A First

I have a major-big thing planned to do while the kids are taking a nap today.

I have never done this before. Ever.

I'm going to the eye doctor.

I know you're supposed to do it, but I've never had any trouble with my vision until this year. I'm actually in such pain and discomfort that I'm hoping for glasses. If I do get glasses, I may opt for contacts in another year or so. Big Daddy will probably be having eye surgery next year, so we'll see how that works out for him.

And just for fun, if you would like to ask a question then I'd like to give you an answer...within reason. Things have been crazy-busy around here, but yet nothing much has been going on and I have nothing to "talk" about. I have a few things planned to do with Maggie, Callie and Ellie on Thursday, so I'll plan to see if you've left any oh so exciting questions for me in the comments box (or email me at maggielousmommy at yahoo dot com) on Friday.

Ask away...

Random Stuff and a Review

So...
I'll start with our anniversary dinner on Thursday. It (Mimi's) was yummy and it was SO nice to go out to eat without Maggie & Ellie. They, of course, were at Nana & Pawpaw's and loving every minute of it. Big Daddy and I had an appetizer (we tried fried pickles and while they were good, we probably wouldn't order them again), our entrees and a dessert (chocolate mouse) which we never do. We didn't eat it all and brought home a take out box full...except we did eat all the chocolate mousse because it was SO good.

After dinner we walked around the outdoor mall that was next door and then went to pick Maggie & Ellie up. My mom had angel food cake and strawberries for us, but we were stuffed and didn't eat any. My parents gave us a card and money for our gift. We hung out on their front porch for a while and then came home and put the girls straight to bed. They were exhausted!

We had made our decision earlier in the week to stay home for the weekend. I was really regretting it on Friday morning. I felt like I needed to get away! Maggie & Callie had a sleep over at Nana's house Friday night, so Big Daddy and I took Ellie out for ice cream. We had sort of a lazy Saturday morning and went to pick Maggie up around 10:30. I really wanted to go to a nearby state park for a hike, but it was a little cloudy and we were afraid it might rain. Maggie left with Big Daddy for the gym around 11:00 and they came home around 3:00.

After they returned, we all got ready and went to ChickFilA (Maggie's choice) for dinner. We noticed that Ellie felt a little feverish so we stopped by the pharmacy for ibuprofen. After we ate I kicked a bunch of children off of the indoor playground because they were almost in their teens and my baby couldn't play. I sort of might have acted like I was in charge of making sure that you didn't play if your head could touch the arrow that the cow was holding. Big Daddy said I should have told a manager (which I did after I told the kids to get out if they were this tall) and I told him that one of the girls kept knocking my baby down. We left and went to a little car show downtown since we knew my mom and dad were taking her car.

Ellie woke up fussing at 5 am on Sunday. She had a fever and an upset tummy. I sent Big Daddy and Maggie to Church while I stayed at home with my sick girl. I fixed lunch, went to get groceries and Des.itin, had a short nap and then went to my VBS (we call it WOW for Week of Wonder) meeting at Church. I'm now officially scared to death! The other two teachers for my class weren't there and my head was just spinning by the time I left!

So far, Ellie seems to feel pretty good today and we had a fun morning hanging out at the house.

I have been keeping up with my steam mop with UPS tracking, so I knew it was supposed to arrive today. Just as the children went to sleep for their naps the brown truck arrived! I met him at the end of the sidewalk, swept the floors and then cleaned all of the hardwoods and tile!

I probably got my hopes up a little much on how the steam mop would change my life. It did a great job and I know that the floors are cleaner than usual after I clean them. You really had to go with the grain of the wood to prevent streaks, but it got the floors clean on the first pass. We have real hardwood floors and they are shiny, not matte, so streaks are an issue for me. It did a great job on the shiny tile in our master bathroom and on the matte tile in Maggie & Ellie's bathroom. The microfiber pads are secured by drawstring and popped off a couple of times while I was mopping and I thought that the head (shaped like a triangle) would have been better if it had been rectangular. I like it uses plain water and no chemicals and it is very lightweight. Overall, I think it's a nice product and that it does a good job. I'll probably use it at least once a week.

