Life in the Heald house

Hairstylin'

2012-01-29T20:52:00.000-05:00

Ever since Matney got her hair cut last week we have had lots of days playing beauty parlor in this house. Tonight it was HK's turn to give Matney a fun hair-do!

After Matney's hair was done she got an emery board and said she was fixing Daddy's hair. Anyone ever seen hair done with an emery board? I don't know why she decided to play hair dresser with an emery board. Strange girl!

Spiderman-girl

2012-01-29T20:47:00.002-05:00

We got a call today that Spiderman (well, she was really a Spidergirl) was hanging out at a new store that just opened a few miles from the house. We didn't tell HK what we were doing until we got there...she was SOOOO excited. Matney was only interested in the lollipop!

Halle Kate so proud to have her picture taken with Spidey!

Destruction and Panic

2012-01-29T20:43:00.003-05:00

Matney is in school on Fridays and HK stays home with me. When we were supposed to be at Costco last week we were home. HK was about naked and I was tearing the family room apart. Seriously, I had every piece of furniture moved, junk was everywhere.

Do you wonder why?

Well, HK was playing with my wedding ring while I changed her diaper (she HATES having a poopy diaper changed screams the whole time). When we finished and she stood up my ring was gone. She, of course, didn't care and ran off to play but I couldn't figure out where my ring had gone. I knew she had not moved while she had it so it should have been on the floor nearby.

But no. Not on the floor, under the couch or under the chair, not under the baskets of blankets or tangled in hundreded of toys. Not even in HK's poopy diaper that I dug out of the trash and checked (yes, it was as nasty as you think) and still no ring.

Finally, after HK got her jammies back on, she started shaking her foot around and moving like a wild thing. I eventually figured out that my ring was in the bottom of the foot of her jammies and bothering her when she stepped on it.. AGH!!!!! At least the couch did get put back in place and my ring is back on my finger (after I washed my hands many times after that diaper!) where it belongs!

Ta daaaaaaa!!!!

2012-01-29T20:28:00.002-05:00

I am in love with my handy husband and I am in love with this new space in our house. I've always talked about wanting a house with a mud room for storage but knew this house didn't have that kind of room. However, Jared was smart and made it work! Here is the space before, it is just off the garage entry door going into the dining room. Yes, the dining room is currently home to lots of kid toys.

Here's we go!

I hope this works! The baseboards are off so there's no going back now!

Bench installed. We designed it with smaller cubbies on top for shoes and larger spaces on the bottom for some specific boxes at IKEA. My hope is to toss things of the girls in their boxes and then them take the box upstairs to put their things away. I am probably kidding myself but maybe one day they'll do it!

I wanted to stain the top of the bench so J added the right kind of wood on top to make it happen!

Partially painted bench, painted wall and new baseboards. Starting to look promising!

More shelf space. Jared needs to go through the house and count how many shelves I've had him build in the last year. There are a lot!

Adding corbels - everything looks better when it is pretty!

And adding hooks.

Finishing caulk and getting ready to paint it again.

Finally! A place for coats and bag. I was just playing with things but am planning on keeping mail, etc on the top shelf and I've got to find just the right things to make it pretty on top.

Look at those shoes NOT in a pile on the floor.

A view coming down the stairs. I still have to sand and paint the outside/hall side again but I wasn't about to not start hanging things.

And Ta Da!!!! Almost finished. There are white boxes in the bottom but the ones we planning on using when we designed the size are now discontinued. So frustrating! I don't want white so I'm on the hunt for the right spray paint. And you can be sure there will be some kind of pretty laminated name tags somewhere on there. And a cute pillow for the bench....time to go to HomeGoods!

I am so thankful for a husband who will work hard to know what I want and will spend his time away from work building in the garage. I think we did a great job and I am in LOVE with my new space!

Teddy Bear Parade

2012-01-24T22:16:00.001-05:00

Halle Kate's class had a teddy bear parade today and, after trying very hard to convince me that Robot was a teddy bear, decided to take the bear she got for Christmas. It was a red letter day. She was so distracted by the bear that I got a bow in her hair! Normally she screams "NO! I just want my ears!" as she frantically shoves her hair behind her ears.

Max wanted in the picture. So did Matney, she wanted to hold hands with HK.

HK didn't want to hold hands...or be touched.

She yelled at Matney to go away and was more than happy to continue her bear photo shoot alone.

And yes, there is a 3/4 dead plant in the background. I brought it home from my Grandmama's funeral and desperately want it to survive but it isn't looking good!

Last Dance

2012-01-24T21:59:00.000-05:00

We had our last dance class this week. We are going to take a break for a few months and figure out what to do with our time during the summer. The girls have LOVED every minute of ballet and their teacher, Ms. Amy, has been wonderful. Ms. Amy blew bubbles and the girls had a blast chasing them around the room. It was a fun day and we'll miss our Monday mornings dancing!

Slow moving mornings

2012-01-24T21:53:00.000-05:00

Jared wakes up like Tigger in the morning and bounces out of the bed. The girls, me and Max? We have a little more trouble in the morning. We really like to hang out and snuggle and wake up slowly!

Matney and Dog are warm!

See that bottle to the left? Halle Kate found it in the doll play box and has LOVED drinking out of it again. I think she'd drink a bottle with Mommy holding her until college!

Ha! Such a typical HK face.

Even max has rough mornings. It is a good thing Jared is only here on weekends. He is never very impressed by our ability to stay in jammies all morning!

Before, During and After

2012-01-24T21:47:00.003-05:00

Side of the fridge BEFORE...ugly since day 1

Side of the fridge DURING - Looking better. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a handy husband who ~~doesn't complain~~ ~~doesn't hate me for~~ completes a Honey-Do-List

Side of the fridge AFTER - I LOVE IT! The girls have space on the bottom and I have space on the top. Our calendar and menu planning stuff, mail inbox, etc is all up and much prettier than before. I hate cooking and planning meals but it is easier when things are pretty!

THANKS Honey!

The other thing I added this week is a magnet on the inside of the cabinet next to the stove. My recipes for the week are normally in a plastic sleeve on the fridge so all I have to do it stick them on the outside of the door and they hang just where I need them while cooking. Then I stick it back on the fridge and there is nothing ever shows on the outside of the cabinet. Wish I'd thought of this sooner!

Don't be lazy

2012-01-24T21:38:00.001-05:00

This mess and an extreme lack of sleep is a good reason to NOT EVER GET WAY BEHIND on printing photos...especially when you have two really cute girls and take lots of pictures. One of the online photo sites ran a special on prints before Christmas so I stayed up late several nights and printed almost 3000 pictures. Yep, 3000. I finally sat down to tackle getting them into albums (which I got on great sale during the holidays!) and it was a MESS! Seven albums filled and tons more to go! I am committed to never again being more than a few months behind. And PS - I LOVE CAFFEINE! If you know how to get an IV drip with caffeine please let me know!

Spidey rides again!

2012-01-17T17:41:00.001-05:00

Riding a roller coaster is much more fun when you're Spiderman!!!

Cooties!

2012-01-17T17:40:00.001-05:00

Matney has been bitten by the Cootie bug! AGH! We play this game multiple times a day and she loves it! Each time Matney has to be the one to set the board up and she is so very careful to make sure everything is in just the right spot. Sometimes we play while HK is napping and then drive Daddy crazy sending him pictures of all the bugs we make!

Friends

2012-01-17T17:39:00.001-05:00

On a really cold day we met friends at a mall to walk around. All four of them wanted to hold hands. Isn't that just the sweetest?!?!? Love those kids!

Funny vs not funny

2012-01-17T17:38:00.001-05:00

Don't be fooled. HK is still as wild as ever. I wanted to make sure I had a picture of her looking innocent and sweet before I tell this story...she got in trouble at school on her first day back at school. When I picked her up she got in the car and said that she didn't get her sticker for the day. When I asked why she said (with a smile), "because I bite and kick and hit". sigh. I emailed her teacher and found out that yes, she had been in trouble in class. double sigh. We talked about it after nap time and at one point I'd said something about it making someone sad and she was really quiet...until she said "but Mommy, it didn't make me sad....(raise eyebrows and with a face full of glee) IT WAS FUNNY!!!"
Triple million sigh. This kid is going to be the death of me!

Flowers from Daddy

2012-01-17T17:29:00.003-05:00

Jared knew that I'd had a rough day last week and surprised all three of his girls with flowers when he came home! So pretty. Matney was so excited about her flowers, the pink ones of course, and every morning she comes down and make sure they are still on the table. Not sure what I'll do when they all die and start to mold in the vase!

There are several things I'd change about Jared's job location and schedule but, even though we don't get to spend much time with him during the week, all of us girls know he loves us very much!

Welcome back to school!

2012-01-17T17:24:00.003-05:00

I bet you can't figure out who's lunch is who's? Now we know why HK is a mean peanut sometimes. The child doesn't ever eat. This is what their lunch boxes normally look like after school. Matney's is empty and HK has eaten half a saltine. Jared and I both are not very nice when we are hungry and HK is the same frustrating way!

I am more than happy to say that I was MORE THAN HAPPY for preschool to start back after the holidays. I do great with a schedule and routine but weeks of open days really drive me batty! Matney is going 3 days a week and she loves it. Halle Kate goes 2 days and is still kicking and screaming, literally, when I dropped her off. There is only one woman, Ms. Sherri, that she'll even consider getting out of the car for and even then she's still screaming and flailing while being carried inside. Once she is in her classroom her teachers have promised me that she is fine. We got Ms. Sherri a Christmas present but I told her it should have been body armor!

We've been back to our normal routine for 2 weeks now and it is so much better for all of us!

"Snow" Day!

2012-01-17T17:16:00.002-05:00

Poor Matney was very sad at Christmas when it didn't snow. One day a few weeks ago it was really cold outside in the morning. Matney dissapeared after breakfast and I could hear her walking around upstairs. After about 10 minutes she came back down in this outfit. Cute mess! She was jumping and yelling that she had to go outside because it had finally snowed.

I really didn't have a clue what she was talking about until she spend 2 freezing minutes fascinated by the "snow" on the table...aka some ice crystals.

I think she was as happy with this snow as she would have been with 6" of snow! Halle Kate had to find out what was going on outside so I tossed a jacket on her. She spent about 30 seconds outside before wanting back in. And see that open door behind her? Max was out and in in less than 15 seconds. He and HK thought those ice crystals were way overrated. Matney stayed outside by herself for several minutes and talked about the snow all day!.

