Lily-pie

Gosh, I love her.

My lily is the sweetest little person on this earth.  I am convinced of this fact.  

When I tell her I love her she always replies, "thank you".  I don't know why but it makes me laugh every time.  

She thinks her name is "pie-pie"...just ask her. 

Her very favorite movie is Strawberry Shortcake.  It is on repeat in our car.  

When I rock her to sleep at night she always says, "baby song".  That means she wants me to sing her the lullaby, 'hush little baby...'  The minute I finish she says, "baby song" and I sing it again.  It's the cutest.

Her favorite food is Ketchup. Just ketchup. Carrots and ketchup, lettuce and ketchup, eggs and ketchup.  She'll eat anything with ketchup. 

She insists on dressing herself these days and still dislikes wearing a bow in her hair but LOVES lipgloss.  

I get 3 hours every day with just the two of us.  She's my buddy and it's the best. 

I love this Lily of mine.  

Monkey See Monkey Do

 Gwen is one awesome life coach.  She passes on only the most important life skills to her sister.  

It's coming...

Summertime is coming!  We kicked off Memorial day weekend and went camping with friends.  It was a blast.  Here's Gwen cruising the campground like she owns the place. I have more pictures but am off to Lily's swimming lessons.  

This picture makes me want to be a kid again.  

Not a care in the world...

Motherhood

I know this is a novel here but on Mother's Day, I kept thinking about how far I've come in the last (almost) 8 years as a mom.  I'm just at the very beginning of this journey but still can't believe how much I've learned so far. When I was little, I dreamed of someday being a mom.  I know I've written this before but it's true.  That was what I would dream about.  I didn't get pregnant with my sweet Ellers until I was 29.  So by the time I had her, I was really ready and really excited.  And let me just say, it was waaaaaaaay harder than I ever anticipated.  Elle was an extremely difficult baby.  For months I wondered why in the world people talked about how "wonderful" the infant stage was.  I was losing my mind.  She screamed for 5 months solid, day and night.  I am not exaggerating.  Right up until having her I was teaching school full time and also going to school at night to finish my Masters Degree.  I went straight from that craziness into being home all day, alone with a baby.  Now combine that with postpartum depression which I didn't even realize I had until after the fact, and you get the picture.  When Jon would come home from work I would also be crying and I would just hand her to him.  All I can remember him saying was, "I thought you were going to like this".  Time passed and Elle got thru that phase and ended up being a very easy baby from 6 months on.  I wasn't supplying enough milk for her which was what the doctors finally thought this issue was but that's not the point here.  It was what Jon said to me that one night that I have never forgotten - "I thought you were going to like this....".  There are lots of parts of motherhood that just aren't fun. What is amazing though about this job is that even on my worst days when it's so hard and I don't "like" it, I still have a sense of the magnitude of what I am doing. I have been entrusted with these little girls. That responsibility weighs heavy on me but at the same time gives me purpose and meaning even beyond the most seemingly menial parts of my day. There is a sense of fulfillment in being a mom for me and in trying my very best to be a good mother to my girls.  

I now have 3 little girls that call me mama and it is still so humbling.  At this stage in their lives I am their "everything" quite literally.  It's exhausting for sure, but oh so rewarding.  This picture above is one that Gwen took using my phone recently of me dancing with Lily one morning in our jammies.  My Lily-pie was having a rough moment for whatever reason and I just put some music on and held her tight.  She calmed right down.  I have done this with all of my girls.  It's these moments that are almost never captured that to me, define motherhood.  I want so desperately for my girls to know how deeply I love them.  I want them to know that even though I'm not perfect, and even though I have lots of days that I fall short, I really am trying my very best.  They're so little right now and I can't believe that a lot of what I do with them they will never remember.  

