The Birdhouse

Lilah's School Pics

2011-09-24T17:50:00.006-04:00

Somebody got their school pictures taken early this year. I cannot believe how big our little girl is getting. It really does make my heart break a little every time I think about it. And to make matters worse, McGwire will be 13 in just 4 months.

THIRTEEN!!!

I can't take it!

Lilah is already talking about on her birthday "tomorrow" (her birthday is always "tomorrow" here lately) she's gonna be 5. I keep telling her that I am going to make her stay 4 for a whole year and then I'll let her turn 5. If only I could make her wait even longer.....

Misc pics

2011-09-05T08:47:00.001-04:00

Here's the last of the pictures from my crappy camera that have been taken in the past couple of months. Tim is going to try to fix his computer this weekend which should help me out a ton. Also, he has a ton of pictures on his laptop and camera that hopefully he'll be able to transfer to his fixed computer or Mac's laptop for me to get posted on the blog. I know Grandma's been very anxious about not "seeing" her grandkids over the past few months!

Lilah gets ahold of the camera

2011-09-04T08:44:00.002-04:00

Lilah also got ahold of my crappy camera the other day too and instead of taking self portraits, she took family portraits. Here's a sample of her work...

I was in the guest bedroom going through old pictures and scrapbooking stuff when she caught me.

Big brother and his friend were on his laptop watching crazy videos when they were caught.

And daddy was relaxing on the bed when he was caught!

And last but not least, she took a very lovely shot of her "blanks" and it's well worn tag!

I do believe she has a bright future in photography!

Mcgwire gets ahold of the camera

2011-09-03T08:33:00.001-04:00

The other day, I was looking for my crappy camera and discovered it in McG's room. He was taking some self portraits that he never in a million years thought would be discovered and posted on the blog for the whole world (or at least the 3 family members who read it) to see.

I'm not sure what kind of gang signs he's throwing out here but either he's killed 2 people, he can count to 2 or he has to go do a #2.

Good thing his nose is clean.

This one is definately going to be shown to his future girlfriends!

And this one too!

Oh when he sees this post, he's gonna be mad!

But it will teach him to go around messing with my camera!

Mac Makes Cookies

2011-09-02T08:21:00.000-04:00

The other day, McG had a hankerin' for some cookies (That's my boy!) and wanted to actually make some himself. Luckily for all of us, I had a box mix left over from Tim's couponing days and McG was able to whip some peanut butter chocolate cookies in no time!

He painstakingly placed 3 chocolate chips in each cookie.

Ready for the oven!

Here's the finished product in all of its gooey deliciousness.

(and Mac giving it a thumbs up)

Little sister loved them and insisted on a little chocolate ice cream to go along with her cookie! I thought I was getting a good picture of the chocolate that was surrounding her mouth but you'll have to use your imagination!

a few more beach pics

2011-09-01T08:50:00.001-04:00

While at the beach, my cousin took about 100 picture of us for her photography business portfolio. While she and her partner were snapping away with their $5000 camera, Timmy was snapping away with his company's $500 camera. And it's a good thing he did because we haven't seen her pictures yet!

We got there later than we should have because she got caught up in Mobile so the sun was ridiculously bright by the time we started taking pictures. Poor McGwire couldn't keep his eyes open to save his life. Even when we were under the boardwalk, the sun AND th sand were blinding him!

Anyway, here's a few of the one's Tim took while my cousin was shooting as well.

beach pics

2011-08-31T09:04:00.000-04:00

Do you remember when the family went to the beach this summer? As in 2 months ago??

Well, I'm finally able to post a few pictures from that trip. Tim took these of the kids while I was at my reunion.

So, without further ado (and without commentary)...........

First Day of School

2011-08-30T04:26:00.000-04:00

I am a couple of weeks late but I finally have a way to post pictures now so most of my posts are going to be late posts until I get caught up! I don't have too many good shots and these are from my very crappy camera sooooooo deal with it!

We spent the day before getting everything ready and sharpening Big Brother's pencils!

The next morning both kids were bright eye'd and bushy tailed and ready to go!

My handsome 7th grader! BTW, I need to brag on him. Other than the day he was "sick", he's been VERY GOOD at getting up on time and getting himself fed and clothed and out the door on time. I have to take Lilah to school before he gets on the bus so he's left alone for about 30 minutes in the AM and he's done a super job so far and hasn't given me a bit of trouble!!

Thanks to my friend, I was able to download a cute little backpack tag for Lilah for FREEEEE!!!

Here they are excited to start a brand new school year!

Lilah's done really well too so far. There have been a few mornings where she's said she doesn't want to go to school and even twice has cried about it but she seems to love it once she's there! I think that's pretty good seeing how she's been my shadow for the past 4 years and the school day is from 8:30-3:00 and that's a long day for a little girlie!

Lilah's Pre- Birthday Party

2011-08-28T20:37:00.009-04:00

Yes, I do realize that Lilah's birthday isn't until the 31st but we just had to get a party in last week because this week is going to be crazy and plus, she really has no idea when her birthday really is.

We had the party at Micky D's and I swear I was a fool for not having it there before. We only invited a couple of people (girls only this year) because everyone else was in school. I thought about a couple of home schooled friends and a couple of younger friends when it was too late but I'm sure their mom's were more than fine with not having to buy a gift. They'll thank me later!! haha There were no other kids there either that day other than one or two scragglers so the girls had the place all to themselves.

Here we are on our way to the par-tay!

Camille got "stuck" in the play area and it was so much fun to see her mommy finally go rescue her after about 30 mins of unsuccessful coaxing!

I bought the kids happy meals and brought cupcakes and balloons. I made little gift buckets for favors along with giving them a balloon to take home (I hate that I didn't get a picture of the buckets or balloons). Plus they got their happy meal toys too. Wow, these kids made out like bandits - other than the two who accidentally let their balloons go inside the very high ceiling'd restaurant!! haha

Lilah tried to open gifts from..... hmmmmm let's see.... THE VERY SECOND SHE WALKED IN THE PLACE!!! haha

She got a Dora coloring book and water color set from Lydia and Camille.

What a cutie!

Next was Liv's gift. Her mom is trying to kill me by giving Lilah play dough and finger paints. She tried to find some scissors to throw in there too but apparently her conscience got the best of her!

Finally, Abby and Ella got me...uh, I mean Lilah...a monogrammed towel!!

I swear, it was the best party yet. Minimal clean up and expense and maximum fun! Unfortunately, maximum germs too but I haven't heard of anyone getting sick....yet!

Later that evening, We took McG to a sleepover and Me Daddy and Lilah had a pre birthday night on the town!

All in all, it was a good day!

Grandma's Creation

2011-08-21T03:29:00.000-04:00

Here's an old Sunday Pics from several weeks ago. Grandma made this dress for Lilah about a year or more ago and she's finally able to wear it this year. She's actually be able to wear if for a couple of years, I bet! Lilah LOVES it because it twirls out really big when she spins around!!

Here she is demonstrating the twirling action!

Here's McG letting us know he'll be in the 7th grade!

Ahhhh the good 'ol self portraits!!

Daddy had already changed out of his suit AND recieved a phone call by the time we took pictures....typical!!! haha

The Water Park Experience 2011

2011-07-30T12:41:00.006-04:00

Timmy Bird scored 4 free tickets to the water park recently (Love you, Timmy B.!!) and we were finally able to set aside some time to go yesterday. We waited until Daddy got finished working and probably got to the park around 3:30pm. There were tons of people there but the park was so spread out that you didn't feel too crowded.

Lilah headed in FULL STEAM AHEAD and literally didn't stop for a second (other than 2 bathroom breaks) until we left at about 10:30 that night!! She made a friend and those two were inseparable until the bitter end!

