Not enough time

Life is full and busy!! Christmas
Didn't turn out like planned but life seldom does, we are so blessed
With So many things I can't complain! We have been having a blasT with family in  toWn here are
some recent photos!

All About Annie

Poor Ann Mason. She definitely gets the "middle child" wrath in some of my posts. As they say in the south,"Bless her heart" she is just strong willed, independent, persistent and determined. All qualities that I will be thrilled about when she is a self-sufficient, succesful, head on her shoulders type of 20 something girl but at 3 we have had some battles!

This week however we have turned a corner. It may be that I have made time specifically for Ann Mason and am trying to really truly be present with her when it is just her and I because she is the type of child that needs your 100% undivided attention when she is with you. She has been so stinking sweet this week!

Let me tell you this girl LOVES being a girl, loves everything about it! She has started wanting to wear dresses to daycare which hasn't gone over to well with me considering they don't always come back in tip top shape but I decided if the girl wants to wear dresses and feel good about herself, so be it!

Here is Ann Mason this morning, just a normal morning going to daycare. We have a routine now where we pick out a dress, accessories and then we usually have a lengthy discussion about possible hairstyles from the popular half up half down to the side pony tail and today it was pig tails. I promise I am not enabling crazy behavior but more letting her know that I am proud that she wants to take pride in the way she looks and feels and if pig tails and a dress make her feel special then pig tails and a dress it is! There is no harm in that for any girl to feel good about herself and the way she looks!

I was so scared to be a mom of a girl and still am at times especially now with two. What I didn't realize was how much I would like picking out outfits and curling hair and buying hair bands and bows. I love watching her tell Daddy to close his eyes and when she says open them she is usually in a pose like in the picture above and he tells her how beautiful she is and she beams from ear to ear.

I hope she grows up knowing that beauty comes from within and you can be the prettiest girl in the world and have the ugliest actions. Wow, I sound like a mom!

I am so proud of Annie and can't wait to see what life has in store for her or rather what she has in store for Life. She is a force to be reckoned with!

I think the greatest thing about being a mother is seeing how different and unique each child is and the hardest thing about being a mother is making sure you nuture their strengths and weaknesses the right way! It would be a lot easier if there was a handbook on how to do this correctly :)

T-minus 4 days till Christmas I am finally starting to feel my shoulders drop from up by my head, my breathe get a little softer and myself starting to get EXCITED!!!!

Trip Down Christmas Card Lane

So, we all know that A. I LOVE making cards especially Christmas cards and B. I love taking trips down memory lane so here is a post with two of my favorite things! I get so excited every year "designing" our Christmas card. I just love everything about it from colors to fonts, etc... of course I am no expert and am limited by whatever website I choose to buy my cards from but to me it is just fun!

I literally track the package and I can not wait to open them up and see what they look like. This is just something that I cherish so very much! I love receiving them just as much! Having mail come that is not bills or junk mail is thrilling!

Here are some of our Christmas Cards of years past....

Yes, the picture with the dog pre-children. This is Tex and I in 2006, I was 11 weeks pregnant with Palmer.

Not sure what happened that first year Palmer was born! haha Here he is with Santa but I can't find a card that we sent??? Since I am fuzzy on what I did two nights ago I am not even going to try and attempt to think about what card we sent out in 2007!

Awe yes the ever hilarious Portrait Innovation Pics for Christmas Cards 2008. This cracks me up! We all look so young and not one of us has a clue what we are doing (generally speaking) I was about 30 weeks pregnant with Ann Mason at this point.

I started to get my Christmas Card act together a little more in 2009. I loved these pics and this card so very much!

Again 2010 I managed pretty well and loved this one too. Of course there isn't one that I didn't love :) How has the time past so quickly???

Well, this is 2011. I actually sent out a cute card but the website it is on wont let me preview it for some reason but this is us almost exactly one year ago!!! Crazy how things have changed! I was about 5 weeks pregnant with Chandler and we were more crazy than ever! Tex and I have those looks on our faces like "what is happening?"haha

And this is 2012!!! I just adore these cards and they make me smile.

Our family of 5!

The inside

I can't wait for the kids one day to go thru all of the years of Christmas cards and we can laugh at our clothes and hairstyles and all of the silly things mom made them do! I need to remember to save 3 a year for each child. That is added to my things to do/pinterest/task list that is a mile long :)

This week has been a tough week for a few reasons. My heart is heavy but as I look towards the Holiday Season I know that I am blessed and after everything that has happened this past week the most powerful thing I can do is pray!

We only have 2 more days left of the week and then we can finally take a break! I am SO ready for some much needed quality time with my family at home making new memories.

Here comes Santa Clause...

Thankfully Sunday the family felt good enough and had been fever free for well over 48 hours to finally get out of the house! We went to church, ate a yummy lunch at the in laws and went back to the church for the kids Christmas Play. Ann Mason was just itching to get up on stage. She SO wants to do it next year. Palmer is still convinced it is totally not his thing :) After the play they had a birthday party for Jesus and Santa was there! The kids were pumped especially Annie. She was also pumped cause her BFF Tatum was there and those two are two peas in a pod!

 

3 Amiga's in their minky dot pants with Santa~

 

Laughing and Eating all the sugar they could get their hands on!

 

Annie asking Santa for an American Girl Doll. The way she says it is precious, she wants one so bad!

