Days with the Jensens

We Have Moved

2011-07-30T17:59:00.002-04:00

My very kind brother-in-law, Zach, created a new blog page for our family. It is easier for me to do posts and looks 100% better! Please change your bookmark or your blog roll to ww w.jensendays.com to view "Days with the Jensens" so you can still keep up with our family!

The Highs and Lows

2011-07-22T19:30:00.005-04:00

It's been a good week around here, even though we have missed our big girl. She comes home tomorrow so we are happy to have our family complete again soon. The allergist called today and Ella-Ann's shots start on Monday...dun, dun, dun. Let the games begin, I say! I am so ready to get her on these shots and feeling better...feeling good for a change!

I took Pierson to physical therapy on Thursday and the therapist was happy with how much progress Pierson has made in a week. She can now turn her head left to right a full 115 degrees both ways, which she could not do last week. The therapist said she could tell we have been working her hard at home over the last week. It has helped that we haven't had much to do so I have had a lot of time to focus on Pierson. Rane has been very sweet with her and patient with me during all the stretches and exercises I have to do with her. He is such a sweet and good big brother to Pierson. The low of the visit was when I told the therapist that I have noticed Pierson isn't progressing with certain physical things as she should be for her age. She doesn't reach for toys, she doesn't hold them for very long and you have to open her hand and put one in it, she has no muscle tone in her arms so she cannot hold herself up while on her belly, nor can she keep her arms from flailing when she is on her belly or anytime for that matter, she doesn't open her hands much and when I put a "heavier" rattle in her hand she cannot lift her arm to bring it to her mouth. I explained to the therapist about the 2-vessel cord and that this isn't something new for Pierson, she has always been kinda lazy. She doesn't show much interest in toys and is perfectly content to sit and watch her siblings and the world go by. She does babble and makes eye contact with you at all times so that is good news. I asked the therapist if she thought it could be mental and not just physical and she said at this point it is hard to tell but she probably thought it was poor muscle tone and we just need to strengthen her. I was told to bring up my concerns with her pediatrician at her 9-month check up, so obviously it isn't that urgent. The therapist said that she could just be a very relaxed, laid back child and I do think she is just that. I just wish I would've noticed some of the red flags earlier on, like her not opening her hands (we used to have to wash her hands every day because they stunk so bad from never opening), the fact that she doesn't transfer a toy from one hand to the other, doesn't bring "heavy" objects to her mouth and still lacks control over her arms. She also keeps her legs stiff all the time so we are going to work on bending her knees, going from squatting to standing and sitting with her feet touching one another. I left the therapy session with a heavy heart as a mother but I know we are on the right track to getting Pierson stronger! I was told that we are now in therapy for 6 months, until January, 2012, instead of 6 weeks, which we were initially told. We are working a lot with her at home by doing lots of new and different exercises frequently and pushing her to do things on her own, like touch toys and hold them with both hands. I still have to do a few neck stretches as well but not as many, whew! I do have to say Pierson is doing a lot better than she was last week, like sitting and raising her head instead of always having her chin in her neck. I know we will get there. The therapist keeps reminding me that this is a marathon not a sprint!

For the Love of Trains

2011-07-20T19:10:00.003-04:00

Rane loves trains; or for that matter, he loves any type of car, bus, tractor, truck, etc. Since Ella-Ann is in Kentucky having a blast with my parents and getting to do some fun things with her grandparents I wanted to do something just for Rane while I had him and Pierson by myself. I decided that we would head north to Duluth this morning to visit the Southeastern Railway Museum. So I really don't know what I was thinking. It was 95 degrees here today. Trains are outside. The sun was blazing. There was no breeze. Train cars have no a/c and are boiling hot. I pushed a stroller with Pierson in it but quickly realized that strollers don't board trains so I had to carry her in the boiling, hot, sweltering said train cars. At least one person had a ton of fun...Rane, and that was enough for me to endure all the painful heat!

There wasn't many people there, duh, so we had full run of the place for the most part. This was the absolute perfect place to take an energetic, crazy, running 2-year-old boy because he could pull on things, run up and down the train cars and around them, be as loud as he wanted and do whatever he wanted! He had so much fun and I had so much fun watching him in his element. It was certainly a boy thing to do and I loved doing it with him. I would have enjoyed it more had it not been so hot and I could've stopped and read about all the trains and memorabilia. We went inside an air conditioned room, just for the a/c itself, and I got to see china on display from the trains. They had little butter pat plates from all the railroads! I couldn't even imagine how luxurious that was back in the day...butter pat plates...fine china...on a train! Some trains were kept in mint condition and that was neat to see. We viewed state rooms with full size beds, bathrooms, kitchen cars with a 12-burner coal stove, dining cars, lounging rooms and state rooms. The highlight of the morning for Rane was riding on a train. He didn't move a muscle and was so excited! The very loud whistle about caused him and Pierson to jump out of their skin a few times but other than that he was in heaven!

We headed home around lunch and I was pooped for the day. The heat and carrying around poor little lethargic Pierson in the hotness was very tiring! It was worth it, though, and I know he wants to go back because he kept saying tonight that he and Daddy were going to go tomorrow!

Rane was ready to rock with the trains! I took this picture while standing in line for our tickets. He couldn't even keep his wiggly body still beside me. He HAD to run over to the train and touch it!

This was the first train car we were on and look how hot the kids already are!

Checking out the big stove in the kitchen car.

On our way to the gift shop to buy some trains! This was the coolest part of the day, literally. The only place where fans were going was in the gigantic warehouse where some of the nice trains were on display.

In one of the dining cars. I bought Rane a whistle and he couldn't put it down long enough for a picture. Poor Pierson, she was so ready to leave!

He's got a ticket to ride! He held onto that red ticket the entire way home too!

Checking out one last train before we headed home.

Just Two

2011-07-19T08:53:00.003-04:00

This past weekend my parents came down for a visit. We had a great time with them and I completely forgot to take any pictures while they were here. They took Ella-Ann back with them for the week and I know she is having a ball because my Mom has already taken her to Chuck E. Cheese yesterday with another little girl, Briley, and her grandmother, Vicki. Rane, however, really misses his big sister. He keeps asking me where she is and, unfortunately, I have lied to him and told him she is at a friend's house for the week. He would be devastated if he found out that she was at Mimi and Grandpa's house. He was already crushed to see them leave with her on Sunday so I just told him they were taking her to stay with a friend. It worked out much better that way! On Sunday he was playing next to me and turned to me and said, "I want Ella-Ann." He has gotten used to her being around and playing with him all summer long. Also at dinner that evening he was saying the blessing and he asked God to "bring Ella-Ann home." Bless his little heart! It was so sweet.

I am going to take him to the Southeastern Railway Museum tomorrow in Duluth, which is about 18 miles away from where we live. He will love to see all the trains and I hope we will get to ride on one. He is such an easy kid and plays so well by himself that having just him and Pierson is a breeze. My house is quiet and peaceful! Without Ella-Ann there is no one to argue with but there is also no one for him to run around the house with so I think he is enjoying playing with his toys with no interruptions but he misses his playmate! While Ella-Ann is gone I open up her bedroom door and let Rane go to town with her toys! He destroys everything in her room when she is there to witness it but if he is by himself he plays very carefully. He gets lost in his imaginary world and will play for a while in her room.

We all look forward to when Ella-Ann gets home, even though we are enjoying the quietness!

PT for P

2011-07-13T10:35:00.003-04:00

I took Pierson to see a physical therapist yesterday afternoon....with Rane, at 1:00, during both their nap times. It was quite fun. Ella-Ann is at camp this week at her school all day (8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m) so at least I didn't have to drag her there. We were there for an hour and a half and Rane did pretty good. He was hard to handle at times and it was difficult to listen to the therapist explain things to me (like 100 things) but I managed. At one point Rane turned the lights off in the room so we sat in the dark until I could find the switch. I was exhausted by the time we got in the car to leave, as was Pierson! On the other had, Rane was screaming on the way home because he wanted to stay!

The therapist evaluated her, measured her head and found her to have a moderate case of torticollis, which is a stiff neck. She said the entire right side of her body is stiff as well. I never noticed (shame on me) that when Pierson turns her head her neck muscles majorly protrude and are super tight. The therapist had to point it out to me. She has a flat head on the right side, which I have mentioned before, but that doesn't have anything to do with the torticollis. She has a difficult time turning her head to the left and keeping it there so it just automatically falls to look right. Pierson is also learning her midline to be a little to the right, since that is the way her head naturally falls, instead of center. There is about a 15-degree difference between how far she can look to the right and left and bend her ear to her shoulder. If we were to let this go she could have physical developmental problems so I have to take her to therapy once a week and do many exercises with her three times a day. Since Pierson is not fond of her stomach, which is probably why she doesn't roll much, I have to start getting her used to laying on it by having tummy time at least 5 times a day. This also helps to stretch out the front of her neck, which is also tight. Keep in mind Pierson is only awake for a maximum of 1.5 hours in between naps and in that time I have to feed her a bottle, feed her solids, run errands and now do a bunch of exercises! I have a lot on my plate but I can do it! The good thing is I have Ella-Ann, who adores Pierson, wanting to help me as much as possible. I think I can, I think, I can, I think I can!

Catch Up

2011-07-10T16:35:00.006-04:00

This week was busy with the usual happenings, like errands and doctor appointments. I meant to post the below pictures of Pierson with a previous post, like from a week ago, but forgot. This was taken before church one Sunday when she was wearing Ella-Ann's dress...

Pierson discovered her feet a few weeks ago and now she is obsessed with them. Often when I get her up from a nap or in the morning her socks or pajama feet are soaking wet because she's been chewing on them for a while! She loves them and I love her baby feet too!

On the 4th of July, since Spencer and I were pooped from running and all the excitement that went along with the Peachtree Road Race, we just laid low around the house and let the kids stay up and do fireworks and sparklers. Craig and Kasey stopped in Tennessee to buy our fireworks since they are better there and they brought us a bunch of good ones. The kids loved the sparklers and that's about all we did because it rained really hard that afternoon and the big fireworks that Craig bought were way too loud and crazy with the tall trees surrounding our house so we only did one and that scared Rane enough to never want to be around another firework!

We also got the firepit going and made smores....

I mean, this kid loves smores!

On Saturday Rane was invited to a birthday party for his friend, Henry (my friend Megan's little boy). The theme was superhero so I bought Rane a Superman costume and he loved it! The invitation said siblings were welcome and princesses were considered superheros as well so when I told Ella-Ann this she immediately said, "Cinderella is a superhero! I am wearing that costume!" She was dressed for the party, that started at 10 a.m., at 7:30 yesterday morning! Her friend, Anna-Kate, was also dressed as Cinderella so those two girls had a ball together. I was really excited for Rane to be invited to a party. We do a lot for Ella-Ann because her friends are the children of my friends and their middle children are not too close in age to Rane so, besides PMO, he doesn't get out much! ha! He had so much fun at the party and indulged in the beautiful cupcakes Megan made before the party even started. I found him with his hands covered in white icing! I'm sure he also made a few rounds around Megan's house exploring everything and touching things he's probably not supposed to! When we got in the car to go home the first thing Rane said was, "I had SO MUCH FUN, MOMMY! What a great day!" It was so sweet that he had so much fun at a birthday party that HE was invited to!

The Cinderella's, Anna-Kate and Ella-Ann!

As soon as we arrived the kids got to decorate a lightening bolt cookie and make a mask.

I couldn't exactly yell across the table at Rane while we were all singing "Happy Birthday" to Henry so he stayed in the middle of Dave and Megan...right by the cupcakes, of course! I'm sure they will appreciate Rane being in their family photos!

Oh The Allergies

2011-07-08T20:36:00.008-04:00

The girls, they are becoming quite a handful with all of their allergy and skin issues. I took Pierson in for her 6-month check up on Wednesday. She weighs 14 pounds, 9 oz and is in the 20th percentile. She is 27 inches in length and in the 80th percentile. She is on the same track as the other two kids. She has quite a flat spot on the right side of her head so we have to see a physical therapist soon to avoid her having to wear a helmet. I have to start doing neck stretches with her at home and will learn more to do for her from the PT. Her eczema has always been bad and has always covered her whole body so I was given a prescription for her and was told to bathe her more so I can put it on damp skin...like every day. The pediatrician told me I also needed to start feeding her more solids, i.e., breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is not a fun task for me because she doesn't have too much interest in eating. She loves fruits but I have a hard time feeding her vegetables so that takes forever. So that's Pierson's update.

On to Ella-Ann. Spencer and I noticed that her allergies seem to have gotten much worse so I made an appointment with the allergist, who we saw yesterday. They needed to perform another skin test on her (she had one when she was 2 years old), which I wanted to do so we could get her on allergy shots. She screamed as they pricked her skin and cried during the 15 minutes of "marinating" time. Her back immediately started getting red and the whelps started developing as soon as the serum hit her back. She cried and cried because she wanted to scratch so badly. It was torture for her and torture for me to watch her. The nurse came back in when the time was up and measured her whelps. Anything over 5 mm was considered to be an allergy....nearly every whelp on her back was over 13 mm. She was allergic to everything. The worst were dogs, cats and nuts (which we knew). Oak trees and grass were also bad. When the doctor came in to check out her test he immediately said, "Oh wow," and said it two more times when examining the whelps. He said he had never seen such a bad reaction, especially to dogs. Needless to say, pets are not in our future. The doctor said, when he sat down to talk to me after the test, "Let me first tell you what she's not allergic to....dust. That's about it." So in a nutshell, I have two new prescriptions to give her and Zyrtec, which she is already taking, two times a day. She will start allergy shots in 2 weeks and those will be three times a week for 3-6 months and then, hopefully, be knocked down to once a month for 4-5 years. The clinic is about 15-20 minutes away from our house, depending on traffic, so this is not going to be an easy in-and-out thing for me, especially since I'll most likely be toting along Rane and Pierson with us. We have to stay in the office 30 minutes after the shot to make sure Ella-Ann doesn't have a reaction. I was also given another prescription for two EpiPens because we need to carry around 2 now at all times. We've always had one with me and one at school but now there needs to be two with me and two at school, just in case.

I also have to start giving Ella-Ann bleach baths two times a week. The doctor said people with eczema have more bacteria on their skin so the bleach bath kills the bacteria. She has to soak for 15 minutes. After that I have to lather her up in her steroid skin cream and Aquaphor while damp, just like I have to do with Pierson. Please keep in mind that Ella-Ann cannot stand baths so a bleach bath is not pleasing to her whatsoever. I told the allergist about Pierson and how her skin is worse at 6 months than Ella-Ann's was at that age and he said she is on the same track as Ella-Ann and should get an allergy test between 9 and 12 months.

When I think about it all I am very overwhelmed with all of it. I know Spencer will be there to help me as much as he can, so that helps me feel better about the tasks at hand! I know that this is the best thing for Ella-Ann and we are on the right road to helping her feel like a brand new person. She has gotten so used to feeling miserable that I don't think she realizes that she is going to feel so much better and will be happier once the shots and all the meds get going in her system. I honestly think that a lot of Ella-Ann's whining and drama issues have to do with how bad she feels. I would be cranky too with all that she is allergic to! So, we will just take it day-by-day and I know God will help us get it all done...He has to provide all the time it is going to take for the girls, that's for sure!

The Peachtree

2011-07-05T19:36:00.006-04:00

Spencer and I ran in the Peachtree Road Race the morning of July 4th. I ran it once before and have been wanting to run it again, especially with Spencer, but with being pregnant 3 out of the 6 summers we have spent here and Spencer's crazy weekend schedules it has been hard to make a trip down Peachtree again. Well this was the year to do it. We are leaving at the end of this year so it was now or never. I convinced Spencer that it was super fun and quite entertaining so I signed us both up for the lottery drawing in March. This was the first year they did a lottery because so many people want to run the race. We were excited to have our names drawn and we started, ah hem, I should say I started training, early on so I wouldn't die crossing the finish line. Spencer ran a bit but figured if he can run 4 miles he can run 6.2 so that was that. Let's just go ahead and say I had to carry Spencer's stuff for him after the race back to the car. :) He's still whining today. ha!

Craig and Kasey kindly brought us back Ella-Ann and Rane on Sunday and stayed to watch the kids while we ran yesterday morning. We got up super early and drove to the MARTA station. It was busy but not as busy as I had expected.....
These are not the best pictures because I took them with my phone and was walking while taking them. This was a shot of all the people getting off MARTA at the Lenox station, where we started the race. By the way, this was taken at 6:30 a.m.!

Since 60, 000 people run in the race they have everyone grouped by letters A-Y. We were assigned corral X, yes X...with the blue-hairs and run/walkers. I was not pleased. It was because we didn't turn in a previous race time when registering so we were put in the back. Well in the back we were not going to stay. We arrived and saw they had cornered off the groups of letters and gated passages so you couldn't sneak by. It was hard with all the Peachtree volunteers but we managed to sneak through a Publix, go out the parking garage and be right up with the Js! So we sat down and hid the color/letters on our shirts until it was time to hit the pavement. On a side note, as we were walking to the start I saw someone wearing an "X" tag and I said to Spencer, "Look! There's an X!" Right as I said it I looked up to see the person's face and I kid you not when I tell you the man was at least 75 years old! No way were we running in that group! Plus we weren't scheduled to run until 9 a.m.! It was already in the mid-70s by 7 a.m. So to make an already long story short, we got shoved to the side toward the exit gates THREE times by police officers as we were walking up to the start line with the J group. All three times we just made a big U and stayed with the Js. Literally we were grabbed by the arm and shoved to the sidewalks and were told "Get out of this group! Go back!" Nope, we didn't. We're such rebels.
We waited with the wrong group and ran anyway. This is us waiting to start. This is a shot of all the people behind us...
On the left if Phipps Plaza. I cannot say enough how crowded it was and what exactly it felt like to run with 60, 000 people. Crazy.

I love this picture. They sang "The Star Spangled Banner" before the race, had a prayer and 3 fighter jets flew over. It gave me chills. It was so neat. Right before the race you walked under a massive American Flag. It was held up by a crane.

We were almost ready to start!!! On the left of the picture is Lenox Mall.

Spencer and I ran the race pretty fast, but honestly it was very difficult, as you can imagine by looking at the pictures, to dodge people every 2 seconds, take all the sights around you in and set a good pace. Impossible. Along the way we saw quite a few interesting and funny things....
Like the Fur Bus (whatever that is). I know you cannot see it well, but I had to post this picture. The people on the bus in the back of the picture are, how can I describe it, like strippers. The man singing is holding a large bottle of champagne. Mind you, this is around 8 a.m. Along the way the Catholic church was spraying "Holy Water" and the priest was standing out on the sidewalk in white shorts, his collar and throwing Holy water on people as they ran by. We saw people in costumes, full body paint, tutus and headgear. I passed a man drinking beer, dressed as the Statue of Liberty and standing on stilts (He wasn't running!). Instead of water being handed out as you ran by, one restaurant was passing out slices of pizza, shots of beer and margaritas. Not only could you get a large slice of pizza along the way, but you could grab a bagel, fruit, burrito, cheeses, Popsicles, smoothies, pretzels, breakfast sandwiches and the list goes on and on. Who could eat a burrito while running? I guess the walkers in group X! Ha!Just look at the sea of people in front of me. I could see the road directly in front of me but if I looked ahead all I saw were people and more people.

This was the finish at Piedmont Park. I ran ahead of Spencer during the race and, even though we tried to keep track of each other, we eventually lost sight and he didn't have his phone so I was thankful to spot him cross the finish line. It was weird to see the park like this...it was hard to get our bearings because we didn't recognize anything. The balloons are for shirt pickups. That is how many people were there at once. They had to have huge balloons in the air to mark the tents for the coveted Peachtree Road Race shirt!

Spencer and I had so much fun doing this, or at least I did! It was fun to do something like this together and I am glad he finally got to experience the Peachtree before we moved!

