my deal...

so, i have this new laptop...

and its precious.

its RED.

and really cute.

but, i don't know how to do anything on it.

yes, my husband is a computer genius.

no, i am not a paying customer.

yes, that puts me at the bottom of the totem pole.

boo.

boo for me because i can't figure out how to upload my pictures from my memory card to picasa so i can edit them and post them.

boo for you because you don't have something enlightening to read and look at every morning on my blog.

oh well...i'll figure it out soon. or i'll just keep pestering tim til he helps me.

yeah, that sounds like a good plan :)

p.s. i LOVE when one of my friends has a new place to "steal" backgrounds from...alicia (who just had sweet twin baby girls, btw) had a background from this place...and i LOVED it! so, since i don't have any pics to upload, i am messing with my layout!

jacob's new toy...3.14

okay...he just hangs there right now.

and sometimes he sort of turns around a little bit.

and lots of the time he looks like a deer in head lights.

but, he loves having an upright, front row seat for all of his siblings' antics.

friday the 13th play date...3.13

oh, don't let these pictures fool you...it was not a pretty sight at our house on friday the 13th! i tried to convince my friend mary to bring her kids over, drop them off, and go back home to do some chores...

i thought that the 4 big kids would have so much fun playing together (as they usually do) and jacob could nap and all would be well...you know what they say about the best laid plans...

thankfully, mary decided to hang around...the 4 big kids, well, not really ava, she was pretty calm like normal...but sarah, griffin, and drew were C.R.A.Z.Y. that day. lots of "ugly words" (you know...d00-d00, boody...real BAD ones!), pushing, hitting, fighting, crying. general NOT being nice to each other. i swear, they act like siblings. happy one second and at each other's throats the next...

and jacob, well he boycotted his nap time for THE. FIRST. TIME. EVER! yes, you read that right. my 4.5 month old son has NEVER skipped a nap. it might be ugly. and it might be a lot of work for mommy. but he takes his naps. every one. except for this one. on friday the 13th. i think mary and i were ready to run away from home after that play date! of course, the kiddos all hugged and kissed when they parted ways like they were the bestest friends in the whole wide world!

so, lesson learned. do NOT plan play dates on friday the 13th. you may not have one superstitious bone in your body. but, heed the warning. for real.

thank you DST...3.10

lovely...

extremely. cranky. sleep deprived. kids. fun times.

mason's 3rd birthday party...3.7

the birthday boy...mason

jacob getting some chill time with uncle therrell

blowing out the candles on his monster truck cake...

do you think he enjoyed the cake?!?

the mass chaos that always surrounds present opening...

a beautiful day...3.6

what's gonna work? T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.!!! (i am hopeful that most of you have not had the distinct pleasure of watching wonder pets enough times to get that reference!!!)

sweet drew thinks he has to hold up three fingers every time he slides now...

did i tell you that story? at drew's birthday party, when sarah, drew, and i were sliding together, i would count, "1...2...how old is drew?...THREE" when we would go down the slide. now, sarah and drew count that way every time they slide. and drew holds up those cute little fingers. i could just eat 'em up!!!

nice drool jacob...nice.

can i have TWO favorite-est pictures?

my new all-time favorite picture ever...seriously...3.6

monkey see, monkey do...3.6

while drew and i went to the doctor's office with his oh-so-fun-body-covering-rash, sweet mimi came over to watch sarah and jacob for me.

i know. i am spoiled rotten.

so, mimi thought since it was such amazing weather, she would take the kids on a walk! great!

i am trying to desensitize jacob. he is a wimpy winter baby. he doesn't understand fresh air OR wind/breezes! its quite pitiful actually. he doesn't know how to be outside. sad.

anyway...so mimi is getting jacob ready in his stroller and sarah decides she wants to take her stroller on the walk too! she was SO excited. she picked out her baby doll (after MUCH deliberation) and got her all ready!

apparently, the walk didn't last too long...mimi said jacob cried pretty much the whole time. she said the wind kept taking his breath away and he didn't know what to do! pitiful, i tell ya...

thanks for all the effort mimi! we WILL get jacob used to being outside :)

poor pitiful drew...3.6

is this not the saddest thing you have ever seen?!? my precious little man has such sensitive skin to begin with...and then he had an allergic reaction to his amoxicillin. so sad! so, no more penicillin products for drew! oh the drama! he never seemed TOO bothered by the rash. although, he is a picker so he scratched and picked at a few places on his legs...with a little hydrocordizone and benadryl drew was almost as good as new! only not-so-fun side effect...my kids seem to get hyper, not drowsy from benadryl. fun times!!!

he was SO funny about his rash! he lifted his shirt and looked in the mirror at the doctor's office and said, "mommy...look i've got polka dots on my belly!" and then he said, "look...its snowing on my polka dots!" what a ham! and after dr. guinter examined him for a few seconds, he leaned over where he could see me and said, "look mommy, i not crying!" when i laughed, he of course repeated the performance a few more times for good measure...