Rice Party

2011-12-31T21:21:00.000-05:00

I was desperately trying to come up with ways to entertain the girls while Halle Kate wasn't walking last week. I hope that whatever possessed me to dye rice and let the girls play with is something I have the desire to do again. The girls had a great time but boy oh boy did they make a mess!

We bought plain white rice and added food coloring and rubbing alcohol. Once the rice was dyed it sat outside drying for about an hour. Then the ~~mess~~ fun began!

Can you see the pile of rice on the floor? I finally was smart enough to stop sweeping until they were done. Thankfully, about half the rice landed on the ground and got thrown away. At first I was frustrated with all they were dropping until I realized that once it hit the ground once I'd only have to clean it up once before it was trash!

They scooped and poured and funneled for a good 15 minutes before they were off to something else.

Even with the mess it was a super fun afternoon!

ps- don't you just love HK's monster shirt? She is one funny kid.

Nose

2011-12-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

The crazy squares from my camera don't help much but here's the picture you asked for. I love a crooked nose! Actually, this was taken around Christmas, now my nose looks pretty normal. Thanks for the experience Halle Kate!

Still no walking

2011-12-29T11:30:00.001-05:00

HK did something, we don't know what, to hurt her leg on Monday and she still isn't walking. She had xrays that didn't show a break so now we looking at going to an orthopedic dr if she isn't up soon. My normally wild girl has been getting quite cranky being still! And we have lots of new toys but are quickly running out of ways to entertain her. The good news is that I can now wear my glasses without them hurting my nose...we are thankful for the little things around here!

***Update - 12/30 Halle Kate has started walking fine and shows no sign of any injury. We are thankful that she is ok and that we won't be having to make another trip to the dr next week. She was terrified of the xray machine and having to hold her down was NOT fun.

Christmas Morning 2011

2011-12-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

Christmas Morning 2011

I will have to get pictures from the other cameras off my phone and fill in some gaps here but I know there are several of you who would want to see these sooner than later. Right now I'm working on getting some order restored to this house because it is a MESS so who knows when I'll sit to blog again.

The reindeer food must have worked because Santa found our house!

Max and Uncle Josh became good friends.

Matney was awake and excited but had a hard time waking up. Halle Kate however was bouncing off the walls at 6am.

Wooo hoo! Santa did come!

Halle Kate has been begging for this baby Simba (from the Lion King) who wraps up in a leaf and purrs for months.

Matney's big Foofa from Yo Gaba Gaba

Halle Kate stayed in her cute jammies for all of 5 minutes before she saw her new Batman shirt and made Jared change her clothes. I started to get frustrated (because I wanted them in the same cute matching thing for pictures!) but since 2012 is the year for "enjoying the moment and relaxing" I ended up laughing at her new clothes.

Matney has wanted this baby Rapunzel for months. I can't wait to spend my days brushing and brushing and brushing all her hair. NOT!

Because every house needs a roller coaster! The girls are assured of one crazy gift each year as long as Grandaddy is around.

Stockings!

Poor Max didn't think he was getting enough attention. And yes, these are well photographed girls. I think we had 3 still cameras and 2 videos going today and I took the least amount of pictures.

Robot stickers!

Toothbrushes? I love that Santa is practical!

Yep, Santa ate our cookies!

Matney got a whole box of dress up clothes from TX and had to put them on before she's open another box.

Robot got his own present...a new Robot friend named Plex. They are both curled up in HK's bed as I type.

Jared and some of his man tools.

I got a surprise present from Jared. Don't you love his wrapping skills?

A tetherball! Whooo hooo! He put the pole up yesterday in the backyard but I didn't notice it even though I was out there more than once. I would make a horrible witness. I've joked about needing a tetherball several times and he listens. How sweet! We went out to play today but it got toooooo close to my already painful nose and I decided I'd stay away from any more potential nose injuries for a while.

Most. Exciting. Gift. Ever. The brand new Silhouette Cameo and a Micheal's gift card. Preschool please hurry up because Mama wants to go shopping alone!

Spidergirl stayed on her roller coaster for a large majority of the day.

Matney got new shoes and tiaras so of course she needed to put on a princess outfit.

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

It was so hard to get in the Christmas spirit this year because the entire month of Dec felt like it flew by in 3 days that each were 65+ degrees and warm! Either way, Santa was coming so we made sure to get some cookies for him! And we made sure that there were plenty of sprinkles for Santa and his reindeer!

Every year since I was little we've always gotten to open one package on Christmas Eve and, sometime around when I was 10, I finally caught onto the fact that every year that box held jammies. We've continued that tradition with the girls (and still with J and myself because it is fun!) and the girls were excited to open one box early. I think they would have preferred toys but they were excited with new jammies.

They were especially excited once the Spiderman and pink bunny slippers were unwrapped!

Starting about 5pm both girls, who normally HATE to go to bed, were begging to go to sleep. They knew Santa wasn't coming until they were bed so they were willing to go bed as soon as their jammies were on. It was a challenge to keep them up and not fighting until 7pm. If I didn't know that a 5pm would have had us all awake at 3am I would have tucked them in early and done a dance!

The girls made sure to leave plenty of cookies for Santa.

The girls made reindeer food at preschool and we made sure to sprinkle it in the yard.

Jared has been adamant that Max will never wear any type of hat, bow, clothes, etc. All that is totally fine with me but he's such a pain about it my brother and I put several big bows on Max. Jared came down and was not impressed!

See those scissors in his hand? Max's bows did not last long. The little girls were in bed by 7:30, the guys went to a movie and were home by 8:30. We had stockings stuffed, presents out and dinner eaten before 10pm and went to bed to wait on Santa!

Ball Family

2011-12-22T22:29:00.000-05:00

If you leave Matney alone with Play-Doh for long you are certain to end up with a ball family!

Best Friends

2011-12-22T22:25:00.002-05:00

Matney is not in the same class this year as her best friend, Madigan. All last school year, summer and first few months of this school year Matney talked about Madigan. I finally dug out our old class list and contacted Madigan's mom. Turns out we live a few miles apart and met for lunch at McDonalds. The girls were so very excited to see each other and held hands for the entire two hours they played. I am soooo glad we were able to get them together and know we'll be sure to keep them connected!

It has a purpose

2011-12-22T22:20:00.001-05:00

I don't know why I think this is so funny but I laugh every time someone leaves our house and I walk into the bathroom to find this....

I know you're wondering why would I laugh at a toilet paper roll.

Because this is how our guests alway find the bathroom....

Empty TP holder with the TP on the back of the toilet.

I know everyone we've had over for the past year must totally think I am the laziest person ever because almost everyone, time after time, put the paper back on the roll. If you come over anytime in the foreseeable future please know we've got two little girls who are very eager to toilet paper our house if given the opportunity. If we have toilet paper on the holder I promise that the entire roll will be gone by the end of one day! Therefore it stays on the back of the toilet where they cannot easily reach it on their own. Thank you to everyone who hangs up my toilet paper for me but I promise I'm not that lazy!

Black and Blue thanks to HK

2011-12-22T22:08:00.002-05:00

So, the thought of two weeks without preschool is enough to send all mamas calling friends and trying to schedule any and all play dates. Yesterday we met M's best friend at McDonald's to play at lunch. As we got ready to leave I put HK in the booth and leaned down to put her shoes on...and the exact same moment she jumped up in the booth and right into the bottom of my nose.

Long story short the cracking sound and immediate enormous blood flow brought lots of attention to our table. It was soooo painful and embarrassing! I am a girl, I was with a bunch of girls, and we've never played sports or gotten in fights or had any idea what to do with a bloody nose. Ugh, so gross. There were lots of helpful people and I think McD's wanted me out as quickly as possible so that they could bleach the room. 24 hours later I am sporting 2 black eyes and a crooked nose. I did go to Urgent Care where they said they couldn't do anything for a broken nose and to go to the ER. The ER docs refer you to a plastic surgeon and the plastic surgeon said that unless I wasn't able to breath through my nose I'd need to wait 7-10 days for the swelling to go down before they'd mess with it. So, I spent the remainder of the day with a bag of frozen peas on my face, popping Advil and counting down the minutes until Jared got home.

I started to post a picture but then looked at it and scared myself! I have one normal, open nostril, a nose pointed to the left and one 2/3 way closed nostril...plus those black eyes that I swear were not this dark even this afternoon. If anyone wonders why I don't show up in this year's Christmas pictures please refer back to this post. This being a mom thing is NOT all fun and games!

Heald Family Christmas

2011-12-22T21:53:00.001-05:00

We did Christmas with Jared's family last weekend. It was fun to all hang out and the girls had a blast getting some presents before Mr. Claus gets here.

Check out these hats!

Jess and I think we need our own!

I am so sweet....I bought Jared's dad things he needs to make candy. Isn't that sweet? I totally was destined to be in a family and have my own personal candy maker!

Awww, every girl needs a big, fuzzy blanket!

The box from Jared's host family is always a favorite because it is full of CHOCOLATE! And don't you like the girls' shirts? Jared let them pick their clothes. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like an orange spider shirt!

At the end of the day Jared and I got to go to his office work party with no children! I love date night with my hubby even if it is an office party. Thanks Granny Annie and Gpa Buster for keeping the girls!

Freedom

2011-12-22T21:45:00.000-05:00

The girls have been getting a little more freedom around the house in the past few months. We have taken the gates down so they can get up the stairs and sometimes I'll go up and leave them downstairs. What can I say, I get braver (or maybe dumber!) with age!

One morning I ran upstairs to get dressed and this is what I found when I got back. HK lined up all her "guys" and was taking a nap in the hallway. Notice that a padded carpet floor is only 2 feet away. Strange kid.

Matney was resting on the couch with her puppy and the playroom rug as a blanket. I do wash that rug often but still...yuck!

Both of my girls just relaxing. If the pantry door hadn't been locked (see, I still have some brains left!) then I am sure there would be some serious snacking going on in this picture too!

Matney Christmas Party

2011-12-22T21:40:00.001-05:00

Matney also had a Christmas party at school. She was so cute playing with her friends. I've been in HK's class for other events this year but this was the first time parents were invited to a party in M's class. They played games, did a craft and had pizza. The kids are so cute!

