So far..

It's pretty sweet..

Thanks to ALL who have made it such a special day!

It's me...

I know.. totally sucking it up here with the big move going on.
I do have a few to entertain and catch up:

October 4th..

October 5th..

October 8th..

Happy birthday to you... and you.. and you...

Today, the birthday celebrations continued to rage on...
On Merrill's side of the family, February is to Pitcher's what August is to the Mayes'... we have 5 birthday's to celebrate.. 4 of them being just a year apart.

Cade is now 3.Evan is now 2.And Peyton is 1. Like you didn't know..And Tyler is our newest February birthday buddy... but he wasn't out today...

Austin is a birthday boy too this month.. don't want to leave him out! :)
So today, we celebrated...Lunch at Ligori's, and a yummy cake of cupcakes, appropriately shaped like what else, a cupcake.
Very yummy..Thanks Dixon & Darlene (aka Grandpa and Grandma) !!

Flashback Friday...

This is an oldie, but soo good!!
Excuse the scrapbook pages, so old.. but I love 'em! My scanner cut off quite a bit.. still trying to figure out the new fangled gadget..
Let me take you back..
January 1995.. my 15th birthday. We planned (with permission from my parents, or course :)..) to have a big party.. admission, bring something to share. We had chips and pop to feed us for DAYS..
My friend, Teresa, posted this on my locker..
And we had a lot of people come. We were so excited that my "boyfriend", Coj, came and brought all of his high school buddies.. nothing like high school boys for us 8th and 9th graders..
And here's where it gets fun..
Sarah, can you see the back of your head? I didn't have one shot of you face on!
And there's Annie.. this was the only shot I have of you looking at me.. in the rest, you were trying to look away, pretending like you were talking..
Good times!!

Christmas...

I am missing a couple of pics. I could wait, but I just don't have the patience... I need to post Christmas!!!
Christmas Eve, we spent at Merrill's parents home, eating yummy food; prime rib, shrimp, crab legs... see, yum...
We played Catch Phrase which was new and fun... then we played memory. We opened our PJs and it was such a fun surprise! Darlene had gotten all of us navy shirts embroidered with the Best Western logo. Our pants coordinated. We looked dang cute. You can see the girls on them in the Christmas Day pics...
That night, we got home, put out our stockings, put out the cookies and milk for Santa (forgot the food for the reindeer... hope they didn't poop on the lawn which was covered with snow during the night :0...) and the girls brushed their teeth and then they, well, Lynn and Ashley, went to bed easily.
Christmas day...
I woke up with Ashley and Peyton in my bed, so I put them back in their beds, that was around 6 am. I thought that would be enough to wake them up for good, the moving thing. But, no. They didn't wake up until 10!! I got all ready, got the kitchen cleaned, had the pull- a-parts all ready to go into the oven... those crazy girls. Lynn was the first one up. She told Ash what she got and then told her sister what Santa had left for her too... Ash had a look of total shock. He really came... It was so cute, as we got downstairs, Ashley saw the plate that once held two sugar cookies and the cup that had had some milk in it... "He really is real!! He ate the cookies and drank the milk all gone!"
Lynn got a bike from Santa, and we got her a easel with a chalkboard on one side, and a magnetic white board on the other side... thanks for the help Christie ;)...
Ashley got a princess scooter from Santa, which Lynn loves as well...
Peyton got a little rolling pony... Santa made this a Christmas on wheels!
Lynn LOVED her snuggie... I totally misjudged her size...
Ash loves her Word Girl cape...
Peyton loves this VTech microphone... she carries it all over the house with her...
We got Ash a "new baby with yellow hair and blue eyes than hers..." just what she wanted. I made a doll quilt and pillow for our new addition.
The girls spent the morning playing... Dixon, Darlene, Kaitlyn, MiKell, and Grandma all came. They brought the girls each a "Fur Real" and a little cheerleader outfit (pictures will come SOON!) Peyton got a baby that plays peek-a-boo... so cute...
Mer and I got a cocoa maker... we've been having fun with that.
Peyton found her favorite place... she loved watching the snow fall.
We went to mom and dad's. Mom loved her quilt... I forgot my camera... Jaclyn has a pic...
The girls each got a toy, but the funnest has to be Lynn's easy bake oven...
I hid some last minute gifts too well... I forgot about them. I was reminded of them when Peyton was walking so good for dad, he said, "Looks like you should put a tutu on that girl!"
TUTUS!!
The girls had fun opening up just one more present...
Mer got me this cute hat and a new printer... check out the before...
...and the after...
We have had problems with our old one... couldn't find a new color cartridge... the scanner doesn't always immediately initialize... so Mer got a new one... what a sweet guy. But because I am so cheap, well, non-wasteful, I won't change it over until the ink runs out :)...
We spent the rest of the night enjoying Christmas movies on the TV which we left in the front room for a little while longer. It was nice to be using that room, together as a family.. watching the snow blow out the window as the girls played with their new toys...
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Bad mom award...

