Life in Between

This little stinker took advantage of the fact that my attention was elsewhere. 

We were able to find the sock, but that shoe is long gone. 

His little dimple and eyebrow raise make this picture ten times cuter.

Ethan's latest masterpiece. 

I can't wait to frame it.

He's getting so big!

Our little diva in the making

Afternoon lunch date for Eric and I.

Quick weekend trip to the National Building Museum. 

Our kids love it here!

Loaded Nachos for the Super Bowl 

Seriously can't even begin to tell you how delicious this was. 

I found this note in Lexie's room. 

Gracie wrote it.  Warms my heart!

I'm the cookie mom for Gracie's girl scout troop, so I get to see these boxes a lot!

I can tell Eli likes the most popular cookie too!

We have finally found something that Eli can't stand. 

Haircuts are his kryptonite.

Lexie looking way too grown up!

Snow Day Games

I'm the box top mom for the kid's school. 

What's lame is that this was taken on a Friday night.

Ugh, sure, I guess you can use the little sink as your own personal chair.

Eric's homemade plow

Ethan gave this plant to me last year for Mother's Day

I have no idea how it's still alive. 

I'm a serial plant murderer. 

 I'm still not used to seeing an oak leaf on his uniform.

I feel like we are 23 and brand new to the Air Force. 

Time is flying by way too fast. 

This was the temperature one morning as the kids and I were going to a doctor's appointment. 

We all miss Texas dearly!

Blush and Bashful

It has honestly been one year since we had started re-decorating Gracie's room.  When Eli moved from his bassinet to the crib, the sleeping arrangements in our house changed and Gracie was left without a bed.  We took it as a chance to change a  few things in her room and I gotta say that I'm super jealous.  After she picked her gorgeous bedspread, it was easy to figure everything else out, but our execution just took a little longer than we intended.  Darn our crazy life. All I know is that the younger version of me wouldn't ever want to leave her room. It's so cute and just screams girly girl! 

 

Gracie bought this Barbie Dream house all by herself.  She has been saving her money for some time now and refused to spend it until she was able to buy this!  The girl knows whats she wants!

 This is where Gracie belts out "Let it go" over and over and over and over.........

Our little insomniac

          I want to say for the last 8 months our house has been running on fumes.  Lexie has always been a great sleeper, but like a light switch, it all changed.  Around June of 2013, Lexie started to wake up throughout the night.  She was falling asleep fine, but was awakening every two hours.  I was convinced it had something to do with her seizure medication because due to an increase of seizure activity we've had to increase her dosage twice.  Her doctor thought otherwise and scheduled us for a sleep study.  Of course, referring us for a sleep study is a heck of a lot easier than actually waiting for the sleep study date and suffering through the actual sleep study.  Lexie, like any person, doesn't like to be poked and prodded so as you can imagine, it was a very loooong night.  Thankfully they were able to get 4 hours documented and during those 4 hours Lexie was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.   We were referred to an ENT and it was decided that a tonsillectomy was our next step.  Of course, that took a total of a couple months as well, but Lexie had her surgery on February 25th.  She is still recovering from the procedure and as long as we keep her medicated, she seems to be tolerating it as expected.  We pray that she will finally be able to get some much needed sleep because her daytime sleepiness was affecting her behavior at school and our nights here at home.  Eric and I are exhausted and we know she must be too.  While I'm always up for a late night party, I prefer to do it every once in awhile instead of every night.  Please keep your fingers crossed that this is exactly what she needed.  Seriously, people...pray!

We had to stay one night in the hospital and this is what was waiting for us when we left. 

Seriously crazy weather. 

 

Gracie leaps into 6!!!

     Six years ago, we didn't know what we had in store for us when our little girl was born.  Gracie is a riot and the amount of personality that she embodies is completely out of this world.  You never know what is going to come out of Gracie's mouth, but that's what is so awesome about her.  She's a what you see, is what you get kind of person.  If she isn't on board with what you have planned, she has no problem making up her own plans.  She loves fiercely and can't go a couple of hours without smothering her baby brother and sister with hugs and kisses.  She is very conscientious of her appearance and goes to great lengths in dressing herself.  Which often means she has to pick her clothes out the night before because, if not, it can turn into a one hour morning scream fest between her and I.  She is one smart cookie and I'm constantly amazed by how well she can read for her age. I see a future book nerd and I can't began to tell you how much I love that.  Her teachers praise her and her friends seem to adore her.  Her favorite things consist of helping me in the kitchen, climbing trees with Ethan, rocking it on her drums, and playing with her Barbies.  She is my right hand girl and will one day be a wonderful mother.  Sometimes I crave those moments when she lets her guard down and releases her goofy self.  We love when she dances like a hooligan and giggles like a hyena.  She is one crazy chic and even though the moments when she turns me into Cruella Deville, are a little too common, she is still the best Gracie that I know.  She is growing into one heck of a girl and whether it is because of me or in spite me, I'm beyond proud.   We love you, Gracie Goose!

     Gracie choose to spend her birthday at Build A Bear and invited her gal pal, Serena to come along.  They each got to build and dress a bear, eat lunch at the mall, devour ice cream from Dairy Queen and finished the day off with presents and cake.  Gracie had a blast and I'm sure she will always remember her special day!

School Day Birthday

I may have been drinking a little too much wine the night that I made this cake. 

She just has really short legs.  We don't judge her for that.

 

Excuse my loud and overbearing voice. The boys just mumble. 

Will you be my Valentine?

Despite the amount of snow that hit us on Valentine's Day, we had a wonderful day celebrating love!  School was cancelled and Daddy was home with us, so the kids were on cloud nine.  We had our traditional Valentine's Day breakfast as well as our Valentine's Day dinner.  Eric and I are not ones to wait two hours for an expensive dinner, so we have always enjoyed eating dinner at home and celebrating it as a family.  I love how much the kids get into the holiday.  Plus its kinda nice when I can stop them from tormenting each other just by saying, "Its Valentine's Day, please don't kill each other on Valentine's Day!

 

Source: Love Hand Print 

 Source: Strawberry Pie

School Sweetheart Dance

Pinewood Derby 2014

Ethan's cub scout troop hosted this year's Pinewood Derby at a nearby fire station. 

Ethan loves participating in this event and we enjoy watching everyone have fun!

We brought the fruit salad, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of this HUGE cookie!