My Growing Girls

These are just a couple of random pics of the girls recently and how they are growing up so fast!

Kayley as you can see is still way into princesses as she dresses up as one almost everyday! I have to set rules on when she wears them, otherwise she'd have them on 24/7. So, we don't get to wear them in public so they don't get ruined or to bed for the same reason. In fact this week we've been lucky to have Grandpa here to help Daddy with his truck and they have loved playing with him...I'll have to snap some pics of them and post them later! But, last night Papa asked Kayley which princess is her absolute favorite if she could only pick one which it would be and she replied with "Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella." So, she loves so much she can't think of life without them. We have dress up clothes for all three except Ariel, so I'm waiting for after halloween and hopefully get a costume of it half price after the holiday! She is such a good big sister as you can see in the pic that she loves to help Cora with anything.

Cora is something else and getting so big. She loves to do anything her big sister is doing. She loves to play with babies as you can see in this pic. She's already learned how to juggle two kids at once...a true mother at heart at only the mere age of 14 1/2 months. She is starting to say words now and trying to imitate us with what we say. She can now say, mama, dada, please, princess, shoes, uh-oh, bye-bye, hi and newly learned papa. Of course, you have to prompt her on a few of these words, but she'll repeat them back to you fairly clearly. People can even understand her over the phone, which is another thing she loves to do now too. Oh and Cora got herself into Preston's walker without any help and was found just sitting there eating her snacks as happy as can be. It was cute!

It's hard to believe how big my girls are getting and how quickly. I just try to savor the moments now as much as I can b/c I know it will continue to go by faster and faster!

Biscuits n' Gravy Recipe

Here's a post of my biscuits n' gravy recipe...I had a couple of inquiries on how to make it....it's super easy! All it is is a box of the biscuits n' gravy mix from Sam's club...it's a red, white, and blue box...can't remember the brand. Follow those directions and add cooked pork flavored breakfast sausage and a couple of squares of chicken bouillon. Then cook whatever kind of biscuits you like to eat and enjoy. It is the best however with Highland Orange Juice...something we can't get up here in KC area. Maybe someday KC will come to their senses!! Hope you enjoy!

I'm SO glad last week is OVER

Well, you guessed it if you read Michelle's blog at all...we got the flu bug as well in our house this last week from Ashlyn...don't worry, we still love you Ashlyn!! It was a very long and boring, but exciting week. Boring b/c we didn't go anywhere for a whole week and exciting b/c it was always a guess as to who was to be sick next!

Without giving you too many disgusting details...Cora was the first that got hit. On Tuesday night about 11pm she started throwing up and then 4 times after that within the following hour. Then it was every hour on the hour from about midnight until 5am...which is when I started to throw up, but luckily only once more again at 6:30ish. But, the day wasn't that much better as we didn't feel very good all day. Luckily neither Cora nor I threw up the rest of the day. Then on Thursday as Cora and I were finally feeling up to par on our appetites and strength, Kayley starts throwing up. She came to me in the night and said her tummy hurt and she needed a drink, then she said her tummy hurt and she needed to go potty..so I thought here it comes but nothing. So she went to bed and I put the bucket by her bed and told her to try and throw up in the bucket if she needed to and then come get me. Well, she came and got me at about 1:30am and said "Mommy, I already throwed up." So, there we were with throw up all in her hair and on her bed. So I made a pallet next to our bed and she went to sleep while I went to work on the laundry and get her bed cleaned up. Not 5 minutes after I hit the pillow I heard someone in the bathroom and we were at it again, only luckily this time in the toilet. Then that day she woke up and only had one more incident. However throughout the day you wouldn't think she was too sick and she played like normal and wanted to eat like normal. I had to really limit what and how much she ate so we wouldn't have a relapse.

And to top it all off...you're probably wondering where Nick is in this picture. Well, of all weeks for us to get sick, he had to work as their were TWO people on vacation that week (which has NOT ever happened the 2 years he's worked there)...then on top of that, he was also on call once he did get home for the day...and his on call involves actually going in to the hospital for about an hour at a time for a callback. So, our biggest feat was to try and spare Nick from getting sick. Well, he was lucky and did not happen to get sick although there were a couple of times where he felt like he was. But, he was still good at helping me when he was home, even so much that one day he went to Walmart for me to get "sick" supplies instead of taking a shower before work...isn't he so sweet!?! So, needless to say, we are better now and feeling a lot better and glad to not be sick anymore.

These are pictures from when the girls were sick, but I couldn't tell that they looked sick at all. I guess they are always gracefully sick.

Our House Is a Nice House...

