A Day In The Life

Lately, we've been trying our hardest to enjoy this beautiful weather.  We barely survived the LONGEST WINTER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER and are hoping the sun stops being such a tease. Just when we think we can throw on our sandals and play outside, the weather shows us otherwise.  Here's a bit of what we've been up to in the process...

Hanging out with this cutie-patootie and shooting the breeze.  She's not much of a talker but she's still pretty fun to hang with.

Watching the older two siblings enjoy our swing set.  It's so nice to have a swing set to entertain them (and me) as I watch them play on it.  Plus, it's so nice to watch them get along so well.  They may argue every once in awhile but they really are such good friends.  I'm grateful.

And a random shot of all four of us.  I kinda made the picture on this one!  Such is the life of being the constant photographer.  Maybe I should teach Addison how to snap a few pictures so I can get in on these memories?  ;)

One night after cleaning out the garage, Daddy came up with a fun way to play.  He laid down some tape strips and fashioned a little race car track.  The kids loved it and I loved the added entertainment.  It's a great way to play when it gets dark and cold! 

This boy keeps me busy.  Apparently he wanted to go back for seconds after we ate a yummy dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Fields.  He is Curious George Jr. (his father's namesake).

This is Addison all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day.  The night before she went to bed saying "Mommy, I wonder what the little leprechauns are going to make me for breakfast in the morning?"  I was like, um...a granola bar?  How does she know about Leprechauns and their mischievous ways?  We've never celebrated them yet.  I just assumed I was doing good putting her in a green shirt for school?

A moment of sisterly love.  These two adore each other.  I especially love that this was a total candid photo.  Addison is usually quite the "poser" for the camera but this is totally all her, all natural.  Love it! 

This little nugget perches himself on the back of this chair quite often.  I used to make him get down but quickly got tired of saying it so now I just let him go for it.  I'm dreading the day he takes a spill backwards.  He's a funny guy.

Alas, we FINALLY got to paint this little girly's toes.  It was long overdue but I guess that is par for the course when you are the third child.  Now that I know they look so cute we will be doing it lots more in the future.

Jonas experienced an injury while we were playing at Jump Zone.  Sadly, I didn't see it happen.  I just saw him come to me and cry and get clingy for a good while.  He's not usually like that and then I finally saw his poor bruised and battered finger.  Poor Guy!  It was pretty ugly and when it never got better after a good 24 hours we headed into the doctor to check it out. 

Waiting at the hospital for an x-ray on Jonas' little finger.  It was pretty interesting juggling three kids through the waiting process.  He was a pretty good patient though.  He loved being the center of attention and laying still while the big machine took his picture.  He even said afterward "Wow, dath awthome."  It was hilarious to hear him say it since he's usually a pretty mellow guy.  I think he also enjoyed having his big sister watching him for once.  Luckily, the x-ray proved it was just a bad sprain and not a break.  Yay!  

Getting Old

It's official.  I'm old.  The ripe old age of 36.  It's weird because I never imagined myself in my late 30's.  I used to think it was soooo old.  But now that I'm there....I think 50 is soooo old.  I still feel young so that helps right?  ;)

It's always a nice occasion to celebrate my birthday.  In the life of being a full-time stay-at-home Mommy it's just nice to have a break in the monotony AND to have the rest of the family wait on you hand and foot all day long.  If that takes turning another year older then sign me up!  It's the little things that get me excited.  

The day started out great.  John left "for work" and had me convinced he forgot my birthday altogether but then came back with donuts for breakfast.  

These two kindly brought in a stack of donuts on a plate, sang happy birthday to me, and then promptly each took one and ate them.  Luckily, I told Daddy on them and he got me some more donuts.  They make cute little stinkers though!

The pampering didn't end there.  Daddy had to run to work to do a quick interview but promised to come back and resume my spoiling.  And that he did.  He whisked the older two kiddos away to do birthday stuff while I napped with Brooklyn.  

Cuddling up with this sweet face?  Heaven.

