My Little Levy's

Weekend with the kids...

2012-02-13T22:48:00.000-06:00

The last weekend in January, Michael went skiing with three other guys in New Mexico. One of the other guys was Rusty, my best friend Chandra's husband...got all that? Anyway, Chandra, me and all our kids spent the weekend together while our husbands were away. It was crazy!!!!!!!! But, I'm glad we did it together and not alone! Piper loves babies right now and she would have carried little Miss Evelyn around the whole time if we let her! Don't let her sweet smile fool you in these pictures though! She was ornery towards Lilly! (big sigh...mothering has been tough with this little-big miss, but that's another novel for another day!) We didn't get a picture of Briggs and Sophia! She loves him and he's scared to death of her! Ha!! That might just be a perfect match!!! haha!

Picasso

2012-02-13T22:41:00.001-06:00

Briggs painted for the first time ever last week. He did good until the end and his hair was blue!

Snow Day!

2012-02-13T22:32:00.000-06:00

It snowed in Oklahoma for the first time this winter; with the exception of that very minimal dusting we had last month! Anyway, Piper was suppose to attend a Valentine's Party at her school today even though she normally goes on Thursday. She was too excited about the snow that she didn't want to go! I even tried bribing her into going for the candy and she said no! Ha! She's nuts, but I wasn't going to force her into going! She did have a ball in the snow for 30 minutes! She, unlike her brother, never complained and had a big smile on her face the entire time. He cried the entire 10 minutes we were out there! Once Piper was done, she never asked to go back out again! She's wearing actual snow boots and a pair of ski bibs that are a wee bit too short for her long body but they worked for her today! She has been talking about snow ever since it got cold!

She has been cracking me up with her funny things lately. She says "actually" a lot and things that seem big to me. I'm just waiting to hear her say, "In conclusion..." Ha! Today, she said, "Mom, you know I don't like boys? You know why I don't like boys? (me shaking my head) Because I love, LOVE boys! (followed with lots of giggles!) I'm leaving now to purchase locks for the doors and bars for her windows...Gee!

Library Fun

2012-02-13T22:18:00.003-06:00

Two times a month they have "Music with Susan" at the Edmond library and Piper loves it! The only thing is, you have to call on the 1st and the 15th of each month to sign up so my brain has to remember; otherwise, we cannot attend. Space is limited! And, it's not geared for children as young as Briggs but he has fun! These are the pictures from our very first time to attend. (Granted, you cannot see my children's faces, but look carefully and you will see them!) And, please note that Piper's hair has grown long enough we can put it in a ponytail. This is a BIG deal in our house! She wants long hair and understands that she cannot have it as long as Rapunzel's hair! Ha! During this music class, everything is to the beat of a song they are singing or listening to on CD. It's fun for my little ones who like to get their groove on!

And this is what she looked like after nap that day!!! Ha!!!

15 month well check

2012-01-26T13:30:00.001-06:00

I took Briggs to the doctor for his well check today. He weighs 27 pounds (80th percentile), is 32.5 inches long (90%) and his head was 18.5 inches (50%). He is a healthy boy! Something funny I learned today was ear wax is genetic. You can blame your dad if you have a lot!

And, I just gave him his first major, "big boy" haircut! One that requires hair gel!! Look how big he looks!!

30!!!!

2012-01-24T13:28:00.001-06:00

I turned thirty at the beginning of January and we have had a month long celebration! Not really, but it has been fun. My waistline has enlarged due to all the celebrating! Good thing I'm in my sister's boot camp class now. Which is a death wish, might I add! She is hard core and I swear every.single.person. has told me that she is the toughest teacher at the Edmond Y!!!

On the day of my birthday, our family and my sister's family ate together at Humble Pie in Edmond. Can I say, Yummo!!! It is delicious! Delicious! They make Chicago style pizza or New York Style pizza. We ordered the Chicago style!

We all took silly photos that night. Above is Trebor, Anna, and Briggs. Below is Seth. He hurt his finger in a dramatic attempt to open a hunting knife package. The knife one and a lot of blood and several stitches later, he's okay. It's still healing up though! This boy has had more medical issues this year than any parent wants...broken tail bone, almost cut his thumb off, two concussions, and I'm sure there is more but I can't remember!

Sheryl and Paige

Briggs, Anna, Sheryl, Olivia, Piper, Seth, and Paige

Piper took this photo of me!

Those are dollar bills on the ceiling! Kind of cool but really dumb. I wanted to rip them down and put them in my purse to be honest!

No more pictures please!! Ha!

Michael also took me to the Melting Pot and out shopping the Friday after, while Sheryl kept the kids. I got to go to bed really late and sleep in! Then this past weekend, we went with 11 of our friends to eat at The Shack for my birthday party with friends. It is Cajun seafood and yummy! Everyone surprised me with an album of 30 letters for my 30th birthday! It is a special and sweet album that brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for all the sweet words written to me! I love it! (I have no pictures from that night!) So... Happy Birthday to me! It feels good to be 30!

A Superhero and a Princess!

2012-01-24T13:04:00.001-06:00

The birthday party bar has been set high for us recently!! One weekend we went to a Spiderman party and the next weekend Cinderella showed up! I prepared Piper all week for Spiderman and she ran right up to him like it was no big deal and sat patiently while he painted her face! She loved it!

The Cinderella party was fun and Piper was in awe! Seriously, she was by Cinderella's side 90% of the time! Yes, she's already asked me to call Cinderella to come to her birthday party. In which I responded with, "probably not!" Piper wants to have a Tangled birthday party. But, sadly, I do not believe Rapunzel will be in attendance!

Each girl wore a princess dress to the party and while there, Cinderella painted their faces while they listened to Disney music. Once she was done painting, she told them that Tinkerbell loaned her some pixie dust so they closed their eyes to make a wish and threw pixie dust in their hair. Three days later, I still have yet to remove all the ~~glitter~~, pixie dust!

She told the girls a story and played games with them. It was super fun and super cute. Any girl would just love to meet Cinderella. The funny thing is, Piper doesn't even know what Disney World is! Ha!

All the girls behaved so wonderfully too! Something about a real princess being in the room, brings out the best behavior! No one wants to disappoint a princess I guess!

Piper asked Cinderella all kinds of questions! Serious questions...but the most funny one was, "Where is your stepmother?" She is obsessed with the mean stepmothers of the princess movies b/c there always is one. And for some reason, she really is focused on them and not the sweet princess things! Cinderella played the part so well. She responded with a gasp, and said, "She isn't here! Is she? I hope she isn't! Did you invite her? Oh, I hope you didn't!" Ha...isn't that funny!

Fiesta Bowl

2012-01-24T12:51:00.001-06:00

We went to the Scott's home to watch the Fiesta Bowl. Actually, we invited ourselves over because we didn't have the channel it was on. Have I mentioned we gave up cable?? Darren and Sonya made some yummy food. I really felt like a bum then! As you can tell, the kids had fun together! Their daughter is Natalie. She is a sweet, sweet girl! They became WILD by half time so we headed home and put them in bed. Michael ended up watching the victory on his computer!

Mother's Day Out

2012-01-23T20:32:00.004-06:00

Piper started a new Mother's Day Out program last week! We decided that it was time to get her back into something regularly scheduled like that for her to have a little more social interaction. She was very excited and seemed to have a fun day! She will be going on Thursdays, but I can take her on a Monday if there is a Thursday conflict! To me, that is really cool! It also has a more educational aspect to it than her last program which is an added bonus that I wasn't necessarily looking for but am thankful about! I surprised her with a new Tinkerbell lunch box which made it even more fun! She is becoming a busy girl with MDO, ballet, bible study, and we just joined the YMCA, which she absolutely LOVES (begs to go everyday kind of thing)!

Random January Pictures

2012-01-23T20:21:00.000-06:00

This girl is pretty spunky! She has recently renamed us the "P's." We are no longer the Levy's, but instead the P's. At bedtime, she gets to pick who to pray for. Usually it is my sister's family or Michael's brother's family. She would list each one of them off so I finally taught her that instead of saying all their first names, she can ask to pray for the Nall's or pray for the Levy's, etc. So, she did that for a while and one night she said she wanted to pray for us, the P's. I explained that we aren't t he P's, but we're the Levy's too. Nope, hasn't stuck! We are the P's! 4 P's in a pod I guess!

And this boy is fearless!

He is a lover and a cuddle bug. (he's hugging the baby doll above. something he does a lot!)

She likes to pretend the mannequins are her mom. She begged me to take a picture of her with this one!

While he is happy with his toe!

A future baller, maybe?

Maybe, if you take into consideration how much he eats!!

He loves playing with his toys right now and is walking around like crazy! One of his favorite things to do is build towers with his wooden blocks. He's really good at it! And, his favorite thing to say is "No!" Even if you say, "Briggs do you like chocolate? Can you say yes? Do you love your toys? Can you walk?" Yep, the answer is "no" according to him! It's pretty funny...right now!

This picture cracks me up b/c he is wearing his construction goggles and playing with the tea set! Funny boy!

Christmas #3

2011-12-30T11:26:00.001-06:00

We had Christmas in Clinton with Grammy & Papa John on Monday. It was very low-key and relaxing.

Christmas #2 - At Home!

2011-12-30T11:14:00.000-06:00

This was our first year to celebrate Christmas at home with our kids. Well, except for the year we had the blizzard, but we were totally unprepared for that one! This year was so much fun! I was a little lazy to make cookies for Santa so we left him cake that I had made earlier in the week. I cut a circle piece out for Piper to frost and decorate! She really enjoyed that plus she loved sneaking a bites of sprinkles too!

We did leave the reindeer some carrots to munch on as well as they waited for the Big Guy to finish up in our house!

Michael read "The Night Before Christmas" to Piper and she was so excited to go to bed so that she could see what Santa brought her the next morning!

Christmas morning was fun! I woke up at 8 am!! Yay, to sleeping in!!! I was so shocked the kids were not up yet. So, I went to listen in on them and Briggs was still asleep but Piper was awake in her room listening to music. Crazy girl thought she couldn't get up!!! So, we got her and Briggs up and the craziness began!

There were a lot of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs'!

Piper received these fake glasses in her stocking and wore them to a restaurant the other night! Ha! We got a few looks!! Michael kept asking her 'What is the square root of 9?"

Christmas #1

2011-12-30T08:47:00.000-06:00

Our first Christmas celebration was in Fargo at Grandma and Papa Roger's house on Christmas Eve.

Briggs was eyeing the tree all day!

All the grand kids were there. Seth, Piper, Paige, Anna, Briggs, Olivia

Briggs liked opening gifts but Piper LOVED it! She opened Briggs' presents and my presents.

Her first Barbie! She was really into the present thing this year. Fun!

Briggs was really into the tree! He was obsessed with this snowman on Grandma's tree.

Santa worked so hard he couldn't stay awake!

What?? No more presents!!!

Piper's First Movie

2011-12-29T21:52:00.003-06:00

Michael began a tradition, with Piper this year, to go on a Christmas date! Their first Christmas date involved going to the movie theater and getting ice cream! This was Piper's first time to ever go to the movies! They saw the Muppets movie which she said she didn't like, but you would never have known it because she came home all smiles and keeps asking to go back!

That same day, she was able to play with her cousins. One thing they did was bake and decorate cupcakes.

And, eat them...

This little guy looks a little mischievous!

Briggs is Walking!

2011-12-23T20:38:00.001-06:00

On Monday (December 19th; 14 months) Briggs officially started walking! He's been taking two steps every so often since the week of Thanksgiving but nothing more. The first video is of him Monday night

This second video is of him at the beginning of November when he first learned how to use his walker! He can go a lot faster on his walker now! And, needs no assistance steering it like he does in the video!

Daddy's Home!

2011-12-23T12:55:00.003-06:00

Michael had to be in Pennsylvania for work for two weeks this month and we really missed having him home! We kept ourselves busy and tried Skyping so the kids could see him but there is no substitute for good ol' Daddy-O! (He did get to come home the weekend in between!) Piper really wanted to have an ice cream party for him when he got home so on Saturday we all went to the Science Museum followed by a visit to the ice cream shop!

