The Princess is 4- wut wuut?

Yes, my little girl is four years old! sniff sniff. The post is only two weeks late- woopsie. We had a little partay for the girly at our church. All preparations pretty much happened the day of, (compliments of miss mia) EXCEPT for the cake that was lovingly made by my sisters Nat and Boo. Her castle cake takes the cake fo show. Ellie had a wonderful time. We played "princess balance" (holding pink marshmallows on spoons while walking), popping balloon race, and duck duck goose. Oh, and a princess pinata. My children have a personal motto that every birthday party isn't complete without a pinata. She completely cracked us up playing duck duck goose. Here is a little clipski... yes I youtubed!!

What can I say about his girl? She keeps me on my toes with her sassiness, yet melts my heart with her tender side.


Ellie loves to wear curlers in her hair, but they rarely make it through the night. she is what we like to call a thrasher in the night. I love that she requests the curlers. I wore the same sponge curlers when I was young, and I feel bad subjecting her because they are NOT comfortable to sleep on. I can still feel a sore spot on my scalp from waking up the next morning after wearing these and wondering why I traded beauty for a good nights sleep. One of my favorite things about Elvis is her hair!

Miss Imagination. How do I politely ask little Elvis to stop having picnics for so many guests in the morning? I don't think I can. This is actually a very tidy picnic...fruit snacks all in a row. I need to post about a not so cute picnic. This is a birthday post after all so we'll stick with the cuteness!

Ellie is not afraid of anything- except for the dark when it is convenient at night. If you couldn't tell this is a picture of her daddy flinging her in the air towards the ceiling. This is one of many "circus tricks" they like to do together. I always watch these tricks with my eyes half closed secretly hoping the kids never get hurt so I can continue to approve of their escapades. Daddy has a need for roughhousing and boy do the kids oblige.

Last but not least- my absolute favorite thing about Ellie is the mother within her. Most girls(Ellie included) love their dolls and dress them up and pretend to be mommy, but Ellie has not let up even an ounce with her baby sister. Although many moments of the day are spent bargaining with her NOT to touch her sister, it can come in handy from time to time. Ellie darts upstairs to replace a binki when she hears Mia crying over the monitor, she changes her diaper, gets her clothes, spends countless hours talking and singing to her, tries to lift her out of her swing, (yikes) wants everyone she comes in contact with to see her baby, pushes run and stop on her feeding pump, pushes her meds through the tube, does all the bathing with me, and makes sure Mia never has a dull moment. She will be a great mommy if she isn't worn out before Mia isn't a baby anymore.

Here are a few pics from Birthdays past- I think Mees is going to look a lot like Elvis.

Here's to my make up stealing, marathon praying, dress up wearing, song singing, brother bugging, candy smuggling, baby smothering, constant shower taking, bed time negotiating, conversation creating, bum dancing, non flushing, no hot food eating, tummy talking, lover of books and toothpaste little girl. We love you Ellie- you bring so much excitement to our lives!

PRAY PRAY PRAY

Hello blogging friends. One of Mia's heart sisters just recieved a new heart, but it isn't functioning. Please pray for her. She is an amazing sweet baby with an incredible story. I know so many of you prayed for Mia, please say some prayers for sweet Gracie.

http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/

Not so great at multitasking

Yes, it's true. The previous post was a task that was an event in our Valentines "Olympics." I was supposed to write a post about how great my husband is while answering random questions over the phone all while one of our friends was saying, "mom, mom, mom" in my ear. It was a four minute timed challenge, and my time ran out before I was able to type anything good. I am surprised at how poorly I did at this challenge. I have typed up plenty of blogs while talking on the phone, but never under such intense pressure to answer trivia questions. I had to answer questions like, "What is the square root of 16," and "What state name has only one syllable."

Initially I typed up some cheesy post about john boy, but then erased it and replaced it with the fact that he knows the first names of Bel Biv Devoe. ROMANTIC- I know! In my defense, I love this about him. He comes out of the woodwork with songs I have never heard before and sings them all goofy with absolutely no intonation in his voice- it is hilarious! I take that back, he does make it sound like he is asking questions when he "raps." His voice goes up a few notes when he says the very last word in the sentence. Jim, you know the voice! I can't decide if it's his serious voice, or the lyrics that make me laugh. The reason this trait was the topic of my blog was because the night before he was reciting these old school songs. After wowing me with his knowledge of their "first names," I couldn't help but think of how much I love him! Hun- sorry my blog suffered, but if you didn't know before- now you know that I think about how much I love you daily.

My Valentine did not disappoint this year. My sister and her husband were in town, and our good friends joined us for the most hoppin valentines day yet. This is how are night went:

4:00- The games begin! The boys give us homemade game shirts

1st Event- pounding nails, drilling in screws, drilling holes, and sawing a wooden dowel while shooting for the quickest time. John pretty much worked everyone over in this event. He can drill like it's nobodies business.

2nd Event - riding a trick bike around in a circle and from one cup to the other. Boonie and Carl took the cake on this one.

