Family Birthday Party

We enjoyed everyone visiting and coming over to celebrate the girls birthdays on Saturday. We had delicious cakes thanks to Memaw and lots of excitement thanks to the lucas girls.

This is Rachel before the guests arrived...Please note: Outfit #1. stay tuned...

....and a few minutes later.....outfit #2

The girls got lots of precious clothes, jewelry, books, webkinz, shoes, boots, and disney mix sticks...which we just refer to as "ipots". HA!

We are surely thankful for ALL of it.

Olivia...excited about the box from Justice....and it all actually fit! i can't believe it.

Nanny getting a big girl hug.

...getting a little help from our friends...

.....an organized chaos.......this is me, trying to keep up with who got what for whom.........?? and i still really can't tell you. it all happend so fast!!

The treasured "ipods".

two cakes...twelve candles...sigh...can't believe it!

Make a wish!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!

cold hard cash!

rare shot of us together without anyone hanging on us! ha

....outfit #3...........

Outfit # 4, posing with Nanny, Olivia (looking very sad or distracted...actually i see she is in her outfit #2 here - HA GIRLS!) and mommy.

and finally outift #5....

Fall is here!

We've been trying to decorate and plan girls parties. Then last week I went to the pumpkin patch with Rachel's class. It was so hot and humid that I thought I may pass out. But we made it! I'm going to post a few pictures below of our last couple of weeks.....next week we'll have new pictures of baby owen after our sonogram.

This is Rachel taking our picture...and you see that lee and i are both talking saying "hurry up rachel, take the picture' ... so it's not the most flattering picture with our mouths moving.

big momma!

Our fashionistas! such wonderful Fall attire. ha.

Oh, I have been trying my hand at some arts and crafts lately...I figure it can't hurt to try. So, Lee and I have worked together and are decorating Owen's room, have painted a canvas to take to the hospital with us, and also have made a little fall hanging basket thing for the front door. I still have to buy mums to go with our family of pumpkins for the front steps, but we're getting there. I mean, give us a break....we've been here more than three months and just now hung a picture on the wall! Ha.

Phase I

Phase II (and still not done! HA)

love to all!

Flying Pigs

yes, we had the swine flu. thankfully for our household, it didn't last too long and really wasn't too terrible. i'm glad we had the weekend to rest up and get well. everyone is doing fine now, other than a little coughing here and there. Olivia had two really rough days but then woke up saturday at 7am bouncing off the walls. She is headed to school tomorrow! WOO HOO although, we did have a slight injury over the weekend. If you could see me today you would ask me what on earth is wrong with my face. it happens to be a burn mark from where pancake batter and oil splashed onto my face and chest sunday morning while i was trying to make breakfast for my girls. yes, i look like I have the mange or something from the corner of my lips outward. i'm hoping it will not leave a scar. i screamed and olivia looked over at me while she was playing her webkinz, but obviously she thought i was okay since she never even got up from her seat. maybe i should've screamed louder. ha.

I'm so excited about the temps falling...for several reasons: 1) the heat has been tough on me and my extra __ pounds, 2) it gives me fall fever and helps me get motivated to decorate and organize!, 3) reminds me of all the wonderful happenings of the season...birthday parties, babies being born, holidays, football, etc. I just love it!! We got baby Owen's room cleaned up and organized better. now we are waiting on the curtain panels to arrive so we can hang those, have rocking chair cushions recovered, and hang the shelves on the walls. After that, the room will be done...just waiting on baby. About 6 more weeks to go.

Thank the Lord for sunshine and cool breezes. It doesn't take much to refresh the soul. And the older I get, the simpler my needs become. love to all! have a good night.......

Crafty Project #1

Well, I admit that I do have some talents around the house, but they usually don't include any craft or home improvement project. That is usually Lee's department and I stick to the picking-stuff-out and organizing chores. But now, I'm so thrilled to say I've accomplished one thing: finally deciding to recover our dining table chair cushions. Ms. Joyce actually recovered them the first time years ago when she first got the table and this fabric has held up through their home, our home and with two kids and even a cat. But man it was time for a change!!! And Lee and I did it together on Saturday and it felt great. Just a simple little project has given me such motivation to do more things around the house myself!


So i give you the BEFORE:




































and AFTER:

The look changed dramatically when we changed the fabric and i'm so excited. however, i may not have thought about the possible damages to the cream color if we actually USE the chairs when we eat! HA. ....we'll see how long they survive. but i wanted to share...

Stay tuned for more exciting project news. LOL

Of course...........we had a helper or two......

This is Rachel's photography and she directed me as to exactly where to place my hands in the shot. crazy girl.

and Olivia...assisting in her own special way...

We're Pierced!!!

Ok, so i was really not ready for this milestone just yet, but at almost 7 years old, Olivia was ready for her ears to be pierced. We had planned to do it for her birthday, but she insisted that she was ready now. (I had really put it off because I just KNEW she would back out at the last minute.) But she was strong and determined. The tech even did them one at a time, and I was very nervous that we would have only one done!!

And if it looks like Rachel is stressed out...she WAS! and she didn't even get hers done. She was so worried for Olivia.

She did so good!! only a few tears were shed, and most of them came from Rachel!! HA HA Now, in six weeks she can change these out for some new "real" earrings, as she calls them. And that's just a few days after her birthday, so she is very excited. It still makes me sick to my stomach to know my little baby Olivia is so big! Sigh...........

More Random pictures....

these are just some random pictures we've taken over the past few months and I can't remember which ones I've posted or not. Nothing too exciting to share...just random shots. Olivia at school.....the girls at the reservoir at our life links picnic.............then me and dawn, one of my pregnancy mates this time around.

Pump it up earlier this year.......
I believe this was Jacob's party.

Olivia modeling her new ensemble, thanks to Nana. I still can't believe she wore this. She has been so picky with clothes lately!!!

Then there's me...just minding my own business trying to simply make coffee and rachel snaps another picture.

Baby Owen seems to be growing steadily. He's still very active and has been having the hiccups regularly. My legs have been restless and have been cramping during the night and i alternate between being wired all night and up for no reason, to falling asleep on the sofa anytime I'm still for more than two minutes. I know this is just part of it and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Looking forward to the next few weeks getting the baby's room ready and the girls' birthday parties planned. This is such a busy time of year for us............but oh so fun!!!!!!!!!