all in a days... work?

 

part of my job is to do hair.  if i was smart i would've gone to school for this, but lucky for me there are "how to" blogs out there!  lexi's had pigs a grand total of 3 times!  she barely has enough hair for the 2 of them.  you'll see in the next pics that she usually just has a mullet.

usually our hair doesn't get done and we're lucky to get out of our pjs!!

 

part of my daily job is keeping alexis SAFE.  she has decided to take on climbing as one of her hobbies.  it's lots of fun changing laundry and coming out to find her on the table or kitchen counters.  so much fun that i bought a "horse corral".  see the big "play pen" below in the background.  that's where alexis goes when she gets in a climbing mood!  before i rearranged the furniture it was right in the middle of the floor.  derek got up in the night to check on the girls and about fell in it and commented that it was as big as a horse corral, thus it's name!!!  i love this picture of samantha... she looks so grown up.

see?  she climbs on EVERYTHING!  

(oh, and see the mullet?)

Sami and her blankies

samantha is very attached to her blanket. i don't even remember where it came from. i think i may have bought it for annie, but annie chose a different one. anyway...sami got a big piece of gum smashed into it. i'm sure there is a trick to getting it out...but honestly i'm glad for a reason to get rid of it and start fresh!! it used to be soft and fluffy. now even after i wash it it's dingy and crunchy!! ha ha (not a pretty picture...i know!) so today we went to walmart and samantha picked out a new blankie. she's into Dora right now, so she was super happy with what she found. the old one is the pink/flower one on the left.she wasn't even sad to throw it away!

this is for my own personal journaling...

katelyn had a little brown dog (thank you mom) and she sucked her thumb. we would lose that stupid little dog ALL THE TIME and katelyn would cry until it was found. i started to cut chunks of it off when she was about 18 months old. by the time she was 2 there was only a little square piece of material left, and then i took it away and told her her puppy went bye-bye. she cried and had a hard time sleeping 1 ngiht. after that she got over it and never sucked her thumb again!

annie started out with a cream blanket with teddy bears on it, and she LOVED her bink. after about a year the blanket was disgusting (she chewed on it) so i chuck it and bought her a new one, but it was the same exact blanket. when she was about 4 we chucked that one and she picked out a princess blanket. she has to sleep with it and it has to be laid on top if her a certain way. princess side up and the tag has to be down by her feet. (when she turned 2 i took the bink away. she had a few rough nights and nap times. we had bought and lost tons of them, and she would be in her room playing and come out with a bink...causing the drama all over because i would make her throw them away!

you know sam's blanket situation. she also used a bink. at 18 months old i took it away and she didn't even care. i'm pretty sure she sucked on the stupid thing because she thought i wanted her too!!!

alexis...loves her bink. not sure what other thing she'll be attached to. she has a blanket, a little tiny blanket with tags sewn on the edges, a little baby doll, and a sock monkey. any of those things i would be fine with her getting attached too!!!

pictures say more than words...

the past couple of days have been very trying. i really don't want my blog to become a way for me to talk trash about my kids (it may be too late for that!!!) so i'm posting this picture and i'll let you try to figure out what happened. i'll give you a hint...SAMANTHA! oh, and i'm pretty sure the words "DON'T TOUCH THAT" have been spoken, yelled, and screamed 1,000,000,000 times. oh, and the things that weren't broken are now back in their safe little boxes in my storage room. and they won't be coming out again until alexis is 4 years old.
just so you know...this is just one of the things my sweet samantha has done. picture the worst kid you've ever seen...now picture me dragging that child through walmart. and then picture me making her a fruit smoothie...her taking one sip and saying, "i don't want it," while dropping the whole cup on the floor. ya, fruit smoothie bomb EXPLODING all over my kitchen. up the blinds, all over the wall, under the table, ON THE CEILING. ok, so much for not ranting and raving. oh well...some how i feel a little bit better. maybe it's because i know alot of you are laughing your heads off at me!!! i'm glad i could bring a smile to your face.

random sunday pics!

every chance katelyn gets she holds alexis. i had the babe in her swing while i was getting dinner made and katelyn snatched her up. annie always asks and i say, "no...she's happy in her swing." katelyn's figured out not to ask!!!

annie and sam wanted to jump in the pic too. i can't believe i have 4 kids...4 GIRLS! it still surprises me sometimes!!

i love this outfit on alexis. it's hard to see in these pics, but her eyes are so blue. this outfit looks so cute on her.

samantha is so crazy! sometimes i start to lose it because of her. i've been feeling like she is the most naughty out of all my kids, but i think i've just forgotten what 2 year olds are like. i was reading my journal from when annie was 2. it was about the same time of year and annie got into the fridge and broke some eggs. while i cleaned up that mess she got into the white-out and painted my desk with it. while i cleaned up that mess she got into the dishwasher soap and while i cleaned up that mess she broke a couple of my christmas tree ornaments. so, i'm pretty sure samantha is a typical 2 year old...maybe a tad more stubborn and "free spirited"!!!