I want them to remember how when we're driving and if no one's around I will drive "crazy' just to make them laugh even though it makes me CRAZY carsick.  I want them to remember how I put my hand back to each of them as I drive and squeeze it really tightly.  I've told them that each squeeze means, "I love you".  Now all I do is put my hand back and give them a squeeze and they say, "I love you too mama".  It's so cute.  I want Elle to remember that I love lying in her bed every single night before she goes to sleep and scratching her back. Actually, I don't like the scratching part but I do it because that's when she opens up the most to me about things in her life and her feelings.  I want Gwen to know that I think it's so cute how she likes to show me how tall she is getting and that she can "get a glass from the cupboard without tippy toes" and that I love it when she crawls on to me like a little cat to watch her cartoons.  I want Lily to know that I love her kisses.  She will walk right up to me and say, "double".  I bend down and she gives me double (2) kisses right smack on my lips.  I melt every time.  I love how when I brush the snarls out of their hair they hug me tight around my waist so that it won't hurt as bad.  I hope they know how much I love how their faces light up every single day when they see me in the pick-up line for school or walking into the preschool.  I love that when they lay just 2 inches away from me, I always say, "you're too far away" and make them scoot closer.  They always roll their eyes but do it anyway.  I love that they think I'm an AMAZING cook even though I'm not.  I want them to know that when they help me cook and clean it takes 5x's as long and usually ends up worse than when we started, but I do it because I love to see how sweet their little proud faces are when we're done.  I love the little notes Elle leaves me around the house and the pictures Gwen draws of me in preschool.  I love that whenever they do something they think is great, they can't wait to show me and I always try my best to make it a big deal.  I love sneaking into their beds at night to give them kisses while they sleep.  I  love all of these little things and I feel panicked as to how fast they are growing up.  As a mother, I've come a long way from those days when Elle was an infant and I can honestly say that I do "like this" thing called motherhood.  Actually, I love it and that's the truth.  More than anything, I just hope that my girls know that their mom loves them.  I am constantly telling them but what I hope most, is that my actions are letting them FEEL how much those words that I whisper in their ears, are true.  I Really, really loved, love and will continue to love them....Forever.

Sisters

"A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost."

                                                         marion c. garretty

Want to Play Babies?

Every morning after we get Elle off to school, Gwen looks at Lily and says, "hey, you want to play babies?"  Lily ALWAYS says yes and the two run off. 

They literally do this 7 days a week.  On the weekend Elle happily joins the "mommy party".  They do not mess around.  Aprons are a must.  We have a few sets and they love them.  The girls are WORKING very hard out there.  Cooking food, making bottles, getting fussy babies to sleep.  It goes on for hours.  They have little rocking chairs set out, cribs, highchairs, toddler beds for the older dolls.  It's quite the production.  I think it is the sweetest thing ever.  Gwen's preschool doesn't start until 11:30 so my little lily still has a friend to play with all morning.  

Those little dolls of theirs are the luckiest babies in the world to have such cute mommies.

McGee Girls

I love these little McGee Girls. I have very few pictures of all of us together. Actually, I have very few pictures of myself at all with my family. That's what happens when you're the designated photographer in the family. I just don't want these girls to grow up and then wish that I had pictures with them. After church this past Sunday I begged everyone to go to the backyard for "just ONE" picture with me. The first thing the girls usually do the minute we walk in is start taking their dresses and shoes off to change into "cozy clothes". There's always a trail of clothes from our garage door to their bedrooms. They weren't too pleased with this change in routine...I made everyone head straight to the backyard for this one square foot of shade for the picture. You see what it's like living with me? I'm glad we did. Gosh I love them.

Easter Dinner

Easter dinner was at our home this year. I love having everyone here. Definitely one of my very favorite holidays. My photography skills are lacking here. The darn lens I had made it impossible for me to get everyone in the same shot and I'm sad that the picture I took of my 3 adorable nieces was blurry. They're so cute and my girls ADORE them! It was a happy day.

Easter Dresses

Before hopping into the car for church, I made the girls pose in front of our front door in their new Easter dresses. I can't even count the number of pictures I have taken of the girls in front of this door over the years. Looking at this picture, I am struck by how grown-up they are all looking. I think of myself with a little baby and little girls but there's not a baby in sight in this picture! Where is the time going? I love these 3 girls more than I ever imagined I could love anything or anyone. It really is unreal the amount of love you have for your kids. The second picture is so sweet to me. Although it looks like Elle is pointing to a stucco wall, there is a little tree just outside of the frame where they spotted a little bird. It was so cute how Elle wanted to make sure her sisters could see that little bird before we headed out. I want to freeze them just like this.

