Does my little girl look like me?

I have been feeling under the weather.  The allergies are horrible this year and I am ready to feel better and go outside and enjoy without misery.  Oh well, that is my one whine for the day.

It cracks me up when you see pictures of yourself when you are younger but what is more amazing is "who do your kiddos look like".  My oldest definitely looks like my husband, middle "we are not sure" and Reese "who knew" she might look like her mama.   Let's not even get started on how their attitudes take after.  Of course my husband says "Reese is just like her mother".  No way, I am not stubborn and sassy :)....

See for yourself to see if she looks like her Mama.


I am the younger with knee high socks, sporting high fashion.

You gotta love knee highs!

I am all sassy....



Happy Wednesday!

It has been along time......

I am back.  It has been a crazy last year that has kept me away.  I so missed blogging as this is my way of documenting my kiddos, life, my crazy obsession with decorating and my thoughts.  I never realized how much I enjoyed documenting my thoughts and life until I was not doing it anymore.  

For my family, I promise I will post pics soon of the kiddos. 

Today, I am going to talk about my crazy obsession with decorating.  Ever since we started renting a house my passion to make changes has increased.  The funny thing is I have learned you do not need to spend $1000's of dollars to make your home a show piece.   I have to thank my talented sister for this.  I have always loved decorating but would spend allot of money or wait for years to decorate because it was too expensive.  Now, do not get me wrong, you  should invest in key pieces especially if they will be used allot.   Since we are trying to save all our penny's to buy a house next year, I will leave you with some beautiful pics.  I have been saving every picture I like so I know what I want when we buy or remodel. 

I have no idea what sources these pics came from.  :(

Love the clean, bright entry way with the dark woods.  Classic....

What can I say, except I love the windows, lights and marble...

The all white with a touch of cream on the backsplash is beautiful.  I would have soap stone or dark maple butcher board on the island.

Love the beams and doors leading outside.

Feels like home.  Of course love the windows.  As you can see I love windows not covered up with panels for texture and color.  The outdoors is your canvas.

Simple...Needs some color with mahogany beams or something.  Pendant light is too small

What can I say????Love the ceiling, doors and floors.

Off to Arkansas

It has been almost a year since I have posted. How time flys. We are headed out of town to our very good friends for a 4th of July weekend of the lake, fireworks, boating and fun.

Zachary is begging me to let him post so here he goes. we are going to have a great time seeing fireworks, fishing and have a lot of fun!!!

Yes, I am back...

We had a crazy busy weekend, well my husband did anyways. It started off with Gavin having his end of the year baseball swim party and I decided to stay home with Reese and Zach. G-man had a blast with all his friends and I think he enjoyed spending time with his friends and daddy alone. We struggle with this since we have 3 kiddos. Sometimes they need to experience life alone and have mommy/daddy alone time. You can really tell they relish these few times. On Saturday, Mike took the boys to see a baseball tournament with some friends. He was scoping out the competition as he and Zachs coach are putting together a team for the summer, "The North Texas Daredevils". He is pretty pumped and has definitely become more competitive with Zach's age. Then Zach and Daddy left for the evening of fun at a baseball game b-day party. Reese and Gavin were so tired and driving me "crazy", I thought why not go swimming to ensure complete wearing out. We had a blast and came home for a slumber party watching a movie, popcorn and they were out by 9:30. Mike and Zach did not get home until 11:30 but Zach received a signed baseball hat and other goodies. On Sunday, Mike, Reese and I all slept until 9:00am. I could not believe it. We ate breakfast and decided it was time for Mommy to go run. We all loaded up and headed to the lake for mommy support. Mike and I ran well Mike kind of and the boys rode their bikes. It was extremely hot but the trail was half shaded. The boys loved it. I think we will do this every weekend and try new trails. This week I have to hit it hard on my marathon training. Please, pray for me as I have been extremely tired and unmotivated. Mike and I also are completing a sprint triathlon with our friends in July which is helping my motivation except cycling/running, hmmm. However, game on "Kimmie & Dan". Just kidding. Below are the only pics I got of my sweet family this weekend.


I found this cute pic of my big boy-had to post.


Gavin pre-trail run cooling down..



Zach and Reese being silly pre-trail ride.


Best buds- (they have such a love/hate relationship)

2010....

It has been quite a year...Working, sick children, sick children and sick children. This is our theme for 2010. As I type this I am re-writing our 2010 goals.

