The dreaded VW drive. . .

Yesterday I successfully drove Jody's Volkswagen from Garner to our house, it did not die once, we did not get hit, we did not hit anyone and we all survived! I have not been able to successfully drive the VW since he's gotten it, about a year ago. It is a 4 speed, which is not the problem. My parents taught me how to drive on a stick shift and boy am I glad they forced me to (I wasn't at the time)!!! The first automatic I've ever had was our van which we've had l about a year and a half!!! The problem is it doesn't have ABS, power steering and the pedals come from the bottom of the floor instead of the top. I've been practicing driving around the neighborhood. I will add here that my very first car was a 1984 VW Scirocco (a stick as well), a german racing car. . .it was tiny, you couldn't get it into 1st gear ever, and it was just plain old. So you see I have had experience driving complicated cars. . .Jody tells me all the time I should have kept that car, but I traded it in for my lovely Ford Probe when I was 17!!!

Back to the story, we went to Garner to see my brother Josh, since he had shoulder surgery Tuesday. The girls picked out a card, some balloons and a stuffed dog to "cheer him up". We have to drive two cars since we can't fit in one. Time came for Jody to leave for work and I either had to leave with him or I could drive the VW home. After some coaxing Jody convinced to take the VW out for a spin around my parents neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. I felt pretty comfortable so I passed! I didn't have any trouble driving it at all!!! We even stopped at the grocery store on the way home where I was bombarded with questions from people about the bug, telling me how cool it was, asking what year it was, how good of condition it was in for the year, etc. All in all I do believe that I like the VW and it can stay!!! I've added a few pictures of the VW for you to see, these pictures were taken right after we drove it home, it hadn't been washed in a while, it looks much better now. . .

Jody bought this car with the intentions of completely restoring it. So far he's had to do a lot of work to the car to keep it running, and hasn't really been able to do any cosmetic work to it!!! He loves this car. . .

Memorial Day

We got together with some church members for an imprompt-to cookout Monday afternoon for Memorial Day! It was a great last minute invitation to our friends Sean & Amy Holderby's house! The girls had a blast. . .there were a lot of kids, water, squirt guns, large frisbees, big balls, games, etc. Jody and I had fun just relaxing, hanging out and talking! Two families in our church graduated this past week and will be heading away from Stony Hill, we will surely miss them. Davin & Alisia Benavides, their two kids Hudson and Naomi, whom our girls absolutely adore, and Corey & Amy Pass. I'm gonna steal some pictures from others' blogs since I didn't have my camera, so don't give me credit for them!!!

Chewey

Ok, so doesn't it always seem like I'm having issues with my camera? Last week I found Lizzy chewing on the cord that you plug into the camera and into the computer. It is trashed, hooray, another thing destroyed by my precious girls! I've been trying to fix the mangled mess, it will probably be a cord they don't make anymore and I'll spend hours looking for it on CraigsList, buy one and it not be the correct one! I have been writing entries, but without pictures who wants to read them??? I'm going to go ahead and post them since they are backing up (there are quite a few, so you might have to go through the archives). . .my mom has the exact same camera as I do, so hopefully I'll get to her house and borrow her cord soon! Till then use your imagination. . .you know before we had digital cameras!!!

Hartbroken

Our dear friends Matthew & Laura Hart found out yesterday that their precious unborn baby is no longer with us. Laura was 36 weeks pregnant, not much further to go. We grieve with them today and in the days to come, the loss of this child whom we never met, but was loved so much! It is hard knowing what to say during difficult times like these, often as humans we try to explain things that only God knows and can explain! I believe saying "We Love You" and "We're praying for You" is sufficient. We don't know exactly what they are going through, but we can pray for them and surround them in love. I've added a picture of us and the Harts taken a few months ago when we went to visit them.

Best Friends

My best friend Jessica was able to come by tonight and hang out with us before leaving to go back home to Florida! I have know Jessica since 1998, we met through mutual friends. The funniest thing is that our husbands are also great friends, they were best friends before we met! She has 2 girls, Kaitlyn (4) and Audrey (2), around the ages of my girls, so they had fun eating pizza and playing! Jess and I enjoyed just talking! We love the Braswells and wish they lived closer!!!