Look how big Briggs looks in this picture! Please ignore the horrible red eye!

She absolutely loved this device. It spun around. She loved it so much she didn't want to share with other visitors and cried when I made her get off! I painted her face at the face painting station!

Piper is a total Daddy's girl!

A funny side note: While Michael was in Pennsylvania, he met a guy that was from Woodward and Michael told him I was from Fargo. (They are neighboring towns. We went to church and shopped in Woodward for those of you who don't know the area!) The guy didn't know me but knew my friend Mendy and my friend Chandra. Then he came back later and asked Michael if his kids names were Piper & Briggs! And, said, "My wife kind of stalks your wife's blog!" Long story, short...I don't know her husband, but his wife and I have mutual friends and I think we worked together one summer or one Christmas break. I always knew who she was growing up even though we didn't run in the same circle! Ha, small world! Hi Jill! I know you are not a stalker!

Christmas Playdate

2011-12-23T12:29:00.004-06:00

We had a little Christmas party play date at our house last week. Three of my college friends and their kids came over for crafts, playing, and lunch. Poor Briggs was the only boy...again! Ha!

Renna, Reagan, & Piper coloring some Christmas pictures

I'm sorry, but he is so handsome. Look at those cheeks!! They are perfect little balls!!

Piper & Renna. I love Piper's big smile! These two may be a year apart but get them together and you have double trouble! They are mischievous!

All the kids! All our guests were two year old girls!

Piper & mommy making an ornament craft. We made two ornaments. One was a salt dough hand print ornament which turned out to be a flop!! The second was a miniature Rudolph ornament made with their thumbprint. They were cute and I got the idea from Pinterest!

The lineup...Renna, Reagan, Piper, Briggs, Molly, and Natalie. Molly gave us all matching 'I love Mommy' shirts and Briggs got a new striped shirt. Notice the 3 year old is crying while the 2 year olds are sitting there with smiles! And, she doesn't have her pants on! Ahhhh, independence...

Thanks to Mendy for taking all these pictures! Also, I do realize every post recently on my blog has Piper and Briggs in the same Christmas outfit! Ha! They did wear other things during the month of December!!

Santa!

2011-12-23T11:50:00.000-06:00

We went to visit Santa for the first time ever this month! I thought this would be a good year to try it out! She seems to be less afraid of costumed things and people lately, but it just depends on where and when it is! Plus, I decided that this was a more intimate experience and we'd go with our cousins so it would help her be less afraid. In October I found out that a local cookie shop holds an annual "Cookies and Milk with Santa" event so I knew that would be perfect for her! No mall Santa for us!

Getting ready to leave our house to see St. Nick!

I made their shirts, by the way!

We met Aunt Sheryl, Olivia, and Anna at the cookie shop! Everyone was excited! Sheryl made their shirts also!

Piper & Anna waiting to see the big guy!

Olivia was up first. I thought that if Piper watched someone else there would be less of a chance to be scared!

She was a little nervous. She picked at her lip and she twirled her hair...two of her nervous twitches!

But, she loved talking to him! It was if he was not a stranger to her! She proudly, without hesitation, told him she wanted a new umbrella and purses! She had thought about it long and hard and decided that's what she wanted weeks before this visit!

Santa hugs...

and, really I'm done! Ha! This cracks me up!

This picture cracks me up too! Briggs didn't think the jolly old guy was too much fun! Ha!

Anna was last.

It was fun and I think Piper decided wanted to continue talking to him but other kids were waiting!

After visiting with Santa, they got to sit down and enjoy their cookies and milk!

Briggs hung out with Daddy most of the time.

Santa really tried hard to win Briggs' favor! In this picture, Briggs was grabbing for his bells. Next year, if you live in the OKC area or want to experience the fun of Santa without waiting in line, remember to visit One Smart Cookie. It was on the second week of December and tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance. It's located at 122nd and Rockwell! We will be doing this again!

Piper's First Ballet Performance!

2011-12-22T19:45:00.003-06:00

Piper danced in her very first ballet performance this month! The teacher said it was NOT a recital! But, it kind of was a mini recital if you ask me! Each class danced to one song and then all the girls joined together and danced at the very end. It was followed by a Christmas party for the families. Piper's cousins and Aunt Sheryl and her Grammy and Papa John came. It was fun to see her get so excited about it (even though she didn't quite understand what was going on) and have fun.

Each girl was asked to dress in Christmas attire! My pictures were not great, but Piper is the far one on the right. She did great!

Her class danced to the song, "I wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas..."

Me and my girl. I was proud of her!

Briggs was getting sleepy towards the end!

Piper and Olivia

Anna, Olivia, and Aunt Sheryl

Papa John, Daddy, and Seth

Briggs, Mommy, and Grammy

Briggs got to play on the table and color!

Loving on Papa.

Piper before the performance. She was so excited to get going! She did wear her ballet flats and not those socks and shoes. I felt the need to share that! Her next performance, which will be a recital, is scheduled for June 1 or 2...I cannot remember!

Piper & Briggs

2011-12-22T16:01:00.000-06:00

Here's a few details on these two sweeties! The most common comment I get from strangers are "How old is she? Three? She is a tall three year old! And, smart!" "How old is he? (Laughter after my answer) He's going to be your little football player!" Funny!

Briggs loves the bath! We've never had a fear issue with him!

Her face is so funny! She was trying to ignore me but couldn't stop herself from somewhat posing!

Briggs LOVES books! He can just sit and look through the pages and he gurgles and gabs his entire way through the book as if he is reading! It is so fun to listen to him 'read.' This is what entertains him most on car rides!

Piper LOVES dressing up and dancing! And you might even be able to add a third 'd' to that list...DRAMA!

Sweetness! Briggs weighs 27 lbs currently. He is a little lover and quite a talker! Briggs is always vocal and noisy! He is starting to get a little whiny at times, wanting me to hold him more now. It's so hard carrying him around and actually accomplishing anything because he is so heavy! He is saying 'nigh-nigh' before bed each night. Last night he said, "Nigh-nigh dada" to Michael. So cute! He can also say 'mama', 'dada', 'Pipuh' or sis-sis for Sissy sometimes, 'Duguh' is thank-you, and he can say 'hi'. I haven't been as good about teaching him sign language. He knows 'more' and 'all-down' but doesn't use them much. I sure don't keep track of it as much as I did for Piper at this age!

This is Piper dancing! She has been so sweet, lovey, and mannerly this past week. I can see her maturing so much. She continues to puzzle us and to make us laugh a lot! She weighs 32 pounds. We went to her last ENT appointment this month and her tubes are both out and her hearing is great and there was no sign of fluid or infection so she does not need tubes again! Yay!!! She has been asking to invite friends over a lot and we just don't have any her age to call up and say, "hey can you come over today!" It makes me sad but I know this is just a season and friends will come soon. She is in a stage where she still needs naps but maybe not everyday. She loves doing 'activities' (crafts)!

This is Piper being dramatic! Haha! She was at the table and whining about something and so Michael started making these faces at her and she stopped! He's so good about deferring the behavior and I'm so bad about getting worked up about the behavior!

This is Briggs making his cheesy face!

Christmas Activities!

2011-12-22T15:32:00.000-06:00

We have been busy this month! I tried putting together an Advent Calendar of activities but was not so good about staying on top of that! Shocking! We still were able to do many fun activities at home and around the community! I didn't take pictures of everything we did but here is a sampling!

We went to see Anna sing with her school choir at the mall one day and we got to eat lunch with her!

I made a wall felt tree and ornaments for a new activity to play with. Briggs loved it the most! I've found lots of fun new activities on Pinterest! It's addicting!

Our cousins were over for a few hours and I had run out of graham crackers so we made saltine cracker houses! And, I read on a blog the night before to hot glue your crackers together to make it quicker and easier! I will not be scared of gingerbread houses ever again! We also decorated a big gingerbread house at Lilly's and Piper loved it!

With the help and persistence of Chandra, I painted my front door black! It was tan before!

We went to see Lilly perform in the Nutcracker ballet in Weatherford! She was a little mouse and a gingerbread cookie. Piper really had fun but the King Rat character and all the mice that fought the toy soldiers confused and scared her. I've answered many questions about 'the mice.'

We started back on learning our letters again. I decided to start at the beginning. Her Piper is 'decorating' something for the letter D!

And, here she is making a Christmas wreath!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-20T14:47:00.002-06:00

Briggs with his cheesy grin! He knows how to make a person laugh and will do it over and over to get a reaction!
We went to Clinton for Thanksgiving this year. It was a little different for us this year. Michael only had the day of Thanksgiving off and since we live so close now, we just drove in for the day and drove back home. We have never not spent the night on a holiday.

Briggs was not fond of the delicious meal! He's been a weird eater lately, especially not wanting to eat meat!??! He still maintains his football player figure though!!

My sister and I loaded up our six kids and went to visit my parents for one night the week of Thanksgiving. This is Briggs after he fell asleep with his pretzel!! My parents and my brother came to my sister's house the Saturday following Thanksgiving to celebrate together.

And, shortly after celebrating Thanksgiving I started getting out all the Christmas decor. Look who is having a hard time with 'no touch!' He's done really well with all the Christmas decorations surprisingly!

Just saying hello!

2011-11-19T22:47:00.003-06:00

We have been super busy. My camera is broken. I still haven't figured out the entire downloading process of my new phone's camera and loaner camera. Hence, the lack of pictures and updates!!! I know, I know...excuses, excuses! I feel like I've been spinning my wheels lately and my brain is all scattered. Like, super scattered. For example, I did got to a pediatrician appointment on Friday, when, in fact, the appointment was scheduled for Thursday! That was a first! Fabulous, huh? Now do you believe me! The last time I felt like this was shortly after we moved to Ardmore and about to celebrate Thanksgiving & Christmas with Piper for the first time. She was 7 months old. Isn't that crazy! Same time frame! Only it's Briggs' second Christmas and he is 13 months. The moving process is not good for my mind! ha!These kiddos, though, are still my cutie pies...don't you think? Briggs is walking with his walker more and with our help. He's stood up all by himself a few times. We may have a walking boy by January! That would be 15 months. Same time frame as his big sister! Fine with me! Piper has been trying really hard to put her clothing on all by herself. She's getting better with it each day! She's also working on staying in her bedroom until 7 am in the morning thanks to the fabulous light up alarm clock that Grammy gifted to us last year! We're still working on it! The time change wasn't so kind on Piper but Briggs handled it like any other day. Piper has been kind of a like a war head candy lately. Sweet, reeeeally sour, and sweet again! She can be so much like me sometimes! Deep breaths...
Piper received these funny vampire teeth in the Halloween care package Grandma & Grandpa sent to her. Both kids love them! It is an accurate portrayal of how they have been lately...sucking the blood, I mean, life out of me! haha!
I'm trying really hard to get Christmas shopping done so that I can sit down and relax through December and really enjoy my time with these two munchkins because they are growing so fast. This will be Piper's last December at home all day...I'm a little torn in my emotions thinking about that one!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-07T14:49:00.004-06:00

Well, we had a few cowpokes blow in from the ranch on Halloween...
Meet Deputy Piper and Sheriff Briggs. They are one rough and tough team...at least it feels like that on some days!! Ha!
Since we had a cowboy birthday party this year, I thought why not kill two birds with one stone! So they were cute little cowboys for Halloween too!

Piper was EXCITED!!! Until, the crazy neighbor down the street opened the door and had a weirdo, scary costume on and a mechanical voice. After that, it pretty much went down hill because she was scared! Even Michael said it scared him! She got about a half of a bucket and declared that she was done and wanted to go home.
Meet Mr. Pyro...he was burning stuff in the pumpkin!
We sat on the front porch passing out candy which was the absolute best to Piper! She loved it! See all the candy in her hands. She was loading the kids up! She was even running out to the sidewalk saying, "Come here! Come get some candy!! I've got candy!"
We sat outside until 8:30 I think. It was fun! Our neighborhood is great for trick-or-treating. Lots of families and kids. And, we even managed to meet a few new OSU families!!
It was, however, our first year not to spend Halloween with the Roush family. Piper and Lilly have been together since their first Halloween. Piper and Briggs had a cough and runny nose which would not have been a good thing for baby Evelyn since she is so young! We were definitely sad to not be with them! Even, Piper said, "Are we going to go with Rusty, Chandra, Lilly, Sophia, and baby Evelyn??" She was bummed! Next year!!!

