Test run

Some of you may have caught wind that Ken is doing (what has been named) the Fat Boy challenge. The challenge is to run a 6 minute mile by March 3rd. Since he's been training, he's been eating healthier which has rippled into all of us eating healthier.. Lots of fruits and veggies!!

So Ken and I have decided to take it a step further.. We are going on a juice fast!

What? Annie not EAT anything? No meats? No cokes? I know.. mind blowing.. I type this as I stuff my face with cheetos, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Stop judging me!!

WHY??? You may ask, are you doing this? While I can't speak for Ken, I am going to do it for a couple of reasons. And while I don't want to sound cliche, its probably going to come out that way anyway so here goes. I am trying to be a better person, I'll keep the details to myself but let's just say eating and feeding my family heathier foods is on the docket. Enter the juice fast! And if I drop a pound or two in the process thats a bonus. :) The juice fast we'll be following is inspired by the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" if you haven't heard of it, you should Definitely watch it.

So this week, Ken and I will be starting our fast. Stay tuned for updates!

The lake!

So we went to the lake for an early birthday celebration for Ken. Ken's parent's are building their house on the lake on the most GORGEOUS property.  We had lunch and bday stuff and then went to see how the new house was progressing.  Ken and the girls tested out their new fishing poles. I unfortunately didn't get to test mine out. I was too busy being a nervous wreck clinging on to the girls waist bands in fear that they would fall trying to throw rocks into the water.

Clean carpets = shopping time?

When we bought this house, we had the carpets replaced. Since then, we've had 2 more kids which equals LOTS of juice stains. This week, Ken and I finally got fed up with our carpet and decided to have it cleaned. It looks AWESOME!     

do you notice what you don't see? Stains!!! Or toys. All of the mess has been temporarily relocated to the spare bedroom while the carpets dry.

So while we waited for the carpet to dry, we decided to get the girls out of the house and run some errands. We got AJ some new tennis shoes. 

I scored an awesome deal on a couple of super cute hand knit sweaters for the little ones.

And we got the girls new raincoats!  Click on the link to watch the video entitled RAINING! on the left side of the page. 

http://englandfamily.shutterfly.com/

midnight ramblings of a hungry insomniac

For the last couple months my head hasn't hit the pillow before 4am. So its a bit of an adjustment to make my body go "on Christmas Vacation". So here I am, chowing down on yummy Christmas ham, corn casserole and mac and cheese and updating you guys! The England home was VERY blessed this year. Santa (whom Addison does NOT like or care to see ever again)

brought the girls a pink wooden kitchen set with lots of food and pots and pans.  Alexis asked for a first aid kit and a bell from Santa's sleigh which she received. And Ken and I surprised her with an iPod touch. (I think that thing is permanently embedded in her hand). My mom got us a membership to the McWane Center which the girls are LOVING!

Addison and Anna are especially fun at this age. Addison is showing such a sweet and thoughtful personality. Here are a few funny/ sweet tidbits from the past couple of weeks.  Sorry for the repeat if you're one of my facebook friends and have already read these stories. :) You can skip on to the pics.

•   One night when I put the girls down for bed Anna was crying and Addison calmed her down. I stood outside the door and this is what I heard: 

                 Addison: "Anna, whats wrong? whats wrong?.. Stop crying. its ok. You want mommy? 
                 Anna: "uh Huhhh" 
                Addison: "its ok. stop crying. we get cereal in da morning okayyyy?" 
                Anna: "ok" :)

• I'm sitting on the couch playing on my laptop when Addison comes up to me:

                Addison: Anna got a booger mommy. I got it. (she brings me the base of a wooden toy tree the she apparently shoved up Anna's nose to get the booger.)
                Me: yup you got it didn't you? 
                Addison: Yeahhhh, Gwoss.

• Addison's favorite movie is Toy Story 3. We watch it AT LEAST 3 times a day.  So she was really excited to get her own Woody doll and Mr and Mrs. Potato head. Actually, the Mrs. Potato head is Anna's but Anna prefers wearing Mr. potato head's glasses.  If you've ever watched that movie, there's a scene where Ken is showing off all his clothing options to Barbie and the background music is that old song "Freak out". So Addison has picked up that phrase. " Mommy, I wanna watch Freak out" Yeahhhh, we're working on correcting that. haha!

• 
  

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed!

