One Happy Thanksgiving

Due to some technical difficulties, this post is short on pictures.  We hope to be able to retrieve the rest of the pictures from our frozen hard drive soon but for right now, this is all we have :(

We had a great Thanksgiving this year!  We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents' house with 32 people (including 13 kids!) and it was crazy but so much fun.  Both girls loved playing with their cousins, other relatives, and friends. My mom and sister, Sara, and I went on our annual Black Friday shopping and had a blast!

On Friday we had a nice visit from Robbie's Grandma Compton, his Aunt Pat, and his sister, Beth, and her family.  We have some awesome pictures (especially an adorable one of Grandma Compton tickling Maggie) but they are among the ones frozen on our hard drive...  I really  hope we can get them back because Maggie really warmed up to her, and you know...Maggie doesn't often warm up to people ;)  Robbie's Grandma Compton is a very special lady.  Each week, Robbie's Aunt Pat prints out our blog and takes it to her to resad.  She writes me the sweetest notes about what we've written and I really appreciate each one. 



Grandma Compton with 4 great grandchildren (Campbell, Maggie, Matthew, and Madeline)

So Thankful

This month I (along with lots of other Facebookers) committed to posting one thing I am thankful for every day until Thanksgiving.  It was an uplifting and humbling experience to take a few seconds every day to recognize one blessing in my life.  Here they are:

Taking the Thankful November challenge (posting one thing I'm thankful for every day til Thanksgiving). Today I'm thankful for the safe and healthy arrival of my newest niece, Eliza Grace! Congrats to Julie and Dean!

 I'm thankful that I was born into such an awesome family! They are loving and generous and great role models as I am raising a family of my own. Love all of you!

 Today I'm thankful for Campbell, aka CAC, aka the Princess (formerly pint-sized), aka Diva (according to her Aunt Sara). She is a light in my life who is sweet, sassy, and a daily reminder that miracles do happen.

Today I'm thankful for little Miss Maggie. I give her a hard time b/c she's a little ummm...."high maintenance". But, she's so sweet she'll melt your heart, so funny she makes us laugh all the time, and so full of personality that I know she'll do amazing things in her life. I love her curls and her round belly and I appreciate that she's made me realize that full term babies are miracles, too.

Today I'm thankful for Robbie. I could not have asked for a better father for my girls. It's inspiring to see his love for them and their love for him. Thanks for being on this journey with me, honey. Love you!

On this Monday, despite the fact that I wish I was still at home with my loves, I am thankful for my job. I'm so lucky to have something I'm good at, to work with people I really like, and to feel like my work is important.

Today I'm thankful that although Campbell didn't eat dinner and asked to skip bath because she wanted to go to bed and then cried for the next half hour saying her ear hurt, she woke up happy and apparently healthy this morning!

 I'm so thankful for our amazing NICU nurses. Christine- thank you for teaching us so much, Anna- thank you for being a friend and giving my baby "loves" when I couldn't be there, Kelley- thank you for being our "1st" and being so sweet to us, Melissa- thank you for laughing at Robbie and then putting him in his place, Courtney- you were so sweet and I loved that you enjoyed picking out Campbell's bedding and making it cute as much as I did  and Mary- I'll never forget that you made me cry when you told me that I knew my baby best...not the dr.s or nurses. We couldn't have survived without y'all!

I'm thankful for bicycle helmets. More specifically, I'm thankful that the one Campbell was wearing last night on our bike ride protected her noggin as she bit the dust while being a daredevil down a big hill. I'll take a Dermabonded chin and a scratched up Princess helmet any day over a head injury.

This week I talked to a little boy at my school who's Daddy has been deployed on and off for much of his life and won't be home this year for the holidays. I'm thankful for that Daddy and all the other Mommies and Daddies who are willing to sacrifice holidays with their families so I can safely and freely spend the holidays with my family.

I'm so thankful for the ladies of TPP and the one who started it all (Tricia Branham Cox)! Many of you have been there for me since Campbell's birth and have been such good friends since then...even if I've only met a few of you in person. Good luck today, Trish! We're all cheering for you!

