Just keep swimming, just keep swimmming...

Mia Mose and the Horsey

Mia loves the zoo. She touches every animal she can get her little hands on. On this day, she got a little too close to the horse! (This video was taken about a month ago. We (Heath) just figured out how to put our clips on the blog.)

Little Boy

Jackson,
You had your 6 month Dr.'s appt. this week.
You tipped the scales at 16 lbs. 5 oz.
You are 26 in. long and your head is 43 cm.
Only about 30% on the charts.
You are always cooing and making noises.
You eat almost anything.
You love yogurt, mashed potatoes , and grilled cheese sammies.
You roll everywhere and have started to push yourself forward with your feet.
You are learning to sit up.
You have to have your Ruffy dog to help you fall asleep.
You love your sister. You just stare at her and giggle.
You love kisses on your chubby, little, neck.
How have you grown so fast?
I just love you, so much.
Your smiling eyes can just absolutely melt my heart.

Happy 1/2 Birthday (tomorrow), my son!

Love,
Your Momma

Hey Ya'll

Well, so much has happened in the last few days. Heath took his boards on Tuesday and said he felt really good about it. Thank you, everyone who was praying for him. He now has a couple weeks off to enjoy the summer.

Wednesday, I went under the knife. It was a weird feeling going into it and knowing that I was going to be knocked out. I wasn't really fearful, but every time I would think about the "possibilities," I would well up with tears. But, I arrived at the hospital and I had such peace. I don't really remember much, except when I asked the Dr., as he was bandaging me up, if this was the first time he had done this operation. His answer was yes! Which is fine, I had total confidence in him, but can you believe I had the nerve to say that to someone who just fixed my foot. If my head wasn't so foggy, and if my foot wasn't wrapped up to the size of a butternut squash, I would probably have shoved it in my mouth! Anyway, I feel great, not a lot of pain, just hating those crutches. Anxious to walk on a good foot again.

That night we played KB's til 1:30 am. Stupid. Next day, Heath and his Mom took turns pushing me around in a wheelchair at the St. Louis Zoo. It was Awesome. I am going to rent a wheelchair every time I go to the zoo! It was a beautiful day, and we got Safari passes, so we did lots of fun things we don't usually do there... Sea Lion show, Wild ride, Children's zoo, Carousel, train..... Loved it.

UPDATE: The other day we went to Target to buy a gift for My brother. I rode on an electric scooter. Yes. I did feel like a nerd. Yes. It was so embarrassing when I would back up and the scooter would BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Yes. I ran into a ton of stuff. Yes. I definitely will be doing that again sometime in the next three weeks!

To Our Dad

Daddy,

We just want you to know how much we love you and and we are so happy that God made you our Daddy! We love when you tickle us, and read to us, and dance with us. We love all the silly things you do. Happy Father's Day!

We love you, so much!

Love, Mia and Jack

Watch Out! Here Come the Laughlin 5!

This is Millie. Millie is a baby donkey who lives in Five Oaks subdivision with her mommy, Gretchen, and these two turkeys! We had permission to go see them, so we packed all the kids up and headed over there after Seth's party. The Laughlin kids just loved it. I did, too. They were very gentle and so adorable. I don't know what the turkeys were feeling with 5 little kids running around, who were loaded up on cake. But thet were sure neat to see upclose. Very weird animal. But I decided I want a baby donkey in my yard to walk around with my peacck someday!

Summertime

We went swimming at my friend Amanda's house yesterday. It was a gorgeous day, and they just had their pool repainted last fall so the water looked nice and blue and so refreshing. It was Jack's first experience in a pool. He just sat their and floated around. And he looked so handsome in his little trunks. Also yesterday I realized how big my baby girl is getting. I finished putting on her sunscreen and before I knew it she was in the water. She stayed on the steps for about ten minutes and then she just took off. She was swimming all over the pool, ALL BY HER BIG GIRL SELF, (And her frog jacket of course!) I couldn't believe it. Then she proceeded to go off the diving board. I was so proud of her. As for me, I was just hoping to get a little tan through the SPF 30 that I caked all over me. I am freakish about sunscreen. I wear it everyday of the year. I just don't want spots and wrinkles all over in ten years. Yet, although I am completely fine with my vanilla skin most of the year, when I start to show a little leg in the summer I would prefer to be a nice toasted coconut color! Well, I did get a little color, but my back (where I could not reach) is the color of a red ripe strawberry! Ouch!
Please pray for my guy this week. He has his board test on Tuesday, June 17, and he has been putting in so many hours of studying. Pray for wisdom, grace, and that he would just have peace that passes all understanding! Isaiah 26.3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Matthew 18.3

Karen asked in her blog what our kids favorite books are. Mia loves to read anything Dr. Suess. What a genius man. Her absolute favorites are Oh, The Thinks You Can Think, Green Eggs and Ham, The A B C Book, and There's a Wocket in My Pocket. I love that when I read, "And what would you do if you met a Jibboo?," she always responds, "I ohnt o!"(I don't know!) And she says it in the cutest little squeaky voice. She also regularly comes to me now asking, "E like eggs, Mom? Not in the dark?" I love it.
Isn't it fascinating how the mind a a child works? The things they say, their actions and reactions. They have such a deep memory of things that we, as adults, forget so quickly. Stunning sometimes. The other day we drove by the Glenwood High School soccer field. She looked out the window and said, "Soccerballs." There was no one on the field. We don't drive by there often and we have never said, " Look, there's the soccer field. She just rememered that we went to go watch Uncle Chad coach a game there last fall. I could not believe it!