J is for Jacob...3.5

sarah studied the letter "J" at school a few weeks ago. ALL week long she kept telling me that she wanted to bring jacob for show-n-tell. she even told me that mrs. newsom would have to carry the show-n-tell box to circle time since it would be so heavy with jacob in it :) so funny!

anyway...i figured i would have to break it to her that jacob was not an appropriate show-n-tell item. i called mrs. watkins on wednesday night to ask her if it possibly, maybe, might be okay if jacob WAS sarah's show-n-tell. she immediately said YES! what a sweet teacher! so, i told sarah that she was going to be able to bring jacob! she was SO SO SO excited!!!

so, jacob and i went to sarah's class in time for show-n-tell. it was one of the sweetest things i have ever seen in my life! i put jacob in sarah's lap on the floor and stepped back to watch!!!

sarah was ECSTATIC! mrs. watkins asked sarah a bunch of questions about what jacob could do and sarah's classmates asked questions too. it was so cute! we talked about how jacob just eats, sleeps, and poops! awesome answers in the eyes of sarah's class :) we did talk about how babies learn to roll, then crawl, then walk. the kids were mesmerized!!!

mrs. newsom asked sarah what jacob ate...i was so curious to see what sarah's response would be to THAT one! thankfully she just said milk!!! whew...that could have been an interesting thing to explain to 4 and 5 year olds!!!

overall, it was a GREAT outing for jacob and me! and such a neat thing to have recorded! maybe i can pull out this blog post when they are both teenagers and remind them how much they loved each other once upon a time...

square root day pics...3.3.09

more snow!!!...3.1

this was sarah's reaction to the powdery goodness...

this was drew's reaction...
thus ended drew's snow experience...

the requisite house snow pic...

filling buckets with snow...

our little model...

this is what happens when daddy helps build the snowman while mommy sits inside with the boys...i affectionately named it a "snow carrot". the snow carrot/man had a dora bike helmet, golf tees for eyes and nose, a divot repair tool for a mouth, yard sticks (not sticks from the yard--yard sticks for measuring!), and for some reason, a towel draped over his yard stick arms! what in the world?!? of course, sarah LOVED it...poor little girl. maybe next time MOMMY can help with the snowman :)

snow day!...2.28

i told you we had SNOW!!! a few hours after we got home from drew's party, it started snowing...and snowing...and snowing some more! we ALL took a good nap that afternoon since we were so tired from playing so hard, and when we woke up it was a winter wonderland!!!

after we ate some leftover pizza from the party, we bundled up and headed outside! the kids wanted their umbrellas since the snow was still coming down! i finally convinced them that umbrellas aren't necesary in the snow :) my poor little kids don't know how to play in the snow! it usually only snows 1 or 2 times a year here! (not that i knew what snow was growing up either!) neither of them wanted to stay out long and it was getting pretty dark, so we headed into the garage to de-bundle!!! there were LOTS of loads of laundry that weekend :)

since i had napped, i was up really late that night...the last time i looked outside around 2 am, it was STILL coming down!

drew's 3rd birthday party...pump it up...2.28

the birthday boy's shirt...

the kids listening intently to the instructional video...yeah right :)

pure joy!

griffin...

drew and walker...

cousin nicholas...

more happy faces...

daddy and drew...

happy little brother...

alison and her three kiddos...emma, claire, and walker...

smiley anna leigh...

amy and little mary mcrae...

mommy and her little drew boo...

nana loving on baby jacob...

rhett and anna...catching a lift!

the party favors...

the pull-a-part monkey cake...

a very exhausted big sister...

sweet mary mcrae...

miss mary gets in on the action...mason, ava, mary, and a helpful anna leigh...

daddy's socks got a hole in them, so he borrowed mommy's cute pink stripey socks...so stylish!

climbing up the stairs one last time...

daddy helping the birthday boy get his shoes back on...

a little sibling lovin'

a few of drew's friends...

drew in the inflatable birthday throne...

blowing out the candles...

surrounded by his "helpful" friends while opening presents...

where's drew?

jacob had the best shoulder in the house...

love the slobber covered fingers...teething much?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the pictures really tell the whole story...

drew's party was SO much fun! this is our 2nd year in a row to have this rainy february birthday celebration at pump it up! its too much fun for our little "monkey" and his friends! and it definitely wears them out :) this year we had the added bonus of a winter weather advisory on the day of drew's party! it snowed 6-12 inches across the mid-south starting about 2 hours after the party ended! we were so thankful all of our family and friends arrived home safely after the party ended! pics of the snow to come soon!!!