Ducks

We have noticed lately that Lizzy has become passionate about ducks, the rubber kind. She loves them, the girls have about 10 of various sizes and colors they are usually in the bathtub, but lately Lizzy carries them around all day! Every morning she goes to the bathtub and the bucket we keep the bath toys in and digs every one of them out. She obviously can't count, but she knows how many there are and won't stop until she has them all! She loves those ducks, plays with them, puts them to bed, covers them with blankets, feeds them, etc. She treats them like dolls!!! She likes little things like her. . .so cute!!!

Leaves Obsessed

Our Border Collie, Jake has been obsessed with leaves lately. It all started when Emma was trying to pull leaves off low hanging branches near our fence. Jake saw them and it is over, anytime the wind blows or he notices them , he goes crazy. He jumps up, tries to climb the fence, but when he gets the leaves in his mouth he spits them out! I have no idea what he is trying to accomplish or what he wants to get out of it, but here are a few pictures of him caught in the act. About the only way you can get his attention is to throw his favorite ball and he gets distracted!

PlayDate

Tuesday a good friend Tara and her twins, Natalie and Nathan (1) came over to play! She brought the girls favorite lunch, McDonald's and we had fun playing in the pool! Here are a few pictures we took. A tiny pool with 5 kids. . .At one point I believe they were all crying for some reason or other. I had a bag on Anna's arm to prevent the cast from getting wet and it was also taped shut. She had gotten out, I dried her off, turned around to get the other girls and saw her jumping in the pool, she of course slipped and dunked her cast! The inside was wet the rest of the day, she did let me put a hair dryer near the edge to try to blow air into the soaking wet cast, the next morning she said it was dry inside!!! I'm sure it will smell lovely when they take it off in a couple of weeks!!!

AaaaaaHa!

I found these pictures on my phone's camera, not as good quality as the trusty digital, but good enough! Jody decided to take all three girls fishing a few saturdays ago while I was at home throwing a baby shower for a friend. They had so much fun fishing with their little fishing poles. We had bought Emma & Anna each a pole a few months ago and they had been dying for daddy to take them. Lizzy didn't get a pole, we knew someone would come back with a hook in their leg or pole-whipped. Jody said she enjoyed just watching though! The second one was after they had been fishing and met me at "meet in the street" in Wake Forest. We had fun walking around and looking at all the local stuff to buy! Here's a picture of Lizzy I captured this afternoon. My girls love strawberries and dip or "Bip" as Lizzy says. Here she is scoping out the dip...just before sticking her entire hand in for a taste! I tried to get a good picture of her face but she kept telling me "No Mommy", her new favorite phrase!

Playing at Home. ..

Today we had a visit from some good friends! A surprise phone call this morning and a lunch playdate! It made the day go by a whole lot quicker, our days are very long here at the Livingston House!!! As many of you know our van is out of commission, been that way for about 2 weeks. This means we are borrowing my dad's truck and driving Jody's volkswagen. Since the VW only fits 4 people (including the driver), we have to drive 2 cars everywhere we go. The VW is old and I can't drive it, not for lack of trying though!!! So I'm at home mostly all day, it can get kind of hairy with a boisturous 5 year old, a sassy almost 3 year old and a tempermental 20 month old! We've had fun playing outside, having movie days (shutting the blinds & eating popcorn), playing lots of make believe games, and frequent time-outs! Needless to say when Jody gets home there are 4 smiling faces greeting him at the door!!! All in all we are thankful to use this time to spend more quality time with the girls, one-on-one and with these gas prices, why not save money! Hopefully in the next few days we will be able to figure out something else for a car, but in the meatime. . . no pictures, I can't finy my battery charger for my camera, what else is new, you'd think I'd put it in the same place so I could find it?!?!?!