McGwire left us after we got there for about an hour or so. We had no idea were he was but knew his thirst and hunger would bring him back in the not too distant future and sure enough, he sniffed out the $5 slurpee that Tim bought me in record time!

Lilah played in the kiddie section most of the day and Tim and I took turns taking McG to the huge selection of water slides. We all played in the beach area of the lake for a while to play with sand and listen to the live band!

We also played for a little while in the wave pool and that's where they showed the movie "Rango".

We all couldn't get over what a wonderful day it was. Y'all know I don't brag very often, but I swear this was (in Lilah's words)

The BEST DAY EVER!!!

McGwire's 80 foot Rock Slide

2011-06-26T22:28:00.000-04:00

McGwire going down Turtleback Falls

2011-06-26T16:26:00.001-04:00

Lilah's First Talk in Church.

2011-06-26T15:49:00.002-04:00

Here's little Lilah giving her first talk in Church today.

First of many posts From SLC

2011-05-13T09:31:00.000-04:00

Still having computer/picture uptake problems.

Bear with us, please.

In the meantime, we had such a lovely time in SLC last month and took lots of pictures to document it all, so I thought I'd entertain you with a few of those and maybe no one will notice that I haven't been posting lately.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and hung around Temple Square and toured a little and I have pictures of that somewhere.....

....but the next morning, me, Tim and Dad took McGwire to the temple for his very first visit and he was able to do some baptisms and confirmations in the beautiful historic Salt Lake City Temple!!!

Yes, mommy cried!

I love this picture!!
My baby boy's all growed up!

Maybe Tim can photoshop McG some eyeballs in this picture!
Proud Grampy!
I promise there will be more pictures posted about the trip but I can't promise WHEN they'll be posted!

The Famous Ballet Recital

2011-05-02T22:08:00.005-04:00

Here's a video of Lilah's ballet recital. Tim surprised me by putting the video on for me. Thank you Timmy! You can make the video picture bigger by clicking the little arrows in the bottom right corner of the video. Hopefully this works for you!

Tiny Dancer

2011-05-02T09:03:00.007-04:00

Lilah had her first dance recital Last week. It was awesome!!! So cute but at the same time hilarious!!

She, Olivia and Abby were all in the same class. There wasn't much learning going on but they all seemed to have a great time!

Liv and Abby's grandma bought the girls flowers. Lucky for us she did, because we plum forgot about getting Lilah anything!

The girls dressed like little lambs and their teacher was Lil Bo Peep!

We do have video and hopefully will be able to post it on the blog. It's a pretty big file, though so I'm not sure if Tim can do it or not!

Old Sunday Pics

2011-04-27T04:26:00.001-04:00

Here's an old Sunday pics picture from a couple of weeks ago. This is the Dress I bought in Utah. The tag said $19.99 and I was more than giddy to pay that price!! Imagine my sheer delight when I went to the register to pay and it rang up $8.00.

Can you say "SCORE"?!?!?!?!

Here's me and Mac thrown in for good measure. Not sure why Daddy's picture wasn't taken!

Visit From Grandma and Grandpap

2011-04-26T04:28:00.001-04:00

Grandma, Grandpap and Molly came for a visit recently. We have lots more pictures that I will post in the next week but here's what was downloaded so far!

Here's the gang....minus Tim, me and Molly!

Don't ya just love the nasty pool backdrop?

This was taken the day they left.

We had lots of fun. We actually had a 2nd Christmas! Bev and Rex brought down this HUGE box full of presents. We've got pics of that to post, I promise-well, not the box, but the presents! haha Bev made Lilah lots of dresses, hats and purses and a duffle bag as well. In fact, she made Lilah's doll 2 matching dresses too! I love having a talented mother in law so I don't have to lear to sew! haha

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T09:13:00.008-04:00

It's been a month!

First off, I have to say...it's not my fault!!!! Tim's computer is messed up and we're still not able to download pictures to it and he hasn't had a chance to figure out why. Last night he finally transferred some pictures from his laptop to the computer so hopefully I can get a few posts from those until he fixes his computer!!!

So again, let's recap...

COMPUTER'S FAULT.
NOT Kelly's!!

Can you believe I actually had to wake the kids up Sunday AM. I remember as a child having half of my Easter candy eaten before mom and dad woke up, but I had other issues!! haha

In their defense, though, they went to bed pretty late since we'd gone to Stone Mountain the night before for a picnic and to watch the laser show.

Here's Mac's basket!

Here's Mac checking out his loot!

Here's Lilah's basket!

And here she is checking out her loot.

Side note: My cousin's daughter Jaclyn was visiting from Florida so I fixed her and Tim up a little basket of candy as well. That's the little basket that you see in front of Lilah's.

McG knew he wouldn't have time to chomp on candy, put together Lego's and eat breakfast before he got dressed so he came downstairs all ready for church to save time!!

Here's mommy's basket! Don't be fooled by all of the eggs.

They were EMPTY!!
SERIOUSLY!!!

What the...?????

McGwire got busy right away assembling his Lego's.

Lilah got busy too!

Had to get some Sunday pics in. This time we had a visitor!

Nevermind my haircut please. My stylist's husband just left her for another woman and she took it out on my hair!!
True story!

It's always nice to have someone else with us to work the camera so we can all be in the picture together.

Someone didn't want to leave her candy at home!

Here's me and Jaclyn together!

Note to self: Never stand that close to someone whose face is 17 years younger than yours!!
It ain't a bit flattering!

While the kids were talking to Grandma about what was in their easter baskets, Grandma remembered that she left the kids bags of goodies for Easter in the guest room closet. I totally forgot about it! So the kids rushed upstairs to find an extra Easter treat! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that!
'Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

A Day in the Life.....

2011-03-26T01:39:00.015-04:00

So often times the question comes up of

"What did you do today"??

Actually, that question never comes up, but for the purpose of today's blog post, let's go ahead and assume that it does!

I had a coughing fit last night that had me awake from the hours of 1:30AM to about 2:45 AM.

Right on cue at 8:00AM I hear Lilah calling MAAA MAAAA!!

I pretend it's just a horrible nightmare but decide to go ahead and get her once she started singing some inaudible lyrics about Taco Bell!

I walk in her room to find this...

...and just like that! My day has been brightened!

Next, we're off on a small adventure to find where McG slept. Sometimes he sleeps in his room, sometimes he sleeps in the guest bedroom.

Last night he chose the guest bedroom.

After a few moments of gentle coaxing (: read hollering and threatening:) McG was out of bed and down for breakfast.

Today's choice was r*ce Crispies for LulahBelle and C0rn P0ps for McG

(not pictured: my breakfast of Reese's peanut butter mini eggs)

After breakfast, little sister surfed daddy's ipad....

...and McG watched his favorite show.

When it was time to start school, McG merrily made his way to the dining room table for the day's lessons.

(and if you believe that, I have some beautiful swamp land to sell you)

McG likes to take many, many...MANY breaks during the day. This "hot cocoa" break was after about 20 mins of school.

Next up was a little trip to WallyWorld

McG did not want to go so it was just me and Lilah!

We got her all stripped down out of her jams and up to the sink to get her hair "did".

Here's the finished product. I realized just last week that her hair is getting long enough for pig tails. She was not a bit happy about having pig tails so I called them puppy ears for a day or two. Now I just ask her if she wants "one" or "two". I don't say one or two what...I just ask one or two and she tells me what she wants!

Now if you don't think that's cute, there's something REALLY wrong with ya!

After our trip to the store, we decide on Taco Bell, mainly because of Lilah's little song this AM.

Here's Lilah's shirt post lunch.

All of Lilah's shirt look like this post lunch!

After lunch comes me and Mac's MOST FAVORITE time of the day...

....Lilah's nap time!

What a BEAUTIFUL site!

Unfortunately, those are the two shortest hours of the day and then she's back up and raring to go!

