Bye Bye Nanna

After a week and a half trip, we (the girls and I) took Nanna back to the airport today. Not a problem until we started to close up the doors after we got Mom and her bags out. I think that's the point the girls realized what we were doing....saying goodbye.

Ellery
"Mommy...I think I'm going to cry. Nanny's hurting my feelings 'cuz she's leaving. Nanna's broke my heart." After a few tears, she put her thumb in her mouth and that was that.

Molly
She WAILED for almost the entire 45 minute drive home. As if that didn't get old fast within the confines of the car, it was interspersed with the following thoughts said randomly through the tears:
"Oh, Nanny."
"I didn't get to play with Nanna today."
"I miss Nanna"
"She's at the airport now."
"I was laughing when she was here, but now I'm crying."
"I don't want her to leave."
"I'm not crying because I'm tired, I'm crying because I miss Nanny."
"When will she come back?"
"I always miss her when she leaves, but I don't miss her when she's here."

Halfway into the trip Ellery turned to Molly and yelled, "Molly...stop making so much noise!" (Amen, sister!!!) Mom...you are already missed...by all the Gallagher gals! Sadly, I agree with Molly, but am able to control myself a little better...most of the time! =)

January Pictures

What is in your hair???

I've heard that part of parenthood is retrieving items out of your toddler's body. Apparently, kids like to stuff things in their ears and noses. We've made it almost 6 years incident free...until the other night. No ER runs (surprised?), no tweezers or pliers involved, more so just a "huh?" You did what?

Sweet, sweet, Ellery.

So, we wake up the other morning and the hair on one side of her head is wet. I'm thinking...gosh, I know she went to bed with wet hair, but it's not dry yet? Maybe she just sweated...a lot... last night!?!? Anyway, as I go to brush her hair, I notice that its looking a bit greasy, not wet. So I ask "hon? What is in your hair?" She nonchalantly tells me that her ear was dry and she put some lotion on it. "You did what" I ask, assuming I heard her incorrectly? Nope...I heard right. Dry ear...lotion...you know...the usual. Late, after a good shampoo and a nap, I realize that whatever she put in her ear, is still there. Greasy hair again. Oh well, I think, I probably didn't get it all out with the baby shampoo; next bath, I'll use mine. Next bath comes and goes and when her hair dries and she sleeps...more grease. OK...so what's really in her ear? After talking about it with her again, it turns out that she used a Q-tip and Vaseline. (Yes, we had the Q-tip talk, right after I put them out of reach...but that's another post.) Apparently, she remembers me using Q-tips with the Vaseline. When we were all sick, the kids had such dry lips, that I would put a little on before bed, using a Q-tip so as to not spread germs. Also, you clean ears out with Q-tips, right? So...dry ears, Vaseline, Q-tips. Nuff said.

Oh...and hear hair is still greasy. Vaseline does not come out very easily. Any tips???

Grady is finally starting to talk...a little

Well, talk is a relative term. I can understand him...most of the time...(usually because I have just said the word over and over and over. Although, now that I think about it, he's probably just copying me to get me to be quiet. =) Anyway, bottle, chooch (our word for pacifier), balloon, bye, are some new ones. There seems to be a "B" theme in his limited vocab. We're still doing a bit of sign language and he put "more food" together the other day. What? words that revolve around food? shocker, I know!

How to get money

We lose pacifiers around here like they are disposable. Instead of buying more I'm bribing the girls with a quarter for each paci they find. They are showing up randomly and I'll hear the girls shout, "Mommy...I get a quarter...I found one!" This morning, Molly found one and after her cry of excitement, I told her I'd have to find a quarter for her. She says, "just get one from daddy. He makes money." "Oh really," I replied? "Ya," she says, "he does something for the company and they pay him." I was trying to decide how to respond when she says, "or at least that's what he told me."

Sitting like a lady

We're at dinner tonight and Ellery is bouncing all over the booth, climbing everywhere and hanging off the back, so Joe requested that she sit down. Ellery say, "I'm not wearing a dress dad, so I don't have to sit like a lady!"

Here are my first two pages of 2009...well of 2008 AND 2009 for that matter!

