Thank you Santa Baby!

At the end of my last post, which I had forgotten I had even mentioned this, I cried out to any Santa listening about my camera woes, not expecting a darn thing just feeling the need to cry but low and behold......I GOT A BRAND NEW NIKON D3000 FOR CHRISTMAS! Do I not have the best husband in the world. I never expected to be getting an SLR any time in the near future. I am so excited. So be looking for some great photos of my adorable girls! I know my dad is just as excited as I am.....I am sure he was tired of loaning out his camera all the time!

Thank you momma for the BEST NIGHT EVER!

Last night Olivia and I went to see the Nutcracker downtown. Her first time to see it! It was a fun night out just the two of us. She loved it. She said it was better than Mary Poppins which we had just seen a couple of months ago. I think not but she loves dancing....though they danced in Mary Poppins...even on the ceiling!
Shortly after it started she did lean over and say are they ever going to talk! Now she knows there is no talking in ballet's. She thanked me all night for taking her, which was really sweet.

As we sat down (behind railing of course) I was thinking I wish we were all her as a family together, but there is no way Emily would have sat through that! At intermission Olivia bought a ballerina ornament for the Christmas tree and had her pictures taken with some of the cast. She loved that! We decided to change seats at intermission since there were some available without obstructed views. Those seats where much better Olivia told me. She also told me, "if you see my eyes closed it is just because I am resting them, I am not falling asleep." It was a late night, as it was the two previous nights before......oh well, tis the season!

p.s. I know the pictures are blurry....but we don't even want to go into the the whole camera story. I just hope some Santa out there anywhere hears my camera cries!

How do you hunt for a moon?

Let me quickly get this funny one down.....which is what I am suppose to be doing every time it happens......I am knee deep in Christmas decorations and I want a break.....I guess!
As I was taking down everyday decorations to put up Christmas decorations, I was looking through a stack a books I was putting in a box. I told Abby she might want to look at some of these books. They are coffee table books that never get looked at. As I was going through them with her telling her about each book and where it came from, I came across a book of Paris. I told her this is where daddy and mommy went on our honeymoon. She looked at me and said....."how do you hunt for a moon?" LOL!

Are you kidding me.....

Let me blog this story quickly while Abby and I are sharing a lunch of microwave stir fry.....before the story is forgotten or better yet I just don't get around to blogging it.....like so many other stories, please don't tell Olivia I haven't blogged her 8th birthday yet and it is almost a month past.....back to my reason for logging on today......
Abby is home with me on this rainy day...we have finished her school work and she was playing play-doh. At clean up time which took her forever...I was sweeping up the play-doh on the floor and of course some of it wouldn't sweep up because it was smashed into the tile. I ask her to scrap up the play-doh on the floor and I would give her a toothpick or something to get it up with......she gets down on the floor and starts moving it around and I hear her saying "scrap up the play-doh on the floor....are you kidding me" I looked at her and replied, " did you just say are you kidding me?" I informed her she does not say that to her mother to which she replied.....I didn't know I wasn't suppose to say that! Good answer Abby and this time you can get away with it....but next time you will know so just remember that for when you turn 13!

Will everyone in the Simpson House come outside right now!

Emily and I were the only ones inside when Olivia comes running in saying,"will everyone in the Simpson House please come outside right now!" Then she said Abby is riding a bicycle without training wheels ALL BY HERSELF!....Well of course I went running. Abby has never really been interested in riding her bike with training wheels that we bought her last year for her birthday. As a matter of fact her baby sister of 3 rides it more than she does (even though it is a bit too big for her). Several months ago David tried taking the training wheels off and helping her but she just wasn't interested.
So today I go pick up by nieces bicycle which is smaller than Abby's.....we were getting it for Emily. I brought it home and apparently Abby got it out and Olivia started helping her and POOF.....she is riding a bike and just after she turned 5! WAY TO GO ABBY....... Your parent's thought you weren't going to learn how to ride a bike until you were in 3rd grade!!!!!!! We are proud of you girl!!!!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Abby

Abby at 6 months
Today is Abby's birthday. Abby woke up to special waffles for breakfast....then off to open house at her new school. She also got to meet her kindergarten teacher. She is looking forward to her family party tonight.....We are making individual Double Dave's pizzas, drinking root beer from the bottle and having confetti cake and of course opening presents!
Abby has grown a lot this year. She finally learned her ABC's by sight and she is not quite as shy as she has been.....I think she has almost stopped sucking her thumb too! She is very excited about starting kindergarten and following in the footsteps of her big sister.....though it is very evident that Abby wants to make her own way as well.....I think that is why she loves SpiderMan and Matchbox cars and playing with boys. When she was younger she said she wanted to be a boy....thankfully she doesn't say that anymore. Abby loves to color and paint and is very meticulous with her work, she takes her time to get it right staying in the lines and putting everything just so. She loves her mommy and is always willing to ride with mommy when everyone else wants to go with daddy! She is very sensitive and can easily be crushed. She doesn't like to talk when lots of people are around....she is always wanting to whisper things in my ear. She loves to sing and put on shows like her sisters...I think they feed off of one another....but Abby will only put on a show for her family.....
This is the year that we definitely discovered Abby's love language is touch! Rub her head, hear back, arms ......whatever and she is in heaven and will lay on your lap all day!! I just love it!
Happy Birthday my sweet girl.....mommy loves you and is so thankful God blessed your daddy and I with you!

