Charlie up close and personal

On the way to pick Ty up from school


Or on the way home. She really let's it all hang out, doesn't she? I don't know where she gets it!


Notice how protective she is of her drink. She's a trip.

And the winner is...

click on my giveaways page to find out if you're the winner

No really.

No really.

She is. Happy. Almost all the time. Except when I don't let her touch my phone. Y'all don't forget to enter the giveaway! It ends tomorrow at noon Texas time :)

There is no energy left for words

Don't forget to enter the giveaway-only two more days! Read prior post for the link. I'm too tired from all of this fun. :)

New Kicks Giveaway

Want to win a pair of new kicks for the baby in your life? Go over to my giveaway page to enter!

I have not one picture of the bride

but look at this ring bearer. my nephew henry.

oh my. i mean oh my. is that cute or what

yep that's cute

what kept charlie busy during the ceremony until she abandoned all inside voices, (since it was, after all, an outdoor wedding,) and we had to stand in the back for the rest of the wedding
this was my view of the bride and groom. yep, not the best. not their fault-i sat on the end on purpose.

my view of joy and what kept her busy-ziplocs with ammo for the big kids

cutting a rug

mom sitting/monitoring the dance floor

charlie's moves. god love her

emmy and ethan (efan as far as charlie is concerned)

master ty figuring out how to pull the tents down

the best family picture. graham, ana wearing her bridesmaid get-up complete with cowboy boots, ty, me, joy, dad, emmy, ethan, henry, mom, and charlie giving you a great view of her diaper since i forgot the girls' bloomers. nice. sean and i double-booked for today since i never wrote amy's wedding down on our calendar. i'm organized like that. he took a photography job about three months ago for another family friend and when we figured out the dates were the same it was too late for him to back out so i represented the family today. it was such a fun time and made me proud to be from texas where wearing cowboy boots with a formal is totally normal and encouraged.

i'm so tired i can't even capitalize things so i'm going to bed now. but wait. one more picture.
charlie decided she was really ready to go at about 8 o'clock. the kids are usually in bed between 7 and 7:30 so i knew it was risky to go to a wedding that started at 6:30 when they are usually getting in the bath. they did great until the ride home which i'm sure i'll tell you all about when i've got a good 12 hours of sleep under my belt.

you're welcome.

oh and there was a girl there with my exact same dress on in what i'm certain was a much smaller size. i need some sleep.

Wedding day

Not mine. Amy's. Ana's little sister, a what now seems like lifetime-old friend. We are all together, everyone sleeping but me and Charlie who only napped for an hour. It might be a rough night. Here are some pictures of the kids with Henry, their cousin. He is in the wedding so the next pictures you see of him will feature a little-man-sized tuxedo. Can't wait!









Y'all have a happy Saturday!

Girls Vs. Boys

Moms of boys: Do your boys give a rip, (care,) what they wear at all? Do they care if they wear their pajamas all day or show preference toward Crocs or tennis shoes?

Moms of girls: Do your girls show you at an early age that they'd like to take over the rights to their/your closet or am I alone here?

Ty couldn't care less what he wears on his body or his feet. Charlie wants to vote on every thing she wears, which I don't really let her do honestly. Sure for fun it's fine to let her pick but lately I've seen too much about Suri Cruise and her high heels and lipstick to let Charlie be totally in charge. I'm putting my foot down now while I still can! When she's 15 she can start picking out her clothes.

Oh I kid.

Kind of.

I had no idea if Joy would care about her wardrobe yet or not. Recently I told you that I'd be hosting another giveaway soon so today I thought I'd show you a little glimpse of what I'll be giving away while also proving my point: Girls care what they wear from a very early age.

"What have we here Mom? Hmmm looks and smells like something new for me..."
"Is it? It is! Something of my very own, never worn by my big sister? It can't be!"
"Mom, we're gonna need to change my outfit to match okay?" "K great."

More to come...including the official kickoff of the new kicks giveaway

All I need to know about life I learned in my hometown

There is nothing wrong with blowing bubbles in your underwear in your front yard

(as long as you're under the age of 7)

Dogs like to roam free and "hunt" even if they're labs and all they hunt is ducks that have NO trouble flying away just in time. Where we live now dogs are required to be on leashes at all times. Darn us for taking away their freedom.

The friends you had high school will always have a "one up" on you. Seeing them ten years (or more,) later might make you sweat a little bit when you see them. What if they think I'm still like that??? Whatever like that may be.