Happy Half Birthday

2011-06-30T09:01:00.004-04:00

To Pierson! Since Pierson was born on December 31st she doesn't exactly have a marker for each month so June 30th is her half birthday. The last 6 months have absolutely flown by and I cannot believe our 3rd child is already halfway to her first birthday! She is a sweet baby girl and we are so thankful for her life. She is the easiest baby and very laid back. Maybe it's the third kid thing and she has no choice but to be easy and go with the flow. She is always happy and eager to grab your attention and smile at you.

So here are Sweet P's updates at 6 months of age:

She goes down at 7 p.m. and sleeps until I wake her up, which is between 7-7:30 a.m.
She drinks 4 bottles a day and one jar of baby food.
She naps 3 times a day, each nap lasting between 1-2.5 hours. Yes, be jealous! When she does wake up Pierson is talking and super happy. Of course I do not think this will always be the case because Ella-Ann used to wake up like that and now she is quite moody before breakfast!
She lights up at the sight of one of her family members.
Pierson spends a lot of time in her exersaucer, but her bouncy seat is her favorite spot, especially when I put the fish attachment on it. She kicks like crazy when she watches the bubbles and the fish move. Ella-Ann always asks if Pierson can watch her show!
She cannot sit unassisted yet, but she is closer to sitting than rolling over! She doesn't roll much and will just fuss while on her belly until someone saves her by rolling her back over to her back.
She sucks her thumb and sleeps with her bunny lovey right now.
No teeth yet.
Pierson loves to sit in her Bumbo seat and watch me work in the kitchen.
Spencer has decided to learn how to play the guitar recently so when he is strumming Pierson goes bananas. She loves the tune!

Spencer and I have really enjoyed just spending time with Pierson this week. We really miss Ella-Ann and Rane like crazy but getting one-on-one time with little P has been great. She is precious!

Where Have I Been?

2011-06-28T12:20:00.012-04:00

Don't fear, I am back! Our computer had a virus so it has been with the Geek Squad getting fixed for the last 4 days. Thank goodness I still had my phone....what would I do without Facebook for 4 days??? hahaha! First off, today is Spencer and I's anniversary! It is hard to believe we have been married for 8 years! I am thrilled to be going out to a nice dinner tonight with just one child! I will get to eat somewhat slowly and will only have to feed myself! This would be because Ella-Ann and Rane are in Tennessee for the ENTIRE week at their Nana and Papa's house! I do miss them, but I am just fine without them this week! It has been so strange to hear nothing except for Pierson cooing these last few days. When I get home from running errands I only have to make my own lunch for a change! I don't have to rush around for anything! It is funny the little things I have noticed that I can do....like leave my phone on the couch, computer open and the cabinets unlocked. My refrigerator is also very cold because I don't have two little people opening and shutting it all the time! My lettuce actually froze yesterday! ha! Yesterday alone I worked out, made blueberry scones, went to H&M and shopped slowwwwwwly, ate my lunch at home, made biscuits from scratch and honey butter, made a marinade for fish for dinner, went to Target and the bank, cleaned, did two loads of laundry, made dinner (grilled fish and veggies with rice) and orange julius' for dessert! It is absolutely amazing at what I can accomplish with just one child! It's so funny to think how hard I used to think it was taking care of just Ella-Ann when she was small but now that there are three of them going down to one is a breeze! Pierson is loving all the extra attention and I think she has found her voice, or at least can hear it now, because she is "talking" all the time...no one is around to interrupt her! It's so sweet.

So I will play catch up with my posts. We had VBS all last week, which was so much fun. Rane got to participate for the first time and he loved it! Ella-Ann would get in bed at night and every single night last week she would say, "I don't want to go to sleep, I wish I was at VBS right now!" She had a ball, to say the least! Rane put up some fussiness the first day at drop off and after that he was raring to get to church each morning. It helped to have Ella-Ann bouncing off the walls to get him excited to go in the mornings! Ella-Ann was such a big help to me last week with the kids. She was a doll with Rane. She wanted to drop him off in his class in the mornings (he didn't want me to take him) and they had story time together after the opening assembly and she would take very good care of her little brother. One morning I peeked in from behind on them and saw that Rane was sitting in her lap! He eventually moved out of her lap and they sat beside each other holding hands. I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up! She was so great with him. Ella-Ann and Rane may argue at home and get in trouble together but when push comes to shove, Ella-Ann adores Rane and loves being his big sister. She watches out for him for sure!

Pierson was stellar in the nursery all week too. She slept through so much loud chaos all week! I was on the registration committee so after the first couple of days I had a lot of freedom to roam and chat with my friends, which I happily did! Ella-Ann loved visiting me in snacks and would cry if I was late or wasn't there. Whenever she would see me she would coming running and give me a huge hug...as if she hadn't seen me in days!

Once VBS was over on Friday I was exhausted. Spencer drove the kids halfway to meet his dad on Saturday afternoon when he got off work (what a man!). That night we had a huge, beautiful double rainbow right in front of our house. I have never seen a prettier rainbow. Ella-Ann is obsessed with rainbows and has just recently saw one for herself at my parent's house. She thought they were some sort of myth! I was sad that she was gone from our house for just a few hours and two appear out our front window! Figures!

The theme was Cosmic City so hence the blue, black and yellow. Ella-Ann is with with her class and singing along with the people up front. This was her favorite thing about VBS...singing!

Anna-Kate and Ella-Ann are two peas in a pod and were happy to spend the week together! They are exactly alike in every way you can imagine!

Before leaving the house one morning. In case you are wondering what the brown blob is it is Dora's head.

She spotted me right as I took this picture. Always happy to see me!

I was pretty far away for these two pictures so that is why they are fuzzy. Rane is in Ella-Ann's lap above....

and holding hands in this picture.

Rane absolutely loved his teacher, Mrs. Fortenberry. She was so good with the 2 and 3-year-olds all week. I don't see how she manged with 12 of them! Rane was usually in her lap for the opening and closing assemblies. One afternoon he wouldn't even get out of her lap to come to me!

A great sight to see at the end of our week!

The Interstate Again???

2011-06-19T19:56:00.004-04:00

This is what Ella-Ann always asks me when we get anywhere near the interstate so you can imagine how delighted she was when we hit the road, after just getting back from Hilton Head 6 days prior, to head to Tennessee and then Kentucky to visit family. Despite all of our travels, though, the kids were rock stars in the car. No whining or complaining that was too annoying! We mainly headed to Tennessee so that Spencer could get finger printed for his Tennessee medical license so we spent the night at Gary and Gayla's house on Friday. The Evans family came over so the kids were thrilled to get to play together so soon after just seeing each other.

On Saturday morning we headed to Central Kentucky to visit Nanny, Spencer's grandmother. The kids were excited to see her and I know Nanny enjoyed seeing the two big kids and cuddling Pierson. I was so proud of Ella-Ann and Rane who easily scarfed down the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, peas and angel food cake that Nanny had prepared for us! I didn't hear a single complaint out of Ella-Ann, who easily finds something wrong with "other people's" food!

That afternoon we headed 2 hours west to my parent's house to spend the week. It was my last trip to their house until we move! I cannot believe my 5 1/2 to 6-hour trips to and from their house is over! Our main reason for going last week was to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Mom and I had a little surprise party planned for him later in the week with many of their friends. We had a wonderful time at their house and thankfully Spencer didn't get bored! We relaxed a ton but we also got out and had some fun. Spencer and I went to the movies all by ourselves! We haven't done that since before Ella-Ann was born! We also took Ella-Ann and Rane bowling for the first time while Mom watched Pierson one afternoon. They absolutely loved it! We played two games and it took about 2 hours! Ella-Ann also played Pac Man for the first time, which I played a lot (I know my Dad did too) when I was a kid so that was kinda cool. However, she enjoyed the driving video game a whole lot more!

My friend, Sara, came over with her little ones, Lucy and Jay, one morning. It was great to see them and catch up with Sara. Ella-Ann, Lucy and Rane had a blast running around the house!

Tuesday my Dad turned 60 so we had a little family celebration for him. We grilled some food, ate some cake, opened presents and did sparklers in the driveway. Ella-Ann had sparklers for the 4th last year but this was Rane's first time. We went through 5 boxes! My Dad thought that was it for his birthday celebration but little did he know Mom and I planned a party for him later that week with their friends. We had an amazing cake made for him that suited him well, as you will see from my pictures! He walked in the restaurant and we all yelled, "SURPRISE!" He was floored and had absolutely no clue we had something up our sleeves! It was fantastic! We had such a good time at the restaurants and the kids were wound up like crazy because of all the people, volume level and good time that was being had by all. Rane stuck his fingers in Dad's cake no less then 4 times before we had even cut it! He was SO excited to eat that cake and boy did he enjoy himself with it! I think more of it ended up on his clothes rather than in his mouth! The party was a great way to end our last big trip to my parent's house. We left for home Friday morning and I am happy to say I am staying put for quite a while!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.

Mr. Personality

2011-06-16T20:53:00.003-04:00

Then there is Rane! Mr. Personality himself! Rane will be 2 1/2 next month and he is still the ham of the family. He loves attention and basks in it when he gets it! I remember when Rane was about 6-8 weeks old and we had him on the floor in the bouncy seat while the rest of us ate dinner at the table. Spencer kept looking down at Rane and then would kinda laugh and shake his head. Finally I asked him why he kept looking at Rane and his response was, "I don't know. I have just never seen a baby so, so, what is it? Charming?" I mean, the kid could charm the pants off of us at 2 months of age! He just has a way of looking at you that makes you want to fall in love! ha! While Ella-Ann may bring the drama Rane brings the party! He's always ready for a good time and no matter what, he usually has one!

Rane loves to laugh and loves to be a clown. He is always full of energy and is full of spirit. He has a great, laid back, funny, sweet and loving personality. He has always done well playing on his own and if Ella-Ann isn't around to play with he easily plays in the play room by himself.

Rane speaks really well for his age and we are able to understand him, which is nice. Spencer summed up Rane really well the other day when he said that Rane speaks like a 4 year old but thinks and acts like a 2-year-old. I have to remember that when he sticks his hands in the toilet and then tells me he did it!

Unfortunately Rane's mischievous personality also gets him into trouble...often! He is always doing something that he isn't supposed to be doing so you can usually hear me yelling, "Rane!!!" from across the room! The other day he and Ella-Ann were punished for spinning Pierson around in circles while she was sitting in her exersaucer. I was in the other room and when I came out Ella-Ann and Rane scattered. When I was talking with Rane about what he had done he had his head lowered and, looking up at me with his big eyes he simply said (in a very straight face), "Ella-Ann do it." There it was.....his first blatant lie!

Rane is also our very best eater so far. He will eat anything and everything. Last night we went to an Italian restaurant with my parents and Rane ate all the black olives out of the salad and then when he asked for more my Dad took the big, green olives out of his dirty martini and Rane ate all of those...and then some! He loves to eat and I love to watch him!

Rane still takes a solid 2-hour nap in the afternoon and sleeps well at night. He loves to play outside and I would say that his his favorite thing to do. We got a dump truck for him for Easter and he will fill it up with dirt and push it from one end of the yard to the other. He loves to play in the dirt and will sit and dig a hole for an hour. Good thing he enjoys baths! His favorite book is still "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" but second runner up would be a book he has about Bob the Builder. He drags that book everywhere and will say, "Can we fix it? YES WE CAN!"

Being that Rane has such an extroverted personality you can imagine what he is like in public. He will say hello to everyone and wave and wave at anyone that passes us by. He will even stop people in the grocery and talk to them! He is such a good little boy and we love him to pieces, as does everyone who meets him.

The Drama Queen

2011-06-14T21:06:00.002-04:00

Of course Ella-Ann is our drama queen! She brings the drama wherever, whenever! The child is my clone, so she comes by it naturally! At least I know what it takes to handle her! She is our precious firstborn and has easily settled into being my little helper at all times and really enjoys it 95% of the time. Ella-Ann takes very good care of Rane and Ella-Ann. She often helps out Rane a little too much and it causes him to pull away from her and get angry because he is very much into the "I do it myself!!!" phase. At least there is Pierson to dote on! Ella-Ann holds her every day and often asks me if she can feed her a bottle.....of course I am all for that because it frees up my two hands to do something else! Some days she feeds Pierson all 4 of her bottles!

Ella-Ann has a very compassionate heart and a passionate spirit. She will stand her ground no matter what, even if she is blatantly wrong! ha! She has a problem with screaming her demands at Spencer and I with her hands on her hips so we are working on attitude adjustment everyday. She is a Mama's girl through and through and loves to spend every waking minute with me...so much so that I often trip over her feet! She has always been my little side kick and even though she often drives me crazy following me around and asking me a bazillion questions a day I know this season will one day be over and I will miss her desire to be near me. She loves to curl up in my lap, play with my hair, whisper in my ears and tell me how much she loves me. She is one sweet little girl!

Ella-Ann is really into pretend now days and I often find her wrapped up in her imaginary world with Rane. She sets the scene and Rane will happily play along...usually he is the dad of the family or the prince in the castle! They play well together now and I couldn't be happier. The do argue and battle over toys but, for the most part, they play and work really well together. Ella-Ann will pick up Rane and carry him around the house like a sack of potatoes! It's hilarious!

I can tell a big change in her personality since she has been in school for a year. She has learned to respect authority other than Spencer and I, meet all kinds of new people from all kinds of different backgrounds, make friends of all ages, ride a school bus all by herself and be perfectly fine without Spencer and I being around....yeay for independence! Recently a friend from school that she met on the bus has started calling my cell phone to talk to Ella-Ann. I about dropped the phone the first time Anya called because it was a little voice that I didn't recognize asking to speak with my little baby girl! I asked Ella-Ann how she got my number and Ella-Ann simply said, "I gave it to her!" Oh, okay. In fact, Anya called today to just chat! One time I asked to speak with Anya's mother because I wanted to introduce myself. I was curious about how old Anya was because she wasn't in Ella-Ann's Pre-K class so after hearing the little girl's mother tell me Anya was 7 I about died laughing!

Ella-Ann is learning to read and has recently learned how to tie her shoes. I'd say her favorite thing in the world is still her bobbie, a.k.a., her blanket that she has slept with since she was 6 months old. Her favorite books are anything to do with Dora or Pinkalicious. Ella-Ann's favorite thing to play would have to be house with Rane or anyone else that she is playing with at the moment. She loves to play mommy and have the other kids be either the daddy, children or the family pet! She always, always is the mommy of the pretend family, though, but that doesn't surprise me at all because mommy is always the boss!

Happiest Baby Ever

2011-06-13T11:44:00.006-04:00

That would be Pierson, the happiest baby God every made! It has been a while since I have talked about the kids so I will post about each of them over the next few days. I usually just write about what we are up to so I want to make sure I document the kids and their personalities so it will be in our blog book. First is Pierson! She is quite the doll of the family. She never, ever makes a peep and rarely cries. Really the only two things that she would cry about is sitting in a dirty diaper and getting too worked up after waking up in the middle of a nap and not being able to go back to sleep. She is a very content baby and easily goes with the flow. I guess she doesn't have a choice since she's the 3rd child! She smiles at the drop of a hat and her smiles are always huge! She kicks her legs and slaps her arms against her sides when she is super excited. She rolls over a little, but that's about it in the mobility department! She is no where near sitting unassisted and still has to be propped up with a blanket in the Bumbo seat. She doesn't have any teeth yet at 5 1/2 months of age but drools like crazy anyway. She is a spit up baby, but still nothing like Ella-Ann's projectile spit up that lasted until she was one!

Princess P (I have all kinds of nicknames for her) is also our biggest baby, even though she was the smallest at birth thanks to the two-vessel cord. She is already in 6 to 9-month clothing and has been growing out of all of her clothes very quickly. She is really long so Pierson may be our tallest kid! She has sweet chubby cheeks that you cannot help but want to kiss all the time. Her eyes are bright blue and much different than Ella-Ann and Rane's eyes. When I look at her I often think, you are not my child with those baby blues! Although as soon as I look at her pointy chin I see the resemblance to me. ha!

Pierson practically sleeps like a newborn. She is up at 7 a.m., sleeps 3 2-hour naps and is down for the night at 7 p.m. Her nighttime feedings ended around 4 months of age so she is an absolute champ in the sleeping department! I can definitely say that she is my best sleeper, and I have REALLY good sleeping babies/kids so you can imagine how good little P is! She has learned to sleep through lots of chaos and noise. In fact the morning we were leaving the house in Hilton Head I laid Pierson down in the living room while the rest of the family and kids were scurrying about the house getting the cars packed and when I went in the room to check on Pierson she was fast asleep amidst the madness! Pierson just rolls over onto her side and sucks her thumb for a few minutes and she is out like a light.

She found her feet a few days ago and is finally taking small toys and chewing on them. Usually she just wants to chew on her fingers.

Pierson adores Ella-Ann and Rane and lights up like crazy when she sees them, especially when they make eye contact with her. When I feed Pierson solids I put her in the Bumbo seat on the kitchen counter and it is hard to feed her because Ella-Ann and Rane are usually standing in chairs in front of her so she cannot stop smiling at them which means all of the food runs right back out of her mouth! I started baby food this week and it has gone over much better than the squash did in Hilton Head!

We all are in love with Pierson and she is a perfect fit in our family of 5!

Hilton Head

2011-06-05T19:48:00.004-04:00

Last week was spent on the beach, by the pool, eating dinner out (all but 2 nights), playing around the house and sleeping in! We traveled to Hilton Head to spend a week of vacation with Spencer's family. We go on vacation together each year and always have a blast together. It is a trip I always look forward to! Ella-Ann had been counting down the days on her calendar for months! Ella-Ann and Rane couldn't wait to see Carter, Seth and Ethan. They arrived shortly after us and I don't think they were quiet all week long unless they were sleeping! They ran all over the house we rented all week and, unfortunately, the first floor of the house had sliding glass doors with a wrap around deck so trying to keep Ethan and Rane from exiting the house and falling in the pool was not fun! The kids played so well together and had a ball playing at the beach each morning and at the pool the rest of the afternoon. Gayla, Mandy and I would read books and magazines while the men entertained the kids and played with them. It was great! Pierson was a sweet little thing and was cuddled a lot, that is when she wasn't sleeping all day! Zach and Spencer took Carter, Seth and Ella-Ann to see "Kung Fu Panda" one afternoon while Rane and Ethan took a nap. Carter and Seth had been to the movies several times but this was Ella-Ann's first time going to the movies. It's not like I hadn't thought about taking her, it's just that she is really afraid of "normal" movies so going to see a new movie, in the dark, on a huge screen with lots of loud noises was probably not going to go over well with her....and it did not! Mandy had to go pick up Spencer and Ella-Ann halfway through the movie. Spencer said she wasn't that afraid, she just wasn't too interested in watching it and wanted to go home to swim in the pool. The kids were swimming like little fish by the time the end of the week rolled around! Zach also took the big kids to play put-put one evening as well. They loved that!

We ate lots of good seafood at night and the kids were really good at every restaurant. Please remember we were taking 6 kids to a restaurant....all at the same table and sitting close to one another! I don't think Ella-Ann and Rane have ever had so much sugar in the lives thus far! They enjoyed donuts, "candy" cereal, lots of candy courtesy of Uncle Craig, strawberry milkshakes at night, popsicles by the pool and brownies. That's what vacations are for, right? Detox is not so fun, though!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to see all of them.

Hitting the beach our first morning in Hilton Head.

He was so proud of the crumb of a seashell he found!

Pierson is always, always incredibly happy. In this picture she is wearing Ella-Ann's sun hat and my outfit from when I was a baby.

The kids, and Craig and Spencer, enjoyed sitting in the hot tub all afternoon!

Watching cartoons together one morning.

Papa and Nana with all their grandchildren.

A Weekend (and Week) In Pictures

2011-05-26T16:52:00.007-04:00

Too many events have happened over the course of the last week to explain everything so I am doing a picture post! I have been really busy lately, which explains the lack of posts. Ella-Ann's last of school was last Friday and we have been busy bodies ever since! You would that that now it is summer break that I would have less to do but I feel like our summer is filling up with activities, which is fine by me!

