My Princess

I wanted to share some photos of Grace from her Diva Makeover. We take the kids to a really cute kids salon in Kansas City for haircuts. It's a huge deal for me and such a fun place for the kids to go as this is the first time that we've lived close to a kids salon. Grace had her first haircut at a kids salon in Texas and I was disappointed that we could not do the same for JR last year in Alabama. Anyway, after going to this salon for the first time I signed Grace up for a diva makeover that the salon was doing as a special on the 4th of July. (They were also doing "dude makeovers" and the boys could get their hair sprayed with red, white, and blue hair paint, but I thought JR was too young to really enjoy this.....or it might have really freaked him out! The boys getting it done sure looked cute though!).

JD and I get sad the more and more our princess grows up! I get sad when Grace tells me that some days she doesn't want to wear bows or that she is ready to get her ears pierced! She has become so independent too, something I think had to come quicker since she is now the big sister of 2 baby brothers-ha,ha!! She is definitely mommy's helper with her brothers and around the house. JD and I realize that we have our hands full with 3 little ones (it's funny to think that we've had 3 kids in 5 years and JD was deployed for one of those years!) so JD had a vasectomy a few weeks ago. As we prepared for JD's procedure, we of course were sad knowing the pregnancy/having babies phase of our lives is over. It's funny that I felt a sense of mourning for this considering we thought we were done having babies after JR. So as our way of dealing with this (I hope!) JD and I have briefly been talking about adoption in a few years (I know I'm done being pregnant as I'm not sure my body could handle another 9 or 10 pound baby). I'm not sure we would ever give it a serious thought, but at least knowing we have this option, made the vasectomy easier to handle. My point in telling all of this? I explained what adoption is to Grace and asked her if she wants us to adopt a baby in a few years. She looked at me, squinted her eyes and pointed to her brain like she was thinking really hard and said, "No, mom, I think I just want a dog!". That little girl cracks us up!

JD in the newspaper!

Below is a link to a newspaper article about JD's experiences in the Army from his hometown newspaper: http://www.palestineherald.com/local/local_story_243201023.html

If you actually click on the homepage for the newspaper today, JD's picture is on the homepage: http://www.palestineherald.com/

Me and my buddy

As many of you know, since our Scott David was born this past March I haven't always been my J.R.'s favorite person anymore. He's always loved the baby, but when we came home from the hospital he wanted nothing to do with me! This broke my heart, and as sleep deprived and hormonal as us moms are after having a baby, I cried about this! Before the baby came, JR and I were buddies! While Grace was at preschool 3 days/week and dance class last year we took a Kindermusik class, would go grocery shopping and run whatever errands we needed to do, and did countless play dates. In some ways, I felt like I lost my best friend! :( Since we've moved to Kansas I feel like we have bonded again (though J.R. still adores his daddy!). At least I've felt this way until last night. For some reason, J.R.'s new name for me is "mum". He's been calling me mum for the last few weeks. No, we're not from England and what's up with shortened version?! Hello, a 2 year old should still be calling me mommy! Anyway, JR finished his dinner (a rare event) and I was offering him a dessert of either a popsicle, pudding, or yogurt (his big thing these days is getting to pick.....makes him feel like a big boy!!). His reply to me, "GO AWAY, MUM!! GO AWAY!". He's never said this before and JD and I just looked at each other and cracked up! Yes, this boy has and will always keep us on our toes! Again, here are pictures during the move to Kansas at the end of June of me and my little buddy.