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!

Dollar store fix

Hair bows can take over if you're not careful. Sean's sister Amy gave me all of these on Sunday.



I'm not complaining!! Really. But that's a lot to fit in the tiny drawer I have set aside for hair bows. I had to get resourceful. I had to think. I had to put my dollar store junk to good use. So here's what I did.



Got these massively tacky pink butterflies out of the closet where they were sitting in a Dollar Tree bag. I couldn't NOT get them a year ago. Don't ask me why. I just liked them. And I was eight months pregnant. I bought three. Three for a dollar. So today I stuck two of them to the wall in their bathroom. With classy thumbtacks of course.



And started filling them up. The lower one is the bows she can wear now, the ones with the simple clip. The higher one is for later since the clip is so heavy it would overwhelm even Charlie's mop I mean hair. See the difference?



Easy clip that even Sean can do.



Bigger clip that Sean will have to learn to use.



Here's the before/during.


Still during...



And after.



What do you think? A good use for my dollar store junk? I think so!

Belated Birthday

I forgot to show y'all what Carley gave me for my Birthday-such a cool idea! I love it Carley! The 'belated' part is because it's like two weeks later and I'm just now showing you...she was on time as usual. She's always on time. For everything. For every birthday. It's amazing.



ps doesn't she have perfect penmanship? It's like it's own font.


It has our names on it and sits right by my computer. I've already used 10 sheets for grocery lists and phone messages. It is my own little personal assistant. Ha!

Many thanks Carley!

Oh and pss or pps or whatever: Sean took massive amounts of pictures during our weekend-o-fun and as soon as I can make him edit them I'll post them. I'm crossing my fingers for one with the three kids together to turn out...Joy was wailing and Ty was leaving the premises during most of the shoot. I'm dying to see them but technically what Sean's been doing instead is playing with the kids so I'm not complaining. In case he asks, I never complain on my blog about anything. Yes I'm asking you to lie. K thanks.

Easter weekend

Ty made this at school on Thursday. So cute!


11 months old...almost


Conducting the orchestra made of lawn ornaments/air conditioners.


Monkey and mommy swinging...eating...playing...thankful for all we have and for who gave it all to us.