My Girlies

Grace loves herself some bananas!! This child could eat them all day. As soon as we round the corner from her room into the kitchen after nap time or first thing in the morning she starts saying "Ba" "Ba" and pointing to the basket of bananas. It's a sad day when we're out of them! She thinks she is big stuff if I give her the whole thing to take bites from. Such a sweetie. And, in case you were wondering...she has finally decided that walking is way cooler than crawling. I would officially call her a walker as of September 13th.

And here's my number one 3 year old searching for a cat in some bushes! Annalee has been sweet as pie and stubborn as a mule all in the same day..make that hour. Anyone else out there have a stubborn one on their hands? Suggestions welcomed. Today we had a complete meltdown over the amount and placement of the syrup on her waffle. Sheesh.

Rock On!

Maybe I'm ok with Grace not having a lot of hair...especially if this is what it would look like if she did have a ton of it!



Someone please write a funny quote for this picture!! (She's looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.)




As you can see, we had some fun with our new Van Halen wig! You'll have to wait until Halloween to see why we made this purchase tonight. :)

The Flood

Last Wednesday I woke up to the sound of our wet/dry vacuum at 6:30am. At first I thought Micah was sharpening pencils (love how your sleepy mind works!), but as I walked into the living room and found water covering my floor, I soon realized that tropical storm Hermine had graced our house with her presence. It had rained so much that one of our flowerbeds in the front yard was flooding, sending the overflow into our living room. We cleaned up the mess and Micah started problem solving outside to see what could be done to prevent it. Everything seemed under control, the girls woke up at their usual time (thankfully not during the initial cleanup), Micah headed to Home Depot for supplies, and I started feeding the girls breakfast. Well...it started raining again and within minutes, the living room was filling up. This time, however, I was alone with two busy girls and there was no end in sight. Luckily Micah showed up after just a few minutes and he quickly got to work outside to relieve the rising waters. Of course it was a major inconvenience, but we are blessed to have had minimal damage. All in all, we had about an inch of water in about half of our living room. Our poor yard suffered the most. Micah called in the troops...his dad, brother, Justin and Ryan....and they were able to dig a trench in our yard to install a french drain before dinner time. I'm so thankful for family and friends who will drop everything and come to our aid. I'm also thankful that Micah discovered the water before he left for work and that all of this didn't happen on our first day of school.

The trench...we're still working on getting things back to normal out there.

First Day of School

Well, today was another first day of school. This year Annalee is in the junior Pre-K class and Grace is in the Toddler class (although she isn't full-fledged on the whole "toddling" thing yet!) It was also my first day in my new position. It was a little weird not being in the classroom, but I am loving my new role as Department Lead over our Pre-K. All in all, the day went rather smoothly. Grace cried when I dropped her off, but I think she recovered fairly quickly. Lucky for her, her teacher from last year moved up, so there is already a bond there. Annalee was so excited about school starting back up. She's been talking about it for weeks. Her favorite friend from last year sits with her at her table and she has the sweetest teachers! We love our little school and are so thankful for the experience for the girls and a little part-time job for Mommy.




Micah thinks her backpack is gargantuous, but we have to have one big enough for all her stuff!



Grace's backpack is the same size as Annalee's, so there's no way she would have been able to stand up if I'd put it on her!



Ready for another great year!

That time of year again...

I must be a glutton for punishment. Although I am a very dedicated "Just Between Friender", today was almost too much for me. I missed my early shopping time (due to a VERY important birthday party, love you Karson!). However, due to this double booking in my schedule, I was forced to shop with.....the public! It started out just fine as usual and then came the time to get in line to check-out. I looked at my phone when I began my journey and it was 2:08....when I finally reached the register it was 4:45!!! A major bonus to that insanely long wait time was that I got to spend it with my sister-in-law. We did take a couple of breaks and do some extra shopping while the other held our place. It's a good thing the next sale isn't until the spring because I was a little beat down after today. The only reason I waited in that ginormous line was because I had a killin' in my basket and there's no way I could ever get this many clothing items for the girls for what I paid today.

Annalee's stash. She was most excited about her sparkle pumpkin shirt for Halloween. She also thought that it was pretty funny that I bought her a shirt that says Sassy on it. I call her Sassy Molassy sometimes when she is acting too big for her britches.

And Grace's stash...lots smaller than sister's because she is stocked with hand-me-downs.

And because they're cute, the two I was shopping for today...

And, yes, Grace has a mullet because her hair refuses to grow in the front!

We love our dentist!

I love it how kids just surprise you sometimes! Today, Annalee had her second dentist visit. This time we were there for x-rays and a real cleaning...I know, big girl stuff, right? :) I have never seen a child so giddy and excited about going to the dentist, even after they started working on her. If you live in my part of town and need a dentist, I would highly reccomend ours. Their entire staff is adorable and so nice and kid friendly. Her dental assistant took lots of time to get to know Annalee and show her all the tools (with super cute and funny names like Mr. Thirsty for the spit sucker thing). Annalee was eating it all up. She would scrunch her nose and giggle at everything this lady said. She gladly put on her zebra print sunglasses and bib with her name written on it and just laid back and let them clean away at her teeth. I am so proud of you Annalee! What a big girl you are!

Mini (long overdue) Vacation

Micah and I were so fortunate to get a few days to escape the heat and celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. One of our favorite places to visit is Colorado and this trip didn't disappoint. We stayed at our little creekside bed-and-breakfast that we love, went to a fabulous Nora Jones concert at Red Rocks Ampitheater, and spent the rest of the time relaxing, reading, and eating yummy food.