Olivia's first day of 3rd grade....a little late

Olivia on the second day of school


While Olivia is at end of her third day of school and I am finally blogging about it....it was not the best of mornings and things did not go as planned so I guess I wasn't anxious to blog. I went to take our annual first day of school picture and my camera wouldn't work. That through me for a loop .... spent too much time trying to fix it, which made us get off schedule. I had to pray in the car with Olivia instead of at home with me and her dad as we had planned, got there a bit later than we wanted had to park in ten buck two walk 7 minutes to get inside by which time she already had a blister on the back of her foot from the brand new shoes which we had just bought the day before and I made her walk around forever in the store to make sure they were comfortable. We have had many issues with Olivia and buying shoes only to wear them once and then ditch them! So I am really not happy at this point. The bell rings as we walk in. Upstairs in her room everyone is already seated so we just have drop her off and run....which I guess was fine since I had no camera to commemorate the morning! That afternoon I meet her at the bus stop to take pictures of the end of the first day of school.....so that will have to do....until next year! Oh yes, by the way....Olivia loved her first day....she made a new friend in her class, Grayson whom lives in our neighborhood. She had some of her old friends in her class as well like Sydney and Carson....so she is happy! And the best part is she and her mom like her new teacher very much.....it should be a great year!

Emily's First Day of Preschool

First day of school art project


Emily's first day of preschool was today. Funny how things are so different with the third child. I had no special outfit planned....picked it out and ironed it 30 minutes before she left. No tears, no fanfare....just a little girl running into her class barely saying goodbye to "mom"....yes the three year old calls me mom! When I came to pick her up she didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and have lunch in the cafeteria! I told her Friday she could stay since she was not interested in coming home! I guess she has had enough of summertime and being home with everyone. Though we did not stay home that much so I don't know what her problem is.....I guess she is a very social child....like a few other people in her family.

So long to summer.......

It is hard to believe summer is gone.....I remember not be very excited that summer was about to be here and no it is no more and I am sad. We had a great summer this year but there were still more things I wanted to accomplish. I was to work on Olivia's math facts with her and we didn't pick up those flash cards once! Summer is suppose to be fun anyway.....
And fun....we had plenty of it.....
Tennessee was a blast and started our summer of just right. We had lots of fun hanging with David's family, riding horses, playing in the streams, going to Dollywood, riding go carts and bumper cars and of course playing in the hot tub! What would those kids do without hot tubs. When we got back we had fun picking blueberries and veggies from MawMaw and PawPaws garden. Picking blueberries is very tedious work and I was proud of Olivia going out with Stephen Paul to pick blueberries so they could take them down to sell them. They worked for quite a while in the heat and they were very proud of their 10 dollars they made!
Then is was back home for VBS and time to jump on the Boomerang Express!
Abby's swim lessons started after VBS. Abby is definitely the swimmer in the family. By the end of summer she was diving 10 ft down for torpedo's. She looked like a frog making her way to the bottom of the pool. Emily stayed in her floaty bathing suit all summer and she loved it because she could get around the pool and do her own thing, but of course it kept her from learning how to keep herself a float. Three times this summer she got in without her swimsuit and without us knowing and of course she went right to the bottom! After the first time I thought she won't do that again. It scared her so bad she didn't want in the water for a while. But apparently her memory is very short because she did it two more times. Next summer will be her time to take lessons and learn how to swim.
We loved are quick trip to Galveston....next year I want to go to the beaches in Florida....we will see.
Well it is now March 2010 and I am just now noticing a started to blog a recap of the summer....of course I won't be able to remember the specifics now, so this recap has to end with our trip to Galveston which was at the first of July! I know we celebrated fourth of july somewhere just don't remember where.....after that we went to Princess with a Purpose camp which was a lot of fun for the girls, not so much for momma but this isn't a blog about momma.....Olivia went to Bearkadette camp after that. Somewhere in there we went to Dallas and Austin and had a blast both places. Buc-ee's became our new favorite road trip stop.....the girls LOVE beef jerky! Then we had a annual Roddy Tree trip with my family....another good time.....another great summer!

Planning birthdays

Make a Smilebox invite

We are starting to plan Olivia and Abby's birthday party.....this will be the first year they will have their parties together. Let't hope all goes will. They decided on Pump it Up to host the party. My only concern is the big purple chair you sit in while opening presents....hoping they can bring another one in....sharing on your birthday.....is that possible????? I made these invitations on Smilebox today. It will be a few more weeks until the party so I will be back with the details. Just wanted to post the invitation since I just did it.

