..::Fancy Nancy 6th Birthday::..

To start off Alexa's birthday celebrations, she got to go on a mommy/daughter date yesterday to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  That was the present she requested from mommy and daddy.  We had such a fun time, me and my big girl!  I actually LOVED the whole experience at Build-A-Bear and loved watching Alexa build her very own bear, whom she named Elizabeth.

 

 

Then, today, was her Fancy Nancy birthday party.  Here she is posing with Elizabeth.
Payton and Barrett wanted to get in on picture-taking too!

 

All ready for the party to start!

The best thing I did for Alexa's party (thanks Gretchen for the idea), was to hire two of our favorite babysitters to help me out during the party.  Maddy and Maggie were HUGE lifesavers and made the party run so smoothly!  They helped me get the girls all fancy...fancy nails, fancy face paint, fancy hats, fancy accessories, fancy lunch.  It was a FANCY party...perfect for these fancy little ladies! 

 Presents!

Once again, Alexa was spoiled by her very generous and giving friends!

We are so thankful for each and every one of them!

After presents, the girls sang Happy Birthday to sweet Alexa and then they each got to make a fancy cupcake of their own!

 

It was such a fun day!

I will definitely be hiring babysitters to help out with future birthday parties! :-)

I cannot believe my baby girl is 6 years old!

Happy Birthday Alexa!

He had me at Hello!

Kentucky Getaway

So for the majority of this year, I've been trying to get a girls' weekend planned.  We initially tried to match it up with Time Out for Women and that wasn't working with every one's schedules, so then we just tried a weekend getaway...well, that ended up being unsuccessful too.

 

A couple weeks ago, I was commenting to Kevin that I was bummed how it had all not worked out and he suggested I just go to Louisville to visit my good friends. And that was that...I booked my ticket the next day!!!

 

I arrived on Friday afternoon and had dinner at Cheesecake that night with my fabulous friends, Waveney and Rachael.  This was our typical girls' night out when I lived there, we'd try and do a Cheesecake night once a month, so it was wonderful to be able to do that again!

 

 

Saturday was a busy, fun-filled day of enjoying the beautiful Fall Kentucky colors, shopping, lunch with wonderful friends (Wave, Rach, Taffney and her mom and sis-in-law), ice cream with another friend (Christa), more shopping, and dinner with yet another fabulous friend (Amanda).

Fewf...tiring but sooooo fun!

 

Sunday, I headed to my old ward for church to see friends that are still there.

Then I stopped by to see my wonderful friend and old neighbor, Becky, before heading to Amanda's place for more visiting with her.

 

Then it was back to Wave's to just chill and hangout before heading home today.

I seriously love this lady...we just go together like peas and carrots, ya know?!!!

Thanks my friend for letting me crash at your house, hangin' out with me and letting me get away from the every day happenings of my life so I could recharge!  Love ya!

And special thanks and shout out to my awesome Mister for encouraging me to go

AND to my friends and babysitters for helping out with my kiddos while I was gone.

Couldn't have done it without y'all!!!

..::Dear Tooth Fairy::..

 

Dear Tooth Fairy,

We now require your occasional presence in our home.

I'm sure we'll be seeing lots of each other over the years.

Alexa, our oldest, has lost her first tooth!

She is beyond excited!!

Please be kind to her each time she loses a tooth

And don't forget when she places her little baby teeth under her pillow!

Maybe keep some dollar bills on hand...

Just in case!

Sincerely,

Kevin & Collette :-)

School Fall Festival

Tonight was Alexa's first school Fall Festival.  Alexa was really excited to go and see her teacher, Miss White.  I wasn't AS excited to go since Kevin is away hunting this weekend with his dad and brothers so it's just me and the kiddos.  Me and 3 kids at an outdoor school event didn't sound super fun to me...but we braved it anyways.  And the kids had so much fun.  There were LOTS of things to do to keep everyone entertained!  I really wanted a picture of Alexa with her teacher, but when we finally found her, Alexa became super shy and wouldn't let me take one.  :(

All in all, it ended up being a fun night...and something to do while daddy is away!

 

 

Halloween 2012...in a nutshell

Halloween is always a fun, busy time of year.  Lots of fun things going on.