My Mom came down for a visit last Friday (left on Tuesday morning) so I was able to take Ella-Ann to Anna-Kate's birthday party by myself on Saturday morning. The theme was Fancy Nancy so Ella-Ann had her fanciest attire picked out the night before and had it all on, jewels included, by 7:20 a.m. Saturday morning! She was so excited to see Anna-Kate! Above is Ella-Ann with a few of the girls eating a fancy lunch!

Ella-Ann had to sit as close as possible to Anna-Kate while she opened her presents.

Pierson was our centerpiece! Ella-Ann never took off the crown she made at Anna-Kate's birthday party all afternoon, evening and the next day!

Waiting to eat lunch at a new restaurant in the Highlands.

Ella-Ann thought it was fun to sit at the bar and watch the bartender mix drinks!

I surprised Ella-Ann and had Mara-Kate over to spend the night Tuesday night. I had to work as the volunteer mom for Rane's PMO that morning (had completely forgotten I was on the schedule so it was a hectic morning, to say the least) so I had to take Ella-Ann and Pierson with me. Ella-Ann had an absolute ball playing with the little kids! All the little girls wanted to sit in her lap and hold her hand. What was so funny was that one of them was as big as her and wanted to sit in her lap! I took the kids for the first time through a fast-food drive-thru (gasp!) for lunch because we were in a hurry to meet Jana halfway between here and where she lives (north Georgia). It was the quietest my car has ever been, I think! Ella-Ann and Mara Kate were SO excited to see each other! It has been 4 months since they had seen one another....way too long! They had a ball playing all afternoon and really enjoyed playing in Rane's water table. I met Jana halfway again on Wednesday so return Mara Kate. Now we are busy getting ready to head to the beach!

Happy Birthday Spencer!

2011-05-18T19:50:00.010-04:00

Today we celebrated Spencer turning, dare I say, THIRTY-TWO! I love birthdays and I love celebrating them and doing things for other people, i.e., mainly making the birthday cake and eating it! Spencer has been in Denver for ATS, which is a conference in his field, since Saturday so we were thrilled he was home and we got to celebrate together. He didn't have to go into work either...yeay! Rane and I ran birthday-related errands this morning and made the cake together. It was a strawberry layer cake and it is the first birthday cake I've ever made that actually turned out exactly how I wanted it to...finally! I picked up some salmon from Whole Foods, along with a roasted vegetable medley for dinner. I made mashed potatoes as well. The kids devoured their food quickly in order to get to the cake! It was a good day and hopefully Spencer felt special!

The cake!

It was white and red velvet cakes with Cool-Whip and strawberries in between the layers. I dirty iced it with vanilla frosting before covering it in Cool-Whip. It was really fun to make!

I forgot to take a picture of it, but Ella-Ann and Rane made a "Happy Birthday Daddy" banner that is hanging on the wall behind him.

The kids loved helping blow out all those candles!

Rane thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Sweet Moments

2011-05-10T20:37:00.005-04:00

Simple, sweet moments with my kids makes me incredibly thankful for them. Even though days, and even nights, can be crazy around here I wouldn't change a single thing. When I sneak up on them and watch them interact with each other, like they were doing yesterday afternoon, melts my heart and makes me so happy that I get to stay home with them every day and watch them grow up. Yesterday I walked into the living room, where I had laid Pierson down on the floor, and Ella-Ann and Rane had laid down beside her and were singing to her.

Pierson was eating up all the attention and was talking back to Ella-Ann.

Side note, P is wearing Ella-Ann's outfit.

Pure happiness.

Money NOT Spent

2011-05-09T13:23:00.002-04:00

Check out my loot! I cut coupons yesterday, with my handy dandy helper, Miss Ella-Ann, and realized I had several coupons that would allow me to get items for FREE at Publix! I couldn't wait until my weekly shopping trip to rack it in so I went this morning to pay my grocery bill with coupons! My total before store savings and coupons was $23.14 and I paid only $2.92! I obviously realize there are much better coupon queens out there than me but I am so happy about what I did that I had to brag! I try to always have my savings below my total that I pay at the grocery and I usually do but this was my best little trip yet! The only item I truly paid for, even though I had a coupon for it, was the Almond Breeze milk, everything else was free. Now that I saved that money I can go spend it elsewhere, of course! ha!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:48:00.006-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother! I love you so much and want you to know you are the best mother a daughter could as for! I also wanted to wish my mother-in-law a Happy Mother's Day because she is a very important person and influence in my life as well!

I have had a wonderful day with my family. I was given a gift this morning and a sweet card from Spencer and the kids and my awesome mom sent me a gift that I received in the mail yesterday....a super cute market tote that is fuchsia and white polka dot with my monogram on it! I know, so thrilling to my readers! We went to church and spent the afternoon hanging around the house. My one and only request for this day was to eat at my favorite Atlanta restaurant, Nuevo Laredo. It is kind of a haul to get there from where we live now, especially with 3 kids, so we don't get to go often so I really miss it. I was incredibly disappointed when we pulled into an empty parking lot tonight because it was closed! Spencer even suggested that I call to make sure they are open today but I mocked his request and said, "Of course they are open, it's Neuvo Laredo!" Well I ate my words and we went to another Mexican restaurant instead. Not as fabulous as Neuvo Laredo but it was a good backup. Unfortunately my children didn't turn into angels for this monumental day for me....oh well, there's always next year! ha!

I recognized the bag immediately and jokingly asked Spencer if he quickly found this bag in my closet to throw my gift in on the fly, not thinking that he ACTUALLY went to my favorite store.....

Anthropologie and ACTUALLY bought me something to wear! I was highly impressed! He took Ella-Ann to pick out my gift last week and Ella-Ann said she picked out the beutiful white skirt all by herself! She said, "Daddy said we could get it for you!" Awwww!

The kids and I before we left for dinner. Ella-Ann and Rane were lookin' a little rough, they had been outside all day.

Yesterday I fed rice cereal to Sweet P for the first time!

She did pretty good. I'd say she was the easiest to feed for the first time out of the 3!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

2011-05-03T16:25:00.004-04:00

Spencer signed a contract yesterday with a hospital in Tennessee! We are almost, ALMOST done with Spencer's fellowship! I say "we" because we have been through all of it as a family and I do feel very much a part of Spencer's training, in a way, because it is all I have ever known. I met Spencer one week before he started medical school at UK so really I don't know a time where he wasn't in some sort of training!

I will not disclose on the blog where exactly in Tennessee we are moving but we are thrilled with where we are headed. We will be closer to our families and that was our number one reason for moving, period. It is so important for us to be near our immediate families because we obviously love them very much and we want our children to grow up with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Both Spencer and I grew up very close to our grandmothers and we want the same for our kids. We know how great that is!

Being in Atlanta has been, for me, an opportunity of a lifetime. I have always wanted to live in a big city and experience what that is like. I loved living downtown, right in the heart of it all, for 2.5 years when we first moved here and I have also enjoyed living a little further away from downtown the past 4 years. I will miss Atlanta immensely, especially my church and all of my friends, but we are ready, very ready, to move. We are moving at the end of this year and I am literally counting down the months, weeks and days until the big day! I feel like everything Spencer has worked so hard for has led up to this moment and now that we know the end is FINALLY in sight I can hardly stand the wait!

I am incredibly proud of all the hard work, long hours, long nights, and extra shifts my dear husband has put into this training and supporting our growing family as the years have passed. He worked himself to the bone, as any intern does, the first year of his residency, which is also the year we had Ella-Ann. That year is a blur to me because it was so hard. Ella-Ann and I rarely saw him so we are so thankful he is around so much more these past couple of years. Our last two children actually know Spencer! Spencer hardly ever complains (yes he does at times but certainly not as much as I would if I were in his position) and would never toot his own horn about his accomplishments and how far he has come so I am doing it for him! We celebrated the occasion this afternoon with a cookie cake and two of Spencer's favorite drinks......

and sparklers! I know, my cake decorating is fabulous, right? I nearly broke my hand trying to squeeze out "Congrats!" Don't ask about the half-iced cake either. Unfortunately Spencer is working this evening so we couldn't celebrate with champagne so I picked up his nonalcoholic favs.

On another note, we went to the park that is near our home again this past weekend. I remembered the camera!

4 Months

2011-04-29T20:01:00.005-04:00

This morning I took Pierson to the pediatrician for her 4-month check up. She is doing just dandy! She weighs 13 pounds, is 24 1/2 inches in length and her head is 16 1/8 inches in diameter. Broken down she is in the 25th percentile for weight, 50th for height (She's 2 feet tall now!) and the 75th percentile for head. Looks like she's inherited Spencer's big potato head, his words, not mine! Her eczema is still bad but we are doing what we can to keep it under control and she has a flat head on the right side. I was told to put all of her toys on the left side of the crib to make her look the other way and in my head I am asking, What toys? What crib? Poor baby girl, doesn't even have any toys because she doesn't play with toys yet so I threw some in Rane's crib this afternoon, where she was sleeping for a nap, and when I went to get her she was still looking the wrong way! We busted out the exersaucer today too to get her off her back but we were unable to put her in it because she screamed bloody murder all afternoon because the shots in her leg she received were hurting her so badly. It was absolutely awful. I have never, ever heard her scream so loudly. I had to stay outside with her during Rane's nap because she was screaming so loudly and I called Spencer to have him come home to help me. She finally calmed down after a couple of hours and some Tylenol. The pediatrician also told me that I needed to stop swaddling her, which I knew because she is 4 months old but she will not sleep without being tightly bound. I have tried a few times for naps and she just screamed forever until I caved and wrapped her back up! So tonight I am not swaddling and I know she will take forever to fall asleep and be up in the middle of the night but I know it needs to be done, especially since she hasn't even attempted to start rolling over yet and the flat head problem! Sweet baby girl was so worn out from the day she fell asleep in the Bumbo seat while I was making dinner......

Bless her heart! That would be Rane's arm in the picture. He pushed a chair over to the counter and climbed up on it because he was so concerned for her. He would pat the Bumbo seat and ask me, "Mommy, what's da matter with Peeson?"

On a side note, we are experimenting with Rane sleeping in Ella-Ann's room the past two nights. Ella-Ann has become deathly afraid of everything, even Peter Rabbit, which she watched at school last week while the older classes tested! Peter Rabbit? Really? She is also afraid of earthquakes and tornadoes. Looks like the TV will be OFF when the news is on in the mornings from now on! It doesn't help that they talk about it all at school too! So Rane being with her has helped some, but he wakes up early some mornings, of course being the last two mornings, so we have heard them before 6 a.m. each time. However, I was up at 4 a.m. the past two mornings anyway because with the bad storms we had the night before last I reset our clock in our bedroom incorrectly when the power went off and got up at 4 a.m. to work out instead of 6 a.m.! I also got up at 4 this morning to watch the royal wedding, of course, even though I recorded it! I just couldn't wait! So we shall see a couple of more nights how it goes with the two of them together but I am not going to like being woken up before dawn if it continues so they may be separated again!

Easter Festivities

2011-04-24T19:25:00.006-04:00

This weekend was absolutely fantastic. We had our annual Easter egg hunt at a family's house from church that we go to every year on Saturday afternoon. It is something I look forward to every year because it is so much fun...plus all of my friends are there, not that I ever get a chance to talk to them because it is mad chaos but, you know, at least we are there together! Ella-Ann was so excited about the day that she decided to start it at 5:30 a.m.! The kids had a blast and got lots of eggs. Rane had to donate some to Ella-Ann, a.k.a., I took handfuls out of his basket and threw them into Ella-Ann's basket while he wasn't looking, since she was majorly beat out of the eggs by her peers! Girlfriend needs to practice! There was great food, as usual, and once we ate and hunted the eggs we headed home.

Spencer had to work Saturday afternoon, which was the not fun part, but the kids and I had a good time sitting outside. My parents gave Rane a pirate water table for his birthday so Friday Spencer put it together and the kids thoroughly enjoyed playing with it all afternoon. I put them outside at 2 p.m. and I, literally, removed Rane from the table to come inside at 4:30! He loved it!

Today the kids received their Easter baskets full of trinkets and candy. The Easter bunny gave Rane a big dump truck since he loves playing with his little ones outside. He pushed the big Tonka truck back and fourth across the yard for over an hour this afternoon! We went to church and celebrated Easter Sunday with our church family. It was a wonderful celebration with lots of great music and a good message. The kids sat with us and enjoyed it as well.

This afternoon we again played outside. I cooked an Easter dinner, in case you are dying to know, of mashed potatoes and gravy, fish, creamed corn, roasted vegetable medley, rolls and a key lime pound cake for dessert. Yum!

Happy Easter!

Ella-Ann and Anna-Kate eating their lunch together at the egg hunt.

Rane cracked me up. They had the 2-3-year-olds corralled on the steps holding them until it was time for them to be let loose. Once they announced they could head into the yard Rane started climbing over the kids in front of him and once he realized they were too slow.......

he took matters into his own hands and went through the landscaping around them all and was the first one out!

Man he was good. His little basket was overflowing! Next year we will have to give him the big Halloween pumpkin!

Ella-Ann's disappointment in the lack of eggs is evident in this picture.

Eatin' some goodies!

The awesome pirate water table!

Easter fun this morning!

Pierson was up as well, dressed in her bunny pajamas!

Peeps after breakfast! Rane's first!

Yeah, that's as good as it gets folks.

We arrived early for church to get a seat. Rane was beyond thrilled to not be in the nursery!

You cannot see it very well, but Pierson is wearing Ella-Ann's Easter dress...size 6 months, and it fits!

A Tradition Continued

2011-04-23T15:30:00.006-04:00

Each year growing up my parents and I would dye eggs at Easter at my grandmother's house. We always had so much fun and those are very, very special memories to me and my parents, especially since my amazing grandmother, Honey, passed away when I was a sophomore in high school. She was one fantastic grandmother and I spent most of my years at her house since both my parents worked full-time. She did everything, and I mean everything, for me. So, when I decided to dye Easter eggs with my family I wanted to make sure I recreated it all and made it special for Ella-Ann and Rane. As soon as I stirred the vinegar into the cups of dye the smell immediately brought me back to Honey's house. I can see the old coffee mugs lined up on her kitchen table that was lined with newspaper. The only difference this time around was that my Mom put me in very nice clothing, monogrammed and all, for the occasion and I knew my two kids couldn't stay clean so they wore old t-shirts! Dad, Honey and I would always eat the hard-boiled eggs afterwards but my Mom has always stuck her nose up at them! I couldn't believe Ella-Ann was so willing to try an egg after dying it! I figured Rane would love eating one, surprisingly he did not, but it was Ella-Ann who loved them! She even ate one for breakfast the next day!

Writing with the magic crayon. That was a hit with Ella-Ann! I orginially had the dye in coffee mugs too but quickly switched to plastic cups since Rane nearly turned over 3 mugs before we had even started! Maybe next year!

Pierson joined in on the fun but quickly got too tired!

With all the pretty eggs! Next year we will do 24! Note the wardrobe change. This is what she was wearing to play outside (a dress, of course) and we made her change into a t-shirt and shorts to do the eggs. As soon as we were done she had changed back into her dress, with her hair down, immediately!

Oh and before the dying of the Easter eggs the kids and I planted wildflowers while Spencer mowed the yard.

Say What?

2011-04-21T06:46:00.003-04:00

Rane is the funniest kid I know and the cutest little boy! He is always making us laugh, whether he means to or not! He is also full of mischief, curiosity and testing! He keeps me on my toes all day long, always has! Even as an infant before he could even move you could see it in his eyes...he was ready to explore before his body would allow. Yesterday while I was putting on my makeup Rane decided to give his car a dip in the toilet! That is just one of the many things he does every single day that warrant me disciplining him. Poor kid! Now that he is almost 28 months old (really????) he has lots and lots to say. I think he talks really well, as I have mentioned before, and most people can understand exactly what he is saying. I love my little Southern boy....everything, I mean every single word, always has at least 2 syllables. For example the word "air" sounds like "aY-er." It's so cute! Before I forget, I wanted to post a record of some of the things he says for my future 2011 blog book. So, here are some Rane-isms.....

"What's dat noise?" (I think he just likes to say this because he says it at least 50 times a day.)
"Whatcha' doin?"
"It's daW-rk!!" (He refuses to go into any dark or dimly-lit room because he's afraid of the dark.)
"Tiptoe, tiptoe....it's a bear!!!!" (He says this when walking into the dimly-lit or dark room. It comes from the book "We're Going On A Bear Hunt," which is his favorite read.)
"Where's El-la AY-an?"
"Wait! I doin' sompin'!!" (This is what he says to me when I tell him to stop doing whatever he is doing, like getting into the pantry or trash because he's disobeying.) I always respond, "I know you're doin' sompin', you're disobeying!
"I go outside!"
"No dunder!" (No thunder.)
"I don like it!"
"Ohhh I like it!"
"Mommy, I hungry."
"I want a muuvie." (I want a smoothie.)
He calls his blanket a blanklet.
"I not tired!"
"Muuuve!!!" (Move)
"Come on dude!" (This one is thanks to Spencer and I driving!)
"Gooooo lady!" (Also another driving thing!)
"I want somma dat!" (It doesn't matter what we are eating, he always wants a bite!)
"Make me handsome!" (He wants styling gel in his hair.)
"I go school day, Mommy?" (Am I going to school today, Mommy?)
"I see friends! I see Miss Samanta!" (Talking about going to school and his teacher, Mrs. Samantha.)
"Don't touch my milk."
Me: "Rane, are you a Daddy's boy or a Mama's boy?" R: "I uh Daddy's boy!!!"
R: "I wan go home, Mommy." Me: "Rane, we ARE home."
"I do it! I do it!" (For everything.)
"Why?" (Oh yes, it has started.)
"Read books peese!"
Today I was impressed with his vocabulary when he said, as we were at a red light, "Look over there at dat big wheel movin' on dat truck!" (He loves big trucks and cars!)
And the grand finale which I am sure my mother-in-law will not be too happy about, neither am I, is...."Dad blame it!" Spencer says this all the time in front of him when he is frustrated so, of course, Rane has picked it up and started saying it this week. I have to turn around and laugh when he does say it because it really is funny. He gets frustrated doing something, like trying to get a truck out of his toy bin, and will say, "Dad blame it!!!" I have started ignoring it hoping that if I do not give it any attention he will stop. I just turn around and yell at Spencer and tell him to stop saying it instead!
He can also say his ABCs and count to 10!

The Girls

2011-04-18T14:12:00.003-04:00

Apples to apples? Apples to oranges? I say they look exactly alike!

Ella-Ann, April 26, 2006

Pierson, April 18, 2011

I have several of Ella-Ann's outfits that Pierson can now wear and when I put the above outfit on Pierson this morning I swear I was looking at a blue-eyed Ella-Ann! I tried to get P to smile since I remembered Ella-Ann's picture above was of her majorly smiling but it was a no-go. Pierson looks a lot more like Ella-Ann when she smiles. Well, I guess you can take a look at my previous post to compare smiling faces!

How weird is it that they were both taken in April!?!?! Please note that Ella-Ann was 5 months old and Pierson is 3.5 months. Pierson is now in size 3-6 month clothing...she is soooooo long! Length wise the outfit she is wearing is almost too small! Crazy! She is going to be super tall, like her Daddy!

Side blogger note...I have no clue why my pictures are uploading as fuzzy. They are not fuzzy on our computer, just on the blog. Ugghhh!

Sunday

2011-04-17T19:07:00.008-04:00

Today was a great day. I wish Spencer could've gone to church with us to see Ella-Ann sing with the choir for Palm Sunday but he had to work. That was the not fun part, but he was home by the time we got home so all was well after my exhausting church excursion. I don't know why I even bothered going to church since I didn't get to pay attention to one single sentence of the sermon because I was up and down with the kids the entire time...bottle, poops, crying, bathroom, etc.

