Anniversary

Good homemade food, good family, what more could a girl ask for on her birt......ummm 4th anniversary of of her 29th birthday. Grammy was down from NJ, and we had dinner over at my parents house.
Jilly wanted to help me blow out my candles, but she forgets that you need to make a wish first...that's why my hand is over her mouth.


She did get to help me, but only after I made my wish...yes there are some things I'm not too old and cynical to believe in!

snow memories

As I sit here looking at the 2-3 FEET of snow out my window...it makes me think back to Jilly's first "real" sentence. In January of 07 my Pop-pop got pretty sick and was in the hospital. My Dad went up to New Jersey to be with him and Grammy. My Dad called to make sure we were doing OK (he knew we were going to be getting some snow) and it had been snowing for about a half an hour. Jilly has always loved to talk on the phone, so I had let her say hi to Pop-pop, and she busted out with "no-ing Pop-pop, no-ing". It made my Dad feel special at a time when he needed it the most. So I think from now on snow will remind me of my Daddy, Jilly and how much I miss Little Pop-pop,and how a blizzard can lead to kids (blizzard of 96 = Courtney). (Not to worry folks, I made sure we had plenty of things to do to keep us busy!! No more kids for us...for now.)

Meet Grammy

Courtney was going to ride in the State Finals November 13-16, but having broken her finger she was not able to ride. My Grandmother ("Grammy") was going to join us in Lexington for the horse show, but decided to just visit us for the weekend. It worked out really well, she came down on Thursday (my birthday) got to hang out with the girls, meet Wyatt, and hang out with my parents for a bit. It is always great to see Grammy, and I love watching Grammy with her Great-grand-kids.


Grammy has some great stories, and I get to hear a new one each time we visit. Best of all, I have someone else in my life who understands what it is like to be raising 4 kids...and for that matter doesn't think I'm crazy!

Lovely Fall Day

What a surprise to have a beautiful 70 degree Sunday in the middle of November. Jilly wanted so desperately wanted to play in the leaves, and then did not want to come in and take a nap. The only way to make her happy was to promise to play again when she woke up...which we did.




Cooper was not sure what to make of the leaves at first, but she eventually warmed up to the idea.











After naps, the kids got back out in the front yard and the giggles were indescribable. I love when the simple things in life bring such fun memories.










Follow up: Jeff raked up the leaves into a pile on the street so that the town would pick them up. If not for the fact that the kids were eating lunch when the truck came by, we would have been in the clear. However, Jilly was sitting at the kitchen table (where she looks right out into the front yard) and started screaming "Why are they taking my leaves?!?" I had to remind her that we kept a smaller pile to play in, but most of the leaves had to go to be able to play with other kids. It worked, she calmed down finished her lunch and went to play in the (now much smaller) pile of leaves when she got up.

apologies

Between Christmas sneaking up on me, my house falling apart (literally) my dryer having died and being forced to drive around town to do laundry, and now Cooper has some sniffles (which means the rest of us will too in the next few days!) it has been hard to find time to sit still long enough to type. But I will do my best.

Merry Christmas

Really great news

OK, so I'm not going to win the mother of the year award due to the fact that for the life of me I can't remember the date...but it is finally over. After 3 and a half years of pestering the lawyer to do what we paid him to do, and actually doing some of the leg work ourselves, at some point in late October we got the paperwork making Jeff's adoption of Courtney official. Once the school year is over we will change her name with the school. But as of right now, she is Courtney Morgan Curtis.

Ride off into the sunset

(Courtney decided to be paparazzi girl) On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we decided to take our wagon out for a spin. Jilly and Cooper were very good about sitting...well they would only stay seated if the wagon was moving. I love living on a circle, we walked around the block a few times as the sun was setting. It really was a great way to spend an afternoon.




Daddy getting a work out.







Cooper saying "oh-no!"







Mommy and Wyatt (ok, sorry, not trying to insult anyone's intelligence here...I just didn't have anything cute to say!)