Our Halloween celebrations started off with our Ward Trunk or Treat.

This year, we had a butterfly, a witch and a puppy!

Cutest darn lil' puppy I've ever seen!

 

 

 

Then Payton had her Joy School Halloween party.

She was one protected litte witch, surrounded by all her super heroes!!

 

 

Then we painted pumpkins.

Mommy and Daddy weren't feeling up to actually carving pumpkins this year as we've all been sick a lot lately!  So painting it is!!

The girls took it very seriously!

 

They even painted all of our pumpkins, not just their own!

This morning, Alexa decided that being a butterfly at school would be too difficult as the wings would get in the way all day long...so she was a princess instead. 

They even had a fun little picnic for their Halloween party. 

My poor lil' injured Bubba...still as cute as can be, bandaged hand and all! 

So excited to get candy!! 

The now traditional picture in front of the garage right before heading out to go trick or treating! 

 

My and my sad little puppy.

 

Once he figured out that he got candy by knocking on people's doors, he wouldn't let anyone hold him anymore...he just wanted to keep going to each door, all by himself.  And he'd get mad if we passed by a house because it was all dark...he didn't get that no one would be home, he just knew we were passing a house that should be giving him candy!  Funny boy!

 

Happy Halloween everyone!

::..a BIG first..::

Barrett's first trip to the ER.

 

I say "first" because I know it will be the first of many.  This little man is soooo busy and soooo into everything, that I just know throughout the course of his life, we will become well accustomed to the ER!

 

Here's the story:

 

This afternoon, the kiddos wanted to go outside but Alexa was using the little girl's room and needed my help.  Barrett followed me in but when I mentioned outside, he went to follow Payton.  Then I heard him screamed.  Payton had slammed the back sliding door shut.  I opened it to free his hand, scooped him up in my arms while I'm scolding Payton and went to sit down on the ottoman to comfort my hurt little boy.  That's when Alexa asked, "Mom, is that blood?"  To my horror, I look down at his hand and there is blood everywhere.  All over his hand, all over me, all over the floor.

I immediately took him to the sink and grabbed a towel but he wouldn't let me touch his hand.  By this point, I could see that the tip of his pinkie finger was hanging on by a thread.  I always thought I'd be calm and cool during an emergency...but I was scared to death.  I managed to tell Alexa to grab my cell phone and then somehow was able to call my neighbor, Brandon (he's a stay-at-home dad and our kiddos play together).  He wasn't home but said his wife Karla was and he'd send her over.  Then I managed to call Kevin (all while holding a screaming baby and trying to calm down two hysterical little girls).  First miracle/blessing/tender mercy: Kevin answered his phone (he'd just finished up with a patient).  All I said was "Barrett just chopped off his finger" and he said "I'm on my way home". Second miracle/blessing/tender mercy: Kevin was at our new office that afternoon that is only 2 miles from home. He was home within 5 minutes.  Karla had already walked in the door and managed to help calm me down a little and then invited the girls to go back home with her while we took Barrett to the hospital.

 

It took 7 stitches on his tiny little finger to reconnect the tip but they told us it would barely show a scar.
Kevin and I had to literally pin Barrett down during the procedure, together with one of the nurses, as the anesthetic had already worn off.  My poor baby felt each and every stitch and it broke my heart.  But he was such a trooper...when it was all over, we said "Barrett, what do you tell the doctor" and he said "gankoo" (thank you).  It was so sweet.

 

(*side note: this post is written 5 months after the fact and I STILL cringe every time I think about that little finger!)

 

I'm grateful that my little boy is safe and that his finger will heal but I sure don't like ER visits...I hope he'll go easy on me during his growing up years! :-)

Primary Program 2012

Today was Alexa's Primary Program at church.

I always look forward to seeing my little lady up there with all the other kiddos, makes me kinda teary-eyed...she's growing up!

She even had her part completely memorized, and it wasn't a short one either!

Way to go sweet girl!

 

And today, she actually showed some attitude too...not that that's surprising though!

 

Payton and Barrett couldn't be left out of pictures!

Man, I love these little peeps of mine.

So grateful I get to call them my own!