Mother's Day

Did you know that Mother's Day (the actual holiday) is just 100 years old? What a change it must have been for the moms of 1907 to those of 1908? I think it's a great day to honor moms (not just because I am one), being a mom is a thankless job! I never knew how hard and rewarding it could and would be until a little over 5 years ago when I expereienced it myself! Not all moms have the privilege of staying home to raise their kids and some don't want to. I try to remind myself every day of how blessed I am to have the opportunity to mold and shape our kids into the women they will once become! God's word says for children to obey their parents (we quote this often in our house), but likewise it says parents do not provoke your children! Wow, what a concept! Kids are selfish, always wanting, always demanding, never once thinking of others, it's our job to whip them into shape and show them what the real world is like (in a loving way of course)!!! And our God has His way of whipping us in shape too by being parents!!!

It's tough when my laundry pile is overflowing, my kitchen floor is dirty, dishes are taking over the sink, and then the girls ask me to go out an play??? Since having Lizzy (they gang up on us) all that can wait, my kids aren't going to remember if the laundry is done or the floor was dirty, they will remember their mom playing soccer with them in the backyard even in the midst of a chaotic house!!! It has taken a long time for me to realize this, I tell the girls "everything has a place and it should be it in"!!! My obsessiveness has dwindled with each child I have. . .

I realized yesterday, Mother's Day doesn't mean it's my day off ( I don't get days off :-), it's a day to celebrate and honor moms! I may not have gotten breakfast in bed or lunch and dinner cooked for me, but it was a day we were able to celebrate with my mom, mom-in-law and my grandma!!!

Mother's day can be tough for those who have lost mothers, grandmothers, and sisters. Each one of our girls was named after our grandmothers, Emma Marie has the same middle name as my mom, Anna Virginia was named after my grandma Virginia who passed away suddenly a little over three years ago. And Elizabeth Maye was named after Jody's grandmother who passed away a few years ago. They love to hear the stories of where their names come from!

I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all those Mothers, that includes you too Diana even though G.G. hasn't been born yet! Keep up the good work and we love you!!!

Castolicious!

Anna had her appointment with the orthopedic doctor this morning. They x-rayed her arm, which looked normal, but as you can see from the picture they decided to cast her arm for the next 4 weeks!!! She is so happy-go-lucky that she really didn't care what they did as long as she gave her chocolate and a sticker! She got to pick what color she wanted, her favorite purple. The doctor believes the cause of the nursemaids elbow is a difference in the growth rate between the radius and ulna (2 bones in your forearm). The bones can grow at different rates and during that time it is easier to dislocate the elbow, the tendon is looser because they don't line up properly. Once it happens, its a lot easier for it to happen again and so on. He said they usually cast after it has happened 3-4 times, so since it has happened to Anna more than that (7 times) the doctor decided to put her in a cast hoping to stabilize it for a time. We go back June 3rd to get the cast off which I hear is the best part where they get to use the "tickle machine"! We are so glad this is Anna and not Emma or Lizzy, otherwise you might see me with a black eye!!!

Check-Ups

Emma & Lizzy both had check-ups today. . .Emma (5 year check) had "the works", 4 shots, a blood sample and a urine sample (which we have to do again tomorrow morning)! She was a trooper, even though she is the most dramatic of the group (although she was bribed with the "treasure chest", ice cream and an Emma choice lunch)! She weighed in at 44lb and 5oz and was tall, basically 75% for weight and 50% for height! Lizzy (18 month check) just had 3 shots and acted as though the nothing really happened. . .such her personality. She has been finding new ways and objects to climb on and has numerous bruises, bumps and scrapes on her head, arms and legs from all the falls! She is a toughy. . .she weighed in at 24lb 8oz and was 31in tall, basically 50% for weight, 25% for height and 50% for head circumference. She's short and squatty, but still following the same growth curve! Little Anna didn't need a check-up today, but was content sitting on daddy's lap while her sisters went through the gammet! And bonus got a sticker too!!!

WhatUp?

For some reason my computer hasn't let me into blogger for the past few days and let me update our blog!!! Of course I have a couple of entries to "publish" too! I was also in the process of updating our site since I've had the same template for a few years!!! My instructions were not too girly since "we're all not girls". . .we (Jody, Emma & I agreed on this one)