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-07T14:40:00.004-06:00

We got together with our cousins to carve and paint pumpkins the night before Halloween. This was our pumpkin, Packy...short for pac man! Piper was a little scared of Packy at first and she was unsure of his name. He was called Polly a few times. But, by the end of Halloween night, they were buds! And, Michael was up to his pyromaniac antics as well!Trebor is serious about carving pumpkins. I think if I purchased a pumpkin carving kit as a gift for him, he'd be over-the-moon excited! Ha!Briggs enjoyed playing with Seth. Any chance to pull someones hair is always a fun time to him!
Seth and Sheryl
Piper is proud of her painting abilities. She was really into it...for about 5 minutes!

Sheryl was cooking biscuit pizzas for us.
And, Olivia was the only child who got into the gross part of it, pulling the seeds out! She would have even carved the pumpkin, if we could trust her with a knife! It is fun to live nearby our cousins!

Briggs in Review

2011-11-06T23:32:00.007-06:00

Day 1 - October 15, 20101 Month
2 Months
3 Months
4 Months
5 Months
6 Months
7 Months
8 Months
9 Months
10 Months
11 Months

12 Months

I realized last week that I forgot I to post Briggs' monthly pictures after he turned one. I think it is fun to look back and see how a baby changes so much over the course of a year!!

The Kids Bedrooms

2011-10-27T10:53:00.005-05:00

The kids rooms are complete with a few minor exceptions. I still need to hem curtains and such! I completely love having a single story house now with the kids rooms just down the hall! It has made it soooo much easier on me and the kids love it because they can just run/crawl down the hall to their rooms and play with each other. I don't have to be in there worrying about keeping a crawling baby away from the stairs!
This is Piper's big wall with the alphabet. I would like to buy some inexpensive moulding and paint it hot pink and frame it out!
Her doorway. The fun sweater was given to her before she was born from her Aunt JuJu. It is from Argentina or somewhere kind of exotic! The pink hook thing below that was a Southern Living item that I spray painted hot pink. It's for her backpack and jackets!
Her bed an window area. i just used all her things from her old room and painted the room blue! I want to add some frilly pillows and paint her nightstand eventually. I'm also on the hunt for an old dresser to paint pink and place to the left there. It's a long wall which would be perfect. That will finish off her room! Since we do not have a guest room, we eventually want to get a daybed with a trundle and they can use her room. Oh, and I also want to add a few more lanterns and hangy down things above her bed!
Briggs room when you enter. I painted it the same color of blue as Piper's room. This is also the same blue we had in his old room. Love it!! Once again, I used the same things to decorate his room as his old room.
I did add big fat red buttons to his curtains...well, my sister added them for me!
And, that framed picture is actually a fun London map that we had in the playroom in our old house! Still love the hoops! Notice the crib is propped up on one side and the vaporizer is on the floor. He's had a nasty cold this week! But, oh he has been so snugly and sweet to rock!

One Year Comparison...

2011-10-25T17:11:00.004-05:00

Look at the differences in these two at One! Briggs has so much more hair and it is so much lighter! I still think they have the same nose, chin, and possibly the same cheeks!

Cowboy Briggs!

2011-10-21T20:59:00.006-05:00

Two and a half weeks after moving, we celebrated Briggs' first birthday western style in our backyard! Here's our little cow town, complete with the "Blue Door Inn," the Saloon, and the Jail!

The decor...the pictures don't do it justice! We served Chili and the fixings along with cupcakes.

Cowgirl Piper waiting for the party to start!
Some of our guests...
Chandra and 6 week old, Evelyn! Doesn't Chandra look good!
Miss Natalie
Mendy & Sonya--college friends
Mommy and the cowboy himself!
Renna & Regan
Daddy and our little cowpoke!

Olivia & Aunt Sheryl
Grammy with Cowboy Briggs

Reagan, Mendy, Natalie, Sonya, Chandra, Evelyn
All the kids eating lunch and dressed in their finest western get ups! The kids all happened to be girls! No boys! Ha! We need to find us some rough and tumble boys to play with! Briggs has no guy friends! But, Piper didn't mind a bit. She was having so much fun with all her girl friends! I think she thought the party was for her too! We did invite some boys but they were not able to make it!
Singing to the birthday boy! He doesn't know what to think!
I had to shove the icing around his lips and in his mouth so he'd realize he did not want to miss out on some yummy stuff!

Pretty much just ate the frosting and a few bites of cake. He didn't get too dirty!
All the partying wore him slick! He was exhausted and probably slept 3 hours for nap time! He went straight to Grandma Judy and laid his head on her shoulder as if to say, "Rescue me!"
He was a laid back sheriff the day of his party! Happy Birthday Big Guy! We love you!! Thank you everyone who came and celebrated with us! Many of you traveled a ways to see him! We are so thankful to share his special day with you!

Briggs is 1!!

2011-10-21T07:28:00.004-05:00

Our little Briggs is one! I can't believe it!! This year has flown by and I wish I could rewind it just a little to enjoy my 'little' baby just a little more! Briggs has got some personality coming out in him! He is not gentle but full-on brute force when he's determined! He loves his sissy but knows how to make her mad!! Ha! He loves pulling hair and biting right now...not fun for us girls! But, he sure knows how to snuggle and make us laugh. Lately he's been cracking himself up! I think he may be our little ham! He's beginning to realize that you can get reactions out of people when you do silly things! The carseat is slowly becoming his enemy! He doesn't want to be held too much because he's ready to GO! He isn't walking yet but he is a quick little crawler and is walking along the furniture and bear crawling! It's so funny to see! He is laid back but will let you know when things aren't right! He eats so fast you cannot keep up with him and he loves his sippy cup! No problem transitioning him there!
He will sometimes say 'mama' but mostly in distress still. He loves his daddy and will say, 'dada' all day long! We think we've heard him try to say Piper but it was more the inflection of Piper though. Michael and I both heard it! I'm not crazy! My sister heard him say 'puppy' and he has signed 'more' several times, just not in the correct context! Ha! He grunts and fusses when he's thirsty, especially if he sees someone drinking or a cup on the counter. He's always thirsty!
He loves to dance and boy, does his booty shake! I love it!!!
Briggsy bear--We can't imagine our family without you! I really don't remember what it was like before you came along! You have been such a sweet baby to mother and I'm so happy to get to love on you!!! Your laugh is contagious and your smile just melts me! We all love your calm demeanor. I'm so excited to see what becomes of your personality this next year as you learn to talk and walk! You're a sweetheart!
He loves cars and trucks like a typical boy and makes the noises to go along! So funny! He also loves playing with all his sisters toys!
Briggs weighs 25.2 lbs and is 31 inches long. He's in the 75th-90th percentile range. I'm so surprised he wasn't off the charts for as big as he seems!

Sneak Peek...

2011-10-20T23:29:00.002-05:00

Here's a little bit of our house. I really like it! It is not finished by any means, but a lot of progress has been made thanks to my sister and Michael! We have all put hours of work into this house! I really do love that it is one story, smaller, in a more populated, but quiet neighborhood (although the neighbors haven't been knocking us over with their friendliness...yet!) and it has a smaller back yard. I love that our kids can run from the kitchen down the hall to their rooms and I don't have to worry about stairs! It has been a nice fit for us so far! Oh, and this is our first house with carpet in the living room!! Our other houses have had tile throughout except the bedrooms.

Why so happy??

2011-10-20T23:19:00.003-05:00

Because we are out of the apartment and into our own home!!!We love it! It took about a week for Piper to be okay with sleeping in her own room alone again, but she's good to go now and really loves her room!
Briggs is sleeping longer at night now that he doesn't have his sister to wake him up! He's cozy in his room!
We all love that we live in a single story house now. It's much easier to get to the kids bedrooms now! They can actually play in there alone!
And, we have a back yard again!
(These pics were taken our last day in the apartment at the end of September!)
This was taken shortly after moving into our house! Briggs got into this baby pack and play by himself and Piper followed suit! She's all dressed up!
More house pics to come...

Playground Fun

2011-09-27T22:18:00.003-05:00

We are enjoying this weather lately! There is a great playground set just outside our apartment building that the kids love to play in. Michael took these fun pictures of the kids with his phone tonight. Piper has amazed me this summer! She has really come a long way since the beginning of the summer in so many areas. She loves the water now, she'll pet a few animals, and she'll swing high on a big girl swing and go down all kinds of slides! Those are huge steps for her and I'm so glad she has found joy in these fun activities! Tonight, we could tell Briggs is going to be totally opposite and without fear! Hmmmm, that worries me a bit! He was willing to leap off the slide without a second thought. Michael had to catch him!! Our new house has a neighborhood playground area similar to this and it is very close to our house! I know we will be enjoying it!

Our Little Ballerina

2011-09-27T21:50:00.004-05:00

Piper and Koria
Piper with her ballet instructor and other dancers
Posing at home...(she's making a silly face!)
The dancers with their class assistant.
Piper is our little ballerina! She loves taking ballet class and has been doing so for a couple of months now. Of course, the day they take pictures in class would be the day she and I battled over which leotard she was going to wear and she won the battle to wear the long sleeve leotard in which the sleeves are too short on her arms! ha! Oh well! I still haven't found any tights for her to wear that are not saggy on her legs! She's given up on me finding any. At first she kept asking when am I getting tights and she hasn't asked in a while! I'm lacking in this ballet mom thing! It has been so foreign to me. I never took any kind of dance growing up! Piper's teacher has probably had a few laughs over the questions I asked in the beginning! ha! She really wants to grow her hair long so we have been working on that. She'll have a bun for ballet soon! The other day Briggs pulled her hair (which is a problem we have with him!) and through her tears she dramatically says, "Stop it Briggs. I want my hair to be long!" She is very passionate about the long hair!! Piper looks forward to class each week and does not think it lasts long enough! But, she does not want to tell us what she does during class or show us what she has learned! The moms have to sit outside in the hall during class and can look through the glass but it is a little distracting to the girls so I try not to look in there too often. They are practicing a dance to the Christmas song, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas..." in order to prepare for a 'showing' they will have at Christmas time. I don't know if 'showing' is the correct word, but I was told it was not a recital! Ha--like I mentioned earlier, I have no idea about the dance world and I'm still learning!! I'm so glad she has the opportunity to enjoy this!

What a great day!

2011-09-26T23:32:00.003-05:00

We got to see some special friends in Ardmore today! Piper and Claire were reunited once again and I think you can tell by the looks on their faces they had a pretty good time together!Claire's sister, Cate, enjoyed having us there too!
We also got to see our friend, Katie, briefly. Piper even saw Katie's brother and sister. She's in love with Katie's older brother! I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot of pretending the next few days and one of our pretend friends for the day will be Garrett! ha!
We also were able to see several other friends at the park to play! I visited with some of my friends as well! There was an entire list of people I wanted to see but time flies and you can't see everybody! I felt so at home being in Ardmore! Piper was on cloud 9 the entire day and Briggs just went with the flow! We'll have to visit again and stay the night!
The main purpose of going to Ardmore was to give Oscar to his new permanent family! A sweet friend from college offered to take Oscar in temporarily after I pleaded for him to go live with someone else while we were in the apartment. She and her family took great care of him! We are so appreciative! While he was staying there, a family from Ardmore decided they wanted him and we felt it was best for Oscar to go live there! He gets to live on a farm and run free with 2 other dogs. There are 7 kids to play with these dogs! It's 3 separate families that live on this farm and one of them is a vet! I received an email from the mother tonight and she said Oscar wore himself out in the barn and went straight to his crate and crashed! The children seemed so excited to get another dog. I'm excited for him to live there. I think he'll love it!!
Now, the next item on the agenda...packing up this apartment and moving into our new house!!!