But there also people that you wish you'd have spent more time with because they are still as sweet as they were then. Like Robin :)

No matter how old you are there will always be somebody who addresses you as, "that littlest one...that littlest Jenkins one...I don't know your name but I know you're Pam's daughter..." and that somebody will almost have a heart attack when you tell them that you have your own children. "Honey, how old ARE YOU?" Then that somebody won't believe you when you say, "31." That's part of the charm of a small town-even when you're an adult people might recognize you by your mother and therefore tell your mother if you do something wrong in their presence.

There's nothing wrong with eating Blue Bell ice cream for any and all snack times. And then again before bed.

Feeding ducks is actually a great way to teach kids patience. "Where are the ducks?" "I don't know, they'll be here in a minute..." And a minute could really be 30 minutes but they're okay to wait because the excitement that the ducks bring with them could be bottled and sold for a lot of money.

When people who knew you as a baby are asked to pray for your children, THEY ACTUALLY DO IT. I ran into people this weekend who asked me all about Joy and how she was doing. They said they prayed faithfully for her health and continue to pray for her now. So very humbling and sweet. I might have told them to keep praying because the girl-she's a stinker. She still gets kicked out of the church nursery. "Oh law," was one response I got.

When in doubt, it is always a good idea to go to bed early because nothing good ever happens after midnight. After all, the only place open after that was Whataburger growing up so there wasn't a whole lot going on anyway.

Or maybe fun things DID happen but I was always asleep by midnight, (or way before...)

And the final thing I learned about life from my hometown: Always smile and say hi to people. You might be having a bad day or be late for something but you'll always regret not being nice. Especially if the person you shunned knows your mom and dad and tells them you were rude later on.

Not that that ever happened to me of course.

Look Ma no hands!

We spent Saturday in my hometown hearing about trusting God from a gifted speaker friend and blowing bubbles, feeding ducks, and practicing our Texas twang. More details to come but right now we're off to a movie thanks to Aunt Emmy and her boyfriend keeping the kids.

Woohooooo for a date with my man. And movie theater pickles.

Did somebody say giveaway?

Yes, yes I think I did. If you follow me on Twitter, I mentioned that I was excited about my next giveaway. If you don't follow me on Twitter, you're honestly not missing much except maybe an even more detailed play-by-play snapshot of my life with my three small kids. It can get ugly people. It can also get pretty cute. Speaking of pretty cute, I have this cribs website to thank for my upcoming giveaway. I'll be reviewing a product from the Baby Cribs Plus online furniture store and then giving away a similar product. This means that you can win something just for participating in the giveaway. You don't have to send in money or change any diapers or anything.

You're welcome.

If you have a baby or know someone who has a baby or even if you have a doll you like to dress up, you'll want to stick around for this one.

Or come back. Good Lord don't stick around literally.

Don't tell anybody

I think he actually liked her today.

Just like riding a bike

photo credit here

You've heard that phrase I'm sure. It's just like riding a bike-when you get back on you'll remember what to do...

Well so far it's proving true when talking about actually riding a bike.

Yesterday in a wave of newfound energy and determination to be athletic again, I had Sean get my bike out of the attic. I think it's been up there for two years. Maybe three. I forget how long we've lived in our house. It's for sure been up there since we moved here. If you remember, we moved here two weeks before Charlie was born.

That explains why I wasn't needing my bike when we moved. Lots of danger involved when a 38 weeks-pregnant person wants to ride a mountain bike.

Giving you time to get a good visual.

There it is.

Okay anyway. I aired up the tires, dusted off the old helmet and took a ride.

It was perfect weather so that helped. It was also just plain fun to ride my bike again. The only hiccup was when I reached the busy intersection by our house. I kind of forgot what to do at red lights but I acted like I knew what to do and think I pulled it off. You could ask the guys in the convertible who laughed at me pretty hard when I rammed my tire right into the curb and nearly bit it.

The important thing is that I caught myself.

I rode around our neighborhood and felt like I had trained for my first triathlon by the time I got home. Turns out I was gone exactly 18 minutes and had travelled maybe 5 miles. I've got a long way to go before I turn pro.

Also included in my newfound athleticism is my renewed interest in tennis, the game of my youth. Since I had to dust off my racquet bag from high school I figured it was smart to get new strings. Technically I also played in college. But not like "played in college," more like I took a tennis class each semester so that I could play and get an easy A. Which turned out to be B's that I had to work really hard for. I played tennis every day through high school and felt like I could handle taking an advanced tennis class at A & M. What I didn't factor in was that there were a lot of college students who played every day in high school who would be taking an advanced tennis class for an easy A. Most of them were much better players than I was and our grade was determined by how well we did playing each other. I felt like I had to watch tournaments on TV to learn some new strategies so that I didn't fail!

