Friday Ramblings!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

I usually link up with 5 on Friday every Friday, but today, I have so much more than just 5 things to share and I just could not narrow it down!

This baby girl is a mover and a crawler now! She started army crawling on Sunday, and she's trying to get up on her knees now! She army crawled over to get the remote control and was so proud of herself!

I also think that we may be getting on a better schedule with her this week. I'm not 100% sure yet, so I don't want to jinx us, but i've been getting home, getting things put away, nursing her, then feeding her solids, and then putting her down for a late evening nap. I'm trying to let her only sleep one hour when we get home, and then I can get her back up around 6:30 or 7, keep her awake for another hour or hour and a half, and then get her back in the bed. I was really hoping to give up the late evening nap all together, but Addy Pearl is not sleeping well at daycare (still) and I may just have to let those hopes go. I have used a babywise routine with all the girls, and she should be getting three 1 1/2 hour naps per day, but she's taking about two naps at daycare and those are anywhere from 45 minutes, 1 hour, or 30 minutes. Home girl just likes to know what's going on!

Addy is also arching her back and throwing her head back when she gets upset. This little girl is going to have an attitude just like her big sisters! 

Sigh, Megan is still falling asleep on the living room floor. Actually, she did not last night, but she did Wednesday night. I digress. Let her sleep where she falls. We'll still put her to bed and tuck her in around 7:30 or 8:00, but she'll fall asleep wherever whenever. Whatever.

Gretchen had her Valentine's party at school yesterday! I'm not sure who thought February the 13th would be a good idea for a Valentine's party, but oh well. So, my plan for all three girls wearing matching pants and applique shirts & matching bows just went right out the window. I let Gretchen wear her Valentine's outfit on Thursday, and look how cute she looks! Yes, I may be a little partial. I'm her mom, I made her shirt, I made her bow, I bought her pants.... I just think she's precious.  #sorrynotsorry

She was suppose to take pepperoni to her class party. I remembered at 4:00 yesterday afternoon while I was driving home. Mom Fail.

Thankfully, Gretchen didn't notice.

I also really became thankful for all the moms that stay at home or that were able to take off work to be at the party yesterday. I was able to see a few pictures and I just had a come to Jesus meeting, about how awesome it is that those moms could be there, when other moms couldn't. They were able to take care of the party. They remembered their snacks. They helped plan, helped with the games. They were there for my daughter when I could not be, and I am so thankful to them!

Happy Valentine's Day to my hubby! He was less than thrilled when I took this picture this morning! And, I just have to give him props for letting me sleep in a few more minutes AND he made the bed this morning! This guy is speaking my love language. He's a hottie.

And, my little girls this morning!

This is a grainy pic- DJ snapped it and emailed to me, but it's horrible quality. Thankfully, I have some on the "real" camera as well, so i'll post those next week.

All of the girls were suppose to have pink minky dot ruffle pants to wear today. I bought Gretchen a size 6, and thankfully, she'll be able to wear them next year. They were a little long, so I just rolled up the waistband twice yesterday.

DJ put Megan's on her this morning and holy cow, were they big! I bought her a 2T, and even with her pants rolled up, they were too long. I bought Addy Pearl a size 9 months and they were even longer! Like, they were so long, they were as long as she is! So, after a bit of fit throwing (on mine and Megan's part), Megan ended up in the size 9 month pants that I had bought for Addy, and they fit Megan perfectly!

Thankfully, I had a pair of pink pants that I could put on Addy.

And here are all my little Valentine's! Poor Gretchen had just come downstairs after putting on her dress, and I hadn't fixed her hair and she was barely awake anyway!

And, thank you to Andrea for creating this "Hey girl" picture.... I shared it with my hubby, and told him i'd be happy with just ONE PAIR, and he told me that I should've married Ryan then! Ha!

One more thing, our family photographer, Madison, and her precious family, have just added a new bundle of joy to their family! I found out last July that they were planning on adopting, and yesterday, they got a phone call that their little baby boy was waiting on them! They had about two hours notice, and they now have the most perfect little boy in their house today! What an amazing Valentine's gift! You may also want to check out their super cute "Hi" hoodies, and canvas prints over at Vine & Ever. 100% of the proceeds will help to fund their adoption, and once their adoption is fully funded, they'll be supporting other families! My girls have their "Hi" hoodies, and I told Madison that they needed to make them in adult sizes because they are the softest sweatshirts ever!

