Updated

I updated my pregnancy/post pregnancy blog for those of you who want to take a meander over there :)

Round 3

Here we go with the potty training for kid number 3. Look how cute and happy she looks with all those panties.
















If the camera was turned around you'd see me with half my makeup on, hair undone and wearing the same shirt I was wearing yesterday. I hate potty training. Here's to hoping she'll stay good at it. We've had 3 tiny little accidents, only a couple drops of pee, and tons of juice and successful bathroom trips. So so far we're not doing too bad. But I still hate potty training. :)

My Day

Since I was in no mood to get out my camera today I figured I'd let these awesome people help relay how my day was.

One of these might have made my day easier























Thankfully only one of my kids looked like these kids today























Maybe if I hung one of these signs in every room of my house I wouldn't have had to clean either out of my carpet today
















When I see this picture it makes me grateful my kids only colored all over my couch today instead of ripping it to shreds















I've felt like one of my kids was doing this to me all day













While also doing this with one of their siblings
















Doing this to all my children could have helped today go better























I'm still undecided if I should have done this





















Or this today
















Thank goodness it's Friday!

SNOW!!!

We had a crazy "fall". Last week we were outside playing in T-shirts and now we have a nice layer of snow. I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of snow, but it sure is pretty. I think this will melt off this afternoon but soon enough it will be here to stay.













































And here is Emmie this morning before school. Yes it's crazy hair day at school, this isn't how her hair normally looks. Although I'm sure Emmie would LOVE it if it were.

Allison's first day

I didn't want to post the pics I took of Allison on her first day on blogger since they show the name of her preschool in almost all the shots, but I do have to document that she did in fact start last week and LOVES it. She feels like such a big girl and will tell anyone, anywhere, that she is in preschool.







































On a side note, I updated my other private blog for those that check that out. Sorry that I haven't posted on since like February :)

First Day

Who knew I'd cry so hard when my oldest babe finally got on that bus!?! I thought it would be no big deal since she's already been to two years of preschool, but it was tough to see her go this morning. The lump in my throat started when she was embarrassed of me trying to get pictures of her. Then as soon as she got on I tried to wave to her but she was too interested in where to sit and then talking to her friends. So needless to say I walked home heartbroken bawling my eyes out. We can't wait to see these kids grow up but when they do it's so bittersweet.

yep, not recapping

I'm not apologizing or recapping the last couple months... I was just too busy! :) But I had to post this little beauty turning 3.


























































































I can't believe my middle babe is this old already and starting preschool in a couple weeks. She was sick with an ear infection on her birthday but it didn't slow her down from enjoying it. The wiggles happened to come to Salt Lake just days before her birthday and so that was her main present. We sat about 6 rows back and the girls danced their tails off right up at the stage. It was actually really fun and even Darren and I enjoyed singing along haha

Hopefully I won't take another 3ish months to post again but no promises ;)

Mid or Late?

So I'm 26. Does that mean I can still consider myself in my mid 20's or have a graduated to the late 20's? I'm hoping to eek out another year of the mid's so bear with me people. I spent extra long getting ready on my birthday. I was looking at my face, making sure none of those pesky wrinkles have made a home yet. Took a good look at the bod and mentally noted a couple areas to be worked on. Some, lets face it, only a plastic surgeon can fix. Can we say start saving for some new ladies? ;) Throughout the day I was more reflective of my last 25 years on this earth and noting what were maybe some not so great things I've accomplished and then making sure to double note the things that I have done well to cancel out the dumb things. Although I hope every birthday from here on out doesn't start with the critical examinations it was nice to reflect on the last 25 years and realize that I'm doing alright and happy with where I am. I have a fabulous little family and lots of people who love me.

So although my feelings for turning 26 were a little along these lines....


















scared excitement. I'm excited to see what the next quarter of a CENTURY hold for me. :)

So in honor of my new year older I thought I'd entertain you all with some info. You can call it an "All you never cared to know about Traci but she's willing to share" :)

• I love my crazy kids. I think I'm safe to say a lot of would-be moms would run for the hills if they stayed a day in our house but my wild and fun kids are my world. And even when I want to pull my hair out I wouldn't trade them for anything
  
• I have one of the most amazing husbands. I know few other men who can put up with so much estrogen with such grace. I could go on forever but we'll just say, he's amazing.
  
• Some songs I love right now are: Taylor Swift-Today was a Fairytale, Matisyahu-One day, Chris Daughtry-Life after you, The Script-Breakeven, Kris Allen-Live like we're dying, Parachute-She is love
• I doubt myself a lot. This is more of one of those "need to work on" things. I used to be so sure of everything until I become responsible for so many people. Now I always second guess things and hope I'm doing my best at everything
• I like to do things my own way and have learned to bite my tongue and relax more when I get help from others. (I'm still weird about people messing around in my kitchen. Hey I'm not perfect)
• I'm desperately in love with coke and can't imagine life without it.
  
