go down until she was potty trained. No big deal!! I am OK paying extra until she is potty trained because that is extra work for the teachers. Anna Claire gets a sheet sent home every day that she is at daycare telling me about her bathroom visits, her meal and snacks, and her mood. I no longer get snack updates, so I don't even know if she's getting 2 snacks a day and I'm not sure when she is using the potty and when she is not. I only get a check mark on tried. The 2yr old teacher would mark tried and then write used the potty or did nothing. For all I know, my child may be holding her pee all day. She has been at this daycare for over a year and I have NEVER gotten a sheet that was marked "easily upset" on it. We have only had maybe 3 checks on "content". All the other days she was always "cheerful" because that is my Anna Claire. The past 3 or 4 days at daycare she has gotten a check mark on "easily upset" with the comment, "she cries every time we make her sit on the potty."

I handled this well the first few times, but yesterday was it!! I was SO MAD!! The teacher, who by the way has ZERO children, talked with me about Anna Claire crying when she had to sit on the potty last week. I told her I had no suggestions because nothing seems to work with her. I told her I was sure she would do it when she was ready and the teacher informed me that she was the only one not potty trained in the class and that she needed to get potty trained. I just smiled and walked off, while in the back of my mind I was thinking "if the crying is an issue, stop forcing her to sit on the potty". The note yesterday, for some reason, just got to me. Anna Claire was ill when I picked her up and between her and the note, I was in tears on the way home. This teacher makes me feel like a horrible mother because Anna Claire is not potty trained. She has no children, so she had no clue what it's like. I cannot make this child use the bathroom!! There is NOTHING that I can do to force her to pee in the potty. I can force her to sit on the potty, but I feel like they do that enough already. I've read that forcing them to sit on the potty will only make it worse. I don't know what they do or say to her to make her cry every time she has to sit on the potty. Maybe she has to sit there too long, while the other children do fun things, I don't know!!

I do know that she is unhappy there. She told me yesterday on the way to daycare that she didn't want to go to that school anymore, which broke my heart. This was suppose to be the best daycare in town. What happened?

I decided to try underwear one more time last night, since I was so stressed about the whole potty training issue. She wanted to wear her boots, so she had on her shirt, underwear, and her boots. She kinda looked like the naked cowboy, only with a shirt on and she wasn't wearing her hat. LOL!!

I told her not to pee pee in her panties because if she did, it would get in to her boots. She agreed that she would go use the potty. I asked her about every 10 minutes if she needed to go potty. The last time I asked her she said, "I know Mommy. I won't pee pee in my boots." About 30 seconds later she was yelling to her Daddy that she had pee peed in the floor. I have to give it to her, she didn't pee pee in her boots. I'm not sure what she was doing because she left a puddle in the floor, but her underwear were barely wet. Maybe she did it on purpose to prove a point. At this point, I have to just surrender to her. When she's ready, she'll do it, until then I will continue to buy diapers and pull ups. I will love her no matter what.

No Voice, a Dead Fish, and Ice Cream.........Oh My!!

2010-06-24T13:50:00.002-05:00

I have been sick since about Saturday afternoon, not really sick bc I never felt bad, I just couldn't talk and when I did, it hurt. Monday I went to the Dr and she said that I have/had {since it's much better now} Tracheitis. It's basically an upper respiratory infection that caused my trachea to swell. I got a shot and some antibiotics and went on my merry way, back to work of course. I never really showed any signs of an upper respiratory infection, other than a sore throat that lasted about an hour. I had a cough, but it was because I felt like I had something stuck in my throat because of the swelling. Anyway, the shot worked and by Tuesday I sounded a little bit better. Today, I sound much better, but there are still times when you can tell I've still got a little swelling.

Kerry called me Tuesday afternoon to tell me that Susie didn't look to good. She didn't look to good because she was DEAD!! Thankfully, Momma was in Murfreesboro Tuesday evening, so I sent her a text that said, "can you go to Pet Smart please? Susie is dead and Anna Claire doesn't know it." She responded with, "OK." Later on Kerry put Anna Claire in the bath, so that I could get the aquarium cleaned out and get everything ready for the new fish. About 9:00pm, Kerry went to the gym, Anna Claire went to bed, and I stayed up waiting on MeMe. Now Susie was red, blue and green. She was more blue than anything, but her long tail was red. MeMe comes in with Susie #2 and I didn't know what to say. Susie #2 was red and pink. He was big and lively, so I didn't say anything other than THANK YOU!!