Halloween 2008

ok, so these pictures are in no specific order!! i just had to post this one...she has such blue eyes!! annie's not very happy about this...she really wanted to be the only one with blue eyes...she still tries to tell people that alexis's eyes are hazel!on thursday i had my hair cut and colored. oh, and i had my eyebrows colored and waxed too!! i LOVE the cut. i like the color too...i'm just still trying to get used to it. (if you can't tell, it's alot more brown than usual.)

annie wanted to be tinkerbell this year. we did a homegrown version, because i refused to spend $30+ on an official tinkerbell costume. so i asked kristina to made her tutu, and we found her some way cute fairy wings. i loved it...i think annie looked so cute!

our tradition is to have pizza on halloween. we had the evers and goates over for pizza and then we all went trick or treating together. this is my fabulous friend, allie, slicing up the pizza for the kids!!! (there used to be a pic here, but allie made me delete it off!!! apparently she doesn't allowed prego pics of herself!)

jack-o-lantern, hannah montana, monkey, belle, skeleton, vampire, lion, tinkerbell, batman (AKA: alexis, katelyn, creighton, samantha, ben, alex, amelia, annie, jackson)originally i had planned on sami being a witch for halloween, but she was having none of that. she loved getting all dressed up with makeup and stuff.alexis just chilled in the stroller while we trick or treated. this is the first time she sat up in the stroller, and she really liked it!!it was fun to have kate dress up like hannah montana, because she didn't even need a wig!!this is annie with 2 of her good little friends. (of course the boy is alex! he he he)

PICTURES

alexis and samantha are my little buddies. the past few weeks have been a little trying. nursing a baby and potty training do not go hand in hand. especially when you're trying to potty train samantha. BUT...we have made leaps and bounds. she hasn't pooped her pants for 2 days, and she only had one accident today (she was here with derek... ha ha ha totally joking honey!) we went running around town yesterday and today, and she did great. and she's sleeping through the night in underwear too. i called my mom the other day freaking out because i wanted to put sam back in diapers...i'm so glad she talked me out of it. anyway, she can be so sweat too..i mean, just look at her. what a cute, funny little kid!! and alexis is an angel. she has slept through the night every night for a week now...AMAZING! some nights she doesn't go to sleep until midnight, but midnight until 7:30am is sleeping through the night if you ask me. tonight she went to sleep at 9pm, so i'm curious to see if she wakes up in the middle of the night or not. oh, and she's been smiling alot more. anyway, i love my little baby girls.

annie went to a princess birthday party, and while she was there she got her hair done. i thought it looked so pretty. i need to learn how to do it like this.

precious moments

(this one's for you..."you" know who you are!!) a friend of ours gave us this "blanket dress" as a gift for alex. it is so soft and comfy. it's one of my favorite things to put her in. i love it!!
kids are always so beautiful when they are sleeping!! ;)
samantha has been having a rough time. i think having a new baby in the house and moving is stressing her out!! she cries alot, and she hasn't beeen sleeping as long as she used to. she has never been mean to alexis though, and she is always willing to hold her and give her loves. i love this picture...it is so sweet.
alex stays awake a little bit more everyday. she is so stinkin' cute, and i swear she tries to smile already!!!

funny girl

we have decided to move from our 2 bedroom townhouse into a 4 bedroom that's across the street. i thought we could handle 6 of us living in a 2 bedroom, but i was totally delusional!! anyway, some friends wanted to come over and see our place last night because they're interested in buying it. while they were here samantha was sitting on the family room floor coloring with her crayola washable markers. she colored her pants, socks, the couch, and some other random things. one of our friends brought a can of diet pepsi with her, and she sat it on the table while they were looking at the house. she told us later that when she got home her hand was all black. she finally realized that samantha had been stealing drinks of her diet pepsi and left her marker hand prints all over the can!!!! ha ha