Our Tenth Wedding Anniversary

Ten years ago today I became Mrs. McMillan.

Well, not exactly.

I didn't change my name until almost a year after we were married and even then I didn't get rid of my maiden name and chose to hyphenate my last name. And yes, my last name is sort of long and both names start with "Mc", but it is my last name. It's how I sign pretty much everything except for anything having to do with my past real estate career.

Anyway...

Ten years ago I married Big Daddy in the Church that I grew up in. We were babies. I was 22 and he was 24. We had a very small ceremony with only the family that we're the closest to and a few friends, but my Daddy did walk me down the aisle. It was the way that we wanted it to be, much to the dismay of my future mother-in-law. I think we planned it all in about three months, but I'm not sure. I had my four best friends from high school and Big Daddy had his three best friends from college. (He would have had four friends there too, but Huu was in New Guinea with the Peace Corps.) I picked out my cake, flowers and invitations pretty much on my own. My mom was always ready to give her opinion or advice, but she never pushed what she wanted. I loved my flowers and I still love my invitations so much. It was not the happiest day of my life and I feel completely okay saying that.

Now, we'll just skip to a few of my favorite moments with Big Daddy that have happened over the past ten years!

• I used to love when we first got married and we had lunch together almost every day. After almost four and a half years of not seeing each other on a daily basis it was an exciting event.
• On Friday evening after work we used to go to Raleigh and eat or shop and I loved that.
• For several months we ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant every Thursday night and then Big Daddy's friend Kevin would come over and they would watch wrestling. I miss Kevin, but not the wrestling part!
  

Fast forward...

• I can go back to the day that Maggie was born so easily. I remember Big Daddy asking Peg if he could "catch" her and then they talked about old t.v. shows.
• I remember how Big Daddy tried to act calm and not look worried when he was paged back to labor & delivery when Maggie was in crisis.
• I remember when the rolled my bed out of the recovery room and the first thing I saw was Big Daddy, surrounded by my family and two of my friends, walking out of the nursery towards me with our baby.
• I remember him taking pictures the first time that I held and nursed Maggie.
• I remember how excited he was to give me a pearl necklace and earrings the night that Maggie was born.
• I remember how he helped me walk and get to the bathroom the first day that I was allowed out of bed.
• I remember thinking that real love must feel like that.
• I remember how much he worried right along with me over every little thing that happened with Maggie during our first few weeks as new parents.
  
• I remember how he would have paid any amount of money and bought anything that would help me or Maggie in any way.
• I loved the way that he smiled when Maggie saw the ocean for the first time at almost 4 months old.
  

And then I go immediately to Ellie's birth...

• He was excited and nervous and tried to be supportive the first day that I was in labor.
• He was just as disappointed as I was when Ellie wasn't born that Friday night.
• He walked and walked and walked with me on Saturday before my contractions were too bad for me to walk anymore.
• He tried his best to make me feel better and didn't get too mad when I said mean things to him.
• He wanted me to get an epidural just so that I would feel better.
• He wanted Ellie to be born by VBAC just as much as I did.
• He stayed with me for every push and helped me when everyone else left the room to discuss doing a c-section. He told me that I had to get her out before they did it.
  
• He smiled so big when he saw Ellie's head and he totally cheered me on when she was oh so stuck,but almost out.
  
• He says that watching her come out was one of the best things in the world.
• I love watching the video of when they handed her to me. Big Daddy was holding the camera in one hand and rubbing my hair with the other.
  
• He was right by my side when I passed out the first time (on the toilet no less) that I was out of bed when Ellie was born.
• He got up with me every time during the night for the first week and he tried his best to help in every way that he could.

