Circus

I would like to start off by saying Thank You to Mimi and Pop for taking all of us to the Circus yesterday!   We all enjoyed it but I think Hayden enjoyed it the most!  Gracie really liked it but it was kind of in the middle of her nap time, so she fell asleep during the show, while sitting in Mimi's lap.  It was a very good show, especially for kids.  It is the first show that Hayden really watched the whole time, usually after about 45 minutes, she starts to get a little restless.  The girls also loved all the cotton candy and snow cones from Aunt Kim and Mimi and Pop.  Apparently Gracie is a huge and I do mean huge fan of cotton candy! Hayden really liked the elephants and I must say they were pretty neat, but they are some ugly animals!  Hayden has already asked Mimi if we can go again next year!  After the Circus was over, Hayden used her ability to get anything she wants from Mimi and ended up with a very pretty horse, but she did also get her sister a elephant, but I think it was so she could play with it too!  She is a very smart little girl!  Then we all went back to Kim and Artie's house for a late lunch / dinner.  Artie cooked some fantastic hamburgers and the girls got to play outside with Buddy!  They really wanted to go swimming, you could tell...they kept sitting beside the pool!

Whew!

Well Mark and I had a very good visit with the doctor today.  For those of you that don't know...we have really been through it with our precious little boy.  We have had to have lots of extra test done with a specialist and we have had 3 ultrasounds in the past month but it was all for the best because now we know that he is perfect and that was the exact words from our ultrasound technician today, best words a parent can ever hear.  Our technician also told us that he is a very sweet little boy because he would turn over when she needed him to and he was still when she needed him to be!  He is measuring 26 weeks 3 days which makes his due date May 29th,  but according to our other dates he is 25 weeks 3 days...so since it is only a week difference his due date will remain June 6th.  I guess we will see when he decides his birthday will be!  He also weighed 2lbs 3oz today and was 50th percentile on everything!  Today was such a relief for Mark and myself as we were released from the specialist.  Now hopefully I will pass my gestational diabetes test next week and not have to go back again...I dislike this test very much because I failed it with Hayden and Gracie and had to take the 3 hour test both times, so wish me luck!

I was able to scan some pictures with my new printer, my wonderful husband gave me for Christmas.

This is Colton's profile...looks like we might have another little thumb sucker...all I can say is it must be very soothing!  Just look at that perfect, sweet face!

This is his precious face...look to the left and you will see his eyelid and then his little nose! 

All I can say is Whew and God is so Good!  I also want to say that I love my husband very much and we have really supported each other through all of this.  Mark is my best friend, supporter, and soul mate!  I love you Honey!

TBall

Last night was Hayden's first TBall practice.  She really liked it, in fact she liked it so much that she didn't want to leave when it was over.  I guess that is a good sign! Right!  She looked adorable in her outfit, and I have to tell everyone that her Daddy picked all of it out, well except the shoes!  He has also been working with her in the yard to make her the best player ever, he is really excited about her playing TBall!  On the TBall teams there are boys and girls, they don't have outs, and they don't keep score...but guess who will be keeping score, yeah Mommy!!!  There are three coaches and she seemed to really like all of them.  I also have to brag a little, I know that is so not like me....but Hayden hit the ball better than anyone else.   I think it is going to be an exciting season for all of us!

Here she is:

Spring Fever

We have had an exciting day today!  It started out with the girls helping themselves to chocolate icing out of the pantry and long story short...Gracie ended up painting their brand new bedspread!  Needless to say Mommy wasn't impressed.  Thank goodness it came out with my Tide spray.  Then they were playing on the porch and the next thing I knew...Gracie had a piece of charcoal and had it all over her arms and hands, so that meant that she got to have a shower at 2:30 today and since she was getting in, Hayden wanted to get in too.  Good news is that they don't have to have a shower tonight.  After I bathed them, Gracie decided she wanted some bubbles, so she poured all of her shampoo out!  Are you seeing a pattern to my day?   I know that by now you are thinking Wow that Gracie is a mess and yes she is silly, but her older sister also has to take credit where credit is due.  You see...Gracie couldn't reach or open the chocolate icing, which meant that she had help, but then when Hayden realized they were going to be in trouble...it was all Gracie's fault!  She also helped Gracie open the shampoo that she wasn't supposed to have and if I had to guess she probably helped pour it out, but once again when they got in trouble...Hayden didn't know anything about it, even though she was sitting right beside Gracie!   After all of this excitement, we took off to the grocery store.  I bet you are thinking what a brave Mommy after that morning, but they were very good, except they kept wanting surprises.  I just asked them why they thought they should have a surprise and they responded with "Sorry Mommy". I did end up buying a puzzle but kind of for selfish reasons too, I enjoy putting them together with Hayden at night!  Gracie doesn't help much but she tries!  Anyways...since it was such a beautiful, warm, and sunny day...I decided to dress the girls in one of their new outfits I bought them.  They were so cute, I had to take some pictures!!!  Oh and they were so excited that I let them wear their new flip flops today!  I wish the weather would stay like it was today. 

