Happy 31st Birthday John!

Happy Birthday John! All of your girls love you very much!

Allison, Emma, Brooklyn, and Belle

Follow Up

They did great last night! Brooklyn woke up once and I went in to get her pretty quickly. Emma never even flinched when B was crying. I got B back to sleep quickly and they both slept until 7:15. B woke up first, which is unusual, but it was fine. It was an earlier morning than normal, but not to early.

Brooklyn does have a little cold and I think that is what woke her up last night. She is back in her room for a few nights. Once she is better, we will move her back in.

Kate, you asked about the nap situation. Brooklyn will nap in her crib and Emma will have her "quiet time" in the soon to be playroom.

It was fun going in there this morning to both of their little faces. I think it will be even more fun when Brooklyn is old enough to wake up talking with Em. I know the bedtime routine will not always be as smooth as it was last night, but they proved that it is possible for them to be quiet. I don't want them to be too quiet. The fun in sharing a room with your sister is getting to talk on your way to sleep.

Sharing a Room with Sister

John and I knew all along that we wanted to move Emma and Brooklyn into the same room at some point. We like the idea of sisters sharing rooms and we also really want to use B's room as a playroom. I thought we would probably do it when B was closer to 18 months, but the time has come earlier than expected. Emma has really wanted B to be in there, so we thought we would try it while she was willing. We set the pack n' play up in Em's room for the night. We are not committed enough to actually take apart B's crib and move it in and rearrange. Emma was really excited and B didn't know what was going on, but went with it. We put them both to bed about 20 minutes ago and haven't heard a peep since. Surely, this can't be that easy?? We will let you know in the morning!

My Gangster and Princess

Brooklyn is starting to want to dress up more and more. She found John's hat and immediately put it on backwards. As for Emma, this is pretty much how she looks on the days we are at home.

Third Time is a Charm

Today was a great day at our house. Emma went back to the dentist for the 3rd attempt of having her cavity filled.

Let me start with the fact that she did great a year and a half ago getting her teeth cleaned for the first time. I think she thought it was fun. So, when we FIRST went to get her tooth filled she went with no drugs or anything. She wigged as soon as they wanted her to lay down. I don't know how she knew they were doing something beside cleaning her teeth. The SECOND time we took her back with vallum knowing that with a little "relax drug" she would do fine. Wigged again. By wigged, I mean flipped out completely. 3 adults were trying to hold her down and she got up. Major adrenaline. It was one of the worst days of my life. One of those days as a parent that you know you are doing this for the best well being of your child, but it just sucks. I hated every minute of that day. She was so scared the whole time! So, today we went back for our THIRD try with some demerol and something else. She sat right down and never complained about the "piggy nose" ( the gas, which she was totally against the last time). She did so great and was so brave. I have never been so proud of a little person in my life. Her reward, that we brought with us, was a new Belle dress from Beauty and the Beast. She put it on at the dentist office and showed everyone there!

For all of you that prayed for Emma (and me) today, thank you! Your emails, phone calls, text messages, etc......were so sweet!

The After Shot

Well, it is finished! We have new wood floors. It was quite a mess when we got back to town, but it was so worth it. John's parents took the girls this weekend, so were able to get a lot cleaned up and put things back in place. We are still missing our kitchen table. It is out in the garage waiting to be repainted. The rain and cold kept me from working on that this weekend. Here a few pictures.

Quirkiness Abounds

I've been tagged by Josh to list 6 quirky things about myself. Apparently, Josh's list is very orifice-focused. Here's a shot at my quirks.

I must have the toilet paper a specific way: rolling over the top, not dropping below when rolled. It was the only request I made of Allison when we got married. It drives me nuts to use public restrooms for this very reason.

My computer's desktop (work and home) are VERY clean...very few icons are on it. However, my actual desks (work and home) are crazy messy.

I don't like to talk in bathrooms. My current boss is known for holding conversations while in the bathroom, either on the phone or with the other stall-mates. I don't like even having to share the bathroom with others, let alone talk to them. Perhaps this is due to my need for anonymity...in case something embarrassing happens, the others don't know who did it.

I hate meeting new people. For being such an extrovert (read: chatty cathy), I rarely enjoy meeting new people, especially when there's a ton of people to meet. Like a business meeting I just got back from. I forced myself to meet 15 new people, tried to remember their names the rest of the week, and tried not to meet anyone else on purpose.

I'm ALWAYS a backseat driver...even when I'm driving. I don't do well in the passenger, middle, or way back of any vehicle (save buses). I'll even give myself backseat-driver advice/emotions when I'm driving and the only one in the car.

I hold full conversations with myself...out loud. Not only do I ask the questions out loud, I'll answer myself. And I'll make jokes to myself and laugh at them. In fact, I'm the funniest and most brilliant conversationalist I've ever met. And I'm apparently mental.


I'll tag Lafe (who truly defines quirky), Blake, the Kelley's, the Nate/Sarah McGooden, and the Miller's.

For those that know me, I'm sure there are other quirks you've noticed. Feel free to leave them in the comments. Blake, don't be an idiot...I know where you sleep.

Happy Valentine's Day

I LOVE Valentine's day! I don't know why, but I always have. I believe in showing love every day of the year, but there is something great about making things extra special on Vday.