3rd Event was shooting our husbands with paint balls as they ran around the backyard. This was by far my favorite event. It is quite satisfying to fire paint balls at a moving/screaming target- especially when it is your husband!

4th Event- Target practice- John with his paintball skills, won the gold.

5th Event -"kissing" We had to remove a Starburst wrapper with our teeth.

6th Event-hula hoop contest. The hula hoop they bought was really light weight which made it impossible to hula. Boonie with 8 seconds had the highest score.

7th Event- marshmallow toss. John and I pride ourselves on catching food in our mouths- we don't get out much. ;-)

8th Event- was the aforementioned multitasking that I didn't do so hot at. I did answer the questions, but bombed on the blog. Rebeccca took the gold with a cute poem about Chris. This event was more or less making fun of the fact that we (women) claim we can multitask without error. You can see from the blog below I was quite flustered- the blog didn't even make sense.

9th Event- Phone Call. I had to call someone and get them to say the words: cupid, spatula, Wii, flip flops, balcony, and cactus- without telling them what I was doing. Luckily I called my sister Raegan and she said every word in less than two minutes. It pays to have sisters!

10th Event- We played the newly wed game. Chris and Rebecca had the most answers correct. John doesn't know himself as well as I do!! :-D

We ended the evening playing the Wii. Nothing says good times like a little Dr. Mario.

With the exception of Ellie being born, this was our most exciting valentines day!!

Valentines Day Date

So right now- I am answering questions on the phone with my husband. I have to answer questions and type and the same time. This is supposed to be a blog about how great my husband is.

Soooo- The first thing that comes to mind about my man is the fact that he knows the first names of Bel Biv Devoe and can sing all of their songs. He sings with a very monotone voice knows rap songs from before I was born. I love that he is my man!

First Friends

You won't believe this- but I left my house... for social purposes!! Katie and Susie (Heart moms) took a trip over to our (Jesse and I) side of the state and we got to hang out. In her seven months of life Mia has only spent time with other babies as roommates in the ICU- until NOW. Mia's girl friends Maddie and Teagan are the cutest little girls ever. I was over joyed watching her sit on that couch with girls her age. We were only at home for a few minutes before we left, but for that few minutes we had a titch of normalcy. Jesse (Luke's mom), Susie, Katie and I had a wonderful evening together. All of the heart mommies I know... I LOVE!

We all tried really hard to get them to smile- I think Mia was embarrassed about the high waisted jeans she was sporting. Who knew miss Mia was so fashion forward? Even though they are coming back in style, I am not feelin it!

Valentines Challenge

I rarely respond to Tags, My friend (homemaker of the year) posted a challenge on her blog. Luckily I was one of the first to comment and in order to get something wonderful from her I must also take the challenge.

So, in honor of LOVE day I will lovingly make five lovely items to be lovingly given to the first five lovelies that comment on this (yep you guessed it) lovely blog. Ready...... Set....GO!

Why I'm excited about this-

- I would love something other than medicine, feeding therapy, reunion planning to take up some space in my brain.

- So many people have given given given to our family- this is a way to do something for someone else... well, five of you.

- I love holidays- all holidays! Not only is V-day the day to give up love and send notes, but I also had a baby on this day.

- It will be a suprise to everyone what I actually come up with! You may not love it as much as I will love making it for you. It will be homemade and made with MUCHO AMOUR!

- It just sounds fun.

Spread the love and post a challenge on your blog too!!

*if you are one of the lucky winners- and I don't have your info leave me your email :-)

Angel Annabelle

We whipped up a batch of yummy cupcakes for one of Mia's angel heart friends. Annabelle would have been one year last week, and in celebration of her life- many of the heart mommies made cupcakes and sent off balloons in honor of sweet baby Annabelle. Anabelles mother is truly an amazing person. After the death of her daughter, Rebecca started sending "Annabelle Baskets" to other heart babies around the country. Mia and I received one when we were in the hospital and it was just what we needed to make it through that day. She has taken her grief and created a wonderful legacy for her daughter. She is a constant reminder to me of how precious our little ones are, and how we need to cherish our time with them. Happy Birthday sweet girl- we are sending long distance hugs to your mommy, daddy, and big brother. If you want to know more sweet Angel Annabelle click HERE.
I had the sweetest conversation with Ellie about heaven and why babies sometimes need to go back home to Heavenly Father. Annabelle has been all the talk around our house and how she now lives in Heaven. Mortality seen in the eyes of a child is so refreshing.
The kids did a pretty good job decorating the cupcakes. They were both a little preoccupied with thinking of ways that we could get some of the cupcakes up to Annabelle in Heaven. My favorite question that came up was, "Mom, do you think that Annabelle will like this cupcake I made? He followed it up with, "I really want her to feel special." I assured him that she was a very special baby and was loved by so many.
Miss Mees sending off her balloon to baby Annabelle. The kids insisted on sending off the balloons off one at a time which didn't make for a very good photo. Happy Birthday Sweet Angel Annabelle!!

Rebecca, you are amazing thank you for sharing her story with us! If any of you want to send some love to Rebecca you can click on her blog and let her know that you were thinking about her on what would have been her daughters 1st birthday.