Mexico 2011

2011-09-25T21:13:00.007-05:00

For about a year now, we have been talking about taking a 30/40 trip. A trip to celebrate my 30th birthday and my sister's 40th birthday. So we've been hounding our husbands about it and they act like they don't have time or money to do that so we just kind of drop it. And, when we think it's not going to happen, these little stinkers surprise us with a trip to Cabo! It just happened to fall on the week of my sister's 40th birthday which was perfect and I guess they've been planning this for some time! Now, a little back story on this entire adventure...When they sat us down, to surprise us-they make us think we are going to Amarillo, TX for a weekend at the Best Western Spa. Pretty sure Best Western and spa don't go together and we, as in Sheryl and I, were about to freak out. The silent kind of freaking out. I thought Sheryl was going to break down and bawl at the thought of going to Amarillo. I was just dying thinking about having to stay at the Best Western! Ha! No, I'm not a hotel snob, but I do have some cleanliness standards and the last time I was around a Best Western, my standards were not met!! Anyway, the little pranksters only led us to believe that little lie for about 5 minutes before revealing the truth! Whew!It was very relaxing which was exactly what I needed!

We went to this swanky restaurant on Sheryl's actual birthday. It overlooked the Sea of Cortez and we could see the famous Cabo Rocks...Los Arcos. This was our one and only venture away from the resort. We took it real easy while we were there!
Below, is the view from dinner every night at our resort.
We didn't really play in the ocean. The tides were a bit dangerous and it was pretty rocky. The pool view was perfect for me!
It wasn't all fun and games though. Trebor and Sheryl got a little sick. Michael had something but it didn't stop him. It hit me after we got home. Poor Trebor; poor, poor Trebor. He had it bad! But, he was a good sport despite all the jokes that were made!
The night before her birthday we went to the hotel's 'upscale' restaurant. It was not that impressive but they did give her a birthday dessert. Notice they spelled her name 'Sherry', not 'Sheryl'! ha!

Los Arcos

This was the sunset by the swanky restaurant on her birthday. Beautiful!

This was our resort...the Westin, not Best Western!
See the crab!
I have no idea where the 40/50 trip will be but for our 50/60 trip we are going to Barcelona because the Sagrada Familia should be completed that year and I've been claiming that since I was 25!
I am so thankful to our husbands for surprising us! I thoroughly enjoyed it and relaxed. I even read 4 books!!! 4!! I don't get 4 read in one year usually! I did miss our kids. It was our first time to be out of the country as a mom and dad and my first time away from Briggs more than 2 nights. I knew they were in good hands though at Grammy's! She was pooped after it was all said and done though! 2 kids is a lot of work! Thank you Grammy and Papa John!!!! Piper was so thrilled to see me. She told me she loved me about 100 times over the course of 2 days and shortly after she saw me she said, 'Mommy, I love you. I love you Mommy. I forgot that I loved you!" haha! So cute. Briggs wasn't so sure what was going on but he's glad to have me back. I can tell he is very leery of me leaving again b/c when we have been around my sister or new people this week, he hasn't strayed away from me too far and he keeps a close watch on me the entire time to make sure I don't slip out! Today, at church he bawled and bawled when I left him. It was so sad b/c he never does that!

Zoo Friends

2011-09-25T20:29:00.004-05:00

We went to the zoo last week with our friends Renna and Reagan. Their mom, Mendy, and I were roommates and friends in college...and friends in high school too but didn't know each other really well then. Anyway, we all are aware of Piper's fear of animals. But she had a HUGE breakthrough at the zoo this week!! She wanted to pet a goat and she did! She even fed the goat! Not only that, but she asked to go back and do it again and believe me, I let her! We had a fun time! This was our second time to go w/Mendy and the girls. The weather has been beautiful both times! We need to get us a zoo pass...great idea for Briggs for his birthday if anyone is wondering. Ha! Briggs didn't really care about touching the goats. See the one finger he's touching them with. Mendy had to force him to use his entire hand and he did not smile about it! I really do not blame him. Goats are gross! ha!
Piper loves the monkeys/gorillas. They are all monkeys to her! She wants to hold the baby and doesn't quite understand why we cannot! See, I'm telling you she is beginning to open up about the animals. But, she still doesn't really want to be around dogs!
At first, she was really cautious about being in with the goats. She was even telling Renna and Reagan not to do touch this and touch that until she warmed up to it all.
The OKC zoo is so nice and has improved so much over the years. You can go to a seal show, an elephant show, play on various playgrounds, see the animals, feed the giraffes, and there is a petting zoo (where the goats are) of farm animals. When I went to this zoo in college and as a kid the big animals, like the elephants, were always chained up. Now, they have a great place to roam and the animals are not as caged up. It's soooo much nicer!

And, we are still biting our nails...Any suggestions???
The girls had so much fun on the frog statues!
Reagan was loving on Briggs. Cute!

11 Months

2011-09-25T20:16:00.003-05:00

This little guy is almost One and I'm not ready for that! Briggs is what many might call, a dream baby! Sure, we've had a few rough moments...illnesses, teething, restless nights-but, his overall attitude and joy more than makes up for that hard stuff! He is a go-with-the-flow kind of kid and I really like that! I took him to the doctor 2 weeks ago because I thought he might have an ear infection--nope! But, I did find out he weighs 25 lbs! Big kid! That is why we are moving him on up to the forward facing big boy car seat you see above. He seemed pretty excited about it too! Sister was even more excited because she is the one who is actually getting a new seat--a high back booster seat and she thinks she is B-I-G!! Briggs is eating well which I'm sure you could have guessed that. He isn't a fan of mashed potatoes and doesn't really enjoy having the same thing over and over. For example, he will not eat baked chicken for 3 meals in a row even if I change everything else up on his plate. He had kind of a scary choking spell last month so I'm still cutting everything smaller than I probably need to but it does not hurt anything to do that. He's pulling up and just barely will 'walk' while we hold both of his hands. He squeals quite loudly especially if he is excited and sees his daddy! He can say mama, but only in times of extreme distress and he says dada or didi or dahhhdi all for 'daddy' and the only other thing we can make out so far is 'hiiiiiii' which is very airy and 'hidah' which we think must be 'hi' or some other form of baby greeting in his world! He babbles a lot and he moves his tongue side to side really fast while making noise and thinks it is so funny! He has not had a hair cut yet but it's time for the back of his hair to be trimmed b/c he's growing a groovy looking rat-tail mullet thing! Briggs sleeps from about 7:30/8-7/7:30 most mornings and is about to be on whole milk! This little baby is turning into a little toddler too fast!

Our Summer in Review

2011-09-12T15:47:00.006-05:00

This summer has been crazy, fun, busy, emotional, and full of great friends and family! We moved in July into a fully furnished apartment in Yukon after Michael started a new job with Mathena, Inc in El Reno. We are going to be moving once again at the end of September to Edmond in the Deer Creek School district where we found a house! Let the craziness continue! The apartment life is not for me! We are cramped up and I really don't know how people in London or New York City, etc. live in such small spaces with small children! Piper and Briggs are sharing a room and it hasn't been horrible but I would rather them be in their own room. Piper loves sharing a room though and I think she may have a hard time with being separated once we move again. Briggs adores her!
We have gotten to play with Lilly and Sophia a few times this summer since we live closer! We have also gotten to play with other friends here in the Metro and taken advantage of the zoo and so many other cool things a bigger city offers! That has been nice. Piper is already a mall rat! ha! And, we have seen all 3 sets of grandparents at some point this summer!

Yukon had free concerts in the park and the one cooler night this summer we went and it was so much fun! Their city park is wonderful and of course our little dancers loved listening and dancing to the music!
Our Ardmore friends, Carsyn and Connor came for a couple of visits this summer. We had a fun time with them. It was good for Piper to enjoy that familiarity!
Sophia really loves Briggs! Ha!

Piper drew on herself and it made her look like she had whiskers! Look at that sweet face!...and her tan!
And, I couldn't resist this sour face!
We are doing well despite all the adjusting! We've tried out some churches but haven't gotten connected since we'll just be moving again. I think once we move into our house and start getting involved Piper is going to do so much better. She hasn't done bad but it's been tough for her to have so much change and busyness all at once! Briggs doesn't have a clue anything is different! I did enroll Piper in a ballet class so that has been something she looks forward to every week. I'll post a picture of her soon! We love being so much closer to my sister and we see her and the kids often! Michael is loving his new job and the environment!

First OSU Football Game!

2011-09-12T15:29:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday our entire family of four had the opportunity to attend an OSU football game. This was Briggs' first football game! He had fun but grew tired of sitting on my lap and not being able to get down and crawl around plus it was way past his bedtime! Piper had a ball! She found a little 3 year old friend to play with the entire time. Piper is starved for friends right now as we are in transition so it is not abnormal to hear her say, "Will you play with me?" about 20 times in one hour to any kid that will look at her! She is a sweet girl who is going to be a loyal friend!
Side Note--See those cute Converse Briggs is chewing on! I purchased those at a consignment sale. They are a size 5 (which is huge) because I had his foot measured at Payless last month and they told me he was a size 5. Ummm, the size 5's are HUGE! I still made him wear them!

She walked and hopped up and down those stairs most of the night!

We did not have to pay for parking since Michael parked in the boonies, so he negotiated with a bicycle trolley guy and he took us back to our car for a good price. It would have been worth paying $20 to see Piper get as excited as she did! She loved it!

Standing Up!

2011-09-12T15:02:00.003-05:00

During August, Briggs began pulling up to his knees.
And, on September 1st, he pulled all the way up to his feet! He is a regular 'puller-upper' now! Walking is next! ahhh! Also, he stopped army crawling the first weekend of September and his crawling on all fours rather quickly now!

Splishy Splashy

2011-09-12T14:47:00.003-05:00

Photos taken in July, August, and SeptemberThe kids are in love with the water! Briggs loves bath time and crawls all around and pulls up on the sides now. You have to keep a close eye on him! He also loves drinking the bath water and the pool water. Yuck!
Piper is a fearless fish. After swim lessons in July, she just has improved at swimming every week. She will go under the water, open her eyes, hold her breath, and swim around. I'm so proud of her! She is reserved enough not to do anything crazy like go into the deep end, but brave enough to push herself! It's a perfect balance I believe!

The past few months we have had fun swimming in Aunt Sheryl's pool and at the apartment pool!! It has made this hot summer more bearable!

Daddy is the 'fun one' in the pool. Mama is the one who wants to work on her tan and relax!

First braid!

2011-09-11T22:39:00.003-05:00

Pictures taken August 9, 2011
I finally was able to braid a little strand of hair for Piper. She loved it and talks about getting braids in her hair almost daily! It was fun to get to braid it and enjoy her excitement in it! She wants long hair now (much to my dislike!). She is in love with her friend Lilly's long hair and how she gets to have braided! I think it is going to take F.o.r.e.v.e.r to grow Piper's hair out because it is so fine and she is twirling it to death lately and has started pulling it out when it gets knotted up soooo, we have a lot of short hair on one side and long hair on the other side. Poor girl looks like she took some scissors to her scalp but she hasn't! Bad habits take forever to die! If you have suggestions on hair twirling send my way!

Saying Goodbye..

2011-09-11T22:24:00.002-05:00

Pictures taken July 22, 2011

These are pictures of our last Friday park play date that we got to go to before we moved. It was a fun day for us! Kind of miss it...

Oscar!

2011-07-23T14:38:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: A friend in Norman offered to keep Oscar until we moved into a home and shortly after, a family in Ardmore offered to take him permanently so we have agreed to send him to Ardmore. I'm going to be taking him later in the month once I find out a date that works for the new family.

We are having such a hard time finding a new home or a temporary home for our dog Oscar! We cannot take him to the apartment with us and I've been asking everyone I know if they want/need a dog. No Luck!!! We're moving on Monday and have no plan. I really don't want to leave him at the pound and the Forever Friends in Ardmore isn't taking any animals right now. If you know anyone who's looking for a dog or if someone could shelter him for us for about 4 months please contact me!! He's a sweet little guy! 6 years old, neutered, full of energy, very protective of children and the family, outside dog, loves his crate! Let me know!!!!

Packing Up!