Hope you all have a fabulous Valentine's day! May you be loved!

#weltegram2014 Day 37-43

We are all finally on the mend from being sick and the weather is finally feeling warmer so we are all in great spirits around here!

Day 37- The girls stayed up late to watch American Idol.

I'm so glad Idol has new judges this year. I absolutely could not bring myself to watch last year, but i'm loving this season already! I don't mind the girls watching it either right now. I feel like it's finally a family show again, and Gretchen of course wants to be on American Idol when she gets older. 

Day 38- Gretchen decorated her Valentine's day box for school. 

Day 39- DJ took Gretchen on a date night! They went out to eat at Charlestons, had ice cream, went to Target, and then went to a Father/Daughter Dance!

I love her in her cupcake dress! 

Day 40- Addy Pearl is army crawling y'all! It took the whole family to motivate her to move around. She's already trying to get up on her knees so it won't be too long before she's chasing after her big sisters. 

Day 41- DJ was in Vegas, so I let the girls watch Frozen when we got home from school. 

Day 42- DJ was still gone, and it was crazy with the big girls running around when we got home, so I sent them upstairs to Gretchen's room to play and I snuck in some cuddles with Adalyn. 

Day 43- I took the big girls on a trip to Target to pick up Valentine's for their teachers and a birthday present for one of G's friends. They started kissing each other in the aisle! Cutest thing ever!

Tulsa is suppose to get in the 60s this weekend, so cheers to a fabulously warm "spring-like" weekend!

What I Wore Wednesday

It's Wednesday, so it's time for another link up with The Pleated Poppy, Get Your Pretty On, and Because Shanna Said So! I didn't link up last week and I have been a little better about getting outfit pictures, so yay for today's post! 

A few weeks ago I was feeling uninspired and like I had nothing to wear in my closet. I decided to get on Pinterest and see what I had pinned, and I found the picture above.

 

Then, I remembered that I had almost the exact same outfit in my closet.

Radiant Orchid, or Purple for those of you who like to use regular vocabulary, is suppose to be one of the most popular colors this spring! I'm so glad that I bought this shirt before I knew that, because it makes me feel like I'm sort of trendy!

 

I paired the Radiant Orchid shirt (from Loft) with a pair of grey cropped dress pants, and ivory/linene booties.

I also added a green necklace, because I had one and the inspiration picture had one! I probably would have never put green jewelry on with this shirt, but I love it!

 

And y'all, I have not had this shirt for very long, and it already has some wash wear, which makes me sad, because I wash it, but hang it up to dry.

Last week, it was cold and snowy and just miserable. So, I decided to pull out an old favorite of mine, and mix some prints and bright colors!

We had more snow, so I pulled together this outfit in order to stay warm.

Black fleece leggings, brown Emu boots, chambray tunic, brown puffer vest, and a long necklace. I was very warm and toasty!

This is my hat that I wear when it's snowy and cold! I know people laugh at me, but I really do love it! I bought it when we were moving from Louisiana to Indiana, and all the winter things were on clearance in January, and I knew it would still be cold in Indiana so I bought a bunch of winter things to prepare. I wore this hat in April in Indiana because I thought it was still so cold! I may have gotten a lot of stares.

I wore this outfit to work on Monday. It's a sheer navy blouse from Loft, skinny jeans, and my brown boots. I really loved this look. It may be one of my favorites!

 

Thanks for reading today! I hope y'all have a crazy blessed hump day!

Just Some Ramblings…..

DJ's in Vegas right now for a video convention, and I have some time, so your post today is going to be lots of ramblings…. enjoy! I'm going to be doing a little weekend wrap up as well, so sit back, sip your coffee (or other drink of choice) and enjoy. 

I'm not quite sure what to do with this girl. DJ and I battle her bedtime almost every single night, and it's just exhausting. I know what I need to do in order to get her to bed, but when it comes down to it, i'm so tired by the end of the day that Meggie ends up winning the battle every night. DJ and I thought that we had finally won on Thursday night, and when I went to check on and feed Adalyn before going to bed, I realized that Megan was not in her bed. Instead, I found her in the entry way, sleeping on the floor. 

