Busy As Bees

We've been a busy little family lately. Here is what we've been up to -

Our first t-ball season is well under way. We have had 3 games so far and from this week on will have two games a week. Gabrielle likes batting but right now is getting bored fairly quickly out in the field. But she is having fun regardless.


Our little #3!


Gabrielle & Lilly are 2 of the 3 little girls on the team. They are so cute out on the field. The little sisters enjoy the games too. They are quite silly at times.

We surprised the girls with a trip to the NC Zoo recently. One Saturday morning we woke them up early, got them dressed, loaded in the car and drove away without telling them anything about where we were going. They were in a little bit of shock once we arrived at the zoo. Despite the weather forecast being completely wrong - it stayed cloudy and much cooler than it was supposed to - we all had a lot of fun. We got there about an hour after the zoo opened and didn't leave until closing time, the longest day I've ever spent at the zoo. I didn't take a ton of photos unfortunately. It was much more crowded than we expected it to be and I guess it was too cool and drizzly for a lot of the animals.



Last week was spring break for us. We spent a few days of doing nothing more than playing outside and enjoying the easy week.



The girls had a great Easter as well. On Saturday we had an egg hunt at church followed by a surprise trip to Build-a-Bear. On Sunday the Children's Choir sang at church. Following church we had a nice Easter lunch and a special visit from GrandDad.






Samantha won an Easter basket from our local library. Gabrielle was really disappointed she didn't win but Samantha shared just about everything with her big sister.




The girls in their Easter frocks.













This morning, as I have been working on getting the blog updated, the girls have been playing babies. Gabrielle called me in her room to see Samantha. Apparently Samantha was the baby, Gabrielle the Mommy, and Gabrielle had just put the baby to bed.


The tiny baby doll feet sticking out from the blankets just cracks me up!

We will continue to be busy for a while. This week we are planning and preparing for Samantha's 2nd birthday. Two?!?!?!? Samantha's little personality is really starting to bloom. In between her serious temper tantrums she is quite hilarious and so happy and giggly about everything.


But this photo seems like it was just last week. Where did my little munchkin go? I can hardly stand to go back and look through baby photos of the girls. If I spend too much time doing so I may seriously start considering baby #3!! Ha!

A Whole Lot of Randomness

Warning - this post is full of just random thoughts and photos!

Now that we are getting more consistent warmer temps I have unpacked the spring and summer clothes. The "new" clothes that were once packed away in storage containers, sitting in the corners of the girls' rooms, that the girls begged to wear on a daily basis, are now put away in their dressers. And now I can finally answer with a "yes, it is warm enough for short sleeves!"

After putting this particular outfit on Samantha a couple of days ago...



I flashed back to this photo...

That would be Gabrielle in April 2009, almost exactly two years ago. I can remember the day so well. I was only a month away from being full term with Samantha and had planned a special day for us. First we went to a paint-your-own-pottery place where I can remember Gabrielle painting a little ceramic monkey purple and pink and ballet shoe magnet red. We then met Ed for lunch at McDonald's.

As I was going through the clothes I couldn't believe Samantha was actually old enough, big enough to wear these same outfits I so vividly remember Gabrielle wearing not so long ago. And then as I go through old photos and see pictures of Gabrielle in these outfits I remember that not so long ago she had the same little round face Samantha has now. Oh how time flies and how quickly they grow up. Gabrielle is no longer in toddler sizes and officially in the girls department. It breaks my heart at times to shop for her because everything just looks too grown up for my baby. Today we went shopping for some spring church shoes and could not find a pair of white dressy shoes in her size that did not have little heels on them. She is only 4-1/2 - I am not ready for shoes with even little square heels on them!! If I think about it too much I get really sad because I am afraid the next two years with Gabrielle and Samantha are going to go by just as quickly as the past two years have and I am NOT ready for that!

On to the next random thought - I got new glasses recently. A very different style than my previous ones which I have had for over 5 years!! I like these but they are definitely taking some getting used to when I see myself in the mirror.


Have you ever had one of those days when you just feel like you have actually been a really good mom that day? Usually I have those days when I forget about the cleaning that needs to be done or the long to-do list of other responsibilities and instead doing something fun with the girls, something they don't get to do all the time. The other day we had one of those days I finally let the girls get their paint out.










Gabrielle's "Rapunzel" (the unfinished version)


Samantha decided at this point it would be more fun to paint herself.




After I put Samantha down for her nap I let Gabrielle paint on her easel they got for Christmas. She loved painting on the easel!

And for my last random thought and photo, the other night I went in to check on Gabrielle after putting her to bed and had a mini-panic attack. When I first peaked into the room I saw an empty bed. As I turned the hall light on and opened the door a bit more this is what I found...


She had removed everything from her bed - pillows, stuffed animals, blankets, everything - and made beds for herself and all of her animals on the floor. I don't know why I am surprised, she does have quite a history of this kind of behavior. See photos below...


Gabrielle 2008


Gabrielle 2009

Gabrielle's Parenting Style

This morning as I was chopping some fresh fruit for some homemade pancakes the following conversation took place. I don't remember what Samantha had asked for but my answer had been no which sent her into a typical terrible two-year-old meltdown.

Gabrielle to Samantha: "What's wrong? Aww....what happened? What's wrong?"

Samantha replies: a lot of something I couldn't quite make out and "Mommy say no"

Gabrielle to me: "Mommy, you need to say yes all the time and not make people sad."

Then back to her sister: "It's okay. Mommy will be nice now."