Then, they came back with some yummy lunch from Chick-fil-a and spent the rest of the afternoon working on decorations and presents and dinner.  I was ordered to my bedroom but I never mind accepting that order.  It's almost a present by itself!

This is the yummy dinner I came out to.  Daddy always knows the way to my heart...grilling a yummy steak.  Mmmmm....Delish!

After dinner I was spoiled with gifts.  I got a sweet little charm of a bear foot print (to put on my charm bracelet) and a sweet story Daddy put together about Mama Bears taking care of their baby bears for life.  I later learned that Addison picked out that charm ALL by herself.  So sweet.  I also got some sweet birthday cards and hand prints and notes.  It was a great day.

Mommy and her girls blowing out the candles. 

Brooklyn definitely approves of Daddy's homemade cake.  She was a fan!

It was a great day and I enjoyed feeling the love from both my sweet family and my wonderful friends.  I am a blessed lady and I definitely realize this on multiple occasions.

The end of the day came my last "gift" from John....he penned this note to me and put it on my Facebook.  He has a way with words and I love it.  He just doesn't have a way with remembering birthdays apparently.  ;)

Shannon,

My last gift for your birthday is a well needed confession.

Knowing that in six years of marriage to me the bar has been lowered to epic levels of well...low; you are probably moderately impressed with your Birthday proceedings today.

Don’t be.

This time last night while checking out an online game a coworker told me about (A very cool one btw – Titanfall looks amazing!), I noticed it was March 24th. I quickly came to a twofold conclusion wrought with dishonor: Tomorrow was your birthday, and I had nothing planned. Nuth. Eeng.

Had I not “remembered”, my high-school theatre worthy performance this morning of “fake forgetting” your birthday before coming back with breakfast in bed would have been Oscar worthy.

In my literal 11th hour of need, the best gift I could think of was a day devoted to you.

I have to admit, I was a little impressed with my last minute plans: Breakfast in bed, taking the kids for a few hours (to desperately look for a meaningful gift), dinner, home made cake (please be edible). Not bad. In less than 1 hour I was able to go from complete unawareness of your birthday to pride of my belated plan! This rapid transformation from shame to pride can only be ascribed to the disease known as manhood. My epiphany occurred upon closer examination of my plan. The emotion I experienced could best be described as distilled shame. The purest form fashioned only by truly naked self-reflection:

What I “gifted” to you for one day you freely give to our family every day.

Shame is a dish best consumed while hiding in your t-shirt because that’s how you roll when embarrassed. Tonight, I dine!

Best friends are the easiest to take for granted because they never stop giving. Your friendship has taught me a lot. I couldn’t stop loving you if I tried but liking is a choice. And I like you. Your belly laugh is intoxicating. It is all I want. Your daily 3-sneezes each morning is adorable and scientifically unexplainable: Hypoallergenic filters, Zyrtec, Claritin, fans, no fans – it is truly the Roswell of our marriage! Speaking of conspiracy theories, I like that everyone adores you. I find it very peculiar that I have never heard anyone speak ill of you. Perhaps along with your elite affability you are equally adept at silencing your enemies?

Anyways, I’m grateful for your father who inexplicably convinced your mother to marry and procreate. (Just kidding Randy, great guy!) Without you Randy I would be the old creepy single uncle at family gatherings.

I’m sorry that the birthday you enjoyed today was penned on paper with ink that is still drying. My confessional is now complete. I love you.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
John

FHE Family Fun

After realizing it had been quite some time since we had an activity FHE I decided to throw one together last minute.  Family bowling!  It's always a nice fall-back plan that is sure to entertain.  Luckily we found a bowling alley that was open and wasn't saturated with cigarette smoke.  I was quite curious to see how Jonas and Addison took to the sport and of course they loved it.  I mostly spent my time hanging with Brooklyn and watching everyone else play.  I'm not much of a bowler but I do love to laugh at my cute little family while they bowl!

Jonas was in love with all aspects of the sport.  After he'd push the ball he'd point at it...

And then....hands in the air!  He was impressed with every one of his shots.  It was adorable.