Matney was the prayer leader for the day. She was so sweet leading her class. I would have bet money she'd have been too shy to get up there but she did great!

Matney and Ms. Julie - We love Ms. Julie, she is awesome!

Matney wanted to pose in front of the snow globe.

Halle Kate was at school too and wearing the cutest Rudolph outfit ever but she was determined that she wasn't going to let me take her picture. Every time I tried to put her down this was as far apart as we got.

HK Christmas Party

2011-12-22T21:33:00.001-05:00

Halle Kate's school Christmas party was last week and it was also PJ Day at school. The girls were so excited to wear their new Hello Kitty nightgowns they both were up super early. Halle Kate is not liking having her picture taken so there are lots of pictures of her back and not many of her smiling unless I could be really sneaky!

Don't you love the goldfish crushed onto the floor. Jared and I are both constantly vacuuming up those suckers!

Breadsticks and pizza!

After realizing I was taking her picture she started trying to duck under the table.

She had a green icing covered nose from licking her cupcake.

Rose's Wedding!

2011-12-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

We have had such an exciting weekend with some of our best friends. Matney's middle name is Rose, named for one of our best friends and the woman who set us up...and Rose got married this weekend! Rose is one of the kindest, most caring people I've ever met. You know you are true friends when you spend the night with one another in the hospital which we've both had the pleasure of doing for each other. There are some late night, drug induced stories that will NEVER make it on this blog! And Rose's daughter Abby is the most beautiful young lady inside and out. I pray that our girls grow up to be just like Abby, I love that girl! Jared used to work with Rose at Marsh and when I moved to Atlanta she was my small group Bible Study leader. She tried to get me to go out with Jared for almost 6 months before I got tired of talking about it and said "Just give the man my number, if he has the guts to call me then I'll go...once." He showed up with flowers and brownies and the rest is history! Rose's husband and Abby's Daddy passed away 12 years ago and we have prayed and prayed for a man to come into their lives and sweep them both off their feet. And Jeff Roth met Rose a little over a year ago and won them over quickly! Whooo hoooo!

Rose and Abby

I didn't take almost any pictures, it was such a crazy day but here are a few of Matney. She was the greatest flower girl ever! I was a little concerned since she is so shy but she did such a great job. Isn't she just precious?!?!? There are some friends who got a few pictures of Matney and me together so I'll have to add those when I get them.

All flower girls look cute playing Littlest Pet Shop.

NO MORE PICTURES PLEASE!

Here are the flower girls ready to walk down the isle. I could not have been more proud of Matney. She was sooooo well behaved for the rehearsal and wedding. She spent a lot of hours in an all adult environment this weekend and I don't have anything but positive things to say about her behavior. I love love love my sweet girl!

Congrats Jeff, Rose and Abby. We are so excited to share this time with you and are excited to see you grow as a family. We couldn't love you more!!!

Memory Lane - pt 3

2011-12-07T10:20:00.001-05:00

Look Dad, balloon animal guys at the mall are cool!

I heart hot Krispy Kreme

Sometimes sick, snoty kids are still sweet.

Snow cone cups at the Farmer's Market, eaten in jammies, are awesome!

The girls love going to Kangazoom!

It is rare but M can pitch a good fit.

Climbing on Daddy is fun.

I turn more into my mother every year.

Don't give a toddler ice cream while in the car.

Have you ever seen them both still? Only when they are sick.

While I am not a good cook I can make a boring chicken look pretty!

So.dang.cute.

Max has only eaten one non-food item...a ballet slipper. Matney was ready to ship him away!

HK got a Spiderman backpack from a friend. She is happy!!!

Precious girl!

Yep, it is 2011 and I still use my Caboodle from 1990...'cause I am cool like that!

HK's best friends are germs.

After 4+ years in this house Jared finallty hung a ball in the garage so that I will kow when to stop and quit running into the wall.

She is so cool.

Max loves loves loves car rides!

Tickets to Santa

2011-12-07T09:37:00.001-05:00

We woke up this weekend and found that our elf Ellie left the girls each tickets to see Santa, a map to his village and the paper for their lists. Well, the elf's name is Ellie according to Matney but Michael according to HK. Poor confused elf! Anyway, the girls were so excited. We got in our Christmas dresses and hit the road. Matney wanted to hold hands with Halle Kate...

...but Halle Kate wasn't awake and happy yet.

We had to wait outside for Santa to (ie - the store wasn't open but the line was growing!) and it was cold.

See that picture above? That is a Daddy and a Daddy's girl. Poor Matney does not understand why Jared has to work and wants him home every day. Let me take this opportunity to say that I wish Jared was home with us more but that I am so beyond thankful that I am home with these girls during the week. Some days feel very very very very long but it is such a blessing to see them grow.

We always go to the Bass Pro Shop because Santa and the setting is so pretty. Where else has real reindeer? I also love that all our Santa pictures have the same background and same Santa. Beautiful and fun!

Since the Paci Fairy came Matney has taken up sucking her thumb if she is anxious. I guess some things are a trade off!

HK got a little scared when it was almost our turn. Those girls knew Mama was going for the photo opportunity and Daddy was there for the experience...see who they wanted to pick them up? Mama said "GET ON SANTA'S LAP NOW!". One goal I have for 2012 is trying to enjoy time with the girls more and not be so focused on crossing things off my list.

HK loves Nutcrackers. She has one she carries around and calls him her soldier.

Almost our turn. I love those reindeer!

Matney climbed right up in his lap. HK tried to kick and squirm at first and Santa said "Whoa Mom!" so I took her back. Then she calmed down, sat up straight and told him every thing she wanted. Matney was a little shy but when he handed her a candy cane they became best friends!

I can't even explain how much I love these girls! We did wait in line behind a baby girl maybe a year old....and oh it was sad to not have a baby to put in Santa's lap this year. Our girls are growing too quickly. Jared and I keep trading "baby fever". This month he's the logical one, I wanted to bring that baby girl home!

We looked at the train set while we waited for our picture to print.

As we left we stopped in front of this snowman to take a family photo. The years are passing so quickly. Remember this picture from last year?

Memory Lane - part 2

2011-11-30T07:31:00.000-05:00

More random cell pictures - the girls love to ride on tractors when we go to Lowe's/Home Depot. Which is good because we are there a lot!

Do not EVER leave your child alone in a room with markers.

Remember HK's upside down duck hat phase? She wore this everywhere for about a month.

HK sure did love those wings!

There is a shack in Macon, GA with no tables, just a bar along the wall (a wall with a very large spider. yuck!) that has the best BBQ ever!

Sweet girls!

Almost 2 years later I still miss my Grandmama so so so very much. every.day.

Poor Jared, there is no telling what picture I will send to him. I think this day I was whining about being lonely.

I should have been more prepared for HK's wild ways, she's been climbing from a very young age.

Daddy - please come home!!!

Love these sisters!

Matney's first trip to the movies - she saw Tangled with her friend Maggie. So much fun! Matney liked the popcorn a lot!

It is a bad idea to leave your child alone in the backseat with stickers.

Costco carts are awesome because both kids fit in the top!

Jared went to the store and came back to cook baby octopus. NASTY.

Ha! They love to go play in Party City.

A picture of them sitting together and smiling...not fighting. I should frame this!

Chocolate is messy.

Little girls will get into lotion and turn into greasy wild monkeys if I turn my back. The floor was covered in slippery lotion.

~~Caged in!~~ Trampoline fun!

OK- I have more but the girls are up and we've got to get moving. I'll add more later. Isn't this fun? Kind of makes me want another baby!

Memory Lane - part 1

2011-11-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

I am in the middle of printing LOTS of pictures from the past year (thank you Snapfish Penny deals for helping this mama catch up!) and have had so much fun looking back at the pictures from my cell phone. Most of those pictures are the fun ones I take all day long, because my phone is always closer than my camera, but they have only recently started getting on the blog. I think I fell even more in love with my girls last night while looking back at the past few years! Hope you enjoy these too! They uploaded to the computer in no particular order so this will jump around a lot!

Sweet Matney - I think she was 2-3 months old. Look at all that hair!

HK's first big bow...and a sweet baby yawn.

Matney used to be very scared of firemen!

Matney's first dining out experience. A grilled cheese at Steak N Shake.

Matney falling in love with an Elmo doll.

I took Matney to a bounce house/play place on May 21, 2009. She was just really starting to walk well but got stuck in on of the blowups. I had to climb up after her and yelled down that I bet I'd have another baby soon. About 10 hours later Halle Kate was born. Ha! Climbing around in big bounce houses apparently is a good labor inducer.

Welcome Halle Kate!

HK on her way home from the hospital.

Jared brought me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day just after HK was born. Wasn't that sweet?

See that rash? That was the beginning of the hives I got when I went back to the hospital after HK was born for high blood pressure. I was allergic to the first medicine they tried in the IV. There are so many ways that having kids is not for the weak!

OH! Halle Kate

HAHAHAHA! Jared is going to get me for this one! We had just moved into this house (see how empty it was?) and Jared was trying to put together our first pack and play. HA! I remember this night and yes, he had some serious trouble. Poor Matney, we had no idea what we were doing when we became parents!

Matney's first time trying Chick-fil-a. HK was a newborn and we ate outside at The Avenue so she didn't go in and get exposed to germs. How in the world did we survive two kids so tiny?!?!?

Fast forward - HK meets Santa when she was about 6 months old.

It's ok HK, Mantey doesn't like him either!

Can't flip this picture - a baby learning to feed themselves is MESSY!

To a toddler saying "please throw this in the bathroom trash can" sounds an awful lot like "Of course the toilet is a trash can and Mommy would love to go potty fishing later."

Halle Kate's first steps - we were at The Avenue again and some stranger was nice enough to snap this picture and email it to me. I don't know why I didn't have my camera out...except I assume I was trying to catch her before she fell.

We take fun pictures and send them to Jared while he is at work. I am not sure what he thinks we do all day around here!

So sweet!

2011-11-29T20:09:00.001-05:00

Matney has been the "mommy" recently to hk, her baby she named "sulley" (pronounced sue lee, no idea wheree they came up with that one). Tonight Matney was putting Sulley to bed and she was crying. I thought it was a real cry until hk got up and jumped on M and said "sing". Sweet girls, hk just wanted to be rocked! I love my girls!

