my birthday :)

Let me share with you a little convo between Gretchen and me.  Thursday morning.  I'll set the scene up for you:  I had showered and done my hair and was putting my make up on.  Insert phone call from G...

Me: Hello?

G: Whatup. Whatcha doin? {Yes, she talks gangster.}

Me: OY!

G: Oy, what?  What's wrong?

Me: I'm putting on my mascara and I have a ridiculous amount of wrinkles!

G: Yep, it only gets worse from here.  We are getting old.

Me: I know! I found some loose skin thingy on my neck.

G: My laugh lines around my mouth don't go away when I am done laughing.

Me: Seriously, Jennifer Aniston is older than us. How does she look so good?

G: She has work done.

Me: Really?  You think so?

G: OF COURSE she does!

Me: If I was rich, I would too. Maybe.

G: I would for sure.  

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Thank goodness Jesus loves me for me! Ha! :)  Friday was my birthday...I cannot believe I am 36 years old.  THIRTY SIX.  I am THIRTY years older than my son.  Unbelievable.  ;)  I've said before that May is a crazy month for us.  All of our birthdays are in May.  Eric-7th, Maggie-11th, Levi-17th, and me, the 18th. Crazy, but fun! {I have a post for the kids, but will do it tomorrow on the day of their party!}

So, let me tell you about my WILD and EXCITING birthday! Kidding, of course! 

Jami brought me my morning stroke diet coke!!  And, equally as good, a gift card for future diets!  You are awesome, James...thank you!!!

And, here is my lovely gift from my baby daddy and my babies!  I finally talked Eric into getting me a charm bracelet!!  Woot!  I love it. :)  The green charm on the left is "emerald" for all our birthdays.  Then there is a Mom charm, a daisy charm {I heart daisies!!} and Levi picked out the aqua charm.  He said it was pretty like me.  LOVE that child!

After waffles and Mickey Mouse, I put Maggie down for an early nap.  Riveting stuff, I tell ya!  She had her 2 year check-up at 1:50.  And, has anyone ever looked more adorable in a little hospital gown before?  I'm pretty sure I didn't look this cute in my gown when I had the kids! Ha!

She got a little prick so they could check her CBC levels.  She did great - didn't even cry!  {Although she did give the nurse a look like "if you do that again, I will take.you.out.}  All her levels were great!

Doctor Christy asked if I had any concerns.  I told her about a lump that Eric found on her head earlier this week.  I told her that my diagnosis was that a tick got buried in her scalp and she now has Lymes Disease.  Thankfully, she is the doctor, and I am not!  It was just a lymph node that was inflamed and she would be fine. ;)  All other reports were good!  She is in the 75% for weight and 65% for height...which surprised me because I feel like she is tall. :)  All in all, she is perfect!  Oh, we do have to see a cardiologist for a heart murmur, but it is all just precautionary.

After Mags' appointment, we picked Levi up for school and headed out to meet my parents for dinner {Eric had to DJ...boo!!}.  My brother had called to wish me a happy birthday and asked what I was doing.  When he found out about dinner, he decided to crash the party come along!  Glad they did!  Levi loves playing with his cousins! :)  My kids were wild at dinner and I was starting to hyperventilate.  Sometimes I just want to die when Maggie has fits in public.  We took them back to my parents house to release some energy and they decided to swim.  Maggie tried out her life jacket from last year.  Too cute!

I promise that I do try and take pictures of Levi, too!!!  He does still exist!  He is just in that awkward "Do NOT take my picture MOOOOM!"  Ugh.  I got the kids in bed and watched a movie I rented on Redbox...Crazy, Stupid, Love.  It was a little slow, but a cute movie!  I enjoyed my evening. :)  Oh, and I haven't posted about my kitchen yet, but hope to do that soon.  It got a new makeover for Mother's Day!!  Got my new rug last night!!  I have a couple of things left to do and then I will be posting pics. :)  Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend!!   

little gifts :)

Levi made this card for me at school and gave it to me over the weekend.  I absolutely love gifts like this!! 

 My Mother: A True Story By: Levi

 I think this page is the funniest...
My mother's hair is straight black.
She is as tall as a Daddy and Mrs. Lindley.
She weighs about 501 pounds.
My mom's eyes are black.
My mom looks best when she wears dresses. I love to play my DS. I love mommy and daddy.

Love that little boy...even if he says I weigh 501 pounds! ;)

And, on a side note, Maggie May got these adorable bloomers for her birthday from my parents!  I love them!! 

two and six year pics

Maggie turned two on Friday.  Levi turns six on Thursday.  What happened to my little babies?  Ugh. 

So, a few weeks ago, I got a text from my friend, Brittany.  {I like that I can call her my friend, Brittany!  She started out as Gretchen's Bowling Green friend, but now she is an important person in my life, too!}  She started her own photography business a few months ago.  Click here to check her out!  Anyways, she texted me and said she would be in Louisville May 11th, and would like to take the kids pictures.  How sweet!  Um, pictures of my precious kiddos?  Of course!   

I mean, really??

How can you not love these little faces?

