more of my rambling...........;)

I ran 1 mile today and walked a mile and a half. Pretty good for not running for a few years! I have been a little busy having babies! :) It felt so good to run and today was such a gorgeous day to run! 74 degrees and windy with a touch of rain in the air.......aaaahhhhhhh....... I had forgotten how much I love to run and just be alone, just me, the road and God.

I don't know how many miles I am going to be able to get since I am home all day with the kids and I don't have babysitting close by. Charlie usually doesn't get home until late so that's out. Hopefully, Mom will watch them a couple of days a week for an hour so I can run and the other days we will just walk and I will do some walking videos in the house with the girls. :) That's always fun! They love to exercise with Mama! And, I can always get in some running time on Saturdays and Sundays and I am thinking that will be enough for me! I am not in this for the miles. I just want to be healthy for myself and my family. I want to feel better and be the best wife and mother I can be. That's why I run.

I bought Claire's stuff for her Princess party this weekend. Hopefully, I wil get invitations mailed out this weekend. We also have been invited to a valentine's party on Saturday so I got everything for that, too. I am making Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese or buttercream icing (can't decide yet) and placing candy hearts on top. She picked out Princess valentines for the girls and Car valentines for the boys. They got pencils with their Valentines. I thought that was a cute idea.

Tomorrow we are making supper and baking cookies for a family that goes to our church. Miss Tammie's mama is sick so we are going to make her feel better. They don't know yet, it's a surprise! Hopefully, I can get it done. If not tomorrow, I will take it Tuesday. Also, we are going to make a Valentine's garland and work on our letter of the week (A). shape: square number: 1 and nursery rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle, our theme is Cows and our vocabulary word is calf. We are reviewing or that's the plan anyway!! We are working on grasping objects with Drew and he's getting pretty good at it! Oh my goodness, he is growing SO fast!!

Friday night we all curled up in blankets and watched "Facing the Giants". That is such a favorite around here. We could watch it again and again. :)

Charlie heads back to work tomorrow and I am not ready for that at all. Check out the "My Husband Rocks" t-shirts on my sidebar. I am going to order one and wear it with pride. He definitely deserves it. I have such an amazing husband. Oh Lord, you have blessed me more than I EVER deserve and I thank you!!!

Well, I have to go. Just wanted to touch base since I have been gone all week. I probably won't get to blog much this week, either. I have so many things to do and such a busy week planned with the kids and Charlie.

Talk to you soon, though!! Have a blessed week!!

Love,
Julie

Because learning begins at birth...

This is a great book! I have started keeping it on my bedside table and reading a little bit every night. The best part is that it has activities for each one of my children (even Drew)! I get SO excited planning out what we are going to do each day! :)

This week I have started a daily schedule for Claire, Lily & Drew. I took a sheet of bright yellow paper and divided it into 3 sections, used a different color marker for each child and listed the activities I want to do with them each day this week. I will try to scan this and get it posted up later. If I can't, I will just type it out for you!

Anyway, if you have children, this is a great resource and I LOVE it because it gives me the motivation to be actively involved & doing SOMETHING constructive with each of my children each and every day!

Can you tell I love this book?! :)

Thanks, Sis!

Love,

Julie

*my LAST post of the day today, I have to get busy!!! :)

my daughter is a southern belle...

Claire, sitting at the breakfast table with her nightgown on, said, "I'll have sweet tea for breakfast, please". (we fix it with splenda & theirs is decaf). After I gave it to her, she said, "Thank you, hon". :) and after she got through with breakfast she said, "I have to go put on my dress now, mercy me, it's getting late". :)

I HAD to share that! SO cute!! Raising her right, I guess?! :)

happenings...

still cleaning up puke. lily has it SO much worse than claire. poor baby is still throwing up and she is crying a lot. :( she has been asleep for about an hour now so i am checking up on my email and doing laundry and making cookies for charlie's lunch this week. they say that mom's are multitaskers extraordinarre and i believe it! :)

Hey, feeling bad about the economy? check this out!

please continue to send prayers our way!

love,
Julie

funnies...

(And, I wanted to post another picture but I found this one of Claire & Lily and I was just amazed at how much Lily looks like Drew!!! What do you think?) :)

*Wednesday at the insurance office, the lady was singing "twinkle, twinkle, little star" to Lily. Lily said, "Shhh! my sing." and started singing! She is very particular about singing. She thinks SHE is the best singer ever & mama thinks she is right (Claire is too!). :)

*Claire said that Mama is sick and is now putting address labels all over my arm. She says they are band-aids. ;) It's gonna hurt pulling those suckers off!

*Claire put her ponytail holders on her ankles and said, "Mama, my ankles need bracelets, too. They are very musical." (What? does that mean?) :)

*Lily telling me she is "too tired" when she doesn't want to go to sleep! lol. :) Exactly why you need to go to sleep sweet girl!

*Claire saying, "Daddy, I am going to marry you." Charlie said, "Why do you want to marry Daddy, baby?" Claire said, "You are cute (wonder where she heard that one?) and I am cute, so we can get married" Daddy says, "What about Mama?" Claire then said, "Well, she can cook for us". :) Gee thanks!! I get to be the maid!! HOW funny is that?! :)

*Fixing sweet potatoes for supper the other night and Claire said, "Where's the ugly potatoes?" Because if she is being bad, we tell her it is "being ugly " and if she is being good, we tell her she is "being sweet". So cute!

Well, I just thought I would share these! My kids say such cute things all of the time and I just forget to write them down. So, I am recording them here today. :)

Happy Friday!!

Julie

Here comes Santa Claus....

We are off to see Santa (aka..George, my brother-in-law) at the American Legion meet Santa Claus party. They give out candy to the kids and the kids get a picture with Santa. My Dad fixed candy bags for this so I was told we had to go... haha. :)

We will see if Lily will sit in Santa's lap. Since it's her Uncle George she might even though she won't know it. Claire will, I am sure. and Drew will probably just coo and gurgle at him! :)

Hopefully, I will get to post pictures. I am not promising though. You know how my computer situation is! Lol. I have to laugh about it! :)

Love,
Julie