My baby's birthdays!!

WOW!! My little boy is 5 now and my baby girl is 2??? Really? Seriously... how did this happen?? I always heard that kids grow up fast, but I never really understood that until I had kids of my own. I seriously feel like Joey was a baby in my arms just the other day... I can't believe he is preparing for kindergarten now!! Before I know it he'll be leaving me... But we won't think about that right now unless you want to see how truly unreasonably emotional I can be.

Anyway, Joey's birthday is July 16 and Savanna's is August 8. Since they are only 3 weeks apart, and Savanna is still so young, we decided to combine their birthdays this year. So as a combined birthday present for the two of them, we got them a new swing set!! I didn't take a picture of it though.... Anyway, the old one was just too small. Joey had certainly out grown it, and also with my babysitting it jsut wasn't enough for the kiddos I watch. So we got a nice big wood one that can swing 5 kids at a time and it has a gang plank, rock wall, and slide. I think I enjoy it as much as the kids do!!

For the kids parties we did kind of a party weekend. On Saturday we had a party for just Joey with all his little friends. The weather cooperated beautifully!! We had a pool...

A slip-n-slide...

A bounce house... (thanks Cheryl!!)

a pinata,

Ice cream cake...

(this is the kids patiently waiting for cake...)

And of course the new swing set! I think all the kids had a BLAST and Joey really loved his party!! This was the first 'friends' party I put on for him, so I was a little nervous, but it went really well!! For the record, the kids that came were Jack (one of my friend's sons), Reagan (who was Joey's little 'girlfriend' in preschool! lol!), Carlie (a girl I babysit), Kaili, Ethan, Jonah, Quinten, Caden, Evan and Nathan.

And then on Sunday we had a 'family' party for both Joey and Savanna combined. It was kind of nice to only have one party for the two of them! All the commotion done at once! Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner of hot dogs and homemade macaroni and cheese and I made some more ice cream cake for it! Plus we still had all the fun outside stuff.

Here is Joey blowing out his candle...

And Savanna...

Both of the kids got some seriously COOL presents and toys! I'm not including all those pictures, but they both loved everything they got and I had a huge project to organize them all! I swear these kids are sooo spoiled and loved by our families!! Here is one present picture I had to include. My sister got her this bug and Savanna just LOVED it!! She kept giving it kisses and wouldn't put it down, even to open her other presents! What a goof.

And here's my cutie hiding under the present table. She's thinking hmm.... If I look cute enough no one will notice me stealing the toys!

This is my sister Amanda, my mom, and my sister Julie. I don't think Julie meant to 'display' the hot dog, but there it is!! he he. I love these women.

This is my sister Julie with her boyfriend Shawn and his daughter Calysta.

This is Garrett, Kraig, Meemaw, and Linda - 4 of Joey's favorite people!!

Eclipse!

When the Twilight novels first started getting popular, I thought 'Really?? Vampires?? Woo hoo....' but then my sister Amanda read them and said they were great, but I still wasn't convinced enough to read them. However, then, my friend Laurie, who is an 8th grade English teacher, read them and loved them and said I just HAVE to read them. So I started in on Twilight with doubts but fell in LOVE in no time! They are WONDERFUL!! And then, I was ecstatic when they started making them into movies!! So far I have been to all 3 premier nights and I plan on being at the next 2 (I am VERY bummed they are breaking the last novel into 2 movies, just because I have to wait longer! but hopefully that will mean they will leave less out!) Anyway, On June 29, 2010, I headed out for a 'girls night' in the craziness of premier night! I must say the movie was GREAT!! I just cannot wait to see it again!! There were a few small parts that they left out that I didn't like, but such is life. I'm not the director!! I still seriously enjoyed it! Here are pics from the night (they were taken on my cell phone, so they are of seriously poor quality. I can never remember to take my camera!)

This is my sister-in-law, Kara. They were handing out vampire teeth while we were waiting in line! :)

Kara and Jacob Black (still hot, even in card board)

Ok... Maybe I'm team Jakeward!

Here's my group of girls!! From L to R: Lisa, Laurie, me, Kara, Amanda, and Amy

Lucky Lisa won an Edward cut out!!! And got to take him home with her! We were all so jealous.

We ended up sitting on one of the side rows so Lisa set Edward up beside her and they watched the movie together.

On Mommy Guilt

If you're a Mommy, then I'm certain at some point you have experienced mommy-guilt. If you're not a mommy and don't understand what mommy guilt is, it's when a no matter what a mommy does, she feels guilty about it!!

This is something I struggle with on a very regular basis. I beat myself up about almost everything I do!

Examples from today alone:

• I felt guilty for letting my kids watch lots of TV while I cleaned (this house is scuzzy and it was getting to me)
• I felt guilty for ignoring the kids while I cleaned
• I felt guilty for giving my kids ravioli for lunch, and then macaroni/beef casserole for dinner - I mean only a bad mom would give her kids redundant meals like that, right?
• I felt guilty that Joey threw a fit in his Sunday School class and I was not made aware by the teacher until I picked him up from primary (because that's my fault, right?)
  
