And Just Where Have I BEEN?!....

It is so hard to believe that my last post was on November 19th! 

If you know me you know that life here seems to be on CHAOS status 99.99% of the time for the last few years and now since November it has raised about 100 times fold. I will still be here on the blog on a more frequent basis than I have been that I can promise. I have tried to get to you all sooner but it have not failed that  SOMETHING had taken priority for the day and the blog was on the back burner...

Got to LOVE life right?!

The last post I shared with you all that we were traveling to the Northern part of Arkansas to spend an early Thanksgiving with my biological father, his wife, my grandma and my half siblings. 

Since we never know what the Arkansas weather will do for the winter we decided to go ahead and celebrate Christmas with them too while we are there. 

The girls of course thought this was a GREAT idea and they racked up on TWO Christmases this year... 

We did manage to get a few snow flakes while we were there but since the weather here has been bipolar nothing stuck and we were able to travel home with no problems. 

With our "Thanksgiving" being the weekend before the actual day we were able to spend the next week chillin' at home. 

I usually have around 8 to 15 kids here during school breaks hanging out and since God blessed me with ALL girls we are usually surrounded by even more girls when they have friends over. 

We spent the week having a musical themed week! 

We watched Pitch Perfect one and two, Sweeny Todd, Grease, Dirty Dancing and more! 

We shorted our week at home because me and the hubby had to make an emergency trip to Alabama that weekend to help my sister and her kids move here. 

We made the QUICKEST trip ever.... Since we left our girls here in Arkansas with the neighbor this mamma was in a HURRY to get back. 

I know, I know, I know that they are NOT babies anymore but THIS mamma will ALWAYS consider them babies... 

The perk of this ALL happening when it did all of the kids were out for the Thanksgiving break and no one missed school during the commotion. 

My sisters kids did miss one day due to my car being in the shop for THREE WEEKS!... but that is a WHOLE different story....

The transition went well considering that me and my sister has not spent THIS much time together in 15 years... and out of our 7 kids 4 are ADHD and one is 2....

The kids LOVE (for the most part) that they are all in the same schools, and they have "friends" that are around ALL THE TIME.

Since the move we have gotten kids ready for Holiday dances, concerts, holiday parties, school programs and then Christmas where we have shopped, picked out and cut down our own Christmas tree, seen lights, watched the parade downtown and so much more! 

In between all of that we buried our cat Astrid and nursed our cat Tiger back to health after becoming a chew toy for a few pit bulls... 

Right now we are trying to survive the holiday break... we have had any where from 7 to 14 kids here a day and the noise level has been on the rock concert on crack levels. 

With New Years Eve and 2016 at the end of the week I can say that I am SO EXCITED!  2015 has been a VERY rough year for me personally and I am ready for a fresh start. 

I have also been working on my revamp for my biz and I am excited to show you all that too. 

Planning Our Christmas Cards

 

Since the girls were little I have always used Christmas as a reason to force myself to send our friends and family updated pictures of them. 

Last years attempt was an EPIC fail and after February rolled around I gave up and trashed it all.

SO in hopes to get my shit together in 2015 I wrote in my brain aka planner to start this Christmas Card journey in October...

Well here we are the middle of November and I have done NOTHING...

Do I hear a repeat of last year?!

Let's hope not!

Here are my major dilemma's though:

 

Weather

Mother nature has not been so kind as of lately, the days that are perfect are already jam packed with stuff and the days I can get us 5 together are rainy, wet or way to freaking cold!

Location

Location, location, location!

We are having the WORST time at this. I can't decide if I want an urban, city look or a country look....

The hubby says lets do both but then I want to smack him and say I can;t get it together for one let alone two.... 

MEN!

Photo Cards vs. Photos IN Cards

I LOVE the simplicity of photo cards BUT I have also sent cards with the photo's in the for many years thinking what if they want to display these pictures year round? 

So that drives me nuts!

Clothes

 When you have three girls that are different from each other as day is to night and your really wanting a more natural personable look you really want a scheme that is NOT matchy matchy but you do want it to coordinate...

I have come up with a color that will work for all of us... I think... well hope... okay PRAYING! 

 

ANXIETY!!!

We have not had pictures done in FOREVER! 

We did manage to get one decent one at my brother in laws wedding this last August but we have not actually had family pictures done since Aaliyah was an INFANT! I mind you she will be 9 in April... We are WAY over due to say the least and I can't help but stress and I do mean STRESS about these! Plus since I am a photographer I would rather be behind the lens than in front of it so now we are in a whole new ball field! 

But what about you?

Are you an annual card/pic sender?

Do you forgo the whole idea?

I'd love to hear!

Meet Aaliyah

Last but certainty NOT least we have my youngest...

Everyone I would like to introduce you to Aaliyah...

Aaliyah filled a hole that I didn't even know that was missing when she came into this world on April 5th when I was 22 years old. 

She was my odd ball arriving at 2:52pm the day after her daddy's birthday

 (and no I have yet to top THAT gift ever since ;) )

As of today Aaliyah is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade at the local elementary school..

(Anyone else catch that all 3 kids are in 3 different schools?)

Aaliyah has always been the type of girl that even in her fanciest 

dresses she is out in the dirt playing her little heart out. 

