And The Award Goes To....

....Bethany Brooks McClendon for being the best step-daughter/big sister EVER!!! You were a total rockstar last weekend and helped me out more than you know! And all without even being asked! :) I really try hard not to ask BBM to help with the girls because with 3 brothers at home and 2 sisters here, she gets her fair share of big sister duties. But sometimes she can sense that I'm about to lose it and steps right in! If I had four more hands I could handle it just fine. And since I don't, this is one of the many times Bethany is a God-send. Prime example: After the weekend's festivities (post coming later), we were exhausted and by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I'm ashamed to say that I slept right through my alarm. We only had enough time for half of us to get dressed and get to church, so Towns and I went so I could teach our Sunday School class and Jonathan, Bethany and Cate stayed at home. After church I walk in to a spotless kitchen (it was a wreck since I flew out the door in a hurry for church and didn't have time to clean up after breakfast). The sweet child had scrubbed the countertops, swept the floor, and gotten down on her hands and knees to mop. Have you ever??!! Not only did I have a clean kitchen, but she'd also cleaned up Towns' room that looked like a tornado had blown through. That afternoon she put Cate in the Baby Bjorn and kept her entertained for a while (if you know Bug, you know that it takes a lot to keep her occupied). And did I mention she was a champ and played with Towns like it was her job?? You're THE BEST BBMac!! I owe you big time!

Towns, Take 3....

The last of my favorite pics....can you tell I'm in a very reminiscent and sentimental mood?!

Happy Birthday Towns, Take 2!

I couldn't fit all of my favorite pictures into one slideshow, so this is slideshow #2. The 3rd one is on the way! I love this girl way too much!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Towns!

This 3rd birthday of Towns' is bittersweet for me. I was fine with the 1st birthday and then the 2nd. But for some reason the 3rd birthday makes me feel like she's not a baby anymore! She's always been an independent little thing, but even more so now that she's getting older. Towns single-handedly changed my life forever....I just thought I knew what love was. Then she came along and I've never been the same since! I love this kid more than life itself and I can't imagine what I ever did without her! Happy birthday, Townsy!!!! I LOVE YOU!

Her Future's So Bright...

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Bugaboo!!

This last month has really been a productive one for Cate! She's grown a ton over the last few weeks which makes me feel like she's finally a real baby. That sounds odd, I know. But until the last month or so she's been so tiny and fragile! And now she's finally growing and getting her own little personality. A very sassy one at that!! She's really thinking she's as big as Towns and tries to do everything her sister does. She's constantly babbling, and anything that her hands touch goes straight into her mouth! That's probably because she's been teething, but this week her two bottom teeth finally broke through. Hallelujah! She's been working on those suckers for a long time now! Her most favorite thing to do is to get up on all fours and rock back and forth like she wants to go so bad! It won't be long before she's majorly mobile. She can get where she wants to go by pulling herself with her arms, but I'm just waiting for her to figure out she can get there faster by crawling! She's already started realizing that she can pull up on anything as long as it's just the right height. It's unbelievable to think that those firsts steps really aren't that far away! I want to keep her little as long as I can!! I could squeeze her to pieces when she laughs...it's the sweetest sound in the world. Towns can make her laugh like crazy, and another thing that gets her every time is when I put baby lotion on her. I haven't a clue why that's so funny, but I love how tickled she gets. She's at a stage right now where she loves to be held tight and given lots o' kisses...so that pretty much sums up what I do all day long with her! AND I LOVE IT!!! She really is a funny thing at such a young age. What makes me laugh the most is that she'll wait until she's got your full attention and then put on a show...it doesn't matter what she's doing at the time, as long as you're watching her she's going to do it BIG! The girl loves an audience!

This first picture is of Cate on her pink hippo (she should thank Towns for the hand-me-down!) and the second picture is of Towns right about the same age laying on it too. Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Never A Dull Moment

Laying out on her beach towel on the (covered) front porch thinking she's getting sun.

