Girls B-day Party

We celebrated Kayla's 11th & Danielle's 8th birthdays this past Saturday at my mom & dad's house & pool. We had a blast. Thank God the weather cooperated and was hot and all the kids were excited to be swimming. At one time all you could see was heads & hardly any water at all:) They decided on a Hawaiian themed party & we decorated the garage a little but it was so humid some of the skirts & stick-ons fell off!
Some of the kids enjoying the pool.

The 3 boys that came were afraid to join in for a little while but after they warmed up they enjoyed the pool.

Fun in the sun!!! See Olivia in the pool in her dress? She just HAD to get in:)

More pics of Olivia being held by Kayla.

K & D w/ their awesome cake made by the best cake maker in the world, Heather Arvin. She accidently made one to feed 80 instead of 50 so we had enough cake left over that we are STILL eating it. I really didn't mind-ha.

Getting ready to blow out their candles while surrounded by some of the friends there.

Opening gifts...

Olivia in my brother's old coupe. He's 22 now!

My mom, MIL Darcus, Shawn W & my bro Josh.

Shawn, Josh & my dad!

Olivia, the boss of the party! She kept all the kids in line!


At this house if you take your cell phone out of your pocket you WILL get thrown in the pool. After Josh threw Taylor Walker in, she was begging Josh to throw her mom Mindy in. He was just pretending like he was going to when Taylor came up from behind and pushed her in!!!!


Taylor hurried up and went over to explain to Mindy that she was the one who really did the dirty deed. Josh has Olivia in this pic.
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Here's Mindy w/ Brittany, Taylor, Kendall, Olivia & Josh. We had a great time. I haven't counted how many guests were there yet. Big day but had a blast.

Happy 8th B-day Danielle!!

Today is my 2nd born Danielle Erica Abel's 8th birthday! Where in the world has the time gone? I was induced this morning 8 yrs ago & by the evening Dr. Cecchi came in and said okay, nothing's happened, let's just go to a c-section. I said let's do it! She was 7 lbs 14 oz & when she was introduced to her big sister Kayla, all her big sister could do was ask tons of questions. One of the first ones she asked was "why does Danielle have pink hair?" You know how babies are crying and all pink & red--too funny. Kayla was exactly 1 month from the day of turning 3 yrs old at that time. All 3 of my girls' b-days are on the 12th. Here's a few pics of my Danielle. This one was taken on Mother's Day as she was acting goofy:)


This was taken in 2004 on the back deck as she was blowing bubbles at age 4.
Wow--actually touching each other lovingly!!! Whoa! Kayla & Danielle ready for 4th of July celebrations in 2004. (Notice Danielle's very short bangs? Read on....)

As I was talking to my cousin Tonya about getting my girls and her daughter Haylie's pics taken together, Danielle walks in looking mischevious. One glance and I almost fainted as the pic below shows. She took scissors and chopped her bangs almost completely off. This pic was taken AFTER my mom squared them up for me. She must've cut her hair 20 times when she was a toddler.
This is her 1st day of school this past year in the 1st grade age 7 with her cat Fiona Louise.
This is her being an excellent big sister to Olivia Jean & reading her books.

Thanks Danielle for the joy you bring us daily. Thanks for the smiles, laughter, excitement & tenderness you show us daily. You have such a big heart & are always worrying about everyone else & more concerned of others than you are of yourself. You are a gift from God & I thank my God every day for you. Life would be boring without you and your sisters. I am so glad that you are all unique in your own ways & your Daddy & I will love you forever. We look forward to many more memories made just by you!!!!!!!!

Relay for Life weekend

Wish us success with our Relay For Life in Martin County tonight & tomorrow! We are trying to find a cure for this horrible disease. My wish is for one day for my girls to hear that there's been a cure. I'm walking in memory of those that have lost their lives especially my grandma Barbara Brown & for all of those that have survived! Pray for us as we prepare for a fun-filled weekend!

P.S.