By the time Lilah wakes up, Daddy strolls in, strips, flops on the bed and takes up where Lilah left off on his ipad!

Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout you!

Lilah then realizes that McG is outside and she demands to go outside to play as well!

McG then makes his appearance witha friend!

Meanwhile, daddy has reclothed himself and has moved to the living room to surf the internet!

Tonight, like most American families, we are split into two different activities.

McG's hockey team has a pizza/bowling party and our church has an Italian dinner fundraiser/cake auction.

Tim will take McG to his party

I will take Lulah to the fundraiser

Lilah has thoroughly dirtied herself up so we call her in for a bath.

She ain't too happy about it!

Here she is after her bath, a bit happier but still trying to shoot me with her nerf gun!

You can't really tell byt his picture but she has chosen "one" for her hair.

We then call Mac in from playing...just as dirty as Lilah but not crying as hard!

And we're off!!!

I was going to take the camera to the fundraiser but forgot.

I told Tim to take pics at the party with his phone but he forgot.

So.......I got nothin'!

After coming home, I got Lilah and myself dressed for bed.

About 15 mins later, Daddy and Mac are home from their partying as well!

After prayer, it's time for bed!

Tim and I watch a little TV, have a quick gossip session and are off to bedybye!

My coughing attack came a wee bit earlier this time and I was up from about 1130PM to 1215AM

And right on cue, Lilah wakes us up at 8AM yelling:

MAAAA MAAAA

A Little Surprise Post

2011-03-24T16:29:00.000-04:00

I do realize it's been well over a month since I've posted but in my defense, nothing has been going on and I haven't had a camera to play around with. McGwire had lost the camera bettery for a while but we did find it recently so now I can use the camera that got flung in the pool last year. I'll be able to post pictures, just crappy looking ones!! haha

Here's a couple of pictures I took yesterday while playing around with the camera.

Lilah playing with her laptop

McG playing basketball

Lilah watching McG play basketball

McG posing for the camera!

I'll try to take a few more pictures over the next few days. McG's got a team bowling party tomorrow and then Sunday pics this weekend. We'll see if I can get back in the habit of posting!

Happy 39th Birthday, Timmy!

2011-03-23T23:03:00.001-04:00

Tim's Birthday Itenerary:

Set alarm for 4:30AM
Out the door at 5AM
Over to Rome Ga for a meeting then on to Alabama for another meeting
Call wifey 30 mins before she starts work to tell her I'll be home in about 3 hours due to a very long meeting
Get stuck in construction traffic
Call home 3 hours later to tell wifey it'll be another couple of hours before I get home
Walk in the door at 9:15pm
Birthday cake and awesome presents at 9:30pm
Lay my old bones down at 11:30pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!

We love you!

Lilah's First Hockey Game

2011-02-06T05:54:00.000-05:00

3rd day of celebratin'

2011-02-05T05:39:00.000-05:00

Mom and dad came down last weekend to babysit while Tim and I went to 2 work banquets so we had one last celebration of Mac's special day!

They bought him an ice cream cake from Brusters and it was delish~ although it has ice cream in place of real birthday cake icing!

Make a wish!

He got a few more gifts to open.

His favorite gift was his sn*ggie!

He asked for one for Christmas but I didn't get one... mainly because I thought he was joking. Turns out he wasn't and he wears this one constantly around the house!

Grampy had to try it out and it was so comfortable that he fell right to sleep!

(belated) Birthday Post

2011-02-04T05:35:00.002-05:00

I'm a little late on documenting McG's 12th birthday, but as they say "better late than never".

We celebrated his birthday week, really. He wanted to go to the Japanese restaurant for his special dinner, so we took out a 2nd mortgage on the house and went out on Monday night since I had to work on his birthday and the rest of the week was too packed full of extra curricular activities.

But... I ended up not having to work on his birthday after all so we were able to celebrate in style!

He didn't want a birthday cake this year (THE HORROR) but wanted Kr*spy Kreme donuts instead. I wasn't a bit happy that I wasn't going to be able to eat my weight in birthday cake icing and what's worse is that donuts don't fit through my lap band so basically I was rewarded nothing for painfully delivering a 9# 5oz baby boy 12 years ago!

He was happy, though!

After THEY ate donuts, it was time for presents.

Hide your eyes!!

I bet you didn't guess he got......

LEGO'S!!!!!!

Nothing makes him more happy!

Here he is with his loot.

Keep in mind the gazillions of Lego's he got for Christmas. And I'm not even going to mention the sets he got earlier that day with his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpap and Pics and Gramps!!!

Not to be outdone, Little Sister hid her eyes for her present as well.

What is it?

Hooray!! A Jessie keychain!

Our Bundle of Joy

2011-02-03T05:43:00.000-05:00

Introducing the newest member of the Bird family......

His name is Big Tuna.....

And we love him!!!!

Sunday pics

2011-02-02T05:45:00.007-05:00

This Sunday was a special Sunday!!!!!

The guy below was ordained a deacon!

We bought him a suit last week and he looks as sharp as a tack in it!

Big brother and proud Papa!

The whole fam damily!

Pics and Gramps were down babysitting for us and were able to stay until Sunday!

Proud grandparents!

Ready to go to church. It was mighty sunny outside!

He's 12

2011-01-25T15:37:00.000-05:00

Today my little baby

my miracle boy

turns 12

Not so sure where the time went. I'm not a bit happy about it.

Here are 12 great things about McGwire

he still lets me hug and kiss him
he's a good babysitter
he loves hockey and is really good at it
he hasn't bugged us (too much) about getting a cell phone
he's smart! he "get's" math, and most of his school work comes easy for him.
he's respectful to other adults (not so much to his mom and dad, though)
he loves Lego's and loves to build things
he has a kind heart and cares about how others are feeling
he has a wonderful young testimony of the gospel
he's doing really well in scouts
he entertains himself so well
his mommy is still the #1 girl in his life

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCGWIRE!!!!

We love you!

Sunday Pictures

2011-01-23T15:53:00.008-05:00

It's that time again!!!

Today is McG's last "Sunday Picture's" as an 11 year old.

Next week he'll be out of primary and into Young Men!

*excuse me while I wipe away tears*

I told him he'd better wear a colored shirt today because it's white shirts only from here on out!

We are supposed to get him a suit for his birthday but don't know when we'll find the time this week. We actually can wait a few days since he won't be passing the Sacrament until the following Sunday!

*Again with the tears*

Moving on~

Let me brag on Lilah's dress!

I bought at a thift store over a year ago while Brannon was still living with us.

It's a Laura Ashley and was all of $2 or $3.

Slap a monogram on it and it suddenly becomes awesome!

Of course, Daddy looks awesome too with or without a monogram!

See you next week!

Hopefully

baby got a new pair of skates

2011-01-22T15:29:00.009-05:00

Lilah's little boyfriend from the hockey rink got new skates for Christmas...which meant that Lilah got new skates AFTER Christmas. Well, new to her...they were Brayden's old skates!

Today was the first day she got to try them out and she was loving it!!!

Here she is with her boyfriend. I tried really hard (Ok, let's be honest... I kinda tried) to get a good picture of them but it's hard to shoot a moving target!

She did really well just scooting around and holding my hand. Then her friend Sophie came and took over where I left off.

Oh sweet Sophie!!!

After a hard 30 minutes of skating, Lilah took a quick break to work on her cavities...

...then she and Brayden sat down to watch a little bit of the game.

All of a minute or two, really.

Here's the star of the show:

#15 McGwire Bird

Here's a close up of little sister NOT paying attention to:

#15 McGwire Bird

When we got home, she insisted on skating in the kitchen until naptime.

My poor hard wood floors!

Between her riding her bike and roller skating, she's going to ruin them even more than they already are!

Of course, I couldn't resist making a public service announcement.

