Oh what a beautiful morning....

The weather was fabulous yesterday, as it is today. We bounded out of bed, ready for a day at the park with friends. As I wrangled my three year old into her outfit for the day, trying on two pair of shoes before realizing that she had out grown them, hence the reluctance at my cramming her foot into them, I realized that we were two minutes away from our arranged meeting time at the park and we weren't even in the car yet. Then I remembered that the lone pair of sneakers that still fit her (aptly dubbed "my fast running tennis shoes" by my dear toddler) were left behind at my mother-in-laws house after our last visit. So I grabbed our lunches, which I had previously packed on the fly, and whisked my kiddos out the door. As I strongly encouraged my toddler to hurry and I loaded the baby, something orange and fluffly caught my eye at the end of the driveway. I got "Oh, no..." out before I could stop myself, as I realized what it was. You see, we have 3 or 4 ferrell cats that wander around our neighborhood catching small prey and vermin. At least two of them have taken up partial residence in our backyard, due to the rampant chipmunk population I would surmise. Well, this orange furball at the end of our driveway was one of them. As Rylie repeatedly said "Oh, no, what? Mommy?" I strapped her in her carseat and said "Oh, nothing!" as nonchalantly as possible, shoving barbies that were stockpiled in the floorboard in her lap as a distraction. I cautiously approached the kitty, who appeared to be sunbathing as I tried to convince myself, knowing the worst was really the truth. I sheepishly called out "Kitty!" as if it would miracoulously perk up and run away. Alas, it appeared to have recently met its demise on our busy road, so I promptly called my husband and backed out of the driveway, careful to avoid our friend who had passed on. (Hey, don't judge me! How was I to get the cat in the trash without the curious stares of my 3 year old?) I quickly drove the 2 blocks to my in-laws house and grabbed the tennis shoes en route to the park, placing a call to my friend who by now had been waiting oh so patienly at the park for us to arrive. We arrived at the park and I sat down to enjoy a sip of my ice cold water I had filled my rubbermaid water bottle with. With saddened thoughts of the cat on my mind I somehow slammed the end of the water bottle into my lip, tus busting my lip in the process. Really?! I went to the rear view mirror to check it out and sure enough, blood was covering my upper teeth and for a moment, I thought I had chipped my front eye tooth as well! Upon further inspection, this was fortunately not the case. In the meantime one of the boys in our playgroup had run to the top of the hill and all you could see was his siloutte, releaving himself on the backside of the bathroom building! Soon after, my 5 month old blew his diaper up his back, requiring a full strip down and mini-bath on the grass at the playground! I regrouped and gathered up my troops because we were all in the beggining stages of our children having melt-downs. We loaded up and I thought, I will just swing by Wally-world and print out some pictures of Cohen for his scrapbook, now that I am officially 3 1/2 months behind on that project! I got the kids out of the car, making the snap decision to put my 3 year old into the car sans-shoes, because she had removed them en route and I was tired myself by this point. I told her she couldn't get down and off we went. In the oh-so-inconvenient floorplan of Walmart, the photo center is located in the rear of the store, so I hoofed it back there only to discover that the instant photo kiosk was broken down and wouldn't be up until the next day! Gotta love Walmart! About halfway back throught the store my dear toddler began to chant that she needed to potty, with some urgency I might add. As you will recall, she has no shoes (uggghhh!) so I disregarded the no unpaid merchandise sign at the restroom door and took my kids, cart and all, into the ladies restroom. (I dared someone to challenge me after the morning I had had:) I hoisted Rylie onto my shoes (we are not about to Britney Spears it barefoot in the public restroom) and precariously dangled her over the toilet so she could go. After situating her back into the cart, I realized that she could not reach the sink to wash her hands (really, really tired at this point) I ran by the service desk and grabbed the hand santitizer to ward off whatever strains of germ she had aquired in the stall in question. On the way home there was a thump-thump-thumping coming from one of my front tires. I kept driving, thinking to myself if I ignore it it might go away. When my dear hunbby got home I had him inspect the car and he found a huge screw and bolt wedged in the tire and he fixed it for me:) Oh, what a beautiful morning!