And even more special is that it was on Maggie's actual birthday. :)

Oh my word...

mothers day 2012

Mothers Day.  A day to celebrate being a Mommy.  A day to celebrate my wonderful mom.  A day to celebrate all the wonderful women in my life that have helped mold me into who I am today.  I love this day.  And, today was a pretty near perfect day for me.  We all got ready and headed to church.  We even had time to snap a little family portrait!  Yay!!

 I became very reflective once we arrived to church.  I'm not sure why...?  I just had so many memories that started to flood my mind.  Maggie sat with us during church because I wasn't sure she was ready to be back in the nursery from her latest spell of sickies. ;)  Having her beside me in church made me a little emotional.  I began to just thank God that He chose me to raise her.  What a blessing.  I also thought of Levi and the little boy that he is becoming.  I'm so blessed to be his Mom!  I thought of our first baby, that we never got to meet, and wondered how different life would be if I hadn't miscarried.  As much as I wanted that baby, I wouldn't have known Levi or Maggie! 

As church went on, we sang "It is well with my soul"...oh my.  One of my all time favorite hymns, sung at my Grandmother's funeral, I wanted to cry buckets of tears.  But, my tears and my emotion was all from pure Joy.  My family comes from such a beautiful legacy of strong Christian women, and I hope that I can carry on that legacy and instill it in my children...

And, speaking of legacy...My beautiful mom. 

I love her so much!  We have a special bond that a lot of women don't share with their mothers.  I cannot describe to you how much she means to me!  We laugh, cry, tease, encourage, read, sunbathe, visit spas, eat, and shop together.  There is not much that my mom and I haven't experienced together.  She is a special, special lady and I can't imagine my life without her! 

I had such a special day...with my mom, my kids and my MIL.  I'm so thankful. :)

she puked, but I still ate my burger

The last two days have been a whirlwind.  This is the first moment I've had to myself since Tuesday night...so I thought I'd blog. ;) 

We were on our way to Levi's Tball game and stopped at McDonald's to eat.  Jaime Mac, you might want to stop reading here. :)  Maggie was all of a sudden very clingy and wanted me to hold her.  I picked her up and started to order.  I ordered the kids a happy meal and myself a cheeseburger and fries.  Before I could finish, Maggie threw up all.over.me.  Poor baby girl!  I immediately took off towards the bathroom and she did it again on the way.  Lovely.  My kids have never thrown up in public, and I was sooo horrified!  But, it happens and I went into Mommy Mode...just doing what I had to.  Oh My Stars...did you know McDonald's has hand dryers?  There were no paper towels in the bathroom, so I broke out the baby wipes.  I was so thankful that my MIL was with me, because she took care of Levi...and got our food! LOL

 I'm also thankful for my parents who were headed to the game and swung by to get Levi for me.  They took him, cheered him on, brought him home and even stopped to get Mags some Gatorade.  Awesome!!

 Another thing I am thankful for is that she only threw up once! But, she was burning up with fever.  She wanted to be held and screamed bloody murder when I would have to pee.  These are the times when I really miss Eric being home!! :(  And, in case you are wondering, YES, I did eat my cheeseburger later after we got home. 

We made it threw the night, but she was still puny in the morning.  I looked in her throat and saw blisters, so we headed to the doc and sure enough, she has Hand, Food, Mouth Disease.  Ugh.  Again.  Ugh.  It will be a rough few days, but hopefully by the weekend we will be headed for better days!

And, one more thing I am thankful for {can you tell I'm TRYING to be positive??!!}...I weighed this morning and am down 10 pounds!  Yay!!!  Hanging in there does pay off.  :)))

my evil brother

My brother is very sweet to always be concerned about my well being.  I will give you a few examples.  Last year, on vacation, the beach house where we stayed didn't have cell service.  When we found out, with an evil grin, he said, "Will you be okay?  You won't be able to talk to Gretchen for a week..."  Turd.

Recently, when my mom went away for the weekend, he sent me a text asking if I was okay.  "Yes, why?"  "Mom just left and I didn't know if you needed counseling."  Again, turd.

Last night, he texted me this:



His text said, "Gretchen just uploaded a pic to FB without you in it."  HE IS EVIL. ;)  We really do have the same parents!  Promise!! 

grammy's house

I guess my parents can only hear, "Papa, Grammy, when can we swim?" so many times!  The pool is OPEN. Yay!!!

My parents finally opened their pool for the season and the kids could NOT wait to get in!  The water temp was only about 74, but those little boogers didn't care!  They jumped right in and swam for two hours. :)

Usually the whole family meets up to go out to eat on Sunday after church, all 16 of us! :)  But, this week, my Dad decided to grill out and just let the kids play.

We put Maggie down for a nap, and she slept three hours!  She missed out on all the fun. :(  But, Momma sure did get to relax!

My grandparents took their spots under the umbrella and enjoyed watching the kids splash around.

Dad even broke out the barrel ride for the little rugrats.  Better than Six Flags!  Water, fun, and no long lines to ride in! :)

I love the way my parents spoil these kids!