Yeah, yeah.. you'll soon see why...
This was Lynn's day, yesterday. Putting up the "Happy Birthday" magnet...
Opening up "the one" present before school... this girl is a tween already. Merrill hates that I feed into it. But why would I buy her something that she's just not that into? So basically, it was a Hannah Montana birthday... Grandmas and Grandpas came for a couple of days (love ya Darlene!) to bring gifts, and this girl was in heaven! Aunts and uncles stopped by too.. all for her!She even wanted a guitar cake. Purple, just like Hannah Montana's... she cracks me up. She had every detail planned, the color of the cake, the first layer of frosting, the second layer, the guitar color, the swirls, which direction the swirls would go first, then second... I wasn't very happy with the cake, I haven't been with any that I have made lately... but here's where the bad mom award comes in...
Can you see what is off in this picture?
Just in case you didn't, here's a close-up:
In all of my shopping, no candles. Ashley told me to get some just the other day when we were getting groceries, but I said, "No, we don't need any. I have so many at home..."
And did I?
NO.
Bad mom.
We were so in the moment, ready to sing and eat our cake that was not so cute... we didn't want to pause and go buy candles, we just stuck matches in the cake. Interesting, I know.
At least the cake tasted good! ( I have some for you Jacks...)

No apple juice = lots of sleep...

Here's my girl! We had a much better night and what a great day! Doesn't she look so "pretty in pink"? She really looks pretty in everything! Except for when she pulls her hair. She found it today with her little hand and pulled. The look on that face was so sad. Too bad she won't remember...
Sorry, no layout today... but you'll soon find out how much I did do today...
We went and did a Sam's run today, that is everything we needed from Sam's, and pics. Woo Hoo! I get to scrap those hospital pics! I am so excited! We also went and did groceries and then had a late lunch with Mer. All three of my girls were complete angels... Lynn and Ash were even better than if it were just the three of us... the only thing to be bummed about: I couldn't find a nursing bra in the right size. I did only look at one store... but a 34 D should be everywhere, right? Nah, not for some places. So that is my mission. I realized when I was putting on my current one the other day, as it was looking quite transparent, that it is 5 years old... yep, elastic is shot, there is no holding of anything up anymore, like it did much in the first place... I though I had other nursing bras, but they hovered over me, they really didn't fit. Then I found out why, they are a cup too small... they look a lot better than this one!
We went out to dinner for Austin's birthday tonight. That was fun. Kaitlyn stayed home with #1 & #2. Lynn wasn't too happy when we got home... Austin probably wasn't too happy when we all yelled "Happy Birthday" to him across the parking lot. Mer started to shout, "Yeah, that guy in the red shirt! That's him! That's Austin! It's his birthday!" And then the embarrassment was compounded by Dixon singing his Primary birthday song repertoire. Yep, all of the birthday songs from the Children's Songbook, loudly, across the parking lot. It was too dark to tell which shade of red Austin's face was...