-Determined to have kiddos eat more veggies

-Build up their immune system

-Continue to run and run

- Continue to work on our budget

- Read more

- Go on more dates with my husband

- Take a trip

- Take a girls trip

- Take photograph classes- start taking more photog

Anyhoo, enough of my goals. On Friday night I saw a dear friend who visited from Chicago and her family at Kims. I took the boys but Mike and Reese stayed home to get well. The boys had so much fun with the kiddos jumping on the trampoline and playing. We love Aunt Kimmies house as it has miles and mile of fun. I loved seeing Pam's little girl and it made me almost want another baby..I said almost. We made it an early night as I was a party pooper from being the mommy emergency room all week and headed home around 9:00.

On Saturday, mommy stayed home to care for Reese and the boys had a packed full day with Daddy. They went to both their baseball games and a party skating. I have only made 1 baseball game out of 4 due to our illnesses. I am sad as I never miss a game. Daddy had a blast and revisited his youth rollerskating with all the kiddos.

On Sunday, no church as we still had a sick kiddo. The funniest card came in the mail last week from our church, " Please come back, we miss you". This was addressed to the kids. Does this show you our life the last 8 weeks? Church is even wondering where we are?

Enough of my rambling and back to Sunday. The Easter bunny made a visit Saturday night and hid Easter eggs inside and out. He was not as giving this year but he did leave them Chocolate bunnies and lots of eggs. Of course Zachary was so excited the next day we could hear him running all over the house. His comment to me was I have to see where all the eggs are so I can get them all....Gotta love em. Gavin and Reese soon woke up and in all our glory we went Easter egg hunting @ 7:00am in the morning. I am sure the neighbors loved the squealing of joy. Next was their favorite breakfast, homemade waffles, eggs and bacon. We planted some flower on the porch and spent another day at home for recuperation.

Then to our surprise @ 9:00pm Gavin comes down the stairs with 102 fever. I give up, we cannot win. Today, I went and bought Dannon drinkable immunity booster, vitamins with extra vitamin C and vegetable juice. We are on a mission to get our family well and I fit in a run. Yes, I was dying. It is not advisable to stop running all together while training for a marathon. I was literally dying on my 3 mile run in the heat. I feel like I am starting over but at least I am starting.

I did not get any great pictures as we were always in our pjs and little kiddos were sick but enjoy!

Reese @ 7am on Easter ( still sick but a trooper)

The boys on Easter morning (crazy hair and all)

Reese - This is the epitome of my little girl. I got the crazy, silly, prissy, drama little girl but I do love her. Mike says we are funny. We cannot be away from each other but we can't be with each other. She definitely tests me.

Reese with her pal/cousin Haley. She adores her but I kind of chopped the pic.

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The Woffords go see Santa in 30' weather...

Tonight we ventured to a local outdoor shopping area for the annual tree lighting, dinner and Santa. It was so cold but we stayed long enough to hear the carolers, see the tree lit up and then went to dinner. Once our tummy's were fool we went back out to the bookstore. Mommy and Daddy had to bribe the kids with books as we always forget to bring cash to these functions. They had crafts and face painting but it was all for cash and we only had plastic but the bribery worked and the kids were happy with books. After we got warm and Mommy had her hot coffee we ventured back out in the Arctic air to stand in line for Santa. The kids had so much fun and it was so neat to see Reese. She has a cold but as soon as she sat on Santa's lap, her face lit up. This is a totally different response than last years screaming. Have I told you how much I love the Christmas season...minus it being this cold. I forgot my camera but Mike captured Santa on his iPhone.



Gavin thinking hard about what he wants for Christmas?




Zach telling Santa he wants a hamster...thank goodness Santa cannot bring hamsters to Virginia.


Reese elated to be able to tell Santa "I want a baby"

A snowy beautiful day..

When I woke this morning we saw snow. It was so pretty and the boys were so excited. I love to see the kids faces of excitement over the littlest things in life. It brings back so many fond memories. I also posted a picture of the boys from last night passed out in my bed. I am posting a short post as I went out with clients tonight and had a steak and wine and am feeling pretty tired. My run in the morning sounds tiresome but I must continue especially since I decided to also partake in desert tonight. Have a good night!

The kids decorated the whole tree-I have definitely let go of my perfectionist personality. I noticed after we decorated the tree it has a slight tilt at the top. Oh well, it looks beautiful.


The boys sleeping in my bed last night. We did succeed in carrying them to their bed with no one waking up.


Winter wonderland outside our house.


Our car views.. It did not last long but it was pretty.