2011-07-17T22:23:00.002-05:00

Our house is 95% packed thanks to my sister coming down and getting us all whipped into shape. Michael had the worse job of all though...the garage in the 100+ heat! Seriously though, my sister is a machine! When she has a job to do, she gets it done! It's amazing! The moving truck comes on July 25th to load up our stuff and take it to storage. We are going to be living in a furnished apartment for a few months while I settle on a school district that I feel good about our kids being a part of and then begin serious house hunting! Olivia, my niece, came along to and played with Piper. Briggs hasn't been feeling well so he slept a lot or I was holding him.

And, isn't this the sweetest thing ever???? I looked over and he was patting her back while a movie was on and then he just rested it there. Briggs loves Piper!!

9 months

2011-07-17T22:15:00.002-05:00

Briggs turned 9 months! I only have 3 more months before he's 1. Sniff, sniff! Last week he pulled up on the stairs and he started sitting up on his own from the laying down position. He hasn't been pulling up anymore and he's still in practice mode with the sitting up but this boy is going to be mobile sooner than this sister was I think! Yikes!!!Briggs loves the water! I gave him a sink bath because he has been having a fever on and off for the last three days. It got up to 102 so I gave him a lukewarm bath to cool him down. He's been kind of miserable and sleeping a lot! I think it's either his teething or something viral b/c he has no other physical symptoms like runny nose or cough. He has lost his appetite which is a big deal because he loves his food!
These pictures turned out blurry but I love how you can see his enthusiasm in the poses! Sweet boy!

Independence Day

2011-07-04T18:25:00.003-05:00

For 4th of July, we visited Grandma & Grandpa in Texas for some lake fun!! Piper was a little fishy in the pool and Briggs loved his floaty. We were able to play with our cousins, Jonah & Maggie too!
The 2nd day we were there, Piper reluctantly agreed to ride on the boat with us. She was so afraid but faced her fears by even getting into the lake water and swimming for a few minutes!
Briggs was not a fan of the life jacket. It was pretty restricting. He fussed some, slept some, and even swam in the lake some.

At the end of the day, we were all tuckered out! We had a fun time swimming, tubing, and riding on the wave runner! Oh, and eating Grandma's yummy food! As I type this, I actually feel like I'm rocking in the water! Weird! Happy 4th of July!!!!

Sleepover fun!

2011-07-04T18:18:00.002-05:00

Piper hosted her first sleepover with a friend without the other mom spending the night last Thursday with her sweet friend Claire! They did soooo good! We took them out to eat and they played around the house that evening. They were begging to go to sleep at 8:30! I was going to let them stay up until 9! Michael gave them a 'bedtime' pep talk about not talking and going to sleep, etc, etc. And, they listened!! Both girls were out! Piper slept until 7:15 am trying to pounce Claire to wake up but she didn't budge! Claire finally woke up at 8:15 and then we got ready and headed to our last day of swim lessons, which is really just the play day for the Toddling Turtles class.
Piper did so good at swim lessons this year! She was much more brave than last year! I am very proud of her!

Bottle Baby!!

2011-07-04T18:13:00.002-05:00

The time has finally come when my child no longer needs me for survival! Briggs is officially a bottle sucking machine!!!!!! It's been 2 weeks now and there is no looking back. He sees the bottle an starts fussing for it! I can leave him now with no worries and actually have! He's currently drinking frozen breast milk but the supply is almost gone so I mixed up a 4 oz. bottle of formula today thinking there was no way he'd take it without a little breast milk mixed in. Nope, I was wrong. He sucked it dry and was begging for more!

Sold!

2011-06-30T13:16:00.003-05:00

Our beautiful house is under contract!! For the 5 of you still reading my blog and are not aware, Michael has accepted a position with a new company in El Reno, Oklahoma. We have been trying to sell our house for 5weeks now "by owner" might I add and as of this morning someone has signed a contract and the closing date is scheduled for August 1st. We are planning to rent in Yukon, OK until we can figure out which school district we want Piper to be in next year. Michael begins his new job on July 8th so the kids and I will be in Ardmore a little longer enjoying our last few weeks with friends here. Sniff, sniff! Big changes are coming our way!

Piper

2011-06-29T11:52:00.005-05:00

Piper has been 'my girl' this week. I need to document it b/c that usually is not the case these days! She wants to love on me and do things w/me. She has had the sweetest attitude this week and we have been having a good time. Each morning we have dropped Briggs off at my friends house so that I can take her to swim lessons. It has been so fun! She is a little fishy; rarely afraid of anything. It's quite a difference from last year! We have been letting her stay up a little later than Briggs most nights and she is relishing in that time with just Mom and Dad, even if she is playing alone!
Last week, she figured out how to peddle her tricycle. I think it is almost too small for her long legs already!
This is me saying, "Piper, let me take your picture." And her thinking quietly, "Ugh!"
Last week, we kept our friend Carsyn, while her mommy took big brother to swim lessons. Piper's mommy instincts kicked into high gear! Since then, she keeps trying to pick Briggs up. He's a little on the heavy side though! She still tries! Recently, she asked me if I was going to bring home another baby. I replied that I didn't know and asked her if she wanted another brother or sister. She said, yes! I was shocked b/c she wasn't too happy when Briggs came home! She told me she wanted a girl and Foofy would be her name! Ha! I don't know if there will be more babies but I know Foofy will not be my name of choice!
Another funny thing she did this week was I asked her if she wanted to be a mommy and she replied rather seriously, "No. I want to be a scary witch." What?? Great!! In her defense, she is obsessed with The Wizard of Oz still, many months after seeing the ballet! Ha. And, one day she asked me about my earrings and I told her one day she can have earrings too. I didn't tell her when and didn't discourage the thought of having them at a young age, but she exclaimed with so much enthusiasm and a gasp, "I get to get earrings when I'm a mommy too!!!" Haha! She has no idea that some girls get them when they are her age! So funny! I'll let her keep thinking that b/c I honestly do not want to take care of her ears and her trying to take the earrings out! We will wait on that for a while!

Wedding in Wisconsin

2011-06-22T14:09:00.005-05:00

Piper and Briggs now have an Uncle Stephen! Aunt Nat-Nat (Michael's stepsister) got married this past weekend in Sturgeon Bay, WI in Door County. Piper was a flower girl for the first time and she was a doll! I'm going to be real honest with you here! I didn't think there was much in Wisconsin...maybe some dairy farms and a lot of cheese. But it is stinking gorgeous there! I wish we would have stayed longer! The wedding, the family, the bride, the kids, the setting...everything.was.beautiful! To quickly tell you about the trip. It began Thursday morning at 1 am when I got out of bed to shower and get ready because I couldn't sleep any longer. (1 1/2 hrs max of rest that night); then we got the kids out of bed and straight into their carseats at 2:45 am. Piper never went back to sleep and kept whispering to me. At one point I encouraged her to go to sleep and she said, "Mommy, I'm excited!" Ahhh--sweet girl was so excited to ride on a bus (the shuttle bus) and an airplane! Briggs slept for 30 minutes in the car and 30 minutes in the plane but Piper didn't crash until we got our rental car in Milwaukee. Briggs crashed then too! Our flight was at 6 am. I think I was up from 1 am until 9 pm that day and slept maybe 45 minutes throughout the entire day! We did a little sight seeing along the peninsula of Door County (I guess that is where it was!) the first day and the rest of the time there was spent with family and at the indoor swimming pool or in our condo letting the kids nap so there would be no crabby attitudes! There still was! ha! We had a great time and our kids did fairly well on the plane rides! Go visit there! Congratulations Natalie and Stephen!

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-21T20:30:00.002-05:00

We surprised Michael a week early for Father's Day because I knew that we'd be flying on Father's Day and it would be hard for me to make an effort. So, instead I got up early the Sunday before and made him breakfast in bed and the kids and I gave him his presents then, but saved his card for the real day. He was completely surprised and not expecting it!His banner...much cuter in person!
Daddy with his two favorite munchkins! WE LOVE HIM!!!!
Look at his little faux hawk! (not the dirty, messy bib!)

8 Months!

2011-06-21T20:22:00.004-05:00

Briggs turned 8 months last week. He loves to crinkle his nose just like he's doing in the picture and give you the biggest grin. He thinks it is so funny! It is pretty adorable! This week he has started taking a bottle! I have not nursed him in over 24 hours and I think he is finally realizing that the bottle is going to be his friend so he'd better embrace it! He took his 1st plane ride last week to Wisconsin to experience his first wedding! He also started waving in the last week! We love having our Briggsy bear a part of our family. I can't remember what we did without him!!
Update: I took Briggs in for his 6 month vaccinations that are 2 months overdue! He weighs 22 lbs, 12 oz. and is 29 inches long. The nurse said, "You aren't missing too many meals, are you?"

Summer!

2011-06-09T16:06:00.003-05:00

They love each other! Yay!He's really good at sitting up!
Briggs hangs out in his pack and play a lot when we are playing and working outside!
Piper loves playing with the water hose and in the pool but not the sprinklers or splash pad!
Briggsy loves to eat! He started clapping his hands this week! And, throwing his food or toys on the ground because it's funny. It's not funny to me!!
Olivia, our cousin, taking a bath with Piper. After living in our house for 2 years, Piper finally agreed to let me turn the jets on in the bath and she loved it!
They both love the wagon!
We are having a busy, but fun summer! Briggs is growing like a weed which is normal! I noticed the other night that his 18 month footie pj's are starting to get to small in the feet! Is that a sign of the future!!??!! He loves to eat! I've been giving him table foods and he handles them like a champ! He has 2 teeth on the bottom, 1 top side and the other top side has just broken through. He's going to look funny without his 2 front teeth! ha! He loves his sissy so much! Piper is having a fun summer. She's already gotten to stay with her cousins, have a sleep over with a friend, and have cousins stay at her house! Everyday she asks me where we are going! She's pretty much out of diapers during nap time but not at night yet! She loves the water and playing outside. I can tell a complete difference in how I felt last summer being pregnant versus this summer not being pregnant. I have energy!!!!! And, I love the warm sun too! I find myself thinking, 'why didn't I do this last summer?' and I realize it was because I was miserably hot and uncomfortable! Hope your summer is off to a great beginning too!

Piper's Funnies...

2011-05-30T20:39:00.002-05:00

Tonight, we took Piper to the pet store because it is, after all, her favorite thing! She loves it! During her bath tonight she said with a big sigh, "Whewww. I had a long day at the pet store!" Me-"Really, what did you do at the pet store that made you so tired?" P-"I was an animal." Me-"What animal were you?" P-"I was naked (nekkid) just like the mice!"

Girls Night!

2011-05-21T22:20:00.002-05:00

Piper and I had ourselves a little Girls Night Out on Monday. We went to Pink Swirls (our new yogurt shop) and the Pet Store! She was soooo excited! I told her we were just going to get ice cream so she took her time savoring every bite! I let her get mostly whatever she wanted. She picked chocolate yogurt with gummy worms, sprinkles, and nerds. Gag! But towards the end of her bowl I told her we were going to the pet store next, she was done eating and practically out the door! She loves the pet store which is such an irony because most animals freak her out. At a friends house, a cat jumped and scared her and you would have thought her arm was cut off by the way she was screaming! The same thing happened at another friends house when she playing on the swing set and saw a small dog in the neighbors yard! She even freaks out around Oscar! And, don't get me started on her feelings about cows and horses! But, a pet store she loves! Probably b/c there is glass between her and the creature! Anyway, as we were walking to the pet store she begins explaining to me, "I will go inside the pet store and get a cart and push the cart around and look at the animals. Okay? Okay!" Ha! They have child size shopping carts. And she did exactly that! It was so much fun spending time with her. She is so funny!

