10 Things.

I've been seeing this lately on other sites. Listing 10 things you are thankful every week. So, since my lovely internet is not allowing me to upload pictures right now, I thought I would find some things to be thankful for. Here are my 10 things.

1. Being able to watch my girls hug on and play with each other.

2. Nate, because he always tries to help with my problems...even when they are silly little problems :)

3. Lily's exuberant personality.

4. Baby kisses (from both my babies).

5. Having our own space (the space itself may not be great, but after two weeks of being in other peoples' spaces, I am happy that we have our own little apartment to come home to).

6. A family (both mine and Nate's) who loves my girls so much!

7. My MOPS group. Don't think I would have survived the three years we've been here without them.

8. Ava's little smile.

9. Healthy children.

10. A husband who talks to me about the future and where he sees our lives going.

So, there's my 10 things for the week. What are yours?

Never Again.

Today, I was that mother. You know which one I'm talking about. The one in the store with the screaming baby (who is really not a baby, but a young toddler) who she is unsuccessfully trying to quiet. The one whose children every one knows the names of by the time she leaves because she has had to yell to them from across the store to come back to her approximately 2 million times. She's the one that all the other mother's say a quiet prayer for (and a quick thanks that it's not their kids acting that way). The one that the old ladies frown at. The one the cashier has to tell that her coupon is expired because she is too busy trying to control her wild children to check the date herself. Yes, today, I was that mother. And, my children will never being going back to JoAnn's Fabrics with me again. Ever. In fact, I am strongly considering not ever going out in public with them again. Well, I may let Lily out. But, Ava will be spending the rest of her life in her room...

Prayers of patience would be much appreciated today (especially by my kids), because I am not sure they will survive the day without some divine intervention.

I Know a Place Where a Kid Can be a Kid!

Well, as I am sure most of you know, it has been nothing but rain, rain, rain here for the past few days. Kim and I had planned on taking the girls to a splash park she discovered in Alachua on Tuesday, but, well, what with it being 68 degrees, rainy, and windy out, we had to come up with something else to do! We are both thoroughly bored with the swap and the museum (pretty much the only indoor things to do here in G-ville), so we ventured out to the Chuck E. Cheese in Ocala. It was only abot a 30 minute drive and I brought the portable DVD so the girls would be occupied. After a slight adventure (won't go into details, but we had to run to a Wal-Mart for new clothes and cleaning supplies), we got to Chuck E. Cheese. It was the first time any of the girls had been anywhere like this and they all had fun! It was nice because there weren't a ton of people adn they have the little Child Check system, so we didn't have to stay right on top of the kids.

Lily playing the dog feeding game.

The Monster Truck ride was a favorite of everyone! How funny is that!

At one point, Ava started walking around with her fingers in her ears. Guess it was just too noisy!

What a cheeseball!

Again, with the cheesey smile. Don't know what the deal with that is!

I think Ava's favorite part was eating. She was more than happy to sit by herself at the table after everyone had finished eating and wanted to play!

The girls on one of the motion rides.

Ava in the playground.

The Monster truck, again. I love this picture of Madison. She just looks so intense!

The girls all got microphones with their tickets. Here is my little Diva!

Here are some pictures we got at one of the machines. It was really hard to get he kids in the right position for them!

Crafty Goodness, St. Auggie Trip, Fun Skirts, and a New Hat

First up, I just wanted to post a picture of some rice heat therapy packs I made. The pretty one went to my pregnant sis-in-law as part of her birthday gift. The other is just a fun one for the girls (it is an old pair of baby pants). Lily loves these and they are great for all those mysterious pains that seem to pop up right around bed time :) I don't know if I have ever posted a tutorial for these, but you can find a great one here.


We headed into St. Augustine this past weekend for some get togethers that were going on. Our first stop was at my Nana's for my Dad's 50th birthday. It was just a small dinner (Dad's not a huge fan of birthdays). I had made some new skirts for the girls earlier in the week, so I had them wear them. They were so cute! Lily's is kinda from this tutorial and Ava's is from this one. There will definitely be more skirts popping up sometime soon. They were so fun to make and looked so cute!

She looks like she is doing yoga or somethign in this picture. She was having so much fun running around the backyard.

My sweet girls.

Lots of hugging lately, I love it!

Lily running a round with her new Dora radio (courtesy of Nana).

Lily always insists on being barefoot when we're at Nana's. I think it is because I can't let her do it here because we have so many sand spurs here. It always makes for some lovely feet, though!

Showing me her pretty flower.

The girls. All of us!

Lily and Ava playing.

The yummy Cannoli Cake that Nana got. It was really good :)

On Saturday we headed to a house warming party for a friend of mine, then to a get together at Nathan's grandparents' house. They have this amazing place on Salt Run. It's the kind of place that Nathan and I hope we can own someday...in the very distant future. Lily wore another new skirt that I made her. It is kind of from this tutorial. It was by far my favorite of the three. It was so twirly and feminine. And, just looked so sweet on her!

Checking out the Koi pond.

Running around the back yard.

Daddy and Ava on the dock.

A couple of weeks ago, I won a GC to Posh Toppings. I got this adorable little hat and some flowers that clip onto it. Well, Lily saw the flowers and had toa have all 5 of them on the hat and she had to wear it out to Publix! It is so cute, though! I can't wait till the fallw hen it will be cool enough for her to wear it! I think I am goign to have to find some little head bands I can clip those flowers on, though, for the summer. Oh, and sorry for the goof-ball pictures, she would not just look at me and smile! I think the sun was bothering her...

Cookie

Lily won the Cookie Club thing from Publix. She got a free 10 inch cookie with her name on it! So cool. We have put cards in a couple of times for it, but I was not sure they ever really did it and last week, we got a call saying Lily won, so we picked it up yesterday! Here is the only picture I got of it (I wasn't quick enough to get a picture before they started devouring it)!