• I felt guilty for not having exciting activities planned for the 4th of July, even though we've seen fireworks shows the past 2 nights in a row.
• I felt guilty for not taking the kids to see Kris ride on the fire truck in a parade but having them nap instead (they have been up LATE too much and needed a nap!)
• I felt guilty that I made dinner a tad late and the kids were STARVING (although miracle is the kids actually eat dinner when they're hungry for it!)
• I felt guilty that I had put savanna to bed, and then took Joey out front to watch the fireworks that neighbors were putting off. I mean, Savanna's not even 2 yet, but I felt bad she was missing out on the fun.
• I felt guilty they didn't have more out door play today
• I felt guilty we forgot to say a prayer at dinner
• I felt guilty we're almost out of groceries and had slim pickin's for fruit today.
  

This is seriously just a SMALL list of the things I feel guilty for on a regular basis. And it's not just passing guilt - it really bugs me. I mean, deep down I know I'm a good mom - my kids are healthy and happy, played with and cared for. But it's all this stuff on the surface that truly gets to me, but I swear, no matter WHAT I do, I find some way to feel guilty about it!

So this is a shout out to all you Mommas out there... how do you deal with your own mommy guilt?? It seems sometimes I can reason my way out of it because I know it's not rational, but sometimes I can't! So what to do. :) I'd love some advice from all the other moms! Or at least let me know I'm not alone in this!

Recent fun

Had to take this one of Joey! He takes his cars to bed like any other kid would take a stuffed animal or blanet. He cuddles with them and holds them all night. :) That's my future race car driver!

Here are some recent pictures of my BEAUTIFUL kids! They're random, but enjoy anyway.

Savanna has a thing for corn - It is SO fun to watch her eat it!

A few years ago when we were looking to get a dog, I knew it had to be one that would be good with kids - since we had Joey and there were lots of kids in and out that I babysit. So we got Ace! He's definitely got some not-so desirable qualities (like his aversion to Kris) BUT we couldn't ask for a better dog when it comes to kids! The kids can do just about anything to this dog and he endures it well! And he even protects them if he feels they are in danger. What a sweet puppy!

My Joey on the far left and Savanna in the middle in the pink and some kiddos I babysit, Carlie, Maggie, and Ethan, enjoying the pool!

Joey and the little neighbor girl, Landynne. He is always excited when he sees her outside and always wants to go play with her! So fun!

I like to play with Savanna's hair. Can't wait til it gets longer! My recent fav is to do double french braids. Above is her with wrapped pig tails. Below I did double french braid down half way, then tied them together with bows. Turned out really cute!

And since I always wear flip flops, I figured it was high time to get Savanna her first pair of flip flops! Just like mommy! :) Gotta love target and their '2 pairs of flip flops for $5' sale!

Joey is so big!

Here is Joey, pictured on his first and last day of school. It's amazing how much he grew in that short 9 months!! I love this lil' guy!

September, 2009

May, 2010 - notice he's like 4 inches taller?!? Crazy... before I know it he'll be all grown up. :(

Joey Chatter - Don't erase it!

After goofing around before bed time, I gave Joey a final kiss on the cheek and out of habit wiped it off with my thumb. He looked at me and very matter-of-factly said:

J: MOM. Do it again and this time don't erase it!

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J: Mom, how do they make eggs out of chickens?

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J: Hot wheel cars are faster than race cars. I bet you didn't know that!

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(When looking at a sunset)

Me: See Joey? God is an artist and paints beautiful sunsets for us to see

J: Does God think the sky is his paper??? (incredulously)

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There are lots more but I need to be better about writing them down!! I intend on writing them down but then I always forget them. He is so clever and comes up with the funniest things! I love this little boy...

Shooting

Today the farrier that I use for my horse took some of his guns to Amy's house for her to try out because they are considering getting a gun and wanted to try some out. I've only shot a gun once or twice before as a teenager at a gun safety class I went to. But I figured today I would try some out, too! It was actually really fun albiet kind of scary! Some of those guns were just wicked. But fun! Anyway - enjoy the pics of the day!

Me with a big gun. It was HEAVY and hurt my shoulder with the kick back!

Getting ready to shoot...

This is Kelly, our farrier's wife. She is great with a gun!

This is Josh, my horses' farrier with one of his cool guns.

Sort of a group shot. Pete (Amy's husband), Brandon, Joey, and Amy.

Amy with my favorite gun. I really enjoyed shooting that one!

Some of the guns.

Brandon (Amy's son) with a gun!

Pete with what I thought looked like the 'noisy cricket' from Men in Black.

I had alot of fun today being outside in the wonderful weather!! :)