Now, my favorite times with him are usually when we're somewhere special. I love going to the river or hiking or to the bog gardens with him. I'm looking forward to going to the beach without the kids sometime (hopefully) soon and spending an entire day sitting in the sand with him. I like going to Church with him and going to a Church that he loves is the best. I really like when we go to ChickFilA and we hear a song and he says, "isn't that the song from Church that we like?". He just realized a few weeks ago that they play some of the same songs that we sing in our Praise and Worship services. I like taking him somewhere that he always wanted to go when he was a little kid because he didn't travel very much with his parents. I (secretly) sort of like when he gets a black eye or a big bruise from fighting because he loves to fight. I like looking at guns and cars with him because he loves guns and cars.

And I could go on and on. I hope that one day Maggie & Ellie will be able to read this and realize that their Daddy and I love each other all there is...even though we don't always like each other.

I'm SO looking forward to going out to dinner tonight. Maggie has been so very four this week and Ellie pooped at least five times yesterday. I would have hated changing any kind of poopy diapers no matter what, but I really don't like poopy cloth diapers.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Wordless Wednesday-Fun At The Zoo

The Week Ahead

I'm hoping that I'll survive a trip to the zoo with Maggie, Ellie & Cousin Callie tomorrow. It's going to be very hot and humid, so I'm taking lots of water and my inhalers.

Maggie has had a very rough past couple of days. Evidently she's "very tired", "doesn't understand", has "broken arms and legs" and it's "just really hard to be four". Those are all her words, not mine. I'm praying a lot. A lot. I really feel like things can only get better after the evening we've had.

Big Daddy and I will be celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary on Thursday. I think my mom's keeping the girls and we're going out to dinner (Mimi's maybe) and then shopping for ornamental grasses.

We are trying to decide if we want to go to the beach for the weekend. We are weighing our options and may decide to just stay at home. I have a Week of Wonder (Vacation Bible School) meeting Sunday afternoon since I'll be teaching with two others in a four year old class.

And that's why I call him Big Daddy

April 25, 2006~The Day he officially became Big Daddy

Big Daddy and I met in 1995 and started dating in March of 1996. We picked out names for our kids that summer and then became in engaged that fall. Of course, we didn't actually name our kids the names that we had picked out, but we knew that we wanted kids...two of them...a boy and a girl to be exact.

From the beginning of our relationship there were always kids involved. All of the kids in my preschool class knew Big Daddy. He would come to the preschool to meet me after work on Fridays and he often came early. He knew all of the kids in my class by name. And then there was also my nephew who loved Big Daddy from the start.

After we were married and I started teaching again, there were new kids. We had one of the kids in my class, Christopher and his little sister Alex every once in a while. We took them places when we were off work, kept them so that their parents could have a night out and just practiced parenting on them.

When Callie was born in 2001, we had a baby to play with. Big Daddy is crazy about babies and he was nuts over Baby Callie. Unfortunately, she didn't like him very much...at first. When Callie was about 8 months old, she fell in love with Big Daddy. All it took was sharing yogurt and ice cream, reading lots of books, making animal noises and a whole week in the same beach house with him!

Fast forward to 2005 and of course, we found out that we were going to have a baby of our own. Our pregnancy came rather unexpectedly after nearly a year of (not really) trying. Big Daddy was in total shock and very stressed. He had been looking at jobs out of state and it suddenly became very important to be in the same state as my family. On August 29, he fell in love. That was the day of our first ultrasound! We found out that our pregnancy was viable (the doctor wasn't so sure because of other issues at my appointment on August 15) and we saw Baby Maggie and heard her heartbeat for the first time.