SAY NO TO CRACK!

Hockey Player

2011-01-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

McGwire is still going strong in hockey!

He's still the goalie for the middle school team but this season in rec hockey, he decided to skate out!!!

He's really loving it and has score several goals and had several assists so far!!

It's harder for me now because I have to pay attention and look all over the ice for him instead of keeping my eyes on the net the whole game! Plus I have to try to keep tabs on the little sister who's running around the whole rink area acting a dang fool!

Lilah's First Skating Experience

2011-01-19T10:34:00.001-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, McGwire's middle school hockey team went ice skating at a local rink. I had to work, which meant Tim had to take Lilah with him. He was super excited when he found out they had skates in her size so he got her a pair and himself a pair and had the time of their lives... until Tim fell and cracked his head. But that's a different post!!!

Enjoy a few pictures!

Sunday Pictures with a Guest

2011-01-18T10:31:00.005-05:00

Tim's "adopted" sister Heather came for a visit last. Actually, she and her friend came to Atlanta to go to the apparal mart to shop for the store she owns. Tim and I were lucky enough to get to go to the mart with her on Saturday, but man alive was it overwhelming!!!

I learned that I really am not a shopper!

Tim took her to the airport Sunday but we were able to get her to pose with us for our Sunday pictures before everyone went the separate ways!

BTW, she's the girl who visited last year who is married to the Osmond.

She couldn't be a bit nicer and more down to earth...but also couldn't be any skinnier or prettier if she tried!

It's very intimidating to be photographed with her even when I'm dressed up, but don't ya just LOVE the face I'm pulling in this picture!?!

More snow pics

2011-01-12T00:56:00.012-05:00

I am sick of snow!

Although I do have to admit the house looks beautiful surrounded by the white fluffy stuff!

Sunday night it started sleeting for about 5-10 minutes then turned into big pretty snowflakes that covered the ground in record time. Tim thinks we got about 6-7 inches.

The kids woke up and were ready for some playtime pretty early.

There were some folks on 4 wheelers driving around the neighborhood so they pulled McG and Lilah on the sled for a little while.

They (and I say "they" because "I" was safe and warm inside) were out for about an hour and came in just about frozen solid.

McGwire went out for most of the day, off and on, and Tim took Lilah back out in the afternoon and evening as well.

McGwire and his friends made snow forts all day. He let Lilah invade his fort for a few moments so daddy could take a picture. Then she was promptly kicked back out!

Yesterday, they were up raring to go again bright and early. We let McG go out but I wanted to keep Lilah in for a little while til it warmed up a bit.

Here she is drinking her "cold hot chocolate".

Yesterday, after she came in from the snow, she asked to have some "hot, cold hot chocolate" like big brother was drinking.

She insisted on drinking out of her toy teacup!

McG can't even have lunch without playing with those $%#!& Lego's

McGwire was gone again til late afternoon before we were able to drag him back inside again.

Lilah only went out once but she asked to go out and play in the snow pretty much

all.day.long.

Priesthood Preview

2011-01-09T20:25:00.002-05:00

McGwire had his Priesthood Preview after church today.

I don't want to talk about it.

If I think about it too much, I get misty eyed!

I can't believe that my little baby boy is turning 12 in 2 1/2 short weeks!!

Here he is (please excuse the SAME. EXACT. SWEATER. he has been wearing in just about every other post here lately) with a few of the boys in his class. McGwire used to be the tallest boy in his class but was quickly outgrown by Kevin (the boy on the far left) who's birthday is 7 months after McGwire!

There are 8 boys turning 12 this year!!

Talk about the Army of Helaman!!

2 boys weren't at church today but this picture shows all of the other boys in his class, although not a very good picture of them.

They served cake after the meeting and that was the very best part of the day!!

Even little sister got some cake too!!

First Day of Primary

2011-01-09T20:12:00.008-05:00

Lilah's first day of Primary was supposed to be last week but she was sick, so today was her big day.

We tried to prepare her by telling her she was not going to go to nursery anymore but now that she's a big girl, she'll be in primary, but she wasn't having any of it!!!

She said she DID NOT want to go to "pimalily"!!

By the time "pimalily" rolled around though, she was raring to go!!!
Liv??? Not so much!!
Poor thing was not happy about leaving nursery. Jill got to stay with her for a little while and I'm happy to report that Liv (and Jill) survived the whole ordeal!

She even got to play with a little toy to help her feel better. Lilah got to play with a little toy too even though she was feeling ok.

Here's little Lilah all ready to go! Even folding her arms and being reverent!
Well, at least she looks like she's being reverent.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We'll have to wait and see if next week goes as smoothly!

Snow Daze!

2011-01-05T20:27:00.010-05:00

It's supposed to snow here again in the next few days so hopefully we won't bore everyone with more snow pictures but I wanted to post these pictures from our Christmas snow before I forgot!

Little Lilah was cold and loving life!! She begged us to take her outside.

Constantly!

I never would. I'm just mean like that!

Tim and McGwire took her out plenty of times so don't feel too sorry for her!

McG was born to live in the arctic regions. He stays outside for hours when there's snow on the ground!

Lilah was finally able to make a snow angel!

On the deck, no less?!?!

Of course, McG has to get in a few hundred games of hockey.

McGwire vs. McGwire

Somebody fell flat on her fanny!

And this time it wasn't mommy!!!

McGwire and his neighborhood friend built a snowman across the street.

They were nice enough to let Lilah built it's head.

Admiring the handiwork!

Now that's one good looking snowman!

Littlest Ballerina

2011-01-05T20:23:00.006-05:00

Guess who starts ballet class today??

If you guessed Tim...your wrong!!!

Lilah has her very first ballet class today. She is taking lessons with her besties, Liv and Abby.

I'm not sure how much learning will be going on, but I guarantee there will be a lot of squealing and running amok in cute little ballet costumes!!!

Abby's mommy is my personal monogrammer and she surprised us with this very cute ballet backpack!!

Lilah has been obsessed with it since she got it Sunday!

Here's a closer look.

Go ahead and bask in it's cuteness!

Liv has one too. Her little ballerina has red hair and Abby's has blonde hair.

How adorable!

I think I"m more excited about the backpack than I am about the ballet class!

Hopefully Lilah will learn lots of dainty little girl twirls and moves. I'm also hoping they'll teach her that ballerina's don't play with big brother's army guys!!!

Scouting and Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T02:39:00.001-05:00

Here's an update on our little boy scout!

Last month at the Court of Honor, he conducted the meeting to fulfill a requirement to recieve his communications merit badge.

He really did a fantastic job conducting but could he have at least brushed his hair?!?!?!

Here he is recieving his merit badges

Here he is showing off all of his merit badges!

McGwire also earned his first and second class ranks so he got to put 2 pins on me.

Proud mama and papa!! Lilah ran up to us while we were posing for pictures but I don't think our photographer caught that picture.

McGwire and his friend Devin past off the signaling merit badge today. It had to be completed before the end of 2010. They barely made it and I do mean BARELY!!! It took a lot of blood sweat and tears to make it happen but they did it!

Christmas Card Picture Out-takes

2010-12-31T03:47:00.000-05:00

Here's how Lilah was feeling after our little family picture time!

Not one bit happy!

McGwire was a good sport, though!

We didn't use this picture in our card this year because I looked too fat sitting down! Nevermind that everyone else looks good. It's all about me! haha

We normally use Christmas as McGwire's yearly picture since his b'day is only a month after, so Tim took a few of him alone and they turned out very nice!

Here's Lilah Belle in a little better mood!

Here she's trying to keep a candy cane away from big brother!

My babies are getting too big!

Christmas Morning

2010-12-30T03:45:00.001-05:00

We had a fabulous Christmas this year. Poor McGwire woke up at about midnight ready to open his stocking. We promptly sent him back to bed without opening a thing.

