Buddy with dear friend of many years and mentor Earnestine

Lily Models again on Ebay!

To all my mommy friends and blogger pals with little girls:

My very talented friend Julia has made the most adorable dress ever. It is a euro wrap style dress and Lily has the great pleasure of modeling this for her to sell on ebay. She also has a few others on there that are worth checking out. You can click the link below to view it. Her clothing line is called forgbellies & Blossoms I think that would be one word if you tried to type in under ID# to find her. You can click on this link though and go to view other items if you want to look at her other stuff. She is very good and her things are top quality. (I think anyway) :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180234056277

Happy 5th Birthday Sophie Grace

Sunday was our sweet neice Sophia's 5th birthday party. She is crazy about Hannah Montana and everything girly, so she had a Hannah Montana party at Libby Lu! This was quite an event for Lily because she loves to dress up and get "make up" on. We went light and just did a little tiara because she is still a little young. She loved the sparkly spray they put in her hair and the glitter on her nails. I am just loving having a little girl......

Grampi is Back...........

My Dad was here for Christmas. It was nice but not enough time. We have been waiting for him to be well enough to make another trip and stay a little longer. So, he finally made it back. We picked him up Friday in Atlanta and he will stay for about 2 weeks. We have big plans but don't want to wear him out. Today we went to Sunday School and are going to Sophie's birthday party in a bit. We are also planning to take him to a biscuits game (minor league). I am sure he won't be that impressed though since he goes to Fenway Park to see the Red Socks about as often as we go to Riverwalk stadium.....

Meet "Rescue" Bear

The Newest member of our family!

Sean has such a tender heart. Actually I think he has watched Toy Story entirely to many times. You will understand as you read on.

We discovered the bear while at the park the other day. It had obviously been raining because the sand was a little wet. I was trying to keep the kids away from the puddles of mud when we saw a little stuffed bear head peaking out of the wet sand. It was full of dirt & waterlogged and a little faded by sun. I thought it looked like it had been special to someone and that he/she must have lost it in the park some days before. Sean said he was sad because the bear had been all alone in the dark, lost in the park and that his owner was probably worried. He thought bear would think his owner did not love him anymore. Then came the grand idea to take him home, bathe him and be his new family. I thought it was sweet. We named him "rescue" bear since we rescued him. He has not seperated with the bear since. This might be good since his beloved "pillow" is falling apart. Once today when he got in trouble he was saying over and over "oh, rescue, oh rescue bear" while holding him and crying big alligator tears. He usually does this with his pillow.

Anyway, we were at a traffic light just before the going to the park and there had been a man on the side holding a sign that read: "please help me, I have 5 children and we have no place to live, no food" ect...

While we all know what thats all about, to a child it is real. He was worried about those "kids".

Today as he was holding the bear he told me again how we rescued him. I have to admit that I was only half listening as my mind was on other things. Then I looked at him and saw that he was wiping tears away. He burst out crying and said that he was thinking about the kids. I had to tell a little lie that I brought them some food and blankets early in the day while he was napping and some of his old toys to play with. It seemed to make him feel better but made me feel like he is much to young for such heavy things like this. On the lighter side though, it made me proud that I have such a tender hearted boy. Maybe his daddys wish/dream of him becoming a minister one day will come to pass. He is bold and never hesitates to innitiate a prayer for someone when he thinks they are sick or in pain :) I love this child!

Just being kids......

I can never seem to get Lily to take a serious picture. She gets so silly when I take out the camera. Today was a great day. The weather was so nice and perfect for a trip to the park. I dressed them alike in green hoping to get some nice spring/summer pics. I love them in greens and oranges for outside shots. They were so busy playing and I did not want to spoil it for them. Sometimes I get so caught up with taking pictures that I forget just to have fun with them. After all, they don't really care about posing and being bothered with taking pictures. They are there to do what kids do best.....play, run and just have fun!!!!!

I did manage to get one shot of them sitting down for a rest. Then I put away the camera and we played:)

After the park, we went to Aunt Lynn's house for what was supposed to be snack. It turned into dinner and playing outside. Lily was being silly & cute so I took some pictures of her at her best.

"Silly Lily"

Something New!