Big Daddy wasn't all that involved in my pregnancy, but he was so excited about meeting our baby. I remember the excitement in his voice when he asked Peg if he could "catch" the baby himself. She looked at his hands and told him he could try! Of course, things didn't go as planned and Big Daddy wasn't even allowed in the room when Maggie was born by crash c-section. He was able to hold her very soon after she was born. He was the first one to call her by her name which was the name that he picked out. He was the first person to rock her. He was the first person to change her poopy diaper. (He'll never let me forget that I wasn't able to do that!) After we were home he was the first to give her a bottle and the first person to walk her and bounce her to sleep. (I'll never let him forget this because we then had to walk and bounce her for the next 10+ months!!) He was also the first person that gave her all of the things that babies aren't supposed to have...like Dr. Pepper.

When we found out that we were expecting Baby Ellie, he was pleasantly surprised. We had picked out the time that would work best for a due date and we timed it all just right. Big Daddy went to a few more of my midwife appointments with me and he once again asked Peg if he could catch the baby. He didn't get to exactly catch Ellie, but he was able to see her (giant) head first (WAY before she was out) and he was able to cut the umbilical cord this time. It was a dream come true for both of us to be completely present for the birth! He was right there the ENTIRE time that I was in labor on day 1 and day 2 and I could not have pushed Ellie out without his support.

So...some may call him by his real name, or by "Uncle _____" or da-da or Daddy, but I just call him Big Daddy.

The Look

Since I have finished my first week of taking Maggie, Ellie and Callie every. single. place. that I've been this week I am familiar with the look. It's the one that people give you when you have more than two children or in my case, three girls. We have heard countless comments about having "a house full of girls" or "no boys in our bunch" and I have received the look more times than I can count!

I am so sorry for all of the times that I gave families funny looks or made comments to Big Daddy about the number of children a family had.

I'll be spending the weekend trying to psyche myself up for taking the girls to the zoo on Tuesday (in the hot, hot sun and the humidity) and loving the fact that I've already been to a birthday party and don't have to attend another one until July! Of course, we'll also be celebrating my Daddy and Big Daddy on Father's Day.

Where do I start??

I go through times where I want to throw out everything and start over...from the beginning.

I have a fantasy of having a vanity like some of these in our master bathroom. Our house is not even a year old, so that's not happening anytime soon.

I'd love to have new bedroom furniture someday, but I'm really happy with the armoire that my parents gave us the first Christmas after we were married and the headboard that I designed (term used loosely!!) and my Daddy built. I'd settle for a new comforter or quilt for our bedroom.

I need a new hair dryer. And yes, I really need one. My current hairdryer isn't that old and works great, when it works. You have to wiggle it and jiggle it and hold it just right.

In the kitchen, I need a new crock pot (because I broke the crock that goes with the pot) and I'd like to have a new complete set of cookware and dishes.

I need to do something with a wall in the dining room. I've been looking around and have lots of ideas. For some reason, my heart wants white dishes on our "Stucco" walls. It's a leftover dream from the dining room in our old house when my mom bought me a few cute white plates at the antique mall.


The thing that I'll be marking off of my want/need list first is a steam mop. It's not the most fun or exciting, but the hardwood floors are kicking my butt and they never look clean enough to me. I can't wait to get one!!!

Three

I managed to take all three girls to the grocery store yesterday and there were only two injuries...none my fault!

We were about to leave and Callie was entertaining Ellie while I was using the bathroom and knocked her down. Of course, Ellie bumped her head and cried for the longest time. Ellie was up a little after 6:00 yesterday morning and was o tired, but enjoyed Callie so much that she didn't nap until 12:30 when Callie left with Nana.

Callie was helping Maggie get in the car and hit her pretty hard with the door...in the head...and it left a mark. Maggie managed not to cry or have a dramatic episode so I was really surprised when I took a good look at her head.

Big Daddy has an event at work this week, so I'll be solo for most of every evening...again. We are very excited about a little overnight beach trip that we'll be taking for our anniversary. We have decided to take the girls with us just in case there's oil problems or tar balls at the beach when we go on our bigger trip in August. It would be "horrible" and "terrible" and a "mystery" (three of Maggie's favorite words) if we go to the beach in August and Maggie & Ellie are not allowed to frolic in the waves! I'm so excited and hoping that Ellie will sleep well away from home. This will be her first time in a hotel since September of last year when she was only 4 months old.