These are the fruits of my hard work. 2 Evenings. Wow...I must get better at this, because at the rate I'm going, I might get Grady's 1st Birthday done before he graduates high school. I'm going to aim for getting 1 page done a week. They all won't be as time consuming as this one was...I hope. At least since these apply to all my kids, I might save myself some time a color copy them. Do you think Grady will mind the pink??? These are are family trees. This is something I had planned on doing when I started Molly's book. My girlfriends in Bellingham laughed when I showed them my outline for Molly's album. Title page, pregnancy, baby showers, birth, firsts, etc... Hey, I wanted to make sure I included everything, after all it was my first baby book. Here I am 5 1/2 years later and barely up to her 1st Birthday. Ellery keeps asking where her book is, I keep telling her I'm going to start it next. I suppose I should at least GET the book, maybe throw in a picture or two so she has SOMETHING to look at! Grady, well, the only reason he has anything is because my dear friend Amy scrapped him a handful of pages as a baby gift so that all I'd have to do was plop some pictures in. Have I done that yet you might ask? Nope!So, here I am, finally taking some time for one of my loves. No more dreaming about layouts. No more organizing embellies and filing pretty papers. I going to use them! (Can you tell that I'm on week one of a New Year's Resolution? Hear the excitement in my words? Check back with me in March, let's see how many pages are actually done...especially since tax season has begun...!)

What? Me? Scrapbook???

Why yes, I did. Tonight. For the first time in almost 2 years (don't get me wrong, I've done a few mini-books, but they were all gifts) I'm actually working on my own scrapbooks! YAY! I'll try to post some pics of the complete pages when they are done.

A Conversation...

Molly was having a rough morning and her listening "skills" weren't exactly top notch. As Ellery and I were walking up the stairs with me hollering at Molly (once again), Ellery turns to me and says, "Molly's not being very good. I guess she'll have to have a conversation."

Molly's big haircut

We did it. After 5 1/2 years, Molly got the haircut. It was overdue, but we were waiting until her hair was long enough to donate to the Locks of Love. Molly wouldn't let me do it, so I had to take her to my hairdresser to have it done. Since then, every time I comb her hair she says, "Kim does it better."

The Hutch

Let's just start off by saying that my husband has blocked my computer from being able to get on Craigslist. When he hears me say "I can do that" or "I can fix that" I'm sure he just rolls his eyes. (Could it be...just possibly...that I say that about everything!?!?) Anyhoo...Joe was out of town on business and I was perusing (read: wasting time) Craigslist looking for a few items...twin headboards, a dresser, a table, and a buffet/hutch. Well...I found one. They were only asking $200 OBO (of course I OBO'd them...and they took it!), I thought that was a pretty good deal. So when Joe got home, we grabbed an old friend/neighbor who has a truck and he and Joe headed to go check it out while I loaded the kids and went to the bank for cash. We just jumped in the car because it was supposed to be a quick 20 min over, so I figured we'd be home well before snack and nap time. Boy, was I wrong. After driving for well over a hour, we finally turned off the highway onto to some back country dirt roads. I was getting a bit nervous. The kids were already starting to whine and Grady had fallen asleep. This was not good. To make a long story short, the whole trip took over 3 1/2 hours, the kids were starving and tired, the guys had sacrificed their Saturday morning...and some of their afternoon, but...I got my hutch!

This is what it looks like now after some paint, glaze, new hardware...and LOTS of elbow grease. The top doors still need to be finished (I'll post pics when I get them on), but I love it!!! Joe thinks we should sell it...for more money of course! =)

Now I just need to find a dresser....

Just the way you are

My sweet, sweet girl Molly. Love her. This morning was the first morning for our crazy-get-out-of-the-house-by-7:45-or-be-late morning after vacation. I'm in the bathroom, trying to pull myself together and look somewhat presentable before I get the kids up. Molly pulls herself out of the cocoon of our warm bed (yes, you read that correctly...no matter what we do, ther are two children in our bed by morning...on Joe's side) and walks into the bathroom with her eyes still full of sleep. She quietly watches me try on headband after headband (me, hoping that somehow the way my hair looks will distract from the no makeup and bags under my eyes) and says, "Mommy, you are beautiful just the way you are." Did I say how much I love her? With that, I decided to take a cue from my 5 year old, tossed in a bobbypin and the morning began...

Grady's new words

He is talking...finally...but not much. He's got the basic Mama and Dada, but like to say "ta" (cat), "cho" (shoe), "cheese" (well that's self explanitory), "choose" (juice), "ba" (can be ball or bottle) and of course a lot of screams and grunts....which I'm very good at interpreting!

What happens when I'm stuck at home sick...

We have been hit terribly by colds and flu and who knows what else. As these germs are slowly making their way through our family, we've barricaded ourselves in the house as to not infect others. Since my F-I-L was here and I had help with the kids over Christmas break, I decided to tackle a few projects that have patiently waiting my attention. Here is one of them... This sign is about 12' x 7' and currently hangs over the window in our kitchen eating nook. I've been trying to finish this for months and am so excited its finally done!!! With some paint, patience (drying time in between coats), sandpaper, antiquing glaze, and vinyl...voila!