Baby Dedication

2011-05-21T21:57:00.004-05:00

Baby Dedication at our church fell on Briggs' 7 month birthday! We tried taking a family picture but none of them turned out perfect! Here's the best one! Ha!!
Piper did not like us being on the stage without her. She sat on Grammy's lap with the most 'almost in tears' look I have ever seen. And, then when they dismissed us from the stage to go take our babies to the nursery, she lost it I guess so Grammy brought her to the nursery also! Poor thing didn't want to be left out! There were about 20 babies dedicated! As for Briggs' 7 month update, here goes: He can sit up all by himself!! And, he sits up in the bathtub if I lay a hand towel down in the water! He is army crawling everywhere! He is eating a ton!! I started giving him table food in addition to the homemade baby food and he is in love. He even has started fussing and grunting in between bites because I'm not feeding him fast enough!! He is chewing on his foot which makes it interesting when trying to explain to big sister that she can't do that but he can??!! He's starting to sleep through the night again and if he doesn't I've been making him cry it out which lasts anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. He loves being kissed on and loved on by anyone! He's only feared others twice and hasn't shown any separation anxiety yet but he does love his mama, but oh--he lights up when daddy comes home! Probably because he's tired of dealing with two dramatic females all day! :-) He loves a sippy cup filled with water but when I've tried to put milk in one he acts like I'm feeding him poison! ha! I read in Babywise 2 that most 7 month olds can wave bye-bye and kind of freaked b/c I haven't even practiced on that with him so you will be seeing me do that a lot with him! Let's be honest...you don't 'educate' your 2nd the same way as your 1st! He does not like his jumperoo anymore so I'm using the pack and play more to entertain him especially while we play outside or I've got to work outside. Briggs is still a pretty content little guy!

Feeling Much Better

2011-05-10T16:18:00.002-05:00

This little guy is feeling much better for the first time in over a month! For the past few days he's been 'worming' across the floor but today I'd call it army crawling and he's getting fast!! He hones in on cords rather quickly! So, I'm trying to get everything out of reach and out of sight! He also has started snacking on Cheerios but can't figure out how to pick them up yet so he needs assistance. He is so close to sitting up alone! And, he has started making this really cute fishy face and then smacks his lips like the sound of a kiss! If he wants my attention then he moans at me until I look at him and gives me the biggest grin. His little personality is popping out more and more!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T10:48:00.004-05:00

Mother's Day was great this year. After 1 1/2 months Briggs finally slept through the night until 7 am! That was the best! We were able to relax and just enjoy each other. Michael made us cinnamon toast and they gave me a gift certificate to a nail salon here so I will be cashing that in soon because Mama needs some time off! Both of our kids came down with hand, foot, & mouth disease last week (yes, another illness we get to deal with!) so we have been in lock down quarantine at our house. We didn't venture out to church because I do not want to infect anyone else! I think we will definitely be in the clear by Wednesday! As of yesterday, Piper was clear and Briggs' spots are significantly better! I have started the disinfecting process this morning! Every room is getting super cleaned! And, another reason to super clean--Briggs is on the move like a little worm. He can get to what he wants fairly quickly!
The most adventurous event of the day occurred last night. We had some super winds and they blew the vinyl siding off of the porte cochere...I'm trying to be fancy...the carport! Michael was out of town so you should have seen me running around like a crazy person trying not to blow away picking up siding pieces! I've got siding in the garage and siding in my house. A guy is coming today to look at it! My eyes are still irritated from all the dust and junk that blew out of the rafters! Luckily, I moved my car right before it happened so it wasn't a total disaster!

Piper is 3!

2011-05-02T14:16:00.005-05:00

Piper turned three years old last Saturday! Wow, I can't even believe it! We had a 3 day celebration around here and she loved every second of it! On Thursday, I took miniature chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and toy rings on them! She requested 'brown cupcakes' for her MDO. This was the best party. It lasted 10 minutes but she was in awe of the fact that I brought the cupcakes she asked for, they sang to her and that her teachers gave her a book, birthday hat, and a sucker! If the word 'fantastic' was in her vocabulary, I think she would have said it was a fantastic party!No, she doesn't have a missing tooth, it is just chocolate cupcake!!
Her friends at MDO.
Piper's sweet teachers, Ms. Shirley & Ms. Phyllis.
Then on Friday we had our friend birthday part at the park. Above is her dressed all cute in her birthday hat but it was too windy that day to wear the hat or to light her candles. Actually, it was too windy to even go to the park but our sweet friends braved it just for her.
This is Piper and Anna Kate eating their pink cupcakes and drinking juice. Piper asked for pink cupcakes for her park party! She didn't realize she could ask for a gift or something else. She just asked for cupcakes!
On Saturday (her actual birthday) we played it a lot more low key! The four of us went out for donuts, then at lunch she got another pink cupcake with the green candles she requested! We gave her an art easel and she loves it!
She did ask when/where her party was and if friends were coming so I think having two parties in a row confused her....why not have a 3rd! Ha!

I think my nose grew! This isn't the most flattering picture but we are making memories, right!!
After the donut shop, Daddy worked in the yard and Piper helped! It was a relaxing Saturday and I know Piper enjoyed it!
Happy 3rd Birthday to my precious little Piper. You are so ornery and strong willed but so sweet and sensitive at the same time! I love you to pieces!!

Briggs being big!

2011-05-02T14:05:00.002-05:00

Briggs weighed in a whopping 21 pounds at the doctor last week at his check up! He is pneumonia free!!! He did, however, have his first ear infection. This poor guy isn't getting much of a break but he sure is happy despite his illnesses! He's getting better at sitting up but still hunches over! He did get up on all fours the other day for what seemed like minutes but was only seconds. Yikes, I'm not ready for a crawler! Being sick has spoiled him during the night b/c he is regularly getting up 1-2 times a night and I feel like a walking zombie some days. After this weekend, I will be starting baby boot camp! I'll need lots of coffee and chocolate to get me through b/c it's going to be tough listening to him cry it out as well as dealing with big sister getting awoken in the middle of the night or early in the morning! But, it's worth it in the long run b/c I love my sleep too much to let this continue!!

Easter 2011

2011-05-02T13:51:00.002-05:00

For Easter, we stayed with my sister's family in Edmond. We went to their church, Henderson Hills Baptist on Saturday night. On Sunday morning the kids got to see what the Easter bunny left, which sadly, I forgot to get a picture of! We dyed eggs after that but had no hunt because it was raining! More family came in for the day and we ate a delicious meal prepared by my sister...she's a fabulous cook! It was a nice weekend! We also wrapped up our Resurrection eggs which was a huge hit with Piper. She's still asking to open eggs before bed! Happy Easter. HE is Risen!

Michael's birthday & Our first Easter egg hunt!

2011-04-18T23:46:00.004-05:00

Michael turned 33 on April 15th which is the same day Briggs turned 6 months! He was able to take a fatigue day that night, which means he had another night off during this turnaround, making it his 3rd or 4th day off in about 1 1/2 months! We didn't party like crazy or anything! It was quite low key! Michael wanted Luigi's pepperoni pizza (best and cheapest pizza in town!) and for me to make him his favorite chocolate cake (that fell apart just a bit.) It's representative of my state of mind this month! So, we ate a lot, played with the kids and vegged out on the couch as we caught up on all our shows! He kept saying, "It's so nice to just lay on the couch and relax." He doesn't get to do that much. He gets home about 6 or 7am, goes straight to bed and then wakes up at 3 pm, plays with the kids, eats dinner, and leaves at 5:15 pm! Not much lounging going on! Poor guy! Piper has been a snugly bug lately. I love it!
The day before the birthday celebration we had a little Easter egg hunt with our OPAT group (Oklahoma Parents as Teachers).
Sweet boy just enjoying the view!
I didn't realize that Piper left the house in her hand-me-down, too big, on the wrong feet, flip flops! Nice!
Michael was able to go with us b/c it was about 45 minutes before he had to go to work! It was super windy that day and right after the hunt it started raining like mad, then hailing, then tornadoing...not a word I know but it seemed to flow nicely. The sirens were going off by the time I got home. Awesome!
Piper and Claire. This was the last smile I got from her because the hunt stressed her out. She still didn't totally understand the fun to be had in hunting eggs. I think it actually produces anxiety b/c of the pressure to find them even when they are laying in an open field not hidden! I am beginning to see this in her personality when it comes to learning and understanding things.

6 month picture comparison

2011-04-18T23:35:00.003-05:00

Piper at 6 monthsBriggs at 6 months
Wow, she looks so much smaller. You can tell they have completely different skin coloring and hair. I'm afraid he is going to be my pale child. I looked back at my records and Piper weighed 16 lbs, 7 oz. at 6 months! Well, that's what he weighed when he was 2 months old! I'm laughing out loud right now! They have to same nose, same chin, and same cheeks, and maybe the same lips but I think his top one is going to be thinner than hers is. It's fun to compare them at the same age!

Briggs is 6 months!

2011-04-18T23:17:00.003-05:00

I can't believe my baby is 6 months already! He is an extremely happy baby even when he's teething and sick! He loves watching his sister and pretty much any person at that. He's only been afraid of people on a couple of times. He does love his mama very much!!! He is in a size 4 diaper still but very close to a size 5. At night, he wears a size 6 to prevent any leaks! He wears a 24 month romper and 18 month pj's. He's in 12 month pants but they are too long and almost too tight in the tummy! He rolls over but not constant rolling to get anywhere. He scoots across the floor to get what he wants! He is always chewing on a toy! He cannot sit up even in the boppy pillow. He's too heavy for that! And, his cute chubby thighs won't allow him to sit in a bumbo seat because they get stuck! But he does great in his high chair and his jumperoo. He only sits in a bouncer seat at church because every time I put him in ours he is not a fan! He loves being on his tummy and does the 'airplane' a lot. He is a drool machine!! His first tooth came in two weeks ago and his second one just popped through! He is suppose to be (and was) nursing 4 times a day and eating 3 solid meals also but when he became sick with bronchitis and then pneumonia he has been getting an additional 2-3 nursing periods in the middle of the night. I do not know how much he weighs yet but my guess is he'll weigh in close to 22 pounds. Piper barely weighed 20 lbs when she turned 1!!! His hair is light, blonde and I am pretty sure his eyes are going to stay blue! He jabbers and says dadadada all the time and a very 'airy' hi. When sister is not around he squeals and growls a lot! When she's around he's much more quiet! So far, he's eaten squash, carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes for veggies. And, peaches, pears, and bananas for fruits along with rice cereal as a daily staple! He gobbles up his food quite quickly! Piper is going to have to learn to eat faster because brother will be stealing her food pretty soon! To brag on him, every time I pick him up for the nursery at church they say, "He's such a happy guy. He's so easy going."etc...but on Sunday night Ms. Mary said, "I want to know what you ate while you were pregnant b/c I think every mom should eat what you ate so that their babies would be as good as he is!" Too bad it wasn't that easy! He still has pneumonia but the xrays, today, showed that it has improved 50% and we will begin breathing treatments tomorrow. We are so ready to be back to great health and sleeping through the night once again! Despite his illness, he is still a super happy little guy! I love him so much!

Our Resurrection Eggs!

2011-04-13T21:43:00.008-05:00

Before I talk about the eggs---this sleeping prince has pneumonia!! Sniff, sniff! Thankfully, it's just in the early stages and the doctor said that it's viral so antibiotics can't really do anything for it. So it kind of has to run it's course, but I've got to keep a close eye on him and do a few things to help break it up. If it gets worse I'm to page the doctor; otherwise, we will be going back for a second chest x-ray on Monday. I mentioned earlier that he had bronchitis and it got better but then Sunday and Monday night the coughing got worse so I called Tuesday morning and explained the symptoms. 1 hour later, the nurse called and directed me to go to the hospital for a chest x-ray. I was a bit scared! Finally, today I found out the results. He is acting great during the day. You wouldn't know anything was really wrong other than the occasional cough and rattle in his back and chest, but night time is harder for sure! Now for our Resurrection eggs! I borrowed this from these two blogs, The Macs and Breezy Acres Farm and this website here! Anyway, before you get to thinking I'm so on the ball and just a super woman...I'M NOT! I really wanted to purchase the store bought version and do it the easy way but forgot I was going to do that b/c of all the crazy stuff going on right now so I scrambled around to figure out how I could make my own b/c I feel like it's important, especially this year, to begin preparing Piper for Easter since we have so much Easter bunny stuff going on, which I think is really fun too! It would have been much easier to purchase them but I'm patting myself on the back that I actually accomplished a crafty/learning thing! If you looked at my house right now you'd be saying, "Oh, Honey. Can I help you?" because you'd feel sorry for us that me and my family are living in such disarray! I'm not kidding! I didn't do ours exactly like those websites and I'd show you what I did exactly but 'copy and paste' isn't working on blogger right now! Tonight I started it with Piper at bedtime and explained that we get to do something special every night before bed, etc...She was so thrilled! I read her The Story of Easter book we have and then started with Egg #1 which contained a donkey to represent the story of Jesus' triumphal entry and we read Matthew 21:1-9. Piper listened okay and then here is a summation of our dialogue...P-"We loooove Jesus." S-"Yes we do." P-"Where is Jesus?" S-(w/out getting too deep) "He is in Heaven watching over us." P-"When will we see him?" S-"Soon I hope" (thinking to myself, "sooner I hope considering this crazy week!!") P-"We will see him on Friday!!" (in her 'I know I'm right...this is an exact fact'..kind of voice!) She can be so ornery but this melts me!!