From the Camera

We didn't take a lot of pictures last week because of Summer Day Camp and our busy-ness, but this sort of sums up our week!

Ellie loves to be just like Maggie, so she was tickled when her Daddy put Maggie's bathing suit on her...over a pretty buttercup diaper. She immediately left Maggie's room and tried to go upstairs to show her Sissy.
The day after Ellie's birthday was a messy one. She rubbed all sorts of stuff in her hair. I was hoping it was a one day thing, but she did it all week long. Here's a picture from Thursday afternoon's apple juice hair treatment. She doesn't like juice, but was constipated (no doubt due to Camp changing her routine) so I gave her a little. I was surprised to see an empty sippy cup until I looked at her outfit, highchair, the floor and her hair. Most of the juice was all over her. This is after I changed her clothes and attempted to wipe her hair off a bit. I love the crazy look in her eyes!!

On Friday, we went out to dinner and then to Lowe's Home Improvement for a couple of things. Maggie found a curtain and just "had to have it".
It was purple with sequins.
Her room is pink.
It makes her "feel like a princess".

(On Saturday, napping after a date with Daddy and playing in the pool, but before bath and another birthday party.)Sometimes a girl just needs to feel like a princess.

When is it okay...

to wear a baby that belongs to someone else??

When you, another adult and a helper is in charge of getting six babies from the nursery to the sanctuary with two double strollers and my handy dandy ring sling. And you ask the permission, of the baby's babywearing mama, of course!

It was my pleasure to wear sweet, little bitty five month old Mason today while pushing Eden and Ellie in the stroller. Ms. Joy carried her baby, Nathan and our helper, Haylee pushed Kamerynn and Alex in the other double stroller. Mason was the only one that couldn't sit safely in a stroller, so he was practically saying, "Wear me. Wear me.". I loved wearing that sweet boy!

It was the perfect way to end Preschool Summer Day Camp although camp ending was perfect all on it's own even without the babywearing. My week wasn't that bad, but I'm glad it's over with and ready to get back to something that resembles normal.

Some call it summer camp, I call it exhausting

Let's just say that I'm ready for Summer Day Camp to be over.

I've enjoyed staying in the nursery with six or seven little ones this week, but my brain is jello. JELLO. I had forgotten how it feels to watch over other people's children and it's just so different for me now that I have my own babies. Ellie doesn't mind sharing me, but she wants me all to herself again.

One of the big perks has been all of the Ellie-loving that I get in the afternoons! She has never been snuggly and cuddly like her sister, but this week she's been all over me. She also enjoyed being worn in the sling today while I was changing diapers and carrying a little baby. She loves it when the other children start to leave at the end of the morning because she is ready to come home.

Of course, Maggie has had a great time. She loves Church, art and learning new things. I think she'd go to Summer Camp every week if they offered it!

Next week we'll welcome Cousin Callie into our home to spend the mornings with us. I'm thinking we may go to the zoo to celebrate the first full week of her summer vacation...if it's not too hot.

P.S. It's alarming to change a diaper and see a p.enis when you haven't changed a boys diaper in 7+ years.

I Think I'm In Love

You may remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that I would be reviewing a product from CSN Stores. Well, after a little shipping problem (not the fault of CSN Stores) I have finally received the Dirt Devil Swift Stick Vacuum Cleaner and I think I'm in love!! I think it will get LOTS of use around here!!

I love chocolate-y brown. It doesn't show dirt, but it shows everything that's light. Of course, I picked out a chocolate brown rug to cover the hardwood floor under the table in our little breakfast area. We eat at this table every meal and my kids drop everything you can imagine. And did you know that Baby Ellie loves crackers which equals cracker crumbs all over my brown rug? I sweep the rug a lot, but I found myself pulling out our big vacuum even more. Enter the Dirt Devil Swift Stick Vacuum Cleaner.