This homecoming weekend I'm thankful for my time at Winthrop University. I made lifelong friends and had an amazing college experience. I was lucky enough to join Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity which was one of the best decisions I made during that time. And I may have met a cute special ed major who would become the father of my girls... :)

I'm thankful that even though I can fall off the exercise bandwagon,  I am able to pull myself back up again. I'm excited about committing to train for a 10K in March with some awesome ladies (and officially started my trained today!)!

I'm thankful for the nightly family devotionals we've started. Nothing like hearing a sweet three-year-old voice praying to nourish your spirit...

I'm so thankful that God continues to show me His plan...even with Campbell's prematurity. This week alone I had two friends reach out to me, one who had a 30-weeker last week and one who is 28 weeks with rising BP. I'm thankful that I'm able to offer them support and hope through pictures and stories of a beautiful, healthy former 27 weeker.

I am so thankful that we were safe during the tornadoes so close to our home last night. Our family has been saying prayers for those who were devastated by the storms.

I'm thankful for Fridays and the excitement of a weekend to spend with my family!

This Saturday morning I'm thankful for cinnamon rolls with my 3 favorite people, fun morning playtime, and a baby with a sense of humor who is right now running around naked with a Dora trashcan on her head!

I'm thankful (as I know all parents of young children are) for shatterproof ornaments. Like, a lot.

I'm so thankful for awesome co-workers who were so excited about and dedicated to making our 8 students' Thanksgiving lunch an awesome one (and for some, probably the only "real" one they will have). What an amazing experience to watch the joy on the kids' faces!

I'm thankful for my Kindle app on my iPad and iPhone, free downloadable eBooks from my library, and no work until Monday so I can read my new book!

Today I'm thankful for the sights, sounds, and smells of the holidays and the memories they evoke in me and the memories the girls are going to have. Today I'm making my mom's yummy smelling stove top potpourri (whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange and apple peels all simmering together in water) and my house smells like the holidays!

On this Thanksgiving day, I'm so thankful that every day this month I've had to take time to sort through all that I'm thankful for to pick which one to post. I am so blessed to have a healthy, happy family, amazing co-workers and friends, and a good Lord who  makes it all possible.

Busy Bags

I have been itching to make some "busy bags" for the girls (especially Campbell) for a while now but other than pinning ideas on Pinterest, I hadn't gotten around to making any until I had a friend who recently had her 2nd child.  Her first is a 3 year old boy and I knew that she'd need some things to keep him busy while she is with the new baby.  So, instead of buying diapers or cute clothes, I made some busy bags for him.

Here are all the activities I made for him.  I used pencil bags from Wal-Mart to hold each activity.  A mutual friend monogrammed a backpack for him to keep all the bags in.

The first activity (and my favorite) was actually one I came up with.  I got two Matchbox cars and then cut "roads", including curvy sections, out of construction paper and laminated them.  I can just imagine him creating all sorts of paths and driving the cars all over.  And then all the roads and the cars fit right back into the bag for clean up.  I will definitely be making this one for my girls.

This busy bag was really simple.  I just printed some pictures from this website on card stock and then laminated them.  I then just hole-punched holes around the edges and added a shoelace for a lacing activity.  Next time I'll get a longer shoe lace...I think this one might be a little short :(

This busy bag doesn't have a specific "theme".  I just got a little mini notebook, stickers, and small colored pencils for some artistic fun.

This busy bag uses some really neat dry erase crayons that my awesome teaching assistant introduced me to since the markers can be so messy.  I printed some letter and number tracing activities from one of my favorite websites, Confessions of a Homeschooler, onto cardstock and laminated them. 

I love this next busy bag activity.  I got the idea from a pin on Pinterest from this blog.  It's just the big craft sticks with velcro dots hot-glued to them along with some play doh lids for a new spin on building.

I love this felt snowflake building busy bag.  It took the longest time to make out of all of them because of all of the felt shapes, but I can't wait to make one for Campbell.

I'm sure the next idea came from some teaching blog or website but I can't find it to give it credit.  I used stickers and sentence strips that I laminated then cut to make counting "puzzles".  I made another version of this for Campbell with the number words in addition to the numbers.