Anna Claire noticed as soon as she saw Susie Wednesday morning that the blue was missing. Kerry convinced her that Susie just turned pink. {I wanted to tell her the truth, but he felt like she was too young to understand} Susie #2 is much more lively that Susie #1 ever was, thank goodness. I never got a good picture of Susie #1 and as you can see, Susie #2 came and stayed next to the glass, so I could take his picture. I think he only did it with the hopes that I would feed him. So, I learned my lesson.............................No more fish from small pet stores. Now on to something else. : )

Wednesday afternoon I took Anna Claire to the Dr. She had some cold symptoms and she was a little hoarse when she woke up, so I went ahead and made her an appointment because I had googled tracheitis and I knew it was normally an infection that children get and it is very hard on children because their trachea is so small. {Yes, I got an infection that usually only children get and some how managed not to get strep throat when she had that in May. My immune system is so weird} Anyway, we go to the Dr. and she is running a low grade fever when we get there. She checked everything out and asked if her nose had been bleeding because it was raw. Bless her heart, she never complains about feeling bad or anything hurting, so I had to idea she was that sick. I just went on my motherly instincts when I made the appointment and I'm glad I did. Anna Claire has an upper respiratory infection, that I am guessing I gave to her. We dropped her prescriptions off at Walgreen's and then had about 30 minutes until they would be ready, so we went to Dairy Queen for a treat. Anna Claire wanted chocolate ice cream in a sprinkle cone. I had to explain to her that we were going to Dairy Queen, not Ben & Jerry's. She settled for a regular cone with some soft serve vanilla ice cream. She ate all the ice cream off of the top and wanted more. I explained that there was more ice cream in the cone. She refused to eat the cone and requested a spoon to finish her ice cream.

Let me tell you about Susie........

2010-06-22T15:49:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday I decided to go buy Anna Claire a fish tank. They have two fish in her class at Barnyard, or they did, until she moved to the 3yr old class on Friday. She seemed to love the fish and was excited to see them every morning that she was there. I went to the Pet Planet here in town to get the aquarium. I, for some reason, just figured Wal-Mart didn't carry aquariums anymore since they don't have fish. Anyway, I walked in to Pet Planet and the smell about knocked me down. Thankfully, after a few seconds you got used to it. It was your normal pet store smell. As I am trying to pick out an aquarium, which it's not like I had a lot of options, I kept having to watch behind me bc I knew they were getting a snake out of its aquarium thing on the back wall. I am a little scared, OK, terrified of snakes!! I go back and forth for about 10 minutes and finally decide on a desk aquarium. It's cute, yet classy, matches my living room, and will fit perfectly on the end table. It looks very easy, as there are no pumps, filters, heaters, etc.... to mess with. I bought a little light that fits on it, but other than that, there was nothing to plug in. It came with the gravel, decorative rocks, the conditioner that we needed, and a little pack of fish food. What more could you ask for? I checked out their Betta fish while I was there, to see what they had because I decided we would start with a Betta fish, since they are usually hard to kill and I'm not good with plants or fish. We set the little tank up Thursday afternoon, so it would be good and ready for the new fish. I promised her that Friday afternoon when I picked her up that I would take her to Pet Planet to pick out a fish and that, I did.

She loved the pet store. I finally get her to where we need to be and she picks out her Betta. There were $3.99 Betta's, $4.99 Betta's, and $11.99 Betta's. Yes, you read that correctly, $11.99 Betta's. Apparently people show their Betta's now days? Thankfully, Anna Claire picked out a $4.99 Betta, even though the truth be told I would have bought an $11.99 Betta if that would have been what she chose. She was so excited. She told the lady at the front desk that she was going to give her new fishy a very good home. We get in the car and I ask her what she is going to name her new fish and she says, "Susie".

