Happy 4th Sallie

Happy 4th Birthday Sallie!! I know that I say this every year but really, 4? How can you be 4?? About 3 hours ago on this day you arrived and wow what a wonderful day that was 4 years ago and it gets better every year. Now with saying that I must add that it gets more challenging as well but what a joy you are in our lives. God has blessed me and your Daddy with you and continues to bless us daily. You really do light up our life. I hope that one day reading this blog you will truly know how funny and sweet you are through my entries and stories about you.

You loved your special day today and took full advantage of it being "your" day and I let you. You started with a cupcake for breakfast, cupcakes at school, your own bag of jelly beans from the fresh market, presents galore, and dinner at the Japanese restaurant with a sprite. That is big stuff. You are now in bed but still awake playing with your bubble gum machine. Thank the lord we got the one that you have to have a penny to get a piece of gum. By now you have probably figured out how to get the top off so I will go check soon. You asked me if it would be your birthday again tomorrow and I told you no. It is only one day sweet girl :) It has been a fun one.....I tried to think of some things in 4's that you do or have done. So I will start with this......

The top 4 things that I love most about you:

1) Your smile really does light up a room and melt my heart !!! It is also contagious...
2) You love to be close to me and snuggle or hug all the time. If you are sitting on the floor and I walk in the room to sit on the couch, you want to be next to me snuggling.

3) You are so smart and sneaky at the same time.

4) You are adventurous and outgoing and love meeting new people.

There are lots of other things but we will keep it limited to 4 for this entry.

The 4 funniest things that you have said in the last year that I will never forget because they totally embarrassed me:

1) You pointed at a man in publix and asked why there was a pirate in publix. He obviously had a eye surgery and had a patch over his eye.

2) There was a lady in publix again (i can never go in that store again) with long black/gray hair, and you said "look Mommy, there is a witch"

3) You pointed to a lady in Wal-mart and said that she had lost her front teeth like Sam (my nephew who is 6)

4) You told your teacher at school that I used "Sassy sauce" when you were sassy. disclaimer... I have only used one time and obviously it worked because you have not quit talking about it since.

There is one other one that is the best of all but i can not post on blog. You can ask me when you are older because I will never forget that one :)

Now let me tell you since then, we have had some serious conversations about what we whisper before we yell out in the store or in front of others. I am sure that some of those things could have been hurtful to others. The man that you called a pirate just looked at me and said "its ok". I am sure that my face was the color of a red apple about that time. You continue to make me laugh daily and you also continue to teach me all about a love that is the best ever. Sallie, I love you more everyday and you make my heart so full and happy. You are the cutest 4 year old that I know and we will get through these 4 's together. I am not sure if we have been getting through the end of the threes or the beginning of the 4's lately but they have been challenging and emotional days for you but we will conquer them and grow wiser together (this I pray). Happy Birthday Sweet girl!!!! I am so lucky that God blessed me with you. I love you............................... Mama

bath time and the zoo

We went to the zoo last week with Mary Grace and had a fun time. It was really hot but the icee helped cool the girls off. The new kangaroo exhibit was really neat and we fed the giraffes as well. By lunch time I was ready to go!!

Got a few cute pictures of the girls playing together at bath time tonight. After getting a few shots of them, they splashed and got the entire floor wet. Atleast they were playing nicely :) Anna looks so grown up in these pictures.

Ward and I got the opportunity to go to Reynolds Plantation for the weekend and my mom and Dad took the kids to the beach. We had so much fun and it was a much needed vacation. No pictures from our weekend. It is funny how I never have a camera unless I am somewhere with the kids. Anyway, the kids had a blast at the beach and I think they enjoyed a vacation without us as well. It was great to get home on Sunday and see them. The Ritz was nice and everything was at our fingertips but there is no place like home.

Summer, birthdays, and more

The summer is flying by and I realized I have not posted in a month and we have had so much going on. We have celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday with a party at my house. It was so much fun. Happy Birthday "Peppy". We celebrated my niece's birthday the next day. Happy 4th birthday Ella and now we are getting ready to celebrate Ward's birthday. Happy 35th Ward!!! July is a busy month. We went to the beach for July 4th and had a good time watching the fireworks and the flyover which was so neat. A c-17 flew across the SC coast low on the beach and we held American flags on the beach to see it pass by. I hope that this becomes a tradition because it was so neat. We have been to the pool a lot and the fort jackson water park. Anna now loves the water and is a little fish. She loves to go under water and try to swim. She has no fear. Sallie is a little more reserved about the water but warms up quick and likes to try to swim under water like a fish too. We did bible school at our church and started manners camp on Monday. I hope that Sallie gets a lot out of this. She always needs to be reminded and this will be a fun reminder of manners. I am sure that I am leaving a lot out. We are excited about starting our new classes at school in August. Anna will be in the 2's and Sallie in the 4's. Crazy!!!! Anna is talking up a storm and loves her babies now. She loves Dora and Swiper the fox. She learned to sing Happy Birthday and can sing Jesus loves me really well. She can almost do the whole song in sign language too. She loves her Peppy and always wants to go to Peppy's house. Sallie has taught her how to say "Mine" and I want that "first". The things that the second child learn so fast are so funny :) Sallie has really been working on perfecting writing her name and has gotten really good at it. I can read it now which is great. I am sure that I am leaving so much out but for now that is all I can think of.... More to come at the girls birthday time.