OMGoodness, I just realized that I never posted the blog on Addison and Anna's birthday party!  BAD MOMMY!

So here we go.

Since Addison and Anna's birthdays are 2 weeks apart, we decided to have a joint birthday party for their first and second birthday.  We call Anna "chunky monkey" so that was the theme for our party.  I tried my hand at applique and made their birthday shirts.  Anna was chunky monkey and Addison was silly monkey. We had their party at our house and created an outdoor playspace of sorts for the kids.  We had lots of family and wonderful friends to help us celebrate the big day.  Here are some pics of their special day.

I made monkey invitations, cupcakes, and decorations/ favors. The big monkey cake was a custom order from Publix. SO YUM! I was busy getting things set up that I forgot to take more pics of the decorations.  It was cute though! We made lots of tissue paper balls in turquoise and pink in different sizes.  And hung them from the tent. I also decorated freezer cups with each child's name and a monkey face customized to fit each child's personality (sassy monkey, silly monkey, etc.).  Take a look.

For more pics check out our picture sharesite. http://www.englandfamily.shutterfly.com/

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!

CLAP! CLAP!

So much to update you guys on.  The England house has been a bit busy lately.  Ken has started his  doctorate program at the University of Alabama and he is going full force into it.  I have a feeling that we'll have to make some changes to our schedules and routines to accomodate all of the studying and writing that he's doing.  But I am SO proud of him.  He's a pretty amazing man to be able to handle a demanding job, demanding school schedule and being an active father and husband to our little family.

And the girls are all growing up so fast.  We moved Anna into Addison's room since they love spending time together and its worked out well so far.  I still have LOTS of decorating to do for their room but it frees up a room for my mom to stay in when she comes.  It's nice to have a guest room again. 

Anna is practically running and is still working on vocab.  She doesn't talk as much as the other girls did.  I guess she's just taking it all in.  She'll occasionally bust out with words here and there like "Aday sue" (AJ Shoe) and Doe (Door).  Her little personality is really coming out and its so cute.  She is sweet natured but definitely has a feisty side.  Her feistyness just comes across a little more sly than Addison and AJ's.   Her thing lately has been nodding her head.  When you ask her if she wants something she'll nod her head and go "mmm".  I can't get her to say yes for the life of me.

Addison is talking up a storm now and we have entered the "why" phase.  Me: Addison clean up
Addie: Clean up? why? Me: because its messy Addison: Oh messy? WHY?  hahah! You get the picture.  It goes on FOREVER. But she's such a good girl.  She's sweet to her sisters most of the time unless one of them took a toy she wanted or was even thinking about playing with.  We've got to seriously work on the sharing.  I'm working with her on her abcs, numbers, and colors and she's doing pretty well.  The key is to do the flashcards during her eating time.  Because then she's distracted and eats more and focuses on what we're talking about.   She's also done AWESOME with her potty training.  She's able to stay in panties when she's awake and tell me when she needs to go.  We still keep her in pullups at naptimes and at night though.   BUT YAYYY for Addison.  Hopefully not much longer and I'll be able to get her completely in panties and then it'll be Anna's turn to potty train.  I am SO ready to be done with diapers. UGH!

And AJ starts THIRD grade next monday! Can you believe it? She's grown up so quickly.  She just started her second year of cheering and she is so excited.  I'll be sure to post more pics when the games start. Go HOOVER! :)  I'm having to work with her on her attitude since she seems to have picked up a sassy pants attitude and I do not like it one bit.  I talked to a few other parents and they seem to confirm what I was thinking about her watching too many Disney shows.  If any of you have elementary school kids you probably know what I'm talking about.  Almost all the shows the grown ups seem to be the bumbling idiots and the preteens and teens all smart mouth back to them.  So I've cut out a lot of her tv time and am trying to keep her busy with activities and such. 

As for me.  Most of you know that I've started my own business.  And if you didn't.. I DID! It's very exciting and I'm loving it.  Still trying to figure some things out like work schedule, etc. But I think its going pretty well.  Make sure to check out my etsy shop, blog or facebook page!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bahbooodesignstudio
http://bahbooo.com/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bahbooo-Design-Studio/206786469361043

And help me spread the word too! (For every 2 people you refer to me (that place an order) you get a free monogram!)- Shameless plug right there.

Anyway, I guess I'll leave you with this.  Have a happy week!