I'm sorry, what? "My new fishy's name is Susie." Well, Susie it is. Susie, the male Betta. :o

We get home and I float the bag that Susie is in, in the tank to get her used to the water temperature. See, I've got this. Momma was big in to the Betta's in the bowls with the peace lily's when they were popular. I helped make them and had one of my own, so I knew what I was doing. Or did I?

After floating for about 10 minutes and listening to Anna Claire cry wanting to know when we could let Susie out, it was time. I opened the bag, scooped out Susie, and put him in his new home. You can't really tell, but the background is brown with the white vine flowers running up the back of it. It was very pretty.

Susie did not seem to pleased, but I didn't really expect him to be. He went from a very small little box thing to an almost gallon size home. I'm sure it was culture shock, but he would get used to it. Anna Claire was a very happy little girl. She talked to Susie and fed him after a while. She LOVED watching Susie eat. At bedtime, she walked over and told Susie good night and that she loved him.

At this point, I knew I could never let Susie die.

The next morning we got up and Anna Claire greeted Susie and we got ready for swim lessons. I noticed Susie looked even more unhappy Saturday morning than he did Friday night. I expected just the opposite. Anna Claire fed him and I removed the food when she wasn't looking because Susie did not eat it. I knew at this point something wasn't right. I felt like I didn't put enough of something in ~~her~~ his water because I remember when we used to make the vases we used 2 different products in the water and Thursday I only used one. After swim lessons we came home and I watched Susie and decided I needed to go to the store bc Susie just wasn't right. I went to get the other product to put in the water. I came home with a new aquarium, fake plants, a heater (that I have since learned is not safe to use in the 1.5 gallon tank), a frog decoration, new gravel, fancy crystal rocks, the 2 items to clean the water, new Betta food, extra filters, and I think that is it. I took Anna Claire with me, if you can't tell. My $4.00 trip turned in to over $50.00. I guess that will teach Kerry not to go with us. : ) He just shook his head when we got home. I set the new aquarium up and this one was much more difficult to set up because it has a filter on it. I could only use the clear and purple crystal rocks because I knew the red ones would freak Susie out and I was afraid the pink ones would as well, so I gave them to Anna Claire. I got the aquarium ready and let it sit for 24 hours.

At this point I have now spent almost $100 on a Betta fish that we have owned for 2 days. Sunday afternoon we move Susie. ~~She~~ He seems much happier in the bigger aquarium. He is swimming around, coming to the glass when you talk to ~~her~~ him, he ate, and everything seemed good, but I noticed a little white spot on his tail fin. I was hoping it was just something in the tank. Monday night I noticed more white spots on his body and this morning there were even more. Kerry even agreed that something was wrong with Susie. After googling it, after all google has all the answers, I found that this expensive little fish has the Ick. I will be going back to Wal-Mart this afternoon to buy some Ick treatment. This also requires me to do yet another water change. I am guessing the net used to move Susie from her little box to the bag we brought him home in had not been cleaned since moving another fish, possibly a dead fish. I'm guessing things like that aren't important to them because they don't have to deal with child when or if the fish dies.

Maybe a fish was a bad idea.................

I'm going to complain...............

2010-06-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

even though I shouldn't, even though I am not suppose to, and even if it's not the proper thing to do. This is the 5th day that this has been weighing on me and I need to let it out. I've told Kerry about it and it didn't make me feel any better. I know the only way I am probably going to feel better is to tell these 2 people how I really feel, but I am trying not to do that. I don't think that is a very good idea at this point. Luckily, I have grown up and know when to confront and when not to confront. Deep down I really want to beat this one person up, but that's just the 16 year old that still lives deep down inside me. {sorry Bro Scott}

Thursday a co-worker called the office. He said he was sitting at this location and had been waiting on either J or J to fax him some paperwork. J and J, both, had gone to lunch. He was not happy. I sent the main J a text and told her that he was waiting on one of them to fax him some paperwork. I sent her the text bc she is over the other J, her and I are closer "friends", and I wasn't sure what she wanted to do about it. I was trying to let her know before he called back and talked to M. I knew if he talked to M, a big scene would have been made {as usual} and both of the J's would have been mad. I was doing what I thought any friend would have done, trying to keep M from having something on them bc she strives on that. The main J replied with "OK". I thought it was odd, but I figured she was probably mad bc the other J had left for lunch and not taken care of it. She gets upset with J all the time for not completing her work. I have worked with the main J for 4 years, so we're pretty close friends, I thought. Apparently, I was WRONG!!