It is so small and light that Big Daddy asked if I was sure that it was real and not just a toy. When I was ready to use it for the first time I just new that I was about to be disappointed. I was so wrong!

The vacuum picked up all sorts of crumbs and a dried green pea. I was able to use the attachment to even vacuum the crumbs out of Ellie's high chair! When I was finished I was amazed at how easy it was to empty. I know I'll be using it to clean up lots of little messes and it's a lot easier than pulling out the big Dirt Devil. It also sucks up crumbs and dirt on the hardwood floors!

Now if I can just get someone to get me one of these steam mops!

Summer Day Camp- Day 1

Thank goodness I did my grocery shopping and meal planning yesterday because Summer Day Camp wore me out. I'm not sure I'll be able to do anything for the rest of the day!! HA!

Maggie had a great time, to say the least. Of course, she loves having a mission and "school work"! When we were walking to our car she said, " You know what the best part of my day was??? The puppet show.". She is so excited about going back tomorrow!!
I stayed in the nursery and was only expecting to have three children ,but I ended up with seven. Now once upon a time, I could have handled it...like several years ago before I had kids and was a preschool teacher myself. I helped out with the babies a few times and could easily handle having 5 all by myself. We ( me and fellow mother, Joy) quickly found out that most of the bigger kids (between 1 and 2 years old) were used to having a morning nap. We had two babies, both 5 months old and the rest of them were between 1 and 2 with Ellie being the youngest of the big kids. When one cried, they all cried and of course, three of them had separation anxiety. In other words, the only ones that didn't have separation anxiety were the babies (one was Ms. Joy's baby) and Ellie. And, they all wanted to be held at the same time!!

Tomorrow, I'm taking a sling, but today I'm sharing pictures of my girls on their first day of camp.Notice Maggie's socks!!

Birthday Girl

This is what Maggie & I (Daddy was still in bed) saw when we walked into Ellie's room and sang "Happy Birthday"! She was all smiles!

We decided to giver her the presents from us yesterday morning before Church. She crinkled her little nose and barked when she saw her Pucci Pup like Maggie's. Maggie also received a Belle dress and was the official assistant to the birthday girl.
Ellie loved her birthday candle, but didn't even touch her cupcake. She busted her upper lip pretty bad at a birthday party for Maggie's friend on Saturday and it was a little sore and swollen. Ellie spent most of the party in the kitchen going through the cabinets and playing with her Daddy!

Of course, Ellie's favorite gift wasn't a toy...it was a toy box from my mom, dad and sister. She loves to open and close it! She got four cute outfits, musical book and a vacuum cleaner that her sister managed to completely take over. I can't wait for her to wear the cute brown and white outfit from Auntie Lisa. I think she'll wear it to camp tomorrow.

We have an exciting summer planned! Of course, Maggie is going to Preschool Summer Day Camp at our Church and Ellie & I are going along to help out. We will also be keeping Cousin Callie in the mornings. I'm hoping to teach Callie how to multi-task and play with Maggie & Ellie at the same time. Both girls love her and want her all to themselves. We'll be going to the summer program for elementary aged children on Thursdays since Callie will be with us and of course, there will be lots of swimming and splashing in the pools. I'm going to try to take all three girls to the zoo and plan at least one fun activity each week for us to do...other than going to the grocery store! Maggie & I will also be going on a field trip with our Church in a few weeks.

Lots of fun!!!

And just so you know, Maggie has started calling Ellie random names. The most popular are Zoe and today it's Xavier.
I have no idea where she gets this stuff.

Baby Ellie, It's Your Birthday!

It's so hard to believe that you are one year old!

One year ago, we met you, our sweet Baby Ellie. Eight pounds and eight ounces of little sister.
Maggie thought you were worth the long wait from September all the way until June.