Look how sweet and innocent they are:

My Little Angels:

Bike

Hayden loves her new bike, I think that she was always too big for her other bike and that is why she didn't enjoy it.  She can ride this one so good, you should see how fast she goes and turns...she has even had her first crash and hurt knee, but she got right up and went again, well that is after she got kisses from Mommy! We went to Mema and Pop's house the other day and it was perfect day for a ride.  They live in a quiet neighborhood, and it was good for Mommy to get a little excercise walking!!! 

Happy Valentine's Day

We went shopping on Saturday and got Colton some clothes and the next step is to order the bedding.  I have pretty much gotten his room cleaned out except for all those pretty little dresses hanging in the closet...by the way Katelyn, I will be sending a lot your way and you can pick the ones you like!   Of course I also bought Hayden and Gracie some Summer things and flip flops, which they are very excited about.  Mark surprised me by buying me some really expensive sunglasses for Valentine's Day.  I love them and he knew I would never spend the money on myself.   I tried to think of something really special for him but only came up with a card and some peanut butter candy!  The girls got a Hello Kitty, chocolate and some other candy.  They also got Valentine's in the mail from Aunt Linda, Mimi and Pop, and Kim and Artie....they love it when they get mail!   Then while I was getting the girls ready for bed, Mark surprised all of us....he had stopped on his way home and gotten all of us one rose, card and candy!  I was totally surprised, especially since the sunglasses were supposed to be my Valentine present.  It was so sweet, he had mine laying in my chair and the girls spread out on the couch!  His cards were perfect, he is pretty good at picking out good cards.  We are so lucky to have each other and we have the perfect family and marriage. 

Baby Colton's Room

This is the bedding that I have picked out for our baby boy!!!!  I am so excited but I need lots of containers to start packing up old stuff(toys that no one plays with anymore) to bring in his new stuff! 

http://www.babybeddingtown.com/

A Special Lunch Date

Today Mark and I had lunch with Hayden at school in the cafeteria.  She was so excited especially when her Daddy got to come too!  We cheated a little bit and took Zaxby's with us instead of eating the cafeteria food.  Although GWA does have a great selection of food that looks really yummy or at least a whole lot better than what I used to have to eat at school.  It is just the little things that makes a little girl very happy!   She tickles me because she is so proud of the fact that she is 5, it is a big number!  We took Gracie to Nana's house so that it would just be about Hayden, but as soon as we were done eating Hayden was ready to go to Nana's house and play too!   I have a feeling I will be eating lunch at school with Hayden a lot more!

Oh and some other big news is that Gracie went potty this morning all by herself.   Totally surprised all of us!   I am hoping that maybe this is a start of good thing, although I am still not going to push her because I truly believe that when she is ready she will do it!  I did buy her a surprise today though to try to encourage it!!!!

We also have a name for our baby boy and it is Colton Shepherd Stancil!  Shepherd is my Mama's maiden name....so basically he will be named after my Pop!  My Pop is a big part of my life and he has been diagnosed with a disease called Progressive Super Nuclear Palsy which means all sorts of things that I don't really understand.  In the last month he has lost total control of his legs..so he can't walk, he has lost most of his speech, which makes it really hard to understand him and his eye sight is getting very bad.  He was falling out of the bed at home and ended up getting an infection in his arm which resulted in a week stay at the hospital.  After the hospital visit his Doctor decided that he needed to go into a Nursing Home for Occupational Therapy to try to get his upper body stronger.  He is currently at the Nursing Home in Conyers for 100 days and he is doing good with all his therapy and then I guess they will go from there.  It is very sad to see the strong man in my life, the man that would do anything in the world for me, so helpless and sad but I know that the Nursing Home is taking very good care of him and they are all extremely nice.  My heart aches for my Mema, she is very sad too, they have been married for 59 years and never been apart, I keep reassuring her that everything is going to be okay!  I love them both so much and this is just a huge change in all of our lives. 

