Where does the time go?

So today is the last day of July. That doesn't seem right, because I swear just yesterday we were getting ready to go camping for Memorial weekend. I've always heard that time goes faster the older you get, and it must be true. But to me, the time isn't just flying. It's going Mach 500.

It's just not fair that Mikayla is now 7 months old. It's not fair that Lilly is almost 3. And it's not fair that my "baby," my oldest little girl, is soon going to be starting First Grade. Where does the time go? Why does it seem like one 1/2 second blink really covers about 3-4 days? It's just not fair.

But like I always tell my girls, especially Alayna, life isn't fair. There is no master sheet out there, keeping track of what everyone does or doesn't get, or get to do, or get to see. If there was, I'd rally for slower time and more time to just enjoy my girls and my family. They are all at such wonderful stages of life and we're always on our toes. I'm sad to think that in what seems like a few days' time, they'll all be gone, living in their own homes and raising their own children. Okay, so maybe it won't go that quickly, but it seems like it will. And then what will I do with myself?

I've decided that while I can't stop time, or even slow it down, I can enjoy it. So I'm making a promise to myself and my family that I will take more time to just be and enjoy. And take lots of pictures. Then I can look back at the pictures and remember the smiles and the laughter and the joy. I'll be able to do that, too, because I'll have taken the time to cherish it all while it was happening. Because before I know it, if I don't take the time now, it'll be too late. And I don't want that to happen.

A Blue Ribbon Af-FAIR

This past weekend was the county fair. It's always a lot of fun, a lot of work, and a lot of late nights-thanks to my husband's obsession with watching the truck AND tractor pulls. This year, he participated in the truck pull with his 78 Ford. He didn't win, but he didn't do poorly, either. He was the middle of the pack, which was a little annoying since they ran the carbs with the EFIs. Sure, I understand completely....

This year Alayna is officially in 4H. She is a Cloverbud, which is like being a "trial" member. She attends the meetings and can bring exhibits to the fair, but she doesn't get judged, just talked to by the judges and told how to improve, what she did right, etc. It's more for the experience right now. She brought her rock collection, some soap she made, and a couple of magnets she made at a 4H meeting. Here she is with her stuff, directly over her left shoulder.

She also brought her beloved calf Twister, who's been staying with us at home for a few months now. We were very anxious about how well he'd lead, but he was soooo wonderful! He followed her around like a little puppy. We were very proud of him. We were also VERY proud of Alayna, as she kept her cool every time she was leading him, even when it was time to load up yesterday and Twister got a little excited. He started to run and shy sideways, but she kept hold of the rope, talked calmly to him and kept him under control. She's just growing up too quickly.

We spent the entire weekend at the fairgrounds, and each night was a late one. Here are some pics that I took yesterday afternoon while we were waiting for 4:30, the time we could take exhibits home for good. I think this just proves how tiring the weekend can be.

Congrats, Alayna, on your first fair as an official 4H member! You did so well and we are very proud of you!

Bad Hair Day

Lilly was having so much fun playing in the backyard the other day. She kept going through the tunnels of the play set over and over and over. When you continually crawl through plastic encased tunnels, you can only imagine what happens to fine, silky child hair.

Summer Fun

During the summer, we spend a LOT of time at the ballpark. Andy plays softball on a weekly league with some friends, every Wednesday night from Memorial to Labor Day. We also have church league, which is weekly on either Thursday or Friday nights. Throw in the occasional tournament, and it all adds up. But we enjoy it and it's part of summer, a part that I've always been familiar with. As a matter of fact, I grew up going to games all the time, watching my dad play, just like my girls do now. Actually, my dad still plays, and he's old. (gotta get the jibes in at any chance, LOL) In the pic above, that's Andy up to bat and my dad coaching First.

During the games, we have some great opportunities. For one, since the Wed. night league is all friends, us wives get to catch up while the husbands play. The kids all get to play together, too, and they look forward to each game. It also just lets us out of the house and our own yard. Sure, we have to bring almost the entire house with us to each game, but that's okay, too. Sometimes, I can even get caught up on some reading (like I did this weekend during the co-ed tournament...It was HP, come on!)

So to our family, summer means softball. It's just one of those things like humidity and heat and bugs...once softball starts you know it's summer. I hope that my girls look back on all these games and summers as a good memory, because as of right now, they sure seem to enjoy it.