Ok...you're probably wondering why this is the title. This last week Kayley has been constantly asking me to go to Grandma's house (Grandma Arlaine is Grandma and Grandma Jani is Grandma Jani to Kayley...for those that were wondering which Grandma we are talking about)...anyway, I kept telling her that Grandma's house is a long way from here. Our conversation went a little like this:

Kayley: "you can drive fast Mommy."
Me: "But, it takes a lot of money to fill the van up with money."
Kayley: "But, you have money's to fill up the van."
Me: "We can't go without Daddy and he is at work."
Kayley: "We can go when he gets back from work."

Well after a couple of quick responses from her, I knew I wasn't getting anywhere with this. So I asked her why she liked going to Grandma's so much. She said, "She has a nice house and when we go there, we go to sleep and then when we get up, she makes us stuff." She then kept thinking about what it was called that she makes us. I asked her if she was talking about Grandma's biscuits n' gravy and she said yes. I told her I had a secret and told her I knew how to make Grandma's biscuits n' gravy and that maybe later this week when Daddy was home from work for a day we would make them for breakfast in the morning. She said she liked that idea and asked me how many days until then. I then asked her if she would like our house if I made biscuits n' gravy and she said that yes, our house would be a nice house if I made them. Well, since Conference was this weekend, we got to sleep in and have a nice breakfast on Sunday morning and yes, I made biscuits n' gravy and yes, our house is a nice house now!! Yeah!! :)

Oh and on a side note...we are so excited that there is going to be a temple in our area soon!! For those of you who may not know...this last weekend during our General Conference it was announced that there was going to be a temple built in the greater Kansas City Area!! Yeah!!! :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Tootie!

We just wanted to wish a special Happy Birthday to our Great Aunt Tootie and the girls' Great-Great Aunt Tootie (Tootie is her nickname and Ruby is her real name...but she goes by Tootie to us!) Her birthday was yesterday and she turned 90 years old! I remember when I was younger and I was so privileged to stay the week with her while her daughter Carrie (pictured above) was gone out of town. At first I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be fun, I believe I was about 12 and I didn't know if we would have stuff to talk about or anything like that. Boy was I mistaken! I had a blast and I became so close to her. I remember she would make me breakfast in the morning before school and then have a snack ready for me when I came home from school and we would talk about my day. I don't even think we turned on the tv but maybe once while I was there. We just sat and talked about anything and everything! I had the best time and loved every minute of it. I was so glad that I got to spend that special time with her! We love her lots and lots and hope she had a great birthday yesterday! We did talk to her yesterday and she was enjoying her day and loving life and the great memories she has had! She is an amazing woman! We love you Aunt Tootie! :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jani!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Just thought I'd share the cool card that we were able to make for my Mom for her birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom!! We love you!

In Answer to Shannon's Post...

Well..thanks to Shannon's tag...here are my responses...hope you enjoy!

Two names you go by:1. Colton2. MommyTwo things you are wearing right now:
1. short-sleeved shirt, even though it’s freezing outside for September!
2. Capris…same as above!

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. My nose/congestion to clear up…I have a slight cold and my throat is extremely dry from breathing out of my mouth
2. My headache to go away…I guess I’m falling apart!

Two people who will most likely send this back
1 Stephanie
2 Cassie

Two things you did last night:
1. Had Family Home Evening…I know it was Wednesday night, but we missed Monday with traveling.
2. Started reading a book…something that doesn’t happen very often!

Two things you ate today
1. Way too many rice krispie treats and there will probably be more eaten before the night is over!
2. Cheerios

Two People you just spoke with:
1. Nick
2. Kayley

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Watching Katrina with the girls
2. Waiting for Nick to get home to start our weekend!

Two longest car rides:
1. From Columbia to Myrtle Beach…although it was longer for Nick as he drove the whole way since I didn’t know how to drive a 5-speed….thankfully we didn’t have kids yet so we could drive straight through!
2. From Sikeston to Columbia when Nick and I were engaged. I had gone down for a visit by myself while he stayed behind in Columbia…I think I was really lucky to not get a speeding ticket…that’s the quickest I’ve ever made it to Columbia from Sikeston!

Two favorite beverages:
1. Country Time Lemonade…nothing beats it sometimes!
2. It sounds weird…but I’m pretty partial to my ice water. Nick always gets me cup of ice water before we go to bed for me to sip on in the middle of the night. Isn’t he sweet!?!

Tag to anyone who wants to feel the LOVE!! And anyone who is a frequent visitor of my blog!! So that means maybe 3 people?? Hehehe. I agree with Shannon’s request here!!

Odd Places

Here are a few places that I've found my girls lately and was quite shocked and they all deserved pictures! I'm going to tell you ahead of time that I really do give my girls a nice comfy bed to sleep in! Anyway, you'll see with the pictures...