Anyway.

Ty and I went to Academy yesterday afternoon to drop it off and he threw a fit when it was time to actually hand the racquet over. Didn't realize how much he was looking forward to my return to the athletic world. Also didn't realize that I took him into a sporting goods store without some idea of how to get him back out. "Wanna see the footballs, wanna see the fishing poles, wanna see the shoes, wanna go get the helmets mommy..."

It was tons-o-fun.

The weekend in pictures

A birthday party for my nephews, (who all of Ty's clothes come from,) a shower for Amy who is getting married very soon, and Ty's first Rough Riders baseball game with his little class from school. All in one day. It's no wonder we all slept late this morning.

Ty and his big cousins Luke and Cole the birthday boys. I met them when they were 2 and they turn 7 today. Happy Birthday boys!

Ty's teacher Linzy. He looks terrified of her in the picture but he really loves her A LOT and I think was just scared I was going to leave him at the ballpark with her.
New buddies. We all got hats, unlimited food and drinks, and great seats. It pays to go with the school apparently.
Once he got over the shock of just being in a ballpark for the first time, he loved it.

It was a beautiful night for baseball. Now moving on to the shower for Amy. It was her lingerie shower so understandably I'm only showing a few pictures. You're welcome. First is my sweet pregnant with #2 sister-in-law Ana.
I took this right before she went down for her nap. I'm a big fan of pregnant people napping. Shoot I'm a big fan of napping period. "Go take a nap!" I said. "But wait I need a picture first!" I'm sure she appreciated my sensitivity. Ha
Me and the bride Amy. She is Ana's youngest sister and we love her and her new almost-hubby.
I'm really not that much taller than Ana but I had on tall shoes since you can wear those to a shower where your kids aren't with you-shout out to their Daddy who as usual didn't need me at all when I was away. Emmy was supposed to overlap with me at the shower but since I had to leave to make it to the boys' party and she had to work later than expected I missed her. I'm sure Mom is sad to not have a picture with her in it but the wedding is two weeks away so soon we'll all be together again. Graham and Ana haven't lived close to us since they got married so there is a mandatory photo shoot when they're in town.
Here is the Annear girl clan: Angie, who has two little kiddos, Ana, (my brother Graham's wife if you're new around here,) who has Henry (2 1/2) and growing little bambino, and Amy. Ana is the oldest, then Angie, then Amy. None of us can believe Amy is old enough to get married but people often tell me they don't think I'm old enough to be married either--must be that youngest in the family thing. No one ever thinks we age. I'm thinking I'll really like that later in life.

Adios. Time for church.

A tale of three loves

I spend 99% of my time with three little loves

Represented by these three little circles



And even though you hear about the downs more than the ups because it's therapeutic for me to write about them, there are a lot of ups.

Like just now when I pulled up in front of our house to get the mail, (killing time while the Orkin poison dries,) Ty said, "Oh look mommy it's our home! I wonder if my Daddy is in there!" And I almost cried because a mere 6 months ago he was saying, "Home. Mom. Look!" and I wasn't sure if that's all he could say.

And when Charlie was in the bath this morning talking to the rubber duckies: "Hi duck it's okay baby duck Charlie right here it's okay." and then she handed Joy a duck and said, "Here go sister. Here's a duck." She shares more than I do.

So even when I complain and moan about them sucking the life out of me, know that it's actually them that give me energy most of the time. Them and Diet Dr Pepper of course.

That a girl

Since Joy's birth she has preferred to snack instead of eat a full meal. It drove us crazy for the longest time honestly. She wanted to look around or get down instead of focussing on eating. Mom calls her "busybody" and it's so true-the girl doesn't like to just sit and take things in. That's Charlie's job. When Joy mastered this new skill, no one cheered louder than I did. Except maybe Mom.

Sorry for the jumping around...It seems that once I start recording a kid I immediately become interesting to them and they attack me.

Big Mama's protege

Today on Big Mama's blog there were ideas for iPhone apps to help take pictures. I've used the Photoshop app but today I played with the ones she suggested. Wow. Such easy ways to take pretty shots. Look.





Yo Gabba Gabba before getting dressed for the day=very happy boy



"Hear ye hear ye"





This one is my favorite-it's the Camerabag one. I wish Big Mama was my neighbor don't you? I know Emmy agrees with me-we'd have lots of fun if Melanie lived nearby. I think she'd like us.

Off to our lunch date with Cody and Carley-wish me luck!