 

My soon to be 10 year old Niece! (I can remember like it was yesterday her being born on Christmas Eve and us eating at the Chinese restaurant!) She is the sweetest thing ever and the best cousin to my Annie-boo!

 

This pic cracks me up! Chandler still doesn't look up to snuff in this pic not to mention the scratch on her face doesn't help. She didn't mind Santa either way, I actually think Santa was more scared of her! haha

I seriously cannot wrap my brain around the fact that Christmas is a week from today pretty much, I have not wrapped one present! I told someone the other day that I didn't become a flaky mom until I had number 3 and now I can never get my act together! haha If I can just make it thru this week we will be good! So excited to spend some quality time with my husband and the kiddos and just enjoy our time as a family! We have so much to be thankful for this year, I just want to enjoy it and be present!

Christmas lights and flu

Well not a lot fun to report here! Got a call from Chandlers daycare that she was running a fever Thursday and after a trip to the Dr it was confirmed as the flu!! Boo! Of course I got it too which made it double the fun. Luckily we snuggled a lot and slept and Chandler is a champ at being sic! So needless to say we have done a bunch of nothing the highlight was seeing if Chandler fit in her bumbo seat ( which she does) and putting on Pjs and getting ice cream and driving around looking at Christmas lights!!! We all hope to feel better tomorrow!

CHURCH SWAGGER

Swagg: Style, Coolness, Confidence

Swagga: Style or Personality

Swagger: A person's style

TMS: Too much Swag(ger)

I feel especially old when my co-workers talk about Swag or Swagger. :) Simply put, I have none. Thankfully I work in a hilarious atmosphere where we have "swagger Thursdays". This idea was originated from the 17 and 18 year old co-op guys who have now been at our office for 3 months. So, on Thursdays everyone where's their best "swagger" and we rock it out and see who wins Swagger Thursday. For those of you who know me I have no swagg, my "uniform" is a black turtle neck and jeans. I did manage to win Swagger Thursday one time only because my Gap Dress had zippers on the side and apparently this was "swagga".

Little did I know that when I became a mom that my kiddos would grow up with Swagger! Annie and Palmer both have Swagger (for reals, as Ann Mason would say!) Sunday mornings have now turned into a swagg contest. The focus is still on Jesus but my kids want to be swagg for Jesus! haha! I seriously don't even know how we get out of the house with so much swagger :)

PS these are terrible pics but you get the point...

Palmer in his swagger and new fav obsession fedora's? WTH? You're 5!

Ann Mason: Note both hands on her hips. Her swagger is usually in something sparkly, sequins type outfit but this Sunday she let me dress her appropriately for a 3 year old but the swagger was in her hair. We curled, fluffed, sprayed and added a headband with bling!

This girl just has swagga written all over her! haha! I can't imagine when I have two big girls that want their hair done, sparkly everything and hands on their hips :)

I am getting a little more swagger with my straight leg pants :) Tex is the one we need to work one! He is lacking in the swagger department. I plan to do a 2013 makeover on him, he just doesn't know it yet!

Speaking of someone with swagger I LOVE this girls blog, she has the best outfits ever. Check her out.

http://hello-gorgeous-blog.blogspot.com/

Lately...

Every time I think about my little blog I get totally sad. I don't think I have ever neglected it quite as much as I have lately. I hate that I haven't written more about Chandler (poor 3rd child) or that I haven't taken more pics and I definitely haven't kept up with the posts. I would like to say it is the time of year but maybe it is just the season of my life but I can't keep up with everything :)

I have great intentions but there just aren't enough hours in the day. We are all doing great! Busy as ever but everyone is happy and healthy. The laundry pile is still never ending, the house is never clean enough, I always have a million things on my to do list but in the end none of it truly matters as long as I have my family and our health!

Speaking of my family... We got our family pics back and I am in love... All I was hoping for was just ONE picture where we were all looking at the camera and these totally exceeded my expectations. I can't wait to get them all printed and framed (another thing on my to do list) Here are just a few of my favs.

I think I am almost cried when I saw this! I was so excited that everyone was looking!! That is all any mom at this point can really ask for!

This picture melts my heart. My daughters (plural it is still surreal to me at the oddest times that I am A. a mother but B. a mother to a boy and two girls!)

This boy does no wrong in mommy's eyes! haha He is always my buddy, my constantt, my companion, my sweet, sweet boy.

Awe Annie. We still haven't quite figured out how the best way to parent this independent, free spirit with more energy than 9 kids combined. :) She is such a huge personality and she makes me laugh when she is not throwing me into fits! haha I am hoping at least some of it is being 3!

I have also been super busy with my Initial Outfitters business! I was so worried after getting back from my non paid maternity leave how we would manage Christmas and all the extra expenses this time of year. This literally was an opportunity that fell into my lap and I am SO blessed that I got to be a part of it. I was not only able to help out financially for Christmas but I met some amazing people, had wonderful parties and scored lots and lots of free goodies! This is my very fav, my generation necklace. Thank you so much to everyone who supported my new endeavor I appreciate it greatly! :)

I hope to be updating more we have lots of holiday events, breakfast with Santa, Christmas plays, etc... coming up so things will be busy but fun! I know I will be sad one day when my house isn't filled with screaming kids, piles of laundry, full calendars so I try and embrace the chaos!