I updated my playlist too. I took the girls to see the Hannah Montana movie on Mother's Day & we all fell in love with the 1st two songs I have listed now. I think everyone will like them too :)

The last day of school & other stuff

My camera has pretty well bit the dust, but I did manage to get a couple decent shots of the girls' last day of school last Thursday. Danielle will be in the 2nd grade next year & Kayla will be a big 5th grader. I think I'll die in a couple years when she's in the jr. high!! Sorry for the fuzzy pics--I'm getting a new camera very soon I hope!!

Eyes glued to the T.V. before the bus came. He gets here at approx 7:15 & returns them home around 4:00.

Fuzzy pic, but funny too. Olivia trying to get one of Kayla's shoes on so she can go too! She's a little shoe obsessed.

Goes & gets one shoe out of her closet for me to put on her......I tell her to go back & find the match.......

She does & now is crying her head off because I won't hurry up & put it on so she can go OUTSIDE. That's all we do right now is go outside, outside, outside. She's into riding the 4wheeler, pulling grass for the rabbits to eat, finding mud & water puddles, pulling off the heads of all my flowers.....fun, fun, fun. Check out her farmer's tan in this pic. I thought Kayla tanned easily. I think Olivia will be my darkest one yet. (these shoes are vintage 1999 Pooh bear shoes--Kayla Renee's!!!)
I had brought a towel out to sit on because it had rained the night before and my butt kept getting wet. Liv decided she wanted to sit on it instead. She only stays in one spot for one second so it took me like 10 tries to get her to sit for this pic!!!!


This has been her favorite thing to do since she was just barely walking. Looking for rainwater in the seat of Danielle's Green Machine. Then, splashing in it and then drinking it!!!!! :) She's actually bent over drinking it up.

Last Friday I went & got a lid to a Tupperware cake pan, filled it with water & cups and decided to let Olivia play in it. Leave it to my crazy girls to get excited, get their suits on & everyone get soaked!!! Olivia actually ended up completely sitting in it. If the water hose hadn't been broke I would've filled her pool up. We can't keep them out of my mom & dad's pool already. We have a big b-day party planned for the girls on June 20th there so they are pretty excited. They are such good big sisters to Miss Olivia. I'm very proud of them all.......

Update

Wow--time flies when you are super busy!! The girls only have 2 more days of school left after today. Thank goodness! I think we are ALL sick of homework and trying to get them to bed early. Kayla had her field trip a couple wks ago to the Indy 500 track and actually got to see Danica Patrick. She was excited and full of stories. She had her wax museum last week where they each dress as a famous person from Indiana. She was Eli Lilly. She wore Rhoda's white lab coat, fake mustache & her dad's glasses while holding a Rx bottle. She said a little paragraph about him and did very well. I was proud of her. I have pics but they are on Jess's camera as mine is NOT working right.

Danielle is killing me with her "growing the bangs out" thing. She decided at the last haircut that she was finally tired of bangs which is weird because she has always had them. They are almost past her eyes now and she hates pinning them back! I make her when we go somewhere or if she's going to school but if she's home then they are down and in her eyes!

My mom & dad opened their pool up over the weekend and the freezing temp of the water did not stop the girls from swimming! I remember being little with my cousins Tonya & Nikki and getting in the freezing water. Tonya always had blue lips and would shiver half to death but we did not get out for fear that our parents would tell us to stay out! They had the best time yesterday swimming in the rain. It came pouring down and they were outside in it since it wasn't lightning. It's hard keeping Olivia out of the water. My mom let her stand on the top part of the ladder and play in it and she had a blast. She is water crazy and loves me spraying her with water but the funny thing is--she hates me dumping a cup over her head in the tub trying to rinse her hair--hates it! Oh well, go figure.

