SO not a toddler anymore

How does she seem so old all of a sudden?Might be the full, thick head of hair. Maybe it's the funny personality that's coming out more every day. You know how you can't wait for your first child to take their first steps or say their first words or take them to school for the first time? All of those firsts can't come soon enough when it's your first. But she's my last and I'm trying to figure out how to slow it all down. I'm in no hurry to send her to preschool or sign her up for stuff. She's my little shadow and I love it.

We made up a little rhyme for her:

Elle Grace .... I love your face .... El-le Grace!

Totally love her (in case there was any doubt).

She's (finally) off ...

After nights and nights of practicing with dad, Paige finally got the hang of riding her bike without training wheels....She's a little bit proud of herself -- can ya tell? Her final ride down the street ended with a head-on collision with the Frame's boat. Good mom that I am, I didn't wait to capture the crash on film but actually ran over to help her. Kind of wish I had the picture though ...Neither the boat or Paige sustained serious damage.

While the kids are away ...

... the mommies will play. This was my 3rd annual back-to-school breakfast for my mom friends. We dropped the kids off at school and came back to my house to cry or high-five each other. And ate yummy food. I have great friends and neighbors and this is a tradition I plan to continue for many years to come.

Back 2 School '09

First day of school for 3 of my 4 kids. Cracked me up to see the girls being such girls the night before by laying out their clothes for the next day. I'm positive Christian didn't give his outfit near that amount of fore-thought. Before Mike or I even woke up that morning, Paige came into our room fully dressed, hair done, backpack on her shoulders. That's my girl. :)

Here's the crew ....Christian -- heading to 5th grade, cool as always (at least in his own head), slightly cocky. He informed me when he got home that since there are two Christians in his class that he'll be going by Chris this year. I seriously want to e-mail his teacher and say, "He's not a Chris, he's Christian. Over my dead body!!" (Where, oh where, do my girls get their dramatic streak?)Haley -- high-achieving, anxious to please, eager to meet new friends at her new school. After her first day she said she loved the class and her teacher but is missing her old school and her old friends. Hang in there, baby...Paige -- kindergartener FINALLY!! She's been waiting f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Just ask her. Her little friend Kamille ran up to her in the hall, threw her arms around Paige and said to me, "I just love her!" Paige will be just fine.Elle -- Thank you, my sweetheart, for not going to school yet. I'm not ready to give you up.

Daddy Surprise

I've mentioned Daddy Surprises before -- little outings (or big sometimes, as in Disneyland-big) that the kids know nothing about. We give them little clues and they try to guess where we're headed. My favorite guess was when Christian guessed we were taking them to see Oprah. Yeah, no. They were happier with our real destination ... Hollywood Connection.

We rode lots of rides ........laughed and laughed at Elle who giggled the whole time during bumper cars ....... and disco-skated our way around the neon-lit rink. Daddy had some moves, back in the day. :)Who knows what the next Daddy Surprise will be....

Daddy-daughter

There's something very cool about having mom or dad all to yourself for a night. Haley and Mike cowboy'd up and went to a Daddy-Daughter dinner and western night at the church. Go cowgirl. :)

Facebook Updates, part 2

* Misty Farley-Mayfield loves having new/old neighbors back across the street. The Frames are back!! Just have to say, Kim, you make me laugh and that makes me like you immediately.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield is feeling kinda bummed still. We had great plans to remodel a major fixer-upper into a great house and the stupid appraiser (who didn't even come out to the property so we could have an accurate appraisal) killed the deal. Back to square 1 ... again.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield is totally in love with my 2 year old. She's my little friend and snuggler.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield genuinely likes food. That can be a problem.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield is grateful for great girlfriends. I'd be much more of a basket-case without you guys.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield is completely defined by my role as a stay-at-home mom. I absolutely love that I'm with these great kids all day long and that I still have some influence with them. I wouldn't trade anything for my days home right now.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield loved 500 Days of Summer. Twice.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield has more freckles than I can count. They used to really bug me but I'm so much more comfortable in my own skin at my old age.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield always needs a good book close by.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield's husband totally rocks. I'm just sayin'.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield needs some great craft ideas for our next Super Saturday in November. This is the 3rd one I'm planning and I'm kind of out of new ideas.

* Misty Farley-Mayfield is feeling the itch to go on a cruise.....

At the cabin

We spent part of the weekend with friends in Midway at the Hess' cabin. Our kids were in heaven and we enjoyed the break away from daily routine. The ladies got to cookin' .....(Bless you, Becca, for remembering the carmelized onions :} )Elle entertained with her ballet routine ....and everyone had some gooood food.The adults spent time on this homemade twister-thing to work off some of that great food, and wound up getting motion sick from so many spinning competitions (Dave beat us all, by the way).The kids entertained themselves by playing joint games on the DS,playing good old fashioned board games,hanging out and eating too much candy,and trying unsuccessfully to beat Dave at tug-of-war.They also spent lots of time sliding down the stairs....We painted nails (my girlie contribution), did puzzles and played games, had the movie Cars on continuous loop, made bromance jokes, had finger-lickin' good buttermilk syrup, went fishing,had sleep-outs on the deck (lots of fun, very little sleep), watched a great lightning show, ate, ate, and ate some more. Great times! Thanks, everyone, for a fun weekend.