THE cake of the century!!

Tomorrow is Mae-Mae's big day....she turns the big 2:) I had to take a couple last pictures of her while is is still in the "ones"..

Diana and I decided to attempt a "Lightning McQueen" cake...first..I have to prove that we actually DID do this cake...

AND the finished product.....Yeah...We got SKILLZ!!

Maebree LOVES it!! She kept just staring at it and asking for a fork:) I have to say, I am really patting us on the back for this one! I even cut the cake out in the car shape all by myself! (with a little extra help eyeballing it from my mom:) I will probably wake up at 3:00 in the morning just to go downstairs and look at it some more:) Now, if we can make it last until tomorrow night, we will be in great shape! Dear most Gracious Heavenly Father, please do not let me drop it taking it out of the fridge!

My little helper

Maebree is seriously a little "Mother Hen". She absolutely adores "Caebin" (that's Caleb in Maebrinese) and always wants to "help" with him. I let her try and feed him a bottle today....the results...

.....were that she clearly cared more about wiping the milk off his mouth than actually giving him a bottle:) This is probably one of THE most easy-going kids...but there is one thing you don't mess with, and that's his meals! He has the thighs to prove it:) So needless to say, Maebree won't be on feeding duty any time soon....and Caleb is thankful for that!

On another note, Emmy came home from school today and was excited to show me all her dances she learned in P.E. She especially loved the "Baucooracha" (this was her pronunciation)....after watching her, I quickly realized she was doing the "Macarena". I have no idea where Baucooracha came from:) She has her mother's way of making up stuff as she goes along, kinda like "Sweet Potatoe Pie and I Shook My Baby" :) (for those of you who don't know, for years, that is what I swore the words to "I Love Rock and Roll" were instead of "put another dime in the jukebox baby")

"Go-Go's"

My youngest babe is turning two in exactly one week. I'm actually a little emotional about it. I can't believe that it has been two years since she was born. Her birth was the beginning of a lot of things that happened in our lives. Russ had just finished fire academy exactly one week after she was born, the start of a job he had been dreaming and praying about for almost 10 years. Two months after she was born, we had to have a family "intervention" for my dad and had to make some really tough decisions regarding him. Fortunately, the right choices were made in that situation. It's been a difficult two years in some aspects, and in others, it has been incredibly fulfilling.

I asked Maebree what kind of birthday she wanted to have. After singing "Happy Berfday" to herself, she informed me that she wanted a "Go-Go's" berfday. For those of you who don't speak "Maebrinese", go-go's is her name for "Cars" the movie. I asked if she wanted an animals party, and she said "NO! I don yike it amols!....I wan Go-Gos berfday!" (translation: I don't like animals....I want cars:) ***SIGH*** I can't even believe that I was disappointed to find out I was having another girl at her sonogram 2 1/2 years ago:) I wouldn't trade her for all the boys in the whole wide world now!

Dancing Queen

Again, this has been just one of those weeks. Two of my three kids have come down with ear infections, and Maebree has been up for the past two straight nights...and by up all night...I mean up all night! I had a conference at church this weekend, so my mom graciously offered to keep the kids overnight (Russ has had to work both days) so I didn't have to pick them up late just to bring them back early the next morning. She wasn't banking on having to stay up all night with a croupy, coughing baby though. The conference was great...though I didn't really get to fully enjoy it because I was worried about my girl most of the time and had to leave early both days. Oh well.......

Before she came down with whatever the heck she has.....this is what Mae-Mae decided to do about 20 minutes before heading to church Wednesday night

That would be my very expensive Mary Kay face lotion that I am convinced was hand-made by God because it truly is a miracle cream. She used half of it on her head. All I could do was laugh:)

On Tuesday night, Emmy's dance class invited family to attend and watch a practice, something that we are not allowed to normally do. I figured out why while we were there. Some kids just do better when their parents are not watching, and that was evident with a couple of the girls. It was nice to see what our money was going to monthly. Unfortunately, she was starting to feel kind of junky that night, but I think she managed to pull it off quite nicely.