Sweet elf

2011-11-29T06:48:00.001-05:00

So thankful our elf decided to cuddle baby Jesus today. That is much better than making a mess!

Look who's back!

2011-11-25T19:49:00.001-05:00

The girls were so excited to wake up this morning and find their elf back! I wonder what he will be up to on the next few weeks....

still not ready....but they are sweet!

2011-11-23T06:53:00.001-05:00

Do you see this sweetness? Look past the massive amount of stuff in my car and focus on those sweet hand holding girls. Can you say "Awwwww...."?

Last time I tried taking the girls out of town we made it less than 24 hours before I tossed them in the car and came back to Atlanta. I waited almost 6 months to try again and we headed south last weekend. For your information they still have not earned their "good traveler passports" and will stay home for at least another 6 months! AGH! The 2.5hr ride there was really good. The only time HK got really frustrated Matney was so sweet and said "it's ok, Hal. I will hold your hand" and they rode like this for 20 minutes. I love those girls so much I can't even stand it!

They were really well behaved but they just don't sleep well anywhere but their own beds. I had pillows, blankets and toys from their beds at home but we were pretty much up all night long. Matney and MoMo were talking/laughing so much that they woke me up at 3 something. Poor Matney really has had some trouble sleeping now that she doesn't have a paci. We headed south to go to a holiday market at the GA Fairgrounds that opened Sat at 9am. Since we had been up since 3am we were more than ready for the doors to open. Without sleep the girls were not so excited about holiday items and we didn't stay long. It should go without saying that we did not stay another night. After seeing a few friends they got tossed right back in the car and we came home to our own beds. Hope you had fun girls, no more overnights for you for at least 6 more months!

Now that we're back in ATL we are in full holiday mode. I was up until after midnight and got lots of things ordered last night. Christmas pictures are done and cards are on the way here! All the personalized printing gifts are ordered so no extra money on fast shipping this year. Point for me! Now I am up blogging before the girls are up while smelling the food cooking for Thanksgiving tomorrow. The girls are getting very excited about Christmas and are so much fun to watch. Our family has so much to be thankful for this year!

November Catch up!

2011-11-23T06:37:00.000-05:00

Wow! I am way behind again. I think if I were to go back and read the blog "way behind" has been the theme of my life in 2011! My goals for the past few years haven't been too impressive - survive and keep my children semi-happy without growing too much mold in the house or being overrun by noisy plastic toys! Funny how things have changed since having two kids! Here are some pictures from the beginning of November.

The leaves have started falling and occasionally we have a cool day outside. The girls are fascinated by the leaves on the ground and love going to play outside. Since it hasn't gotten cold yet we have been spending lots of time outside.

See the pants half off? HK has gotten extremely good at getting her clothes and diaper off by herself. I often see a naked hiney streaking past me and hysterically laughing. I used to laugh too until she started hiding, pooping (one day she'll so appreciate me sharing this!) and then getting naked. Cute clean tush I can handle, poop flying around my house I cannot handle. She HATES it but I've started duct taping her diaper on most of the time, especially if I am the only adult home with her!

The girls did not want to carve their pumpkin but they enjoyed painting.

Jared enjoyed carving his pumpkin.

Sweet Max is still here. HK and he are still hit or miss but he and Matney are best buddies. She is in love with that dog...which makes the incredible amount of hair he drops all over my house a little more tolerable.

More leaves

We had a fun birthday party a few weeks ago. Our birthdays are one day apart so mom and I always celebrate together. I really like icing but don't care too much for cake (pretty sure the girls inherited that from me!) and always request rice krispie treats for my birthday. This year was a double batch shaped like a birthday cake. YUMMY! It was gone in less than 72 hours and 90% of it was eaten by me. Yes, I requested elastic waist pants for my birthday!

And you can tell in the picture above how long hk's hair has gotten. It hasn't ever been cut but could use a trim. However, any time I ask her about going to the "glitter hair place" like Matney she screams "NO!!!!" and some battles I am not fighting right now!

HK trying to get a piece of my cake. Well, HK with her piece of cake and Max hoping to get a piece.

We went Trick or Treating with some of the girls best friends. Everyone had a blast. Special events are SO MUCH FUN as a mom. I LOVE seeing my girls excited!

All the cuties!

HK didn't want to be in a family picture so I had to grab her.

And yet another family photo fail. I was super excited about something, wasn't I?!?!?

HK's costume - crocodile shoes, spider tights and a pumpkin surround and a robot. She is festive.

Matney was in a car with Jared and I had HK so I don't have a picture of Matney alone. She was a mermaid and very proud of all her jewelry. After the first 20 minutes I was carrying HK and Matney was whining about being too tired to walk so we didn't have to fight them to go home. About a week after Halloween we left Matney's Halloween bucket on the kitchen island (on accident) and left the house. Hours later we returned to find that Max REALLY likes sweets, except Smarties, those he left in the wrapper in a pile. The good news was that he didn't die...and Mantey was so funny. I was upstairs putting HK down for a nap and heard her screaming. When I got downstairs I found her nose to nose with Max yelling "I AM SO MAD AT YOU MAX. I AM SO MAD!!!" I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard. I didn't even know she could really put the emotion word with the feeling. ha!

Cheese before bedtime....aka - I ate too much candy and need something not sweet! While Trick or Treating HK saw a dad dressed as Batman and went crazy. I don't know how she knew who Batman was but she chased that poor man all around the neighborhood. He thought it was cute and played along. Every time he spoke to her she was so excited. Three weeks later if you ask her about Halloween all she talks about is meeting Batman.

Matney

2011-11-11T19:15:00.001-05:00

Here are M's school pictures. Soooo cute! HK was sick and not in school for picture day.

That's our girl

2011-11-11T19:04:00.001-05:00

Here is HK eating breakfast - Cars yogurt, rocketship jammies, Robot and a TowMater placemat. Want to know where she got the placemat? We went to a bday party for a two year old friend and it was one of his bday presents from his grandma. His grandma bonded with hk, saw how much she liked it and gave it to hk. Ha!

Toys R Us

2011-11-11T19:02:00.001-05:00

The Toys R Us giant Christmas book came in the mail last week. It occupied the girls for a long time! They picked out lots of things for Santa to bring!

Cake balls

2011-11-11T19:01:00.001-05:00

I got a cake ball maker for my birthday. Those folks in TX know my favorite things!

Hallowen

2011-11-11T18:58:00.001-05:00

I have lots of pictures to get up but here are the kiddos on Halloween

Hk's new favorite crocodile shoes

2011-11-11T18:57:00.003-05:00

Spidermam

2011-11-11T18:57:00.001-05:00

Halloween Hair Fun

2011-10-27T15:47:00.000-04:00

The girls got new glitter Halloween shirts from MoMo's bag of goodies last time she was here. After I washed them they wore them the next day. As we got ready I remembered more than a year (or two) ago Jared's TX Aunties sent some fun Halloween hair attire. I knew exactly where it was and it all matched. Here are the cuties in their crazy shirts and hair bows!

Aren't those fabulous!?!?!?

Look at that little ponytail! So stinking cute!

Pintrest addiction = busy hubby

2011-10-27T15:42:00.000-04:00

Y'all. I cannot even begin to explain to you the fabulousness that is Pintrest.com. It is like your own set of pinboards (you set up the categories) for anything online. Instead of saving something to your favorites you can "pin" (save) to a specific "pin board" on Pintrest. When you go to vie your own boards everything you pinned is there with a picture and a link to the original site. I probably am not explaining it well, this is a better description. I am so addicted!

I have several boards for food - main meals, sides, drinks, sweet treats, etc. It has been awesome to pull up a board and see all new recipes I selected. I use it to make our menu before I grocery shop. Then I have boards for all sorts of other things - house and craft ideas, things for the girls, quotes, clothes, gifts....it is incredible I tell ya! My two most favorite boards are my "organize my clutter" and "Honey Do List". I saw a quote not long ago that made me nod my head and laugh out loud. It said something like "I feel happier and skinnier when my house is clean and organized". HA! That is so true. I LOVE everything to have a place to live and I love the process of organizing. When things are in order I am a calmer, nicer, more relaxed and comfortable person all the way around!

Anyway, here are a few of our first Pintrest projects. Some of them are directly copied from Pintrest and some of them were my idea (anything I copied from someone else has the link to original if you want it). To say that Jared's drill has been used a lot recently would be an understatement. Even my craft desk idea originated from Pintrest. I hope some of these might inspire you to organize your own house!

I could have cleaned this up before taking the picture but I didn't have time. Jared put a big piece of MDF over the washer/dryer which gave me tons of space for washing/cleaning supplies. I love how easy this makes finding something. I also added a shower curtain rod above everything for all our extra hangers. Extra hangers in closets drive me nutty!

Jared said I had to make sure to note that I did this all by myself. My wood cutting skills are not the best so the ends of the boards aren't straight. I say "details, details"! Now I no longer dig through a drawer for my measuring cups. The are hanging on the inside cabinet door next to the stove. Who needs straight lines for that?!?!? oringal idea here

This is a tension rod hanging under the sink. All our bottles are now off the bottom of the cabinet. I wrote the product names on the sides of the bottles so that I would know what is what and still had room for baskets underneath. idea here

This isn't hanging up yet but it will be above the couch soon (right, Jared?!?!?). I stained 4 boards, put a rubber welcome mat from Home Depot on top and spray painted it cream. My total cost was less than $20 and it will take up a large piece of wall space. idea here

The flash reflected all funny off this so it looks like a strange blue color. Anyway, I recently got REALLY tired of the dark colors in the house. In addition to a pintrest addiction I also have an issue with spray paint. This was an open back bookcase. I got foam board from the dollar store and painted it blue. It adds some color and light to the room without commitment or cost. LOVE IT! idea here

New window treatments! I took down the dark curtains and made valances. Between the girls and a dog there was someone always rubbing/pulling/messing with the long curtains and it drove me nuts! Now they can't touch them and there is a lot more natural light in the room.

Ha! Jared took this of my skillz...I needed to finish the bottom of this and it was already on the wall so I used my hair straightener to "iron" the bottom. This fabulous idea was totally mine. Maybe one day it will be popular enough to be on pintrest. Dear Jeff Foxworthy, here is a new one for you - "You might be a redneck if you use hair appliances to make curtains".

