Best Buddies

Well, they may not be "BEST" buddies, yet, but they are learning to love each other. Addison is finally warming up to Boots. I guess it helps when he allows them to do pretty much anything to him. Even cover him up with sand.

He was even quite the hero the other day, too. We have a steep hill behind our house. Addison got a little too far out in the backyard and began tumbling down the hill. I couldn't reach her fast enough but Boots ran down the hill quickly and grabbed her shirt with his mouth to stop her. Thank goodness!! Had she tumbled much farther, she probably would've suffered more serious injuries other than the few bumps and scrapes she got.

Now if we could just get Boots to stop jumping and chewing on everything!

Gettin' Down and Dirty

The other day I was reading a blog post from one of my favorite blogs- Simple Mom. The post was about letting your kids get dirty. I've always been glad that my girls weren't afraid to get a little dirt on their hands. Growing up a "country girl", I wouldn't know what to do with "prissy" girls.


So it makes me happy that they enjoy doing this...

And after reading Simple Mom's post...I see that getting dirty has so many benefits. Looks like we will continue to spend our days in the dirt!

Pigtails for Little Bit

This was my first attempt at pigtails in Addison's hair.



She wasn't all that pleased with them, but I thought she looked adorable.

Sleeping Beauty

There are few pictures sweeter than those of a sleeping child...

...most of the time it is so difficult to capture a photo of my kids sleeping. But I managed to take one with Audrey snoozing the other night. So precious! And of course, Lambie and Doggy are right beside her.

Making Ants

Since school has been out this summer, I've tried to continue some "school" here at home. We work on some letter recognition, phonics, and math, but I also try to include some science and art. We don't do "school" everyday, but on those days we spend at home we do some activities to keep them entertained.

This particular day we read a book from the library, Ants In Your Pants and learned some facts about ants. Then we repurposed some egg cartons, paint and pipe cleaners to create our "ants". Addison even got in on the activity and loved it. She had a blast painting the ants (and everything else in sight---thank goodness for washable paint!)



Audrey took her work very seriously.

They were so proud of their project.

Playdate with Zoe Kate

The other day Zoe Kate and Mrs. D came over for a play date. Zoe Kate and Addison are only 10 days apart. They are so cute together. The girls had a wonderful time playing together while Diana and I enjoyed some adult conversation.

I can't wait for us to do it again!

I love the look on Addison's face in this photo. It looks like Zoe's driving is scaring her. Haha!


Audrey was a big helper. She loves being a "big sis" to both of them.

A Little Comparison

I love doing a comparison of the girls when they are/were at the same stages in life. In many ways they are the same...and in many ways they are sooooo different.

I see some physical similarities, but they look very different at the same time.



Can you believe how much more hair Addison has than Audrey did??

Happy Independence Day!

We don't typically do the "partying" thing on the 4th of July. Mostly we keep things low key and this year was no different. Typically, Corey is working so this was the first time since I can't remember when that Corey was off on a holiday. Our neighbors invited us over to eat a delicious meal with them and their family. We enjoyed visiting with them and the kids loved playing with their grandkids.

After our wonderful meal, the kids played outside and shot a few fireworks.

Audrey decorated these strawberries to take and share with everyone. I saw them in a magazine and thought they were so cute. She enjoyed making them.

The girls looked so cute, I couldn't resist taking their picture.

Much to my dismay, my girls do NOT like to have their picture taken. It is such a pain to try to photograph them. Their daddy isn't too happy to be photographed either. (sigh) That is not a good thing for a Mommy that LOVES taking photos. I've tried to "not want to" take photos of them lately...but it just doesn't work. It makes me so sad.

So with LOTS of bribes, begging and pleading...I got a few cute ones.

Addison- 16 months old

Audrey- 4 years old

As you can tell... 3 people despising this photo taking business...

And all I wanted was just 1 photo of me and the girls, since I am hardly ever in a photo. Is that too much to ask??? At least I got this much!

That evening, Corey lit a few sparklers and Roman candles for the girls see. Audrey enjoyed it...Addison HATED it. She cried even at the sparklers so I had to take her back inside. :(

Coupon Diva

Couponing is something that I have done for a long time. By no means am I one of those extreme couponers, but I love saving money...especially since I am a stay at home mom. My sweet Nana even helps me out by cutting coupons EVERY Sunday out of the paper and sending them to me. She has been doing this for me for years.

I'm training up Audrey to be frugal as well. Well, she at least knows that we cut coupons so we can save money and most of the time you don't buy something unless you have a coupon. I figured that is a good lesson to teach her :)

Most of the time while I am cutting coupons, Audrey will sit with me and cut her "coupons". I give her the extra copies of sale papers and she cuts out the pictures. This week she took to cutting the Toys R Us sale paper. After she finished cutting she informed me...



...that she had coupons for all of these so we could go buy them now! Um...maybe I didn't explain that coupon thing well enough :) I had to tell her that we also had to have enough money to cover the difference. I loved it though! So precious!


And in case you can't tell what these are... 1- wagon, 2- gym set, 3- inflatable water slide, 4- swing set, 5- bike

At least she dreams big!

Doing Chores

It's never too young to start them doing chores, right?

And the crazy thing is they think dusting is fun right now! :)