drew's 3rd birthday dinner...2.26

we enjoyed a fancy dinner at cici's pizza for drew's 3rd birthday! as always, the volume/craziness level is already high enough that our family just blends right in :) we enjoyed a delicious dinner with mimi and poppy...we missed you nana and pop pop!!! the kids had a blast! jacob sat and took it all in...and poppy had a pocket full of quarters that kept sarah and drew happily entertained in the game room! we also spent drew's 1st birthday dinner at cici's...

we didn't make it to cici's last year...sleep was too important for our little birthday boy!!! we enjoyed celebrating our first son's 3rd birthday in style :)

drew's THIRD birthday...2.26

drew was SO proud of his birthday crown from his teachers at preschool...he asked me to take his picture as SOON as we got home...i wonder if he remembered this?!?

brothers...2.23

drew's 1st visit to the dentist...2.23

with the help of nana and mimi, i took all three kiddos to the dentist. a NEW dentist. drew's FIRST dentist visit.

ugh. our dumb insurance changed on december 1st...sarah went last january to MY dentist (at the time), dr. barton. i decided she REALLY needed to go to a pediatric dentist, so she went to dr. rowland in july for her 2nd dental visit. THEN, the dumb insurance change...

so, i had to start from square one and find a new dentist...through a lot of referrals from my sweet friends, we decided on this one...so poor sarah has been to the dentist three times at three different places.

anyway...so the reason so many people were involved in the trip to the dentist was sarah had spent the night at mimi's on sunday night, and drew had spent the night at nana's house. so, i just had to get myself and jacob to the dentist on time :) nice!

we had been talking up how cool the dentist is to drew since it was his first time to go...what a waste of time...he was as cool as a cucumber about it all! so passive and agreeable (not his normal personality by a long shot)! he did so well with his cleaning that they attempted x-rays! he did great with them, except he couldn't "get" the concept of keeping his mouth closed on the bitewings while the hygenist stepped away...so, drew got a GOLD STAR for his first dentist visit! and a great report for his teeth and gums!

little sarah was a different story...she was scared. really scared. she does NOT trust people in scrubs who lay her back onto tables/exam chairs. and i really can't blame her. she went through all the mess with physical therapy and her torticollis her first whole year of life...then she had that terrible anal fissure with surgery...THEN she has to go to the eye doctor 4x/year and get her eyes dilated 1x/year! she has A LOT of scary stuff in her little memory...

she did let the hygenist do her entire cleaning, and she let the dentist check her out, but they didn't even attempt x-rays because she was so tense and tearful. breaks your heart...

she did get a great report on her teeth and gums too. the doctor actually said her mild crossbite has all but disappeared and that her mouth doesn't look like she's a thumb sucker! what a miracle! i guess we are getting our "break" on her mouth! its about time! so, that was some good news!

the funny thing about the whole dentist experience was that when we got back out to the waiting room where mimi and jacob were, sarah immediately told mimi that she had not cried at all! not sure if she was straight out lying, or if her little reality was that skewed!!! anyway...i am hoping we can finally establish a little consistency with our dentist visits. and hopefully that will help sarah out a little bit. she is such a little habitual thing...

so, that's the story of, that's the story of...our dentist appointment!!!

p.s. sarah and mimi came straight from dance class...thus sarah's interesting ensemble of a leotard with pants :)

jacob and sissy part 2...2.21

its a shame nobody loves jacob...2.20

nana and pop pop came over to visit to bring the kiddos their valentines--and got in a little play time with jacob. aren't grandparents the greatest?!?

kids at play...2.19

"please mommy! please stop taking my picture and get me out of this swing!"
"no mommy...sticking my pacie in my mouth is NOT helping!"

"okay, i'll quit fussing. i'll just hold this pacie in my mouth by myself!" (what a big boy!)

oh no! dress up time at the woodard house! guess what drew is wearing?!? sarah's dance recital costume from last spring...he put it on and said, "mommy! look! i a girl!" nice drew...

sadly, he did look awfully cute...

back to back sonic attack...2.18 and 2.19

the week that jacob had pneumonia (poor baby!), mimi brought sarah home from school on wednesday so i didn't have to get baby jacob out in the cold...so sweet! a few minutes after they got home, we decided to hop in the car and hit happy hour at sonic! so so sweet! the kids mesmerized by their movie and apple juice slushes...
mimi enjoying her mocha java chiller...

drew in mid-slurp...

on thursday, i asked mimi to ride with me to the school and sit with jacob while i went in to get the big kids...a sneaky little plan that resulted in ANOTHER trip to sonic! happy hour two days in a row! what a treat! and because i bumped my head, the kids got the new jr. candy sundaes this time! and as seen above, mimi thought jacob might enjoy the sonic stop more if he hung out with her in the front seat instead of in his carseat...rotten little thing! he doesn't look like he feels too bad from his pneumonia in that pic!!!

exhausted children from a fun-filled day at preschool...