That's Micah in the background reading one morning...we loved the fact that we had to wear fleeces at night and in the morning.



Our romantic paddle boat! Kinda funny, but we had a good time.



This was the view from the boat.



We had a great dinner at a steakhouse in downtown Denver one night.



Micah loved having his picture taken by this pig...ha. I had to get it though, because I have the same one of Annalee from 2 years ago.

Thanks Grammy and JoJo for taking such good care of the girls while we were gone!

Lazy Saturday

We had a lazy Saturday this weekend. The girls swam in our awesome and classy plastic pool for over an hour and then we all napped, woke up and watched a movie and ate pizza. Good times.

Micah's sister and her husband were in town, so they joined us (along with JoJo and Papa!)

Uncle Blaine was a good sport and let Annalee dump water on his head....she was loving it!

Then, the other day, Grace was confused and thought she was Bitty Baby Doll.

More Steps

Grace is taking more and more steps everyday, but still prefers to crawl to most destinations.

Under Construction

It was brought to my attention that my blog was in desperate need of a facelift (and I agreed immediately!). I'm working on it, but having trouble with my new header, so give me a break until I figure this crazy thing out. I am a little stubborn with change...hello, just joined facebook this week people!

Toddler Spray Park Extravaganza!

And this was only part of it!

These two were pretty entertaining...one minute hollering for one another and the next trying to dunk the other's head. Yikes.

Wow, thanks Maxey's for taking us to the most elaborate spray park ever!! (and thanks for taking all the cute pics, Karson!) We had a blast. Pretty much overnight, Grace went from hating the water to absolutely loving it, so this was right up her alley these days. After 2+ hours in the water, we had to peel ourselves away. Luckily, thanks to the sunhats and spf 85, the girls came out pale as ever...unfortunately, mom wasn't so lucky. It was fun, but my back is paying the price today.

Baby Steps

We're rootin' Grace on to take some steps. She seems to be pretty comfy on mommy's hip and hasn't taken off walking yet! You can do it Grace!! I love how Annalee is right in the middle of things, "Go see Daddy, Go see Daddy!" She loves her baby Grace so much!

Most Adorable Wildcats, EVER!

I mean, look at these two adorable wildcat cousins! Carter and Grace are 7 months apart, just like Caleb and Annalee. I could just eat them up!

Sunburst Mirror from a cereal box!

I needed something simple to go above Annalee's bed and I came across this how-to on a blog and thought I'd give it a try. I have to say, I am pretty impressed. Although it took me a couple of hours, it only cost me $4!

Excited?

The faces of true excitement...ready to go to a Ranger game with Papa! I'm pretty sure they just stayed long enough to eat a hot dog and popcicle, but that's the best part anyway...the food!

Keep Scrolling

I figured y'all might be tired of seeing my baby's booty crack, so I posted several new posts below. Keep scrolling for some new updates.

This is how I look most days...kids coming out of my ears. Thanks, Josiah for capturing my day in a nutshell!

Uncle Josi's Wedding

Micah's cousin, Josiah, got married last weekend in Louisiana. He is the brother to the cousin that was married last month, busy summer for the Smelsers! We love his bride, Sarah! Annalee actually took this picture of her before the wedding.

Annalee was the flowergirl and I'd love to say that she did a perfect job, but we had a little hiccup in the plan.

Love this pic, but can't seem to get it to turn around.

I did a pretty terrible job of taking pictures, so Aunt Rachel needs to share with me, ok?

Right before the wedding party was to line up and get ready to walk down the aisle, Annalee slammed her fingers in the bride room door. I was with her holding Grace because my plan was to send her down the aisle to Micah (a groomsman) and stay at the back to watch the wedding with Grace. Well, we barely got her composed after the traumatic finger incident and then she refused to walk down the aisle by herself. She wasn't making a scene or crying, just very sweetly (and a little stubbornly) asked me if I would walk with her. It was either all of us, or none of us...so here we went, me, Grace, and Annalee. I'd love to see the look on my face as I made my way down...very unprepared to do that! I never thought that she wouldn't go down. Gotta love the unpredictability of kids. She did offer a little bit of humor when she decided to dump her flowers out of her basket at the end of the aisle and then toss the basket aside. Wowzer.

Winking

We randomly discovered that Grace can attempt to wink. Pretty cute if you ask me!

We Sure Did...

dress like cows to get free food at Chick-fil-a today!

Every year I intend to do this, but this year it finally happened. Did you show your cow appreciation today too?


Of course our buddy David joined us.


Enjoying our free food. Annalee was very excited about the whole shenanigan!

This was the entire ensemble...realistic cow nose and all. Grace and I only had spots on our shirts which entitled us to a free entree.

Hives!

****Warning****
Baby booty crack up ahead!

Well, Grace is up to her crazy antics once again! This morning she woke up covered in hives! It was pretty alarming when I took her jammies off and found a swollen, hot, hive covered back and booty. I called my mom immediately (love having a mom that's a nurse!) and sent her pictures of the poor baby. I gave her some benadryl and we started our day. I called the doctor to get an appointment. By the time we made it to the doc the original set of hives had cleared up, but new ones were popping up every few minutes. He isn't 100% sure of what caused them, maybe allergic reaction to her iron vitamin (because she's anemic...this girl is giving our insurance a run for their money this month!) or caused by a virus...although she has no other symptoms of being sick. Sure hope this clears up before our road trip coming up!