Easter Morning

The girls were so adorable when they woke us up to go downstairs on Easter morning. They were in their matching Easter jammies and I couldn't get over their cuteness. Gwen admitted that she peaked over the railing before she came in to wake us up. Lily has been referring to the Easter bunny as "Hop Hop". So she kept screaming, "Hop Hop, Hop Hop" as she ran down the stairs to her basket. The carrots and water they left for the Easter Bunny were gone. He really had been at our house! The baskets were super simple and the girls LOVED them. The big hit was each girl got her own roll of patterned duct tape. Very exciting. Elle left a note by her basket before going to bed with instructions that she did NOT want any gum (she thinks it's gross). So Gwen and Lily did get gum and Elle did not. phew! Foil wrapped See's chocolate, a few bouncy balls, some card games and sticker books and the girls were thrilled. We had the egg hunt in our backyard. It is so darn cute watching them. I got them the little green felt baskets a few years back for our egg hunt and now it's a tradition. They love those little things. It was such a simple and fun morning. Happy Easter!

Happy Day

We had such a nice day today. From start to finish it was so great.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our home last night. We woke up to LOTS of chocolate and an Easter Egg hunt. Church was nice and Elle even gave a talk in Primary. Following church we had the whole family here for Easter Dinner. I did take lots of pictures but am just too tired to even look at them right now -- except for this sweet little one I saw of Gwenners. Here she is in her new Easter Dress this afternoon. I was walking up to see why the front door was open and there she was watering the flowers. The sweetest.

Just "2 More Sleeps"

...but who's counting?

Easter Time

Hard to believe that it's Easter again. Our girls are quite excited. We actually got all of our Easter decorations out before St. Patrick's Day. They couldn't wait! The new favorite decoration is the glitter 'happy easter' banner. It's a hit. When the sun hits it just right it reflects all over our front room. The paper mache easter eggs in the basket are used as bowling balls at least once a day. I take them all apart, mix them up and then time the girls to see how fast they can find the correct matches and get them all back together. It's pretty funny. Another fun thing has been to keep telling the girls that, "the Easter Bunny is watching" whenever they're fighting or won't help me. Gwen is determined to get a big chocolate foil wrapped bunny again this year and that seems to be the biggest bargaining tool. I'm mean or just very, very smart. Whatever the case is, it's working. And yes, Lily got her haircut. Her Aunt Megan cut it for her and it's just adorable.

Saturday

Now that soccer and volleyball are over I am loving our Saturday mornings. Jon leaves early for his bike rides which leaves me with the girls. We're super lazy and I love it.

Now let's talk about Lily's hair. How amazing is her mullet?! The back of her hair keeps growing like a weed and the top just won't grow. I've cut the back up at least 5 times. That combined with her refusing to wear a clip or bow in her hair just makes me laugh. I think it's time for another trim.

Ranunculus

These pretty pink ranunculus above the sink make doing the dishes a little bit more enjoyable. Our Trader Joe's had a shipment of them come in and I picked up 3 bouquets. I separated them all into lots of different vases and spread them throughout our home. So pretty.

chair make-over

I've been tired of these chairs for a while but can't justify (or afford) buying new ones. I've decided to paint them a warm white with some paint that I already have and then my sweet friend, Theresa, is going to help me make linen slipcovers for the seats. I drew a picture of what I wanted and showed her the linen I had leftover from some pillows from long ago. She took one look at it and said "no problem!" I'm crossing my fingers it will turn out how I've imagined.

Piggy Lily

This Piglet costume is Lily's FAVORITE item in our dress-up basket. She puts it on every day at least a few times. And when she's really lucky, I let her wear it while we run errands.

Here she is this morning - - I can't get enough.

Pretty

I walked past Gwen this morning and the light was so pretty in our family room. Gwennie looked so cute watching cartoons. I LOVE that she doesn't start school until 11:30. We race elle out the door at 8:00 and then the two younger ones can hang around in pjs for a bit while I try to get things put back together around the house. I like this routine.