It wasn't an exciting day or anything, just an enjoyable one with each other. The girls and I clipped coupons during Rane's nap. Ella-Ann loves to clip coupons with me and I am loving teaching her to be frugal! Every Saturday she asks me if today is the day the newspaper comes because she wants to help me cut coupons! Today when I answered "yes" to that question her response was, "Yessssss!" I borrowed a Bumbo seat from a friend at church for Pierson to sit in since Jana has mine and I haven't seen her yet to get it back so while EA and I clipped, Pierson sat on the table and watched me intently!

After Rane's nap we headed over to a really neat park that is very close to our home. Unfortunately Spencer noticed it yesterday while driving by (he takes this route to work every day) and once he saw it he regretted us having never been to it since it is SO close to our house and awesome! There isn't a playground or anything, just beautiful walking trails in the woods right along a creek. It is gorgeous! We walked several trails and the kids, Spencer and I were in heaven! It was the perfect day and the kids were so upset to leave. I put Pierson in the sling and she slept the entire time. Rane and Ella-Ann picked up sticks, ran around, played in the creek and picked up caterpillars and carried them around. It was such a serene and peaceful place. Spencer and I are kicking ourselves for living near it for nearly 1.5 years and never noticing it! Ahhhh well, better late than never! We will go back, probably this week again, so I will be sure and pack the camera.

Walking into the service waving her palm branch.

We were given the CD of songs for Ella-Ann to practice and both Ella-Ann and Rane want to listen to it every single time we are in the car. Here Rane is singing "Hosanna! Hosanna!" with the choir.

Ready to clip coupons! Well, I take that back, Ella-Ann had to first browse the Toys R Us ad!

Sweet baby girl is getting so big! I had to prop her up even more with a blanket because she still has serious head control issues!

See, she's learning...she already pulled the Red Plum insert for me! Or maybe she just wanted a ham for Easter!

Wait! A smile is coming.....

There it is!

The Coolest People To Hang Out With...

2011-04-13T19:10:00.004-04:00

Is my family. I love being at home and being surrounded by my kids and Spencer. When I see my kids interact with each other, that is, in a NICE way, it makes my heart smile and makes me incredibly happy. I am blessed with 3 healthy, happy, funny, crazy, amazing, wonderful and joyful children! Oh and my super fabulous husband as well! The kids are growing so quickly and I was reminded of that several times today when I first put on Rane's jeans, that he has been wearing all winter, and I noticed they weren't as long today. Then 3 different people commented to me today about how tall Rane is getting. He is full of all kinds of funny things and I love hearing him talk! He seems to be very good at speaking, probably because he picks up so much from Ella-Ann, both good and bad! He loves his two sisters tremendously and loves being the center of attention.

Ella-Ann is growing into her own little being. Not that she wasn't before, but she is such a helpful, compassionate, loving, funny, hard-working little girl and she is my little mommy through and through. She takes care of Rane, not kidding at all, and dotes on Pierson every time she sees her. Her and Rane have really started playing well together and having that happen before we are all together in our tiny house this summer is a relief to me! She is learning to read well and I have so enjoyed teaching her. I am so thankful I get to watch her grow and learn, all because I get to stay at home with my kids.

Pierson is full of coos and smiles! She talks all the time now, even in the car and in bed by herself! She is such a happy, easy baby...whew! I was questioning her easiness a while back when I thought I would never get a good night's sleep! However, she has turned a corner and now is a breeze, just like the other two were! She is trying to get over a nasty cough that I took her to the pediatrician about on Monday because it has been ongoing for 2 1/2 weeks now. She seems to just have back-to-back colds and will be fine. Her eczema is out of control as well so we are being very diligent about medicating her skin so it is improving. Bless her heart! What is it with the girls and their skin issues? It's always a big ordeal/process to care for their skin and allergy problems! While at the doctor's office I put P on the scale and she weighs 12 pounds, 5 ounces! She will be 3 1/2 months tomorrow. Wow!

I don't really have much of an update for this week, just getting back to our normal days after being gone for a week. Pictures are always a must, though.....

Spencer finally found a willing participant to watch soccer with! Poor Pierson, she looks so enthused...

If she is awake, usually Pierson has her hand in her mouth! I think she's trying to figure out how to get her entire fist in there!

Tonight Rane held Pierson for the very first time, nope, not joking. He has never once held the baby. He has never shown any interest and as crazy as he is we didn't attempt it! He was great with her and wanted to read a book to Pierson so.....

Ella-Ann took over the holding and Rane read the book! They are just so sweet together!

EB Is Having A Baby!

2011-04-11T19:41:00.003-04:00

One of my best friends/sorority sister, Emily (EB as the 5 of us girls affectionately call her), is due with her first baby in June so Andrea, Katie, Laura and I decided to get together at her place this past weekend before the baby so we can shower her with gifts! A family friend that lives near her also wanted to do something special so she had an amazing brunch in her honor on Saturday morning.

I drove down on Friday with the kids to Gary and Gayla's house, where Spencer was, and stayed with them all weekend since they live so close to Emily. The kids were thrilled to see their Daddy, as was I, and spend some time with their Nana, Papa and cousins! I couldn't wait to see the girls, who I haven't seen in many, many months, so I went over to Emily's house Friday night to visit with them. Andrea had a little girl, Emma, last August and I still hadn't even met her so I was anxious to get my hands on that baby too! It was soooooooo good to see them and, as usual, we picked up where we left off and carry on as if we haven't been a day apart! Unfortunately, Laura couldn't come because she is due with her second little boy any day now so traveling wasn't an option for her.

On Saturday I got up bright and early (4 a.m. to be exact) because I was beyond excited to spend the day with my friends! I took Pierson over to Emily's and the two big kids stayed behind to play. The brunch was so beautiful and the food was fantastic! Emily got some great gifts and I enjoyed meeting a few of her other friends from work and her neighborhood.

The girls and I had so much fun together and the time passed by too quickly. Spencer and I left with the kids and headed home Sunday morning. It is good to be home but we sure miss our family and friends now that we are by ourselves! Congratulations again, Emily, we are so happy for you!!!!!!!

Pierson had to keep one eye open around sweet Emma who was all too curious to figure out exactly what Pierson was! ha!

Emma was a doll and was quite a trooper all day Saturday and never made a single peep, except to babble and laugh!

Emily opening one of her gifts.

The theme for Emily's nursery is Peter Rabbit so the shower was decorated to the nines with all Peter Rabbit stuff, including a goodie bucket with little spring goodies. So nice!

Spring Break...Our Very First!

2011-04-08T20:48:00.004-04:00

Ella-Ann was on spring break this week so this past Saturday we packed it up (so much gear!) and the three kids and I headed north to visit my parents for the week. It was the first time I traveled with the kids by myself but we managed just fine, even if our pit stop at McDonald's included having all 3 kids in one stall with me in the restroom and Rane licking the seats while eating. But, you know, it was all in a good day's work with 3 kids! They all did wonderfully in the car and I had all of my nerves in tact when we pulled into Mimi and Grandpa's driveway 6 hours later.

As soon as we arrived Ella-Ann and Grandpa hopped in the car and headed to a friend's farm to plant trees for Arbor Day. Ella-Ann got to run around with a little friend/cousin, Morgan, all afternoon and she had so much fun! To top it off, they had caught a rabbit so Ella-Ann got to play with him.

We enjoyed each day we were there and didn't do too much since all I wanted to do was have help and sleep! I was so excited to sleep in a room by myself and have the big kids upstairs (with my parents dealing with them) and Pierson was in a room separate from me so sleep I did! Pierson even started sleeping through the night while we were there so most mornings I woke up feeling rested and that hasn't happened since November! The kids loved playing outside every day we were there. They bought a Razor scooter for Ella-Ann and a tricycle for Rane and both of them loved their new rides. Mom loved, LOVED cuddling with Pierson and sweet little P ate up all the attention she received! She started cooing more and more and smiling for anyone and at anything so she was a treat to Mimi and Grandpa!

On Tuesday we drove to Indiana to visit our Aunt Sue. The kids enjoyed seeing her, playing in her backyard and seeing her pond. Her house is full of tiny, antique figurines that Rane and Ella-Ann loved to pick up and carry around. Unfortunately Mom and I spent most of the visit cleaning up after Rane and following his every move to make sure he didn't break anything. At one point he kicked over a table (twirling around in the chair next to it) and down came crashing about 6 porcelain birds! Thank goodness they didn't break...even when they hit the wood floor! Next was him tripping into a small table that fell into a curio cabinet that had lots and lots of little (all breakable) figurines on it...didn't break either! Whew! Needless to say, we will meet at a restaurant next time!

On Wednesday my friend, Sara, and her two little ones, Lucy and Jay, came over for a visit. It was great to see them and Rane and Ella-Ann loved the company! Even though we had five kids going crazy in the same room with us, Sara and I did manage to catch up!

Most of our days were spent hanging out around the house, playing outside, running errands, eating out and enjoying our time with each other. One day it stormed really bad all morning long so when the sirens started going off we headed to the basement with Rane flipping out because of all the loud "dunder!" I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to see them.

A dirty little face after planting tomatoes with Grandpa.

At Aunt Sue's house.

Pierson in the tub!

Having a heart-to-heart with Grandpa.

For My Dad

2011-03-31T15:44:00.002-04:00

My Dad called today insisting that I put a picture of the kids in their Cardinals gear since it is opening day today, so this one's for you Dad! Pierson does have a "My First Cardinals Shirt" but it is size 18 months and it is packed away until next summer.

Dunder!

2011-03-26T19:56:00.002-04:00

Rane is extremely terrified of thunder. It stormed late this afternoon and I thought I was going to have to hold Rane through the entire thing, which lasted about an hour and a half! Anytime it thunders Rane will tear through the house to find Spencer or myself and literally catapult himself into our arms, all the while screaming like crazy. Tonight was no exception and Spencer was at work so I was trying to comfort Rane, make dinner for him and Ella-Ann and feed Pierson a bottle...all at once! Thankfully Ella-Ann was only afraid during the few loud thunder claps so she took over the coddling for me.....

My bright idea to get him out of my arms and to eat his dinner was to turn on toddler music as loud as possible on the television to hopefully drown out the storm, which it did for the most part! After each thunder clap Rane would say, "Noooo more dunder. Nooo moooore dunder, k?" I told him God made the thunder and it will not hurt us. It's just a loud noise. He would repeat that back to me, "God made dunder, just a loud nowise," all the while shaking like a leaf! I couldn't help it, I laughed so hard I was crying!

Gotta Laugh

2011-03-22T14:26:00.002-04:00

I have recently started putting headbands on Pierson and every single time we arrive at our destination this is how I find her....dead asleep with her "eye mask" on!

In case you are wondering, I have to wedge a burp cloth (usually rolled up but it came undone in this picture) on the right side of her head when she is in the car seat, or sleeping for that matter, since her head is getting flatter by the day!

Mimi! Mimi!

2011-03-17T13:30:00.004-04:00

Rane and Ella-Ann get soooo excited when Mimi comes to visit! I didn't tell the kids that she was driving down on Monday to visit us so when Ella-Ann and I saw her little red Mini Cooper driving down our street as we walked up our driveway (I had just gotten her off the bus) Ella-Ann was SO happy and surprised! The kids jumped into her arms and I don't think they ever really left those arms unless they were sleeping or at school!

Mom loved cuddling with Pierson too, who cooed and smiled like crazy every time her Mimi held her. She is such a sweet little baby! I'm sure she was just happy to have someone's undivided attention for a change! She ate it up!

Mimi stayed with us until Thursday morning and we did lots of fun things while she was here, like shop, eat at Atlanta Fish Market (one of the best restaurants ever in my book), play outside and go to Whole Foods for our morning treat. When my Mom stays with us she sleeps in Ella-Ann's bed and Ella-Ann has a pallet on the floor. She loves having a slumber party with Mimi and gets her entire room ready for it all by herself, including turning down her bed for Mimi. It's so cute.

We really enjoyed our time with my mom and were, as usual, sad to see her leave this morning. She takes Ella-Ann to school as well when she is here and thankfully Ella-Ann was too interested in everyone wearing green this morning to get upset about Mimi leaving!

Snacks with Mimi after she arrived on Monday.

Pierson got all decked out for the occasion!

Rane is obsessed with Mimi. I'm not kidding, ask Spencer. It can be quite annoying because if he is not within 2 feet of her or in her embrace he is constantly shouting, "Mimi! Mimi! Mimi!"

Wow, look! I even made the post!

After my mom left Rane, Pierson and I hung out in the play room. I put Pierson on her tummy on the boppy pillow for the first time and quickly realized she has some seriously good head control!

Rane loves Pierson and he is often right in her little face talking to her. He was giving her a car to play with.....

I love holidays and try to make even the mundane holidays fun for the kids. This morning the kids ate green oatmeal and cereal for breakfast. I even colored Ella-Ann's water green! Tonight the kids ate green eggs, green peas, rice with peas and green milk...all on a green plate! Side note, Spencer and I had Cajun shrimp, not green everything for dinner!

A Golden Weekend

2011-03-13T13:23:00.007-04:00

This weekend Spencer's parents came down for a visit. They came down early (arrived around 2 p.m.) on Friday just so that I could get out and about by myself! So nice! As soon as they walked in the door I rattled off instructions for the kids and shot out the door! I went to the mall and all I had with me was my purse! It was so wonderful to walk around the mall by myself with a Starbucks frappuccino in hand!

When I got home the kids were all up and Spencer was home. We ordered pizza for dinner and Ella-Ann got to stay up a little late and spent her time reading books on Papa's Nook. It was the first time she had ever been on anything electronic that read her books and she loved it!

On Saturday Spencer took the kids to get donuts and lots of coffee since all 3 kids were up by 5:20 a.m.! I went in Ella-Ann's room at 6 because she had all the lights on and was playing with her My Little Ponies! It was not how I envisioned my one and only day to sleep in but such is life now with three and I know one day, later rather than sooner I am afraid, I will sleep again! That morning Spencer wanted to go to the mall (he didn't have to ask me twice!) to get some new shoes so off we went without the kids! It was like a daytime date! We found some shoes and a new dress for me and then headed to Nordstrom Rack. Once we got home we spent the entire afternoon in the backyard. The kids loved having their Papa and Nana to play with! They dug in the dirt for worms, brought the cups of dirt to us and would dump them on the patio, played on the playground, played soccer, bubbles, ran around, etc. It was great! Ella-Ann loved the worms! Rane, on the other hand, picked some up and immediately freaked out and dropped them! Who would've thought? We have started bringing a few of Rane's trucks outside to play with and he is in heaven sitting in the mulch/dirt, digging with a shovel and playing with his trucks. Ella-Ann really enjoys it too! Baths were certainly on the agenda that night!

The Jensens went to church with us Sunday morning and then left to go home afterwards. We spent the afternoon outside again....kids digging and playing in the dirt and the making sure all the dirt sticks to them really well by playing with bubbles!

On a side note, I was super excited about springing forward last night because it meant, hopefully, Pierson would be getting up an hour later in the middle of the night to eat. She went from 10 p.m. until 4:30 a.m....her best night to date! I hope we are well on our way to having her sleep all night soon!

Rane thinks he can do everything Ella-Ann can do, including climbing to the top of the jungle gym that we discovered sitting on the side of our house last year and brought it out in the yard only to realize it screams "tetanus shot to whoever cuts themselves on me!" We will be taking it apart soon! Rane climbs to the top and then waits for someone to rescue him!

He was saying "Noooo," in his little pouty face because he didn't want his picture taken.

Ella-Ann didn't want the wood chips in her dirt so she was picking them out. Such a little priss pot!

Every 5 minutes Rane would come to one of us carrying his cup of dirt saying, "Wooook! Wooook!"

Missed Mardi Gras

2011-03-08T19:25:00.003-05:00

I love Whole Foods...I really, really do. I get all relaxed and happy when I am there, no joke! They have the best food and if I could eat off their awesome buffet every day I would be one happy camper! Alas, it is too expensive for an every day meal. They have a huge calendar near the checkout lanes that is always full of things going on at the store and often free events. I love, as I am sure I have mentioned many times before, going there for the early bird special for a muffin and coffee. I always take Rane at least once a week (Ella-Ann doesn't know or else she'd be crushed) and then I take all the kids on Saturday mornings if Spencer is working. It is a fun thing for Rane and I to do and he LOVES his Whole Foods muffin! I always get the pumpkin cream cheese and we split it. The funny thing is that whenever you turn right out of our neighborhood (it is the way you get to the store) Rane always, always says "Muffin!!!??? "Hooo Fooos, muffin!?!?" It has become something we do all the time and I enjoy spending quality time with him over a muffin and coffee for 99 cents. Side note, thanks to my dad who took the big kids for ice cream at Bruster's last time they were down, every time I turn left out of my neighborhood Rane asks, "Iii cream?" So either way you turn off of our street Rane asks for food!

At Whole Foods today they were selling slices of king cake for $2 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. I thought the kids would enjoy celebrating the day with a big slice of cake. I told Ella-Ann we were going when she got off the bus and she was super excited to go eat some cake with purple icing! I loaded up all 3 kids and drove the 1 mile down the street (it was too windy to walk!) to get some cake. Of course they were out of cake by 3:30 p.m.....should've known. Ohh well, the kids enjoyed eating the consolation treat....a chocolate mousse torte!

Trying to keep Rane from eating his torte so I could snap a picture was like trying to hold back a raring bull in it's pen!

Ella-Ann and Rane's personality differences are even evident in how they eat. Ella-Ann, my (most of the time) very clean and tidy child, meticulously ate her torte one small bite at a time and, at one point, was licking it like an ice cream cone savoring every bite (just like I would do, of course).....

Rane, on the other hand, ate it like an animal and got it ALL over him. He just goes for whatever he wants!

He just smashed the pretty torte into his face and ate it!

Ella-Ann is so funny. I bought a huge mirror at a vintage antique store this morning and, after realizing the mirror was way too large for any space in our home we decided to put it in a closet until we move. I bought it for our future home, so it wasn't a silly purchase...even if we aren't moving until the end of this year! Anyway, while I was preparing a space for it in the closet we had it propped up against the wall in the laundry room. As we were moving it into the closet Ella-Ann comes running to us in her Cinderella costume all bent out of shape. When I asked her what was wrong this was the response I received, "Mooooommm! I wanted to daaaance in front of the mirror!" So instead she did this.....

Glad she is flexible! You know, a princess who can use power tools!

The Tank

2011-03-02T13:50:00.006-05:00

Our little tiny baby is no longer so itty bitty. I took Pierson to the pediatrician on Tuesday for her 2-month check up and she weighs 10 pounds 5 ounces and is 22 1/4 inches in length! She is our biggest baby out of the 3 at this age. I cannot believe that she was so tiny at birth and has gained so much weight in such a short period of time. You go Pierson! Honestly, though, she really isn't THAT big because she is still in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for length and head circumference. Same old, same old for our little babies! She has some pink dots on her eye lids and a red mark on one of her checks so I asked the doctor about them and the spots on her eyelids are angel kisses, which she also has a ton of on the back of her neck, and the check spot is probably a birthmark. All should go away within a year. I don't know about that, though, because I still have my angel kisses on the back of my neck and I am 29 (insert wink)! Ella-Ann has hers as well. The spots also have eczema on top of them so I think once I get that cleared up they won't be as red and noticeable. I love that she was "kissed" on her eyelids before she came to us, my precious Pierson.

Pierson smiles quite often now, pretty much if you look in her direction! In the last couple of days I have caught her smiling at the wall! She has also started to coo a little, which is so sweet. She will smile really big and then let out some noises. This morning Rane was talking to her and when I looked over she was smiling so big at him! She already loves her (very loud) siblings!

