Bye Bye Binkie!

Oh, my baby girl is growing up :( I have been thinking for a while that it was getting to be time to pull the plug (ha ha) on the binkie. I'm convinced its the reason Miss Thang didn't talk for the first year and a half of her life and she still liked it a little more than she probably should at this age. I refuse to have one of those preschoolers who is carrying on full conversations around a mouthful of paci. BUT, I was going out of town, she was sick, then I was sick.... on and on. You get the idea. I had more excuses for not weaning her off of it than I had desire to do so.
Until.... she stated biting through the tips of them. Miss Heather, the wonder sitter, brought it to my attention and said no more at her house..... she was worried she would get a hunk off and choke! My mom had weaned my brother and I off of them by cutting the tip off, so I sensed an opportunity. I brought home one of the bitten binkies and that evening offered it to her a couple of times. She would take a couple of pulls and cry.... and throw it down! Pretty soon she wouldn't even take it.
But, what about bedtime? Was I ready for an all night throw down? I mean, she has NEVER gone to sleep without one in her precious little life! We did our usual.... bath, book, binkie, bed..... except we skipped right over the binkie part. And then it happened...... I kissed her goodnight, gave her a baby and.......she went RIGHT to sleep!

I can't lie and say there haven't been a few rough moments, but overall it was sooooo much easier than I'd expected. To celebrate on Saturday when we went to the store I let the kids each get a balloon with the idea that we would do a binkie send off into the sky. We tied a binkie on to the string (she didn't even reach for it when she saw it), I explained that the balloon was going to take it away, she waved "Buh bye" and blew it kisses and we launched the balloons toward their heavenly destination. At least that's how it went in my head.... in reality, the binkie was too heavy for the balloon, so I had to yank it off real quick and stuff it into my pocket, before she could see. Either way, NO MORE BINKIE at the Little House!!! YAY....... I think.
Its unbelievably bittersweet. The last Little Baby is not much of a baby anymore. Its not fair, how fast they grow! She gets more and more fun with each passing day, but its a slow agonizing pain for a Mama to see them leave that "baby-ness" behind. And now that there is not a plug in her mouth, she is free to be just as sassy as she wants to be!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love Christmas.... I really do! I love the lights and parties and goodies and presents. I love there is madness with shopping, and decorating and programs and school stuff and work stuff......... and then just when you can't stand it anymore, you get time off to spend relaxing (and recovering) with your family.





I love Christmas specials on TV and corny Christmas movies.... but I love slowing down to watch them and snuggle the babies that are growing up far too quickly even more! The kids are SOOOOO much fun this year. Kennedy just loves that everything is pretty, but Jaydan is at prime Christmas age.... old enough to anticipate and be soooo excited about it all! I wish I could just stop the hands of time right NOW!



Merry Christmas! Take a moment to remember the meaning of it all..... and hold your loved ones close!!
P.S. Although that pic looks sweet enough, it was about .2 seconds before she socked him with her cup. Ahhhhh, siblings ;)

Fabulous Fall

The weather has been absolutely perfect the last few weeks. I mean, t-shirt during the day,
windows open with warm blankets at night perfect.

The kids and I spent Saturday playing at the park. Kennedy is now walking all over.... back and forth from the playhouse to the swings several times. Busy, busy.


Jaydan's preschool uses that park for recess, so its not AS much fun as it used to be for him. Still, its fun for me to see the new ways he's playing now that he's playing on his own there, with other kids. His class also took their first field trip...... to the Pumpkin Patch. I almost died of anxiety, he had a ball and so all was well. Now, I'm debating on still taking the family or not? We've gone every year, but he just went and Kennedy doesn't have a strong opinion either way.... yet. I have time to decide. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the Fall Fabulous-ness!

Little Bitty Steps!

Kennedy is finally a walker! She'll be chasing big brother before we know it!

Jaydan Goes to School

We had a late night the night before school started..... there was no "early to bed" for the Little house. See, the kids and I were sitting in the Salt Lake City airport, waiting for a delayed flight when Jaydan should have been getting ready for bed. I was torn on sending him that first day, but he insisted he wanted to go.

There were a few morning tears (him, not me I'm proud to report). The worst part, apparently was trying to get a few good pictures! This next picture breaks my heart, because his nerves are so obvious. He never was able to verbalize that he was nervous but obviously, he was. It's painful, as a parent to see your kid be nervous!


He hesitated for just a moment, when we went into his classroom. There were kids there already and it was busy.... and loud. But we sat down with a puzzle and before long, he was ready for Mama to go...... and told me so! So I steeled my own nerve and walked back to the car..... as Jaydan took his very own big step. Hard to believe how fast my baby boy is growing up!

Summer Fun!

Our summer days have been filled with fun times and watermelon, just like any childhood summer should be!

Both kids love to be outside, when its not too hot.... and we all enjoy Jaydan being able to burn off some energy!

I can't believe how fast the summer has gone..... now its coming to an end and the Holidays will be here before we know it!

4th of July

We had a busy and fun 4th. Jeff ended up getting a day off so we loaded the kiddos up and headed to Lake Lanier Water Park. It was SO FUN and Jaydan was SO BRAVE (a little more brave than this Mama was comfortable with). He had to do most of them on his own, which terrified me to death but he didn't hesitate.... just dove and/splashed right in!
Kennedy had fun too, which is good since it was part of her birthday celebration! They have a very cool, 18 inch deep, kiddie pool with all sorts of features and sprinklers. She was good with it all, as long as it didn't get her in the face! It was a great time for all four of us and we were glad we got some time as a family (that doesn't happen as often as we'd like).
On the actual forth, the plan was to have a pool party at Miss Heather's and then to the Fireworks in Auburn. It rained all afternoon so we played games and visited instead and then I realized that Auburn AND Winder did their fireworks on Saturday, so we'd missed them!!! Jaydan only got to see a few in our neighborhood and Kennedy slept through that. That was lame of me and I'm sorry they didn't get to see any..... oh well, better luck next year!