It happened-almost!

The night we went out to eat for my birthday I was sitting across from Sallie and I looked and she had this short twig hanging out of her hair that was pulled back and I said what happened to her hair and Aaron says, "looks like she cut it to me." I knew it was entirely possible but I had not seen any evidence. The next day I found some of her hair in a kitchen drawer so I put the scissors up in the very top of the cabinet. I knew that her next step would be one of her little sisters. We have laughed so many times about Lizzie's curls because Elleigh will say everybody talks about Lizzie's curls being so cute (so does Elleigh) and I have told her the story of my mom cutting her sister's curls because she said everywhere they went everyone was talking about how cute her curls were! So, today I come around the corner into the living room and Sallie has Lizzie in the playroom about to chop off a big chunk of her curls!!! I saved them! Thankfully she had a small pair of very dull scissors that she had gotten out of the bathroom and they would not cut through the big chunk she was trying to cut. The girl is sneaky!!! Sorry, no pictures, I was too busy saving the curls!!! Stay tuned, next post might be one of my children with a few less hairs!!! However, I caught Sallie in the act this time and she got spanked so maybe she won't do it again. MAYBE!

I can't even...

I am constantly saying, "I can't even go to the bathroom" and this is why!

Sallie and Lizzie cutting cheese slices with cookie cutters! They get into everything! I have never cut cheese with cookie cutters so who knows! Normally I will tell Elleigh to keep her eye on them but she has become fond of sleeping late and so I don't bother her. They know when no one is watching them!

COOL AIR makes us VERY HAPPY!!!

I am happy to report that after 4 plus hours of work by my repairman (aka Aaron) and 2 trips to Lowes we have cool air tonight!!! I REALLY love my man tonight!!! He knows how dependent I am on him to make it all better and he didn't let me down. So, we have cancelled the repairman for tomorrow and we can sleep in comfort tonight. Thank you A for all your hard work. He was tired and not feeling well (sinus issues) and he spent over 4 hours in that hot little room that holds the AC unit taking it apart and trying to figure out what the problem was, fixing it, and then putting it all back together. His last step was getting to the coils and cleaning them and sure enough that did the trick. Ahhh.... airflow again!!! I think we may still need freon but we will have to call a real AC man for that but for now we are much cooler! Ell is feeling much better and so far the rest of us have not gotten sick. We were so hot this afternoon that the girls and I got in the car, headed to Sonic for our favorite cherry limeade and then rode around with the AC on full blast for an hour or more sipping on our COLD drinks. Yes, gas is $4 a gallon but it was so nice and cool!!!

ILL!!!

Upon moving to Texas I quickly learned to be careful of my use of the word ill, which yes by definition does mean sick. However, in AL when we say ill we mean in a bad mood and when we are sick we just say sick. So, I do not use the word ill very often in order to lessen the confusion! However, today I can say my family is ILL and I mean not in a good mood and sick! Our AC went out yesterday and it is summer in Texas and it is HOT and the repairman can't come until tomorrow and it is HOT and poor Ell has a stomach virus and it is too HOT to be throwing up and have a headache and it is too HOT to clean up after her and it is too HOT to sleep and it is too HOT to cook and it is too HOT to clean and it is too HOT to take a bath and it is too HOT to go outside especially when there is no place to come in to cool off and it is too HOT to do anything!!! I feel bad complaining because there are others, especially in other countries who never have AC but when you are accustomed to having it, man it is HOT!!! What is it about being hot that makes everyone ill (as in cranky!) I mean I turn into a very mean person!!! I think A really wants to laugh at me but he knows it would not be a good idea. Last night when I went to bed I said, "you just sleep in the couch so we don't have to deal with body heat". HA! Oh it is HOT!!!

My poor HOT baby! Her hair is wet with sweat (and she had not been outside)!

Love the new look!

Kelly was so wonderful to give me an updated look again! I love it! Thanks so much Kelly for the new header and layout! You are fabulous!!!

Celebrating!

Elleigh got home from camp today and it was my birthday and we could now celebrate Father's Day since Ell was home. So, we went to Red Brick for pizza and then to Cold Stone for ice cream!!! My request was something simple and laid back and it was just that. We had a great time. By the way, if you go to Cold Stone's website you can sign up for their b-day club and you can print a coupon for a free ice cream on your b-day. You can sign up for your whole family and then you can print the coupon within I think it is 14 days of the birthday so you don't have to use it on your actual birthday (just near that time). I had a great birthday!

Sallie and Lizzie touching and not fighting! I think Lizzie does want her to stop touching her though!My oldest baby and my youngest baby or "the twins" as Ell calls them. I love this picture!Me and my girls-getting a picture of all of us is a chore! Everyone was staring at us!