J came back to the office about 20 minutes later. She has to walk by my office to clock in and I got a dirty look. As she was walking by, the main J was pulling in to the parking lot. She walked by my office to clock in as well and never looked at me. They have not spoken to me since then. I am only assuming that the text is why they are mad. I actually have no idea. I asked D what their problem was on Thursday and he didn't know. He just said, "oh, you know how women are."

Friday rolls around and they are still not speaking to me. That is bad enough, but then they sucked M in. They HATE her!! She's an older lady and is always trying to get someone in trouble. I cannot put in to words how badly they dislike her. I made a comment to D about it on Friday and he was like, "yeah, I don't understand why she does that. You either like her or you don't. You can't kiss her rear when you're mad at one of us." My point exactly!!

I feel like I am in high school!! Both J's are in their late 20's and have children. The main J was homecoming queen when she was in HS and I think still wants to be in high school. The other J came in today with pink and purple hair. Do you see where I am going with this?

The main J is on vacation today, so it is very quiet in the office bc she does all the talking. The other J doesn't have anyone to talk to bc she only talks to M when the main J is here.

I should add that it is easy to get mad and not talk to me because I am not going to talk to you first. {I know. I know. I need to work on this.}

If you're mad, say you're mad. If I am in the wrong, I will apologize. If I'm not in the wrong, then I won't. As of right now, I don't think I am in the wrong. This has made me re-evaluate my friendship with these two and it's sad because the main J's little girl loves to play with Anna Claire.

At the Circus.........Everything's a Surprise

2010-06-17T15:23:00.004-05:00

Some days I feel like I live in the Circus. Between Kerry, Anna Claire, and Harley, I never know what I'm going to come home to or wake up to. We have lots of fun, needless to say. You never know what Anna Claire is going to say and usually it is something that I find just hilarious, but her Daddy doesn't. A few nights ago they were in the kitchen arguing, as usual. She is already at the age where she thinks we are complete idiots and that we know absolutely nothing about anything. Anyway, Anna Claire gets mad and walks off down the hallway. I am watching her and she turns around, marches back in to the kitchen because her Daddy was talking under his breath and she heard him, and hollers, "listen here you crazy old man!!" I LOST IT!!! It had to be the funniest thing that I have heard in a long time. Kerry failed to see the humor in her calling him old.

Monday night she pulled her shirt up and said, "look Daddy, my belly is big like yours." I lost it once again. For some reason, her Daddy is the only one that she does this too, thank goodness!!

This could be why............................

We will be adding a fish to the family tomorrow. I bought the little tank today and I plan to take Anna Claire tomorrow afternoon and let her pick out a Beta. {Beta tanks have come a long way since the vase with the plant in the top of it - LOL} We are starting small and with a Beta because they are usually harder to kill. Mommy does about as well with fish as she does with plants and that is not a good thing.

Who, What, When, Where, and Why? Why? Why?

2010-06-14T14:45:00.007-05:00

Seems to be the questions that I am constantly answering now days, especially the why? Why Momma Why? Other days she will sit in another room and call my name over and over and over and over. Momma!! Yes Anna Claire? Momma!! Yes Anna Claire? Momma!! Yes Anna Claire? She said it at least 25 times this morning. I'm used to it, but it drives her Daddy crazy. He said this morning that there was just to much estrogen in the house. I told him to go let Harley back in the house. She called her Daddy a crazy old man the other day and I just about fell out of the chair laughing. The more I laughed, the more she repeated it, and the redder Kerry got. It was a hilarious!!

