Summer Summary

I can not believe the lack of posting I have done this summer. I pinky swear I will post more often (even though I have probably lost all 3 of my readers). In my defense it has been a very busy summer. Instead of trying to catch up by posting about each event I will give you the cliff notes version of our summer.

We kicked the summer off by me having an abdominoplasty. Which I have to say I do not regret at all. The pain was terrible but it was so worth it. My husband was a wonderful nurse and took really good care of me and the girls. The recovery time was for 6 weeks. But as you read on you will see it didn't slow me down too much.

The girls were super excited to give their daddy an ipod shuffle for Father's Day. I was super excited that we (all Skaggs children) gave my father-in-law a membership to geocaching. If you have never heard of this it is basically a huge tresaure hunt. It is so much fun!

Husband interviewed for his previous position at Tate and got the job! We are both very excited for him to be returning to our alma matter. He also cut grass as a side job this summer. He has become quite the landscaper in this horrendous heat!

The Belle got her shots to start school! She really has come a long way with the Dr. office. From a screaming toddler who almost passed out a couple of times to a big girl who did not shed one tear when she got her shots. My baby isn't so much a baby anymore.

Husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! God bless Aunt Sarah for babysitting our 3 children (along with her 2) so we could enjoy a lunch date to Olive Garden. 7 years......wow! Somedays it feels like we just got married and then other days it seems so long ago. Either way God has blessed me with such an amazing husband and daddy for our girls.

My good friend Carla and I went to the Michael Buble concert......for FREE! A co-worker of hers gave her the tickets and she invited me....yay! It was so much fun (even the drunk lady who sat behind us and claimed that Michael Buble looked like Willie Nelson.....she obviously had way too much to drink)!

We (the Skaggs family) had a beach house booked for a week in July. Unfortunately, BP ruined that for us. We instead went to Charleston South Carolina. Uncle John got us an amazing deal on a house (that we all fit in). It was extremely hot but we had a great time. The girls especiallly loved the water park and the cupcake bakery we went to.

This past Saturday we celebrated Uncle John's departure from the Navy. It was at a beatiful location! The girls especially enjoyed dancing and playing in the sand. We are excited to see what God has planned for this new chapter of Uncle John and Aunt Emily's life.

We celebrated husbands grandparents 60th wedding anniversary yesterday afternoon at the beach. Although we didn't find the $60 gift card treasure and it rained quite a bit; it was still a good time.

We started potty training The Lynn today! Can you believe it my life is about to be rid of diapers........WOO-HOO! She hasn't successfully made it to the potty but we are committed to training all week. The Belle and The May have been very good helpers. Both have successfully made it to the potty about 5 times each (to show The Lynn how to do it). They are also very good at retrieving clean panties for her. I am really hoping that she picks up on potty training as quickly as her sisters did.

I will turn 29 tomorrow! Do you understand that is just one more year until I am 30!?! Worse than that.....................................

The Belle starts school on August 27th! She is extremely excited about starting school. I on the other hand am very anxious about it. I know she will love it; which makes it easier for me but seriously, she is starting school! This is an entirely new journey for us. It is going to be a major adjustment for everyone.

So, that about sums up our summer. I will get some pictures up soon! I am really excited to see what the fall will bring. One thing I know it will bring is another trip to Disney World! Let me just say I.Can.Not.Wait!!!!

To Infinity And Beyond!

We watched Toy Story for the first time last night. The girls were so cute while we were watching it. The May was so excited that her and Andy's baby sister share names. So, throughout the entire movie she kept asking where she was. The Belle was so into the storyline and asked a million questions. She also hid her face behind the pillow during any dramatic part (especially when Sid was mean to his toys). The Lynn went to bed about a third of the way thru the movie. She did however lay very still while she was on the couch with all of us. Both girls were very upset when it went off but I quickly saved the day by announcing "we can watch Toy Story 2 tomorrow night". The Belle was so excited and said "then after Toy Story 2 we can watch Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 5". Then I had to explain to her that Toy Story 3 had not come out yet but that it was coming to the movie theater very soon. So, she said we could go watch it there.......I was kinda hoping we could wait until it came out on dvd (then we could buy the whole combo 1, 2, and 3) but we will see.

Today was my first day back to normal life after surgery (I'm still not able to lift anything or bend over). We went to church, ate lunch at Grandmama's, and went back to church. I'm pretty tired but I'm so glad to have gotten out of the house for the day. I go back to the Dr. tomorrow for a check-up. I'm really hoping that I don't have to have my belly drained with a needle (to release any fluid build up). Well, I have 2 girls sitting beside me begging to watch Toy Story 2. I hope Andy's sister makes more appearances in this one!