He wasn't happy!

He woke back up at about 5:30AM and ripped through his stocking in record time!

Tim went upstairs to wake Sleeping beauty!

Santa left her stocking under her pink Christmas tree in her room this year!

They came downstairs to wake me up and we all waited, a very painful wait~especially for McGwire who was chomping at the bits to start opening presents~ for Lilah to open her stocking gifts!

Lilah was a little slow but very fun to watch!

Finally it was present time!!!

Big brother went first!

Then Lilah

Then McGwire

Then Lilah

Then McGwire

Well, you get the picture

Occasionally Tim and I were able to open a gift or 2

But then it was back to Lilah
Then McGwire
and back to Lilah again!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful and healthy, happy new year!!!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-29T04:02:00.001-05:00

We have a tradition (forced upon Tim) of letting the kids open a gift on Christmas eve.

It's supposed to be just pajamas but I normally sneak a small toy in the package as well, much to Tim's protest!

This year I forgot to put the toy in McG's package so he got to open 2 gifts.

Lilah was not a bit happy about that!! Even though she got a toy in her package,

she wanted to open up 2 gifts also!

Yay!! New jammies!

After opening the gifts and reading the story of Christ's birth, we ate cookies and drank hot chocolate by the fire! We did a lot of that this year, it seems! Actually, Lilah drinks "cold hot chocolate" (AKA chocolate milk, but she won't let you call it that!!)

White Christmas Night

2010-12-28T02:54:00.000-05:00

We had a white Christmas here in Georgia! Well, a white Christmas night. It started snowing about 3 pm and started sticking a couple of hours later!

The kids loved the snow, of course, and went out and played for a little while before I spoiled the fun by making them come in and get warm. Poor McGwire was so sick Christmas Eve and Day and I didn't want him overdoing it!

Of course a little game of hockey had to be snuck in!

It was nice drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies by the warm fire knowing there was snow on the ground outside!!! It was a great end to a great day!

Ice Skating Adventure

2010-12-26T16:49:00.007-05:00

A couple of days before Christmas we took the kids downtown to the outdoor skating rink so McGwire could go ice skating.

It was at the Olympic Park downtown and they had the park looking so beautiful with Christmas lights and decoratons.

Poor McGwire is the only one of the Bird clan who can ice skate, without the risk of breaking an important bone, so he had to go all by himself!

He didn't seem to mind though.

There were tons of people there and the ice was more like snow. McGwire said he couldn't glide very well but kind of scooted around the rink! He even scooped up the "snow" on the rink and threw snowballs at us!

We took Lilah to the park while McGwire skated so she could have some fun too!

There was a huge, beautiful tree in the middle of the park!

Poor Lilah got so mad when she asked Tim for a Sprite but he brought her back water instead!!!

Here she is crying and hiding her face in my lap!

Other than Lilah's little meltdown and the fact that it was FREEZING cold, we had a nice enjoyable pre-Christmas time!

Weekend at Picky and Grampy's

2010-12-26T16:33:00.005-05:00

WAY behind on posts, I know!!!

Maybe next year I'll be better.

Check back daily this week for a review of our life over the past month!

Last weekend we went to mom and dad's for a pre Christmas get together and to hear dad's talk at church. Lilah acted like a dang fool so Tim had to take her out and missed hearing dad's talk. Poor Lilah ended up having a fever so I forgave her for acting crazy.

On the way to mom and dad's house, we saw a herd of deer grazing in a field. There were about 12-15 of them. So beautiful!!!

I'll hopefully have Christmas pictures posted tomorrow or Tuesday so check back with us!

Christmas Fun at Stone Mtn

2010-12-05T14:27:00.016-05:00

Tim scored free tickets this year to St. Mountain's Christmas and those are the best kind of tickets to score!

We were all super excited to go. Lilah was really super excited to see Santa and ride the train.

First up was Mrs. Clause's story time.

Then Lilah was lucky enough get her picture taken with the Mrs. herself.

Mac wasn't about to take a picture with Mrs OR Mr. Claus so we had to settle for a few shots of him by himself here and there.

Lilah found one of her pacifiers in the stroller. She can hunt one of thoses things down like nobody's business!!!

After the 4D movie, a sing-along and a little candy and christmas tree ornament shopping, we sent McG off to The Barn to play while Tim and I tool Lula Belle to see the Snow Angel.

She was way excited and very happy in line........

...then the snow angel magically appeared and things took a turn for the worse.

Lilah was not a bit happy but was a pretty good sport about it.

After our adventure there, I went to go pick up McG and Daddy took Lilah to go stand in line for the Christmas parade and pictures with Santa.

We ate while waiting for the parade. FYI, St. Mnt's chicken tenders are delicious amd slide down the band in my tummy quite smoothly!!!

The parade was fun. Lilah was jumping and waving and was so happy to see Santa!!!

After the parade, the reality of actually being face to face with jolly 'ol St. Nick set in and Lilah started weeping and wailing. Seriously, she was scared to death!! Luckily, we were 3rd in line to see Santa so the crying didn't last too long.

She cried all the way up to the point of me putting her on his lap, then she stopped crying but certainly didn't stop pouting. She was able to tell him that she wanted toys for Christmas and that she loved him (with my prompting, of course).

After that trauma, we went and experienced a different kind of trauma:

standing in line for an hour and a half to ride the #%$^&*# train!!!!

The kids and Tim did really well while waiting.

Me??? Not so much!!!

But I was fine and chipper once we sat down and ate a little fudge!

We ended up leaving after the train ride since we were so exhausted, but we really did have a fabulous time. The weather was chilly and a little sprinkley but overall it was very pleasant and the experience really jump started our Christmas season!!

My Thanksgiving Adventure

2010-11-30T22:56:00.009-05:00

Tim was ever so kind enough to take pictures of my little appendectomy adventure last weekend.

I won't bore you will all of the gorey details, but basically I ended up here:

at this hospital and diagnosed with appendicitis.

:insert sympathy here:

I got wisked away to surgery and got a 2-for-1 deal with an appendectomy AND a much needed hernia repair that came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Heaven forbid they throw in a tummy tuck! IS that too much to ask?

Anyway, I ended up in this room,

looking like this!! EEEEEK!!!!

Here's my only meal for the stay.

Say what you will about hospital food, but the grits were to die for!!!

Lilah ate my applesauce but the bite I had of that was delightful as well.

They had the coldest water in the South!

Here I am, the next day, in all of my make-up-less glory ready to home to my own warm bed!

The kids made me get well cards and Lilah spent the next couple of days bringing them to be regularly!!

Bev and Rex sent these beautiful flowers in the cutest little vase. I think Bev wants wants me to give her the vase for Christmas, though!! haha

I have to say, I feel so blessed that everything worked out so smoothly and as painless as possible. I've heard horror stories of appendicitis and although I would never recommend it, the whole ordeal wasn't as bad as you would expect!!!

St Simon's Trip

2010-11-26T03:47:00.005-05:00

Everyone on FaceBook has seen these pictures but I wanted Grandma to see them as well, so this post is really for her!

Tim's company has been very, very good to us!

The latest perk was a free trip to St. Simon's island. Actually, it was a nice vacation for me and the kids...Tim was basically busy all weekend with his work seminars.

Here's the resort where we stayed.

Our room is in the top far right corner.

As soon as we got there and got settled, Tim had to set up for some meeetings and of course go to his fancy company dinner so I got fast food for the kids and then took them swimming in the heated pool.

The next morning we all had a nice breakast and after Tim left for his meetings, we went to the beach!

After a few hours on the beach, we (meaning the kids and I) had a nice lunch poolside. We did see Tim breifly and he even took us to get our food.

Tim had another fancy dinner with his co workers that night so I took the kids out for dinner and they went night swimming again.