Since she is the youngest she has always played "I can do it too!" and has kept her big sisters on their toes.

I shot Aaliyah the same questions as the older two girls and this is where she stands:

Favorite Movie:

 Home

This is a very cute one, if you have not seen it you will enjoy it no matter what age you are. 

Color:

Pink

Duh!

(That was her response when I asked... because there is NO other color in this world.... right?)

Favorite Vacation:

The Beach

Amen sista! She has always been more of a fish than a human, you get her in water and I will just tell you don't plan on ANYthing else for at least the day but if she had her way about it... yeah she would never come out.

Dream Job:

Vet

She is also a HUGE animal lover, there hasn't been an animal that she has not liked, minus birds when she was younger...

Animal:

Lion

AGAIN... this animal question really hit me not a single one answered what I THOUGHT their answers would be... JUST FOR THE RECORD... I swear it was a white tiger 

School Subject:

Art

She has always had an amazing imagination and has always loved to express herself with drawing, the older she gets the better she is becoming and I am so excited to see her develop an amazing skill

Holiday:

Christmas

I am pretty sure it has EVERYTHING to do with presents and lights ;)

Favorite Thing to do in Arkansas:

Play in the snow


This is a HUGE change for us since we lived in the deep dirty south of Alabama until moving up here. The kids LOVE it all around... me and the hubby... well we can handle about 24 hours of it MAYBE 48... then... it...has...GOT...TO...GO

Food:

Strawberries

...and strawberry flavored EVERYTHING

Drink:

Root Beer

Such a classic and when you add ice cream to it she is your BFF!



MORE FUN FACTS:



She lost her first tooth at the age of 3 so needless to say she went 3 years with out a front tooth :)


She LOVES soccer and basketball

She has her OWN sense in style

She is the class clown of the family... it is SO VERY HARD to be in a shit mood with her around


She is ALWAYS saying something that will make you die laughing


She is a DADDY'S GIRL through and through...

She ALWAYS has to have at least a handful of "boyfriends"
 ( I will share more on this one... YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WANT TO MISS IT)

She doesn't meet a stranger

She feeds off affection, hugs, kisses, high fives, Big Hero 6 fist pumps... you get the drift..

If you missed this weeks meet and greet check them out below:

Our Story

Meet Ant

Meet Dakota

Meet Alora


I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! We will see you Monday!

Meet Alora!

Well you guessed it!
My sweet Alora is the middle girl and so she is second up for introduction...

So everyone...

Alora came into this world exactly ONE week before my 19th birthday.
On September 27th at 8:04 am she made her appearance and joined Dakota and I in this crazy world I now call my beautiful chaos.

(I will share more on her birth story also later)


As of today Alora is 12 years old, a 6th grader and in Middle School.

Alora has always been my little accident prone daredevil and out of ALL 3 of my girls I am pretty sure she has top rank for trips to the emergency room and surgeries.

I asked her the same questions I asked Dakota for her introduction and here is what she came up with:


Favorite Movie:

Avengers: Age of Ultron

This is ACTUALLY a family favorite, we have all been so excited over all the recent super hero movies but I think the Avengers series has got us hooked the most.

Favorite Color:

Blue

So I SWEAR the other day it was purple...
Since I have struck out 2 for 2 with the kids favorite colors MAYBE I should do this more often..smh

Dream Job:

Chef

This I TOTALLY get for her! She has always been a foodie and honestly the less picky of the family. She has NEVER been afraid to try new foods.
I know a few years ago this was narrowed down to being THE TOP chef in the White House...

Animal:

Hawk

Yeah so these animals are shocking me left and right...


School Subject:

Science

Her reasoning... because she gets to dissect animal parts... my response...
GGGRRROOOOSSSS!!!


Holiday:

Christmas

A kid after my own heart ;)

Thing to do in Arkansas:

Skate

She recently learned to roller blade and there hasn't been a day gone by she isn't outside with them things on her feet. I am just thanking God she hasn't tried to do it in the house yet... but I am sure when there is ice and snow on the ground this WILL become a reality.

Food:

Potato Soup

Not just any potato soup though! "The kind you make mom" was her exact answer. Though I would LOVE to take credit for it I will have to give a shout out and a HUGE thank you to my ex brother in law Shaun for sharing his recipe with me!

Drink:

Hot Tea

What can I say she has an old lady spirit to her some days


Vacation:

Disney World

We were lucky enough that when my brother graduated high school (he was the only one out of my mom's 3 kids) that my grandparents and dad took him, his girlfriend (at the time), my sisters older two kids (her other two weren't born yet), my sister Samantha, my brother Dominick, my three girls, Ant and myself all to Disney World. My kids LOVED it, and it made me miss being in California where it was SO CLOSE to go visit. That trip was one for the record books to say the least!

MORE FUN FACTS:


She is a social butterfly and meets NO strangers!


She LOVES musicals


She plays softball

She is the next runner up for braces
(You can follow her progress here on the blog)


She eats ranch dressing on EVERYTHING normal people put ketchup on

BOTH of her BFF's live on our street
(as a matter of fact they both live catty-cornered from us, one left, one right)

She plays the flute


AND this girl can shoot a bow and arrow!


Wanna catch up on the meet and greets?
Check them out!

Our Story

Meet Ant

Meet Dakota

Up next... Aaliyah!