Heart Attack

On Valentine's Day morning, we got up early and before Elle headed out for school we went to our neighbors' home and gave them a "heart-attack" on their front door. We have the world's NICEST neighbors. My girls refer to them as Nonnie and Grampy and love them dearly. They really are like grandparents to the girls. Nonnie always remembers their birthdays and brings over treats for each holiday. Grampy sings with his guitar and when their windows are open my girls love to run on to our driveway to listen to him. Needless to say, we just adore them. So for Valentine's day we cut out hearts and Elle and Gwen wrote little messages to them. We snuck over and taped them all over their front door hoping they wouldn't hear us. Even little Lily got involved. I took a few pictures on my phone first and by the time I switched to my real camera Lily and Gwen had, had enough. I was too worried we were going to wake them up so Elle obliged to be in the picture alone. I think we need to make this a tradition because it was just too much fun.

Valentines

Gwen and Elle passed out Valentines in their classes today. Here is Gwen's. It's too cute. That really is Gwennie's profile and she felt so excited to pass them out.

I'm having a hard time uploading the cute little card Elle passed out but will get that figured out in the morning.

This morning we gave our sweet neighbors a heart-attack on their door. I have the cutest pictures that I need to upload. Gwen had a preschool performance and party that was adorable. Elle had a valentine lunch exchange at school. (she pulled her teacher's name out of the hat and got to prepare her teacher's lunch. Wow, was she ever excited!) and after school she went to a friend's valentine party. We had dinner as a family and after Jonnie got all 3 girls showered , into their jammies for bed and read them a story. That's was the best gift EVER!

A busy and Happy day.

valentines from here

Lily-pie

Yep, my baby pie-pie is growing-up. She is 2 1/2 and that is so hard to believe.

I regretfully don't have a baby book going for this one so here are a few things I don't want to forget...

Lily's very favorite song in the whole wide world is called "Cutie Patootie". It's on repeat at our house. She points to the computer and dances a little and then I know exactly what she wants.

I go to iTunes, put the song on repeat and she's happy as a clam.

She refuses to wear a bow, headband or clip in her hair. She acts as if she's allergic.

Her favorite thing to say is, "I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do".

She says it loud and fast for just about everything.

She's a daddy's girl. If he's in the room I might as well be chopped liver.

And speaking of food, Lily's favorite food in the whole wide world is macaroni and cheese. And if she's able to be picky she LOVES the kind from Panera Bread.

If I ever drive past that place she starts chiming in from the back seat, saying, "nu-nuuuuuuu's!!" (her way of saying, noodles)

If we're in the car and I put the car in park she raises her little hand and says, "me!"

That means she wants to go with me into the store. I think it's so funny and cute.

Before bed she LOVES to have Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book read to her.

Lily gives the world's best hugs and kisses. I get them all day long.

The best is when she gives me leg hugs. She just walks up to me and snuggles on my leg. I love it.

The main purpose of this blog is to keep a record of our family. Someday I hope Lily will read this and know not just some funny things about her toddler years but how much her mama has loved and adored her, even from the beginning.

I love you, sweet Lily. I'm glad you're mine.

Mama Gwen

We call our Gwenners, "Wild Woman". She is loud and funny and daring. That being said, she happens to also be the sweetest little mommy. If she's inside, she's playing with her babies. This morning before church she was brushing her doll's hair on my bed while waiting for her turn in the shower. She just looked so sweet and innocent. She was being so gentle with her baby and it was adorable. Gwen looked at me and said, "Mom, my baby had A LOT of snarls in her hair and she didn't even cry once. She's brave!" Too cute.

Turtle

For years now, Elle has always made her way down our stairs via the bannister. I used to do the same thing in my house when I was a little girl. It's way more fun than walking. Whenever she gets to the bottom of the bannister I always beg her to do "turtle". It cracks me up every single time and NEVER gets old. She curls her legs and arms up and pretends like she's swimming under water like a turtle. It sounds so dumb but really, for some reason each time it makes me laugh -- which in turn makes her do it even more.

This morning I was packing her lunch for school and I heard her yell from the top of the stairs, "Mom, get ready for turtle!"

I grabbed my camera.