I wish I had the energy to be consistent and put her in the bed every night, but instead I'll just continue letting her fall asleep wherever she lands and put her back in her bed…. 

Saturday night, I was determined that i'd win the battle, and after 45 minutes I did. Sunday night she went to bed so easily because she didn't nap, but Monday night…. we were back to the above. 

Friday night, we worked on the girls' Valentine boxes. 

Saturday, I met my friend, Laura for lunch! I was so excited to see her….. the pic above was taken on my way out the door! 

Laura is getting married in July, and her future stepdaughter plays in a volleyball league. Their tournament was here in Tulsa this weekend, and we decided to meet for lunch and then we went to David's Bridal to try on a bridesmaid dress. Laura and I met in college when we were R.A.'s together. She was maid of honor in my wedding, and i'm so excited to be in her wedding this summer!

I got home Saturday afternoon and took a nap, and then gave the girls a bath and got Gretchen ready for a father/daughter dance at the community center.

They had a big date night! DJ took her out to eat, then for ice cream, ran an errand at Target, and finally went to the dance. Gretchen said she had tons of fun and a few of her friends were there from school.

She told DJ "thanks for opening the door for me, Connor has a lot to learn!" Connor is a little boy in her kindergarten class that Gretchen is certain she will marry one day. Thankfully, the feelings are mutual, and she's not harassing sweet Connor. They play together every day at recess, sit at the same table, and come home talking about each other every day. It's young love. 

While DJ and Gretchen were gone, I got to hang out with the little girls. Addy is so fussy lately. Poor baby is on a great schedule at home, but when she's awake, she wants mommy to hold her all the time! She can be happily playing on the floor, but if I walk in, she cries and cries. 

She ended up playing on the floor for a little bit Saturday night, but most of the time, she cried. She was really happy though when I took her picture. She continued to play and I snapped away a bit and she'd look up at me and smile and then keep playing. Maybe I should just take her picture all the time! 

Because she gets so fussy in the evenings, she goes to bed around 6. I hate how early that is, but she's sleeping until 7 am. 

After Addy went to bed, Meggie and I got to hang out for a bit before I battled her bedtime, but after 45 minutes she finally stayed in bed! 

Sunday morning we got up and went to church, but I didn't get a picture because we were running late. We came home for lunch and then put all the girls down for their naps. Megan didn't fall asleep, but Gretchen, Addy, and I all did! 

DJ watched Captain Phillips…. have y'all seen that movie? It's so good, but I just wish he would not have gotten in that life boat! And then at the end, oh, the end just breaks my heart. 

I worked on a few Valentine hair bows on Sunday afternoon…..

We spent most of the weekend catching up on laundry, and I saw this on Instagram and thought it was so hilarious!

I really don't know why I try to clean my house every day. It's exhausting. 

DJ flew out Monday morning for Vegas, and the girls all went to school and I went to work. We made it home around 5, and I started dinner (lasagna) and fed Adalyn, and started my nightly routine of getting everyone fed, and the kitchen cleaned up, and Adalyn in bed, and the big girls in their pajamas, lunches and bottles fixed, and I sat the girls down to watch a movie and we enjoyed each other for a bit before bed time. 

I looked over at one point and found Meggie wearing her little hat with her pajamas, and just thought she was so cute. 

I have to pinch myself sometimes, because as hard as being a mom is, as hard as it is to "do it all" it's so rewarding. I love all of our happy moments. I love all of our learning moments. They are teaching me so much as well, and they are doing their very best. I need to remember that they are doing the best that they can and the best that they know how. 

I bet your coffee is gone by now…. I hope you enjoyed it…. thanks for stopping by and reading today. 

Valentine Box & Winners

Some of you may remember my rant on Friday about making Gretchen's valentine's day box for school….Well, we accomplished the task this weekend!