Unfortunately she is still in our room and still getting up twice a night. No fun, no fun. She is quite noisy so Spencer and I lay there awake until she settles back down after feedings sometimes. The doctor suggested we move the pack-n-play to another room (hello, have you been to my house to see that there are NO available spots for the baby or else she would be there!!) for at least a few nights because she is possibly smelling me in the room and waking to get attention and/or eat. So on Tuesday night she slept in her pack-n-play next to the kitchen table. Poor 3rd child. Anyway, she slept better because she woke at 2 a.m. after eating at 9 p.m. and then again at 5:30 a.m. It may sound awful but really I consider that up only once! Last night, though, was her best night yet. I let out a yelp for happiness when I rolled over in bed and saw 3:11 a.m. on the clock after hearing her grunt and kick! Horray! I woke her at 6:30 this morning to eat before the other two kids woke up. Glorious night for me! Oh, and she was in the bedroom to boot!

Here is our Sweet P at 2 months....

Ella-Ann and Rane did not have such blue eyes. I think they will stick and be like Spencer's eyes. I love her little pointy chin!

Her angel kisses are on the inside of the lids.

Yesterday was Dr. Suess's birthday so this is how Ella-Ann looked when she got off the bus....

2011-02-28T19:31:00.002-05:00

My parents were in Disney last week and while they were there they picked up a pirate costume for Rane. He enjoys wearing some of Ella-Ann's dress up stuff now so we thought it would be better for him to have some boy costumes instead of high heels and necklaces! The costume is large on him so he will have it for several years. It comes with boots that are shoe covers, pants and a headband and hat with dreadlocks like Jack Sparrow's but he is afraid of all of that and refuses to even go near them! The box arrived from Disney this weekend so it was on our porch when we got home. It was a great homecoming present! Rane loves the shirt and vest and wore it all waking hours today!

Pierson's Meet & Greet

2011-02-27T19:52:00.004-05:00

On Friday early afternoon we hit the road and headed to Tennessee to visit the Jensens. We hadn't seen them since Pierson was born and Miss P hadn't been properly shown off to the rest of the family so off we went for the weekend! Ella-Ann and Rane were beyond excited to see their cousins. In fact, this was the very first time Rane had not taken a nap on a trip! Such fun for Spencer and I! Actually, he is great in the car now and no trouble at all, even with a missed nap! It's just loud the entire 4 hours! We put Pierson in the third row of the van so that I could feed her a bottle and we wouldn't have to stop.

We arrived at Gary and Gayla's house, who now live near Zach and Mandy (yeay!!!), around 4 that afternoon and the kids just took off to play. They all play so well together and now that Ethan and Rane are a little older they enjoy playing together too. Spencer, Rane, Pierson and I spent the night there while Ella-Ann spent the night with Carter and Seth in their bunk beds. It was a quiet night without all the kids around!

On Saturday Spencer's Uncle Wayne, Aunt Connie, Uncle Mike and his Nanny drove up from Central Kentucky to see everyone and meet Pierson. It was great to have everyone there because we really do not see them as much as we would like. Pierson did great with all the passing around and was a sweet little thing for everyone. She even broke out some smiles to show off!

Seth turned 4 this month and Carter turned 6 today (Happy Birthday Carter!!!!!) so Mandy brought over their Wii since they received 2 new games this weekend. The kids enjoyed playing them, well mainly Seth and Carter did and Ella-Ann would play for a minute and find something else to do! Even though she is a girl she really has a good time playing with all the boys, but we are starting to see the dividing line at times, mainly with the games and playing ball outside. She is really not into sports whatsoever, but then again she is my child! I mean her arms don't even move away from her side when a ball is thrown directly at her! Rane, on the other hand, is right in the middle of it all! He and Ethan got into all kinds of mischief at their house!

The weekend past by so fast and Ella-Ann did not want to go home. She wanted to stay for Carter's party, play with the boys, stay with Nana and Papa forever, etc. It will be SO wonderful when we move this year and we just hop in the car and head to our house down the road and not 4 hours down I24 and I75! There will be no more goodbye tears!

While the big kids were jumping on Gary and Gayla's brand new king size bed in the other room, Rane and Ethan took all the bath toys and threw them in the tub!

Uncle Craig and Kasey bought a sword for Rane this weekend and he carried it around everywhere. I think Papa was a little afraid!

Such a funny picture!

Rane loved playing with Craig and Spencer's old Matchbox car play set.

Nanny holding Pierson for the first time. I dressed her for the occasion...in her little tutu, of course!

All of them with their glazed-over game face on!

Saturday was a beautiful day so we spent the afternoon outside. I know Spencer enjoyed playing ball with the boys!

Carter got a new bike for his birthday but Craig decided to test it out and Ella-Ann was right behind him on the Spiderman scooter!

Rane just wanted to be pushed around on the scooter because he couldn't figure out how to push himself!

Super (FREE) Fun

2011-02-19T19:21:00.004-05:00

I discovered the best playground EVER! I feel like I have let the cat out of the bag because it is a secret place! ha! I was at our library (which has floor to ceiling windows in the back that face a forest) a month or so ago when I noticed, since there are no leaves on the trees, a huge, HUGE brand new playground on the other side of the trees. I immediately asked the woman behind the desk about it and she said the county had torn down the old playground that used to be there and were in the middle of building the new one that I had spied. She said it would be open this spring. I couldn't wait to take the kids! I was actually excited about it...if I were I kid I would have died and gone to heaven! Since the weather was unbelievably fabulous this weekend I took the kids on Friday afternoon and this afternoon. Side note, Spencer was in New Orleans Thursday morning through late Saturday night so I was ALL ALONE with all three kids for the first time 3 days in a row....no fun but at least it passed super fast. Anyway, I crossed my fingers that the playground would be open because I had already pumped it up to Ella-Ann so any disappointment would not have gone over well. I know, my fault. Well it was open and there was hardly anyone there! I laughed so hard at Ella-Ann because as soon as I hit the button to open the doors on the side of the van (Ella-Ann sits in the 3rd row now) Ella-Ann shot out of the car like a cannon and was down the steps in no time! It was hilarious! Had anyone been watching they probably would have thought the car was on fire! Rane was kicking and yelling for me to get him out of his car seat. It was nice because there was a massive, three story playground for Ella-Ann's age group and older and a smaller, more manageable playground for ages 2-5 next to it. Ella-Ann asked me if there were going to be swings there because swinging is one of her absolute favorite activities and she never gets to swing since we don't own a swing set, there aren't any on her school's playground and we never, ever go to playgrounds anymore (thanks to multiple children) so I was relieved to see a ton of swings. That is mainly what she did the entire time we were there on Friday and she made a little friend, Lucas, while there so they had a good time while I watched Rane and sat with Pierson. It is so nice to just let Rane go on a playground now. He doesn't need any assistance and is fearless so I don't have to help him do a thing! I do, though, have to keep a hawk eye on him because he has a major tendency to wander! I watched him "help" younger children on the playground who's parents were right there with them standing by. I know he was right in there way but he was trying SO hard to help little ones stand up after climbing, go down slides (with a big shove!) and walk. Bless his heart....he tries.

When we went this afternoon there were more families there since it was a Saturday afternoon but I was expecting a huge crowd. The kids had a blast, once again, and I had fun watching them enjoy themselves so much. There are two huge tunnel slides that start at the top of the 3rd story on the bigger playground that I thought for sure Ella-Ann would nix immediately off her to-do list but I couldn't believe my ears when she came running over to me to tell me she had gone down one of the big ones twice with her little friend Friday afternoon! I really was shocked! This is coming from a child who didn't swing until she was 2 1/2 and never, ever went down slide that wasn't for a toddler until she was 4! I watched her do it today and I was so excited! I'm sure if I allowed Rane to climb to the top he'd slide down it in a heartbeat!

So I think I fared pretty well without Spencer's help these past three days, although it has made me appreciate even more all the help he does provide every day and night! The kids and I have had a nice time but we sure missed Spencer. When we were on the way home from the playground yesterday Ella-Ann, in her sweet little voice with a sigh, said, "I miss Daddy, Mommy." Me too!

The first pictures below are from Valentine's Day. We gave the kids little goodie bags full of junk, which they loved, of course!

Well the Tag Reader "Beauty and the Beast" book isn't junk!

Rane is saying, "Thomas! Thomas!!!!" I have no clue as to how he knows who Thomas is since he has never watched the show! He loves him, though, and has carried that train around all week! Those things aren't cheep either!

Ella-Ann is still a huge Dora fan. She loves Dora more than any Disney princess, which is fine by me! Dora is pretty cool, even if her voice and show are annoying!

The smaller playground....swings are to the right and another set is behind me.

The bigger one. I couldn't even get it all in the picture. It looked like so much fun!

Rane loves slides! It was all he would do!

Ella-Ann found her a swing asap and was giddy with happiness! If you squint you can see little Pierson in the black car seat on the bench in the background!

Rane has never enjoyed a swing so I was happy he loved swinging (for like 2 minutes and then he started to freak) this weekend. He doesn't look happy in the picture but that has started happening anytime I bust out the camera! He was laughing and smiling like crazy before I tried to take his picture!

Pictures

2011-02-16T19:51:00.003-05:00

My friend, Bobbi Jo Brooks, took amazing pictures of the kids a couple of weeks ago. The weather was in the high 60s that Saturday so we were able to get outside and take pictures. She did a great job and we are thrilled with them! Here is the link to view them:

http://bobbijobrooksphotography.smugmug.com/event/Jensen-Family/nEXwwKUPLAJzU

The website will ask you to register and all you have to do is enter your name and email to view them. After doing so, you will receive (immediately) a confirmation email. Click on the link in the email to view the slide show.

Super Saturday

2011-02-13T19:26:00.003-05:00

My Mom and Dad came down for a quick grandchild fix this weekend since I won't be traveling to Kentucky to their house until Ella-Ann's spring break in April and my Dad hasn't seen Pierson since she was born. We had a full day of fun ahead so it's a good thing we started off our morning on the right foot and all.....
with nothing else but cookies, chocolates and iced donuts! At least the extra large coffee was calorie-free! Spencer takes the kids every once in a while on a Saturday morning to Dunkin' Donuts and when he opened the door yesterday morning to leave a package was sitting on the steps. My Mom always sends us an amazing assortment of cookies and chocolates for nearly every holiday and we love it! Yesterday we received the Valentine's Day box so of course I had to immediately open it and eat a cookie! Ella-Ann wasn't feeling too well yesterday and was up often throughout the night because of a bad headache. She wasn't in the mood for her normal (very healthy) breakfast so instead I allowed her to chow down on a chocolate-covered rice krispie treat while Spencer and Rane were at the donut shop! I figured a little bit a chocolate would cure any headache! See, I can be a fun mom sometimes! Her and I get the most excited about the yummy treats...she is a girl after my own heart, after all!

As she was eating her rice krispie treat she was eyeballing the heart-shaped, pink-iced-with- sprinkles donut Spencer brought back for her!

My parents came over shortly after our sugar fest and we took the kids over to their hotel so they could swim in the pool. They were so excited! I gave Ella-Ann some Tylenol so she was feeling much better. She would have moments of lathargy throughout the day but was pretty much okay all day and was able to enjoy her time with her grandparents.

Ella-Ann was pumped to be able to put on her new swimsuit in February!

After they went for a swim we headed to lunch at Phipps Tavern, one of my favorite places to eat. I snapped the below picture walking back to our car after we ate. They both reeeeeally love their Grandpa!

Once we got back to the house Spencer had to head to work for the rest of the day and into the night so Dad stayed with Ella-Ann and Rane while Mom, Pierson and I shopped for a couple of hours at Kudzu, a 25,000-square foot warehouse of wall-to-wall vintage antiques. I am incredibly sad that I just discovered this amazing place after living here nearly 6 years and passing it practically everyday! It is unbelievable and is now my all-time favorite shopping spot! I have to say it even tops Nordstrom in my book! Mom loved it as much as me and I look forward to packing up a U-Haul with lots of goodies from the store when we move at the end of the year!

Anyway, while we were gone Dad took the kids to Bruster's for an obscene amount of chocolate ice cream. It was so nice here this weekend so they enjoyed sitting outside eating and playing in the backyard. I swear the only non-sugary item Ella-Ann ate all day was buttered noodles from Phipps Tavern! To make sure we got enough chocolate squeezed into our Saturday, once mom, baby and I returned from shopping we went to Whole Foods for their (free) chocolate and champage fest. It was so much fun and Mom, Dad and I had some really good drinks and treats! I banned the kids from anymore chocolate so I packed them a snack if they so desired to eat anything! When we got back to the house we ordered some pizza and enjoyed that after we put the kids to bed. Whew, what a jam-packed day!

My parents came over this morning to visit and say goodbye. We will surely miss them since we won't see them for a while, but we certainly made the most of our time with them this weekend!

A Whole Lot of Nothing

2011-02-06T19:38:00.002-05:00

I really don't have much to blog about lately. I don't really go anywhere with all three kids in tow so our days are spent, for the most part, at home. I am certainly not bored and I don't think the kids are either because they always seem to find something to do or some way to aggravate each other! Since Pierson eats every 3 hours any time I do leave the house we have to move very quickly and I can usually only go to one or two places. I took all three to Target with me on Friday and I seriously took 3 circus monkeys! I had a huge bus, I mean cart, that held all 3 of them and even though I buckled Rane in he managed to escape so both him and Ella-Ann were on and off the cart the entire time, kicking each other while sitting in the cart because they faced each other so I just had a ticker tape going of the following commands: "Rane stop kicking Ella-Ann, you two get back on the cart, get out of the freezer Rane, no we are not buying that please put it down, Rane stop kicking Ella-Ann, sit DOWN, leave Pierson alone, Ella-Ann sit up you are going to fall out, Rane stop kicking Ella-Ann, we are almost done I promise, you can have a snack when we get home, etc." I always have put Rane in the front of carts and Ella-Ann has always walked so now that Pierson is in her car seat at the front it's a whole new game to go to stores! It's not bad at all, it just takes me a little longer and since I know my children's personalities I know exactly what to expect when we are out, which is usually good behavior with sprinklings of craziness! I went to church today without Spencer (he was working) for the first time since Pierson was born and it all went very well. I guess it helped that I had been up since
4 a.m. with Pierson being fussy/unsettled because she is so congested from a cold she got from Rane, so I was able to drink lots of coffee and get ready before anyone else was awake!

Everything is still going well. Pierson is a sweet little baby but has her moments, usually after a bottle in the middle of the night, of fussiness. Thanks to heavy doses of caffeine each day I am really not tired. What keeps me going is that this stage only lasts for a short while and this, most likely, is the last time I ever have to do this! That really helps! The newness of Pierson has pretty much worn off for Ella-Ann and Rane but they still want to love all over her when they see her.

Since I don't have anything new to report I will leave you with a few pictures.....

Rane slammed his nose into the bathroom door this afternoon (he wanted in since I was in there giving P a bath) and after he was picked up by Spencer Ella-Ann was running circles around him and tripped over Spencer's leg and hit her mouth on the floor. They love getting ice for boo-boos and any time Rane gets so much as a tiny bump on his body he starts saying, "Ban-A! Ban-A!!" (Band-Aid)

Pierson has started taking naps this past week that are fairly predictable. She is awake for about 45 minutes after eating and then is down for the count (in her bed) until it's time for her to eat again.

This was after a bath this afternoon. It is such a funny picture! No she doesn't have red hair either!

In case you didn't see it, this was Pierson's birth announcement picture....

front of card...

back of card.

Growing Like Weeds

2011-01-31T13:45:00.004-05:00

I took Rane and Pierson to the pediatrician this morning for their well baby visits, Pierson's 1-month and Rane's 2-year. I didn't realize it was a big deal to take two kids at the same time for a check-up until I received several, "Good luck with that," and "I did that once and will never do it again," comments but my theory was a one-stop-shop! I am happy to report that both kids did just fine and it was easy. When I took Pierson in for a weight check a week after she was born she weighed 5 lbs 12 oz, which was a little over 3 weeks ago. I was thrilled to see 8 lb 4 oz on the scale this morning! She also grew 3 inches since birth! That's my girl! Spencer and I can both be patted on the back for making it our mission to fatten this baby up before this visit today! She is in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height and head. All three of our kids seem to follow this pattern thanks to a tall, thin father! Rane is such a big boy weighing in at 26 pounds! He's in the 30th percentile, which I believe is the highest percentile he's ever been in for weight! ha! He's also 35 inches tall. Ella-Ann is, I believe, around 43 inches so he's gaining on her quickly. Both kids received shots as well but it wasn't a big deal, especially with a promise of a sucker afterward for Rane.

We are very blessed to have healthy, growing children and I am reminded of that even more so now that Pierson is here and is the picture of good health for a newborn!

I took these pictures yesterday before church because I coordinated their outfits and they looked so cute! Of course the pictures aren't great but I don't expect much with 3 now!

She Finally Made It

2011-01-27T19:22:00.003-05:00

When my parents came down the night that Pierson was born the plan was for them to leave when I got home from the hospital, Spencer would stay home for a week and then my Mom would come down to help me for a few days. Well with sickness and bad weather both here and in Kentucky my Mom wasn't able to come down until this week. It was the first time she actually got to cuddle with Pierson because when I was in the hospital my Mom had caught my horrible illness while they were down for Christmas so when she did hold her she had on a mask.

We were thrilled to finally have her down for a visit this week! She arrived Monday afternoon and the kids were so excited to see her. They played and played together, read a ton of books, cuddled and played outside. While Ella-Ann was at school we hit the mall, Whole Foods for the early bird special (as usual) and Trader Joe's. Last night we all went to our favorite Thai restaurant for some really, really good sushi, sashimi and seafood (cooked for Mom!). It was great having her here and we were sad to see her go this morning.

I love Rane in his Chicago Bears shirt! I normally dislike the kids wearing any sports attire but do make an exception for this adorable vintage shirt (Spencer has a similar one and I gave them to the boys for Christmas because it's Spencer's favorite team) and a few St. Louis Cardinals t-shirts! I am learning to give in...give me more time, I know I have a little boy!

Sweet little girl is growing! She looks huge in this picture and the one below but she's not that large!

See....she does smile! Not a great picture because I was on the floor looking up at her when she just randomly smiled and I had the camera in hand but at least you get the idea!

I hate that there are very few pictures of me with the kids, especially when they are so small so I told Spencer to take one the other day. Such is the life of the behind-the-scenes blogger!

A Family Outing

2011-01-22T19:31:00.003-05:00

A Christmas present that my parents always give us each year is either annual passes to the aquarium or the zoo. We have been at the zoo for two years now so we thought this year we'd make the switch back to the aquarium since they have some new exhibits and it's our last year in Atlanta. We finally made it downtown to go to the aquarium yesterday afternoon. Ella-Ann came bursting through the doors of the school at 2:15 when we picked her up! She was so excited! This was the first time Rane had been so Spencer and I were looking forward to his constant "Wook Mommy! Wook Daddy!!!!" He is easily excited so we knew it would be a treat to take him! Spencer mentioned to me while we were there that the last time we were at the aquarium we just had one kid...now we are a family of five!

We had a blast while there and both kids enjoyed all the amazing sights. Rane walked the entire time and did a great job keeping up with us and not throwing a tantrum (except when leaving). He loved the person dressed up as a penguin the most and did his little happy dance when he was up close and personal with him! Too funny! They have added quite a few things since we were there 2 years ago and we had such a good time. Although I will not attempt to make such an outing all by myself with all three kids!

I put Rane in his shark shirt for the occasion! You cannot tell, but the letters are neon orange and every time he looks down at his shirt he tries to pick them off!

In awe!

Ella-Ann was afraid of the huge fish!

Lets not forget Sweet P!

We were the only people watching the otters when the trainers brought out new toys for them so we got to watch them play really close to the glass. The kids went crazy!

Yes a random picture that I had to include! My sweet friend, Emily, sent us blue chocolate covered strawberries when Rane was born and kindly sent beautiful pink ones for Pierson's birth! They were so so so good! Spencer and I made sure Ella-Ann never saw them...I know, we are selfish parents and kept them all to ourselves! Who wouldn't???

