I've said it before...

Two things always happen when I go out anywhere with Laila. 1) people (women) always stop and tell me how cute she is and 2) she gets called a boy at least once. I'm pretty used to it, so I don't bother to correct them.

The other day Laila and I were at Big Lot's, of all places, when a woman and her little girl walked past us. The woman stopped and proceeded to make a big fuss about what a cute little boy I had. I just smiled and said "Thank You" but as they walked on I heard the little girl say something about the baby being a girl. Then, the woman said in a very "your only 4, what do you know" type of voice, "No honey, that's a boy." To which the girl responded "Then why is he wearing a pink shirt?"

Big Lot's is a very strange place!  And I happen to think he is the cutest little boy ever! Even in a pink shirt.

Facebook Repeat

I'm sorry to all of you who already saw these on Facebook, but I wanted a permanent record of them here on the blog and my mom and dad don't do Facebook.

Poor Samm is so desperate for a little bit of alone time that she has resorted to hiding out in her closet. I always know when she is in there because 1) the other two are following me around asking if I know where Samm is, and 2) she usually tapes a keep out sign of some sort to the door. Well, the other day I found this dry erase board in the dollar section at Target and within minutes of me giving it to her this sign was posted. I had to laugh when I read it because doesn't every mother feel this way.

And today was one of those days where 9:00 church just about killed me, and the rest of the day pretty much finished me off. After dinner James brought down his school folder and I discovered that he had five sheets of homework due tomorrow! So, once the kids were finally in bed, much later than normal I drug myself into the kitchen to tackle the mountain of dinner dishes still sitting in the sink, and ended up finding this on the floor. And I remembered again why all of this craziness is totally worth it!

Happy Love Day

Aren't my Valentines cute!

Macy picked out the fabric for the girl's dresses and I used this pattern for the older two and this one for Laila. I added a couple inches of length to the dresses so they would be knee length, but Samm's still ended up being too short so I had to throw a border around the bottom on Saturday night. I don't love it as much as I do Macy's, but it still turned out cute.

And last night our kitchen turned into a Valentines Day bake shop. So I may have gotten a little carried away, but heart shaped food is just too cute. We made cookies and homemade sprinkles for teachers and some friends, Samm actually made heart chocolates for her teacher and we have some to take to neighbors, and then once the kids were in bed I made them heart shaped monkey bars. I was a little disappointed when I came down stairs and they didn't seem very excited about their special treat, but then I found out that they thought they were blueberry muffins. Once I explained what they really were, I got the reaction I was hoping for.

I hope you all have a wonderful day with the ones you love! Josh is on call tonight which is a bummer, but that's life around here.

Gretel and a jolly rancher hat

Last night we finally got to watch Samm in her school play. She did a great job of course and loved every second of it. We did video tape it for the grandparents, but unfortunately we are still using our ancient laptop and I think it would take at least 24 hours to load. So for now, here are a few shots of her in action.

And today happened to be the 100th day of school and James was supposed to make a hat with 100 things on it so we made a jolly rancher hat. I even let James use the hot glue gun! It was a pretty awesome, but heavy hat.

Samm's Calendar

A few days ago Samm came down from her bedroom and posted this calendar on the fridge. 

She has given herself one day a week off from playing with James and Macy. Which means that one day a week James and Macy will be following me around the house whining about how bored they are. Yep, they really are that lost without her!

Best Sunday activity ever!

Dad has had a couple of REALLY long days here lately! We were hoping to get to spend some time with him on Saturday, but he ended up working all the way through Friday night and desperately needed some sleep so the kids and I packed up and left the house so it would be nice and quiet for him. Part of our stay away from the house journey took us to the craft store where we gathered supplies to make valentines. Samm was soooo excited she could hardly contain herself, so as soon as we got home from church today she and Macy got right to work. There was glue and glitter everywhere, but I honestly didn't care. There was just something about watching Macy's chubby little fingers cut out those hearts and seeing Samm put so much thought into each one that completely made my day.

When it was all over, I had two very proud girls!

And James has decided that he has absolutely no desire to cut out hearts and has asked that I just by him a box of pre-made valentines.

Snowfest 2012

 I promise I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I've just been busy. I've done a lot of sewing lately, and I still have more to do but we managed to sneak away this weekend to the Frankemuth Snowfest for a couple hours. The snow and ice sculptures were really cool, but it was so cold and windy that day that the kids were basically begging us to go by the end. 

This was one of my favorite ones. The sign says Gramma's house.

Sitting on an ice throne

Laila stayed pretty warm all bundled up, but wasn't too happy about being in the stroller.

See, I do still exist!

4 years of Macy!

I have never been more scared to have a baby than I was on the day Macy was born. The thought of three seemed totally overwhelming, but the second I layed eyes on her I was hooked, and she has had my heart ever since.

"I'm one!" And I love cupcakes! Any food really. Macy has always been my eater.

This was the year of Wookie. Macy's alternative for Grandma.

Three was the year I officially said goodbye to my baby.

And on Monday she turned 4!

We celebrated as a family all day since the kids had no school and Josh actually had the day off. We told Macy she could pick anywhere she wanted to go for lunch and she chose Applebees, which is when Josh and I decided that are kids are way too spoiled. We gave the kids the old "Why when we were kids, just going to McDonalds was a huge treat..." lecture and informed them that there would be no eating out for an entire month.

Anyway, after dinner we started off our party by decorating cupcakes.

Which turned into face decorating

Which turned into "Oh shoot, this doesn't come off!" Josh scrubbed pretty hard right away and got his off, but Samm and James went to school the next day with slightly blue and green lips.

Then we played pin the mouth on backpack, because Macy LOVES Dora! Samm drew it for her.

Even mom got to play!

When we finally got around to presents, Macy was suuuuper excited to finally get the happy napper that she has been wanting. And I was suuuper glad it was actually on sale when I went to buy it and didn't have to spend $30 on it.

And after the party was over I went upstairs to get Laila ready for bed and the girls had a little impromptu photo shoot with Dad. Macy adores Samm and Samm is really sweet to her and always plays with her when she gets home from school.

Um, I think they were being cheetah cubs.

Happy Birthday Macy face! We sure love you!

Another Flower Tutorial

It's been a while, but Jenn and I have started posting on The Best Me again. Today I'm sharing how to make this simple and pretty flower clip.

Someone found her voice

Two things I should mention before you watch this. 1) My son does not believe in wearing shirts to bed and 2) Josh was just being funny because he knew I had the camera on.