Let me clear up my ranting first….  I'm not ranting that we actually had to do the project. I'm just ranting that I didn't have the interest to make the box Pinterest worthy. I feel like I have zero ounce of creativity for a decorative Valentine box… give me some ribbon, an appliqué design, some tulle- absolutely- I can go all out, but decorating a box. It's just not my forte. 

After surrendering to the fact that her box will likely not be the best in her class, I was more than happy to let her have full control. 

For some reason, I refuse to throw away boxes. I have a stack of shipping boxes underneath my sewing table, and I let her choose one of the boxes to use for her project.

Then, I decided that we would wrap her box in purple wrapping paper, because I had it left over from her birthday party. DJ helped by cutting a heart shaped hole in the box, so her friends will be able to put  their cards (or goody-bags for those over-achievers) in. (And y'all, before I get hate mail about the over-achievers- i'm totally kidding! We just didn't have the energy to make fun treats this year. Last year, her friends got handmade bookmarks, this year, they're getting $1.00 store Valentines!)

Anyway, once the box was wrapped, Gretchen set to work glueing on doilies and adding stickers. 

All of us working hard! Megan had to make a box too, so DJ wrapped her one and I cut out hearts out of glitter foam sheets. 

Megan working away on her box. See how happy she is that she's doing it herself! Makes it totally worth it!

We added Gretchen's name with little glitter foam stickers that we found at the Dollar Tree. 

I really do love how happy she was and how hard she worked on her box!

Megan didn't put her name on her box, she just put on her "A, B, D's" 

So, yay, her box is complete! Actually two boxes are complete since Megan had to make one too! Gretchen is so excited to take hers to school today and I'm glad that the girls had fun making their boxes! I'm also glad that my type-A didn't take over to try to "fix" things that I thought were wrong or could have been better. 

Sometimes God teaches us when we least expect it, and i'm thankful that in this little project, I learned to "let go".

And, before y'all go, I have THREE Winners to announce for the Beautiful AM Moisturizer giveaway!

Hannah Joy Burgett

Jennifer Brown

Jen Herold

Thanks ladies for entering! 

5 on Friday

Hey y'all! It's Friday and this mama is ready for the weekend! In fact, I don't think I've ever been more ready for the weekend as I am today! I envision myself sleeping in tomorrow and not having to pick up the house because my hubby is home today and all of the girls are at school, and I'm sure that at this very moment he is doing laundry, making the beds, and vacuuming, just like I asked him to do this morning. 
(He reads my blog, so let's just hope that he's going to read todays post at some point today and not tonight sitting in his recliner.)

I'm linking up today with The Good Life Blog for 5 on Friday!

1. I saw this on facebook earlier this week and took a screen shot of it with my phone. I need this to become my mantra. Seriously, I need to remember it every single day.

This week has been all sorts of crazy in the evenings, and it's just a new phase in our life, but it's taking some adjusting to get use to. Once we get home in the evenings (around 5:00), I sit down to nurse Adalyn, and now that she has started baby food, I have to feed her right after she nurses. Which, makes it to 5:30, and by that time I'm trying to start dinner, I have two fussy big girls, and our house is just chaotic. Poor Adalyn wants to go to bed so early, and I've tried so hard to break her from that 4th nap, but her bedtime is getting to where it's around 6:00 and no later than 7, and that is if we're lucky. She just wants me to hold her and entertain her- that's the only way I can keep her awake, but it's impossible when you're trying to get all of our stuff from the day put away, cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, get hoemwork done, give the girls a bath.... it's just an exhausting time right now, and twice this week, DJ had recruiting events in the evenings so it's just been me trying to do it all, and it's just exhausting.

Anyway, rant over, I know it's just a season in our lives and in a few short weeks, I'm praying things will be easier, and in the mean time, I just need to remember to "Keep Calm, I am a Good Mom".... and so are you!

2. Tuesday morning G woke up and her eye was matted. I told DJ that I thought she had pink eye, and he didn't believe me. (Sometimes the girls have drainage in their eye due to allergies.) We went her to school and finally on Thursday morning the nurse called and said that she thought Gretchen had pink eye. I was fully aware and surprised they hadn't caught it sooner. I just could not take any days off right away and DJ was so busy with recruiting that we had to get by until one of us could take her to the doctor. Once school sent her home, I made her an appointment and DJ took her to the doctor. She got to stay home with him and they brought me lunch on Thursday.