• I love to do things spontaneously. This has become a little more difficult with kids but I still love to just jump in the car and go with no plans.
  
• I can get mad and then get over it quick. I don't hold grudges and I can't stand when others do, life's too short to be upset all the time.
  
• I wear flip flops all year long. But this year I vow to buy another pair of heels.
  
• I live in jeans and t-shirts. But I also vow this year to buy another dress.
• I can talk to anyone for hours. I don't care if we just met in a pet store line. I could go out to lunch with them and shoot the breeze forever. I can thank my mom for this gift of gab ;)
• If I had millions I would travel with my kids. I would love to show them the world. But not just the cool landmarky type places. I would love to take them to little villages everywhere and show them what real work and love are when people have nothing to give but themselves.
• I love to eat. I'm not the type of person to try everything though. If it smells like crap I'm not putting it in my mouth just to say I did. I'm a social eater. I love to go out to lunch and have friends to dinner.
• I bite off more than I can chew a lot and get stressed when I can't do it all.
• I love to read.
• I'm super cheap. Maybe a better word would be frugal but I just call it cheap. I have no problem asking for them to dump out my coke and refill it with less ice so I can get more. I have no shame using coupons or asking if something is going to go on sale soon.
  
• Redbox has become my new bestfriend. Pairing a cheap movie with my pjs and a comfy couch, doesn't get much better than that.
• I love to workout and kick my body to do things I know it can do. I don't have the rock hard bod I should with the amount of work I put into it. But I still enjoy it. On that note, as you can see in the above pic, for my b-day Darren bought me the Insanity set. It's a crazy workout program that I'm starting it today. Wish me luck and hope I don't keel over from the intensity of it.
  

So there is some Traci awesomeness for you and I guess the conclusion I've come to after my birthday is that even if I'm mid or late 20's I'm still living, healthy and happy. But call me late 20's and I'll hurt you. ;)

Did I really not take any pics in March?

Better believe it. I looked at my camera and not a single picture was snapped in the month of March. Want to call me a bad mom? Here are a couple from the end of April though :)

Posed much? Emmie learned this from her cousin Kayla when they were doing "photo shoots"

































My poor kids and their sensitive eyes. They can't look at the camera without squinting when the sun's out.


















Can I tell you how grateful I am for a fenced backyard!?! Even if our yard is small I love that the kids can just run in and out of the house when the weather is nice.

































This is how Eliza spends her time while I do my makeup. I'm just glad she doesn't weigh more and bust our tracks

Eliza's 1st

Can we say ghetto...? Yes if you look you will notice the duct tape, we were out of clear tape and I had to go to work so we didn't have time to go get some regular tape to make the wrapping look pretty but Eliza luckily didn't seem to care that her packages were wrapped so lamely. We also had to wake her up from a nap to open them and didn't put her dress back on, that is why she's laying down in the first picture and doesn't look so stylish. Gosh we're horrible parents! Even though her birthday was almost a month ago I still had to post these to document our baby turning 1. Can you believe my "baby" is walking, starting to talk and throw tantrums and getting closer to toddlerhood? I'm so sad

Emmie's new glasses and love interest

So these pictures are mega sucky since we still haven't bought our new camera. I need to so bad! Since this camera sucks so much these are the only pictures I took the whole month of January, sad huh?

Emmie had her eyes checked at school and they sent home a referral letting us know she didn't pass and that we needed to go to an optometrist. We took her in and sure enough she does have poor vision. In one eye she is 20/20 but the other eye is 20/80. The Dr let us know she will have glasses the rest of her life with how bad her one eye is. Well good thing she thinks they are pretty dang cool so far and has kept them on all day, hopefully she can have the same love of glasses the rest of her life since it's a life sentence. ;)

**update**
So I took Emmie into the optometrist again since I looked through her glasses and was a little confused as to why both sides had magnification if her one eye was 20/20. Well I guess she is 20/20 when tested as she is compensating her vision or something like that, but when her eyes are dilated and not straining to see, her eyes are actually about +700 on one side and +550 on the other eye. So I don't know much about the eye world but the Dr informed me that means she is 700 times more far-sided and 550 times more far-sided than a normal eye. So I guess she has no "good" eye, one is just slightly less worse than the other.


































































In other news, Emmie has a little thing for the neighbor boy across the street (he's in 4th grade but this doesn't deter her interest) Luckily he is really sweet and doesn't mind playing with her even though she is so young. She is always telling us she is going to marry him and wants to play outside every day, even though it's still cold, just in case he comes out. It's cute to watch this little crush (from her side) unfold. Last week she wrote him a note telling him she missed playing with him and that she hoped they could play soon. She walked it over and gave it to his mom and the next day he turned around and brought this note over























Isn't that cute!?! haha