Daddy and I thought you were worth the labor and the delivery...and the recovery with that horrible infection.

I will always wish that things had been a little different around the time of your birth. We wanted you to live in our old house and you were only able to visit it (outside of my belly) once. We weren't able to bring you home to our new house and we had to live in that tiny apartment for your first 7 weeks.

None of that really mattered to you. All you needed and wanted was to be loved, cuddled and worn. I will never forget putting you in the sling for the first time on the day that we brought you home from the hospital. You were so fussy and I had so much stuff to put away. Your Daddy took your sister to the playground and I put you in the pouch sling with the hopes of getting our bags unpacked. You went to sleep within seconds and I thanked God that you liked the sling!
I'm still thankful that you like to be worn and that you like the stroller for a few minutes at a time too.

You now walk more than you crawl and you are into everything.
You say mama and dada all the time and you like to bark like a dog and hoot like an owl.
You always go to sleep on your own after I put you in your bed. I am SO thankful for this.
You love to play outside and you cry when you know that it's time to go inside. You are a little drama queen, just like your sister.

You are a delight.
And now, you are one.

And Ellie, I'm sorry that you have a blog as a baby book.

What a year!

I've spent the past week thinking about all of the things that have happened over the past year.

It's been a year since we moved out of our old house and came back to my hometown.
It's been (almost) a year since we became a family of four and Big Daddy and I became parents of two little girls.
It's been a year since we started looking for a Church to raise our little family in.
Yesterday marked a year since we wrote the offer on our new house and it's been almost a year since we closed on our old house.
It has been a crazy, stressful and wonderful year.

The people in our lives didn't have to go through the past year the way that we did, so it has been easy for them to pass judgment on how we've felt. We love our house and it feels like home, but this town doesn't. I think we will always think of Sanford as being our hometown because it is where Big Daddy and I started our real life together.
I feel like we have spent a lot of the past year just trying to make it.

Now, I almost feel like I can say that we've survived one of the most trying times in our marriage and in our life together.

Same Suits, Different Day

We have had the best day (so far).
We were at the grocery store really early and in the pool well before lunch.
The girls are napping and I'm about to do a little housework.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We had such a fun and busy weekend!

Of course, it all started with our date. We ran errands, looked at guns, had a nice lunch at Panera and shopped a little. I'm amazed at how fast time flies when you're just out doing nothing without the kids along.

Maggie and Ellie had fun at Nana's and both of them were completely worn out and fell asleep right after we put them in the car! Big Daddy sat in the car with them while I picked up a few things from the grocery store for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening as a family.

On Saturday morning, we gave Maggie a little surprise.

Her B.arbies now have a real place to live!
Maggie was spending so much time playing with her B.arbies in her Princess tent, so she's really happy to play out in the open with her new house. We moved the tent to the bonus room and it will get a lot of use up there.

I spent a lot of time sitting by the pool with my two girls on Saturday. Ellie enjoyed watching Maggie and playing with her boats, but didn't like being in the pool all that much. She loves to sit beside of the pool and have Maggie splash her!

On Saturday evening, we met my mom, dad, sister and Cousin Callie at a friends house and had dinner and explored their mini farm.
Maggie ran and ran and ran all around the grounds. She chased Bailey the dog and threw sticks in the pond so that he would fetch them.

Maggie already has plans to return to pick grapes, chase the dogs, feed the cows and swim in the pond...or so she thinks.

On Sunday, we went to Church, had a nap and then said goodbye to Maggie. She had another sleepover with Cousin Callie. I think she would sleep at my sister's house every single weekend if we'd let her.

We didn't do very much on Monday. Big Daddy mowed the yard, I planted a few more flowers, it rained and we had dinner at my parents' house.

Maggie, Ellie and their Mommy plan to enjoy this quiet week with nothing much planned. Maggie and Ellie are having their official 4 and 1 year old pictures taken on Thursday and then we have Preschool Summer Day Camp next week.