it's a new day

so just in case you are one of the three people out there who haven't heard...

WE ARE PREGNANT!!! it is early, but we are very excited (and a bit scared, too....i mean, come on...now the kiddos will outnumber the adults!) the newest addition will arrive in april, and we can't wait...woohoo!! and btw, no summer pregnancy for me...double woohoo!! :)

oh, and just for posterity...here are three people who HAD heard...and were pretty stinkin' excited!! how cute it that?!

we're baaack!!!

after six weeks with nary a drop of water on the booboo....guess who went swimming last week?

we did!! and i wasn't the only one who was excited!!

we did our usual picnic lunch, laying poolside,

and thoroughly wearing ourselves out!! oh how mommy enjoys a nice peaceful afternoon of nap time. who needs school!? i LOVE summer!!!! :)

memphis and plan b

last week, steph and i thought it would be a great idea to FINALLY take all the kids to memphis. we loaded up the car first thing monday morning, and headed out. even though bauer was fussy, we persisted and ended up at the children's museum by noon. folks, this is the ONE and ONLY shot from the entire trip.

soon after bauer developed a 104 fever, and we spent the next 36 hours trying to figure out what to do...we decided to call it quits tuesday afternoon, and headed back to the rock, when wouldn't you know we ran out of gas on the side of i-40....and only about 100 yards from the galloway exit!! so there we were, two preggos with four kiddos four and under, broke down on the side of the road. needless to say, steph jogged (yep, i said jogged) to the gas station and saved the day.

after our illness and adventures, we decided the next few days would best be spent laying low at home with a nice cup of tea.

even the kiddos concurred!! ;)

an old classic

everyone has heard of the classic tale of the three little pigs...BUT...did you know they are descendants of our family? just take a look:

there is the sometimes crazy mommy piggy.

the always silly daddy piggy.

and the very happy gege piggy.

and the big BAD wolf vivian, of course!! but wait....

i didn't know there was a fourth piggy? or is that the piggy from the shining?! ;)

nashville visit #2

last weekend we headed out of town to see the grandparents. it was lots of fun, but i only took a few pictures (i know....the horror!!). gege did think to have the kid's picture made outside at the BEGINNING of the day (smart move gege, before the stains of lunch and playtime).

of course, we made a stop by the rainforest cafe (vivian's pick), and mommy did a little back to school shopping. that night there was some much needed "sugar bowl" tasting. ;)

i think these girls like each other just a teeny tiny bit.

don't worry....she loves her pawpaw, too!

the next morning we locked the kids in the bomb shelter and had a little time to ourselves. jk, we took them to the custom house museum and to downtown square.

the entire basement of the museum was set up for toddler play....including a very cool supermarket....

where MANY groceries were purchased.

and two HUGE model trains were on display. (look closely...do you see his little finger pushing the button, and his little mouth forming the choochoo noise?)

this was by FAR bauer's favorite part! as expected we had a great time, and it went by WAY to fast! thanks gege and pawpaw....we love you!

just because

it my blog and i'll post if i want to....
random pictures IIII think are special.

like when siblings look sweet before bed time. oh, come on....you know you like it too!

deep thoughts

b: oh buzz, i love you, buzz. you are the coolest EVER! take me to your home planet...i will be your wingman!! did i mention i love you?!
v: weeeee....weeeee....mommy gave me a quarter!! :)

sunny smiles & stubborn sweetness

yep...that title pretty much sums it up.

ahhhh....sweet siblings and summertime!

dear mr. president,

vivian, for some reason, has always been fascinated with our 44th president. recently, she began asking me if she could visit him. after explaining how very far he lived from our house, and how extremely busy he would be....she decided it might be better if we wrote him a letter. i smiled, and agreed, thinking this was just a typical three (almost four) year old...and most certainly a conversation that would be quickly forgotten. i was wrong! for almost a week, she has consistently asked me if today was the day we would write a letter to president obama. finally, i said, "sure, let's do it!" so she sat down, and dictated the following letter:

Dear Mr. President,
My name is Vivian. I am three, but I will be four soon. I am sending you a picture. I hope you like it. And I hope you will say thank you, and send a letter back to me, because I worked very hard. I love you.
Vivian Caroline Day
P.S. The picture is from my baby brother, Bauer, too, but he doesn't draw as good as me, yet.

i, of course, typed dutifully and giggled quietly. i helped her spell his name, but she wrote and drew it completely by herself. please take note of his strong muscles, her booboo, and the american flag. quite nice composition, if you ask me. ;) definitely worth a reply!!