The next day, Tim and McG went to breakfast and later while Tim was at yet another meeting, I took the kids to the beach again for a little while, then they splashed around in the freezing cold swimming pool as well!

We met Tim for lunch after his meetings were over so we were at least able to spend a little time with him on our vacation.

Here's a sunrise view from the hotel room!

The kids enjoying the view!

Lots-O-Lilah

2010-11-25T04:22:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine from work is a budding photographer and I was lucky enough to get her to do a photo session for Lilah's 3rd birthday pictures.

She did a fabulous job!! I couldn't be more happy with how they turned out. Another friend of mine from work brought her little boy as well so between the 2 of them, she took several hundred photos. SERIOUSLY!!!
Here are just a few....enjoy!

Horsemanship merit badge

2010-11-24T03:52:00.005-05:00

Late last week McGwire spent a few hours with a friend of ours from church and her 2 horses so she could help him earn his horsemanship merit badge. Me and Lilah tagged along and had so much fun learning about her beautiful horses.

McGwire learned a lot about how to act around horses and how to care for them.

He learned how to brush the horse...

... how to saddle the horse....
....how to mount the horse...
...how to ride the horse....
...how to clean the horse's hooves...

...and how to make the horse do tricks!!!

Not to be outdone, Lilah made darn sure she got to ride the horse too!!

We certainly had loads of fun and learned a lot too!

What you missed

2010-11-23T03:29:00.003-05:00

Here's a little of what we were up to during our little blog hiatus:

McGwire and Tim went on a 14 mile hike with the scouts at Stone Mountain.

...and lived to tell about it!

McGwire is on the middle school hockey team.

Tim's coaching the middle school hockey team.

McGwire lost a tooth

..but is still cute!

Lilah thought her tooth was loose as well.

BTW, it was not loose, much to her disappointment!

Tim made some really awesome sushi!!

Tim also fixed the computer!!

Lilah is back on the pacifier!

McGwire hates homeschooling!

Lilah learned to ride her bike!!

And then there was our general mischief as usual!

So that's been the past 2 months in a nutshell.

Halloween '10

2010-11-22T03:12:00.003-05:00

I kinda slacked a little this year with halloween pictures. These are the only 2 pictures of Lilah in her costume that I took (and they're not even cute)and I don't even have one picture of McGwire in his costume (he went as a hockey player). These were taken at the church Trunk-or-Treat party. We didn't go trick-or-treating this year since halloween fell on Sunday, so the kids got all their candy from this party.

The next day, the kids had candy for breakfast, candy for an after-church snack, candy for lunch, dinner AND dessert!!

She's going to make some dentist very happy one day!

The week before halloween Tim and the McGwire carved pumpkins while me and Lilah helped get the guts out. They only lasted a couple of days before they started getting fuzzy and moldy on the inside (the pumpkins, not Tim and McGwire). In fact, we threw them out the day before halloween as to not breed too much bacteria.

I was not a bit happy that Tim wanted to keep the pumpkin seeds to roast. I thought I was going to get away with a mess free pumkin carving session but I was sadly mistaken. I will admit that he made the best pumpkin seeds I have ever tasted. He seasoned them a couple of different ways and they really were to die for!

Weeeee're Baaaaack!!!!!

2010-11-21T15:25:00.004-05:00

Yes, I realize it has been over 2 full months since I last blogged. In my defense, other than pure laziness, I went some weeks without a camera and another few weeks without a computer. That, along with homeschooling and keeping up with Lilah, housework and my paying job, is enough to push me over the edge. It's a wonder I'm not in the fetal position off in some remote corner of the house.

In other words,

Stop complaining about the blog not being updated!!!haha

I figured I'd start off with an oldie but goodie:

Sunday Pics

There's lots more where this came from.

Check back often this week and you'll be sure to be up to date on us again!

The Apple of My Eye

2010-09-18T09:31:00.002-04:00

Last week, I had a hankerin' for some cheesecake.

So, like any good husband would do,Tim went out and bought apples to make me an apple pie.

(Yes, you read that correctly)

He was so excited to get to work messing up my kitchen!

He used to make a whole lot of apples pies on his mission, so he had plenty of experience messing up kitchens AND making pies.

Apparently, apple pie is not on many Brazillian's dessert menus, so they were thrilled when the missionaries made one for them.

He got to work right away and made his way around the kitchen like he owned the place! He made everything look easy, but I was pretty much in awe of his crust making skills~ that's for sure.

I helped him peel the apples but that's as far as I went.

I would have helped him out a little more, had I ever attempted to make a homemade apple pie before, but since the closest thing to making an apple pie that I've ever come to was throwing a Marie Calendar's in the oven, I found it better to just let him be.

Can't you just smell the warm apple and cinnamon aroma??

Since we had a butt-load of apples, Tim made 2 extra pies for a couple of our good friends just in case they had a hankerin' for some cheesecake as well!!!

They got store bought crust, though.

My husband certainly is a man of many talents!♥

Don't Knock it 'Til Ya Try It

2010-09-17T15:34:00.003-04:00

Sometimes breakfast just tastes a whole lot better on the potty!!!!

The big 4-2

2010-09-13T03:04:00.006-04:00

Happy birthday to me!!!!

My gifts include:

This guy,

this guy

this gal

and this awesome pillow that Bev made me.

I love the details in the quilting.

And of course, adore the monogram!!!♥

I never thought in a million years that I would ever be in my forties.

I hear it's all downhill from here!!!
I hate getting older!

Another Scout Campout

2010-09-11T02:56:00.001-04:00

McG had another scout campout a couple of weeks ago. I won't bore you with the gazillion pictures of other people's kids that Tim took but here are a few of pics our kids.

McG made a bat house. Bats freak me out. I don't want a house of them in my yard, but what the heck?!?!

Just looking at it gives me the creeps, but didn't he do a great job??

I had to work that weekend so Tim took Lulu with him for the camp set up and then brought her home at bedtime. He said she ran around like a madwoman terrorizing everybody.

'Can't imagine that.

School Daze

2010-09-10T02:55:00.000-04:00

Lilah started speech therapy classes at the elementary school the Thursday after her birthday. She will be going twice a week for about 30-45 mins each time. It's killing me as far as taking precious time away from Mac's homeschooling but we are sure hoping it's going to be worth it. She loves her teacher so far and has a little boy in her class on Tuesdays as well. I don't know if it's because of her age or her classes but she is doing a whole lot better with her speech.

I took this picture on her first day of school. She's holding up her birthday gift that her teacher, Ms. Kia gave her.

BTW...She's doing fantastic with potty training. We were able to venture out to the store in panties and she was able to wear her panties during her nap yesterday as well.

Spaghetti, Anyone????

2010-09-09T00:18:00.002-04:00

Tim's been couponing again. His recent score was different types of Newman's Own Pasta sauce.

They were 35 cents a piece.

How many did he get, you ask???

Well, time's this bad boy by 110!!!!

Laboring on Labor Day

2010-09-08T04:20:00.003-04:00

Tim decided to do a little deck staining on Labor Day, and who am I to stand in his way??

Unfortunately for McG, he was enlisted to help out.

You can imagine Mac was all too thrilled to join in the hard work.

( sarcasm)

LuLu had to get a picture of this rare sight:

Tim and McG hard at work!!! haha

We don't see that very often, ya know?!?!

Looking good!!!

They didn't get finished before we ran out of stain, darnit.

Who knows when the urge to break a sweat will hit the boys again? haha

(You know I love you McG and Timmy B.♥)

The Party of the century

2010-09-07T09:24:00.000-04:00

It took nearly all morning, but I was able to load up some party pictures once Tim hooked up the mouse for me to use with his laptop. Thank goodness for technology!

Here's the birthday girl looking like a 3 year old.

