My Baby is Nine!!!

I can't believe that she is NINE!!! For her birthday she had a swim party and invited 21 girls. It was a little crazy, but they had fun.

I'm so proud of her and the young lady that she is becoming. She likes to read, craft, act, and sing obnoxiously loud songs with me in the car(we are currently rocking out to Jeremy Camp and Taylor Swift). It is so fun enjoying these things together as she gets older. We now can enjoy music, movies, books, and (my favorite) shopping together. However, there is so many things I miss about her being little. I think the book by Karen Kingsbury "Let Me Hold You Longer" sums up how I feel about her growing up. The book is about holding on to your kids lasts. I can't remember the last time that I lifted her and held her on my hip still small enough for me to hold or the last time that she crawled up in my lap and needed to be rocked to sleep. It is those things that I truly miss. I think the second child lucks out because you realize that they grow up so fast and you hold on longer to these special moments. By the way, this is why I still lay down and sleep with Jaylie every night and why she still has her binkie. I have been told by family that Jaylie gets away with soooo much more than we ever let Skyler. Well, see I'm just holding on to my baby. I have a perfectly good excuse.

Anyway, if you have not read this book and her other book "Let's Go On a Mommy Date"(this is Jaylie's favorite) you have to get them. I cry almost every time I read them. If you don't know anything about Karen Kingsbury she is a Christian author who mainly writes adult Christian fiction. However, she has these two kids books that are amazing. They are not only great for kids, but they really help me to keep my focus on my kids and not to care so much about the laundry piling up or whatever because your kids are only little once. Skyler, Jaylie, and I have read them almost daily since we got them and they are such a reminder to me about what is important.

When Skyler was born I wrote her a letter about the things that I wished for her. Here are a few of them:

1. I hope that she develops a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and accepts Him as her Lord and Savior.]

2. I hope she knows that as she gets older that her mommy and daddy love her no matter what mistakes she makes.

3. I hope she knows that I'm always here to talk to her and that she can tell me anything and that whatever it is we will get through it together.

4. I hope that she gets a college education.

5. I hope that she follows her heart and finds a profession that makes HER happy(right now she wants to be a teacher).

6. I hope that she finds a Christian man that shares in her beliefs to marry.

7. I hope she give me grandchildren(ok, so this one is a little selfish).

8. I hope that when she has those children she fully understand how much I love her.

Trip to St. Louis

We recently took a trip to St. Louis, just the four of us. It is so rare for us to have a weekend with nothing going on. Once your kids hit school age say goodbye to all those weekends. It is either sports, birthday parties, or some kind of school event.

While we were in St. Louis we got to visit some of our "old friends". I call them old friends because when we first meet them Skyler was the only kid and now their is like 8 of them. When we first meet them they were all just happy married couples (with no kids) that were sweet enough to include us and Skyler. I have a feeling that if Skyler would have been anything like Jaylie they probably would not have kept on inviting us.:) Anyway, I'm happy to report that they are still "happy married couples" just with children. We had a great time. Thanks Nicole for having us all over.

This is Bennett. The kids decided to have an American Idol show for us. It was so cute. Nicole's two boys could be back up for Chris Daughtry.
Here is a picture of all the kids, minus Lucy and Jack Henry. Jack Henry was already asleep and Lucy hates getting her picture taken. You will see below that we ended up making her get in the picture. Mike and Melissa's son Ryder would have also been in the picture, but Melissa and Ryder didn't get to come because Ryder was sick. (We really missed seeing you guys.) Also...notice Jaylie's dog in her lap. I'm not kidding no matter where we are that girl can find a dog.

Here is another future American Idol star.
Oh, here is the picture with Lucy. Isn't she happy that we threw her in the picture?
Ok, so here is a good picture ofLucy. She is so adorable. I had to get one without her crying.
Here is Norah playing a little guitar.
This is Luke and Bennett. They are brothers and they were wrestling. It took Jaylie about 2 seconds to get in on that action.

Our Trip to St. Louis to the Magic House

When we lived in St. Louis we loved taking Skyler to the Magic House. It is so much fun! The Magic House and the City Museum are our favorites. We were really excited to take Jaylie to the Magic House for the first time. She, of course, loved every minute of it. It was so nice getting a weekend away. The girls loved swimming in the hotel pool and we loved getting to eat at some of our favorite restaurants that for some reason have not made it to Springfield.

Notice Jaylie found a puppy. Puppies are like baby dolls to her. She was cooking with a puppy on her hip. What is wrong with my child?
My daugther the chef! She does not get that from me. It must come from her Grammy Smith. I'm actually not bad at heating up a pizza.

My Birthday!!

My Bunko friends and I went to J Bucks for my birthday. They decided to bring me "regifted" presents. Lets just say that they were interesting. I had some explaining to do to Jason when I showed him the baby outfit. I will say that some of the presents were not THAT bad. They just might get "regifted" to one of them.:)

Easter Fun!!

Skyler and Jaylie had a great Easter. They loved decorating and hunting the eggs and, of course, eating the candy. I had to have Jason take the Easter candy to his work because WE didn't needit.

A Day at the Zoo

I need to first say that the day at the zoo was only 8 days after the Winter Day post below. Go figure!!

Jaylie has a little friend named Owen. They are absolutely adorable together. People always think that they are twins because they look so much a like. Owen is such a gentleman. He holds Jaylie's hand and he waits for her and opens doors for her. I really think he is a keeper. Jaylie on the other hand really does not appreciate Owen...yet. I will have to work with her. They had a great day at the zoo and Jaylie loved getting to feed the animals.

Winter Days!!

Here are some pictures of the girls playing in the snow. We were were outside for close to two hours. Instead of playing in the snow Jaylie just eats it. She informed me that we don't eat grass. I didn't know where that was coming from until she later said "we eat snow." Hey, at least my kid is smart enough to know the difference. She ate so much snow that she peed in her snowsuit. Once I took her inside and got her all unbundled I decide that she was done playing in the snow. She wasn't very happy, so instead she got to make a fort inside. Notice that her bag of Minnie and Mickeys are always close by.