We've been catching lots of lightening bugs this Summer. Lightening bugs are a whole lot quicker than they used to be. : ) Anna Claire will hold them now, but only for a few seconds. They usually fly to the top of her bug catcher, so she had to get out her flashlight to see them. {and yes, that is a Lightning McQueen sticker taped on her shirt. It would no longer stick and she freaked out, so MeMe taped it to her shirt}

She started taking swim lessons on June 5th at the Rec Center. She loves Bailie the Lifeguard and really only wants Bailie to work with her and no one else. I'm pretty sure she has a crush on the male lifeguard that helps with swim lessons. She doesn't really care for him to work with her, but she will bat her eyes at him and just smile. Saturday she turned around and said, "Momma, he is so silly." It was too cute. They get to go play outside in the big pool after swim lessons.

This is her new favorite obsession, Barbie Mermaids. Yes, she has 9 Barbie Mermaids. We even have to put the 4 from McDonald's in the bath tub at night. We are now at 10 Barbie Mermaids because she got another one yesterday.

Saturday Anna Claire and I went to the pool at the Rec Center with a friend and her 2 children. I was very hesitant because I haven't been to the public pool in FOREVER, but it was very enjoyable. There were a few children that made me wonder where their parents were and a few adults that were playing or laying out in the kids section, but other than that it was nice. Anna Claire got to see Bailie and her crush while we were at the pool, again she just batted her eyes and smiled at him once she realized who he was. I think the sunglasses threw her off. She laid out during the 10 minute safety breaks every hour. {not to worry, all the Mermaids went with us} She passed out on the way home from the pool.

Sunday we had a guest speaker at church. Pastor Tre Faulkner did a great job. I was very impressed and I personally think he has been the best guest speaker that we have had. I will say that within the first 10-15 minutes I was wore out!! He is very energetic and passionate about his word. I recovered and he kept my attention the entire time. I didn't even mind being kept past 12:00pm. He was that good!! If you ever get a chance to listen to his word, please do. You will not be disappointed. While I enjoyed his service this week, I do look forward to Bro Scott returning next week.

Chattanooga

2010-06-08T14:12:00.017-05:00

We were suppose to go to the Jeff Fisher and Friends Charity softball game on May 22nd. Everyone had new jerseys and Anna Claire had a pink miniature Titans helmet for autographs. After the Nashville flood they postponed the game to Sunday, June 13th. {Kerry's scheduled work night} We were very disappointed because we really look forward to this every year. I knew I had to come up with something for us to do that weekend, other than the Zoo because I decided last year that we will only go to the Zoo on a cool day. The past 2 years it has been in the 90's and it makes for a miserable day at the Zoo. Anyway, I decided we should go to the Tennessee Aquarium since Anna Claire has never been before. I checked on it and decided we should just make it a weekend getaway, so we did. We left Saturday morning and went to the Aquarium, spent the night in Chattanooga, and then Sunday we went to the Creative Discovery Museum , but not without incident. We went through Winchester to get to the interstate bc we weren't positive about the whole sink hole status. We got to the interstate and Anna Claire told me her mouth hurt and she wanted me to hold her. I gave her some sprite and she said it was better. We were almost in Chattanooga and she told me her mouth hurt again. A drink of sprite made it better. We get in to downtown and we can see the Aquarium and Anna Claire tells me that her mouth hurts again and then says "oh Momma" as she starts to throw up. I sling the seat belt off, turn around in my seat, grab her blanket, and try to catch what I can. Kerry was just trying to get us to a parking lot, until she projectiled all over me and I yelled for him to just PULL OVER!!! He pulled in to a fire lane and I immediately unbuckled her from her car seat and he stripped her down on the sidewalk. He starts to clean her up, as I try to clean up the car seat. Luckily, I had a little packet of Clorox bleach wipes in her diaper bag for emergencies like this. I was able to catch most of it, so the only place I really had to work on cleaning was one of the straps to the car seat. I had just enough Clorox wipes to get it cleaned up good. I know people thought we were crazy because they were walking by while we had Anna Claire in a diaper on the sidewalk. All of her clothes, blanket, Pups, another stuffed dog, socks, shoes, etc.... were just tossed all over the sidewalk. We managed to get her cleaned up, I got my shirt changed, and we proceeded on to the Aquarium. I am guessing she drank some sour milk because she was fine from there on out. I didn't check our milk because it was NOT out of date, but I have noticed that the milk has been going sour before the date on the jug here lately. The hotel had a laundry room, so I was able to get everything washed when we got to the room. We had a really good time and look forward to our next getaway, minus the sour milk. :0 You don't see this very often and this is the only proof that I have of being there myself, other than the picture that the Aquarium staff took.