Addison was quite the bowler.  She could do it all on her very own.  My baby's growing up!

Jonas was fascinated with the ball contraption.  He'd get so excited every time his came up out of the chute.  Him pointing at it was his way of saying 'C'mon Dad!  Lets do this!'

Addison had the form AND the adorability down pat.  She was hilarious.

Brooklyn even got into the game!

Adventures

The kiddos and I have had a lot of bonding time lately since Daddy has been working long hours and traveling a bit more than usual.  I'm the type of Mom that likes to "mix-it-up" when I've spent many days staring at the same four walls and the same three kids.  I've started calling them "adventures"....mostly to get Addison on board.  That allows me to throw in a few errands too and all the sudden it's an exciting adventure!  Wahoo!  Usually I throw the plans together last minute (during nap time) when I know the loooonnnnggg afternoon awaits us after they wake up.  Luckily, the kids never know the difference...and last minute plans are usually the best kind.  Except for Addison who likes to know what is happening every minute of every day.  She continually asks me what we are doing and where we are going.  It's a tough question to answer when I don't even know myself.

Kicking It Old School

Our first adventure involved a craigslist meet-up in Springdale.  It was a bit of a drive so I figured we'd make the most of it while we were there.  I punched in local parks into our GPS and hoped for the best.  That act alone can be scary on many levels.  One because GPS's definition of a "park" can vary greatly.  Two because Springdale's locations can vary greatly as well.  ;)  Luckily, the GPS AND Springdale came through for us and we happened upon a memorable adventure.  

We pulled up to a park that took me back to yesteryear.  Had a good mix of new age playgrounds and even included some old-school playground equipment.  It was fun teaching my kids how to work a true teeter-totter and how to work the merry-go-round and how to scale to the top of an all metal slide that seemed 40 feet high and contained absolutely no safety walls.  Needless to say my inner self fought between letting them explore while making sure we weren't ending the evening in the ER.  Thankfully we were successful on both accounts.  

Jonas braving the super tall slide.  This boy has no fear.  Within minutes of finding it he was traversing it.  Addison joined in simply because she couldn't be outdone by little brother.  I'm just glad we all survived.

Brooklyn even got to have some fun.  She wasn't quite sure what to think but soon turned out to be a fan.

Addison swinging.  She LOVES swinging.  And I LOVE that she now knows how to pump her legs herself.  It gets pretty tricky when trying to push three kids at once.

They loved this merry-go-round.  I was on board until I realized it was a flying death trap.  I bit my tongue and let them play on it.  After all, I survived and I grew up on these things!  I kept blocking images of 'flinging children' out of my mind.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I got to take a trip down memory lane while simultaneously wearing my Mama nerves to their ragged ends.  We all survived and are definitely putting it in our plans to go back.

On another day, I had a Saturday to fill up.  Those seem to come with higher expectations but I'm pretty positive that is just me.  All I knew when I woke up is that we WEREN'T staying at home yet again.  So, we were off!

First stop was at this cute little hardware store in Cave Springs that we've passed a billion times.  I've always promised myself that one day we'd go in there and today was that day! John laughs at me but visiting old farm stores totally brings back my childhood.  They always have such interesting stuff (and people) in them.  And sure enough, look what we found when we got there!

Bunnies!  We were in love...but not in love enough to take one home as our very own pet.  We just enjoyed cuddling on them for free instead.

Addison and Jonas seemed to love the farm store just as much as I did.  I took the time to teach them about horse reigns...the bit...the hackamore...etc.  We even sat them on a saddle and pretended to ride the horse.  I showed them a calf bottle and told them about when I used to feed our baby calves when I was younger.  I even had them "pretend" to drink from it like my very own baby cows.  Jonas apparently didn't get the memo that we were "pretending"...no sooner had I turned my back then he had his whole mouth around that thing.  Lovely yet nasty.

