6

Olivia turned 6 last week.
She had a wonderful birthday if I do say so myself. She had a birthday shirt and birthday cookies in her lunch box. Cupcakes were delivered to her class and I surprised her by leaving work early and visiting her at school. She was so surprised. We walked to the book fair where she got to pick out some books. I checked her out early and that night we all went to La Hacienda for her birthday dinner. They sang to her and gave her a sombrero(which is always added to the tab). She then got some birthday gifts when we got home.
And today was her actual birthday party. She had a ton of wonderful friends come to Party Central for a bouncy house party. She was so happy to see everyone and loved her gifts. One of her favorite things are the birthday cards. She stacks them all up and keeps them in her room to look at from time to time. Leading up to her birthday she would often say," you guys can get me a card for my birthday when I'm not around."
I love that little mess.
I've been telling her for months that its against the law for 6 year olds to be held and that the police will get me if they catch me carrying her. Alex picked her up on her birthday and she gasped. She quickly reminded him that its against the law and he told her the law doesn't apply to daddys.
She's a blessed little girl and we are so thankful God has allowed us to raise her.

breakfast

Breakfast takes me back.
My Pepaw would fold butter and jelly together to put on biscuits rather than putting them on one at a time. He also mixed a hunk of butter in with his chocolate gravy.
My brother and I spent some summers at my Aunt Susan's house too. I remember her scrambling eggs in a bowl and popping them in the microwave to cook.
Lots of memories of grown ups sitting around with coffee cups and waking up to the smell of bacon and sausage.
At Granny's house, the idea of peanut butter on pancakes was introduced and I do that still today.
And now,as an adult, my parents are known for big breakfasts when all of the family is together at their house.
My mind went back to each of these places as I was growing up while cooking breakfast for my family this morning.
I hope my girls share fond memories of Saturday morning breakfast around the table when they are grown. Maybe they will even recall Miss Daisy snatching biscuit crumbs from the floor while they ate.

livin for the weekends

Friday is probably my favorite day of the week.
The chaos starts to slow down and it's the fresh beginning of two entire days without office work.
We typically have a RedBox movie night with TV trays or play games. Occasionally we get wild and crazy and one of us goes out while the other stays with the kids.
Last weekend was nice and relaxed. A good friend of mine had a surprise house warning shower for her new apartment. I took Makayla with me and we had the best time. She played with my coworkers kids and I enjoyed checking out her amazing home that was full of made over furniture and bright colors.
Saturday we hung out at home doing the typical weekend chores and playing with Daisy. Abi and I ran to Sherwin Williams to pick out paint for her vanity redo. We had Orange Leaf and enjoyed it just being the two of us.
We also enjoyed the many sleeping arrangements of Daisy. She naps throughout the day. We are in awe of how quickly she is growing.
You will get to see some of the vanity redo once we get closer to completing it. It's been a pretty fun project.
Hang in there- Friday is almost here. :)

life with O

Olivia is such a spunky kid.
Alex reminds me frequently that this spunk, as I like to call it, comes from me.

Just a few examples:
The day that we got Daisy. We were on our long drive home and decided to pick her name as a family. Everyone gave a name and we narrowed it down to 2. We then voted and picked Daisy. Olivia had mentioned from the back of the car that she liked the name Baxter. We explained that Baxter sounded like a boy name and we had all voted on Daisy.
Several times on the way home we heard Olivia whispering to Daisy, " Hi Baxter." As if she was trying to brain wash her to respond to Baxter. Such a mess!

She is often running up to us repeatedly to tell us something very important. One night recently, she had numerous important things to tell me. After the last important thing- she skipped down the hallway and said "oh! By the way, I love you."

The latest thing is the relationship that she has with Daisy. Daisy is really into playing. Olivia gets tickled when Daisy chews her clothes, feet, hair, etc. So Daisy proceeds to growl and chew on her.
Olivia's new thing is to tell Daisy,"no ma'm" It is too funny.

daisy

The name Daisy has several important meanings to us.
The Church where I attended growing up is in Daisy. Daisies were also our wedding flowers.

