And here's what you missed...

This is her standard look. 

Paci.

Cup.

Blanket.

Or two... two blankets.

Game.

This is his standard look.

Big smiles.

And the dimples.

It is usually accompanied by the belly laugh.

I love the belly laugh.

It is my favorite thing in the world.

I never ever want to forget how that sounds.

Then there is this look.

I don't know what in the world could be better than this...

Her tiny little body just exudes joy.

She radiates happy, except for when she's being defiant or disobedient.

And she only does that at least 5 times a day...

Otherwise, pure joy.

Patience is not her virtue.

She got irritated with the ice cream cone and slammed it down.

Juusssssssssssssst like her momma.

This.

These moments.

He is so sweet.

He loves her.

He is so sweet to everyone.

Remind me to write a post about what his teachers wrote about him in his evaluation.

Worth a whole entry for that information...

Oh, and this.

These moments.

I wouldn't trade the dirty laundry, the never ending questions, and the sibling fights for the world.

They argue like crazy.

They spit and kick and hit and push and shove and yell at each other...

But in the end of it all... its lovely to be together.

They are my world.

The crazy, nonsense, picky eater, big brother...

The silly, loving, defiant, 'I'll eat anything' baby sister....

And the daddy who helps with housework.

And yardwork.

And laundry and bathtime every night.

They rock and I love them. 

The dryer.

We have lived in the new house since August 2012.

I love the new house.

I do not love my appliances in the new house.

The fridge we bought from Craigslist was a STEAL.

It is also my favorite appliance to date.

It is HUGE and amazing.

And y'all know I love to cook, so an awesome fridge is a requirement.

No major issues with the fridge.

The icemaker didn't work, but that was a cheap fix and now it is glorious.

Ice, water dispenser, and tons of storage.

The dishwasher is also amazeballs.

It is a BOSCH and came with the house.

It grinds up food so I don't have to pre-rinse plates.

HOLLA---I hate pre-rinsing plates.

That's why I have a dishwasher, hello?

But the electronic board on that had to be replaced in January...

Thank you Elizabeth, curious child who pushes all the buttons....

It was NOT a cheap fix.

I do not love the dryer vent in the new house.

It has caused all sorts of issues for me and my dryer.

Dryer has worked fine until we moved.

It is a 2006 dryer... so it is getting older.

Do appliances age?

My dryer has had two fuses trip/blow/whatever since August.

Thankful that my Dad is super handy and able to help me fix it.

This past weekend it bit the dust again.

I removed the switch (with Dad's help and coaching)...

Switch is fine.

Heating element works.

Dryer will not TUMBLE clothes....

But it will heat them up and catch on fire in a heart beat.

So, we have disassembled the back of the dryer to take it ALLLLLLLLLLL to the store for testing.

Also, we cleaned out the dryer vent as best as we could.

Holy smokes.

Daryk used a shop vac to 'blow it out' the side of the house from inside last night....

And the kids and I watched about 90 years worth of dryer lint fly.

It was soooooooooo nasty.

Here's hoping that we get the dryer fixed soon 'cause carrying wet clothes around is crap.



Soccer Sundays

This was my soccer weather on Sunday.

I did NOT want to go play.

I was so certain that our game would be cancelled because of the rain and thunder!

I was wrong!

The field was in good shape and it wasn't too squishy.

No standing water, so we played.
It rained off and on the entire time we were out there Sunday.

I loved it.

I got to run and I burned 1300 calories!

I need to play soccer every day.

I love exercising, but there is nothing as challenging as racing towards the ball.

I had makeup on before the game.

Thankfully I had baby wipes in the car to remove it as my mascara was running down my face.

Post game sweat/rain look.

My sweet toe got crunched during the game.

But I won and got the ball!

It didn't look too bad on Sunday night....

But this morning it looks pretty gross.

I doesn't hurt, thankfully, just looks nasty.

Have bat, will travel.

Oh, you know, typical Saturday picnic at BeBe and PaPa's house.

Lunch on the veranda.

It was a very light lunch of nutella sandwiches and cheetos.

Elizabeth enjoys them a little too much.