The last busy bag I made for my friend is one with name activities for her little boy. I made a card with the letters of his name on which he can trace the letters and letters with velcro for him to put in order (all the letters of his name on the bottom are velcroed...I just pulled off the last two to show the velcro).  I printed it on cardstock and laminated it as well.  I also just made a quick name puzzle for an extra name activity.

Since making these for my friend's son, I made a different one for Campbell.  I found some cute little craft hole punches with shapes.  I put a couple of those, strips and squares of construction paper, and glue sticks in the bag for her to punch and create with.  We took it to a restaurant the other night and it was a hit with both girls!

I'm hoping to make several more of these busy bags for trips to restaurants, rides in the car, times I'm busy cooking dinner, etc.  I'll keep y'all posted with new bags as I make them.  If you have any ideas, I'd love to see or hear them!

Maggie- 18 months

 Maggie is 18 months old today!

Weight: 27 lbs, 4 oz (90th percentile)

Height: 32 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

At 18 months old, Maggie is such a blessing.  She is loving and cuddly.  She loves to lay her head on us and it just melts our hearts.  She has a very funny sense of humor and loves to dance.  She is in that cute stage where she likes to pose for the camera.  She loves playing with Campbell and the dogs. 

Maggie is very smart and follows 1 and 2 part directions ("Pick that up and give it to Daddy").  She loves to take things to people and we use that to our advantage.  If we are trying to get her to go to one of us and she doesn't really want to, we can hand her any random object and say "Take that to Mommy/Daddy" and she'll trot right on over.  Her language is really exploding and she consistently says the following words: hi, bye, thank you, please, Mommy, Daddy, book, ball, dog, no, mine, yes, more, eat, shoes, backpack (from Dora), bow, bike, hat, that, this, hot, up, down, eye, baby, fish, boo (for Peek a boo).  She knows body parts (eyes, hair, belly, hands, ear, nose, mouth) and loves to say the sounds animals make (sheep, cow, dog, lion). 

Maggie is also very opinionated.  She is quick to let us know when she's not happy.  She is not a fan of riding in the car, but occasionally can be distracted by playing with an iPhone or singing songs (unfortunately her favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider...kind of hard to sing with the hand motions, which she insists upon, when you're driving). 

Maggie lights up our lives with her contagious laugh, her round little belly, her sparkly, mischievous eyes, and her bouncing curls.  One day I hope she reads this and knows how much she is loved!

Winthrop Homecoming

We took the girls to the Winthrop Homecoming basketball game today.  We enjoyed getting to see our friends the Anders and the Popes and even saw some other folks across the coliseum.  The girls looked so cute in their little Winthrop cheerleader outfits...although it's hard to tell how cute they looked together since it was impossible to take a picture of the two of them looking at the same time :)

My favorite picture of the night...love this silly girl ;)

We tried to get a picture of both girls with Big Stuff...but Maggie is not a fan like Campbell is...

Campbell and Emily really, really liked the popcorn!

Campbell, Eleanor, and Emily.  Three of the cutest Winthrop fans I've ever seen!

5 on Friday

This week was a wild one...including another ER trip with Campbell for a busted chin (she got a little too daredevil-ish speeding down a hill on her bike).  BUT, as I was thinking over the week and looking through our pictures on our phones, I had a hard time limiting the special moments to 5.  So there may be a bonus or 2 :)

So, here are 5 (or more) reasons I'm loving my girls this week:
1. Maggie fell asleep in the car last weekend on the way to see "Uncle Brian" in an autocross race (hence the many layers).  I thought this was such a sweet picture...

2. Campbell has learned a new "trick" on her bike.  No hands!  I so remember doing this when I was little...  (this had nothing to do with her crash...but that is the helmet that saved her noggin)

 

3.  Maggie is turning into Michael Jordan...every time she's working on something or concentrating, her tongue hangs out.  I tried to get a picture on my phone when it was a little dark so it's not the best but you can get the idea...

4.  If you're a doll at our house, you better hope you don't end up in time out...just sayin'.

5.  This evening Maggie decided she needed to learn how to get off the couch.  She would slide off head first onto the floor and cackle.  Slowly she figured out how to turn her body to slide off feet first.  She probably got on and off the couch 10 times and when she finally got off correctly, she turned to me and said "Yep" and went to play with something else.  It was like once she mastered it, she could move on.  Smartie pants.