I don't know why it took me 6 years to do this. I got big laundry baskets and made/laminated cute tags so that I don't have to sort light/darks/whites. When I notice a basket is getting full I just dump it in the washing machine. There are two more baskets - one for dry cleaning and one for handwashing/needs to be fixed. LOVE THEM ALL!!!!

I found this over the door shoe rack at Bed Bath and Beyond a few months ago. It takes up the whole back of the door and holds 30+ pairs of shoes. Awesome! Don't know what it is but the every fall when I see college dorm stuff in stores I have a sudden need to redo something. Do you think any college students might want an old lady to come decorate their dorms?!?!?

Just before I found pintrest poor Jared got stuck in the land of shelves. This one he made and added above the desk in our sitting room. I still have to get the hanging stuff back on the wall and get the shelf in order but I love it!

And I REALLY love these shelves above the desk in the kitchen. We looked into adding cabinets there a long time ago but they were really expensive and not exactly what I wanted. The chair was yellow and in my old room at my dads. I sanded it and repainted it the same color cream as the shelves. I am still working on a few things to go up there but you get the idea. There was nothing on the wall before except an ugly metal decorative thing. Now our mailbox is there, my cards, all our mailing stuff, a basket for keys and hiding electrical things, etc.

I especially love my moss letter. These bad boys are $79 at Pottery Barn. This one cost me less than $5 to make. Love it!

Another set of shelves that isn't even painted yet. We have such a tiny toilet room in our bathroom and I hated anything being on the floor. Now there is room for magazines, our cleaning supplies and extra toilet paper without it being a cluttered mess.

So there you have it. We've been up to a lot around here and there are lots of other things I didn't take pictures of. My to-do list has always been long but since Pintrest came along it is out of control. Jared will tell you that I don't read blogs or check Facebook much anymore. I'd much rather find a good idea on Pintrest anyday! And if you are interested in joining let me know and I can send you an invite. Hope you love it like I do!

Such cool parents!

2011-10-27T14:34:00.000-04:00

Jared and I are such cool parents! While cleaning out the garage we let the girls play alone inside, making a mess, while on their own balance beam. Well, sort of, it at least sounds good when I say it that way. In reality we were cleaning out the garage but had the door open and we were all going in and out. The "balance beam" was a piece of wood from an old clothes rack Jared took apart. I lined up chairs so the girls could easily keep their balance and they played for hours.

Rare

2011-10-26T16:46:00.000-04:00

This is a rare sight in our house, especially in the morning. Both girls are in one small space and smiling -at least there was no biting, hitting or pinching while the camera was out. Cuties!

Poor Mat still looks a little sleepy!

Thank you neighbors!

2011-10-26T13:48:00.000-04:00

Wow! Is that Halle Kate sitting down drawing?

Sure is! And she never sits still. I wonder what got her attention...she seems to be looking at something across the street.

What is that orange thing across the street?

PUMPKIN MAN! And the girls, esp HK, love him. When he gets plugged in at night HK will go play in the playroom so that she can watch him.

Sometimes we even go outside to see him. And sometimes seeing Pumpkin Man makes the girls so happy the get along without fighting for more than .5 seconds!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T20:58:00.001-04:00

Although our trip to the Heald Family Farm pumpkin patch last year was fun I am so excited that, despite HK being sick for almost 2 weeks, we made it to a pumpkin patch this year!

We went to Kinsey Family Farms this year and, while they did not have a giant pumpkin patch, it was perfect for our girls. We got there when they opened and were the only people for a while. The girls really loved being able to pull their own wagons.

We were the only family on the first hay ride. It was so much fun!

The farm is a large tree farm so the views from the hay ride were so beautiful.

Halfway through the hay ride we got off to feed some fish. The girls were thrilled!

BIG CATFISH! The guy driving the tractor said there is no fishing in the point and these fish get fed during the fall season a lot!

Mom and her girls!

HK finally got brave enough to get off my lap.

Sweet girls!

There was also a small "feed some animals" area. The girls really liked feeding all the goats! It was first thing in the morning and they were hungry!!!

The blow up cat was all fun and games from far away but not so much fun when we got close. Those claws and teeth were a little scary!

Family pictures!

Have to say a quick word about the girls dresses. The NICEST lady named Angela made them for me. I found her on Etsy (I don't even let myself on Etsy often because I love everything! here is her shop) and it is a small world because she lives less than 4 miles from my house. I was able to contact her, drop off fabric and have the dresses back in less than 24 hours.Talk about service! She was so great to work with and has lots of cute other girl clothes. I assume you are not surprised that she is doing their Christmas dresses too!

Because I was needing such a quick turn around she made the dresses (I don't sew great and they'd take me forever!) and then I got them home and added the monogram, ruffle at the bottom and made the matching flower bow. I love them and I love that fall attire is already crossed off my list for 2012. The girls can wear them again and if they are too short then we'll wear them as shirts with some cute leggings. So cute!

whooo hooo for the Paci Fairy!!!!!

2011-10-19T22:12:00.000-04:00

WHOOOO HOOO! We had a surprise visit from the Paci Fairy last night and it was a fabulous success! After more than 3.5 years Matney Rose is paci free! Her jaw/mouth is so thankful!
We have tried before to take M's paci and it was MISERABLE. I've been dreading trying again but knew we wanted to do it before the holidays. Long story short - a good idea by MoMo and a great bribe later Matney left this note for the paci fairy last night. You should know that Matney's bestest friend is a little girl named Madigan and she is turning 4, having a party this weekend and Matney is also in love with La La Loopsy dolls like the one she got Madigan.

So....here is how we went to bed last night.
It says: Dear Paci Fairy,
I like LaLaLoopsy. I am too big for a paci now, my friend Madigan is turning 4 and she doesn't have a paci either. We want to play LaLaLoopsy together. Please take my pacis to babies who need them. Love, Matney

And on the back she wrote her name. Granted, the letters are all over the place but you can pretty much recognize each letter. Jared thought I did connect the dots with her but I did not, she was just using a market that left dots anytime she held it still. I know it isn't great but I was really proud of her! (and yes, there are two Ms, not sure why!)

The problem with this is that it was after 8pm and seriously raining outside, and there are 30 La La Loopsies to choose from, and this was not planned. The Paci Fairy was a little perplexed about how to solve this issue with less than 12 dark hours notice. In the end creativity worked! Here is what Matney woke up to find.

Ah! Are those notes on the bed? Pink and Purple, her two favorite color, notes? And what is that reflecting light? Might it be glitter???

Matney followed the glitter and decided that the Paci Fairy must have come in through the window.

Unfortunately, the Paci Fairy couldn't see well in the dark of Matney's room and had no idea how much glitter was falling from her glitter ~~bottle~~ wand. It was a lot. A whole pain-in-the-behind-lot to get cleaned up. But, Matney loved it!

What do those notes say?

Dear Matney, I am so excited you are getting so big. I am also very proud of you for sleeping without your paci! I want to make sure you get the perfect La La Loopsy doll so here is a ticket for any doll you want and a trip to the toy store today. Have fun! Love, the P.F.

Anytime Matney wants something she heads to the playroom and her crayons. She makes a "ticket" for whatever it is and brings it to you, positive it is going to get her what she is after. The Paci Fairy decided to take a chance that Matney would be ok with a glitter ticket and a trip to the toy store instead of waking up to a La La Loopsy.

After she read her notes Matney also announced that she was so excited because she knew the PF left her candy downstairs. The Paci Fairy was not prepared for that so it may have taken some quick thinking...and MORE GLITTER....to make sure there was a treat for M downstairs. Thank goodness for hidden candy!

Matney with ticket and new La La Loopsy doll, Suzette la Sweet. We looked at every.single.doll. in Toys R Us and this pink one with a pink puppy was what she decided to get. She was one happy girl!

Here is Suzette and her pink puppy ready for bed tonight.

Poor Monica has been tossed to the end of the bed. I have a feeling that Cabbage Patch Kids and La La Loopsies will get along just find after a few days.

My big girl with NO PACI! She went to sleep again tonight with no issues. Thank the LORD! I have been so avoiding this and expecting it to be awful again. Now I have learned that a good friend, a good bribe and some glitter can accomplish miraculous things!

Here is the last note to the PF. Matney found some pacis that the PF forgot to take. Ooops. Matney was too distracted by her La La Loopsy to pay much attention to this note so I wrote it for her and left the pacis on top. It says, Dear Paci Fairy, Please take to babies, you forgot these. You must be getting old. Love Matney.

The PF did come pick them up, requiring MORE GLITTER, and left a note for M - Dear M, I am old. Thanks! Love, PF

After a night of running around playing with glitter in the dark ~~and looking at every single thing in Toys R Us~~ I think the PF was a tad cranky!

Jared and I are soooooo excited that the last 24 hours went so well. Matney is a happy girl and we have a big "to do" crossed off the list! And as soon as I get all the glitter cleaned up I'll be a happy Mommy!

HK's take on the PF

2011-10-19T21:55:00.000-04:00

Halle Kate kept me laughing today during the Paci Fairy experience. She "weawy wants a Wa Wa Woopsy dolly" but she just wasn't quite convinced that she'd like to get rid of her pacis. We talked about it and she carried a doll around for a while but every few minutes she'd bring it back to me and say "No, I want to keep my pacis. No dolly." But then a few minutes later she'd ask for the doll, and the Paci Fairy, to come to her room tonight. ha! We went in circles all day long.

These are some of the faces that she made as she contimplated pacis vs dollys. It is a hard pick, HK!

Ha! Ha! Ha! In the end HK went to bed with her pacis and requested no visit from the Paci Fairy. Sweet girl! I'm so excited to have Matney paci free I'm not even worried about HK a bit!

The "Pre- Disney Trip"

2011-10-16T22:47:00.000-04:00

Where in the world would you take two little girls as a "pre Disney World" trip?

Um, that doesn't look particularly kid friendly....

Whooo hooo, now it does! Welcome to the Cabbage Patch Kids Baby Hospital where all Cabbage Patch Kids are born! Back a long time ago when I was a little girls I LOVED Cabbage Patch Kids so I was almost giddy as we drove up. Such fun to be the mom of girls!

About to go inside!

Matney was too excited to sit still!

The nurses walk around with the new babies and let kids rock them. Matney was very eager to hop in the rocking chair!

Time for another baby to be born. Here he comes out of the cabbage patch.