After our farm store adventure we decided to take a picnic to the airport and watch the planes go off.  Thank heavens we were able to pick up lunch food at the local gas station because I had nothing prepared.  Sadly, we only got to see about two planes take-off/land while we ate our lunch.  However, the kiddos were just thrilled to be eating food in the front seat of the van and wiping their cheetos fingers all over my dash.  After we all bathed in wet wipes we called it a day and headed back home for naps.  After all, getting to nap time is ALWAYS my main goal of every day.  :)

Some people may think I'm crazy taking three little kids out of the house all by myself but its fun for me (most of the time).  The kids are usually pretty good and we usually end up having some fun times.  I'm hoping I'm creating memories for them.  It's fun but it IS a lot of work too!

Kindy Registration

It's been said before....but my baby girl is growing up.  My oldest "baby" is starting Kindergarten in August!  How can I be old enough to have a kindergartener?  Well, actually I'm technically old enough to have a 16 year old but still.  My baby will be a kindergartener!

She's soooo excited.  We talk about it a lot in hopes that she and I will transition smoothly when the time comes.  I'm not worried about her a bit.  I'm worried about my mental state when it's time to send her off.  Just thinking about it makes me realize....yeah...I'm gonna cry.  I have the summer to get used to the idea I guess.  And I also have the summer to live up and enjoy every minute with her before the school takes her for 8 hours a day.  EIGHT hours a day folks!  That is a long time for a five year old...and for her Mom!  I have no doubt that she and I will adjust beautifully....eventually....but it will be hard.  

I truly see her just falling in love with the whole school process.  She loves preschool and is such a smart girly and loves to learn.  She loves to play with friends, she loves to learn things, and she dreams of riding a school bus.  That pretty much sums up all that Kindergarten is.  I'm just hoping that she'll get lucky enough to at least have one good friend in her class.  

We enrolled her online awhile back but now marks the time where we physically go to the school to fill out her paperwork and provide all the necessary documentation.  I wanted to make it a special "Mommy/Daughter Date" so I had my friend watch Jonas and Brooklyn while Addison and I spent some time together.  It didn't take long but it was fun just being with her and talking about everything and answering all her questions.  She was loving just sitting there and watching the students walk by while I filled out the paperwork.  It was great for her to actually SEE the school that will soon be hers.  

Practicing her letters while Mommy filled out the "Kindy Registration BOOK".

Posing by the front entrance to her new school!  Go Centerton Colts!

Enjoying some ice cream as we finished up our date.  We had a great time and had the chance to talk lots about school.  I have no doubt she will love every minute of it.  

Under Construction

Just recently, one of my wife-long dreams came true.  You'd think that bearing and raising my three gorgeous babes were those dreams....they are of course...but not the one I'm devoting this post to.  You'd think marrying my amazing husband would be that dream come true but alas, it is of course, but it isn't...

What is it then you ask?

WOOD.FLOORS.

Simple, really.  I've been dreaming about them for sometime.  I'm guessing John just got tired of hearing me dream out loud and decided we should bite the bullet and use our tax refund money on them.  Whether he thought we needed them or he was just trying to shut me up, or he was wanting me to stop drooling over buying a $400 carpet shampooer at Sam's...I'll never know.  All that matters really is that we FINALLY got rid of our NASTY carpet!  Can I get an Amen!?  Hallelujah?!

It was a beautiful day.  Actually it spanned the course of about three days.  It involved John and I moving all furniture out of the living area in the dark of night while the kids slept.  We wanted to make sure everything was just so for when the wonderful floor layer people came the next morning.  And let me just tell you....once the furniture was removed and the carpet was just exposed....it was DISGUSTING.  I was tempted to do a happy dance over it knowing it was the last night I'd be spending with it.  

Luckily, I got to hole up with three kids in the master bedroom while the floor people went to work.  It got a bit crazy and claustrophobic but it did give me ample opportunity to check their progress and amp up my excitement.  We also spent one of the days literally living out of the car and driving from place to place just to kill time.  Doing that with three kids ALL day long can be exhausting.  And we were.  But again, looking back, it was soooo worth it to enjoy the end result.