A New Normal

2011-01-18T19:54:00.004-05:00

We are getting used to a new member of our family these days and settling into our new normal. Since we had so much snow and ice last week Spencer was home again all week to help me with the kids, which was awesome and totally unexpected. My mom was supposed to head down to help me since Spencer would be back at work but obviously that couldn't happen because of the weather. I literally did not step my big toe outside my door from Sunday afternoon until Friday...FRIDAY! We parked our van at the bottom of our driveway (we live on a hill for those of you who haven't been to my house before) but that really didn't matter since our street was a solid sheet of ice for a week. Spencer attempted to go to work on Thursday, got stuck in ice, abandoned the car and ended up walking home. That was day 4 of the snow/ice. Craziness...just crazy! I was so happy to go to Publix on Friday afternoon! I liked it so much I went again on Saturday! Thankfully I had Pierson to keep me busy all week and I didn't mind too much staying in.

So today we are back to a normal day...horray! I have been looking forward to Ella-Ann being back at school, Rane being in PMO two days a week and just doing our normal activities and errands. Now I have Pierson to tote along but she's no trouble. Today was my first day by myself all day and I kid you not I sat down to feed myself, nurse and drive. I was chatting with my friend, Megan, on Sunday about life with 3 kids. She had her third baby in November so we are in the same boat right now. She told me she found herself running from task to task while at home and rarely sat down. Well that was me today. We live in a small house and it doesn't take long to get from one end to the other but I was still literally running from end to end all day. There seems to always be something to do now, someone needs to be fed, dressed, changed, bathed, etc. It is nuts right now but I actually like being busy so it is good for me. I hate sitting still for long but I do have to admit being so busy while sleep deprived is another story! It's exhausting!

Pierson is doing great. She is gaining weight and plumping up...sort of! She still has her cute little chicken legs! We were having to feed her every 2 hours, at night too but I refused to get up that often so it was every 3, once we brought her home from the hospital because her weight had dropped too low. Now she is eating every 2-2.5 hours during the day and will go for one 3 to 4-hour stretch at night...not all nights but most of the time. Thankfully my sweet husband gets up one of the times and feeds her a bottle. That really helps me to not be a complete walking zombie! Pierson is sleeping in our room, which is no fun but we have no choice, and she sometimes keeps us awake with her whining and grunts. She may be evicted soon but we don't know where else she'd go in this house!

Ella-Ann and Rane have adjusted so well to having Pierson around. Today I had to take Pierson to Egleston Children's Hospital for a renal ultrasound because of the 2-vessel cord and my low amniotic fluid (kidneys are fine, by the way) and when I got home Rane comes on a dead sprint to the door and a big smile stretched across his face while screaming "Mommy!!! Baby!!! Mommy! Baby! Hi Baby! Hi Baby!!" As soon as I sat the car seat down he was kissing her head. He is one sweet boy. Both of them are in love with her and want to be around her and help me out as much as they can. As soon as I say Pierson needs a new diaper I have both of them vying for the chance to get the diaper and wipes out for me and then I have an audience of 2 who's heads get in the way and I cannot even see to change the baby's diaper! They are all about seeing that poop! :)

I don't have any new pictures of Pierson because she has a serious case of baby acne and is not exactly Miss Photogenic at the moment so I will snap some soon as soon as it goes away. Currently she looks like a 16 year old boy!

I will leave you with this photo, though....

Last night Spencer and Rane were at Ella-Ann's beauty shop! In this picture Ella-Ann is filing Rane's nails! She loves getting out her play makeup, hair and nail stuff and taking care of the boys and I. I don't know if Spencer would readily admit it, but I think he enjoys having Ella-Ann brush his hair, do his nails and put eye shadow on! It really does feel so good! This is what we did all last week....get beautified by Ella-Ann!

Snowed In....

2011-01-11T15:37:00.003-05:00

'till who knows when! To say Atlanta is shut down is an understatement. We received close to 8 inches of snow with a good layer of ice on top on Sunday night and throughout the morning on Monday. No one is on the road and if you are you are either in a ditch, stuck in non-moving traffic for well over a day or are walking. I am so thankful I stocked up at the grocery and we have a very warm house to relax in so all is well with us. I am enjoying my little family an extra little bit since Spencer is not at work and Ella-Ann is not in school. The kids have enjoyed playing outside with Spencer both today and yesterday. Spencer is quite the trooper Daddy because he has hauled these kids around on that ice, dragged them up and down the driveway too many times to count and played and played in the snow with them! All the while Pierson and I relax in the warm house! Of course we do not own heavy duty snow attire, nor sleds for that matter, so the kids have made do with rain gear and lots of layering underneath!

This would be snow covering the car inside the carport!

Rane is so SO funny! Yesterday morning Spencer took Ella-Ann outside to just check it all out first and before I knew it Rane had his pajamas unzipped, dropped to the floor and was watching them at the front door! He was more than ready to play in the snow! Ella-Ann was torturing him in this picture!

It doesn't show but Rane loves the snow and was livid to come inside!

Notice that Rane doesn't even break through the ice....he just scoots!

Birthday Pictures

2011-01-09T19:49:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from Rane's birthday party last Sunday with the grandparents and from today with just our family. Spencer and I were going to give Rane a tricycle for his birthday but Spencer found a better gift...a glider bike. It doesn't have pedals or training wheels so we shouldn't have to put training wheels on his bike when he gets older because this teaches balance. At first he will push it along with his feet and once he gets older and gets a sense of balance he can put his feet up on the pegs and gliiiiiide! We also gave him his first baseball set, or whatever you call it!

As soon as we put the cake in front of him his hands were in it!

We were singing "Happy Birthday" to him in this picture and he was loving the attention!

He decided to ditch the fork and use Grover instead!

Celebration #2 today....

Death by chocolate cake that Ella-Ann and I made yesterday. Yum!

Ella-Ann wanted in on those star candles!

Not a great picture but it captures how happy Rane was on his glider bike!

Well I couldn't end the post without some more pictures of Pierson!

Her hands are so tiny, especially when next to Spencer's hands!

Happy 2nd Birthday Rane!

2011-01-09T06:14:00.003-05:00

Today Rane turns 2! Wow, time has flown this past year! I cannot get over the fact that Sweet Baby Rane is now 2 years old. Even though we have a new baby Rane will always be my "Baby Rane." I have always called him that and I was called "Baby Kate" forever, even affectionately as an adult at times, so like me the name has just stuck with him. He is still soooooo sweet loving. I thought having a boy my cuddles were over but that is not the case with Rane. He is extremely loving and usually (sometimes now he will protest) very willing to dish out lots of hugs (now getting tighter and stronger!) and kisses to all of us. As soon as he saw Pierson in the hospital he wanted to get his hands on her and give her a big kiss! He has just included her as a normal part of his life and on his own kisses and hugs her before his nap and bed time. He is such a sweetie!

Rane is certainly, thus far, our ham of the family. He's the superstar! He loves attention and will grab it whenever he can, especially around our families. He is also very funny. He doesn't try to be funny, he just is in his mannerisms and in the things he says/does. We laugh at him all the time. Most of the time he just has to raise his shoulders to his ears and smile really big and he's already got us smiling and laughing.

He is also a very social child. He can claim responsibility for bringing Ella-Ann out of her shell. He has never met a stranger and always, always yells "HELLO!" and "BYE-BYE!!!!" when we are going in and leaving stores. He will chat it up with anybody and everybody and I know he lifts people's spirits when they see his sweet smiling face while waving hello to them in the grocery line. I love pushing him around in a cart at the grocery because it's like social hour for him. He wants to talk to everyone and he usually does!

Rane is also very curious and always has been...now he's just getting into more and more stuff because he's more agile and taller...smarter too! Yesterday Ella-Ann and I went to the Farmer's Market and my phone rang from Spencer while in the car on the way home. I answered it and heard "Hi Mommy!" Of course I tried talking with him a bit and asked, "Does Daddy know you have his phone?" His response, "Yesss." He kept saying "Hi Mommy!" over and over so I asked him to put Daddy on the phone, which he did not. I finally hung up and he called me back! When I got home Spencer had fallen asleep on the couch so I asked him if he knew Rane had his phone and called me. "No he did not," was Spencer's answer to my question. The boy actually managed to figure out Spencer's touch-screen phone, unlock it AND push a few buttons to dial my number....twice! Honestly that is typical Rane behavior. We have always had to keep a third eye on him!

Ella-Ann and Rane now play together most of the time, which is wonderful. They "fight" often as well, but I know that comes with the territory, especially since they are 3 years apart in age. Rane loves to play with her and sometimes gets a little too rough. Yesterday he walked up behind her and tackled her to the ground! He is much stronger than her now and can easily take her down! I guess I will always be getting used to having a little boy in the house!

We had a birthday celebration for him last Sunday when I got home from the hospital since both sets of grandparents were here for Pierson's arrival. I told them in advance that we would be having a little party for him so everyone brought presents and I got a Sesame Street cake (Rane loves Grover and Elmo even though he doesn't watch TV) from Publix. He loved having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him and was all smiles. He dove into his huge piece of cake and used the Grover figure that was on his cake as a utensil. He was a mess but loved every minute of it! Yesterday Ella-Ann and I made his birthday cake for today during nap time. When we get home from church we will have cake and he will open his presents from Spencer and I. I will post pictures of both parties later.

Happy Birthday Rane! We love you sweet boy!

More Pierson Pictures

2011-01-07T07:43:00.006-05:00

As soon as Ella-Ann got out Pierson's blanket and got in this position I had an immediate flashback to this......

she did the exact same thing the day we brought home Rane from the hospital. Sweet big sister!

She Is Here

2011-01-04T10:46:00.008-05:00

Pierson Virginia Jensen arrived on December 31, 2010 at 10:36 p.m. (Yeay for the 2010 tax break!), weighing 6 pounds 1 ounce and 18 inches in length! In case you are wondering, Pierson is just a name we liked and Virginia is Spencer's grandmother's name.

I had not felt her move much all morning that Friday so I called Spencer to tell him to come home from work to keep Ella-Ann and Rane so I could drive downtown to Emory Midtown, where I deliver, to get the baby checked out. We found out at our 20-week ultrasound that I had a 2-vessel cord. In a normal umbilical cord there are two arteries and one vein and Pierson's cord only had one artery and one vein. All abnormalities that can be associated with this condition were ruled out but I had to go each month for an ultrasound to measure her growth because she was at risk for low birth weight. Each month we got a good report but the anxiety of her delivery and birth were always at the forefront of my mind. I wanted everything to be perfect with this pregnancy and it was not, so a prayer for baby girl was always on my lips each day.

My ultrasound doctor told me at my last ultrasound that I needed to be vigilant about counting kicks since I was at a higher risk for a stillborn baby. Great. That was just what I needed to hear! That was why I really wanted to head to the hospital on the 31st when she wasn't moving quite as much as she normally does. As soon as I was hooked up to the ultrasound she started showing off, of course, and was fine. However, since I have been sick for a while and probably not drinking fluids as much as I should have been, the baby's amniotic fluid level was too low. Since I was already 3 centimeters dilated and had the low fluid I was kept at the hospital for delivery. Spencer took the kids next door to our neighbor's house to be looked after until whichever set of grandparents arrived at our house first to take over. Both our families, thankfully, had no trouble getting down here quickly. After picking up our kids and trading off with Gary and Gayla, my parents came to the hospital.

I was given Pitocin, a drug to speed along the contractions and get a regular pattern with them, when I was around 5 centimeters. After the doctor broke my water I went from 5 centimeters to 9 and ready to push in about an hour. I didn't want an epidural because I delivered naturally with Rane and although it was beyond painful I loved how good I felt after delivery and wanted to do it again. Also, an epidural can slow down delivery and Pierson needed to get out in order to avoid distress (low oxygen) with the 2-vessel cord and I would have to be delivered via c-section. It was obviously excruciatingly painful and I screamed my head off (poor Spencer and everyone else in the room) but after about 5 hard pushes Pierson was out! The cord was wrapped tight around her neck so there was concern as soon as she was delivered because she was blue and not crying but once she was freed of the cord, poked and prodded she was screaming like crazy. It was closing in on midnight when my parents came back into the delivery room. I was absolutely starving since I hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning so Spencer ordered pizza and my parents had brought a bottle of champagne from our house. It was so much fun to ring in the New Year with an amazing blessing! My parents, Spencer and I toasted with champagne in Styrofoam cups and Spencer and I scarfed down a large pizza in 2 seconds! It was so much fun!

We did great in the hospital and Zach and Mandy even drove down with the boys on Saturday to surprise us. It was so nice! The grandparents did a great job taking care of Ella-Ann and Rane while Spencer stayed with me. Ella-Ann and Rane came to the hospital on Saturday morning and both of them loved their new sister. I had shirts made for all of them and I was one proud momma seeing all of my babies together for the first time. It was such a special moment to me and I will never, ever forget it. Ella-Ann, of course, thought Pierson was her personal property and did not want to share her at all and Rane was very curious about her and kept poking at her face. They were both very sweet and I am so blessed to have three healthy, beautiful children.

After I was discharged on Sunday morning, we came home and had a quick little birthday party for Rane since everyone was down here visiting and wouldn't be back for his birthday on the 9th. I ordered an Elmo and Grover cake and everyone brought down his presents. He loved all the attention and really enjoyed his cake! I will post pictures of his celebration soon.

Since we have been home things have been going well. Pierson is doing great and we are all in love with her. I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to see the rest of them.

Before the pain got intense!

Christmas Week

2010-12-27T06:01:00.003-05:00

The week of Christmas was very fun and very busy for us. We attended our church's Christmas cantata, "Encounters," on Sunday night. Ella-Ann sang with the Children's Choir and she did a great job! This is the first year she was old enough to be a part of it so Spencer and I were the proud parents watching our big girl belt it out in front of the entire church congregation and then some!

On Monday I drove to Jana's house to (finally) spend some time with her and the girls. I told Ella-Ann we were going there that morning, had I told her earlier she wouldn't have slept the night before, and she started jumping up and down and squealing! She was SO happy to get to see her best friend! I went even further and told her that she was going to spend the night with her that night and boy was she even more pumped! We arrived that morning and Ella-Ann and Mara Kate went directly to Mara Kate's bedroom, shut the door and only came out if they needed something. Jana and I enjoyed catching up and Rane was a trooper since he was the only male and wasn't allowed in to play with the girls! Ella-Ann did great spending the night and I met Jana Tuesday morning to pick her up. Needless to say, Ella-Ann was not happy whatsoever to be going home.

Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with last minute errands, finishing up wrapping presents and cleaning my house. I started feeling bad on Tuesday afternoon and by Wednesday I had a full blown nasty, nasty cold thanks to Rane. This was not a good start to the Christmas holiday, to say the least. I couldn't stop coughing, my head was ready to explode and I couldn't taste anything.

My parents drove down Wednesday night but they didn't come over to our house (they stay in a hotel near us) until Thursday morning. The kids were so excited to see them and vice versa! We unloaded their car and our tree was complete! Lots of pretty presents for Rane to get into! We went out for lunch and laid low at the house all day. Spencer and I went to Atlantic Station and we were going to see "Tron" or grab dinner but both of us felt so bad that we just went to H&M and grabbed coffee. It was still nice to get out, just us two, before the baby arrives.

On Christmas Eve we let the kids open one gift. I made sure Rane opened his Dyson vacuum and Ella-Ann opened the game "Guess Who." We all took turns playing the game with her all day long...she loved it! Rane was all about his vacuum and I don't think he turned it off all day! I was feeling really bad still and hadn't slept at all since I came down with the cold so I was no fun that day, really I was no fun the entire Christmas holiday and just wanted to get a good night's sleep but sleep was elusive the entire week, as was my sense of taste. Mom and I made our usual Christmas Eve appetizer spread for an early dinner that day and according to everyone else, the food was great! I couldn't taste a single thing and was so so so mad that I couldn't even taste the amazing homemade red velvet cake that my parents had brought down (red velvet is my absolute favorite)! Ella-Ann and I also baked cookies for Santa that afternoon.

That evening after the kids went to bed the elves got busy in the living room assembling the kids gifts from Santa. Ella-Ann received a new bike since she had outgrown her old one and Cinderella's Castle complete with all the princesses and princes. Rane got Lucky the horse (a bouncing, soft horse that talks and sings) and a Toy Story ATV. Our stockings were overflowing with lots of fun stuff from Santa and since I had been sleeping on the couch I had even more trouble sleeping since I was sitting there staring at all the fun gifts for the kids and couldn't wait for Christmas morning!

My parents got up super early in order to be at our house by 7 a.m. when the kids woke up Christmas morning. We let them out of their cages, I mean rooms, as soon as my parents walked in the door and they went racing to the living room. They were so excited about their gifts from Santa and both of them went right to work on their stockings! Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas with my parents because they are filled with fun things, and stuff Spencer and I actually need, and Mom and Dad do a great job with them. After we ate breakfast casserole and a new kind of monkey bread that I had made we started tearing into the presents since Ella-Ann could wait no longer! We were finished with everything by 8:30 a.m. and Ella-Ann was on her new bike circling the house, Rane was all over the place and into his stuff and Ella-Ann's, Dad and Spencer were helping the kids and Mom and I were cleaning up. We decided to go to our church's Christmas Day service that morning, which was very special to Spencer and I. It was less than an hour and was very kid friendly, which was a good thing because Rane had developed another cold so he would've had to stay with us anyway in the sanctuary. Ella-Ann, for the first time, sat down front with all the kids and listened to Paul, our pastor, speak about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. It was great!

We came home and ate our leftover appetizers for lunch and pretty much played all day with the kids. I felt the absolute worst on Christmas Day, which was quite a bummer, but I still had fun watching Ella-Ann and Rane play and have such a good time with their Mimi and Grandpa. Mom and I prepared our traditional Christmas Day dinner and we all ate very well that night. We ate by candlelight, which was so fun for the kids, and enjoyed our time together as a family around the table. Before dinner we opened our "Thankful" jars that we had been contributing to all year. This is a tradition I started last year at Thanksgiving and my parents loved it so much they wanted their own Thankful jar at their house this year. Since we were not together over Thanksgiving this year we opened our jars at Christmas. The Thankful jar sits in the kitchen all year with strips of paper and a pen in front of it. Whenever we are feeling thankful or think of something to write, we write it down on a strip of paper and deposit it in the jar. People who come to our houses also participate so it's fun to read what our friends are thankful for as well! We dumped all the paper out into a huge bowl and Mom and I read them. Some are sweet, some are super funny, some are very meaningful and others bring a tear to our eyes. Ella-Ann really gets into it and often contributes to the jar throughout the year and by the end of this year she was writing her own "blessings" with help from Spencer and I. It is fun to look back over the last year at things we are thankful for and how much our family is blessed beyond measure. Opening our jars was my favorite part of the entire Christmas holiday. On a side note, while we were reading from the jars one of us asked Rane what he was thankful for and what does he say? "Poop!" Ohhh I thought Ella-Ann was going to wet her pants she was laughing so hard....of course, 5-year-old humor is all about the potty. It was hilarious!

After dinner that night we all loaded up in the van and took a tour around the Virginia-Highlands to look at Christmas lights. Ella-Ann loved it and I thought Rane was going to blow a gasket with all of his excitement! It was so fun! Needless to say, the kids went down for bed without a fight that night and the adults retired early as well.

My parents left early Sunday morning but it was an easy goodbye since we know we will see them very soon! We had such a wonderful Christmas this year and I family is blessed beyond belief. We have so much to be thankful for and I am glad we really focused on that this year...not just on Christmas Day but this entire month. Thanks Mom and Dad for spending yet another Christmas down south since I couldn't travel and all that you did for our family. We love you!

I took a lot of pictures so click HERE to view them.

Anna-Kate and Ella Ann ready to sing at church Sunday night.

Playing dress up at Mara Kate's house, their favorite thing to do together.

Dad played with Ella-Ann's Tinkerbell doll and all her little dress up stuff every single day with Ella-Ann and he would make up these silly stories which made Ella-Ann's day! She would get the biggest kick out of his silliness and was obviously the only one who appreciated it!

I took this picture at like 5 a.m. Christmas Eve. Since I was sleeping on the couch, or I should say just laying there not sleeping all night, I really enjoyed being alone and looking at the tree and how pretty it was while sipping coffee in the early morning hours.