"sprinkles, please!"

today's post is brought to you by a very special guest blogger: daddy.

Can an almost 4 year old read? Well sort of....I bought Vivian a little snack earlier today, thinking that would keep her entertained as we drove around doing errands. I was right, she was perfectly content even commenting how much she was enjoying her "sprinkles" (which I did think was a little odd since I bought her chips, but whatever). Later, when I got her out of the car, she said, "Here Daddy, here are my sprinkles." and handed me the chips. I said, "Honey, why do you think these are sprinkles?" To which she replied, "Look Daddy, right here on the can. It says SPRINKLES." I smiled, "Pringles sweetie, not sprinkles, but close!" :)

the boys

"and they're couuuuuuuusins....identical cousins...lalalala". or should i say identical batboys?! ;)

divide and conquer

sometimes to get the job done you gotta divide the troops. this morning was such a day. i was suffering from a severe case of pool deprivation, while clif was wanting to hit the links. it wasn't long before we had a great game plan in place....

miss vivian was all too happy to grab her custom clubs, lovingly hand made for her by daddy himself!

and mr. b wasn't too difficult to coerce to swim with his mother! ;) by ten we were all headed out the door, but not before i got one last shot of my cute little golfers...

look cathy, they even match!! :)

bridal me

yep, i did it. i posted pics of me...bridal style. i can hardly believe it myself. not that i am ashamed, i still think my dress is lovely, and my hair and veil quite timeless...but let's be honest folks....this somer, for all practical purposes, doesn't really exist anymore. and you know what? that is ok with me.

in the last eight years since these photos were taken, i have experienced a lot of...well, life! and i have realized this was but just one day. a special one, don't get me wrong...but it has been all the days that followed that really have made my marriage, and life in general, pretty darn amazing. when i was single i thought of me, when i was a newlywed i thought of we, and now....now i can't imagine thinking of anyone but them: clif, vivian and bauer. and i wouldn't have it any other way.

blessed.

i have always known i am a very blessed girl, some days more than others (can you say $410 door repair bill?). but on tuesday night i got a little photographic evidence of just how blessed i am. because i have the....shall we call it..."talent" ;) of having never met a stranger, i find myself carrying on random conversations with people all over town. it was during an ic paper sale, i found another stranger with the same affliction: miss james. who knew a blog stalker could turn into such a sweet friend?!

and at around the same time, i cornered a kind, quiet mother in vivian's class, and started gabbing away...then *poof*, another dear friend emerged. two years later (and seven kids in total, baby d was taking a nap), here we are. sharing dinners of pbj and grilled cheese while the husbands are out of town on business. thanks gals, you make tuesdays and everyday blessed!

(oh, yeah...and did i mention the added blessing of miss loibner's photography, she took these AWESOME shots! check her out!)

a new old adventure & a WARNING!

for some strange reason, we arkansans have been given a reprieve. the last few days have been SO beautiful (read: bearable temps in 80's and humidity at only 80%), that we dared to venture to a faraway land....the zoo!

we were joined by our friends the whitehead's, but ran into the reeves' too! and look at what a GREAT photo! luckily, it was after mr. b had a few issues. here he is explaining to me...

"no mommy, bauer no cheese. no cheese mommy, no cheese!" but you know what? i've got that kid's number....give him a few pretzels...and presto...

the kid we all know and love! after a long day at the zoo, we invited popa and dotdot over to have dinner. while mommy did dishes, and popa listened to the president, dotdot helped put on our after dinner show. ummmm, yeah.....

i know dotdot's from denmark, but come ON! bauer looks a little too much like, well....helga! ;) soon after, popa and dotdot left and because everyone had been pretty nice today i turned on a special wubzy dvd, and started to blog. A VERY SERIOUS WARNING!! notice to all blogging mothers:

this is what happens when you forget to comb your child's hair after a bath, because you can't wait to post your cute zoo pics!! aaaack! ;)