This is the doll Matney fell in love with first. She was a pigtailed red head dressed in pink ruffles from head to toe. She was big and all cloth just like the original dolls. I had a big one like that too, named Honey, and it was so much fun to watch Mat carry this one around.

Halle Kate fell in love with this guy. Why? He was wearing dinosaur jammies, of course!

What's Jared looking so excited about holding this doll? Who is she? Um, she is Monica, the doll Matney learned to love. I finally said to J that I bet the big cloth one was expensive and we should try to get M to find something else. There are dolls in and out of boxes everywhere and kids are encouraged to hold any of them. Smart marketing...the big cloth dolls are $295. This is J proudly showing off Monica in the checkout line. She seemed like a bargain at $40.

We realized after our experience with Matney that the dolls to pick up and carry around were far more expensive than the dolls in boxes or small guys in bins. Luckily, we went here after the animal place so HK was in an animal mood. We were able to get her hooked on this little tiger saving Jared another chunk of change not buying dino boy!

Matney was determined to carry the big bag.

We went outside to rock our babies.

Super Dad rescuing Monica.

Welcome to the family - we have another Miss M. She has gone EVERYWHERE with Matney for a week. The first few nights her ballerina slippers came off in M's bed during the night and caused some serious screaming. I am not a fan of putting slippers on in the middle of the night so J was smart enough to say that Monica has to sleep in socks at night. Shew! This Mama needs her sleep!

We also found out that they do birthday parties! If you are friends of ours be expecting an invite to drive to the Cabbage Patch in the mountains for a party if it isn't crazy expensive!

And this? See those cars pulled over? Long story short J took a not exactly wrong way but extra LONG way to go home. Every one in front of us was going SO SO SO SLOW and we kept thinking that people in the "country" sure couldn't drive on the road. I'd been having some stomach issues and wasn't feeling well and we were stuck going 20 on the back roads. I was not happy. I was even more not happy when we came over a big hill and realized WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A LONG FUNERAL PROCESSION. All those country folks were being respectful enough to pull over for us...and all I wanted was civilization and a bathroom...so I took a picture. It wasn't funny at the time, and I'd forgotten about it until I just saw this picture, now I have been laughing out loud. Geeez! What a fun day with a strange ending!

Chestatee Wild Animal Reserve

2011-10-16T22:19:00.000-04:00

We headed north last Saturday for a beautiful day outside with some animals.

Halle Kate, please point to the zedonk. What? You don't know what a zedonk is?

Oh, half zebra and half donkey - a zedonk!

Matney, do NOT put your hands through the fence.

Why? Because chickens will bite. We bet the tutu you insisted on wearing makes your finger feel better.

The girls headed to see the lion with Daddy.

Such a beautiful creature but so sad to see him behind bars.

There is a camel in the back of this picture but you can't really see him.

Zedonk brother.

We took a break to swing on the horse swing.

Ok, the girls took a break to try out all the swings. Jared pushed them while Mama napped on a rock!

Such a cute swing made from a tire.

Such a sweet ape. He really enjoyed sticking his tongue out and making a clicking sound that Matney is doing now. Matney's teacher told her she was going to go nuts if it didn't stop soon! We had such a good time seeing the animals that I didn't take a ton of pictures. There are bears, tigers, more monkeys, deer, alligators, birds and all sorts of other guys that live here.

Just Duh!

2011-10-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

Do not EVER melt chocolate and turn your back when there are little girls nearby.

I've been a mom for more than 3.5 years. Duh, Stacey. Just duh.

Rock Star Dad

2011-10-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

The Heald house has been rocking and rolling for the past few months and Jared has been one hardworking handyman husband. What's he working on out in the yard?

Ta da! His very own ~~man cave~~ ~~space~~ shed. Isn't that impressive?!?! It is a 6x8 space for lots of his yard tools and things (who am I kidding, I don't do much, ok any, yard work so I have no idea what all is in that shed!). It is a big space that the girls were sad to find out was not a new big playhouse for them!

Lots of room and shelves and hooks. We spent all day cleaning the garage today and there was a lot more room now that the yard stuff is out.

He read a lot of books and planned the whole thing. Um, I could read every book in the world and would end up with the most unlevel, leaking, falling apart shed ever built. Jared is such a ~~stubborn~~ smart and determined man. He wanted a shed and by gosh he built one!

My car window stopped working when picking the girls up from school on Thursday. Long story short the car place we always use didn't fix the window, my rock star husband did (for much less money too!). I love feeling taken care of and Jared has become such a handy hubby my expectations are skyrocketing!

Door totally taken apart. I was only slightly concerned that it wouldn't ever go back together!

And while the Rock Star hasn't been fixing my window, building his shed or making my craft table he's been Disney World Dad again with his princesses.

The girls LOVE to go on adventures with Daddy. He makes up fun stories and they can play for hours. This day they went on an adventure in the backyard. At this time Jared was the King riding his royal steed, Matney was a princess on a unicorn and HK was riding a dinosaur. ha! Never a dull moment with that kid!

Here we are at the Wild Animal Preserve in North GA. I'll post more pictures of that trip soon - we had another super special surprise after we left the animals. Jared came home last Friday night and said let's take the girls to see animals tomorrow. See, I am a planner. I need trips more than 20 minutes away on my calendar weeks in advance, not just a few hours. But Jared balances me well and off we went the next morning. He's Disney Dad I tell you, with spoiled semi-rotten girls! We are such blessed females!

Don't Cha?!?!?

2011-10-16T21:33:00.001-04:00

Don't Cha wish your husband was hot like mine?

Don't Cha wish your husband was handy like mine?

Don't Cha?

Ha! Ok, so the majority of you won't recognize those lyrics but those are new lyrics to some crazy song that says don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me.....". And you are all totally about to be jealous of me when you see what all my husband has been up to...just for me (and he's not even finished but I'm so excited I can't stand not showing off!!!!)

So, we started with this upstairs in the loft between our bedroom and Matney's room. Boring and crammed full of all my craft junk.

All the craft mess loaded dumped out. It was a disaster!

A big huge disaster....but what is that along the wall to the right?

Is it a bed?

Is it a puppy dog princess cave?

AGH!!!!!!!!!!!! IS IT THE START OF MY VERY OWN CRAFT DESK!?!?!?!? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here we are a few days ago! WHOOOOO HOOOO!!!Let me just tell you that there have already been changes since this picture was taken. I have a drawer in the middle so there is nothing on the ground now. We added a shelf to the pegboard, my stool is in the knee space and J's working on another shelf to put closer to the ceiling! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!?!?

Seriously, I NEVER dreamed I'd have my own space like this. I am more than in love and enjoying every minute of putting it together!

My Cricut and laminator are out and plugged in ready to go. No more digging them out of boxes. I've got hammers, levels, screwdrivers, every kind of tape and scissors right here!

I picked a fun print fabric to match the teal paint and just covered random boxes. This is the same teal that is across the hall in the girls' bath so it does (somewhat) flow upstairs. I wanted fun colors and I got them!

Jared and I talked about exactly what I wanted to do with the desk and he built it to specifically hold what I needed. First, it is almost 36" tall so I can stand up and it is the perfect height to work. The far right has shelves that perfectly fit all my containers for paper. Then there are tall skinny shelves for books and a big box of paint stuff. The middle has a drawer (not shown) with all my pencil/pen/calculator, etc odds and ends. I put a tension rod at the top of the knee space with a basket so one extension cord is plugged in and goes into the basket. Then I ran all the cords from things plugged in into the basket so there is no tangle of cords at my feet for the girls mess with. The left side has my paper cutter, sewing machine, fabric supplies, stamps, Cricut stuff and more....Oh my goodness, it is incredible!

And see the under shelf lighting shining on my ribbon? I've got lots of curly ribbon and twine on a rod at the top. Now all my packages can be extra pretty and easy!

On the top I spray painted $1 Halloween baskets pink and made them labels. Thank goodness for a laminator! Now only will they not get wrinkled but I can easily switch what is in the containers. I've got glue sticks, tags, LOTS of Sharpies (I'm a Sharpie addict!), scissors and paint brushes all hanging up. Then all kinds of adhesives are in a hanging basket - my glue gun and Mod Podge out and ready? Yes please! I added a few cute frames that still need pictures and a shelf that is now holding little glass bottles with fun pretties!

We are still working on the shelves above but I went to IKEA and now have my buttons, ribbon, flowers, and other colorful things in glass containers. OH MY! I know everyone has different things they enjoy doing so I don't expect you all to want this desk but for me it is incredible! I LOVE making things, for our family and for other people. To be able to run upstairs and make a cool gift in a fun package for a friend makes me so excited. Jared has worked SO HARD making it perfect for me and I am soooo thankful.

And now I just need to stay out of Michaels Craft Store. Anyone been in there recently? My car tries to drive there automatically anytime the girls are not with me. Martha Stewart just released her new line of paints and OH MY WORD. Plus there is a kit you can buy to make any of her craft paints into spray paint. I drool! Let me just tell you that I love, heart, adore and am slightly obsessed with spray paint and finding fun colors is not easy. And the new stencils? Fabulous! I am thinking of maybe doing a fun design around the edge of the top of the craft desk. What do you think? Dear Santa please plan on stopping your sleigh at Martha's on your way to my house!

Better Days

2011-09-30T15:04:00.000-04:00

There have been better days at the Heald house. This was the girls last week in the carpool line at school. There are no cute pictures from carpool this week because we have been home with fevers, snot, coughing and no sleep all week. Yuck! Matney started getting sick last weekend and by Monday night HK was miserable, I was sick by Tuesday night and Jared has it now. It is such a shame that moms can't call in sick days. All I want to do it be in my bed in a dark room and sleep (as much as I can sleep when breathing through my mouth and coughing all night long). I'm going to cross my fingers that this is not a sign of things to come during the flu season. Germs be gone!!!

Sisters!

2011-09-26T21:21:00.000-04:00

We had extra time before preschool one day last week (a miracle I know!) and went outside to swing. The girls were in a good mood so I grabbed the camera but they were too wild to stand still.

Like M's shoes? A friend gave them too us after her daughter was in a wedding and, even though they are too big, Matney loves them. We compromise and she wears them at home and then changes as we get in the car.

I love how much they laugh at one another!

Such a typical HK face!

Big girl in her big girl swing. Sniff! They are both growing up so quickly!

Happy 30th Birthday Jared!