Jilly is already a backseat driver!

Vocab test (part 2)

Cooper is also talking up a storm, here is some of what she is saying.

Tee = please

cee-cee = horsey/pony

ta-to = thank you

me-me = excuse me

beep-beep = well, it means beep-beep, or can you move please

Mommy (sometimes Daddy)= She will call for me (and keep calling) and when I answer her she throws me a kiss, it is the equivalent to Jilly yelling "Mommy, I love you"

gogie = dog or doggie (which you can hear her say if she sees a dog or one of those lit up reindeer in a front yard)

buga = Buggy (Courtney)

G-G = Jilly

gra-ma = Granma

stintee = stinky meaning she has pooped

cookie = one of her favorite words...this will usually get her some princess graham crackers

baby = Wyatt...and she shows him off to EVERYBODY! (not to be confused for...)

bee-bee = binky and blankie which means bed time (both have lived in her bed for months now, no more Linus for her)

It is also amazing how well she understands what you say to her. Again, that's all I can think of currently, but I'm sure I will add to this list very soon...we all know my kids are talkers!

Vocab test (part 1)

Here is a quick list of some things Jilly is saying that we find too cute (and most times have to chuckle when she says) and a translation for them.

wratsting paper = wrapping paper

vamanos = instead of saying let's go in english thanks to Dora and Diego she will say it in spanish

open sesatee= open sesame (to make the doors on the magic van open by themselves)

Hannah On-tanna = Hannah Montana, she has chapstick and a guitar from HM

pre-ing-tend = pretending

3 scat teers = barbie and the 3 Musketeers

ittle man = my black cat formerly known as "bad cat" I have called him Little man for years, but his real name is Montana

princess hair = pigtails

ormament = ornaments for the Christmas tree

nopoly = monopoly for the Wii, she "plays" but with a controller with no batteries when Bug Daddy and I play together

nanas for my boyfriend = bananas for Zeb the horse at the barn who is Jilly's "boyfriend"

Mrs. Monart = Mrs Monarch one of Jilly's teachers

Corney = Courtney Bug (for some reason Jilly doesn't call her just Buggy anymore)

That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure I'll be putting another list together very soon!

Halloween Tradition

For every year of their lives (with the exception of the year we were in Carolina) Sunny and I have gotten our kids together for Trick-or-Treating. When the girls were younger we use to do the parade then Trick-or-Treat, but after being pelted with hard candy one year we've been skipping the parade and just get started earlier. When the kids were smaller with little legs that didn't run so fast, we use to do the smaller neighborhood (Usually mine, nice small circle takes 20 minutes on a crowded Halloween), but sadly as the "older" kids have grown, so has their need for MORE CANDY!! So we have been going over to Sunny's parents neighborhood (or as we like to call it, the ritzy side of town) where I think you hit just as many houses, but you have to work a little more for it. Instead of the houses being right on top of each other you have a good walk from one house to the next. Needless to say the kids are ALWAYS tired afterward!



Jilly was Princess Jasmine, and Cooper was Abu the monkey both from the Disney movie Aladdin. Courtney liked the costume, but had NO INTENTION of being a princess so was a Genie. (I wanted her to dress up like the flying carpet, but was having nothing to do with that either!)








It did not take Cooper long to realize what to do. At first all she knew was she wanted to be with the big kids...but then if she went with them and held out her little pumpkin candy holder people would give her things. Then there was no stopping her...and heaven forbid the Daddy tried to carry her...no, she would have none of that! She had to walk just like the other big kids.

Jilly loved it as well. At every house (and I do mean EVERY house) she would say "Trick-or-Treat, I'm Princess Jasmine and my Cooper is the Monkey 'Boo' because she doesn't say Abu, just Boo. There were no meltdowns, and the rain held off until we were home, so it really was a great night.

P.S. I didn't mention much about Courtney because she and Lexi ditched us old folks and "babies" to do the teenager thing...Thanks Mikey for always keeping them in sight!