Mom was vacuuming with my Dyson and Rane was right on her tail with his!

Christmas morning.

"Look! Santa ate his cookies and the reindeer at their carrots!"

This was right before we left for church Christmas morning. She did not want to get off the bike!

Ready to read from the thankful jars!

Slightly Busy....

2010-12-17T19:38:00.004-05:00

this week to say the least. I have no idea where the last few days went. I have been going full speed ahead each and everyday and I am looking forward to next week when I don't have to get everyone out the door by a certain time and run 20 errands a day. Of course I know I'll be sitting on the couch asking what we're going to do for the day by next Wednesday! I like being pretty busy but this week has worn me out, in a good way! After Rane woke up from his nap Sunday afternoon he was running a 102 fever. With the fever came a runny, stopped up nose and a cough. The fever broke on Monday night and very strangely the virus moved to his face, mainly his eyes. They weren't running, it just looked like he had a major allergic reaction to something. I took him to the pediatrician on Tuesday and he tested negative for anything major, thank goodness. It is Friday now and he still looks like he has been through the ringer. He feels fine, just looks awful. Poor thing, yesterday he fell down and I didn't even know it until I found him because he is so horse I couldn't hear him cry! So with his cold and weird face running errands was extra fun this week! Needless to say, he got a lot of attention from strangers staring at him!

I can finally say I am finished with Christmas stuff! Yeay! I have a grocery trip to make and that is it! Finito! In between getting ready for the holiday I had Ella-Ann's class party on Thursday afternoon and her school "all-inclusive" holiday program this morning. Rane has to be at his PMO on Fridays at 9 a.m., which was what time the program started so fortunately another PMO family lives about a mile away from our house so they picked him up this morning and took him for me. Side note, it was so cute...he hoped right in that car with his friend, Stevie, and said, "Bye Mommy!" He's such a big boy! Meanwhile, Stevie was having a complete meltdown because Rane was in the car!

Ella-Ann's class party yesterday was fun and she was thrilled that I was there. They had lots of goodies and got little gift bags and cute pictures of her class from her teachers. I had to bring food for that party and to the Holiday Coffee this morning. Ella-Ann helped me make Skittle meringues yesterday afternoon for the dessert table. They turned out perfectly and were very good! If I let her Ella-Ann would have eaten 20 of them! Her favorite candy is Skittles and she is always begging me to buy her meringues when she sees them at Whole Foods so she was very happy to be making them and combining her two loves! I made it to her program 3 minutes before it started....long story as to why I was so late, just know I needed a nap by 9:30 a.m. because I had been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So her class was so cute singing their snowflake song and Ella-Ann was belting out the words and motions like it was nobody's business!

After Rane's nap this afternoon the four of us headed to the mall to ride the famous Rich's Pink Pig and visit Santa. It wasn't nearly as busy as I had anticipated but we still waited for that silly Pig for at least 30 minutes. We didn't even wait that long in Disney for a ride! This was Rane's first ride on the Pig, or anything for that matter, and I don't think he even blinked. He sat beside Spencer and was in awe. Of course Ella-Ann loved it as well. The line for Santa was very short so we got to see him as well. I thought Rane would freak out but he did not. He just sat on his knee across from Ella-Ann and stared a hole through Santa. Meanwhile, Ella-Ann chatted it up with him and once she hopped off his lap she started jumping up and down saying, "I love Santa! I loved sitting on his lap!" We encouraged her to ask for a new baby and a bicycle, since that IS what she is receiving from Santa, which she did so at least we have our bases covered!

This Sunday evening Ella-Ann will be singing with the children's choir during the Christmas cantata service at our church. I had to take her to the big choir practice on Wednesday night. It was from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and she was the only child up on stage yawning! The girl needs her beauty sleep, what can I say? The roads were icy that evening so I had quite the backseat driver both to and from church. "Mommy, are you okay to drive in the dark?" "Be careful, be careful!" "Slow down while going down the hill! Not so fast! Watch out for that car!" Side note, I was going like 15 mph. Hopefully this means I will have a very cautious 16 year old in the future!

Thankfully it is the weekend now and Christmas break has started. I am looking forward to spending time with our family, relaxing and not going into labor!

Since Spencer had clinic Friday morning I had to video and take pictures at the same time so the pictures are not good at all, but I tried!

Ella-Ann with her sweet friend, Melissa.

Ready for the Pig to get a move on!

See his poor face? Believe me when I say it is so much better than it was earlier this week. I don't think his little hand moved off of Spencer's leg while riding the Pig!

Since Rane didn't even crack a smile and he looked so bad we didn't buy a picture this year but we may try again next week.

Rudolph

2010-12-13T13:23:00.006-05:00

This weekend while Spencer was in Toccoa working I took the kids on Saturday afternoon to the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts to watch "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." I had never been to the Puppetry Arts Center so I was excited to go myself! The tickets included passes to the museum and the opportunity to make your own puppet. I was slightly nervous about having to do this without Spencer but I said a prayer on the way there that Rane would behave during the hour long show and that I would remain calm at all times! Well God answered my prayers because we had the best time and Rane did great! I had to put him down for his nap early because we had to leave at 2 p.m. for the 3 p.m. show since the seats were first come first serve. I wanted to be sure we had great seats because I knew Ella-Ann would not be happy if she couldn't see. We arrived in time to walk around the museum, which was my favorite part because they had several exhibits that brought back memories of my puppet-watching childhood...like puppets from "Fraggle Rock" and the Muppets. There was a life-size Big Bird on display and the kids really loved that.

Since we got there so early we were the first in line before they opened the doors to the theater. We had seats that were in the middle center of the theater so it was perfect! They show was absolutely fantastic and greatly exceeded my expectations! It was actually very high-tech and, along with the puppets, there was really cool animation involved. Ella-Ann never moved a muscle, except when the abominable snowman showed up on stage, and loved every minute of it. As soon as it was over she turned to me and said, "Mommy I loved it SO MUCH! It was so much fun! I loved Rudolph the best!" Rane really liked it as well and enjoyed all the music and funny puppets. He sat still some of the time and was off and on my lap throughout the show. He would clap and laugh and liked looking at all the other kids that surrounded us.

Afterward we headed upstairs to make our own Rudolph puppet. That was the hard part of the trip....trying to manage Rane, read directions on how to make the puppet and help Ella-Ann put it all together. Thankfully, one of the workers saw I was struggling and entertained Rane with a puppet while I helped Ella-Ann.

The kids were not happy about leaving so I think we will have to go to another show before we leave Atlanta!

With Rane it's always, "Wook Daddy, WOOOK!" Never, "Look Mommy, look!" That is what he was saying in this picture!

Creating puppets in the museum.

Going to look at the "Fraggle Rock" puppets.

I love this picture of Rane! He kept pushing the board down the hall so Ella-Ann couldn't get her head through. It was so funny!

O' Christmas Tree

2010-12-09T19:31:00.003-05:00

There she is, our beautiful Christmas tree! In my opinion this is our best tree yet...very full, actually still alive (every year we seem to get a tree that doesn't drink water so it is dead in a week) and is full of ornaments. We have gotten quite an ornament collection over the past 7 years Spencer and I have been married and I love getting them all out to look at each year. Every trip we go on we always try to remember to buy an ornament so we will be able to remember all the places we have been as we decorate our tree each year. Ella-Ann and Rane love all of our Disney ornaments and this year Ella-Ann got to hang the one she picked out while we were in Disney World this year.

I love wrapping presents, it's like therapy to me! I tried to stick with a color scheme with the paper but there are some randoms stuck in there. I have a few presents left to wrap and I am done! My parents are coming down this year for Christmas so when their presents arrive it will look even better!

Our old school stockings, which I love. Hard to believe next year there will be five!

So I had to include this picture of Rane. He is the showman of the family, to say the least. What a ham! He always, always stands by the laundry room door that leads to our carport and watches Ella-Ann and Spencer put their coats, gloves and shoes on each morning before they leave for school. Yesterday he ran to the play kitchen and put on the oven mitts and Spencer's slippers....he was ready to go too! He also demands at least two kisses and lots of hugs from each of them before they walk outside and if he doesn't receive the right number then he gets extremely upset and Spencer can't even shut the door!

An Early Christmas

2010-12-06T19:30:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we traveled to Tennessee to have an early Christmas with the Jensens. Because I am unable to travel around the end of December we decided to celebrate the first weekend of this month to make sure we were all together and I was not (hopefully) going to go into labor! It all worked out perfectly and we had the best weekend! Gary and Gayla have pulled up roots in Kentucky and moved about 15 minutes away from Zach and Mandy's house, which we are incredibly excited about! We had Christmas at their house Friday night and even though they are still not completely moved in and settled, Gayla had the entire house decorated and looking like they have been there for years. It was so wonderful! We had a great dinner together Friday night after we arrived and the kids were beyond ready to tear into their presents afterward! All the kids received so many nice gifts...lots and lots of very fun toys! Ella-Ann loves her Easy Bake Oven (we made fondue in it today), roller skates, bean bag, art and jewelry kits and everything else she opened, as did Rane! I asked for bean bags for the kids this year because I knew they would enjoy them throughout the years and they really need their own seats in this house. Rane loves his and will just curl up on it with his blanket and relax. He got a lot of cars and tools and a Mr. Potato Head with like 50 million pieces and he has played with it all nonstop. He carries around his drill and flashlight all waking hours....even to run errands today! It's fun to watch him gravitate toward "boy" toys now and I find it super cute that he carries around tools and cars at all times.

Friday night all the kids, poor Gary and Gayla I don't think they realized what they were getting into, stayed at their house. Spencer and I went back to Zach and Mandy's house to spend the night and have a blissful, peaceful night sleep! It was awesome! Mandy called Gary Saturday morning and was told the kids were up at 5:45 a.m.! Whew, glad they weren't with us!

Saturday we hung around Mandy's house and the kids just played with all their new stuff. Carter received the game "Guess Who" and they played that over and over and over all day. We gave Ethan a mini Dyson vacuum and it is a very good thing I bought Rane one for Christmas because once he saw it he never let go of it the entire afternoon and I am not exaggerating at all. If anyone else tried to play with it he would pitch a fit like I have never, ever seen him do before! He was LIVID if anyone touched it. Rane would go running after whoever took his vacuum and would scream "VACUUM RANE!!!! VACUUM RANE!!!" It was the first time we have ever heard him say his own name, let alone use it in a possessive form! ha! He always likes to follow me around when I vacuum so I figured I would just get him one of his own because he often tries to steal mine!

I received a Dyson as well as a big birthday/Christmas present from Gary and Gayla. I am over the moon about it and I wanted it put together as soon as we walked in the door Sunday afternoon! I was vacuuming up pine needles after we put up our tree yesterday afternoon (we decorated it tonight...what a treat with Rane) and wanted to do a vacuuming dance I was so excited about that machine! I vacuumed the entire house today: furniture, under tables, cracks and crevices, etc. and I may just get it out tomorrow and do it again for fun!

Thanks again Gary, Gayla, Zach, Mandy, Craig and Kasey for everything and all you did for us! We had a blast!

I only posted a few pictures below so click HERE to view all of them.

I love this picture of the big kids!

Gary tried to eat a slice of red velvet cake but the little wolves descended upon him so quickly that he didn't even eat a single bite! Rane eventually ended up in his lap!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like....

2010-12-02T19:44:00.004-05:00

Christmas! I have really started preparing for the holiday quite early this year because of the "just in case" factor with the baby. I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row in case Baby J decides to make her grand appearance before I would like her to! Last weekend I made my Christmas card and by the end of the day today they were in the mailbox, which Spencer tells me is totally unacceptable because it's way too early but I will not have a stack of envelopes sitting on my counter just because! I have decorated the house and we are putting up our Christmas tree early next week. I only have a couple of presents left to buy and wrap so other than that I am done! I do want to do some holiday baking because I need an excuse to bake lots of yummy treats so we will do that soon as well. I bought a gingerbread house at Trader Joe's this week for Spencer and Ella-Ann to put together. They did it last year and had a great time, especially Ella-Ann, so hopefully this will be a family tradition for us. Rane just wanted to eat the candy so I fed him a snack in his chair so he could get out of the way and watch. The house is way too cute and I love it! They did a fantastic job!

Yesterday we started our Advent Calender that Jana made for us a couple of years ago. I always look forward to reading the stories and having the kids put the pieces on the tree. Ella-Ann was very excited to get it out this year and get started! Rane, of course, just wants to take the pieces off the tree!

Ella-Ann was thrilled that this was the day her and Daddy were putting together the house! She has been asking to do it about every other hour of the day since I bought it!

The completed house! Hopefully we can keep Rane off the table for the next 4 weeks!

Tonight we did two days for our tree since we are headed out of town.

Of course I tried my best to get a picture of both of them looking at me but Rane was so concerned with the apple he put on the tree that I could not get him to turn around!

Thanksgiving....Just the 4 of Us

2010-11-27T19:25:00.004-05:00

Since we just got home from Disney on Sunday and I met Gayla halfway between Atlanta and Nashville on Monday morning to pick up Rane there was absolutely no way the four of us were getting back in that van to go anywhere for Thanksgiving! My Dad also had to work the day after Thanksgiving so my parents couldn't come down either. Spencer and I talked a couple of weeks earlier and said how weird it was going to be to be without family for the first time on a major holiday and we thought we might get a little lonely. However, with the fast paced week we had last week, all the car rides and fatigue from traveling we were actually very thankful to just have this week to spend with each other and rest! We all slept in (until 7 a.m.) each morning, except for Ella-Ann, who went to bed at 6:30 p.m. most nights and would sleep until 7:30 a.m.! Poor girl, she still hasn't recovered from Disney! On Thanksgiving day I made all the sides and the pumpkin pie for dessert but I didn't feel like dealing with a turkey so we bought a huge pre-cooked breast from the grocery store. Yes, we did go vegetarian but we couldn't skip out on turkey for Thanksgiving! We played Christmas music, the kids danced around the house all day, we baked and cooked together, had a super fancy table (according to Ella-Ann), and really enjoyed our time together. I was so excited because all of the food turned out great and all of us ate a ton! What warmed my heart the most was when Ella-Ann said, "Mommy, this food is SO good! You did such a good job! I love it!" Ahhhh....words that rarely come out of the mouth of my picky eater! Rane, on the other hand, demonstrated his love of the food I cooked by devouring a massive plate full and eating a large piece of pumpkin pie...his first! It was wonderful!

On Black Friday I ventured out with both kids (Spencer worked that morning) to Nordstrom Rack, Toys R Us and TJ Maxx in hopes of snagging some good bargains, which I did not but bought a few items anyway. I was pleasantly surprised by how there were no crowds, no lines for me to wait in and no crazy people! The kids did well too and we had a good time. Ella-Ann and I watched "Beauty and the Beast" that afternoon while Rane slept and Spencer visited with his cousin, Chad, who was in town for the holiday. It was the first time she watched it and she cried and cried when the Beast was near death after the town tried to kill him. It was so hard to contain my laughter....it was too cute! We also watched a Christmas episode, which we've seen before, of Disney World getting decorated. It was fun to watch that with her because since we just got back she recognized all the decorations, trees and sights around the parks. She loved it!

We mainly just hung out around the house the entire time. On Saturday I worked on getting a good Christmas card picture of the kids and Ella-Ann helped me decorate the house, which was fun. However, I am super close to turning around and putting it all back up in the boxes because Rane is already driving us nuts with continuously touching everything in sight! I only have a few "up high" places to put decorations so Spencer and I have said, "NO RANE!" at least 50 times this afternoon! The tree and presents should be quite fun with him. We also played outside in the backyard that afternoon. It was cool and sunny, a perfect fall day. Spencer raked leaves for the kids to play in. It was Rane's first time and he kept saying, "Uh-oh," to Ella-Ann throwing the leaves up in the air and having them go everywhere! He is such a neat freak!

My little helpers on Thanksgiving morning!

For many months now Rane takes some of my kitchen gadgets out of a cabinet and gets inside. Every so often he will pop his head out and yell "BOO!"

Spencer carving the turkey.

Every time we eat by candlelight Ella-Ann goes crazy. She thinks it is so much fun! I used all of our good serving trays, bowls and utensils, along with cloth napkins with napkin rings even if it was just us 4!

Ella-Ann did a fantastic job helping me bake the pumpkin pie. The best part was she actually ate it!

On Friday afternoon I took the kids to Baskin Robins for some free ice cream. I signed the four of us up to be members of their birthday club so we got a free scoop of ice cream on our birthday. I even got a coupon for Spencer's half birthday so Rane got a scoop too! Ella-Ann didn't speak a single word until her chocolate fudge ice cream was gone!

Rane looked so handsome and so old in his outfit I put on him for our Christmas card this morning!

Playing outside Saturday afternoon.

Disney.....Ella-Ann Style

2010-11-18T20:30:00.008-05:00

This year we did Disney very differently, with Ella-Ann in tow and me being 7.5 months pregnant. I have decided this was not a good combination! We had a fantastic time, it was just a lot slower paced and more relaxed, even though I am completely exhausted from lack of sleep all week! FYI, we will never, ever again share a hotel room with a kid or any kid for that matter!

We drove to Nashville last weekend to hand over Rane to Gary and Gayla. There was no way we would be taking him along for the trip! I have had many comments as to why we wouldn't even consider taking him and after taking my 5-year-old daughter and now after this trip Spencer and I have decided that even she wasn't really ready and will not be going back for a while! Anyway, we came home Sunday and I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing for Ella-Ann's birthday celebration at school on Monday. Spencer and I picked her up after lunch at school that day and headed straight to Orlando. However, before we even drove through downtown Atlanta I was holding a bag for Ella-Ann to throw up into! This is not the first time we have started a trip with Ella-Ann vomiting before leaving the city! She has a sensitive stomach when it comes to riding in a car and since she just ate a big cupcake before riding in one her belly couldn't handle it. After that she was great and we had a very nice, easy trip down.

We woke up bright and early Tuesday morning, Ella-Ann's birthday, and she was ready to rock. We gave her a present that morning, which was a monogrammed Minnie Mouse shirt for her to wear that day in the Magic Kingdom. Once we arrived at the gate she was already overwhelmed with all the sights. She wore a pin all day that said "Happy Birthday Ella-Ann" so every cast member we passed, and Disney character too, would wish her a Happy Birthday. It was great! I kept asking Ella-Ann if she was having a good time and enjoying herself because she was soooo solemn. I had to keep reminding myself that she is so much like Spencer, in that she is an observer and likes to take things in. She does get excited, but things that I normally get pumped about, like being in Disney, doesn't really come out in Ella-Ann. I kept expecting her to bust out a "Look Mommy!" or a "This is SO MUCH FUN!" but we never got it. It was kinda hard but I know she was completely exhausted by 1 p.m. because we had gone to bed late and gotten up super early and our little princess needs her beauty sleep...always. The park wasn't majorly crowed so we rode all the rides that we knew she would enjoy: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Speedway cars, etc. Her favorite, by far, and what we rode over and over again was Peter Pan. She loved it. Spencer put her on Big Thunder Mountain with him and she was extremely afraid and hated it; however, she didn't cry so I was proud! We fell into the Disney trap and bought Ella-Ann several things for her birthday but it was worth it....of course!

We stayed on property at the Dolphin, which is between Hollywood Studios and Epcot so that evening we ate at a Mediterranean restaurant that we like and the staff sang "Happy Birthday" to Ella-Ann. It was an early night to say the least!

Wednesday my parents arrived and they were thrilled to be in Disney for the first time with Ella-Ann. She was still pretty tired all day on Wednesday (another early morning), but having Mimi and Grandpa there helped and she rallied. We had fabulous meals that day and spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom again.