2011-09-26T20:56:00.000-04:00

Happy 30th Birthday Daddy!

Not sure if the girls were more excited about Daddy being almost home or knowing they were going to eat cake soon!

Hip Hip Hooray! Daddy is home! We drove down and took Jared lunch at the office, the girls picked out their tutu dresses since it was his birthday.

Jared seeing his cake for the first time. He wanted a Top Gear cake (a car tv show) so I tried to make a red race car cake...it turned out looking like a pink pickup truck! Ha! Welcome to your 30s, nothing about us is cool anymore!

I was pretty proud of the cake until I just saw these pictures as they came off the camera. HA HA HA! That is the ugliest cake ever!

I figured 30 candles would have been a fire hazard!

Yummy pizza, tutu dresses on the cutest girls ever, monkey pants and a pink pickup cake - what more could he ask for?!?!?!

Opening gifts. Around his neck he's wearing a babydoll carseat handle that the girls call earphones.

While Jared opened gifts I caught two girls stealing icing.

Now it looks even more like it was in a wreck!

Much of J's bday gifts were golf related - here his is with the big surprise of the night. A set of his Unk's golf clubs all the way from TX!

The girls finally got tired and used the wrapping paper as blankets. I don't remember what happened to HK's clothes!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this day special for Jared. We had a great weekend being together as a family. I think he would agree that getting older is much more fun when you have super excited little kids...and a super excited wife to finally have a husband in his 30s like me!

Strange Eater

2011-09-25T09:09:00.000-04:00

We are pretty thankful every time HK is willing to eat more than a bite of something. She is more than happy to go all day with just a cup of milk and no solid food. It is so frustrating because we have such a battle every day during meals and I don't want either of us to hate meal time. It is so obvious when she is hungry/has low blood sugar because she turns into a beast! There are times that I put her in the car just so I can strap her down and hand her food since she is more likely to eat while stuck and distracted!

This day we were out of plain cream cheese, her favorite, so HK was eating parmesan cheese with a spoon. She's a strange eater!

Date Night with Dad

2011-09-22T20:25:00.001-04:00

The preschool does a Date Night with Dad every year and it always is the week of Jared's birthday. How cool is that? A night ~~for mommy to do all the bday things she is behind on~~ for Jared to spend time away with just his little girls (and Robot, always Robot)! This year they did a craft with Dad and had their picture taken. I didn't take a picture of the craft and we don't have the picture of them back form the school photographer back yet so my front yard photos are all I have to show!

The girls were BEYOND excited to take Daddy to school and show him their classrooms. Between Date with Dad and making J's bday cake both girls were bouncing off the walls all afternoon. It sure was nice and quiet when they all left! I know things like this are hard for Jared because he has to schedule to leave work early. I am so thankful for a husband who does all he can to be here for the things that matter to me and the girls!

Lessons Learned

2011-09-20T09:01:00.000-04:00

This picture is a few weeks old and I'm not sure now why I had pink paint out but....do NOT ever leave paint out when your children are awake because they will find it and paint everything (including themselves) that they can. This was after I'd cleaned HK's eyes and forehead but obviously after she tasted the paint! Learn from my mistakes because I learned this lesson the hard way!

Like Mother Like Daughters

2011-09-18T21:04:00.000-04:00

~~Disney World Dad~~ Jared got all his girls up one weekend and took us to Dunkin Donuts. We each picked out a few and headed home. By the end of the morning ths is what was left...two were mine, two were Matney's and two were HK's. HA! We were not sitting together eating so I had to laugh when I was cleaning up and realized that all us Heald ladies eat or donuts the same way. I mean, why waste stomach room on any cake that doesn't have icing?!?!? Poor Jared, he's living with a bunch of tutu wearing mice!

Rainy Days

2011-09-13T21:29:00.000-04:00

This is kind of painful to write since I know how badly TX needs rain but we had a weekend of storms that made the girls very excited. Disney World Dad got them up last Saturday and said they could go in their jammies to Waffle House. I mean, does it get any better than that? Nope! When they noticed that it looked liek rain they couldn't leave without their raincoats!

No, HK doesn't sleep in shorts. She didn't want to wear jammies because she only wants to wear Spiderman. Sigh.

Typical HK face - eyebrows raised and mouth in an "o"

As it cools off wearing long sleeves is going to be an adjustment for M. She wanted her sleeves rolled all the way up!

Playdough Ball Family

2011-09-13T21:21:00.000-04:00

Halle Kate's attention span is thislong so getting her to sit still for playdough doesn't last. Matney, on the other hand, will stay occupied for 20+ minutes. This day she was quiet and playing well by herself for a long time. When I checked on her she'd been hard at work making a "ball family". How sweet!
I can't look at even this picture for too long. I hate playdough! The texture grosses me out and all those colors they mix together about puts me over the edge. Sometimes though I'll do anything for some peace so out comes the playdough!

Chocolate Pinocchio

2011-09-13T21:15:00.000-04:00

I don't know how well you can see the chocolate sprinkles on Matney's face but there are several...and we're working on telling the truth! M asked for chocolate sprinkles but I told her no and put them on the counter. Apparently she got them off the counter when I wasn't looking, took them into the playroom and ate them all. Too bad she didn't realize she had evidence all over her face!

When I first saw her I couldn't figure out what it was...and then I put "sugar high bouncing three year old" together with "was quiet for more than 30 seconds" and came up with "rotten stinker who stole the sprinkles"! HA! I asked her if she'd taken them and she said "no, mommy". Grrr! I tried very hard to act mean and not laugh but I think my need to take a picture of her face gave me away!

Big Girl Ballet

2011-09-13T21:08:00.001-04:00

Oh the ~~MESS in the background~~ CUTENESS! The girls started ballet this fall and they are loving it. They both go to a "Mother Goose" class together and Matney stays for the 3-4 year old class by herself. Sniff! I leave my baby....and she doesn't look like a baby anymore leaping all over the place!

Here they are before practicing some moves before their first class.

School Days, School Days

2011-09-01T15:52:00.001-04:00

The past 24 hours have been full of drama but we went from this at 7am.....

to this at 8:30am (they wanted their picture by the school pawprint on the car)....

....to this at 9:15!!!

Here's HK saying "hooray for preschool!"

Matney says "get on with it mom. no more pictures."

Oh my goodness I could squeal at the cuteness!

Above - HK is in the back and middle of the room next to the teacher.

Below - M is in front of the window (pink bow) just looking around.

Jared worked from home today so that he could take/pick up the girls with me. We had no tears (from the little girls) this morning (I guess that means mama had a hard time)! HK was crying when we picked her up but they said she'd done fine during the day. She and Matney have a few minutes together on the playground and are in classrooms that share a bathroom.

I think I'd mention months ago that we were changing preschools. I'd toured every preschool within 20 minutes of our house. We went to open house for our new school Tuesday morning and it was NOT what had been described to us. Poor Jared doesn't appreciate very upset mama phone calls at the office! Long story short I spent Tuesday afternoon begging and Wednesday morning pulling the girls out of the where we planned to go and enrolling them at the same preschool Matney went to last year. We tried to switch because her original school is expensive but we've decided once again that you get what you pay for! I am THRILLED to be back at CCA. Dear girls, study hard now. Your college fund just went to preschool so make sure you work hard and get college paid for!

Sweet and Sassy 2011

2011-08-28T21:19:00.000-04:00

Almost a year exactly from last year's trip to Sweet and Sassy I took Matney for another haircut. This year she was so excited to go and had a countdown going for days. HKwas not so sure about the whole thing. When asked if she was getting a haircut too she said "you no touch my hair!" ha!

Happy Sweet Princess!

HK and Robot - happy to be there but not interested in a haircut!

At the end of the haircut you get a braid, a glitter handstamp, glitter in your hair and a spray of "cotton candy" or "cupcake" body spray. Matney has been sporting a braid every day since then. HK wasn't sure about anything but once the glitter was on Matney's hand HK was chasing the lady to the glitter bowl.

And after a braid, lots of glitter and yummy smells you also get a lollipop! I may start getting my haircut at Sweet and Sassy from now on!

Above - The girls Aug 2011

Below - The girls Aug 2010

Matney and her purse waiting to go inside.

HK and Mommy watching Matney

Matney thinks all the glitter this year is much better than squirting the water bottle last year!

Matney doesn't seem to have changed that much looks wise but what a difference a year has made for HK!

Barnyard Bash

2011-08-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago the girls got an invitation to one of their besties birthday parties. They were so super-super (or soupy doupy as HK says) excited when they found out they were going to get cake and there would be a petting zoo! Talk about a fun afternoon...unless you have to wait on cake. These girls were trying to be patient!

Yummy cake! And yes, I tried to clean up our mess!

The animals are here!!!!

See the kids lined up listening to instructions? Notice anyone else familiar?

See that big excited kid in the middle? Looks like Jared to me!

There were lots of excited kids...and lots of animals trying to escape. Poor little critters. We all hope they got fed some animal anti anxiety meds when they got home!

Everyone need a family picture with a goat!

Apparently the goat didn't want to be a part of the family!

Happy Birthday, Blaire! Thanks for inviting us to your special day!

Kangazoom

2011-08-16T07:04:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite places to go right now is a bounce place called Kangazoom. The girls LOVE it so when LivingSocial.com had a great deal for 10 visits I grabbed two deals and off we went.

Look at my brave little monkeys!

Sometimes we go and snack with friends!

I adore these girls!

I LOVE this picture. It is HK jumping...this is what she looks like most of the time, just a flash or hint of movement as she flies by us!

Happy girls that were apparently getting tired. They eventually went over to a bench with pillows, made themselves bed and rested. Ha! Wish they'd do that at home!

Not so good teaching

2011-08-16T06:57:00.000-04:00

I unexpectedly had to take the girls with me to the dentist. As we got near his office they were both screaming about being hungry and I realized I forgot snacks (big parenting fail! Kids can always be distracted by snacks!). My choices were A - get both girls out of the car in 100 degree weather and rush into a gas station and hope for a banana but probably leave with chips or chocolate and then get both girls back in the car while they scream that it is hot. Or B - drive through Zaxby's while running the air conditioning and buy 3 hot gooey chocolate chip cookies for $1. Can you guess which option I picked? Such a good teaching in the dentist office!