We have a new Daisy in our lives.
She is in the form of a precious little pup. We are smitten with her.

She's been a very good girl so far and we hope she's one that we have around for at least another 20 years.
Makayla has always been a huge animal lover and we are happy to be able to have a sweet pet for her to grow up with.

normal day

It feels SO good to get everyone back to the usual. The kids are home. They went back to school today and both Alex and I were back to work.
We are all ready for bed at a decent time after an exhausting day of normal.
Alex and I rotate schedules and today was my day to go in early and get off early to pick the kids up. He gets them ready for school and drops them off. He then has work and night class on Mondays and Wednesdays.
I picked the girls up and came home to start supper, chores, and homework.
I was making home made meatballs, spaghetti, broccoli cheese, and Sister Schubert while tackling math with Makayla, keeping Olivia occupied, and making sure Abi was still cruising through her work.

Every once in a while, Abi and Olivia are kid to each other. I had to catch it so I could have proof.

Our nights are busy but I wouldn't trade them for a thing!

Olivia lost her first front tooth last night. It was one of the 4-5 that she knocked out (and popped back in) during the summer. So I was a little freaked out to help her pull it because her whole rack of teeth move when you wiggle one. Blah. And Alex is completely grossed out by pulling teeth.
Our time alone was nice last week but I think I enjoy the busyness of life sometimes.

Have a great week back to reality!!

ice ice ....and a baby

As most of you experienced, the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures set in on Christmas day while we were visiting our family in Newhope. We ended up staying an extra night due to the weather. We typically come home on Christmas day in the afternoon in order to have Christmas at our house. We stayed until Wednesday and then made the journey back home. It took us a little while to get home once we hit the Hot Springs area because the bypass was in bad shape.
Trees were everywhere and traffic was slow going.

We were glad to get home.

But I wasn't sure why after the second night with no electricity

It was freezing at night and Alex spent each night getting up to keep the fire going.

We had entertained the idea of taking our annual Christmas trip to Branson for several weeks and just never figured out a good time to go. I started asking Alex about going again since we had no power at home. He went back and forth on whether we should go or not because snow and more freezing temps were in the forecast for the Branson area. Around noon on Friday Alex called me and said that if I would get everything together for us to leave soon, we could go to Branson for a couple of nights.

I grabbed some (still dirty due to no washer/dryer) luggage and we headed to Branson.

We all had a warm Mexican meal, took warm showers, and washed all of our clothes once we arrived.

We spent the next couple of days shopping, eating, and checking out a couple of places that the kids loved. We took them to the Titanic for the first time. The girls loved keeping track of their characters throughout the museum and finding out if they survived at the end.

 

And, OF COURSE, we could not pass up the Dixie Stampede. It's our family tradition. The girls have a blast every year.

 

Alex got word the first night that we were in Branson that our electricity was back on....figures.

At least I got him to go before that happened or we wouldn't have had our mini-vacation.

The power then went out a couple more times while we were gone but all was lit when we got back home.

It has been SO nice to catch up on cleaning out the refrigerator, washing clothes, and getting settled  back in.

 

I get to face the real world again tomorrow. Back to work.

The girls are out the rest of the week and get to go spend it with their cousins and grandparents.

 

Oh- I can't forget to mention the "baby" part of this post.

Seth and Rachel gave my parents the best gift ever for Christmas this year.

 

I can't wait to meet this little one and I hope I get spoil the little bugger often!

 

Happy New Year!!!

 

It's that time of year

We have been blessed with another Christmas season together. Our family is healthy and happy. We couldn't ask for more.
So many families are hurting for one reason or another right now. Almost every family and church family prayer that I have heard lately has included those that have lost loved ones. We have so much to be thankful for.
Count your blessings and remind yourself of the amazing things that are right before your eyes. I know I plan to do more of that.
Merry Christmas-
The Hill Family