Hardwood floors!  Well, not the real kind.  The laminate kind.  Which is the only kind our house is worthy of.  Beggars can't be choosers and I was pleased as punch just to get the laminate floors.  We were all in love with them when the process was all over.  

To this day, I thoroughly enjoy seeing what kind of crud I can sweep up on these floors.  And it's quite the variety when you have little kids.  I love just knowing that a simple sweep gets the floors clean.  And that a quick spray-mop brings out the shine.  I will always enjoy just sweeping up dinner messes on hard floors as opposed to watching them embed in the carpeted floor of yesteryear.  It was disgusting.  It should be against the law to make a dining room floor carpet.  

This was the end of Day 1 Installation.  We just couldn't contain our excitement to test them out even if they were only half laid.  Jonas is a blur because he's going THAT fast.  Hardwood floors make you faster ya know.

Blurry Addison was having just as much fun.  We held many a race that evening before bed.  

So, it was a great day in the Hufford house.  This Mama is happy.  Especially every time I sweep the crud up and throw it away.  Never to see a carpet stain again...well at least in this room.  ;)

8 Months Old

This little girly....

In all her 8 month old glory.

Is SUCH a good baby.  Have I said this before?  If so, she still is.  Granted she is human and she has her moments...they are just few and far between.  There was a 2 week spell recently wherein she did NOT want Mommy to leave the room.  Which resulted in a wail of a wail each time I did.  That was a bit rough.  I'm just happy it only lasted two weeks.  Which I'm thinking was also around the time she was getting teeth maybe?  

She's truly such a joy to have in our family.  We all dote on her and love her and can never get enough of her giggles which actually sound like cackles.  It gives us the giggles just hearing her giggle.  Addison is still the one that can get her going like no one else.  Those sisters are the best of friends.  

Taking after her brother.  If Mommy is going to take her sweet time coming to get me out of the crib then I'll make a mess while I wait.  She looks quite proud doesn't she?  

Hanging out with a sick Mommy in the bedroom while we got new flooring laid in the living room.   

Shooting the breeze outside in the beautiful weather.  Just like her siblings, she is also a fan of the outdoors.

Acting goofy while waiting for some dinner at Firehouse Subs.

We didn't have a doctor's appointment this go-round so no new stats to report on.  Lets just say she's a chunker and getting more so by the minute.  Just the way we like to grow them in the Hufford house!  She's very agreeable whenever we feel the need to squeeze her chunky ham hocks or cheeks, or belly, or toes.  I'm guessing since she's dealt with our squeezes since birth that it's nothing new to her.  I'm always trying to sneak in a good squeeze while simultaneously trying to resist the urge to squeeze until my fingers touch.  It's hard folks.

She's doing much better at sitting up.  I'd venture to say she's a professional at it now.  Very rarely does she fade left or go down for the count.  I can already tell she is loving the independence of it.  She was also gifted a bouncer by her cousin Lydia.  She wasn't in love with it at first but has since mastered it.  I'm not kidding folks, she full on jumps and catches air on that thing non-stop.  It's hilarious to watch.  

She still isn't a fan of baby food.  I do my best to try it again here and there and she'll eat about 50% of it 50% of the time.  Those aren't good enough odds for me to keep trying to push through the wall.  So, we continue to embrace the bottle.  She's obviously not wasting away so I'm not too worried about it.  She has mastered the art of eating off the spoon and swallowing it....she's just not digging it.

I'd like to think she's starting to (or continuing to?) resemble her Mama?  I don't have much DNA in my first two children (Daddy twins) so I'm holding out hope that Brooklyn can be the one to break the mold.  I have heard it from other people on a handful of occasions so I'm accepting that as valid proof.  She's cute.  I'm cute.  We're OBVIOUSLY twins!

She's a great little baby girl that loves her family and is almost always so pleasant to be around.  She's so flexible around whatever schedule we have for the day (third child syndrome) and I'm grateful.  Heck, I spend most days just gazing at her and wondering how did I get so lucky?

Happy 8 Months Old Booken!!