Getting Bigger...

Cohen is growing like a weed...he is 5 months old and weighs 17+ lbs. He is eating rice cereal and rolling over now. He loves toys and loves his big sister! His eyes light up when he sees her and he can't stop watching her:) Rylie is the sweetest little girl...she will be 4 soon! I can't believe it! We were reading a bible story about the widow who fed Elija and God blessed her, so Rylie wanted to do something for our neighbor (who I had explained was a widow). She picked out a birdhouse when we were at a neighborhood church's rummage sale and said she wanted to paint it for her. She is very thoughtful...it was all her idea! So we went home and she painted the birdhouse and made her a card and we took it next door. I am so proud of her! Thank you God for the blessing of my children and showing your love through them:)

Owl always love you

I have been redecorating Rylie's room, so I made her an owl to match her bedding. Here she is holding her...she named her owl Pearl.

We went camping this weekend and it was a fun and relaxing time. Mom and Haleigh came to visit and bring cake. It is bad when you have so many candles you have to light them with a blow torch!

Who can resist these chubby legs?

4 months old! He rolled over the day he turned 4 months old and he slept 7 hrs that night! Whoo-hoo! Thank you, God, for our sweet baby boy:)

Here is my sweet girl...she is getting so big and can ride that bike like a pro now! She suprised me with a birthday card that she had written her name in perfectly! She has been practicing so hard:) Stewart got me a Cricut machine...let the projects begin! I am so excited:)

Rylie and Cohen

One of Rylie's favorite pasttimes, and probably one of Cohen's least favorite....

Rylie Kate

This was first thing in the morning...they both still have sleepy eyes! Oh, and yes, they were both in our bed!

Rylie dresses herself these days...note the creative use of multiple patterns in one ensemble. She also has on a navy blue and green patterned shirt under the orange one. Never dull, that is her motto!

Cowboy and Cowgirl day at preschool! She was so excited:)

A big belly laugh because he got to sit up in his crib! He was big stuff!

My sweet niece Breanna is growing up too fast! She is the oldest of my sister's girls and I had a photo shoot with her...so pretty!

Grandmom and her grandkids!

Breanna, Cohen, Haleigh and Rylie

Breanna

Fun times

Rylie's best bud Kaylen got to come home from preschool with her yesterday. They had sooo much fun and were so excited about it. They even wore their matching outfits that Dawn and I bought them, complete with matching pigtails!

Sweet girls!

Rylie and I had craft day this week and made critters out of egg cartons. (Salmonella free!) Pictured from left to right: a turtle, a "callerpitter", Rylie, a patch of carrots with a bunny peeking out, and a ladybug. The shoebox is Rylie's own creation...she painted it and glued shells inside and added lots of glitter and told me it was for a wedding!

This is a table I scored at a garage sale for $2.00 and I revamped it. It was solid black, so I painted and decoupaged it for a kids table. (See my other blog for more pics:)

Can you spot the real baby? Yes, that is Cohen on the far right. Rylie thought he could use some company in his crib, so she added a few babies of her own:)

Mamie and Cohen! Mamie, Papaw and Grandma Fox came to visit and have lunch after church last Sunday...Cohen had fun playing with Mamie!

All dressed up in his hat and tie!

Rylie is my helper! She is such a sweetie and loves to help clean, do laundry, wash dishes, sweep, cook....ahhh, if only it would last! She was washing windows in her jammies here!

Tummy time! He hates it! I only got a few pics before the fussing began! He is such a good natured little thing...I feel bad making him do it!

Sweetest boy ever! His eyes are starting to look a bit hazel, like mine! We went to his 3 month checkup a week ago and he weighed 15lb 7 oz and was in the 97% for height and 86% for weight! This week we had to go back because he has a cough and he weighed 16 lbs! Chunky Monkey! I love to squeeze him! He has to take an antibiotic now, so keep him in your prayers, please. It is hard to administer oral antibiotics to a 3 month old....he keeps spitting it out!