Hayden's Birthday at GWA

This morning Gracie and I took cupcakes to GWA for Hayden's birthday.  She was excited about Gracie coming to her school today!  It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  Mrs. Sherre and Mrs. Kim had Hayden stand in a chair and put a crown on her head and then all the boys and girls sang Happy Birthday to her!  Then the boys and girls thanked me for having Hayden, now tell me that isn't the sweetest thing ever!  Then Hayden got to lead the class in the blessing before they could eat their cupcakes.  Gracie did not wait for the blessing to eat her cupcakes but she doesn't know any better yet.   Hayden was so shy, I could barely hear anything she said.  Mrs. Sherre said that apparently I make the best cupcakes around because the kids ate every single one of them...I made the mini cupcakes because they usually only eat the icing and throw away the whole cupcake but not today they ate everything and each kid ate 2 cupcakes!  Gracie really enjoyed her two cupcakes!!!  Hayden is so excited that she is 5 years old now.  She can be a lunch friend at school, which means she can stay all day...but I am not going to let her stay everyday because starting next year she has to stay all day no matter what.  I want to enjoy her the rest of the year myself after all after this year she really is a big girl!   Funny thing is that today when Gracie and I came back to pick her up she decided she was going to stay for lunch with Mrs. Sherre, so I ended up having to go in and get her,...she was a little confused she thought that if you were 5 you had to stay with Mrs. Sherre...got to love the innocence of a 5 year old.   I told her that tomorrow I will take Gracie to play with Nana and I will come to eat lunch with her and her class at 12, she is very excited!

Cupcakes...Valentine Cupcakes are even better:

Hayden passing out the napkins to everyone:

Mrs. Sherre announcing that Hayden is 5 years old now:

Everyone is singing Happy Birthday:

My two little angels:

Happy 5th Birthday Hayden

Wow, I can't believe that my baby is 5 years old today!   It seems like just yesterday I was holding my sweet little 6lb 9oz tiny baby in my arms for the first time!  I know I say this all the time but my how time flies by.  She actually started opening presents Friday night, only because I couldn't wait any longer!  All she asked for was a Minnie Mouse nightgown, Cinderella nightgown and Minnie Mouse panties...so I bought all of the above.  She loves nightgowns and Gracie had gotten some Minnie Mouse panties so she thought she needed some too!  Then we went out for the big present....a NEW PRINCESS BICYCLE!!!!  She absolutely loved it, I will never forget the look on her face when Mark brought it in...can we say PRICELESS!   She rode it all over the house Friday night! 

Saturday was the official birthday party!  She decided she wanted to have it at Rockdale Gymnastics this year and invite all of classmates!  Hayden loved it, she was smiling the whole time!  There was pizza, cake, ice cream and presents.  She got lots of great gifts, she hasn't even played with all of them yet.  I have to say I was very pleased with her party!

Minnie Mouse Nightgown:

Princess Bike:

She is good at this new bike, she can go really, really fast:

Hayden and Kierstin:

Ready to Party with Hello Kitty:

Isn't this the most adorable cake ever?

Having Fun...Hayden was flying instead of sliding:

Mommy, Hayden and Kierstin...Mommy doesn't look so good...

Mark Brantley tried out the slide too:

Hayden giving Kierstin a push up:

Zip Line:

Going really fast on the zip line:

Waiting patiently:

Now those are the two prettiest little girls in the world:

Not a great picture, but you can she how happy she was...

Zip line again...

Gracie tried it too, but she wasn't too sure about it...

Nana sneaking some birthday kisses from the birthday girl...

Pizza...

Still doesn't like to be the center of attention...

Happy Birthday Hayden...

Presents:

And here they are the finished Pink Monkey Bars...

GO Hayden!

Great Job Hayden and Daddy...These pink monkey bars look amazing!!!

Dear Hayden,

Happy Birthday Angel, We love you more than you will ever know!   I know you like all the gifts we gave you, but you will never forget your pink monkey bars that you built with Daddy and I don't think he will either.  Hope you enjoy your 5th Birthday Baby Girl!!!

We Love You,

Mommy, Daddy and Gracie