Babydoll Bliss

2011-08-16T06:51:00.000-04:00

The girls were playing baby dolls in the playroom last week when I told them we'd do snacks and a TV show before naptime. I wasn't paying any attention to them running back and forth, they were giggling so I knew they were ok. When I finished making snacks this is where I found them...all of them! Ha! All the babies needed snacks and TV time too. Silly girls!

More Weekend Fun

2011-08-16T06:48:00.000-04:00

We're up and running in this house! Jared is really liking his new job, I am feeling much better (no migraine in a month and some extra energy!) and we are working on some projects while getting ready to go back to school. I've wanted to change some things around the house for a while and finally just pulled the curtains off the wall and headed to Home Depot. One specific thing I wanted was some kind of cabinet/storage over the desk in the kitchen. We looked into cabinets a while ago but they were crazy expensive so Jared built shelves to hang over the desk. They even have under cabinet lighting!

While Jared built and I painted the girls played with paints. I thought having brushes would keep them from getting messy.

I was clearly very, very wrong!

Dear Matney, do not scratch your head while you have paint on your hands!

They had the best time! Luckily the paints were washable and HK's ToMater shirt is clean again. My shelves are BEAUTIFUL and I LOVE THEM!

Meet Grayson Hunt Reimers!

2011-08-15T07:10:00.001-04:00

Edited to add - Grayson's surgery was a SUCCESS! This past week has been such an emotional rollercoaster so to get such good news was an incredible feeling! Hopefully he will be off the ventilator and breathing on his own soon, then he can try to eat...and then his Mommy and Daddy can HOLD HIM! He's still got a long road ahead but yesterday's surgery being successful will give him such an improved quaility of life for the next several years!

I am excited to introduce you to Grayson Hunt Reimers! Most of you know my best friend Erin. We grew up next door to one another our from when we were born until we left for college. I can't think of any major event in my life that she hasn't been there for. Having a friend who has known me my entire life is so special. Her son Grayson was born on Wednesday morning and is the cutest little boy I have ever seen!

Having a new baby should be a time of cuddles and hugs and burps and snuggles. For Don, Erin, Leila and Grayson this week has been anything other than ideal. Grayson was born with some serious medical issues and was transferred from Macon to Scottish Rite in Atlanta soon after he was born. This morning (Monday) he has a very important and serious surgery at 10:30am. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were in the waiting room in Macon anxious for the delivery and to hold this baby boy. This has been an emotional and exhausting week for everyone who loves him and I know they would appreciate your prayers and kind words.

The Reimers have set up a CaringBridge page that they will be updating. Many of you have called/texted me for details - please check out the CaringBridge page and please leave a note of encouragement for Erin and Don. They have been so touched by the love and support of friends and strangers. There is also a way to Donate through paypal if you'd like to support the Reimers financially.

Here are the links if you'd like to forward them

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/graysonreimers - CaringBridge

http://tinyurl.com/GraysonsMedical - paypal donation

Test

2011-08-02T17:27:00.002-04:00

Trying to blog from my phone. This is a test........and guess what?!?!? It worked! And I forgot to check it until now. Yipee, I can post pictures from my phone! Enjoy a green monster drink for now, girls coming soon!

phone pictures

2011-07-28T21:22:00.000-04:00

I take pictures on my phone every day of the girls but I don't often download them to the computer. These are a few cute ones from the past few weeks.

MoMo was in town for a few days before she headed back to school. We got up one morning and had breakfast at Waffle House and then headed to find bookbags for preschool. This was a super day for the girls! Any day that starts at Waffle House has to be good, right? Matney eats Waffles and HK eats eggs, waffles and bacon.

HK is also sporting one of her favorite shirts - Spiderman. She also loves Tow Mater (from Cars) and Thomas the Train. We cycle through those 3 tee shirts every 3 days. There is a LOT of screaming involved when we make her wear anything else. See how proud she is of Mater?

This is Matney's response to Halle Kate's wild craziness. Sometimes it is my response too! Matney had her whole doll house set up and HK the tiny tornado came in and messed it all up.

We've also spent many weekends trying to avoid the heat. I joke with Jared that he is "Disney World Dad". During the week we're running errands, cleaning house and taking naps. On the weekends though, when Jared's home, we go to the mall and ride the carousel (only on the bench still, "no horse"), eat ice cream, drive the car game in an arcade, get lollipops at the candy store....basically these girls have Dad wrapped around their finger and he is "the fun one". Not that anyone was questioning that!

Here's HK loving The Cat in the Hat in a ride at a mall.

I can't say that I'm sad preschool is starting in a month but we have had a really good summer. It has been hot and some of the day have felt extremely long but the weeks and months are flying by quickly!

Job Change

2011-07-25T07:08:00.000-04:00

Today is Jared's second day at his new job! The man of this house has worked so so so many hours and so many days and nights since he graduated from law school four years ago. Last week he left the firm he started with and moved (all of 1 mile closer to home) to a different law firm. This is such an exciting move and will be awesome for his career. The new firm is more formal that where he's been so we've spent the past few weeks buying new clothes and altering suits. I went to the outlets and Jos A Bank was having an incredible sale on shirts and ties so I bought a bunch, brought them home and laid them out with the ones he already had...shopping is so fun even when it isn't for me! Here's Jared humoring my need to play dress up!

Jared started law school at Mercer University in Macon and finished his first year at the top of his class with honors. He won't tell it to you like this but I will because it is true. We met not long before he went to law school. We were both living in Atlanta and he moved to Macon after 7 months of dating. We soon became engaged and got married the week his first year of school was over. We planned on me moving to Macon but I ended up taking a new job back in Atlanta a few weeks before we married. Then we spent the first months married with J driving back and forth to Atlanta from Macon for work...not so good for the beginning of a marriage.

The week that school was to start back Jared called and said "I just quit school and I am coming moving back to Atlanta. I choose my marriage over school." Shock does not adequately convey my thoughts day! Jared packed his stuff, moved into our apartment and enrolled in GA State Law School with less than a week until classes started. That was the first of many many many times Jared has chosen his family over his career. Switching schools meant that Jared lost many of the honors that he'd worked so very hard to earn at Mercer. And on an attorney's resume those honors are very important. We've been married 6 years now and Jared has chosen his family over his job every day since then...and many times I've felt guilty because it was my selfishness that moved us back to Atlanta.

Again, Jared won't tell it to you like this but I will. In the world of lawyers he would have had lots better job opportunities over the past 6 years had he stayed at Mercer. Had that happen I don't know what our marriage/family would look like but it probably wouldn't be pretty and there's not much reason to spend time wondering. However, this job change for Jared is such an exciting move to a really great law firm. And, it is the result of 7+ years of hard work and sacrifice from him. I am so thrilled for him, so proud of how hard he works and so excited that after such sacrifice he has this opportunity. And I will tell you that he looks mighty cute wearing those new suits and ties!

Apparently Jared stole the camera

2011-07-14T21:36:00.000-04:00

Sometime in the past week Jared must have taken the camera because this is what I found when I started downloading tonight. I have such a crazy family!

Weekend Fun

2011-07-14T21:25:00.000-04:00

We've been having lots of fun around here, especially on the weekends when all four of us are together! Matney is totally, totally, totally a Daddy's girl and she's always in a good mood when he's around. They are goofy together! Here's Matney striking a pose!

Jared smoked us some yummy chicken. I think I like smoked chicken more than any other meat. Unfortunately this picture was taken just before the chicken caught on fire. Bummer. The inside was edible but the outside was ~~charred~~ crispy.

Every day Halle Kate greets Jared at the door screaming "GIVE ME BACK MY IPAD". That girl is such a charmer. I keep telling her that she needs to work on her "sucking up to Daddy skills" or she's going to be wearing Matney's hand-me-downs forever.

Happy Birthday Unc!

2011-06-29T14:25:00.000-04:00

Today is a very special day....Mr. Matney's birthday! All us Healds sure do wish we lived closer and could spend the day with you. We love you very much and hope that you have a great day!

The girls helped make a birthday sign - let me just go on and tell you that it says "Happy Birthday Unc! Love, the GA Healds" since you won't be able to read it. Getting them to sit still isn't going to happen until they are old enough to really understand a bribe!

State of the Household Address

2011-06-29T14:00:00.001-04:00

Dead flowers outside can never be a good sign. Very inviting, aren't they? Sigh! It has been a long time since I updated the blog and a while since we have seen most of our friends. No worries, we are all still here. I just have been feeling like this dolphin....

That's not good either, is it?!?! Long story short I've been more and more tired for several months, started having migraines and some other random things so I finally went to the doctor. Turns out my iron level is way below low so there is a reason I feel horrible. I've gone from being the girl who is up, has worked out, showered/dressed and cleaned house before the girls are awake to the girl who goes to bed at 9pm, wakes up when the girls do and naps every single day...and I am still always exhausted and feel like crap. All that sleep has left little time for accomplishing much. If you are waiting on a thank you card, for me to return a phone call or email, or just wondering why we've become antisocial for a few months please know we love you! I've finally found an iron supplement that doesn't make me sick, I'm taking something for the migraines and am crossing my fingers that I'll be back to my old self soon!

Until then, I'm slowly but surely getting caught up thanks to my Stud of a house keeper....

This was Jared vacuuming on Father's Day. Poor guy - although the dog sheds like a woolly mammoth and was his Father's Day gift. Nothing like saying, "Hey Honey, here's your present, now vacuum up his hair!". After a total meltdown that I had (that probably scared him just a little!), Jared has picked up a lot of the slack around here and been very understanding of my ~~inability to stay awake~~ need to sleep.

So the moral of the story is 1- treat your body well and don't run it into the ground because you need it. And 2 - marry well enough that if you are dumb enough not to pay attention to rule 1 your spouse is a good guy who will take care of you until you're better. Thanks, Stud Muffin. The girls and I love you!

Halle Kate video

2011-06-11T10:12:00.001-04:00

My brother got a video off my phone and onto youtube for your viewing pleasure! Halle Kate was wound up a few weeks ago and I taped her talking to my mom. She is so darn funny! Here's the link.
Halle Kate Monologue

Life these days....

2011-06-08T06:39:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture that sums up life these days...HK being goofy, Max chasing a kid with food and the vacuum cord under it all because I'm constantly chasing a kid or dog cleaning up something. We're all in love with Max but he is one hairy dog. And my kids make ~~one~~ lots of big messes.