I added something new to the blog if you have not noticed. It is a live visitor feed. It shows who is visiting and where they are from. I am really doing it for my husband and as a test. We are both a bit paranoid about putting personal info about ourselves (mainly children) online for all to see. After this we will decide if we want to put some extra controls on who comes on the site or maybe have it as invitation only to our friends and family who like to keep up with our blog and to other blog friends. I have always had comments disabled but a few weeks ago put them on. Please feel free to comment and don't let the visitor feed scare you away. To my special blog friends, I will see that you have visited and will be flattered. I keep up with all of you and a daily basis and love seeing your new posts.

I found this cute matching doll dress set at Kohls. Lily had to have it of course. She put the doll dress on "kiwi". That is the name of one of her dolls. I am not sure where the name came from but I thought it was funny. Kids can come up with the funniest things.

THIS IS CRAZY!

I think we have gone a little overboard with crocs! If you notice the tan ones in the corner, those are mine. Buddy has two pair and the rest are the kids. I actually hate the things for myself. But, for the kids they are so easy. They love them! Sean had to have Lightning, Mickey & Roll Tide ones and of course the bright green. Lily's newest ones are the mary janes and of course the old ones are the much desired and totally Lily hot pink!

Anyway, I was cleaning house yesterday and started my daily routine of picking up all the crocs laying around when I got the idea that I needed to take a picture of how many pairs of crocs I have to clean up each day and share with my blog friends. Sean puts on a different pair everytime he goes out. I think he is a bit OCD and gets it honestly:) Let me add that 2 pair more were MIA and are not in the picture. :)

Easter Eggstravaganza is something we look forward to each year at our Church. The kids have so much fun with many things to do such as pony rides, giant inflatables, face painting, arts and crafts, live praise music, egg hunts, games, rock climbing walls, food and so much more.

Heather & Sophie met us there today as well as a friend of Sean's from Montessori & church.

Here are a few pictures:

Easter EGGstravaganza at Frazer UMC

Chef Sean

Sean has been begging for weeks & weeks for a "chef costume"! He absolutely loves costumes anyway as some of you know. I think it may have been the movie Ratatouille or something. He wanted to make something last night so we made sugar cookies. He loved rolling out the dough and using the cutters.

I got these 16x14 panels at Costco photo online for only $2.99 each! Great for framing. The Lily princess I ordered a 20x30 for her bedroom wall abover her bed. That was only $9.99 which is cheaper then snapfish and the quality is just as good to me.

Cool panel options at Costco photo

Our Pirate & Princess

These two are definitely Buddy's kids! They love to dress up! They love to perform and they love the camera. We did a photo session at ASF (Alabama Shakespere Festival) yesterday. The kids were so funny saying unprovolked things like "aarrrr!" and "your majesty"!

These costumes do however have a specific purpose. We are going to Disney in a few weeks and they are having a very special event called the Pirates & Princess party which we will be attending. This will happen after dark in the Magic Kingdom and last until midnight. There will be special fireworks and a parade themed around pirates and all the princesses. They hand out loot bags and treasure maps and you go around searching for the treasure. Plus many rides will be open. I am 1000 times more excited then they are at this point.....Sean is finally going to be old enough to do the Pirate Cruise and Lily, the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique! Sean will be celebrating his birthday once again. We went in spring last year and loved it so we now have a new favorite time of year to go.

Spring Break has started out great. The weather is nice and we have a ton of things planned (zoo, park, movies, cousins etc.). Buddy is teaching so it will just be me and the kids. I am also going to try to catch up on a lot of my sewing for Lily's Couture that I have gotten behind on. I started trying the custom hightops. I have not posted them on the website yet. They are polka dot with groisgain for laces. I will try to get a picture on the couture site soon.

Princess Lily

Pirate Sean

Spring Pictures

For Trisha

Things I can't wait for you to experience as a mommy!

1. Bathing, changing and feeding her.
2. Dressing her in all the fun "girly" clothes.
3. Going to the beach and watching her run & play & the sand between her toes.
4. Having her climb in the bed with you in the middle of the night.
5. Potty training!!!!!
6. Doing the whole Ballet v/s Soccer thing (or both)
7. TU - TUs & Princess dresses galore.
8. Taking her to Disney World to see Cinderella.
9. First two tooth grins.
10. Doing her toenails.
11. Funny & cute mispronunciations.
12. The first time she picks a flower for you.
13. Those times when she ONLY wants her Mommy!
and so much more............................