3.  My favorite time of day is when we finally have dinner over, baths done, a clean kitchen, a picked up living room, lunches and bottles fixed for the next day and we can finally sit down and relax. That's just what we were doing last night (and I was just exhausted) but Meggie kept saying and doing silly things. I'm so thankful that she can always put a smile on my face.

 

4. Then, I tucked her in bed around 7:50 (we try to have bed time at 7:30) but I was letting the girls stay up to watch American Idol. But, once we put Megan to bed, she makes it her mission to spend the next hour and a half (sometimes the next two hours) to get in and out of her bed. To cry and ask for her mommy, or her daddy, or a special toy, or a new cup of water, or she needs to go potty, or she makes a mess out of her once clean room, and then blames it on Gretchen (who sleeps upstairs and there's no way on God's green earth that Gretchen made that mess).... this girl is a staller, and y'all, she's a good one. Perhaps the best I have ever seen.

If I could cut out her naps at daycare then I totally would, but unfortunately, I have no control over that and thus, I spend two hours every night battling her to stay in her bed. And y'all, she usually wins, which is why last night, I found her sleeping on the floor in the entry way.

5. Next week is Valentine's day, and I found out that Gretchen would have to make her own Valentine's day box to take to school. I instantly dreaded the project, but I did what any good mom would do- I got on Pinterest and started pinning all of the adorable Valentine boxes that I could find, that way, Gretchen's would be the very best.

Last night, I said to myself, "you know what? Forget it, she can decorate her box however she likes, and if it's flat out the ugliest box i've ever seen, it doesn't matter." Why? Because it's hers! I'm going to give her a box and wrap it in purple wrapping paper (because that's the color we have) and then she has stickers and markers, and paper heart doilies that we bought from the Dollar Tree, and she can decorate her box to her heart's content.

The owl box above is stinking precious, but you all know that no child did that on their own. Absolutely not.

I am such a Type-A, but with three kids, I am learning to give up some of my control, and this is going to be one area, that I let Gretchen take over independently.

I'm also not going all out on Valentine cards. I wish I could. I wish I had the time. But, her friends are getting cards that have jokes on them, or that can be folded into paper airplanes, because that's what she picked out. Megan's class is getting a little box of sweettarts, because that's easy. And y'all, they've asked us to get cards for Adalyn's class! Um, she's 7 months old, she does not need a Valentine card or snack or candy or treat or anything else, because she doesn't know what it is. Do you think anyone will notice if I don't get her "friends" anything?

Whew..... okay, I feel like all I've done is rant today! Agh! Some days, we just need to rant. You need to see where my life is in this very moment, because maybe, just maybe, you're there too, and you want to know you're not alone.

Someone please tell me i'm not alone!

Y'all have a great weekend! Love you all to pieces!  

#weltegram2014 Day 30-Day 36

It's Thursday, and another installment of #weltegram2014.

 

This week has been a little rough remembering to get a picture every day! One night I was already in the bed (I went to bed super early) and I had to convince myself to get back up in order to get a picture!



Day 30- This is what being a girl mom is all about. Dress up time.

Day 31-Gretchen was student of the month at school!

Day 32- We made cookies in our matching monogrammed aprons!

Day 33- Addy Pearl got her first tooth!  (2/2/14)

Day 34- Meggie reading a book before bedtime.

Day 35- This is the day I got back up out of bed to get a picture! I wasn't feeling good once I got home, so I went to lay down and DJ took over all the duties that night! He's superdad!

day 36- I'm still not feeling great, but I had to get some things done around the house in order to catch up... Meggie came over and asked me to hold her and watch t.v. Sometimes you just have to stop what you're doing and enjoy the moment.

And, I had to include this extra one... Addy's teacher sent me this picture yesterday of her painting at daycare. She looks like a little toddler to me and it made me so sad! It's also her first art project!

 

Follow me on Instagram for more picture fun: @ewelte

 

And, don't forget to enter my giveaway where THREE of you will win a bottle of AM Moisturizer from Trusted Health Products! This stuff is amazing y'all, totally made the spots on my face disappear!