Recovering

I promise I am still alive. I had my tummy tuck surgery on Tuesday June 1st and so far so good! I went to the Dr. yesterday and thankfully I got the drains out (YAY!). Husband has been really amaznig.....really. He has changed bandages, dumped drains (yuck), adjusted my pillows a million times, cooked meals, cleaned, you name it he has done it. He told me yesterday he was expecting a really nice Father's Day gift (I better get on that). My mom has also been wonderful. Her church has VBS all this week and she has picked up and dropped off the girls each night. It has given husband and I some down time (well, mostly him since I spend the majority of my time laying down). I will be glad when things get back to normal for me. I can't lift anything for 6 weeks. I really miss holding the girls and little things like getting into bed by myself. But I know it will come soon enough. The sad thing is that by the time I heal, the oil will probably have hit our beaches (its already beginning to come on shore). It really is depressng when you see our beautiful beaches and then when you see that nasty oil quickly approaching. Unfortunately, we have cancelled our beach house that we get with husband's family. We are now looking at an alternative vacation plans but really, what can top a week at the world's most beautiful beach?!?!? So, it looks like we will be spending our summer poolside this year. I know I have been terrible at blogging. Seriously, I am trying to get better :)

Mother's Day

We dedicated The Lynn this morning at husband's parents church. It was really sweet that Pappy dedicated our baby girl to the Lord. We went to my mom's after church for lunch. It was a great Mother's day. Oh and I got a new Coach bag too! Here are some pictures from the day.

Elvis has left the building

The May said the funniest thing yesterday. First let me give you a little background in case you don't live in our part of the world. There is a restaurant downtown that uses a triple decker green bus for advertisement. They have an Elvis mannequin that sits in the driver seat. He used to have a mechanical arm that waved but I guess over the years it broke. They dress him up on holiday's and my girls get a kick out of it. So there is the background to catch you up.

My parents are on vacation this week. They were in Memphis yesterday and went to Graceland. (I got a virtual minute to minute tour via our blackberries.)Here is how the conversation between Molly and I went:

Me: Nana and Papa went to see Elvis' house today.

Molly: They went to heaven?

Me: No they went to his house he lived in before he died.

Molly: Oh you mean they went to the big green bus?

That girl is some kind of funny.

Catching Up!

I am so behind on blogging. I was reading some of my old blogs today (thanks Aunt Emily for the reminder) and had completely forgotten about things that happened in the past couple of years. I am so glad I documented these events becasue otherwise I would have no memory of it and if I don't get back to blogging I am going to kick myself for not doing it. So here we go. So much has happened in the past couple of months! We moved, The Belle turned 5, the big girls got their ears pierced, Easter, the big girls got a pedi and mani, The Belle was accepted into a wonderful Christian school for kindergarten, Husband and I competed in a team triathlon with Uncle John, Aunt Emily, Uncle Josh, and Aunt Sarah, my husband got a cell phone (for the first time EVER), and The Lynn just about scared me to death with an eye injury. I know that's alot of information to digest at one sitting so I will be covering these topics one post at a time. Today will be a fun one: the girls getting their ears pierced!

Several months ago Grandmama found a school picture of Aunt Sarah when she was 6 years old. The very first thing The Belle noticed about the picture was that she had earrings. Grandmama told her that Aunt Sarah got her ears pierced for her 5th birthday. Well, that was all it took. The Belle was determined that she too would get her ears pierced for her 5th birthday. So, for several months ALL we heard about was how she was going to get earrings and roller skates for her birthday. At some point Margo and The May also decided that they too wanted their ears pierced. We had lots of discussions about how they pierce your ears, that it may be painful, that you would have to keep them in for 6 weeks, and that we would have to clean them frequently. I have always been very strict about birthday presents. I do not like giving presents to everyone for one girls birthday. For example, if it is The Belle's birthday then only The Belle gets presents (there are some people who give presents to all of their children when it is only one child's birthday). I did however make an exception this one time. The Belle and Margo are 13 days apart so we thought it would be best for the girls to get their ears pierced at the same time (misery loves company.....right?). But, The May wanted her ears pierced also. I knew The May would be so sad to see her big sister and big cousin (who she adores) get earrings and she not get to be apart of it. But, it was The May I was also most worried about (she does NOT handle pain well at ALL)! When we arrived at the mall the girls had decided to let The Belle go first since it was her actual birthday. Well, as the preparations began The Belle very graciously allowed Margo to go first (she had to see it happen before she could do it). Margo chose her earrings first and both of my girls chose the same (thank goodness Margo is not undecisive; we would have been there all day looking at earrings). Margo was very brave and didn't shed a tear. So, up next was The May who shed lots of tears (we were worried we were going to leave there with just one earring). Matter of fact it was so bad she wouldn't let us look at it or even talk about it for several hours. Then next was The Belle who also did wonderful. The worst one of all was Husband and Uncle Josh! Those poor guys were literally feeling faint. It was really sweet of them to be so worried about their girls. Honestly though my Husband was just as nervous if not more than when I was in labor with those children. So here are some pictures from the big event!

Good gracious I can not believe it has been a month since I have blogged. So much has happened since my last post. The most recent event was The Belle's 5th birthday. Seriously, my baby girl is 5. I can literally remember everything about the day she was born (including the clothes I was wearing when I went into labor). Time really does go by way too fast. These are just a few pictures from her party.

Dear Belle,
I can not believe I am writing you a happy 5th birthday letter. 5 is such a big milestone age and yet in so many ways you are still a little girl. But, I think you will always be a little girl to me. You have changed in so many ways. You can do almost everything independently; dress yourself, buckle yourself, clean up, prepare your own peanut butter crackers, bathe yourself, read, write a letter, and so much more. As I watched you fall asleep (with your newly pierced ears) the night of your birthday I couldn't help but wipe away the tears. So quickly, you have grown into a beautiful girl and it scares me to think how quickly the next 5 years will go by. When I found out I was pregnant with you all I knew was that I wanted a baby. I never dreamed I would have been given all the joy you have brought into my life. You are such a sweet little lady and I love you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday! Momma