Mixed Up

The other day I had some odd spurt of energy and decided to organize and rearrange Lilly and Mikayla's room. There room wasn't dirty or messy, just a bit unorganized. After all, when a 2yo and a 6mo share a room, they have not only dressers, but totes of clothes that are too big or too small. So, I went to work and got the closet done. That just wasn't enough, so I moved Lilly's bed, then both dressers, then the book shelf. When I was done, I was impressed with myself. I had gotten a lot accomplished unintentionally, and the room looked bigger the new way. Lilly loved it. Mikayla could care less.

When we saw my mom last night at a softball game, Lilly told her about it...

L: Bamma, Mommy mixed up my room.

G: She did? What did she do?

L: She moved my bed and my dresser and Mikayla's dresser and my bookshelf and my toys...

G: She moved your bed? Where is it?

L: At my house.

Here is a pic of their room, for the most part. And yes, that's camoflauge crib sheets. I promised Andy that no matter if Mikayla was a boy or girl, we could finally get the camo crib set.

Our Newest Family Members

We have three new members of our family. It took a long time in coming, be we now have 3 beautiful pigs to call our own.


It was a fun project that the girls had a blast with. We've only had these darn pigs for a few months now, ever since going to a party at Jill's house. I thought they were perfect because they came as a set of 3 and, well, we have 3 girls. A piggy bank for each! So, we have spent the last 2 days and nights working on our pigs. I did Mikayla's and then Lilly's with her help, and Alayna did hers by herself. It was a lot of fun, even if we did have to do some, wait a few hours, do some more, wait, etc. I think the end product was well worth it!

Fun at the Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum this weekend. It was a lot of fun and the best part-every third Sunday is FREE! So, we were able to save the free passes we had for another day and time. Here are some pics of our day...

These three were taken in the Earth exhibit, which is a big room that's made to be like the outdoors


Here are the girls grocery shopping in the Real World exhibit




Lilly was singing onstage and her image was projected onto the tv like she was on Starsearch or something


Mikayla had fun watching the girls play all day. She really liked the rooftop gallery and play area

Playing Catch

This is a definite case in point for this blog-I almost forgot to write down a cute story about Lilly. So, even though it's a few days old, here goes...

There was a church softball game on Thursday night and we were there to cheer on Daddy, Grampa and the rest of the team. About halfway through the game, Lilly decided that she wanted to play catch. So, she grabbed the 2 child-sized gloves that a friend had brought and walked over to Pastor.

"Wanna pay catch wif me, Pasto?" she asked, holding out the glove.

Of course, he couldn't turn her down, so Pastor put the glove on his fingertips and knelt down to be closer to Lilly's height. Lilly, in turn, knelt down like Pastor. They proceeded to play catch for the next 2 innings.

It was awful cute and I was pretty sad that I didn't have my camera with. It would have made a great photo for the monthly church newsletter, not to mention a fabulous addition to this particular blog post. But, I remembered to post it here, thus getting it down in the family history books, so to speak. I knew this would come in handy some day!

Ahhh, a nice dinner conversation

We were eating lunch on Friday afternoon and this was the conversation between Alayna and Lilly, completely disregarding and ignoring me. I sat there, thinking that I must secretly have little boys and that this conversation couldn't really be going on in real life...

L: I just farted.

A: I didn't hear you.

L: I farted.

A: If it doesn't make noise, then it's a toot. If it makes noise, then it's a fart. That's what my friends from school said.

A few moments pass, in which we hear a rumbling noise coming from Lilly's chair.

L: Now I farted.

The Green-Eyed Monster strikes

The Green-Eyed Monster has struck our house. Yep, jealousy. You may think that it's something that Lilly wants to do but isn't old enough, or Alayna wants something her friends have. Nope, it's Mikayla.

She has always been a pretty equal opportunity child. She loves Mommy and she loves Daddy. She doesn't seem to favor one of us over the other. But, when Daddy comes home from work, he'd better say hello to her right away. If she hears his voice and doesn't see him, she'll cry until he comes to talk to her. No kidding.

So yesterday we were laying outside on a blanket and Alayna and Lilly were playing on the swingset. Andy came home and laid down next to us, talking to Mikayla. Alayna came to give him a hug and laid her head on his chest, hugging him. Mikayla started to cry and get upset, so Alayna lifted her head to tell her it was okay. Mikayla instantly stopped crying. Alayna laid her head back down on Daddy, and Mikayla cried again. Andy and I exchanged a curious look, and I told Alayna to pick up her head again but not say anything to Mikayla. Sure enough, Mikayla stopped crying. We tried it again 2 more times, and each time she cried when Alayna snuggled with Daddy and stopped when she sat up. Alayna went to play again, so I put Mikayla on Andy's chest and she just snuggled right up and quickly fell asleep. Apparently, no one else is allowed to snuggle with Daddy if Mikayla is tired.