Hoppin' Around

2011-04-12T07:51:00.003-05:00

I think the title of this post explains it all...we've been hopping all over the place the past few weeks while Michael is busy with turnaround. It's been fun but I'm ready to relax at home for a bit!
We went to Clinton and stayed with Chandra and with Grammy. Chandra and I were able to get pedicures together thanks to Rusty and Sherry for watching our kiddos. Ahhh, so relaxing! Piper, Lilly, Chandra, and I went to the ballet in Weatherford and Piper LOVED it! She has been talking about it for 2 weeks now!
Piper and Grammy before we left for the ballet. What is that weird face Piper!!
Briggsy bear is so cool! So laid back and easy going. But, he's had a rough couple of weeks getting his first tooth and then getting diagnosed with bronchitis! This week he's about to get his second tooth and the coughing isn't cleared up still! We haven't slept through the night in two weeks and Mama is tired!!!
I cut Piper's hair! It's short! No more piggies in the back.
We stayed with our cousins, Jonah & Maggie last weekend. Piper had so much fun! I helped host a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, Natalie. She's getting married in June! During the shower, Piper got to hang out with her uncle, grandpa, cousin, and future uncle and was delighted!! When I told her she was going to go w/Uncle Matt, Jonah, and Grandpa her eyes got so big and she said, "I get to be with 3 boys!!??!!" Oh brother! Her love of guys has not diminished!!
And, she has been loving her new jammies from grandma and grandpa because "they have short sleeves!" It's the little things in life that excite her!!

To Grandmother's House we go...

2011-03-30T21:09:00.004-05:00

I love these pictures!

This little guy cut his 1st tooth yesterday! He woke me up at 4:15 in the morning and would not go back to sleep! I couldn't figure out why or what to do and finally felt his gums and there it was! He got a heavy dose of tylenol and finally went back down at 6 am!

We went to Grandpa & Grandma's house yesterday and spent the night! Thanks to Grandpa and his awesome camera, we have pictures to document the visit! I'm getting pretty bad about taking pictures when we visit the grandparents! Piper loved being there and stayed B.U.S.Y. the entire time! She loves to go, go, go! Anytime we say "Grandma & Grandpa's house..." she corrects us and says, "and Sandy's house too!" On the drive back home both kids did so good! Briggs wasn't feeling well and he slept from the minute we left their driveway all way home and then an additional 45 minutes in his carseat after we arrived home! Piper slept for 2 hours also. Ahhh, peace!

Look what have been doing!

2011-03-30T20:17:00.003-05:00

We are staying extra busy, trying not to go crazy during this turn-around! Ugh! I'm ready for Michael to be home at night and on the weekends with us! However, his first day off was last Friday night and we hired a sitter for the very first time!! I went to a wedding and he got the kids bathed and dressed for bed! Then after they went to bed the sitter came and we got to go out to eat and to a movie! It was fun. Now, we are looking forward to his next day off which should be in about a 10 days!Daddy loving on little man!
This past Saturday I took Piper on a little field trip with our OPAT (Oklahoma Parents As Teachers) group to the fire station. She liked it a lot! I was so proud of her for not being a afraid of the big trucks and loud noises!

My friend Kristen and I are starting to do 'school' with our girls once a week. We started this week with the letter E and the number 1. Claire knows all her letters pretty much and Piper is just now learning hers. We read "Ella the elegant elephant" and I made these elephant trunks and ears for them to dress up in and they were necklaces to be "elegant!" (Dollar tree did not have grey felt so that is why they are white and red!) I also made scrambled eggs as part of our lunch and we exercised! The school stuff only lasted 30-45 minutes and the girls played the rest of the time! They had a lot of fun!

5 month comparison

2011-03-26T07:54:00.005-05:00

Piper & Briggs at 5 months. They look more alike than I thought at this point than I thought. But I can definitely see some difference too!

5 months!

2011-03-22T20:29:00.002-05:00

Briggs turned 5 months on March 15th. Where has the time gone? Isn't he big?? He's doing so much; Eating his 3 meals, rolling over, playing with toys, being very vocal, teething...Actually, his first tooth has broken through but then his gums have become so swollen that and the tooth went back in so I'm waiting for it to truly break through the skin. He's handling it like a champ! His two favorite toys are the jumperoo and the activity mat but he's pretty content wherever. He's not too fond of the bouncy seat anymore b/c he's a bit big for it now. I'm guessing he weighs 20 or 21 pounds! He loves his sister and squeals with delight when she is being silly with him. He pretty much loves anyone right now! Briggs is full of smiles most of the time. His schedule is all messed up b/c we have been pretty busy so his napping isn't consistent right now but he is sleeping 10-11 hours a night! He doesn't like to travel in his car seat for long distances but I'm learning the best time of the day to travel with him. He loves being on his belly and is pushing up with his arms. He lights up when I sing to him. Oh, I love this little man so much! Next month, he'll be 6 months old, Michael will be turning 33 and Piper will be turning 3! We are going to have a lot going on around here!

Children's Museum

2011-03-22T20:04:00.006-05:00

Last week was Oklahoma's Spring Break so all of our regularly scheduled activities were cancelled. My sister invited us to join her and her two youngest at the Children's Museum in Seminole. Basically, it is a big warehouse sized building with tons of centers to play at and a whole lot of outdoor stuff as well, including a train ride. It was cooooool! And, I want to go again and again! Piper had a blast and Briggs was so content hanging out. There were a lot of kids b/c of Spring Break but we still enjoyed it!They had self face painting.
A real fire truck along w/the dress up uniform!
A surgery center complete with operating room attire!
Can't resist a sleeping baby photo!
My favorite center...the mechanic shop! So cool! This is Anna, my 9 year niece!
A news anchor desk. You could see yourself on the television screen.
Me going crazy...not really...just me being silly!
A dentist office!
Piper's snack break and one of the few smiles on camera I could capture!
Mechanic Piper!
My 5 year niece, Olivia, ringing up groceries at the "Homeland." It was the most popular center!
Piper posing with her veggies she is going to purchase!
The employ helping Piper type her name in Braille. Cool, huh!
Briggs just hanging out.
My sister, Sheryl and her two girls.
Like I mentioned, we had a blast. They had so many activities that I didn't even photograph like a mock courtroom, building block center, a real airplane cockpit that the kids could pretend to be a pilot, bubble blowing room with life size bubbles, jungle gym, a real ambulance, and even a classroom that you could pretend to be a teacher or a student, etc, etc! So fun!

Big Boy Food!

2011-03-22T19:57:00.002-05:00

Look at those cheeks! He has his daddy's cheeks I think!
This is Briggs eating peas for the 1st time about a week ago. Since then he has begun eating 3 meals a day in addition to nursing. So, for breakfast he has baby rice cereal; lunch he has one veggie; and dinner he has 1-2 veggies and rice cereal. He is really doing well. He loves his 'homemade' peas better than the store bought baby food. So far, he has tried green beans, peas, and butternut squash. I'm going to get busy on the baby food making process this week and have a lot stored up in the freezer. I forgot how easy it is to make! And, in the next week or two he'll get to try fruit!

All Tuckered Out!

2011-03-22T19:55:00.001-05:00

March For Babies!

2011-03-14T18:22:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year again and I'm asking you to consider helping me raise some money for Team Laughlin in the annual March of Dimes Walk that we will be participating in on May 7th! This is the 2nd year for me to be involved and I'm so glad that I can be able to support our friends!

In 2009, my friend Mendy gave birth to her twin daughters, Renna and Regan, at 28 weeks premature. They are now healthy and happy little girls that are about to turn 2. We are walking in honor of them to help raise money to support programs and fund research that help moms have healthy full-term babies! If you would be interested in helping us please visit my page on the MOD website here! (the donation tool is located to the right of your screen) Or mail a check to my home address!

My goal is only $50 so if I can surpass that it would be awesome! The team goal is $2500!

You can visit Mendy's blog here!

Thanks for considering helping us out!

Piper's Funny Sayings

2011-03-14T18:08:00.002-05:00

I know I've said a million times that Piper has been saying some funny stuff. I need to write a weekly post about her funny sayings but I don't have a catchy post title for it. Any ideas??

So here's the 2 funny things I heard today!

"Piper do you want sauce or parmesan cheese with your pasta?" "I want the farmer and cheese, please." "What did you call it?" "Farmer cheese. I want the farmer cheese." "Oh, right. Farmer cheese. Gotcha!" (she was so serious too as if she was saying parmesan correctly!)

"Piper, mommy is going to go lay Briggs down for a little nap. You stay down here." "Okay, Mommy. You be safe."

Sweet Cheeks

2011-03-11T06:33:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday Everyone!

My Little Pups!

2011-03-10T21:28:00.004-06:00

We went to a birthday party last month for a one year friend and it was a Puppy Party! That is Piper and her friend Connor dancing to the music that accompanied a short picture slide show of the birthday boy. They were hilarious to watch b/c they were definitely grooving! My friend made these adorable puppy ears for all the kids to take home. Isn't she creative!! Piper loves her ears! She had so much fun at this party b/c she got to help the birthday boy open his presents. I had to remind her as she was getting started that the toys were not for her to take home; they were his toys and she was only helping! Don't my kids look so cute! Piper Poodle and Boxer Briggs is what I call these 2 photos! Sommer Maytubby took all the pictures at the birthday party. She is the same photographer who took our family pictures after Briggs was born. I think Briggs' blue eyes are so beautiful in the photo!

And, the party ended with a sleepy little guy! I love pictures of sleeping babies, especially mine!

Bathtime Buddha!

2011-03-10T13:15:00.004-06:00

I just switched Briggs from this inclined seat we have to this froggy bath seat we owned w/Piper and I LOVE IT!!!! It's the best and he really enjoys bath time. In the other seat, he was about to roll out of it and into the water. This keeps him in place and up higher where he can watch and smile at Piper.
Check out the thighs!!Obviously this pic below is not bath time. Just wanted to show you how he's constantly chewing on something! He can really grasp things now and has been reaching for my shirt, necklaces, and face as much as he can! I'm sad he's getting so big!!!

Sunday

2011-03-08T22:53:00.003-06:00

Grammy & Papa John came for a last minute visit on Sat/Sunday. They were here for about 24 hours and then went home. It was nice to see them and Piper said, "Don't go!" Ha!

I loved the kid's outfits on Sunday so I'm showing them off! Chandra got Briggs this sweater vest and I love it. It is 12-18 months and I think he'll be able to wear it for Easter too! Yay!
Piper has her backpack on in this pic b/c we were about to leave for 'Big' church on Sunday night. It was her 2nd time to sit in service and she did great. I talked to her about whispering to us and not talking, etc. She kept saying on the way there, "I will whisper okay?!" Luckily, for her, it was the kids musical that night so she got to listen to music most of the time, which we all know she loves!
She was really into it...See this serious face! That is her picking at her lip, which has become a really bad habit of hers. I don't know how to break it. She's also started biting her nails to the nubbins...not good! She cracked us up at one point because we let her stand up and she did this real quick booty shake that was straight off of a J-Lo music video or something. Michael and I were trying to contain our laughter but it was hard! I don't know where she gets her moves but it's not from us!
Daddy surprised her with ice cream at Braum's for being so good during church and she hasn't gone a day without telling someone, "I was good at big church so I got ice cream!" Makes me smile! The Lord has really been showing me some great lessons lately with Piper. I can get really frustrated with her constant disobedience in a certain area and be thinking to myself, "Why does she keep doing that? How many times do I need to go over this? etc., etc. and then the Lord so gently whispers, "Shelly, how is that any different than what you are doing to me in this area (fill in the blank). Ohhhhh, (big sigh) He gives us children to teach us so many lessons and allows us an itty bitty glance into what our sin does to Him. I've got a lot to learn and a long way to go! But, praise Jesus that I don't have to carry that burden on my own!