Father's Day

It was a strange Father's Day at our house. I hope it was a good day for A but it definately was not typical. First of all Elleigh is at camp so we did not have our full crew to celebrate. I cooked his request for breakfast (some cinnamon crescent things that I came up with) but other than that no cooking and I normally cook his favorites all day. He said he would rather us celebrate when Ell got home. Tonight was Parent's Night at camp so we went down to have dinner with Ell. It was good to see her and see how she was doing and for her to see her daddy on Father's Day even if it was only for a couple of hours. We had to get back for A to study. Please, please pray for us. The class A is taking this summer is killer and we are only 2 weeks into it and I have only been here 4 days and am majorly stressed over it already and I am not the one taking the class! I get stressed when he is stressed-stressed that he will not get it all done, stressed because I know how tired he is, stressed about filling in the gaps with the girls and keeping them occupied so he can do what he needs to do, trying to fill the time that is normally our time, trying to be supportive through my frustrations. We knew it would be this way but now it is a reality. A is sleeping very little and he is not able to spend time with us like he would like (and we would like) and it is just going to take that for him to get through this. I think that was another thing that made today seem strange. It is like we have this cloud hanging over us. A cloud known as Turbo Hebrew! We will make it-just pray we make it through and he passes and does not get too sick. His allergies/sinuses are a mess right now. The girls are so blessed to have him as their daddy and I am blessed that he is the father of my children. I pray that we all look back on this time and have grown from it because he was doing what God had called him to do. Happy Father's Day A-you are the best!!!

A picture of all of us! Thanks to our friend Susie who knows we never a get a picture of all of us. This was tonight with Ell at camp. I told her that her face needed more sunscreen. I am sure she loved me coming in and giving orders. I said Elleigh are you drinking enough water and her reply was "yes mother I have had 4 bottles today already" and my response "well you might need more."

Faith, Elleigh, and Taylor at campA, Millie, and Sallie with our friends Kevin and Kristi (Taylor's dad and mom) and Susie (Faith's mom)While I was posting A went in to check on the girls and he came in to tell me I had to get a picture of this. Talk about laid out! Guess she had a tiring Father's Day!

A few more

Somehow these pictures did not download when I did my post of our AL trip, so here are a few more that I intended to add.

We had lunch with Uncle Adam before A flew out. Millie is as usual grabbing everything on the table.The girls on their way to VBS with my dadI LOVE this picture!!!

Sweet Home Alabama!

We are back, after 2 1/2 wonderful weeks in sweet home Alabama. We all went and A stayed for several days and then flew back and the girls and I stayed longer and then drove back yesterday. I dreaded that drive so badly but it was not bad at all. I know we had lots of people praying for our trip. It went great. I could not have asked for the girls to be better and it was a very smooth, uneventful trip! We are quite tired today but we are back and packing Elleigh to leave for camp tomorrow and trying to get back into our routine. Our visit in Alabama was so much fun and actually relaxing. We always feel so rushed and this time because the girls and I got to stay longer we were not as rushed and just enjoyed it. It is always sad to leave. We looked forward to our trip for months and then it flew by but we are thankful for the time with our family and friends. I know I always say this but I feel overwhelmed each time we go home by the love of our family and dear friends who we miss so much and then I think about all our wonderful friends here and those who have moved all over the world. We are so blessed to have so many great people in our lives. Here are some of the pictures from our trip (I am including lots-you know me). There were several things we did and I forgot to take my camera (can you believe it?) so I don't have pictures of all our fun.

A and the girls taking a break from the car and looking out at the Mississippi River.How cute are they?Maggie and Elleigh dressed in garbage bags for the homeade slip n slide (no comments about AL from our TX friends!)I am probably going to be in trouble for this one but I love this picture! Sallie and Uncle Todd playing with their toy gunsOur little card sharksAdorable!Doesn't she look like the coppertone baby? Love it!

Prissy Lizzie prefers sitting and watching everyone else in the lake! She might get dirty you know!1 big kid and 2 little kids ready to ride the tubeSweet Millie in her pack n play at the lakeMaggie and Elleigh doing what they do best-relaxing!Aaron putting Lizzie in the tube to ride-she was not thrilled!As you can tell...SCARY!Ell knee boardingMillie napping at the lakeMillie loving the water!On our way to eatTired and waiting for our food after a long day at the lakeFunny-look at Millie pulling Elleigh's hair and as you can tell Zeke did not want to take a picture"I need this drill to work"Look at that face!So we attempted (as we have so many times) to take some pictures of all the kids. It was quite memorable. It was hot and ants were everywhere and gnats were in their eyes and it was hot. At least one of the kids is doing something crazy in every one of them but what can you expect with 9. These were made behind my mom and dad's house. Funny that I lived there for 18 years and over the past few years realized how beautiful it is out there. I included this first one because you can see Lizzie trying to get the gnats out of her eyes. Just a few snapshots of Lizzie

My new favorite picture of Lizzie