Roddy Tree

Day 4 at Roddy Tree and the rain is finally falling here in the dry Hill Country. We had time to hang out and swim this afternoon and now we are relaxing while watching the raindrops fall. So let me take a little time to blog before the memories leave my mind.

Yesterday evening David and Abby went fishing, when they came back I asked her if she and daddy had a good father/daughter bonding time. She looked at me a bit puzzled and said, "I think so." I said , " you don't know what that means, do you?" She said know can you tell me. I told her it is when you get to talk and have special time together, Yes, yes we did that she replied. Later that night David was showering the girls and he put his bathing suit on and got in there with them to make it easier. I walked in just in time to hear Abby ask her daddy if she could see his woohoohoo......we asked what that was and she clarified but I don't think I will blog that but needless to say we were laughing.

Emily has been trying to go poo poo the entire time we have been here, David finally had to go buy some Miralax for the poor child. We had success shortly after and she and her cousin Lauren celebrated big time!

Then there is Olivia who spent the night at my aunt and uncle's house Monday night because Natalie was staying with them. I forgot about her spending the night issue she has started having about two and half months ago.....which come to think of it should have been it's own blog with as crazy has this whole situation has been. Anyway.,,,, 1:30 in the morning she is up crying that she wants to go back to our house. They can not console her and drive her up the hill and bring her back. Meanwhile when they get back to their house they are locked out. Anyway it was a whole big mess and you have to know my uncle to know....this was not a good thing, but thank goodness my uncle really likes me, because he got over it pretty fast. Even though it took them a while to go back to sleep after all that.

So far we have had a great time swimming, canoing

dancing, eating, playing cards, doing puzzles and just laughing. I am sad it is our last night but we will make it a good one.

On the road again.......

As I type we are in Hunt, Texas hanging out at Roddy Tree Ranch......the Loveless Family hangout for the past three years......but I have yet to tell the stories of our trip to Dallas and our first visit to the American Girl Store. Of course we had to stop at Bucee's on they way there and pick up beef jerky since we all love the stuff! ( And lots of candy of course) We visited one of my old college roommates on Monday and that night visited with more friends. When we were driving back to the hotel that night everyone started crying and whining they wanted to go home not back to the hotel. I am guessing they were too tired because we hadn't been to the American Girl Store yet and they were all looking forward to that. Tuesday morning we woke up and got our selves ready to eat lunch at the the American Girl Bistro and pick out some special things at the store. I was going it alone and wasn't quite sure how that was going to go....so I had a "little chat" with the girls before we left and it worked! They were very good.....no running around like crazy kids. We had fun at lunch with their dolls and fun food, though with two courses of food they weren't hunger when the main course came.....so there were lots of leftovers. Olivia asked the waitress if their dolls would get food.....and the waitress said you can share you food with her. Olivia didn't understand why they wouldn't give the dolls fake food like they sale. I told her I agreed that would be fun, but I reminded her it would be hard for them to keep up with the food.....but now that I think about it for the price you pay to eat there I think they could spare a little fake American Girl food for the girls to take home! They have little tear sheets all throughout the store by each item you might want to buy. Abby was busy tearing off sheets of all the things she wanted. I reminded her to save those and take them home to Daddy....which she did. It was hard to see a recession in that store. The store and restaurant were FULL of people!
After that I braved going into The Galleria. It was a nice uneventful trip into the mall!
We got to spend time with our old friends the McCoys and the girls had fun seeing Lilyand Claire their two daughters. It was nice to catch up with them and remember fun times in the past.
We headed home one day later than we had planned ......because Dallas was just that much fun!

Princess with a Purpose Prep School

Well, a little late blogging about our prep school adventure since that was two weeks ago and we have had many more adventures since then....so I better get to blogging because we are leaving for Roddy Tree tomorrow and am I sure there will be lots to blog about when we return.

So on to our adventures in Princess land and Prince land for that matter. I signed Olivia and Abby up for Princess Prep School a while back ( Go check out their website http://www.princesswithapupose.com/ ) and a couple of days before the camp started they sent out an email requesting volunteers. And if you volunteered one child went for free and the other half price! Well that was money I couldn't pass up, especially since we were planning a trip to Dallas the next week and I wanted to take the girls to the American Girl Store. So I needed some extra cash. Well had I know I would get assigned to work with the Prince Warriors and not the Princesses with a purpose I would have past on that extra cash! 17 3 and 4 year old boys for me and two other moms and one teenager to wrangle for 3 hours everyday....let's just say it wasn't one of my best weeks....until Friday when I saw my precious girls graduate! They have a program at the end that is just so sweet, it made the whole week worth while. I was a little too focused on myself and the miserable time I was having, that I didn't' see exactly how much fun my girls were having and the seeds that were being planted in their hearts everyday. We bought the CD with the music the first day and that has been a favorite of all three of the girls. We love listening to the music and dancing to it. Great music with a great message of what is is all about to be a daughter of the King!