Thursday was much better because Ella-Ann took a nap and Spencer and her spent the afternoon at the pool (Mom and I went to the outlet mall and Dad napped). That morning we went to Hollywood Studios and caught the Beauty and the Beast show and rode a few rides. Ella-Ann wasn't impressed with that park, which we knew she wouldn't, plus she was tired so we headed back to the hotel after lunch. That morning we drove over to the Contemporary hotel for a character breakfast at Chef Mickeys. She LOVED that! We got several autographs in her autograph book and she was so happy to finally meet Minnie Mouse (her current favorite). She wasn't afraid of the characters and kept wanting them to come back to our table. The only characters she did not like and would shy away from were Cinderella's mean stepsisters. Unfortunately we ran into them a few times and Ella-Ann seemed to be their target. She was wearing her Ariel tutu that we got her on her birthday during one of the parades and as they walked passed her one of them stopped and as she fluffed her tutu said, "You look like a cupcake!" Ella-Ann has very thin skin and doesn't understand acting/joking/teasing so I knew she'd be upset but she handled it well. Anyway, back to breakfast. It was a great breakfast and I never in my life thought I'd see rice krispie treats, brownies, and veggie lasagna on a breakfast buffet, let alone indulge in it (which I happily did)....only in Disney! Ella-Ann and I both got a cupcake with candles brought to our table since it is our "birthday week" so we ate cupcakes for breakfast too! Good thing I had the pregnancy eating excuse! That evening we had another character dinner at Garden Grove, which was at the Swan, the sister hotel to the Dolphin. Ella-Ann was excited to see Pluto and Goofy again and we had a fantastic Mediterranean dinner.

Friday was my birthday and my body was done with Disney and I was incredibly exhausted from all the going and doing but what did me in was the lack of sleep because of Ella-Ann being in our room at night. She had the sniffles and they would last for like an hour at a time in the middle of the night, plus she'd want water, have to potty, have a bad dream, etc. I was up all night with that kid every night. If someone were to ask me if I could have anything for my birthday I would have said a good night's sleep! I was beyond overjoyed when my dear husband came booming into our hotel room (it connected to my parent's room at least) and said he upgraded us to a suite for our last two nights so Ella-Ann could have her own bedroom and I could finally get some sleep on our vacay! I couldn't believe it! This was the best birthday present ever! While Spencer quickly loaded up all of our luggage Mom, Dad, Ella-Ann and I headed over to Epcot's Norway for breakfast with the princesses. Ella-Ann couldn't wait to meet them, which made all of us really excited. We had another amazing breakfast, complete with birthday cupcakes, and Ella-Ann got to meet all her favorite gals, get their autographs and have her picture made with them. They had a princess parade so all the little boys and girls paraded around the restaurant behind various princesses while music played. So cute! We rode a few rides at Epcot and, after admitting I was in horrible pain from walking, we decided to go back to the hotel after lunch. We hung out at the pool all afternoon and walked to Epcot for my birthday dinner at France, which is my favorite country. I enjoyed watching several young, attractive French men sing me "Happy Birthday!" We all enjoyed a very good chocolate mousse cake! After we put Ella-Ann to bed that night Mom and Dad came over to our room and we played a dice game, Left Right Center, which was so much fun! Mom and Dad took our money but we got them back on Saturday evening!

Saturday was our last day in Disney so we lived it up. I was feeling better and was able to trek around the parks fairly well. That morning we went to Animal Kingdom and after riding a few rides, going on a safari and seeing some animals we went to the Magic Kingdom one last time so Ella-Ann could really enjoy herself. We rode Peter Pan for the umpteenth time and that evening we had dinner in Cinderella's castle at The Royal Table. My parents had bought Ella-Ann a Minnie Mouse costume that day so she wore that to dinner. There were so many little girls dressed as princesses and it was adorable! It was really neat to actually be in the castle and overlooking parts of the Magic Kingdom. They called our name to head up to the restaurant and asked for "Lady Ella-Ann," which made Ella-Ann's day! It was all very nice and was a fun experience for all of us. After we were seated our waiter handed the princesses at the table magic wands and the princes swords. Ella-Ann loved that and she loved the confetti at the table that was shaped like Cinderella's carriage. All the princesses came around to the tables so Ella-Ann got her picture taken with them again. We had really good food and ANOTHER chocolate mousse cake for the birthday girls! We blew out our candles together and enjoyed more dessert! When we left the Magic Kingdom it was dark so Ella-Ann finally got to see the castle and Main Street USA lit up. She was in awe and so were the rest of us, even though we've seen it so many times....it never fails to disappoint. It is spectacular. On the car ride back to our hotel Ella-Ann kept saying in her sad voice that she didn't want to go home, didn't want to leave Disney and didn't want to wake up tomorrow and go back to Atlanta. I knew she thoroughly enjoyed herself and the experience of Disney. It was neat to be there with her and I know it brought back a lot of fond memories for my parents who took me at her age and every year thereafter for that matter! It was an awesome vacation but we missed Baby Rane like crazy and Spencer and I were glad to get home!

I took a crazy amount of pictures so click HERE to view them all.

Our first picture on Main Street USA.

Admiring herself after we bought the Cinderella crown and she was sprinkled with the pixie dust!

Getting ready to watch Mickey's Philhermagic, which she left in tears! She hated the 3D flying objects!

Sitting in one of Minnie's chairs in Minnie's house.

The mean stepsister telling her she looks like a cupcake. Poor Ella-Ann, she has her had still up from waving!

One of her two favorite characters, Minnie Mouse. The other is Cinderella.

One of the characters from "Toy Story" gave her a hug but she didn't really care for that!

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's.

Riding Pirates of the Carribean.

Ella-Ann wanted the carraige confetti in the picture.

Blowing out our candles at the Royal Table.

The end!

Mini Celebration

2010-11-13T21:44:00.003-05:00

While we were in Nashville this weekend we had a mini birthday celebration for Ella-Ann with the Jensens. We hadn't seen Zach, Mandy and the boys since August so it was high time for a visit! Ella-Ann was so excited to play with them and couldn't wait to get to their house on Friday afternoon. Gayla made cupcakes and Ella-Ann got to open her gifts. It was a very fun surprise for her and she got several fun things. I absolutely, positively cannot believe our first baby is going to be 5 on the 16th!

Cupcake #1 on Saturday.

Waiting patiently to tear into her presents!

The boys had to be in the mix as well!

Cupcake #2 after we sang "Happy Birthday."

Girly Fun

2010-11-09T13:44:00.009-05:00

I am so excited to be having a girl! I love looking at all the girly stuff when I shop and I am automatically drawn to the girls' side of a clothing store....poor Rane! I enjoy shopping for babies in general but there is something special about a baby girl. This is why I was so excited to attend a shower for Megan and I Tuesday morning. Our dear friends, Jana, Andria and Ruth, kindly threw a baby girl shower for the two of us! Megan is also having a girl, she has 2 boys, and is due in 3 weeks. She is over the moon about a baby girl and oooohs and ahhhs over all the baby girl gear more than I do! I was also thrilled that my Mom was here for the shower! She drove down on Sunday and leaves on Wednesday so it meant a lot to me for her to be here for the shower and she got to meet all of my friends that I talk about so often!

After I dropped Rane off at his "school" this morning Mom and I headed over to Ruth's house. I was looking forward to seeing everyone and I really wanted to see Jana since I hadn't seen her since Labor Day. I didn't dare tell Ella-Ann where I was going and what I'd be doing because she would cry her eyes out if she knew she were missing out on seeing all of her buddies, especially Mara Kate.

The girls had a wonderful spread of food for everyone, tea and coffee. It was all fabulous! Several of our friends came and it was so nice to feel so loved! Megan and I received lovely gifts, everything from blankets, to bibs, to clothing. I cannot wait for our baby girls to get here so we can dress them up and show them off!

We also had a great time with Mom while she was here. On Sunday afternoon we laid low around the house. Monday morning Mom, Rane and I went to Whole Foods for our early bird special then hit up the DeKalb Farmer's Market for some food shopping. That evening we all went to Neuvo Laredo Cantina for dinner....Mom and I's favorite! I have been craving it for quite some time so I was really excited to chow down! Tuesday morning was the shower and that afternoon Ella-Ann had gymnastics. The kids love having their Mimi here and both of them are attached to her leg all waking hours! Mom was such a big help to me while she was here, as usual!

Megan opening gifts....

Megan and I with our hostesses: Ruth, Jana and Andria.

Megan and I.

All the fantastic food we ate!

Mom and I.

I got to hold little Evelyn for a few minutes. She's gotten so big!

Getting ready to rummage through all the gifts. As you can see, Rane made himself right at home on a gift, of course!

Halloween Night

2010-11-01T09:10:00.004-04:00

Last night we had a blast going trick-or-treating in our old stomping ground, the Virginia-Highlands. Even if we aren't living in the area we still go trick-or-treating there, as do many other families. I have wrote about our adventures in the Highlands and how much fun it is so I will not repeat myself this year! Houses are decorated like crazy, people are everywhere, music is going, alcohol is being consumed and every single person is having fun. This year Rane was able to somewhat keep up with Ella-Ann and walked practically the entire time we were out. He was exhausted after an hour but Ella-Ann was still going strong and was not happy about heading back to the car. I borrowed a Mickey Mouse costume from my friend, Janelle, for Rane that her son wore last year and Ella-Ann was a fairy. Rane looked so cute in the costume! I laughed so hard at him after I put him in Ella-Ann's black tights! He didn't know what to think of having tights on his legs and, thankfully, he didn't mind a bit and loved wearing the costume. I didn't have any ears for him but the costume came with little yellow booties and white gloves, which is wore for pictures but walked around in shoes to trick-or-treat. Ella-Ann looked very cute as well and she loved wearing her costume too.

The very first house Spencer walked the kids up to Rane face planted himself on the sidewalk. The couple had their house decorated to the nines and they had a motion-activated hand that would fall down the steps as kids were going up and down the steps. I didn't see it moving until I saw Rane freeze and absolutely freak out over the hand! He was screaming his head off and could not be comforted! By then another little boy a little older than him dressed in a big Thomas the Train costume saw the hand, then saw Rane and he started freaking out as well! The parents had to remove his costume so they could pick him up! Oh it was hilarious! Spencer and I laughed and laughed and laughed! After that incident we thought Rane wouldn't want to go to other houses but he rallied and really got the hang of it quickly. He would walk up to the houses with Spencer or I, hold up his basket, say "tick teeeet," grab some candy and say, "byeeeeee, wacome (welcome)!" He loved it all, as did Ella-Ann. We enjoyed checking out all the fun costumes and decorations. It was a huge crowd this year, more so than usual. It was a grand time for all!

Being transformed into Mickey!

He didn't know what to think of the gloves.

This was the house with the hand!

Ella-Ann was deathly afraid of the witch passing out candy at this house! She was glued to Spencer's leg!

Mickey needed a lift back to the car after a tiring night!

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-28T13:52:00.005-04:00

Wednesday afternoon we pulled the cars out of the carport and Spencer and the kids carved two of our pumpkins. It was an absolute downpour all afternoon so Ella-Ann and Rane had fun not only with the pumpkins but splashing around in the driveway with umbrellas. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon as a family. The kids "helped" a little, i.e., Ella-Ann dug out a few seeds with a big spoon but mainly sat and watched Spencer do the dirty work (and me...I majorly cleaned the pumpkins out) and after checking out the rain she would walk over to Spencer and ask, "How's it comin' along Daddy?" Rane, on the other hand, enjoyed pushing around one of the carved pumpkins as if it were a ball, carrying around the spoons, sticking the spoons in the pumpkins and saying, "Uh-oh, UH-OH!" He kept saying the pumpkins were dirty and gross and would follow that up with, "No touch," but would immediately have his hands all over the pumpkins! We had a blast!

Rane's favorite activity? Playing in the water coming out of the drainpipe!

We took this picture this morning. Spencer hasn't been home in the evenings since we carved the pumpkins so we did it while it was still dark outside this morning. The kids love going out in the mornings to look at the moon! I know, I need to get them out more often!

On a side note, this is how sweet Rane sleeps....with tons of blankets and pillows surrounding him. He always sleeps, still, with his blanket covering either his entire body or at least his face, which is why he is sweaty in this picture!

Fall Festivities

2010-10-24T13:22:00.005-04:00

Saturday was packed with fun activities for the kids. Spencer and I had a great time too, but we were exhausted and would've liked to have spent Saturday afternoon in the backyard but I had already told Ella-Ann (we are hyphenating her name now, FYI, for various reasons) that we would go to Boo at the Zoo so we had to rally! Saturday morning Spencer got up bright and early, at 7 a.m., and first took the kids outside to check out the huge, bright moon that was absolutely beautiful. After that he took Ella-Ann to Dunkin Donuts for, what else, donuts and coffee! They came back with Halloween-iced confections that were yummy!

Later that morning we went to Ella-Ann's school for a fall festival. Ella-Ann was so excited to see and do everything! They had three bouncy houses for different ages, ring tosses, story hour, a cake walk, book sale, face painting, tattoos and all kinds of other games put on by each class. Ella-Ann's class had a duck pond that she helped make the sign for....very fun for her to see what she worked on in class on display! She got to see her teachers and several of her friends, which was a thrill. Rane was, of course, all over the place and he had fun in one of the bouncy houses, eating a slushie with Spencer, walking around, playing the duck pond game and going to story hour. We came home and quickly fed the kids lunch and while Rane slept Ella-Ann went back to the festival with me because I volunteered (I'm in the PTA and they put on the festival) to collect tickets at one of the bouncy houses. Fortunately, I was assigned to work the one for the younger kids so Ella-Ann hopped in with one of her friends and jumped for a good 45 minutes. She crawled out and asked me if she could get her face painted toward the end of the festival. This was quite a shocker for me because any time there is face painting Ella-Ann will only get the top of her hand painted. She has never wanted anything on her face so when she said she wanted it done I told her where to go and off she went...by herself! I could see her easily and I watched her stand in line, give a volunteer her ticket and sit down for the painting. I was so proud of her independence! When I went to check on her she was getting a big butterfly painted on her face and she loved it! I was happy she finally got something like that done, even though by the end of the day her face was one big pink smear! On the way back home Ella-Ann said, "I'm really surprised I wanted to do this!"

At 2 we came home, I ate a quick lunch and we woke up Rane at 3 to head to the zoo. Ella-Ann got decked out in her fairy costume and she looked fantastic with her face painted to go along with it! We didn't dress up Rane because it was too much of a hassle. We had a wonderful time at the zoo and got to watch several of the animals eat during feeding time. We saw a viper eat a huge rat...thrilling! It was very crowded and I didn't see a single child not dressed up for Halloween but it was a manageable crowd and we didn't have any problems. We saw everything we wanted, rode the train and looked at all the Halloween decorations and left before dinner. We put Ella-Ann to bed at 6:30 p.m. and had to wake her up at 7:45 this morning! She was exhausted, as were the rest of us!

Ella-Ann with one of her good friends, Kathleen.

Rane taking a rest on Spencer's shoulder during story hour.

Ella-Ann picking out a prize she won at the duck pond. Her teacher, Miss Glasby, is in the green shirt.

Rane provided an audience numerous times to the little girls doing karaoke to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I worked at the bouncy house next to it so I enjoyed Alvin for an hour. It was pure torture.

Ella-Ann was overwhelmed with the crazy kids in one of the houses and started crying so she was done after that.

Rane loved jumping and held his own really well!

Ella-Ann had a balloon poodle on a leash made and if it wasn't a balloon I think she would've slept with it last night. She named it Rose. :)

Ready for Boo at the Zoo!

We were getting ready to ride the train and, obviously, the kids were not interested in me taking a cute picture of them!

Picnicing Solo Style

2010-10-18T09:26:00.004-04:00

This past weekend Spencer was in Toccoa and our church had it's annual fall picnic after church on Sunday. Normally I would forgo this without Spencer to help me but I was feeling rather confident in my capabilities, ya know being 7 months pregnant too, and decided to attend. Ella Ann loves having picnics and since she still talks about picnics we've been to in the past I knew I also had to do this for her. She was so pumped and couldn't wait to go!

Saturday was a rather rough day with the kids. Since Ella Ann is not used to being home all day with us anymore she is feeling "bored," even though she has tons of toys, art supplies, books, dress up clothes, puzzles, etc. to keep her occupied she feels the need to tell me how oh-so boring it is around here! I simply told her Saturday morning that if she was that bored then she could go across the street, knock on their door and live with them because I'm sure they have lots more "fun" things to do than we do! I didn't hear the word "bored" again after that. She also has trouble getting along with Rane because he wants to be around her, which means annoy her! However, Sunday was a much, much better day all around with both of them. As soon as Ella Ann woke up (in a good mood) she happily played with Rane all morning and even read him books while he ate breakfast! It was a blessed morning, to say the least!

After church we headed down the street to the picnic. I was told to bring 24 iced-down drinks, which meant I had to figure out how to get my kids and the cooler down a big hill to the picnic area all by myself. Obviously that didn't happen so Andria and Ricardo kindly brought my drinks down for me. As soon as we got there Ella Ann found her friends and I really didn't see much of her for the next 2 hours. Rane, too, was all over the place. I chased him all over the park for a solid 2 hours. It was seriously impossible to have any fun. He was all about digging around in the 15 or so coolers...getting out the ice, rubbing it on his face and the ground then putting it back in the cooler. He was after all the dogs that were around, circled the food table a million times, tried to get too close for comfort to the grill, running in front of the swings and running around on the playground with the big kids. I did get to sit and talk to Janelle for a while but that was about it. I was one of the very last people to get in line for food, because of Rane, so by the time I got to the food tables it was slim pickins. Ella Ann and Rane had chips and grapes for lunch. The horror!!!! All of us ate another lunch when we got home that afternoon. I was incredibly worn out from just chasing Rane and the hassle of the picnic itself! I was in bed asleep by 8:50 p.m. last night! My old, pregnant self cannot handle all that work these days! I have to say, though, even with all those complaints I was glad we went because the kids had so much fun and it was great for Ella Ann to spend some time with a few of her friends that she doesn't get to see that often anymore because she's in school all week. Once we got home, though, my business wasn't over. I had to finish up a meal that I was taking to a family that afternoon...whew!

Ella Ann and Anna-Kate.

Ella Ann loved pushing Alexia on the swing while Ricardo and Andria brought down my cooler from the car.

Rane does not like to swing at all, but he doesn't mind just sitting in it!

The Belly & the Backyard

2010-10-15T19:33:00.002-04:00

We are back in our favorite spot, the backyard. The weather has been fantastic so Ella Ann has really enjoyed playing with Jordan and Kayla each day all afternoon and into the evening. Rane tries to keep up but they do not allow him to play with them....poor thing. It's a good thing the two cats from across the fence come over to visit the kids because Rane is just fine chasing after them! One of them is super sweet and allows the big kids to carry her around. Rane, of course, tries to do the same and thankfully this cat doesn't scratch him! He tries to be gentle but it just doesn't go over well with the cats so he ends up chasing them from one end of the yard to the other!

The belly shot! Spencer took the horrible picture so I blame him since he wouldn't stand up! I will be 28 weeks (7 months) on Monday. Twelve weeks left to go!

Rane's idea of petting the cat is squeezing it's fur and pushing down on it's back so it won't run away. Poor cat! I have no clue as to why this cat keeps coming back to our yard when the kids are outside!

Chasing one cat and when that one got too far away.....

Rane just turned around and hunted down the other cat!

That's My Boy

2010-10-13T19:25:00.002-04:00

Kale chips, that would be what Rane is eating. I found a recipe for them and wanted to see what they would taste like. I mean, kale is really good for you and has tons of vitamin C so I was hoping to discover a delicious snack for me; however, once I pulled the crispy leaves out of the oven and took one bite I was done. They were so gross and for me to say that says a lot! I can choke down anything healthy but this was where I drew the line! Rane started demanding a bite so I handed him a leaf and figured it would end up on the floor but instead he kept asking for more! I eventually pulled his highchair in the kitchen and threw a half a head (the head was as big as 3 heads of lettuce) of cooked kale on his tray and the only thing left after about 8 minutes was a tiny pile of crumbs. He loved it! He is an amazing eater and is always willing to try new things and fortunately for us he likes it 95% of the time. I love it!