she says...

my southern baby...
cassidy has a little southern accent. writing it phonetically doesn't do it justice, but i'll give a try...

*be'elles - bells
*up-e-side doywn
*be-yd
*re-yd
*tweyelve


*my xander brother
*mom, did you know what (very clear, enunciating each word)
*i love you 2 and half -while showing the sign language "i love you"
*i don't feel good (possible hypochondriac)
*you happy with me? -meaning that there are times i tell her i am not happy with her

and you know when kids say something incorrectly or sing the wrong words to a song you try to correct them? well, some of them are just too cute so i leave it alone. and then i'm always sad when they figure it out and start saying it the right way. for example....
cassidy loves to sing and have sung to her "twinkle twinkle little star". for a many months this is how she would sing it...

twinkle twinkle how i wonner
up above a like a diamond

she says her prayers...she's been praying for a while, but now she is thinking about it and mimicking some of the things she hears us say or xander include in his (which are getting more thought out too!) but since christmas she has been praying for "have a shiney nose". we asked her if she was praying for rudolph and after a while told her she didn't need to keep praying for him or she could call him rudolph. we cracked up laughing those first weeks hearing her prayers, now she annouces to us before she says it that she is going to pray for "have a shiney nose". it is always what she says after beginning her prayer. pretty funny.

(i've been working on this one for a while, if i think of more i may add them in, cause i know there are more cassidy-isms!)

love shabby apple...love martha's vineyard

mama manifesto and shappy apple dresses are hosting a contest that i couldn't pass up...
through another friends blog (thanks jasmine!) and because of a different contest they were having, i found shabby apple dresses and have been dreaming of owning one ever since. i spent several hours, that i could have been sleeping, flipping through the website and page after page of dresses. then finally i lay in bed that night calculating how much money i would have to save each month to from my paycheck, that wouldn't cut into any other bill or fund, and how long it would take to save said money before i could afford to buy a shabby apple dress. i knew that it was totally out of my budget to spend that much money on myself and for one item, but they were OH SO BEAUTIFUL! every sunday i look through my closet hoping something new has materialized overnight, so i don't wear the same thrown together outfit, or ill-fitting dress (that i know would look better if i shed a few...). but, as we all know it doesn't really work that way....
unless you win a shabby apple contest! so here's my entry for the contest.

my favorite dress(es) from shabby apple are the nantucket and the martha's vineyard. i don't know if i'm particularly drawn to these two because i'm from massachusetts and they are "home", but each time i look through the dresses and prioritize which to purchase first i am torn between these two. for the contest i know i have to pick one, so i'm going to go with martha's vineyard (i'm a sucker for brown!).



my husband and i have been married for 8 years, our anniversary is coming up in may. we decided to plan a weekend getaway, which we haven't done since having kids. our choice, savannah, georgia. over the years we've tried to continue to "date", sometimes life allows for a two or three a month and other times we're lucky to get in a one that doesn't include a trip to walmart, but we don't ever get to dress up to go out. and as "un-girly" as i say i am i really want to get dressed up for a date. so what better time than while we are enjoying the beautiful city of savannah? we are both pretty low key, but we plan on enjoying dinner at paula dean's restaurant, lady & sons, followed by a horse drawn carriage ride around the town, a walk on the beach and indulge in one of the ghost tours (although, i don't think the dress would be quite appropriate for that event!) a sophisticated dress and a husband to match : ) ...i would feel like a celebrity on our weekend getaway.

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i'm teaching a class in march about scrapbooking using photo albums. the genius behind this approach is stacy julian, originally with simple scrapbooks magazine and now a big part of big picture scrapbooking. her style and approach to scrapbooking has always inspired me. from the beginning of my scrapbooking i felt it a little ridiculous to worry about being caught up, because even before children i was taking tons of photos. i love taking pictures and had a plethora to work with. once children and digital cameras came along i officially let go of any NEED to get caught up or to even keep up. however, as a scrapbooker i have to do something with all my pictures. leaving them in a box or on the computer is unacceptable...not that i'm perfect at it, but it leaves me unsettled and feeling like i've let something un-done. with stacy julian's approach to scrapbooking using a photo album i'm able to get many pictures off my computer, into a place where they can be looked at and i can still be creative in a little 4x6 area. i've experimented with this before in a large photo album that also held 12x12 page protectors, so i could include a layout of an event followed by photo sleeves that held the other 20+ pictures i would take for one birthday party, and ultimately, i think that will work for me. however, i am loving this idea of using the regular photo albums to hold many pictures together creatively. am i making any sense?
anyway, my goal was to get the pictures of xander & cassidys' births/hospital stays into one album to show off at this class. i'm almost done with xander's part and i just picked up the pictures of cassidy, so i'm picking out the papers to work on hers. i'm going to love it when it is finished, and so are they. the two of them have already started looking through what i've done so far. yeah! pictures out of a box and off the computer and scrapbooked....feel great!

37

we are really enjoying a new family activity...pajama movies. sleeping bags, pillows and blanket are strewn across the living room floor, the couch is pushed back, popcorn is popped and we are cuddled together watching movies. tonight's pick...space chimps (which was surprisingly funny. very funny. i laughed outloud!) it was one of those moments of totally enjoyment and "ahhh".
i love my little family!

36

cassidy exercising with me

35

6:15am is so early for my kids. every morning i feel so guilty waking them and wish i could let them sleep. funny thing is when they do get to sleep in they still manage to wake up by 6:45am! but this was cassidy on a particularly hard morning after trying to wake her, getting her dressed and bringing her downstairs. i almost missed her on the couch among the coats...

34

happy birthday george!
(don't hate me for including this picture!)

33

i cut my hair again. i can't decide i like long hair or short hairstyles better, but while i'm deciding to grow it back out or not i needed to have it trimmed. todd's cousin kayce is a stylist, so when his sister isn't around (miss you courtney!) i have had kayce work on my lovely locks. so i went shorter today. an a-line/bob of sorts. i don't know the technical name for it, but it's short and i'm learning how to style it. but i still have to make the decision - am i short or long?
these pictures were technically taken on the 3rd....

32

they beg for this...tray tables set up in the doorway of the kitchen so they can "picnic" and watch tv.