The Christmas Pageant

I am so excited as the boys will be in there first Christmas play in a couple of weeks. The boys will be the carolers in the The Christmas pageant which is a production at our church. Zach is super excited and I am not sure yet about Gavin but Mommy is pumped. I love Christmas and my boys will be singing Christmas tunes that I love. They are singing either 4 or 5 songs which one is Away in a Manger, O Come, O Come Emanuel, I know a rose tree springing and It came upon a Midnight clear. I will surely post a live feed. Of course, they asked for parent participation and I am working on costumes. I first was a little worried and told my seamstress sister she would be helping if I was asked to sew costumes but I was spared and only have to direct, help with fitting and maybe some minor hemming. Unfortunately, I have no pictures to post but maybe I can get the kids to sing you a song and post it this week. Zach is always up for this. Reese thanks she is in the play as well, so maybe I will have her be my little mini seamstress. She has become such a big girl. On a positive note, our Urologist visit went great this week. Reese's kidneys look great!!! Please, continue to pray with us that she will not have to be catheterized and continue to show great signs of potty training. He was actually positive this time as Mike and I had prepared ourselves for anything. She was a trooper and did not have to do the euro dynamic study which she hates. We will see him in 6 more months. I continue to reflect about how blessed we are. I see other kids that have so many more issues and am thankful that God has blessed us. I know we can deal with anything handed to us and this has only made Mike and I stronger as parents.
Time to go to bed as both the boys are in my bed. Mommy was a wimp and they were complaining the rain was waking them up so I offered up our bed. Mike and I may be sleeping in the twin beds tonight....

The sound of quiet amongst the past chaos...

It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving break but hectic and chaotic. Mike and I were both down for the count Thursday after the run and all day Friday. Somehow, I think my girls night out we all caught something. Kim and Les were also sick with the crud and my poor kids had to fend for themselves on Friday, just kidding, only a little. Thursday we had Turkey and birthday cake with Mikes parents. It was nice and quiet which was helpful since Mike and I were absolutely miserable. Zach had a blast opening presents and eating cake twice that day with Memaw and Papa. The Grandparents spoil the kiddos but I guess that is what they are there for. We left and retreated home to bed. On Friday, we woke up even worse and had to call in a favor to one of our Dr. friends, since no doctors were working except urgent care. He is a great friend and saved our kiddos from complete boredom all weekend. We tried to go out and have lunch with the kids and a cookie at the infamous "Tollhouse brothers", yes they know my children. Then off we went to lay on the couch why Zach and Gavin played with all their new toys and Reese slept until 5:30. I think she was as pooped out as us. The medicine actually felt like it kicked in a little but we laid around the majority of night except to finish decorating our porch. I will post pics soon as it is almost complete. We did not want to go to crazy since Christmas is not at our house this year. On Saturday, we got up and went and took pictures on this old bridge and wooded trail area. The kiddos did okay. I am trying to get our Christmas cards out so below I posted a couple of pics of our day but I have learned with 3 it is almost a miracle to get the perfect shot. We ended up spending the day with the kids and then cleaning because Mommy and Daddy had a date night planned, however, due to our illness the date night ended at 10:00 since Mommy was pretty tired. Yes, Mike thought I was a wimp but we climbed into bed and ended up staying up till mid-night watching tv. Today we went to church, which was such a wonderful service and now I am amongst a quiet house. Mike took the boys to a birthday party and Reese is a sleep. I promised the kiddos when they got home we would decorate the house, play Christmas carols and maybe make cookies. I better go and enjoy my last hour of quiet time. I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday and is enjoying the festivities for the holidays.

My big girl-every time I see pictures I cannot believe how big she is..


Attempting at a side view. Do they look the same?



This is out of order but "hooray Zach said as we shot the last pic"

This is the end of our shoot and everyone is done, really "tears".

Horseplaying, how fun.

I am over that girly bow, Daddy's hat is way cooler.

Brothers, they love each other.


Take 2 -attempting to have all eyes on me but always looking at something cooler.

Trying to strike a pose.

We really do love each other occasionally.

All giggles at the beginning.

Aren't we cute.

I finished....

I finished the 8 mile Turkey Trot and ran the whole time!!!! The last 1 1/2 was a little tough due to the fact I had a problem with too much water and all the lines to the stand alone restrooms were horrible. I then had problems with my sock which I had read in long runs to wear moisture resistance socks that fit. I decided to wear all cotton bigger socks because my running shoes are a little newer and rubbed some ouchies on my back of my ankles. Any hoo the socks were bunching up under my toes and ouch it did not feel good so I had to stop quickly and take off my shoe and reposition my socks but ran in a little pain the last mile. The funny part of the story is there were 37,000 people and boy did my first mile take along time. I think it took 35 minutes since I did not position myself at the front. I had to dodge dogs, strollers and walkers but I feel great. I am sore today and did not feel great yesterday as I developed a sinus infection and did not eat enough so needless to say I felt sick after the run but it has taught me what I need to do to prepare better for the run. It was such a high during the run especially when I ran 2 miles across the bridges. I will post pics once the photographers have them on their website.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day as we did. Our oldest son turned 7 and he had so much fun. He is growing up so fast and we love you Zachary!