Bonus 1.  Campbell had a "Fall Festival" at her school for the parents in which the kids acted out a story, sang a song, played a game with the parents, and had a special snack.  Due to my serious lack of videotaping skills, all I have is this picture I took of the two of us (despite my holding my phone pointed at the performance the whole time...all the while I was thinking I was recording  **sigh**).

 

Bonus 2.  We went on another family bike ride and picnic this past Sunday.  It is becoming an awesome tradition and one we all enjoy.

5 on Friday

Here are 5 reasons I'm loving my girls this week:

1.  My sister, Julie, and her husband, Dean, welcomed a new baby on Wednesday.  Eliza Grace arrived healthy and beautiful and joined big brothers, Jacob and Zachary, and big sister, Lydia.  We got to FaceTime with them and it was a wonderful experience.  Maggie kept reaching for the iPad and saying "baby" and waving and Campbell, was so excited to see her newest cousin.  As we were hanging up, Campbell looked at me and said "Mommy, where is MY baby?! I want one!"  Not sure how to respond to that one... ;)

 

2.  (this one was actually requested by Robbie) Two times this week, Campbell wanted to call her Daddy on the phone.  Once was when I was driving them to school and he was driving to work and the other was last night when he was driving home from working late in Charleston.  The girls were so happy to talk to him and he was equally happy to talk to them.  Maggie smiled and waved at the phone and said "Hi, Dada" and Campbell is really growing up and can carry on more of a conversation which is fun.

3.  Remember that wig that Campbell wore for Halloween?  Well, Maggie loved it.  She loved to wear it and would brush it gently from her face and pat it.  Hilarious.

4.  The other night Campbell had a very hard time sleeping.  She was up no less than 6 times.  The next day she kept talking about the snail that was in our house and I finally figured out that she had been up due to some bad dreams about a snail.  As tired as we were, one thing I noticed was that each time she came in our room, she went to Robbie's side of the bed.  For some reason, that made me smile because I remember when I was little, if we went into my parents' room at night, we ran straight to my dad's side of the bed too.  Don't know if Daddies are stronger in their little girls' eyes or just more lenient...

5.  Maggie has developed a new gesture of affection and it just melts my heart.  She will put her hands on each side of my face and get really close and look into my eyes.  Then she'll lay her head on my chest or shoulder.  Love that girl.

A long, fun Halloween weekend!

We had a great Halloween!  It is one of our favorite holidays because it's full of imagination, fun activities, and excitement.

This year we decided to have a little Halloween party on Saturday since we had so much fun throwing one a couple of  years ago. It was a little chilly but the kids didn't seem to notice.  Although we had all kinds of fun games planned (pin the nose on the pumpkin, pumpkin bowling, etc), the kids were more interested in playing with our backyard toys!

I had a lot of fun scouring my new addiction, Pinterest, for ideas for recipes and games.  The food was yummy and it was so helpful that so many people brought goodies, too!

 

Pumpkin-shaped cheese ball

Witches Hats

Triplet pumpkins!

Backyard...the aftermath :)

Trick or treating this year was SO MUCH FUN!  Campbell loved it and Maggie was such a little trooper.  Campbell loved her Strawberry Shortcake costume that we created out of a hilarious red wig, a borrowed hat, some new tights, and an iron-on picture.  Maggie's costume is very special because it was actually a costume of mine when I was little!  

We first went by one of my co-worker and friend's house, then we stopped by Campbell's teacher, Mrs. Chamberlain's house, and then we headed home where Robbie took Maggie home and I took Campbell to a few of our neighbors' houses.  When we were at Mrs. Chamberlain's house, we ran into Campbell's BFF, Eleanor!  It made Campbell so happy to see her.  One of my favorite memories of the night was when she and I went to one of our neighbor's houses.  They had left a basket out since they were trick or treating with packs of crackers and candy.  Campbell looked at the items in the basket and said "Crackers? No" and then immediately grabbed a piece of candy.  Man, that girl is definitely my daughter ;)