She peels the bread apart and eats the nutella off the bread.

Occasionally she actually eats the bread, but not often.

Notice the bat in the background. 

It went with us all weekend.

I'm thinking it will disappear soon...

Yeah, so?

Best thing since sliced bread

Friday night we ventured out to the traveling fair for a night of fun.

My mother gave me her 'be careful on the rides' speech before we left.

My children were THRILLED.

Hayes has been eyeing that fair for the last 2-3 weeks and asks every time we pass if we can go ride.

He thinks there are roller coasters.

Not at this fair.

But there was a train.

And Daddy got to cram himself into the tiny train car with Elizabeth.

Hayes rode all by himself like a big boy!

Daddy also had to ride this wiggle worm that went around and around...

They loved that too!

Finally, we all got to ride the carousel!

The horses going up and down were awesome!

I don't think Elizabeth had any fun at all.

She has more chins than me.

I'm cool with that.

Hayes gave me the crap smile that his father passed down.

Thanks Daryk.

After we rode all the 'baby rides' as Hayes called them, we headed over to the Tilt a Whirl.

Hayes LOVES to ride scary rides.

He and I got in line and I tried to get some pics.

He refused.... until he realized he could play with the camera.

Stinker would NOT cooperater with me!

I guess he thinks he's avoiding the paprazzi.

Please, no more photos.

Talk to the ticket.

I know he's growing up and getting bigger....

But those tiny hands and fat fingers make me so happy.

Also, we played a stupid game where they picked up ducks and got a prize.

Elizabeth picked this giant pink monkey.

Hayes chose this stupid bat.

Typical boy.

Our night at the fair was the best $40 I've spent in a long time.

They both cried when we had to leave.

Ivory 2-n-1 hair and body wash

I was SO excited to get my first Influenster box this week!

I've been working with this website hoping to be able to review some new products and this one is perfect!

I am a very active mom between work and my children.

Sometimes I even manage to squeeze in time for myself with exercise.

Which means I have to bathe more often... ugh.

I'm not a huge fan of taking time to bathe.

Don't get me wrong, I do the whole bathe daily thing.

Often, I bathe twice daily because I've worked myself into a sweat chasing children around.

I love this new product because it does dual duty for me.

If I take it with me to the gym it is less hassle for travel since it does dual duty!

It smells yummy and that is a requirement for me when using body wash & shampoo.

I love me some smelly good!

That was the first thing I tested when I pulled this out of the box, smell!

I even used it to bathe my little beauties!

It is not tear free, so we had to be careful on their heads, but they liked 'being like mommy.'

It had some great bubble bath action for Hayes!

Yes, two different tubs.

Occasionally we bathe at grandma's house!

And let's face it, with these two we have to bathe often.

Cheetos and Nutella, anyone?

Go check out Ivory on Facebook.

And view their video here.

I was provided the Ivory 2-n-1 Hair and Body Wash complimentary through the Influenster program.

All opinions are my own and include my family's as well.

Baby pooped in the tub.

This kid right here has a mind of her own. 

She's crazy affectionate and fiercely independent. 

She's also very sensitive and doesn't like to be yelled at.

Last night at Grandma's house she got a little too excited about the bath and jumped up.

Then she slipped and landed on her bottom.

Hard.

Poor kid came up crying and was a little traumatized.

About 3 seconds after we are trying to console her we hear Hayes saying, 'Baby pooped in the tub."

So apparently, she literally scared the poop out of herself.

I wasn't sure that was possible, but now I know that it is.

After cleaning up the poop and the tub we had do-over with bathtime.

 

Happy baby girl.

Clean bathtub.

Thanks Aunt Ellie!

 

On Saturday we got to keep baby Kendall.

It was our first time getting to watch her since she was born!

Hayes was a little bit too excited for that event.

When Kendall's parents left Hayes says, 'We get to keep Kendall?'

With big eyes and a huge smile he hugged her!

It was a good afternoon.

Kendall tried to stay awake for the long haul, but the swing and the sunshine were too much.

Also, my children used me as a launching pad Sunday morning before church.

It was craziness.