Daddy's Anniversary Gift.....

hp tx 1000 z Tablet (so cool) He has been wanting!

Ok, this is a little unfair I know. He sort of bought this himself And I can use it as well. He has no intrest in my new sewing machine whatsoever. So, I feel a little bad about it. At least I won't be spending any more money getting Lily's things monogrammed though.

Mommy's Anniversary Gift......

I have the best husband in the whole world.... And no, not just because he bought me this!!!! I have been really wanting a monogramming & embroidery machine for a long time. I never ask for anything though so I figured I would never get one. He surprised me with this online order Saturday morning. Our anniversary is really next week (we are actually going away this year without kids) I am going to be a monogramming fool now and it should really help in my Lily's Couture business.

Buddy found this neat site - magmypic.com - You can put a pic on just about any cover. Going to try Lily on Vogue next. LOL.....

Sean

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

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Cute Lily Story!

I had to have some blood drawn today so I took Lily to the lab with me. On the way there I explained to her that mommy was getting labs????? After many questions and just to make it easier, I told her that mommy had to have a "shot". Here is the conversation that followed:

Lily: I want a shot too!

Me: No baby, you don't want a shot do you?

Lily: whine, yes pleeeese mommy, pleeeese......

(at this point, I whispered to the nurse to pretend to give her one so she would feel included)

Nurse: Lily, do you want a shot?

Lily: (nods yes)

Me: ok then, just let her finish with mommys. you see, look at the needle going in my arm. neat huh? Look at the blood squirting in the tube. What do you think Lily Bug?

Lily: (starring intently down at her arm with VERY wide eyes) I DON'T NEED A SHOT MOMMY!

Me & lab staff: everyone laughing hard........

No fools in this house.....

I got this wonderful book for Christmas from my sister in Law, Lynn! After being sick for so long and realizing that my poor husband & kids needed more then -take out- and Steak out was breaking us, I decided to start this program this week. I went to the store Monday and got all the veggies and did all the purees and got started.... While the cauliflour in scrambled eggs bit went over well (we dredge in ketsup) and puree veggies and wheat germ in the ground beef patties was great for Sean's beloved "cheesburger", the spaghetti did not go over as well with Lily last night. I thought I could fool her because she loves spaghetti. I felt like such a proud mommy as I mixed in the cauliflour puree and sprinkled in some wheat germ. However, the official Murphy house taste tester sat down to her dinner. I quietly watched her as she took her first (and last) bite. "Eewwww yuck"! she said. I said, "what"? She said "mommy, there is something wrong with this". I said "what does it taste like"? She said "It tastes like something gross is in here". She then casually walked away from the table and announced that she was not eating that "gross spaghetti".... I think I got an "I told you so" or something from Buddy. He informed me tonight that I was not to put any cauliflour in his hamburger. Shhhhh! ;0

Murphys On The Mend

I have been away from posting this past week. Last Sunday Buddy got sick with the flu and over the course of 3 days we all dropped like flies. Each day another one of us took a trip to the Doctor and had the nose swab test done. Yep, we all had the flu. I guess I have never had it before because I don't remember feeling so bad before. Taking care of sick kids with HIGH fevers while we were sick too (with high fevers as well) was a challenge. The doctor said tamiflu was flying off the shelves and I had to go to 2 different drug stores to get it. My friend had to go to 3 drug stores. I guess the flu is going around right now. Unfortunately mine has affected my lungs again and I am still struggling with that part of it. Flu can be dangerous for people with lung problems. I am doing the antibiotics as well, along with steroids & breathing treatments. Flu part is much better for all of us now and we are so thankful.

Thank you to all who took care of us by bringing us meals. We have a great family and church family. Thank you Mom. Lynn, Nell, Martha, & Rebecca and all who have sent us cards and called to check on us. We appreciate you all.

While Buddy and Sean were napping today, Lily and I felt like we needed a little sun. For the first time all week I took her out of pajamas and put real clothes on her. I took her out in the back yard for a mini photo shoot. I think she liked the fact that she was not having to model any clothes so she was much more relaxed and cooperative. It was just fun this time...

I tried to do a slide show with the pics on photo bucket but I am so new at that and it turned out a little on the short side. I could not figure out how to get the pictures to stay longer then 3 seconds. I hope you are all staying flu free and taking care of yourselves.

Murphy's Law: The only year you miss getting the flu shot you are going to get the flu......