This is where I found Cora this morning as I was getting breakfast cleaned up. She is always at our heels waiting to use the computer...well she got the computer alright! It was too cute and she was just laughing when she saw me come in!! It was cute!!!

I found Cora right here...actually behind me when I was prepping my tomatoes from our garden to be frozen. I guess she was really tired. I knew she was down there singing, but I didn't think she was falling asleep...it was so sweet looking though! Definitely picture worthy!!

I found Kayley like this when she was supposed to be in time out. I guess it ended up in a time out for me as she ended up taking a nap waiting for me to get her out of time out! Not sure if she learned her lesson or not. Oh well.

Our Smart Kayley

Today is just an update. Kayley is now 3 years old! Not much has been going on with us lately as we’ve slowed down on our driving places this month, which has been nice to just be at home and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Anyway, so the other day for fun we went to Liberty to hang out with Michelle and Kendall and do our most favorite thing…garage sales! Then we hung out with them at their house for the rest of the day to let the kiddos play with each other. Kayley had to go potty so she went into Ashlyn’s bathroom and then called for us to come wipe. Well, she then ceased to amaze me with how smart she is as she told me that Ashlyn’s toilet paper is different than ours. Now you may think this is not so smart as most likely we don’t buy the same toilet paper…but this wasn’t what she was talking about. She was talking about the way the toilet paper came off the roll. She said ours goes this way and motioned her hands to where the toilet paper came around the back of the roll, then said theirs goes this way and motioned her hands the opposite way to have the toilet paper come off the front of the roll. I was so shocked that she picked up on such a minor detail. Most people could careless about the way their toilet paper comes off the roll…to them, toilet paper is toilet paper. However to Kayley it is different and I guess I have to admit that I’ve created a monster as I’m very particular about the way our toilet paper faces…so I always put it the same direction, but I’ve never told her how to put it on or that I prefer it that way. And apparently I’m not the only one that has this disease as I had this discussion with Kendall afterwards and he is the same way, only he likes his toilet paper coming off the opposite way of me…I guess it’s a good thing that we aren’t married to each other otherwise we’d have to have different toilets! :) But, needless to say, Kayley ceases to amaze me with how smart she is and on the smallest details that she pays attention to. We sure do love her and enjoy her wit and smartness!

This by the way is a picture of her at her 3 year well check-up...it was the first time we had to wear a hospital gown while waiting for the doctor...too cute of an outfit to pass up taking a picture and she liked wearing the hospital gown..it was fun to her!

My Big 3 Year Old Kayley!!

Our little Kayley turned the Big 3!! She was so excited for her birthday to get here. In fact, on Monday we were at Walmart to get some last minute supplies for the big event and I decided to let her pick out some Princess napkins for the festivities. She was so excited, she put the napkins on the conveyer belt and then grabbed them out of the sack as soon as we paid for them…you’d think they were a toy or a piece of candy the way she loved them! Then when we got home she wanted to take a nap with them and sleep with them that night. The next morning I woke her up and told her Happy Birthday and one of the first things she asked me was if she got to open her napkins yet. She was very patient all day and carried them around again all day. Then in the evening when we had her party at the pool with her cousins, she was so excited to get them out and hand them out to everyone. She sure was cute!
We did have a fun day. We got up and she was given the choice of me making her anything for breakfast…and she actually picked toast! (I was a bit relieved as that is easy to make and clean up, but glad that she picked something as she has been sick lately and not had much of an appetite.) Then, about mid-morning, she got a special phone call from the real Ariel…she loved that! Then, we headed off to McDonald’s to pick up her choice of a Happy Meal, with a pop and all, then took our lunch to Daddy’s work to eat with him. Then we went on some errands and went home to take a nap before the big event. In the evening the Carles and the Walkers came over for a swimming party with cupcakes and popsicles. Kayley didn’t want to swim much so she could open presents and eat cake. Typical of a birthday girl! She had a great day and loved her birthday presents and her party! She sure is cute!
We are really blessed to have Kayley. She is such a sweet spirit! She is so smart and surprises us everyday. She is very kind and gentle too. At dinner every night, she goes around the room asking each of us “Mommy, how’s yours?” and so forth. Then she says, “Thank you for making this Mommy.” She is a fun little sprite. She is always up for fun and always asks why we have to take a nap and go to sleep. She is always trying to help me with Cora and loves her little sister. She is constantly asking me if Cora is her sister. She is always good to get me diapers, wipes, even put dirty diapers away for me without complaint. She also likes to help me get food ready for Cora at mealtime. She is a fun little girl and we are so glad that we have her! We love you very much Kayley!