Summer family Photo shoot

My friend Shannon Hairr took our pictures this summer at Cannonsburg Village. It was a hot humid southern morning that we all somehow survived. She did a great job capturing our family. This top one is a perfect depiction of Cora's current sassy and mischievous personality and Evan's fun loving, caring brother and playfulness.

Evan was sooOO done with the heat and photos by this point... until he got to the water....

Happiness.

Kermit the Frog and Little Miss Piggy

My beautiful babies let me dress them up again this year! Whoo Hoo! victory! I just had to find a duo that I had green for my green obsessed Evan. :). Now I just didn't know if my opinionated 3 year old would put a pig nose on and be Miss Piggy. ha ha ha. I ordered the sweat suit through my beloved Amazon, in Kelly Green from two different sites (so the green doesn't exactly match but it's all good) then I already had both white, black and light green felt for his accents. I literally only tacked the eyes, collar, hands and feet to the sweats so we can use the sweats regularly after. Also Mike cut the pupils while I tacked just 15 or so minutes before we left the house for the Fall Festival we went to. Cora's ensemble was more fun to shop for on the same site. I didn't look for "Miss Piggy" stuff. That would be waaay too easy. ha ha ha. Instead I had in my mind what I wanted; a glamorous dress that could be reused as C.G.'s first dress up dress! I ordered her a 'flapper' style dress, white boa and a pink pig nose/tail/ears set that I crossed my fingers would all fit. The rest was already owned; flashy pink boots, pink tights, long sleeved white shirt (for under modesty and warmth), necklaces and a  play purse to carry her candy in. :)

Of course they were a hit where ever they went and the costume contest you see in the last picture was... a joke. There was an adorable baby/mouse in a mouse trap and a "mutt kutts" (dumb and dumber) wagon that was priceless and one of them would have won if they actually awarded anything. Still, our kids would have won best duo! :) We love our babies. <3

 

Cora Grace was the best sport for wearing the pig nose! The plastic band that wrapped over her ear caused almost a blister;/. The sweet thing never complained, she LOVED being a piggy!! She even shook her tail whenever asked (I cut little slits in the back seem of her dress to accompany a Velcro tail made, I assume to go on a belt loop. It worked perfectly!) and also performed karate chops to "Kermit" on demand. ;) ha ha ha.

thoughts thoughts and more life things

I haven't blogged in so long I almost couldn't log in! Sad. I miss sharing my thoughts and do wonder if anyone really wants to read them. Ha!
I have found that at 39 years old, married and two young "babies" it is still possible to be completely insecure, idiodic, insane and also sane, confident, and smarter than I've ever been. What's with that!? I am so proud of many things I do or say then in the same breath I can embarrass myself. Just when I feel on the right track I get a giant slice of humble pie. :(.... I have many hopes and dreams for my/our future. I dream about more babies all the time and wish we could afford it or even have a satisfying conversation about it. I want to be able to get into a home with more space!!! I would love to stay home with the kids full time and learn to be the best homemaker Mike's ever dreamed of. I want to invent a teleporter so I can see my siblings, their families and my parents anytime I want. I feel alone so much. We had such a great trip this spring/summer driving to California etc and on our two overnight camping trips recently, it's all I want to do now... Everyday. Maybe we could sell our material belongings, buy an R.V. and explore America with our kids for a year? Dreams.
Evan had a tough go in the end at daycare earlier this year. He was unjustly judged and treated emotionally terribly. He learned a lot of bad habits and for me I felt guilt ridden everyday I had to leave him there to go to work. (Only two days a week but two days too many). He hit, bit, ran out of his classroom, yelled at teachers and defied discipline. He was kicked out after being there a year and a half with no problems then written up 3 times in one month. We had some angelic friends help watch him in a pinch till we felt comfortable somewhere else while Cora Grace continued at the daycare. After a few weeks we found a place that assured me they would give it a try and at my request, explained a plan of action should Evan do this behavior again. Essentially we would have a big meeting with teacher, child, parents and director of the school. I dropped Evan and Cora off at 930am, at 230pm Mike called to say Evan had been kicked out. :(. We were devastated (and angry). We didn't know what to do. We knew he was not doing this at home and had to endure the "suggestions" to have him tested for Autism or ADD. We took him to be assessed in our county school system and he "passed" everything they look for flags in. Next we took him to a therapist of which again he "passed" but it was obvious he had some behavior issues with authority figures. It was that time we were headed out of town for two weeks and when we got back we were blessed with a summer babysitter Alexis. She was a welcomed break from formal childcare and when her college semester started looming for Fall we were nervous about who would watch our kids. We couldn't go back to daycare and we needed to consider that Evan may benefit from enrolling in pre-K. In my efforts to do just that-hastily, angel's shone down from heaven and gave is Ms. Kristen. Sigh... She is not conventional and she's perfect for this momma. She feeds the kids all organically/grass fed beef, etc. She muscle tests the kids each day they are with her to she what important neutriants they are lacking and supplements them with essential oils or diet to level out their imbalance. My kids loooove going there and love her. She has inadvertantly given me my confidence back as a parents where these daycares made me doubt myself and worse, Evan.
Through all this Evan acted out at church too so the powers at be released me from my teaching calling to be Evans babysitter. I do not see the wisdom in this right now but am reminding myself to keep an open mind. One thing I love about it though is seeing how smart Evan is. I'm so proud of that guy! He's never slowed down from being a sponge for knowledge. Cora Grace could care less to learn anything but at the same time surprised me last week when we went to visit Fran from church who hadn't been to church for a month after a fall. She was disappointed to learn she missed the Primary program and missed hearing Evan's memorized part. Evan was suddenly/uncharacteristically shy so to test him I said "fine, I bet Cora knows your part and will tell Fran". And she did!!! "I can live with Heavenly Father again, if I pray." I was blown away and excited for more. Side note: Cora also asked if I would teach her to drive and I said yes but only after she learns her ABC's!! She is doing it!!! What a stinker but it shows with the right motivation, that girl can do anything! :) Anyway, there is no longer tears at drop off and they also do preschool. Did I mention she home schools her 3 kids and is verrry intelligent? I just really admire her. She watches many of my coworkers kids too and has my friend Callie on a wonderful healthy path for her family that I hope to stop procrastinating and becoming more like her too. So in a wrap up.. The kids are doing amazing. I'm so proud of both of them. Our family is getting closer everyday. We've seen the blessings from doing scripture study together and having family prayer. We've also seen the discord when we let life get in the way of those things. We like the blessings better!! :)
Mike has been so busy at work. Real Estate has been very good to us also. He has had to watch his healthy food and lifestyle choices to maintain good health and as a result lost a few pounds. I hope to be right behind him. I recently weighed myself at 193! I'm not OK with this and am making smart choices to combat this unhealthy weight gains. I hope to post pictures this week but couldn't figure it out from my tablet. More deep thoughts then...xo