I finally had my foot surgery this past Friday, the 22nd @ Bloomington with the best foot doc ever, Dr. Parmenter. He is such a genuine caring doc that makes you feel important and not just another paycheck to him. He even called me at home Sunday to see how I was. I had a bilateral endoscopic fasciotomy and ostectomy which is cutting 2 incisions in each heel on the sides of my heels, sticking a thing in there to cut the fascia band and then grinding down the heel spurs. Yuck! He told my Dad & Eric that he had to cut my left foot a little deeper because I had a nerve that did not release as it should've with all the physical therapy I'd had. I have 4 -5 stitches in each foot and should get them out this Thurs. I have to leave the wraps on and all that. I'm walking with a walker I rented from Wms. Bros. in Loogootee. They sent me home with the removable walking casts that have tubes that you connect to a cooler and send ice water through them. You talk about heaven when your feet are throbbing---ice cold water surrounding your feet like walking on icy air mattresses!!! I took this week off of work and will try to go back June 1 if all is well. If not, then I'm not pushing it and will stay home next week too. I do not have alot of money or PTO to be off work very long so I hope to go back!!!

Hope everyone is doing well and I will post pics later when my legs & feet are not swelling up as I'm typing:) Happy Memorial Day--thanks to all the veterans of the past & present for protecting our freedom that we so enjoy!!!!

Jamie

The 12th

Well, today is the 12th which means Olivia Jean is 15 months old today!! The girls were born on June 12 (Danielle) and July 12 (Kayla) too so we can remember them easily--ha! Danielle's b-day is next month and they want a big together party/pool party at G-ma & Pop Fegan's house. I'm trying to pick a date but it's hard with summer time, 4H, Relay for Life, weddings, etc. They have been looking through magazines trying to pick a theme. Of course they wanted Twilight but I said they'd probably have a hard time finding decor--lol. They are still looking!!

Kayla's field trip to the Indy 500 track is Thursday this week. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I have a foot dr appt in Bloomington again on the same day. Eric & Olivia are going w/me. I'm tired of them feeling so painful for the past almost year now so if surgery is needed them just do it! I'd only miss maybe 2 wks of work or less. My aunt had it done and she regretted not doing it sooner. Guess I'll find out Thurs!

Olivia is saying no to everything now only it comes out sounding like "dough". Josh is so proud--just like Homer Simpson! She doesn't forget anything either. Everyday, just like clockwork she comes in the bathroom w/ me--digs in the cabinets, flushes the toilet, combs her hair and mine, goes to find her shoes so she can hurry up and leave and go to Mindy's!!! Somedays she wears the shoes with her pajamas til I'm ready to dress her. She's obsessed w/ these 2 monkeys on the Disney Channel that come on and do a little song at 8 a.m. every morning. Their names are Oo-oo and Ah-ah. They do a song and sing w/ kids and she LOVES it. She screams, dances, throws her arms up and smiles from ear to ear. I have to get it recorded--it's so cute. Kayla taught her how to tap dance. She brings one foot forward and taps her foot several times on the floor. She's still in love w/ all animals. Mindy texted me a pic of her playing w/ their dog Jack. She said usually she lays her head on him:) Mindy's getting a new baby in 2 wks--don't know how well Liv will like that. She KNOWS she's the baby and when Mindy has a baby there she said she walks in circles around her crying wanting Mindy to hold her!

I have to somehow get that nighttime bottle away from her but I kinda forget how to! It's our routine--blankie, bottle, rockin' chair--off to sleepyland about 9:30. How in the world do I stop this? I know I did the exact same thing w/ the girls but can't remember! How does my memory block these things?? I must be pre-alzheimers! Wish I would've wrote it down in their baby books. Any suggestions anyone??

Mother's Day was wonderful. Eric & the girls got me a new outdoor umbrella & 2 matching chairs for my outdoor porch table. They had bought and made cards too. Danielle made a pencil holder at school for me:) Sunday I took Kayla & Danielle to the Jasper 8 theater to see Hannah Montana movie. It was excellent. So good to see a nice, clean, family movie. I don't know who loved it more--me or them!!

So glad summer time is almost here! I have all my flowers finally planted and Eric's mowed the yard a handful of times. I love the smell of fresh cut grass. I love putting the guinea pig in the back yard and letting him chow on grass and letting one of the rabbits out for Olivia to follow around. It's soooo nice to be able to get outside and finally enjoy the weather! Happy Summer to all!!!

Jamie