A week in our life- Tuesday

Today we had lots to get done around the house, especially since yesterday I did nothing during Ra's nap.  We all got up and took dad to work (his car is still in the shop) and Raleigh and I headed to go shopping at one of my least favorite places to go/one of her favorite places...Walmart!  It always tends to take us forever when we go, but the need to eat always overcomes my ill feelings for that place.  What we have started doing is going to Walmart knowing that when we finish we can stop at the McDonald's that is inside on the way out.  We get home and she starts having a picnic with her happy meal and watches one of her favorite TV shows Bubble guppies while I unload the groceries.  Today I definitely thought on more than one occasion, "How in the world am I going to do this with two kids?"  After lunch Raleigh helped me start on the laundry.  I am so thankful for how much of a game she thinks it is to find stains and help shove as many  clothes in our washing machine!!  She then "did a craft" as she likes to call it, while I tried to straighten up the house.  During her nap time, I cleaned the house.  There is not much to say about that except that it was pretty gross, but now is clean.  Ra got up from her nap and had a snack and then we played hide and seek for a little bit and I tried to get ready (I hadn't put on any kind of makeup or anything yet).  Clint got his car back sometime during the day, so we didn't need to go and get him, but he came home around 6.  At 6:30ish some of our sweet high school girls came over to hang out.  Raleigh was so excited that "her girls were coming to see her!"  She greeted them at the door with, "It is so nice to see you." So funny!  She then put on quite the performance for them until she and her daddy left for a date together.  With the girls over, we ordered pizza, hung out, and made a fruit pizza.  It was so fun!!  During the crazy week, I don't always get the chance to talk to all of them for a long time, but tonight we just got to catch up.  Raleigh and Clint  came home with a surprise from their date...beautiful flowers!!  They are so sweet to think about me even when we are not together.  It was a late night, but so great to spend time and catch up with my, excuse me, with Raleigh's girls.

A week in our life-Monday

Many times I often wonder, "where has our week gone?"  We always seem soooo busy!!!  I decided that periodically we would document what we do on a daily basis so that we can look back and see what in the world we did when Raleigh was 2 years and 5 months and still waiting on Thad's arrival!  Sorry for the mundane, and we won't disown you if you skip over these posts. Ha!!

OK, so here we go!!  On Monday morning Clint got up early and went for a run.  He is training for his first marathon that he will run in December.  I was so proud of him running while I continued to sleep on the couch :)  I have started to sleep on the couch a lot because for some weird reason it is the only place that I can lay down without Thad pretending to play soccer inside my stomach!  After Clint got back, we normally spend the morning getting ready, eating breakfast, having quiet times, etc..  Since Raleigh needs her beauty sleep for about 11-12 hours a night (no matter what time she goes to bed), I was going to let her sleep in a little bit.  Sleeping beauty had to get up a little bit earlier because we had to take daddy to work (his car is in the shop).  So we took daddy to work and came home to get ready for baby Thad's Dr. appointment.  We try to keep doctor appointments on Friday because that is Clint's day off and (especially with baby appointments) it gives him the chance to come to/help with doctor appointments.  We switched this appointment last minute and Raleigh girl and I were on our own.  We went to the doctor and Raleigh did fantastic!!  She had no desire to sit with me, but sat in a chair in the room.  The whole time during the check up she constantly reassured me that everything was going to be OK and that she would protect me!!  Such a funny and sweet girl!!  After our appointment, we were going to run some errands, but we got out of the office much later than expected, so we decided to go get  daddy and take him to lunch.  After lunch Raleigh and I headed home (it was close to nap time).  She took a nap, I tried to lay down but got sick (thanks baby Thad).  When Raleigh got up we played in the playroom and I tried to get a few things done while we waited for daddy to get home for dinner.  Clint gets home at a different time every night, so we just play everything by ear.  He called around six to politely remind us that his car was in the shop!  We were so busy doing our thing that the thought didn't cross our minds to go get daddy.  We quickly went and got daddy and came home and had a picnic dinner while we tried to catch up on lots of hours of So you think you can dance that is on the dvr.  After that we went on a family walk, got Raleigh ready for bed, and called it a day.
Here is a short video of her trying to explain what baby Thad's heartbeat sounded like.

Sunday Sillies

We have always been told that our Raleigh girl is very verbal.  Can you imagine trying to get a word in with who she lives with?!   She would either have to be very verbal or silent.  Ha!  Lately she has done and said some pretty funny things.  Here are just a few from this week:

• Two of her recent sayings have been "oh my goodness," and "holy cow."  Who knows where this stuff comes from.  The other day she got so excited that she said, "oh my cow!!"
• Raleigh has been working on her pouting and dramatic skills lately.  The other day she kept exhaling very loudly and then would say, "It's all my fault."  What in the world???.
• She is not a very big bread lover, which is very odd considering our family :)  We were trying to convince her just to give it a try because it was fantastic.  She tried the bread and agreed, but what is bread now officially called in our house?  Fantastic, of course!
• Anytime we are in our bathroom getting ready, Raleigh wants to be with us exploring things.  The other day Clint was finishing getting ready and Raleigh was with him.  She came out of the bathroom very excited and proud telling me of the beautiful sticker she had found.  It was none other than a panty liner!!  Clint thought it was hilarious and I was a little bit horrified.