Catching Up!

2011-03-08T22:40:00.006-06:00

Our life continues to be crazy...can't you tell?? (I'm writing this after we had to deal w/a few flames in our oven tonight!! Crazy is just the beginning!)
We are enjoying our last few days of 'normal' around here. At the refinery where Michael works they have a scheduled Turnaround, which means that some of the units, if not all, are shut down and maintained. This particular turnaround is a long one....40 days give or take! So, Michael has the night shift and he'll be starting that later this week. He'll work 6 pm-6 am everyday 7 days a week. He'll get one night off after 14 or 15 days and then does that again for another 14 or 15 days straight. The good news is that he'll wake up in the afternoon around 2-3 pm so we'll get to see him in the middle of the day each day instead of at 6 pm. But, 40 days is a long time and he won't have the weekends off. Pray for us during this time if you think of it! Piper does not like it when her daddy is not here at bedtime...and neither does mama!
Briggs tried the swing outside for the first time last week. The occasion did not seem to phase him! He's soooo laid back!
He does love his sissy! Do you see that grin below as he looks at her. He lights up like that any time she gives him attention or even when she talks in his general direction! They both love each other a lot!
Piper is into "toe jamming" now. Gross I know! But, remember I'm documenting the 'memories'!!
Briggs can sit in the bumbo chair now. He always seems to find his feet while sitting in this chair! Piper's thighs can fit in this thing better than his!! Ha!
Daddy went skiing a couple of weeks ago in Angel Fire and brought Piper and I t-shirts back home.
Piper is now up to 30 lbs. She's gained 2 in the last month! She's eating like a horse and loves her meat most days! At Briggs' 4month checkup he weighed 19 lbs even! It is getting challenging lugging him around!

Weekend Trip

2011-03-08T07:12:00.002-06:00

On the last weekend of March my best friend, Chandra, and I loaded up our kids and made the drive to Bentonville, AR to visit our friend Kari and her little girl Sarah Jane. We knew we were a bit crazy for loading up 4 kids 3 and under but we knew we could do it! We did it alright, and we're still tired! Ha! No, it was a good trip and good to see Kari. Chandra and I both agreed we were glad we did it but we don't want to do it again any time soon. Kari is pregnant with her 2nd baby girl so we helped her prepare some freezer meals and make a few decisions about the nursery. I think Kari and SJ were in shock over the increase in noise at their house while we were there. SJ is so quiet! But with a 2 and 3 year old it does not stay quiet long!! While Chandra and I were away, both of our hubbys were on a ski trip with 2 other guys from high school.The weather was chilly that weekend and we needed to get our big girls out of the house so we went to a mall with an indoor play area. While we were there, Chandra discovered an event going on so we took all the kids to see and it was a heart disease awareness event. They had lots of dancers and audience participation. Here's all 5 kids...don't mind the random woman looking into the camera!
Piper and Lilly got to dance with this group. These dancers were more 'natural' can we say but our girls had fun with them!
We stayed 2 nights and then made the drive back home on Sunday. On our way we stopped in Tulsa to visit our friend Lindsey. Here's the big kids on the front porch. James, Piper, Kinley, and Lilly. Lindsey's baby, Mallory, was sleeping and Briggs was being held at the moment. We stayed for 2 hours I think and these kids managed to drag almost every toy that they owned out into the living room it seemed!
We made it to Edmond and Chandra went home and I stayed one night at my sister's. While her kids went to school on Monday we ran some errands and ate yummy sushi. I think Piper enjoyed playing by herself for a few hours at Sheryl's. This is her being silly with the goggles!

Funny!

2011-02-20T20:16:00.002-06:00

I wish I had a picture to document tonight but I didn't take my camera! We took Piper to 'big church' tonight for the first time. We're beginning that training process! She did really good for her first time. She lasted 40 min. 10 minutes of that was the sermon. She thought she saw a woman she knows and tried to run to her, I grabbed her hand, and she screamed! We made a quick exit to the nursery to say the least!! Michael took her in to sit down while I dropped Briggs off at the nursery. He said she kept looking around and started whispering un-audibly so he said, "What?" After a bit, she finally said in a louder whisper, "Where's God?" Then during the baptism she was really confused. She thought the girl was still in the water. She thought the girl was drinking the water, and I think at one point she called her a god-girl. We tried explaining to her that it was called baptism and that happens after we accept Jesus into our life but of course that is still way above her level of reasoning. Anyway, it was cute to see how 'in awe' she was of the new experience. Next time, I'll come with even better snacks and better activities to occupy her! I could tell she felt like a big girl tonight and she really was!

Big Boy!

2011-02-20T16:26:00.002-06:00

Briggs has graduated to the big boy high chair! He can now join us during dinner time at eye level instead of on the floor in his bouncer! I swear he looks like me as a baby in this picture but I can't ever see it in person; only in pictures! Briggs is continuing to improve as he eats his cereal. He has been swallowing it pretty good and he was starting to act like the amount I was giving him was not enough so I've increased it, but he is still only eating it once a day.
He continues to be all smiles. He loves to 'talk' and has really started to growl loudly! I think he's beginning to realize that if he wants to be noticed, he's got to be louder than big sister! Our house is not one for quiet people to come for a visit!
And lastly, he's been rolling from his tummy to his back in the crib at nap time and night time. I know, I know...I break the rules of the American Academy of Pediatrics because you are not suppose to have a baby sleeping on their tummy but I do! The rolling over has been somewhat of a problem this week because it is preventing him from getting all his rest! Sometimes he will fall asleep on his back and other times he'll just lay there and talk and talk until he gets bored and starts to fuss a lot! He'll get used to it soon though I'm sure of that!

Bath Buddies

2011-02-16T19:52:00.003-06:00

Piper and Ellie taking a bath! Can you see my child's personality shining through in these photos??? Ellie's mom and dad watch our kids on Valentine's night so we could have a date and we watched Ellie while they went on a date! Piper was so excited to play with her two days in a row and not go to bed until 10 pm both nights!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T14:00:00.004-06:00

Rose are red. Violets are blue. The Little Levy's love you!! Happy Valentine's Day!
Piper's friend, Katie stopped by and they exchanged Valentine's...Katie gave her some sunglasses which is right up this fully accessorized girl's alley!

We've been up to a lot at home considering all the winter weather. Yay for the sunshine this week! I've begun doing a little "preschool" with Piper two days a week! Last week we started with the letter "A" and talking about apples, Adam, and many other "A" words. This is her using a cut apple as a stamp! She loves painting, coloring, and cutting with scissors!
Briggs is 4 months old tomorrow and is still such a delight! I'm really enjoying his laid back attitude!
He has begun to grab at toys and at my face a little! He's also drooling more saliva than 10 adults combined can produce...hence the bib in the picture!

This morning I asked Piper if she knew that today was Valentine's Day and she said, "Ya!" (she always says yes when it is really no!) Then I said, "What do we do on Valentine's?" She replied, "It's Christmas!!!!!" hah! She was pretty pumped! Then at lunch Michael brought home a rose for her and she said with such excitement, "Daddy brought me home a plant!!!" ha! Oh, she cracks me up lately!

Briggsy Bear's Big Night

2011-02-04T20:13:00.003-06:00

Look at this handsome little feller!! He's not so little though! Briggs had a big day today! He moved into size 4 diapers! Let me put this into perspective for you folks w/out kiddos...that's a big size. Piper wears a size 4 diaper at bedtime! Piper is 2, almost 3. Briggs is 3 months, almost 4 months...see the comparison! Ha!In addition to getting bigger in his derriere...and, yes I had to look up how to spell that! He rolled over from belly to back twice! He's trying to roll over back to belly too but hasn't quite gotten it! He's close though! And lastly, he ate baby cereal for the 1st time!
What is this junk his face is so obviously asking??
Well, whatever it is I think I like it! Yes, he made some funny faces but he ended up eating ALL of it! So, he's officially eating solids!

Sister & Brother

2011-01-19T16:37:00.002-06:00

I wouldn't say this week has been one for the record books. Stubbornness and an uncooperative spirit have been popular in our house! However, Piper was diagnosed with bronchitis today soooo, that may be aiding in the unpopular attitude around here! Even though we've had a few rough patches, she's managed to love on her brother and be a little silly too!
See the hunky little guy...I had him weighed today during Piper's appointment and he's 2 oz. away from being a whopping 18 lbs! Drum roll please!!!! I'm pretty sure we are going to be starting cereal next week!

And, Piper has started to love posing for the camera...silly posing that is!

It's been a pajama kind of week!

2011-01-14T11:04:00.003-06:00

Since it has been so cold this week I have not felt like getting out much. We all know that is not like me to get out and be busy!! But, it's been kind of nice and Piper has actually done well with being at home...usually she gets all crazy on me and acts like a wild banshee when she's stuck inside! I think we've been in our jammies two days at least...all.day.long! I've really enjoyed it!
Piper playing dress up!
Briggs in the Jumperoo for the first time. I think his neck is still a bit too wobbly for it!
Daddy has had the opportunity to come home for lunch twice this week! That's a rare treat for us! This is Piper hanging onto his leg w/her fish hat on!
And, today we had our friend, Katie, come over unplanned and we were all still in our pj's! The girls were having fun 'loving' on Briggs until they got a little rough with him and he started crying! As I mentioned in the last post, I dropped his 9 pm feeding and he did great the first night but then nights following not so much! He has awoken anywhere between 4:30am and 5:50am the past 4 nights so I think he still is going to need that 9 pm feeding after all! I'd much rather feed him again at 9 pm then get up at 4:30 am anymore!! Also, Briggs is teething like crazy!!!

Boom-Boom came for a visit!

2011-01-10T06:56:00.002-06:00

Well-I'm sure you remember me mentioning Piper's imaginary friend, Boom-Boom before. She actually has several now but none of them are ever in our home. They are usually in Oka-mocha-city, as Piper says. Yesterday, however, we had the pleasure of having Boom-Boom (the most talked about friend) come over while we were eating lunch! So we took pictures with Boom-Boom. Piper gave us permission! As you can tell BB is in between me and Piper below.And, I've got my arm around her/him in the picture below! We thought these would be a great way to embarrass Piper when she's older! Ha! As soon as we got in the car after church, Piper started talking to BB. I turned around to look at her while this was going on and Piper immediately said, "Don't look at me!" I guess conversing with your imaginary friends is a private business! Ha! Of course, we're only fueling the fire by asking her a hundred questions about all of 'them'!!!
After nap time, Piper and Michael went outside to build her first snowman! It snowed all day but not a lot. I think Michael had more fun making the snowman than Piper!
She's all bundled up and didn't want me to take her picture. The picture below cracks me up!! It says, "Oh, come on mom!!"
And, I wanted to leave you with this little bundle of sweet chunky cheeks! I think he tried to laugh yesterday! Last night I dropped his 9 pm feeding and he did great. He ate at 6 pm, went to bed at 8 pm and then I woke him up at 6:45 am! And, just to compare his size to Piper at this point. He's wearing a 6-12 month outfit from Old Navy. Piper had a very similar outfit from Old Navy in the same size that she started wearing around 4 months. He's not quite 3 months and it's not going to fit him long I can tell! Needless to say, he's healthy and such a happy little guy!

The new play house!

2011-01-08T23:30:00.003-06:00

Piper and Briggs received a new play house for Christmas and it has been a hit! Piper loves it and has been telling everyone about it. Michael's mom gave him new camping chairs, including little ones for the kids so we put one of them in the house for her and she is right at home I think! Our neighbor kids even saw the house over the fence the other day and came over twice this week and asked to play with Piper. Ha! That was a new experience for me to have someone knock on the door and ask for her to play today!