A Bit of Heaven

OK. I realize I have written made enough posts for one night, but I just had to say, I got new sheets for our bedroom today. We have a very tall bed, with a deep mattress, so it is always very hard to find bed linens that fit correctly. And what do you know, they fit like a glove! Is there anything more delightful than fresh, crisp, clean, 400 thread-count, Egyptian cotton,
brand-spankin-new sheets? Seriously. NJ

Futile Efforts

I told you all how we started taping a glove on Mia's hand at night so she wouldn't twist her hair. Well, it isn't going great. So, tonight we put a long sock over the the glove so she would be double taped. This is what I found when I went in to check on her:
She wanted her headband on instead.

Pasta, Ice Cream, Peacocks, Bleach, and Babies

Katie came over today. She brought stuff for me to make her lunch! YUM. Angel hair pasta tossed with shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, chili peppers, and a little basil from my new herb garden! After we ate, we decided the day would be complete without a little Coldstone. All the kids fell asleep on the way there, so we grabbed it to go, stopped my The Space, and headed to the zoo. And what do you think we saw at the zoo today?......A BABY PEACOCK! It was so cute. I have decided someday I would love to have some peacocks roaming around in my yard.
After the zoo, we came back and did each others hair. Love my new do, Kate! And look, Mia found a new baby doll to play with. You are such a good sport Mac!

Tagged!

Ok. I am skipping all the rules at the top because everyone I would tag has probably already been tagged by one of you! If you don't know the rules then look at some else's blog!

What was I doing five years ago?

• going to cosmetology school in Spfld., living with my Aunt Pasty
• planning my beautiful Christmas wedding to my Beau
• meeting my best friend, Katie, for the first time
  
• working hard for the money, every tip counts
• shopping way too much, (oh to spend my money like I was single again...)

5 things on my list for tomorrow:

• 9 am Go to the zoo for a special tour of the zoo kitchen
• cut my Grandma's hair
• take Mia swimming @ Jenny's
  
• cook a delicious dinner
• watch Jon and Kate Plus 8

5 things I would buy if I were a billionaire:

• You all are very heroic for wanting to buy some kids, but I just have my plate full at the moment, so, no babies on the list right now!
• A house
• pay for Heath's tuition
• a tummy tuck, FOR SURE
• I would by Heath a new car, so that he didn't have to keep driving his little race car
• AND, World Peace
  

5 of my favorite places to travel and why:

• Chicago, my favorite place in all the world
• Florida, the beach and my Aunt Katie
• Thailand, mission trip and GREAT food
• Dallas, so many places to go
• St. Louis Galleria, pure bliss

5 jobs I've had:

• midnight waitress at Denny's/ high school
  
• Family Video, hated it/ summer after graduation
  
• Outback in Dallas/ during CFNI
  
• Outback in Springfield/ during beauty school
  
• Family Hair Care and MORE!/now

5 favorite snacks

• key lime pie
• anything spicy
• coffee
  
• homemade granola
  
• green apple licorice
  

5 people to tag

• Marylynn
• Katie
• Sally
• Alison
• Brandi
  

Big Events

My niece, Haley, turns 2 tomorrow! We had a celebration for her on Saturday. And, you all know that when you have 2 year old that things just don't always go the way you plan. It was hilarious, (not to my sister)! Haley missed her naptime and just was not in the mood for a party, or presents, or the yummy birthday cake that I made for her! But, It was a great time anyway!
Later, that evening we headed back up to Springfield for Max's High School Graduation. Max is my kid brother who lives in Chatham. He has grown up too fast! Anyway, I wish I would have recorded the valedictorian's speech for you all to listen to. It was about Chicken from the cafeteria and how it has shaped the class of 2008! Literally. I just sat there and thought to myself, "I bet I was just as silly as this 7 years ago!" But, anyway, Congratulations, Maxwell!

Teething Already???

Jack is 5 1/2 months old. He woke up @ 4am yesterday. He was burning up. So, he had some medicine and a midnight "schnack" and went back to sleep.
Other symptoms and strange behaviors:

• runny nose
• puffy eyes
• doesn't want to eat his milk and cookies
• keeps biting his Momma
  
• rash
• sleepy all day
• a bit irritable
  

My suspicion is that he is going to be getting his first tooth soon.
Now, Heath's Dad, and other physicians, would swear up and down that it is totally unrelated to teething, but I just can't agree.
Do your children get any of these symptoms when they cut teeth?

Oh ohhh, Girls just wanna have fun!

My girl loves make-up. She has a make-up session every day. She knows that concealer goes "pat-pat-pat" to covers bags and pimples, blush goes on the apples of your cheeks, "Schticky" comes in all colors and flavors, and YES, she knows just exactly how to put on mascara! If only life would be so kind that she could secretly put make-up on whenever she wanted, and her mean old Dad would just let her be and quit sneaking up on her. It made her smudge! Come on now, Girls just wanna have fun!