I took this shot of waking her up the morning of her 3rd birthday.

And for your information: Yes, she IS wearing diapers and sucking a pacifier as a 3 year old.

SUE ME!!!!

Here's Big Brother waking up as a 11y 7 month old!

Here's his nasty room that he should be ashamed of.

Here's a shot of the party favors. I got bold and decided to bake sugar cookies with the kid's initials on them.

Won't be doing that again!!!!

Too much work!!!

They started out like this,

(BTW, they're party hats, if you were wondering)

Here are the girl ones.

Here are the boy ones.

Here are one's I made extra for siblings.

Certainly not bakery material but not too shabby for a novice either. right??

Tim did a great job on the tags, as usual!

I found the cutest little lollipop tree idea on a blog somewhere and had to copy it. Theirs was black and yellow since the party was bumblebee themed. I made mine in pink and green.

It looked way cuter in person, I promise.

I went with cupcakes again this year and was not thrilled with how they looked...

but what could I expect from a grocery store bakery??

At least the cupcake toppers looked good, thanks to Tim again!

I LOOOOOVED Bodie's little brown and white polka dot balloons so I was thrilled to find these green ones in the local party store!!

Here's some shots of the grub!

I found a little 3 year old theif stealing some chips!!

I opted for a pinata instead of games. The kids seemed to have fun just playing with Lilah's toys, thank goodness. They didn't quite know what to make of the pinate but enjoyed grabbing the candy nonetheless.

Poor Lilah was exhausted after all that running around and was sad to see Picky and Tom go.

I was all too happy to put her down for her nap, though!

Well, that's about it in a nutshell. It's over and I swear next year's party will be a McDonalds!!

Birthday Post: Take one

2010-09-05T14:38:00.013-04:00

Mom and dad came down Monday night to celebrate Lilah's birthday and to help me get ready for her party.

This post is from our little family celebration. I will post her birthday party pictures as soon as I can find the time to load all of the pictures.

Tim made this birthday Banner for the party!

(I only keep him around because he's so good at my little projects!!♥)

She blew out all 3 candles on the first try!!

She loved all of her presents!!!

She got baby dolls, HelloKitty and Spongebob action figures and panties from us.

She got a cute August Princess picture frame and a laughing dog from Grandma and Grandpap Rex

And a bicycle from Picky and Tom.

It was a sweet and happy pre-birthday indeed!

Friday and Sunday Pics

2010-09-05T14:34:00.004-04:00

Grampy took McG to Mobile this weekend for a South Alabama football game.

Here they are leaving on their "guys weekend"...

...and here is is back home safe and sound!!!

He had a great time and got the tee shirt as proof!!

Little LulaBelle missed her "doedoe" while he was gone, but was somehow able to show a big smile for her Sunday picture!!!

Adventures in Potty Training

2010-09-04T18:50:00.004-04:00

Somebody got a potty chair last year for her 2nd birthday.

That somebody scoffed at the fact that we had the audacity to even suggest she use the potty chair for anything other than a step stool or a tv lounger.

Somebody got panties for her 3rd birthday and come hell or high water~ somebody will be potty trained before her next birthday!!

Go on and bask in the cuteness of a baby girl in panties. I can't keep my hands off her little hiney...not in a bad way though!

We started the day after her birthday and I have to say, she did fairly well. She pee pee'd in the potty several times but she also pee'd in her panties twice and on her bedroom floor once. I consider that a success.

Since then, she has gone poop several times in the pot and continues to pee in it about every 30-45 minutes. That has me a little concerned because I am getting a tired of having to cheerlead and make a big production about it that many times in a day.

We have a few incentives to help her make the right pottying decisions.

Here she is with her popcycle incentive.

We also have M&M incentives as well. Pink and green, of course!!!

Tim's computer went belly up recently so we are living off a laptop and a work computer. I can't really blog on my work computer and I swear posting pictures on Tims laptop is worse than poking hot needles in my eyes. It took forever trying to get these 3 pictures loaded. My point in complaining is to say that I don't know when I will be able to blog about Lilah's b'day party. Hopefully we will figure something out soon though.

A Miracle!!!

2010-08-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

This little girl stayed on my lap through the entire church service today!!!

A true miracle!!!!

Awwwwww......

2010-08-18T04:26:00.000-04:00

I'm just proclaiming to my blog readers that my life is perfect and my kids are so cute and they love each other and get along so well and we have more money than we know what to do with and Tim brings me flowers and chocolate every single day and we never fight and my house is always clean mainly because my family helps me clean the house and Tim cleans the toilets for me and I cook my kids healthy meals everyday and they eat all of their fruits and vegetables and...........

...if you believe all that , we have several lots for sale on the moon if you're interested in buying one!

The thief and the playdate

2010-08-17T16:20:00.005-04:00

I am working (my job) right now AND trying to update the blog and it's not working out too well. So let me skip all of the nonsense and get straight to the pictures.

Me and Lilah and Liv and Jill had a playdate on Saturday. The girls had a great time running around and playing and dancing. Lilah only fell down the stairs once so I consider it a success!!

Here she is ready for action.

Let's not forget to take our b'day invitation and scream everytime someone tries to take it from us!!

I really thought my hair looked good that day but I am now realizing how flat and lifeless it must have looked to everyone else in the world that day!! Humph!

Lilah is obsessed with "pops" better known to you and I as popsicles. She is allowed one or two a day (or 7 or 8 a day if she's getting on my nerves by asking for them EVERY.SECOND.OF.THE.DAY.) but I told her no popsicles since we were about to leave. Tim and I were talking and we heard the slam of the freezer followed by little pitter patter of guilty feet running into our room and then slamming the door. We went to investigate and found this little thief:

BUSTED!!!!!!

Fun Without Mommy

2010-08-10T04:38:00.001-04:00

I had to work this past weekend and it doesn't need to be said that it is not my most favorite thing to be doing. I was not too happy whenever Tim and McGwire came home from Mac's hockey tournament (which his team won, by the way) Saturday afternoon and announced that they were going out for dinner and on to the laser show with friends.

WHAT THE.....??? WITHOUT ME????

Sure enough, they left me high and dry and apparently had the time of their lives.

There were tug-of-war tournaments...

bubble blowing demonstrations...

frisbee tossing...

and some football games.

Tim said that Lilah ran and ran and ran NON STOP the entire time!!!

McGwire had a few rests, I see.

Lilah did seem to stop long enough to see the booger on her finger, though.

This young fellow ran into our little curly headed tornado at some point in the festivities, bless his heart. Tim said the little boy hurt his nose but our Lilah didn't recieve a scratch.

They didn't get home until about 11pm and Lilah was still bright eyed and bushy tailed. Plus she didn't nap that day either. She was high on life!!!

Oh well.....

I'm glad they had fun but I sure would have loved to have gone along for the ride.

Pony Rides

2010-08-09T04:33:00.000-04:00

Lilah was lucky enough to be invited to a birthday party that included pony rides and a petting zoo.

In case anyone is wondering....I am a horrible parent and there will NOT be pony rides or petting zoo's at Lilah's b'day party. I may have a pinata if she's lucky but I'm not even planning on having any games!!!

But I digress....

Anyway, she was so excited to tell me all about it when she got home. Tim said she seemed to have a good time but was not too sure about that pony!!

Look how cute these little pigs are.

She loved the chickens and bunnies.

We are grateful that Logan's parents were crazy enough to have such a cool party for Lilah to enjoy.

Happy birthday Logan!

Sunday pics

2010-08-08T13:07:00.008-04:00

PLEASE... I BEG OF YOU.....DON'T HAVE A HEART ATTACK!!!!

I know it has been quite a while since I've posted so I know all 3 of my readers (well, 5 if you include me and Tim) are in for a shock seeing a new post!!

