Monkey Business

Sometimes I wonder if we are raising a monkey when it comes to Anniston! I guess I should have known I was in for it when I walked into her room one day when she was four months old and she had pulled up and was standing in her crib! It only got better from there....at eight months she was walking without help and at the end of the month she was running. She has one speed- GO! I walked into the kitchen one day when she was about 18 months and she was completely on top of our refrigerator- completely! She knew I had hidden the Dum-Dums up there and she wanted one. So like a little frog with sticky toes, she scaled the cabinets and then the side of the frig straight to the top. So, you can see how after 4 years of this I can turn around and see my child climbing the door facing and hardly bat an eye. Yes, we have tried to tame some of this out of her, however, I believe she was just "wired" this way! Oh, by the way, she can get to the top of the door facing, she was just too quick to catch it!

Kelley's Got Talent

Today there was a talent show at the library. When I first heard they were having one, I blew it off. I don't have children that sing The Star Spangled Banner in tune or break wood with their heads! But then I got to thinking about what they can do! I mean, we have invested alot of time (and too much money!) in dance, gymnastics, and baton. So I suggested to Alyssa she might want to twirl the baton for her talent and I knew exactly what Anniston could do- headstands! If you have seen Anniston, you have likely seen her almost perfect headstand! She can stand on her head and watch an entire t.v. show if she wanted. She's quite our little acrobat. Well, Alyssa has just gotten where she can do a headstand almost as good as her little sister, so she chose to showcase this new talent instead of the baton. Alyssa's friend Sarah went with us and she twirled the baton. Two girls jumped rope, there was a hula-hooper, some ballerinas, a magician, a dinosaur impersonator (which was quite good), and three renditions of Taylor Swift's "Our Song". Although you can't see their heads since they are standing on them, here are some pictures of the girls doing their headstands!

Happy Father's Day!

I am married to one of the best fathers around. He may not be perfect but he's wonderful in so many ways and one of those is the kind of Daddy he is to our 3 daughters. I could brag on him all day! He works full time and has a part time job which allows me to stay at home and raise our daughters. He makes lots of sacrifices for his girls and I can only hope that one day they will know how hard he worked to provide for them and how much they mean to him! He also finds time somehow to coach their softball teams, volunteer for the Millbrook Fire Department and help me with supper. We picked him out a new pocketknife and a pair of Teva's at Bass Pro Shops for Fathers Day. He really seemed to like his gifts! He got to take a long nap while it rained outside, and watch some of the race- a real treat for him in a house full of women!-so I know he enjoyed that! Thanks for all you do Wes....all the piggyback rides (complete with sound effects!), fixing of boo-boos (since I don't do blood), all the neck rubs, and leg rubs you so graciously give to all of us girls! He is quite outnumbered but he handles it well! Thanks for everything, Wes, especially being an awesome father!

3/4 Of A Year!

Ayden Claire turned 9 months Saturday! She also got her first tooth- finally, after working on it all last week and being a little fussy! She is crawling everywhere and pulled up for the first time last week also. She loves getting into the movies under the TV. Soon she'll be walking and then running after her big sisters! We spent most of her nine month birthday at the wedding, but then we headed to Birmingham to meet Jill, Josh, Kendra, David and Alyssa at Cheesecake Factory. Ayden Claire took a power nap in the car! She loved eating at Cheesecake Factory. They brought plates of sliced bread and bananas to all the kids! So she got her first taste of "real" bananas. We were celebrating Kendra's 26th birthday so afterward we all went back to Jill's apartment and crashed there. Oh, all of our kids have nicknames somewhat. Alyssa is "Sweetpea", Anniston is "Pumpkin" and Ayden Claire is "Munchkin" to their dad. I call Alyssa "Lyss" or "Lyssie Lou". Well, we have jokingly been calling Ayden Claire "A.C." and its caught on. Alyssa officially calls her "A.C." now, and while I'm not big on initials for names, its pretty cute and I have a feeling she might be A.C. at times!

Flower Child

Saturday was "Anniston's wedding", as we have been calling it. Actually it was Wes's friend Benton and Jenna's. Anniston was the flower girl! It was her second time to be a flower girl. The first was in Jill's wedding, which she did not perform all that well in! She was barely 2 at the time and still quite a stinker. Saturday went well though, luckily! We got there at 12:15 to have her ready by 1:15, the time the itinerary we were given said for her to be ready. So, at 1:15 she was dressed and her hair was nicely straightened (no rollers for Anniston!) and she was ready. 1:30 came and went....2:30 came and went.....finally at three we went to the car to let Ayden Claire take a nap in her carseat. The wedding was set to start at 4:00, did I mention it was an outside wedding? Luckily, we were in the church most of the day. I think they finally took a picture or two with Anniston right before the wedding started. I'm still not sure why we were asked to be there and ready by 1:15, did I mention the wedding was in Titus, Alabama, an hour away? Anyway, Ayden Claire, Wes and I found seats and watched our beautiful flower girl drop her petals perfectly! The wedding was very sweet and short, about 30 minutes. They took pictures afterwards for another 30 minutes and then we dipped out before having cake. We had to get to Birmingham to meet my sisters. Alyssa had stayed the night with Jill thank goodness. She would have been quite bored and it was enough to keep Anniston and Ayden Claire entertained all day!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It

Ayden Claire made the front page of the Millbrook Independent! Yes, that is the back of her head there in the bottom right corner. We went to the library last Wednesday to see a magician and Ayden Claire's and my head wound up in the picture. Not bad for her first front page shot!

Ooops!

So this past weekend all 3 of my sisters came to our house. Josh was the only b-i-l that couldn't make it, he was busy selling cameras at the Galleria. Jen's husband Billy stayed Friday night, he was busy with a conference at Frazier so we didn't see much of him either. But us girls (and David and Wes) had so much fun! We went to the Montgomery Zoo Saturday and then hung out with all of my neighbors that night. Sunday we sent Wes, David, Alyssa and Anniston to a birthday party and we took Ayden Claire and did a little shopping. I finally got to the new Old Navy which I was super excited about! Its in a much better part of town. We ended our shopping trip with Jill trying on the "pillow" baby bump at Motherhood Maternity and cookies from Cookie Company- yummy! So no, Jill and Josh didn't have an "oops" Jill was just being Jill and I got her on camera!