coming home, first bath, new name, weight loss

Going Home
this time around i stayed in the hospital for 2 nights. with the other 3 girls i was tapping my toes waiting for the first 24 hours to end to i could get home. this time i needed the full 48 hours, but then i was ready to come home. samantha kind of freaked out when i got home. she wouldn't stop crying and if my mom got anywhere near her she would flip out. it's kind of like that still. if sam and my mom are alone then sami is so good for her, but if i'm in the room she is mean to my mom. apparently samantha doesn't realize how lucky we are to have grandma here for as long as we do!!! samantha did one of the funniest things the day we came home from the hospital. i was feeding alexis and sam got her car seat, dragged it up on to the couch next to me and said, "baby in, baby in." ya, she was ready for the baby to leave after being home for about 5 minutes!!! i've been trying really hard to spend time with samantha and let her know she's still loved...i'm pretty sure she still thinks alexis rained on her parade!!! getting into the lotion is the most naught thing she's done while i've been nursing...so i'm thankful for that!!











baths are SO relaxing
alexis already likes her baths. out tub is perfect because even with it pretty full the water still doesn't get up to her belly button/cord. so she is still really warm. she looks so tiny wrapped up in derek's hands. i want time to stop for just a little while, so we can really enjoy alexis being so little.

McKenzie is now Alexis
When we found out our baby was a girl Derek loved the name Alexis, with the nickname Lexie. I really liked Alexis too, but Lexie was way to popular for me. So, with a lot of "discussing" Derek agreed to use the name McKenzie. Well, Derek and the girls don't call her McKenzie...they've been calling her Kenzie...which I am not a fan. Then on Monday Derek called her Lexie about 5 times on accident. Later that night he was sitting here looking at her and I asked him what he was thinking about. He told me she's an Alexis, not a McKenzie. I told him too bad!! (My mom was not part of that conversation.) Yesterday I was holding McKenzie and I asked my mom if she could take her. She said, "Come here my little LEXIE."!!!! So, with much hesitation, mostly because it feels weird to call her something different after 5 days, we are officially changing Mckenzie's name to Alexis. Katelyn and Annie haven't had one problem with the change, and actually Samantha can say Lexie much easier than Kenzie. Oh, one more thing...Derek doesn't agree, but I'm totally fine with Alexis being called Alex! I think that would go really cute with Sam.


Weight to be Lost.....
i meant to post this on monday...just because it was september 1st...the start of a new month. but this will be just as good. i am on a quest to finally loose the weight i have been wishing was gone since after katelyn was born. the weight i have been disgusted by for 7 years. now that baby number 4 is here, and i'm almost certain ("almost" because derek's not on board yet!!) i will never be fat and pregnant again i am ready to get back down to my "normal" weight. i'm asking all of you for your support. even if you're somebody who found this blog through a friend of a friend...be nosey and keep checking up on me!! every monday morning i'm going to weigh myself and then post how much i lost or gained that week. (sorry, but i'm not going to tell you my actually weight!!) my goal is to loose 78 pounds from what i was when i weighed myself on monday. so, in about 2 months when i've burned out, or thanksgiving treats are looking very enticing don't let me off the hook. maybe if i'm brave....i'll take before pics and when i reach my goal i'll post them. actually...that might make you hope i never reach my goal!! ha ha ha

samantha speaks

the title should read "hamantha peak" because sami can't say her s's. she doesn't have a lisp...she just doesn't say them at all. i just realized this the other day, and it's been cracking me up ever since!!!
hum = some
lide = slide
wing = swing
ya = yes
hun = sun

anyway, you get the point!!

biting saga

i don't remember if i've written about this before, and i'm too lazy to go back and check!! so a brief explanation...
samantha is a biter. it started as her only form of self defense. katelyn and annie used to pick her up and carry her everywhere and it would make samantha really mad. the only way she could get them to stop was to bite them. well, she has figured out that biting gets her pretty much anything she wants. if she wants to go on a slide and a kid's in her way she bites 'em. if someone is sitting where she wants to sit on the couch...she bites 'em. if a kid has the toy she wants...she bites 'em. you get the point. so far she has bitten about 5 or 6 neighborhood kids, and a random kid at the children's museum. it has gotten ridiculous. on saturday she bit annie 4 times....finally the last time i put tabasco sauce in her mouth. she scream bloody murder, so i had hopes that her biting habit might have been broken. well, just today i was babysitting my good friend's boys and samantha bit one of them. so, i did the tabasco sauce thing again....hoping....she didn't even cry. she just gaged a few times and then was over it. she did drool for about 15 minutes....but that's it. i seriously do not know what to do about it. she bit me once and i bit her back....that didn't work. she's been in time out, that hasn't worked. she's been spanked...didn't worked. so ya, if anyone has a cure for biting please let me know!!!

finally...pics of the museum trip