silly faces.

[these kids rock at silly faces!!!]

 

i love them like crazy :)  

tonight gage told me that when he's older and his "head is up to the ceiling" then he can make popcorn and do "cool big persons stuff" 

- yep,  you got it dude!

the tooth fairy.

the tooth fairy stopped by last night and left my oldest a few bucks! needless to say, he woke up super excited and couldn't wait to get to school to show his friends!!! this kid has been messing with that stupid little tooth for days - I am so glad he finally got it out. :)  now if only his other front baby tooth would fall out so he'd stop messing with that one!

love you to the moon & back gavin arthur!

 that smile and those big brown eyes will always melt my heart :)

for my children.

Once again - been a bad 'blogger' - but truthfully, I'm not really a blogger... 

 

I'm not a cleaver writer (I actually don't really enjoy it at all most times) - I don't have wonderful words of wisdom to share with the world - I don't have special talents or a business to blog about.  I do, however, have 3 children I want to write for.  So, I'd like to eliminate the title of 'blogger' and simply call myself 'mom' - a mom who wants to document special parts of her children's lives so they have something fun to look back on and read - and yes, share it on the world wide web so family and friends can have a peak too!

now that all that jazz is out of the way, I will share a few fun things happening here...

 

after 7+ years we are done with diapers!  Gage is now potty trained and I am loving it!!!

(so is the budget.)

 

Gabby is officially registered for preschool!  I have no doubt she's going to have a blast - I'm SUPER excited!!!

 

Gavin is doing really well in 1st grade and he's now signed up for baseball starting next month!!! (pray I can juggle working full time, getting home, making dinner and lugging all 3 kids to baseball practice by myself since Steven works 2nd shift... yikes!)

 

One struggle we've been having is aggression - these 3 love being physical with each other - punching, kicking, pushing, wrestling - it's awful.  I sure hope they work themselves out of this phase because I'm over it :)

 

bad blogger...

hello - my name is Kiley - I'm a 30 year old momma of 3 kids and I suck at blogging.

it's been a while, which makes it hard to decide where to start again.

let's see, since my last post...

- had 4 birthdays - my Aunt Connie turned 70, my mom turned 65, Gavin turned 7 and Gage turned 3 (something happened with my SD card and I can't access any of the photos from my mom's birthday weekend :( - - no worries though, I'm working on getting them back!!!)

- we participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's

- Gage had his first dentist appointment - and did an AWESOME job!!!

- oh yea, Gage was in a full arm cast for 2 weeks - again, he was AWESOME!!!

- Gabby Louise got her EARS PIERCED!!!

 

- I had to put one of our dogs down :(  so awful...

- lots of sick buggies around the house

- I did an Advocare 10 day cleanse

- had to find a new babysitter for the kids - with only one week's notice

- had Gavin's 1st grade parent/teacher conferences - stellar student :) (even mentioned how sweet, caring and helpful he is!!!)

- I got back into crafts & cross stitch

- the kids went on their first fishing excursion

- we went trick-or-treating with family :)

hope it won't be 2 months before I'm back again!!!

get to know me #4 - word to the nerd bird!!!

well, I haven't done one of these for a few months so I thought it would be something fun and mindless since so many other things in my life right now are not fun or mindless...

[before I begin, a quick prayer request - I am taking one of our dogs, Abby, to the vet to be put to sleep tomorrow :(  very sad but is the right decision... please pray for comfort for our family, especially Steven, as Abby has been his dog since she was a very tiny puppy.]

okay - - now, off we go to the mindless facts about yours truly

- I have a 'thing' for punctuation and writing with lower case letters... believe me, I know better but it's fun to throw in a - - - or a ... or a [] once in a while :) :) :) 

- I don't like cheap crayons - I don't like the way they feel when you're coloring with them - I don't like the sound they make when you're coloring with them - and I especially don't like how they (98% of the time) break when I'm using them

- I've got a thing for magazines - InStyle, People Style Watch, People, Real Smiple, Better Homes & Garden, Sports Illustrated, US Weekly, Runner's World, etc.  [I only have a subscription to 4 of those listed, 2 of which were/are Christmas gifts] but once in a while I will treat myself to a US Weekly or some other fun magazine just because!!!

- I am totally guilty of using my bank card wayyyyyyyy too much... I even use it when I know I have cash... I really need to figure out a better system...

- I've been too lazy to edit pictures lately.  I am proud of a lot of the shots I get SOTC (straight out of the camera) but I know they could be so much better if I just took a little time to edit them... someday... maybe!

- I love investigative reporting shows like Dateline and 20/20 - I get picked on for it but that's a fun Friday night for me after the kids are asleep :)

- I have a horrible habit of letting the gas tank in my car hit E before I head to the gas station... some people never let their car hit half a tank... not this girl.

- I used to hate anything animal print - clothes, accessories, paper, balloons, pictures, you name it, if it was animal print I didn't like it - but recently I've been coming around to leopard print, thanks to this pic on pinterest!!!  

 

 

I now have a scarf very similar to this one, that I've worn with my green cardigan!  I just bought Gabby a leopard print top and I've been eyeing up some leopard print flats... my tastes, they are a-changin'

 

 

- if I were brave enough, I would totally get a half sleeve... this looks SO gorgeous...

- I am obsessed with spaghetti.  plain & simple spaghetti.  noodles & prego traditional sauce, that's it.  I think I could eat it every single night for dinner and I'd be a happy gal :)

- I make up weird sayings - my latest is "word to the nerd bird" and I have all of my kids saying it ;)  I also say, every time I leave to go somewhere, "peace in the middle skittle" :) :) :)

[no worries - a first day of school post will be coming soon - once I get the photos loaded and maybe edited.  We'll just say Gavin is loving "everything" about first grade (his words, not mine!) and he's been a champ about the long days... he's such a great kid!]

 

 

peace in the middle skittle... :)

Noodle & Blue

Being an aunt has always been a role I've loved...

 

I've had the privilege of knowing and loving my niece Shayna Louise and my nephew Lucas Samuel from the very moment they took their first breath.  Yes, I was in the delivery room and was able to witness and be a big part of their birthdays, which I am SO grateful for.

 

From the moment I held my beautiful newborn niece and nephew in my arms I knew we'd have a special relationship.  It's hard to believe my niece is quickly approaching 16 and my nephew is already 13 years old.  They have both faced their share of hardships, sadness and trials in their lives but I am very very proud of both of them.  I am SO thankful for these photographs and the thousands of special memories I've shared with my sweet Noodle and Blue :)

 

(believe me - I have thousands more photos that I wish I had time to scan & post... someday!)



 

 

 

back to school shopping on Sunday!!!

Blue - enjoy your last year in middle school - focus and give your very best!!!  Be kind to everyone you meet and have fun :) :) :)

Noodle - enjoy your last year in high school before your baby brother joins you ;)  give this year your ALL - make girlfriends a priority and have a blast :) :) :)

all my love to both of you!!!

- now pick your nose!!!

hahaha!!! - such a classic picture - that I encouraged :) :) :)

 

I adore their smiles - and the fact that after this shot they tried to pick each other's noses ;)