John was out of town this week, so the girls and I went to Little Rock. We got back yesterday to new floors (I will post pictures when we are settled back in and clean!) and lots of dust! After spending a few hours cleaning our kitchen last night, I made blueberry muffins for the girls to eat before school. When Emma woke up, we realized that we really don't have a place to eat, so I told her I would fix her breakfast in bed. I broke out a bed tray that John and I got as a wedding gift and have maybe used twice in 8 years. It might be Emma's new favorite thing. It was really fun serving her breakfast in bed. We shot a couple of pictures before school in their Valentine attire. Take note of the dusty floors in the back. Yes, I spent my Mother's Day Out cleaning like a mad woman. We have a long way to go, but it is livable for now. John got home around 4:30. We enjoyed a family picnic on the our new floor, eating heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's. Then, Emma and I decorated cookies for John and Brooklyn. (and ourselves!) It was a fun Vday!
Oh, and did I mention that my husband rocks? Since he was going to be gone all week, he wrote me Valentine's to open each day. I'm a sucker for those kind of things. I love him!
The girls are going to Mountain Home this weekend with John's parents. John and I get to celebrate Vday and my birthday this weekend with no kiddos. It will be a fun weekend and lots of work to get things back together. I'm looking forward to being just us for a brief time.
Happy Valentine's everyone!

The Before Shot

Our carpet is 10 years old and has lived through 2 families with 3 boys each and for the past 3 years, our family of four and a dog that likes to shed. What I am trying to say is that our carpet is nasty. Stanley Steamer has been here multiple times and it helps for a short time. The carpet in the bedrooms are not to bad, but the living room is just gross.
We are taking the plunge and are having wood floors put in the living room, dining room and hallways this week. I am so excited, BUT the preparation really stinks! For the past few days, we have been slowly moving everything out of the living room and dining room and into the kitchen or other bedrooms. Not to mention, that we are going to have to move out of the house for 3 days. I know it will all be worth it very soon. I am in no way complaining about this. I have begged for wood floors for the past 2 years and I am so thankful that it is actually going to happen.
Here is our living room right now and I will post the after shot whenever I can dig my way back to the computer. I know you will be eagerly awaiting the after shot! Ha!

B Loves Spagettio's

Most of all, Brooklyn loves to try to feed Spaghettio's to herself!

Voting Fun

I always gain more pride for our town of Johnson when it is voting day. I love going to the little city hall and voting with all the locals. It makes me feel like I live in a small country town, even though it is essentially part of the Fayetteville/Springdale area.

The joys of small town voting is speed. I left my house (with 2 children), voted and got back home within 15 minutes. Record time for me going anywhere with my girls.

Within that brief time of voting, Emma made good enough friends with one of the old ladies working that she was able to enjoy a cookie from the workers stash. (and snag one for B as well) As we were walking out the door, I heard a few people say, "Bye Emma!"

As many of you know, she is not a shy girl and has never met a stranger. I love it! She is the total opposite of me at this age and the exact same as John. She IS a Nelson, but apparently looks a lot like me.

A Very Gender-Balanced Day

Today was very gender-balanced for me. Living a life with 4 girls (wife, 2 daughters, and female dog) makes like pretty...um...pink and frilly. The day started off on the manly foot: a trip to National Home Center & Lowe's. I spent the next 3 hours installing new doorknobs on all the doors in our house. Now, that may not sound manly to you, but in MY book, that counts. Big time. You see, I'm the least handy person, possibly ever. Todd and Josh can attest to this information. They're my go-to guys when I need info or help on doing anything remotely manly (except electronics, it's my only saving grace).


After replacing the doorknobs, I grabbed my camera gear (and my two beloved lenses) and went to grab some quick shots of the sunset. I found a nice spot that gave me some great sunset shots along with cow silhouettes, which is always a bonus! A couple of the shots turned out pretty cool. My favorite is this one to the left...cows are cool.


Now, the tipping point.


After dinner and putting Brooklyn to bed, Allison told Emma that we were ALL going to play one of her favorite games: Pretty Pretty Princess. If you're unfamiliar with the board game, it's essentially Trivial Pursuit. But where there aren't tough questions, and instead of winning little colored pie pieces, you win different pieces of jewelry. Travis is quite aware of this game. I am no longer a Pretty Pretty Princess virgin...I even won a game! Here's a pic of me and Emma after the first game (that Allison won). See how manly I look?


But the fun doesn't stop there, folks! After Emma went to bed, Allison told me she had DVR'd something fun. And by fun, she meant "it's girly". We spent the next 2 hours watching "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The best thing about the movie was seeing Sarah Jessica Parker actually being cute. I mean, that girl's face has gone down hill since that movie. It's amazing what makeup can do...she sports a mole larger than De Niro!

So that was my day. Balanced nicely between manliness and girliness.

Snow Day

Emma and I went to play in the snow while B was taking her nap this morning. I realize that I am a bad Mom for not taking B to play too, but she really just doesn't have a good water proof jacket. That was the main reason we waited to go until nap time. The coat Emma wore is a 2T coat that I bought cheap one year before a big snow. It actually fit her pretty well besides the sleeves being to short. Here is our little snowman that we made and Belle enjoying her snow day too.