Sick, Sick, Sick!!

Seriously, who gets sick in the month of June??   During the summer I always thought you had to be careful of things like sunburn, bad mosquito bites, and heat rash.  Not such the case in our house lately.  We have honestly had almost everything you could possibly imagine.  Everything from double ear infections to bronchitis, to sinus infections, to pneumonia, pink eye and so much more.  So crazy!!  I know that summer tends to be crazy for our family from all of the travel, missing daddy, and extra stress, but I guess we need to do a little bit better job taking care of ourselves.  Our family keeps telling us that we need to rest.  We try, I promise, but I guess it is the price we pay when we jump from trip to trip and try to function on the same amount of sleep that teenagers need!!  No need to worry, the Ivy family is back on the  mend and back on the road again!!

Here, Fishy Fishy!!

Recently Raleigh and I were shopping.  We passed an isle and she shouted, "Stop Mommy, Stop!"  We went down that isle she showed me the item she thought was, "So beautiful."  I honestly was a little bit surprised.  The item that she picked was not pink, girly, or had any hint of bling to it.  The fish hooded towel was something that she just NEEDED.  She has been in love with her "fish music" that I guess this is what inspired the purchase.  We tried to get a couple of pictures of our cute little fishy.

Here she is...so excited to be a fish!!

Beautiful Blue Eyes!!

Come on guys, follow me!!

We have one cute little fish on our hands!!

Excuse Me...

Excuse Me...I have an announcement.  It is so exciting that I can't even look you in the eyes.

Coming Soon (at the end of September/early October)...

I am going to be a BIG SISTER....

to a....

LITTLE BROTHER!!!!

Dying Eggs

 This year was our first attempt to dye eggs.  I have to be honest, I was a little bit nervous, but we gave it a try.  Raleigh had soooo much fun!  "Oh my goodness!" is something we kept hearing over and over.  We broke/cracked quite a few eggs while letting Raleigh girl do it by herself, but the ones we ended up with were so "pretty and gorgeous."

We covered her in her painting smock.

She was all smiles in anticipation!!

The best way to dye eggs is by closing your eyes...of course!!

Waiting is the hardest thing for our patient little princess.

Still waiting...

"Mom, they are ready now!!"

Our results...with only a few minor cracks.

TA DA!!!  Yes, we only ended up with four eggs....like I said, we did crack a few in the process of finding our independence!!

Easter Egg hunt

This year to start out our Easter celebrations, we had so much fun at our church's family fun day and Easter egg hunt.  We were very curious to see what our little princess would do compared to last year.  Last year she didn't  pick up any eggs, but just ran around and shouted and screamed in excitement.  This year she did fantastic!!  She started picking up eggs by color and quizzing us along the way over our knowledge of colors.  Then, she began picking up eggs like mad when she found out that they were filled with M&M's!!  She had such a fun time.  It was a great start to our Easter celebrations!

Here she is ready to hunt!!!  

All smiles with Daddy

She was seriously distracted by the windmills

Picking up eggs by color.

"Mom, do you know what color this is?  That's right it is yellow."

Trying to get a picture with the avid egg hunter can be difficult.

Ok....so maybe really difficult!!

Searching for more eggs...

Checking out a beautiful blue one.

Finding some hidden in the hay.

Still hunting.

 She was not very amused that we kept trying to take her picture!!

Such a big girl!!

All smiles after a fun time!

Palm Sunday

This year in preparation for Easter, Raleigh began to understand a little bit more about what was going on.  In the Children's Ministry area, they had a man dressed like Jesus come down the hallways with a donkey while the children waved palm branches and shouted, "Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."  Raleigh of course was very cautious and instructed everyone not to freak out, but it was an incredible teaching point for her.  It was a great chance for us to talk about why and what she had learned that morning.  Here is a quick video of her recapping what happened.
PS- we were doing major laundry...I promise our living room doesn't look like that most of the time.

Sassy Pants

There are some days that go by and I find myself saying quite often, "I have no idea what I am going to do with her when she gets older."  Since the beginning, Raleigh has lit the world on fire.  We prayed for her to have a dynamic personality.  Now, we find ourselves praying that she will use her personality to lead others in the right direction instead of the wrong direction.  There are days that she has never met a stranger, gives everyone she knows a nickname, and will make you cry from laughing so hard.  Teamed with those amazing days are days that she will roll her eyes at you (yes, she already knows how),  refuse to hug you, and cry if you look at her the wrong way.  We love this girl and all of her mood swings!!!  What tends to come with her mood swings is a little bit of sassiness and drama.  Lately, she has decided to wear heals everywhere!!  I swear she walks better in them than I do.  Thank goodness she hasn't asked to wear them out in public yet ( that is a fight that I don't think that I am ready for).

Raleigh doing her model walk, showing off her "cute" shoes!

She caught me taking pictures of her and she decided that she needed to pose.

We have quite the diva on our hands!!