New Blog

HI! Everyone! I have a second blog now, one dedicated to crafts, deals and recipes pretty much! Check it out : www.carrotstewcarrotstew.blogspot.com

Rylie's first day of preschool and other goings-on....

August...the hottest month of the year and yet I can't deny my toddle the pleasure of washing our car...(I practically begged her to just let us take it through the car wash, but she would hear nothing of the sort!). So, we got out there and washed my jeep and when daddy got home from work, Rylie decided his truck was dirty too. I thought it was too cute, the way she stretched so far to get as high as she could! The bottom 3 1/2 feet of his truck look great:)

We went grocery shopping today.....$130 of groceries for $67! Woo-hoo! We also had a fun playdate with 3 of Rylie's friends. Yesterday was a milestone in the Fox household...Rylie started preschool! She is going 2 days a week and she is sooo excited! So without further ado, here are some pics of her first day!

We got up and had a special breakfast of blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon. (Ariel dined with Rylie, as pictured).

After donning her new first day of school outfit and accessories, she posed for a few pics. We had her backpack and a matching lunchbox with her name, but then she decided she had rather carry her princess lunchbox instead.

A classic shot....my mom has one just like this of me on my first and last day of school. She has the same of my sister, and my sister has taken this picture of her girls on their first day. It is tradition...

This is the craft she made her first day...they had a beach theme and they made a mini-beach scene! She was so proud. I found it in the refrigerator today...not sure why it was there?!

I have several projects that are ongoing. This is the first to reach completion. Pantry makeover!

BEFORE:

AFTER...

Hopefully, more projects to follow!

Rylie, doing one of my workout videos with her "weights"

too cute not to post...a smile for the ladies!

She loves her brother!

My babies:)

love the look on Cohen's face....

my fave!

Cohen's first smile and other pics...

" Sloppy Joe, Sloppy Sloppy Joes"....the Lunchroom Lady-land song floods my head as I strive to make creative lunches for my toddler...this is an idea I got from a mail-out I received recently. Banana + peanut butter + whole grain hotdog bun = smiles all around. This was a fun lunch...thought I would pass it on to my fellow mommies.

The men in my life.....They were so cute, lying there tandem on the sofa watching the tube. Love them! They both had on their little striped polos, too.

Is there anything sweeter than SLEEPING children! So peaceful....my babies after a hard day of play. The only thing wrong with this picture...they are in our bed! There were 4 in the bed and the little one said, roll over! Thank you Lord, for our King sized bed:)

My chunky monkey at 2 months. Sweet baby!

This boy absolutely LOVES his mobile. We can lay him in the crib and turn it on and he immediately smiles. When it stops, he will fuss a bit until we wind it up again. It has cute little animals, including a fox of course!

Cohen has started to smile and coo....so cute! He is 2 months old now and weighs 14 lbs! He is a healthy little thing:)

This picture says it all...Rylie would be content squeezing her little brother all day long. I have to limit the "squeeze" time each day. She likes to say, "Mommy, can I pet him?" I suppose he is a bit like a little pet to her. She adores him!

Rylie and Stewart displaying their hands after working on the truck in the garage. We love "Goop" at our house....great for getting grease off hands both large and small! Just last night I saw a commercial for Arm and Hammer detergent with OxiClean and I yelled out "THAT STUFF IS GREAT!" Stewart looked at me in astonishment and commented on how old we were getting when I got really excited over detergent! HAHA! I could be their spokesperson, what with all the grease and baby poop that stuff has cleaned lately!

4 generations of Foxes....love those pics!

Cohen James relaxing on the sofa at 1 month....such a sweetie. Yesterday he pooped on me and this morning he peed on my pillowcase while I was changing him on the bed. Surprise attacks from my wee boy...gotta be on your toes with this one.