Their warm-up stretches.

Getting ready for their big "routine"....yes....those are the "numbers" on her butt:)

Practicing staying on her tippy-toes.

More of their routine
The big finish

You point that toe girl!! She is SO flash-dance in those leg warmers!

I love my little dancer! I always wanted to take some sort of dance, so I'm happy to live vicariously through her:) She doesn't really enjoy it all that much right now because she doesn't get to "do the dances she wants to" which is really just spinning in circles in a cute tu-tu.....but she will really enjoy it once she gets the basics down. She has her first big show in June, and we can't wait to see the fruits of her labor!

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby!

Friday was my hunky, firefighter of a husband's birthday (yes....I have to say that every time I am referring to him. We waited for this job for 9.5 years, and it's just as much fun for me to say "hunky firefighter husband" as it is for him to "live out the dream"...besides....he is hunky, and he is a fireman!)

We just had a couple friends over to play some Rock Band, but I think Mae-Mae had more fun than anyone!
Her and daddy layin' down some beats.....
..Is this right mom?

She is one multi-talented kid!
.."Yai-Yai"...you want to sing?

"The Band"

We have a small, somewhat unreal tradition called "the birthday month" in our house, but we always end up celebrating everyones b-day like 12 times in one month. It's always an excuse to go out to eat a few times, eat cake (mmmmm......) a few times...or just claim laziness as "but it's my birthday month!" a few times. We haven't even had a family party for him yet because every time I think I will have something, he ends up having to "serve and protect the citizens of Champaign".....so I'm sure once we have that, we will have more pictures.....and it will be another excuse to make the "chocolate explosion", his favorite birthday cake of all time!

Abigail

I've been busy lately, and people are chastising my lack of "bloggyness" (no...I know it's not a word, but whatever). But check out what I've been doing in my "free" time.......

Abigail

Such a cute little family!! I just love how snugly, natural, and comfortable they look here.

...*sigh*....so little now.....

Snugglin' with her bears.....

Yes...yes I did put her in her dresser...she didn't even cry either! I wish I could have gotten more of her nursery 'cause I SWEAR her momma should decorate for Home and Garden Magazine or something! Maybe when she's not so little and doesn't get "lost" in it all.

Momma's Angel

Now....can someone PLEASE tell me how to stop? I had literally 185 pictures to look at and decide what to edit of this child!! But when they are so cute and smiley, how do you stop? Thanks Matt and Ashley! You guys made one super cute baby that I hope to profit off of:)

Playdates

My besty Nichole came over today with her two boys and the lovely new little one that she is watching, Hayden. She is pretty stinkin' cute that one, and her and Nichole seem to be becoming the best of buds:

Quite frankly, I'm a little jealous...she never lets me snuggle up on her and fall asleep like that! Oh well....

Emmitt was ready for action...he had his football pose on:

And Peyton was happy and content to entertain the little guys

I'm not really sure who is more bald there, Caleb, Isaiah, or the baby P is entertaining them with!

Caleb hamming it up for the camera and giving me a little wave:

Yes people....he is six months old. This kid truly is "edible" in his wonderful chunkaliciousness.

Dude...who are you again?

These are the not-so-little, little guys that I watch Tues-Thursday....they are buds! They are only one week apart in age.

Caleb felt the need for a little sock-action. I will take that, thank you!

And so as not to leave the newest little princess out...we had to get some pictures of her enjoying the Bumbo action...she was not very sure about it at first and was really quite enamored with the ceiling fan. We finally got one of her posing ever so slightly for the camera:

I did not intentionally leave my kids out of this playdate, the older girls were in school, and Maebree was napping for part of it and has become quite camera shy in recent days past. I don't know....maybe it has something to do with the fact that her mother tortures her with a camera when she is at her most vulnerable:

Quite the predicament she has gotten herself into there!

Here is a taste of what her 2-year photo shoot was like..I finally gave up!

Yes...she is shooshing me....

Grouchily praying.....

Refuses to put the cookie down....

And finally...hiding to poop under the table....

*sigh*....better luck next time!