The Penguins were her favorite!!

I enjoyed the jelly fish. I thought this one was really neat bc it looks like it has a cross on it.

This caused me to use outfit #3 on day 1, thus causing us to have to go to the mall to get her another outfit because I only packed 2 extra outfits for her. {lesson learned} I meant to put her swimsuit in the backpack and totally forgot.

Creative Discovery Museum

No words.......................

This was the music area, aka "Headache Central"

We had some Ben & Jerry's before we headed home on Sunday.

We found the Funkabuckets playing under the bridge at the Aquarium after our trip to Ben & Jerry's. They were awesome!! Look them up on Facebook and/or You Tube.

Super Stars Fun Meet 2010

2010-05-25T14:20:00.019-05:00

Anna Claire started taking gymnastics at Barnyard back in September 2009. This lasted through December and there were not enough children taking the classes, so the classes stopped. We were offered a free 1yr membership, still paying the regular monthly fee, if we took her to the ETC gym in Murfreesboro. Anna Claire is so young and there is not a lot offered for her age, so we decided to let her continue to take gymnastics. I would love for her to play soccer this Fall, but she will not be 4 until next year. My plan is to let her play whatever she wants until she finds what she loves. My love was softball. Her Daddy's love was basketball and football. {Soccer was not popular when I was young - Man I'm old!!} She may love dance, with her you just never know, but I'm guessing it will be soccer. She enjoys gymnastics and is good at it for her age, but she's already {I think} good at soccer for her age too. OK, I got off topic........

ETC has a Super Stars Fun Meet every year. It allows each age group to show what they can do. It's not a competition, even though deep down it was for me - sorry, it's just something fun kind of like the dance recitals. Anna Claire got a free Super Stars Fun Meet t-shirt and at the end every child got a trophy. This was only my 2nd time seeing her do her gymnastics because her class is during the day while I'm at work. Thankfully, I knew what to expect this time because the first class I went to I almost had more than one heart attack. There were 4 different areas and you could tell which area was her favorite. Her favorite area was also the area that she got to go first in.

I never said she didn't get bored waiting for her turn. : )

She enjoys the floor exercises the most, but watching her flip down the wedge is nerve racking!!

I thought she was just tired because she had done all her routines and not had a nap all day, little did I know.... It was the start of strep throat and about 10 hours after I took this picture she had a temperature of 102.3.

The Rest of the Birthday Post

2010-05-19T14:06:00.032-05:00

I got behind after the party, her actual birthday, and then her gymnastics fun day. I will try to catch up this week before we go to the aquarium this weekend because you know I will have pictures of that too.

I LOVE balloons!! Anna Claire's Daddy about passed out when I pulled out 2 of these huge fire truck balloons.

She was so excited about her new trampoline from Uncle Josh and Uncle Kirby.

Trying to make sure Uncle Lee doesn't take her trampoline.

I happened to hear the breaks on the Fire Truck when Uncle Josh stopped at MeMe's to pick up Sparky. I hurried to the driveway to make sure I caught everything. Uncle Josh pulled in with the lights flashing and sirens blaring. {We did warn the older party goers that this was going to happen. We didn't need anymore heart attacks. Big Daddy's was enough.}

She was running as fast as her little legs would carry her.

She LOVED Sparky!!

Sparky gave her a fire truck puzzle for her birthday.

This is scary!! LOL!!

The cake and cupcakes must have been good because Anna Claire ate the icing off of 5 of them and then asked for cake. I didn't get to try the cupcakes, but the cake was wonderful. Thank you Wild About Cakes.

She put the important items in the Barbie carrying case. {money and her new tutu}

Cupcakes for school thanks to Kecia Johnson.

Anna Claire requested a Care Bear cake for her actual birthday. This cake came from Creative Touch Florist.

Anna Claire had a wonderful birthday. We are so blessed to have so many people that love her dearly. We are very thankful that everyone could join us and we thank God for allowing Big Daddy to be there with us. The day of the party it had been exactly 2 weeks since he had his heart attack.