In my defense, we use Tim's work camera and unfortunately "work" has needed it's camera off and on for the past month so I have not been able to get any pictures.

So, I'm starting fresh, a week into August, with some Sunday pictures.

It seems like this pose of my 3 favorite people never seems to change

Of course I have to throw in an embarrassing picture of Tim for good measure.

My baby's growing up too fast!! Can you believe he'll be 12 in just 6 months?
p.s. I hate how after losing 136 pounds, I look like I still need to lose 136 pounds!!! UGH!!!

This baby is growing up way too fast too. We are in the midst of getting everything ready for her 3rd birthday party in a couple of weeks. Tim is hard at work designing everything that I am hard at work asking him to design!

They both slumped to the floor whenever I announce it was "Sunday picture" time.
Not sure what that's all about.

My awesome photography skills. All I have to do it point and click and I end up with something that looks like it could be in a fashion magazine!!

Hardy-har-har

This one is my favorite.....She picked up a small knife that Tim had laying on the coffee table for no good reason and immediately aimed for her foot. Of course I had to snap a photo before taking it away from her.

Blog entry's come before safety, ya know!

Check back tomorrow to see if I've decided to post anything else!!

Too many

2010-07-11T04:43:00.003-04:00

The Question (posed by Bev a few posts ago):

How many bathing suits does Lilah own??

The Answer:

six

And one birthday suit!

A Bunch of Cows

2010-07-10T16:40:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Cow Appreciation Day and in honor of this glorious day, Ch*ick FilA gave away a free meal to anyone wearing a cow costume. They even had spots and noses and tails to print out and use. Tim and his friends from work have no shame and took full advantage of the deal in order to score a free lunch.

I had to work last night so I didn't cook and Tim got the bright idea to take the kids for a free dinner as well.

Lilah was sooo excited about getting to dress up like the meat of her favorite entree' "a hamburger" (or as she calls it "A Seebook"). She kept on telling me "I'm a cow" and Tim says she "moo'd" the entire time he was ordering. haha McGwire wasn't even too embarassed to dress silly in order to get free food. He takes after his dad.

Luckily I had to work and didn't have to make a fool out of myself to get food that I can't even eat!! haha

Here's Daddy cow and his little heffer

My 2 little calves

LulaBelle's cow tail!

Ahhhhh....the things we do to save a buck!

Blast from the Past

2010-07-06T18:55:00.003-04:00

Tim found these pictures on his work computer today.

My how they've grown.

Cute pictures!

2010-06-30T02:22:00.002-04:00

Look at my sweet little angels! ♥

Those lashes are to die for.

Can you believe these 2 cuties .....

...came from this mom???

giant roach

2010-06-29T02:20:00.000-04:00

We have a cockroach problem!!!

There, I said it. My husband works for a pest control company and yet we have been overrun by Big, HUGE, roaches!!!!

And these are no ordinary roaches...these suckers are the biggest I have ever seen. They mostly hang out on the deck near the pool. I guess they are in search for water.

The other day, we were minding our own business about to go swimming when something caught my eye near the pool.

I looked up and saw......

(but first, let me throw in a cute picture of Lilah)

this GIANT cockroach!!!

Can you believe how big these guys are???

He got in the pool before I could catch him.

McGwire was able to swat him for me and here he is...dead as a doornail!

Why in heavens name would anyone make a roach pool float???

And before you can ask youself "who in the world would BUY a roach pool float" , let it be known that it was given to Tim from some guy at work.

Weird!

Sunday Pics

2010-06-28T14:14:00.006-04:00

It's that time again!!!

We got up on time and had everyone fed and dressed and ready for a few pictures.

A true Sunday miracle!

My 2 handsome princes.

Luckily, Lilah has no trouble smiling at the camera anymore!

She was able to get through the entire Sacrament meeting this week... mostly because I was on the end of the pew and didn't take her out when Tim was giving me the evil eye and mouthing the words "take her out" with a not- so- nice look on his face!!!

Soooo innocent!

See you next week!

Last of the scout pictures

2010-06-24T13:41:00.010-04:00

Are you getting tired of scout posts yet??

I am.

But this is our family story (or history, I guess) so everyone needs to relax and enjoy!

Again, I have no idea what's going on in some of these pictures but I do know that McGwire is about to toast a marshmallow in this one.

...and he's asleep in this one!

In this picture he is with his troop (see, I know what's going on)

Someone's giving him rabbit ears in this picture.

Eating lunch here.

Contemplating life's mysteries.

Thinking about how much he misses his mommy.

Goofing off with his bunk mates.

Carving his arrowhead (it broke, by the way)

Here he is with the round basket tht he weaved. The square one isn't finished yet (which means that, yes, this one is finished).

Apparently this was about the time that everyone started stinking. It seems to have gotten so bad that McG had to plug his nose. I swear to you that our car still smells like armpits and butt after carting the scouts and gear around last weekend!

A boy and his ax.

Ready to come home!

The END!

Presenting the Flag

2010-06-24T13:22:00.008-04:00

A few guys from the scout troop presented the flag at the Gwinnett Braves game this week.

They're a good looking troop, don't you think?

Here's the gang with "Chopper" the mascot. "Chopper" is a chipmonk. What a chipmonk has to do with the Braves is beyond me.

Ready to go onto the field.

Looking sharp presenting the colors to all 10 people who were in attendance that night.

You can tell McG is paying very close attention in this picture.

He's really getting to do alot with scouts. He had a merit badge class last night at Bass Pro Shops with a few guys from the troop. He earned his gun shooting merit badge (or whatever the real name of it is) and his fishing merit badge. He'll be an eagle scout before we know it!

The Lilah Post

2010-06-21T20:49:00.008-04:00

After 3 McGwire posts I thought I would throw one in about Lilah.

But first let me say...

We sure missed this guy last week and are happy he's home safe and sound!

Yesterday while Tim was cleaning the pool, Lilah got her "babysuit" on and waited patiently for him to finish so she could go swimming.

"Hurry, Daddy"!

Look at this cute little face

and these cute pink fingernails

and those curls

and that booty butt

Finally Daddy's ready

JUMP!!!!

A happy little girl and her daddy!!!

The pool is looking much better but still not crystal clear yet. Hopefully in a few days it will be 100% ready!!!

Scout camp post 3

2010-06-19T08:26:00.001-04:00

Again, I have no idea what's actually going on in these pics other than it's night time and he's a scout camp and I'm missing him like crazy!!!!

Tim said that Mac was really having a good time and seemed to be thriving. I guess I'll find out in a few days when I get to see him again.

On day 3, some of the boys got up at 0530 for swim practice.

For some reason McG decided to participate.

I don't know how much swimming he did but from the looks of it, he did a little floating.

...and some dog paddling.

Here he is at morning instruction....

...lifesaving class....

..and leatherworks!

Scout camp post 2

2010-06-18T08:42:00.002-04:00

McGwire was in charge of feeding the gang one meal (I guess they all took turns, but who knows?) and he chose to make hobo meals. Tim said they turned out great and everyone raved about how delicious it was.

I have no idea how to make a hobo meal, but I am sure no one is suprised at that. I think you cut up potatoes, carrots, onions and hamburger meat, wrap it in foil and throw it on the grill.

Looks delish!

The chef with his masterpiece.

Our friend Jim, who is Jonathon from hockey's dad, enjoying McG's creation.

McGwire had been talking alot about and excited to participate in the "polar bear club" but I was never sure what he was talking about. Apparently it is a small waterfall that flows freezing cold water. Each person has to sit under the cold water for as long as they can and who ever stays under the longest wins. McGwire was the winner at 20 minutes.

Crazy boy!!

I love these next few pictures!

I guess I should have waited to post explainations to these pictures when McGwire was around to actually explain to me what's going on in them but it's too late now.

I think this was the flag raising ceremony on day 2.