Cupcakes

I had to write this post so that I would not forget this sweet side of Sallietoward Anna in the midst of all the arguing that goes on between Sallie and Anna on a daily basis. Sallie is the sweetest big sister ever but she and Anna also have their daily battles over everything in the house that they believe belongs to them. I hear "mine" so many times in a day that it is crazy and many nights Anna has woken up screaming mine really loud in the middle of the night. This is either a nightmare or she really feels like someone is taking something from her. Poor thing gets everything taken from her all the time so she has nightmares about it. Anyway, back to the sweet big sister thing. Sallie truly does have good intentions and loves her sister.....I told Sallie that she and I were going to have a play date this afternoon and that were were going to have dinner together at a restaurant and leave Anna with Daddy and then I was going to take her to the cupcake store and she could pick out any cupcake that she wanted. She made sure that I was being serious and then made sure that we had someone to keep Anna and that Daddy was going to be home. I told her yes that Anna was not going to go this time and that it was just going to be just the two of us. After many more questions about the day, she asked me if we could make a cupcake at home before we left for Anna to have so that Anna would get a cupcake just like hers. Wow, I had not even thought about that. Now there may have been a ulterior motive however I like to believe that Sallie has a heart of gold and loves her little sister :)

Beach Week 2010

We got home yesterday from our annual beach week for Memorial Day. We had a great time as usual and the kids had a blast. I was ready to get back to my bed and house but we really had a great time. It was relaxing in the sense that I was not working at all and Ward put his work to rest but it was a lot of work heading in and out to the beach, lathering up with sunscreen, and just being a little off schedule. Not complaining at all though....It was much needed family time!!Sallie did all that she was wanted to do and more and was totally spoiled the entire week. We are paying for that now but we will get back in the swing of things Monday. We went to play putt putt, went out to the beach, went on boat rides, and did lots of eating out at restaurants. Anna was not so sure of the water until the last day when she warmed up a little. She is still not the biggest fan. Sallie has always been a fish so it is a little weird that Anna is so timid of the water. We loved taking golf cart rides and did some bike riding as well. When I said that we did it all, we did..even some outlet shopping. We are already looking forward to our July 4th week. Sallie was so comfortable in the water that she literally was swimming with the jellyfish. There were so many of them this year and we could see them all around us. We would see them and I would run out of the water and she would try and go find them. I tried to make her a little scared of them since they do sting and it does really hurt. Anna was scared of the shells that touched her feet !! Black and white, they are they are! Ward caught a huge fish the last day that we were there and the girls thought that was wonderful until they saw all the blood that came with cleaning it. We have enjoyed eating it. It made for some good dinner last night and tommrow night. We even got some cute beach pics after some bribery...Will attach.

Sallie's 1st Ballet Recital

Sallie had her first ballet recital today and it was so cute. She did a great job in her first big performance on stage. There were about 10-12 little three to five year olds that were chimney sweeps and danced to chim chimney. She loved her costume and especially loved getting to wear lipstick and eye shadow. Peppy and Pops came to see her perform and she spotted us in the crowd and gave us a big wave. We got a precious video of her dancing and waving and some good pictures too.

Sallie and Anna had their last day of preschool Friday before the summer program starts. It was kind of sad. They have both had great teachers this year and we are sad to see the school year end but looking forward to a wonderful summer with some fun activities. I can not believe that Sallie will be in the 4's next year and Anna in the 2's class at school. Wow, how my little girls are getting bigger :(

Mother's Day 2010

What a wonderful Mother's Day that I had this year. It started off on Friday with a Mother's Day tea that Sallie's class hosted for the Mothers. We got invitations for it and arrived at 9:00 am Friday morning. Sallie was waiting for me at the door with a corsage and escorted me to my seat. She then sang two songs and the class did a dance for us. We had tea and muffins with them at their table which was really fun. It was a great morning. Sallie said that I was 60 years old and my job was to do work at Fort Jackson. She said that she loves to snuggle with me. She made me a really pretty card that had her hand prints on it. Anna made me a bookmark for my bible that I love and still have the same one that Sallie made me when she was Anna's age. Ward spoiled me on Sunday and let me "take the day off". I got to spend Fri night with my Mom, sister, and Grandmother in Greenville for a night away which was so much fun. It has been a great weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day. I could not ask for anymore and am so blessed beyond words. My girls make me so proud and I am lucky to be their Mama. My Mom is awesome and I could not be any luckier. I love raising my girls and sharing it all with her. Thanks Mama for all that you do and all that you have done for me. I love you!!!

We went Strawberry picking last week and it was fun. It was so hot. I think that I did most of the picking but Sallie got a couple and Anna got one or two. Anna was not really into it. I had never been before so it was fun to me and I will go back.

I can not believe that we are already into the month of May. Time is really flying by. Before I know it I will be planning Sallie's 4th birthday and Anna's 2nd. This really makes me sad. I feel like Anna really is a little girl now and there is no baby left. She is communicating so well now and will repeat anything. I do not think that there is any trouble for her in the communication area. She will let you know that she does not want to do something by saying "no way". I wonder where she picked that up from? When I go to brush her hair after bath, I just pull the brush out of the drawer and she starts screaming "ouch". She copies everything that Sallie does and says . It is too funny... We are getting ready for our beach trip for Memorial day for the whole week. I am really excited and looking forward to a week off. I am hoping that the summer does not fly by before I know it and that we can relax some and enjoy it to the fullest. I am starting a new work schedule of only 20 hours a week hopefully in the next week or two so that should help some. I really want this to help me balance my time better.