Happy Birthday Sierra!!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!! It's so hard to believe that she is 8 years old already! Sierra had a couple of friends from school stay for a sleepover on Friday. They had so much fun! They swam until dark and then played in the tent until about 10:00 until a spider ran them in the house! They did makeup, watched movies and danced around enough to make my legs sore! I have no idea what time they finally went to sleep. I went to bed at 1am and they were still up! Sierra had a High School Musical cake. For her present she wanted the Hannah Montana DVD and CD. Her friends each got her a new Bratz doll (you can't wrong with that).

On Saturday I took the girls to the Rec to swim. The Rec has a really big slide as part of the outdoor pool. You have to be 53" tall to go down the slide. Sierra is just a touch too short. We found out that they have a 'swim test' and if you pass it they write your name in a book and give you a bracelet each time you come so that you can go down the slide even if you're not tall enough. Of course Sierra wanted to take the test. The test involves jumping into 11' deep water and swimming the length of the olympic size pool and then doing the backstroke the entire way back. I was worried about Sierra being able to go the distance because she's never swam the distance before. However, the problem seemed to be Sierra working up the courage to jump into the deep water. She finally worked up enough courage and she did it!! I was soooo proud of her! She's so happy that she can go down the slide now anytime she wants!

Saturday night we went to the drive in with Shell and the kids and saw Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers. (Both were excellent from what I got to see.) Sierra was so wore out from her sleepover and swimming that she fell asleep 10 minutes into Transformers. Maddie and Brandon seemed to enjoy the drive in, especially Transformers.

On Sunday (Sierra's actual birthday) Mom, Shell, Maddie, and Brandon came over to celebrate with Sierra. We had another cake, this time it was a Tinkerbell cupcake cake. Levi even got his own cupcake. He absolutely loved it of course! Later, Sierra went shopping and out for dinner with her Mamaw (Dave's mom). She got to pick out a new outfit and an awesome pair of boots. Mamaw had the servers at the resturant sing happy birthday to Sierra and she really liked that. I think she had a really nice birthday. I hope so anyway. I know that I tried really hard to make it special and so did everyone else!

Levi is too curious!

Levi is just too curious!! He is the only baby I have ever encountered that is constantly moving. Even when you hold him he is trying to reach for something behind you. His newest thing though is that he loves to crawl under things. Anything, it doesn't matter what it is he will try to crawl under it. He even managed to squeeze himself under one of our dinning room chairs! Of course, he couldn't get out though.

Lunchtime with Levi

While Levi was eating lunch yesterday I thought I would try to get just a little piece of video of him. You know, something cute and simple. A nice little video to show Levi being a big boy eating by himself. I got a little more than I bargained for. However, this video is very typical of my life at this point. It's quite funny. Enjoy!

Get Off My Back!!

I've been receiving some complaints about not posting enough. I'm not going to mention any names (Shell) but the complaints have been coming in. So let me address this issue now - My life is not all fun and games!!!!! Everyday isn't fabulous and picture worthy. I don't know where this idea is coming from. The weather has been a little cooler this week so we've been mostly indoors. And I think we all know what that means - the kids have been fighting alot.

But for those of you (Shell) who feel you're missing out on something fabulous I'll post some random shots from this past week.

This is what happens on rainy days! And it's usually followed by one of these.....................

Then of course we must have one or two of those off the wall shots of Levi (give me a break, he is on my hip afterall)!



However, I did manage to get a few cute pictures today (notice that I'm also posting them today). Sienna got to drive the Barbie Jeep today! Her driving record is horribly damaged already!! Here's some pics of the girls washing the ride!




Here's a little piece of video of the girls' car wash.

Our Trip to West Virgina

The kids and I went to West Virginia to visit Dad and Hilde this past week. We left on Tuesday and came back Saturday. Just let me say, traveling alone with three children is not tons of fun (to say the least)! But honestly, the kids weren't that bad in the van. Sierra was a HUGE help with the little ones. If Levi started to fuss she would entertain him and keep him happy until we stopped. And she was constantly helping Sienna with her drink or snack. It would have been a very difficult journey without her!

The kids had a ton of fun at Dad's. Sierra got to ride the 4-wheeler with Dad. And she loves to stress the fact that she gets to drive. However, Levi is not Papaw's biggest fan!






On Wednesday we went to the New River Gorge Bridge. It's the second highest bridge in the US and the longest steel single arch span in the world. It was really neat to see but way too many steps for me to walk. Papaw and the girls walked down though.







Dad and Hilde took us to the beach on Thursday. You know my kids love the water! Papaw and Sienna built a sandcastle. Like always, I couldn't hardly get Sierra out of the water. She came out for lunch and then again when it was time to leave. Other than that, she was in the water. We saw Tiny and Butch at the campground. And Pam and Brandon were there also. Levi made instant friends with Brandon! But still, he wouldn't have anything to do with Papaw. Levi also made friends with Uncle Butch, but still nothing for Papaw.











After swimming and visiting we stopped for an ice cream. Levi has had ice cream before but he had never had his own cone to hold. Papaw gave him the cone and Levi devoured it. He was soooo happy with his cone!




Levi did finally make nice with Papaw a couple of times. I even managed to get a picture of Levi letting Papaw hold him at Granny Jean's.



We had a wonderful visit! It's always nice to get to see family that you don't see very often. The ride home wasn't too bad. The kids did really well but they get bored. I gave Sierra my camera to mess around with and she made a little video. I'll share a glimpse into my world with you! Notice the background of my van! You can't even see the floor! If that doesn't scream 1 adult with 3 kids I don't know what does!