Yesterday as we were driving down the road I was quizing Towns on general facts that she needs to know. Things like her address, her last name, mine and Jonathan's names....information she should know just in case. This was probably fresh on my mind because as we were in mall yesterday trying to find birthday cards in Hallmark, I turned around and she was gone. Seriously gone. Not just a few feet away on another aisle. My heart started beating out of my chest and my calling her name turned into screaming her name at the top of my lungs. Panic doesn't even come close to what I was feeling. Lately she's really gotten bad about walking away from me when we're out and about. Call it getting a little more independent or call it being completely fearless of everything. I don't know. But for whatever reason, the "you can't walk away from me because I could lose you forever" talk goes in one ear and out the other. Until yesterday when she thought she lost me forever. What seemed like minutes was probably only seconds before I heard her out in the middle of the mall yelling "I WANT MY MOMMY....WHERE'S MY MOMMY". A nice woman with a baby picked her up right as I was running out of Hallmark to get to her. It took her about 30 minutes before she finally calmed down and quit crying. I never wanted that to happen, and thank the good Lord above it wasn't worse than it was, but I think that just might have cured her desire to walk around on her own. And the crazy thing is that she was with me one second and the next she was gone. I didn't even think she was gone long enough to get to another aisle, much less out to the middle of the mall. It can happen so quickly which scares the life out of me. But back to the story....after all that I decided to quiz her to see what all she knew and she was answering my questions like a champ. I moved on to other questions just for fun. Usually these question and answer sessions produce great quotes from her. This time was no different! We were talking about animals and here are the two answers that were too funny not to write down so I won't forget....


Me: Towns, where do eggs come from?
Towns: The Easter bunny.
Me: Or maybe chickens?
Towns: Yes, I think you're right about that.
Me: Well, where does milk come from? (Thinking she'll say 'cows' because she's known that forever.)
Towns: The refrigerator.


Can't really argue with that, now can you?

This is why....

...you don't leave your toddler in charge of your 7 month old baby while you go put a load of clothes in the dryer. You can tell by the look on Cate's face she wasn't overly thrilled to have a face full of Cinderella stamps....

OOC '08

Pardon my lack of blogging the last few weeks. We've taken full advantage of this spring weather so if we're awake, we're outside! I've got a lot to catch up on, but let's start with the most fun happening of all....OOC Weekend 2008! Rigsby treated us to a fabulous relaxing weekend at "The Beach House" (aka the most beautiful place in the world) and it made coming back to reality pretty tough! This is the one guaranteed trip we take together every year and it's a blast no matter where we are! Jess, Ginny, Jenn and I met Rigs at the beach Thursday night to get ready for the arrival of the rest of the crew on Friday. We didn't have much to do besides get lots o' food ready. And when I say lots, I do mean lots. Friday afternoon we assembled the welcoming committee on the front porch and didn't move until time for dinner. Friday night we discovered the hard way that we need to have the FCOF first thing because we were all scared to strike up conversation in fear of spoiling some good circle time scoop! Never fear, Saturday we parked ourselves by the bay in lounge chairs (and Ginny in her tent) and let the good times roll. We caught up on everything that's going on in our lives and pretty much everything else under the sun! When the OOC weekenders get to talking, well, there's just no telling where it will all end up! Afterwards, we pushed Ginny and AK out the door to the grocery store so we could set up for Ginny's surprise baby shower for little William. She was probably a little onto us, but I think in the end she was pleasantly surprised at the outcome! Sweet Three Lines Crowe even got a few early treats! Saturday night we had a Mexican fiesta (after our Olan Mills photo shoot of course) and broke out old photo albums. I promise that wearing black pants everywhere then was cool. It just doesn't really look like it now that I look back on it! We were in bed before midnight (sadly enough) and got up Sunday morning to head home. Get ready, Jess! OOC '09 will be here before we know it!!

If you look closely you'll see the welcoming committee!

This is where the circle of friends took place...bet you wish you knew what all was said! HA!

Enjoying the porch from heaven!

We all got cleaned up and got ready for the baby shower...

61 channeling her inner Giselle!

AK and Ginny made it back from the grocery....finally!

SURPRISE!!

Do you know how many times we took this picture before we finally got a good one?! We succeeded and got a photo for this year's Christmas card (thanks in advance, Jess)!

Thanks for such a great time, Rigsby! You're officially initiated into the Hostest with the Mostest Club! Now AK and Jenn can't haze you!! LOVE YOU!!!

Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend was busy one at the McClendon household. I took on a sewing job for a friend and her sister's little boys. It's the first time I've ever hired myself out as a seamstress. I love to sew for my own children (which is nerve racking enough). But when I'm doing it for someone else? Well that's just stress on another level all together. I managed to get through it without any major catastrophes and all is well. Bethany has emerged as a Mini Martha so I must brag on her. She got the notion to make a purse for her friend out of some of my scrap material and ribbon, and it turned out to be the cutest thing ever! I was so proud. She did an excellent job despite my teaching ability. What's crazy is that it took her less than 20 minutes to complete the whole thing!

I also took on the role as hair stylist and cut Bethany's hair. I've cut her hair several times in the past and am even more nervous about doing that than I am about sewing for someone else. We managed to get a fun new look for her....we copied Lauren Conrad's new 'do. I think it's cuter on Bethany than it is on LC herself! :) BBM treated Towns to a Miley Cyrus makeover which was hysterical. She transformed the dining room into a dressing room complete with wardrobe, hair and make-up. Towns has always thought her big sister is the coolest person on earth, and now more so than ever!

Bug learned to stand up (with help of course), and Towns finally learned how to ride her bike (followed by her first wreck)....

J nearly killed Bethany when he had the bright idea to ride her tiny bike with her on the handlebars. That's Towns at the bottom of the picture running for cover...

Top it off with a home made photo shoot (you've got to capitalize on the picture taking when Cate's in a good mood {see very bottom photos and captions}) and you've got yourself the typical weekend around here. Never a dull moment!

The running joke with Bethany is that she thinks Cate doesn't like her...I took this picture thinking that I was finally going to get a good one of the two of them. The minute Bethany kissed her cheek this is what happened...

(Bethany doesn't really get her feelings hurt about this...you can tell from the picture above that we laugh about it!)

So I decided to try it myself...one minute she's happy

And the next minute....

If it's remotely a possibility (given her older sister), I think Cate's going to be my dramatic child!

Destined for Stardom

This is a follow-up on my story about Towns and the poparapsi. Apparently I have a daughter who is way too into Hollywood at age 3. How she got this way, I don't know. Could be inherited from her mother who is completely obsessed with celebrities. So last night we were outside and she was standing on the sidewalk doing a little dance. I commented on what fancy moves she had and she replies "thank you...I bet I look famous."

I was about to sign off for tonight until just this second when Towns just came in the door from renting a movie with her daddy and said to me...."hey girlfriend, ready to kick it?"

My, oh my, I don't know what I'm gonna do with this girl!!!

Out To Lunch

This is what I feel that I am most of the time. Two things that have happen just today make me come to the conclusion that I'm slowly going crazy. First, I went out of the house this morning with one brown flip flop on my left foot and one black flip flop on my right. No comments please. Secondly, I did this huge post about Towns' birthday party and when I hit the "publish post" button my post was nowhere to be found. I was rather upset since I spent so much time on it. Time that I really should have spent being more productive. Then I realized that since I started the birthday post yesterday, it doesn't show up at the top of my blog. It's published in the spot where it would have been had I actually finished it yesterday...a spot where no one would see it since it's not at the top of the page. Bummer. So after all that madness, here it is.

Paparazzi

Today Towns was playing in the back of my car (the 3rd row of seats weren't down so there was a lot of space for her to play) while I was unloading groceries. I said something to her to the affect that she needed to get out so we could go inside. She didn't act like she heard me so I called her name to get her attention. Here's the conversation that followed....

Towns: Actually, I'm not Towns. You can call me Hannah Montana.

Me: Alright then, Hannah, it's time to get out of the car.

Towns: Well, I can't right now. The "poparapsi" (paparazzi) will get me.

Me: I highly doubt the "poparapsi" in Decatur, AL is anything to worry about so get on out and let's go inside.

Towns: Oh, allllright. I guess I won't get an allergy if I get out of the car.

Me: A what??

Towns: An allergy.

Me: What's an allergy?

Towns. You know.

The funny thing about her right now is that she's into saying big words, and half the time she knows what they mean and how to use them (like paparazzi, even though she can't exactly pronounce it right). And then there are times when she says these big words and doesn't have a clue. What can I say? The girl cracks me up like no other!