Brie, artist and photographer

Briahnna went on a field study last week to Historic Charleston, South Carolina. They were required to bring a camera to take photos for a scrapbook project they were assigned. I could post all the photos but she did a great job don't you think? She already got started on her scrapbook and was lucky that we have a ton of supplies already at home. I used to scrapbook but lost complete interest once I had William. I was hoping to get my mojo back but I think it's gone for good. Brie loves anything dealing with art so I let her have at it. She is also a perfectionist and puts in the extra time to make her projects stand out. She never lets me help. My kids always impress me :)

I love these amazing girls

It is really refreshing when you have teenage daughters that don't act like average teenagers. Both of our girls are such good students, athletes and all-around wonderful young people. There is never a day that we have to get on them about completing homework or studying. They take responsibility for themselves at all times. They know when it's time to do laundry, clean their rooms and bathroom and also help around the house without being told.

I wouldn't trade my sweet daughters for anything! We are proud of them and know that little brother has some really awesome big sisters. They are so good to him and I know when he is older he will appreciate them greatly.

We love you Chardonnay and Briahnna!

Brie update, no headaches!

I just briefly wanted to let you all know that the medication that was prescribed to Brie mention in the last post seems to be working! We had to make some alterations to the dosage times because the poor girl was a zombie all day long and was having a lot of trouble getting up in the morning. Periactin has that Benedryl effect so we started having her take it only at night at a reasonable time so that she would go to sleep early enough to get the rest she needed to be refreshed the next day. The doc advised we introduce one pill in the morning until she can tolerate it and not feel sleepy. I am just so thrilled that the girl has been free from headaches for quite a few days now. We plan to let her try out one pill in the morning over the weekend and see how she does. Hooray for NO headaches!

Briahnna update

I posted a couple days ago about taking Brie to the doctor for her headaches. As I expected, she did not have any signs of headache in the doc's office. The doctor checked her blood count and pressure and both checked out perfectly. She changed one of her allergy medications to Periactin. She says it is an antihistamine and is also used for a variety of ailments in children including chronic headaches. The downside of this medication is the sedative effects and it increases appetite. The doc says her body will get used to it and she will not be drowsy after a while as well as she should not have any significant weight gain. Poor kid walks around like a zombie and eats like a football player. I guess I will just have to keep some fresh fruit on hand and stock up on some relatively healthy snacks. Bless her little heart she is determined to deal with it and so far her headaches have been mild to non-existent. I just want my child to be well. I have breathed many of deep sighs in the past weeks. Thanks to everyone who showed concern and gave advice. What would I do without my blog buddies?!

Random things in my head

I have not been posting in normal Shelly fashion because I have been pretty consumed in a lot of things. Dwayne and I painted my office over the weekend so it took up a lot of time. I went from a creamsicle orange (used to be Chardie's room) into a color called green tea leaves. I really love it and my office finally looks like a grown-up works out of it! My office was smelling of paint so I looked up ways to get rid of the scent. There were so many things I could have tried but I went with the cracked open window and a container of coffee grinds. It worked! Now I have the scent of coffee stuck in my brain but I will take that over paint any day.

Briahnna has been suffering so badly from excruciating headaches. They are so bad that she lays on the couch all day and doesn't even change from her pajamas. She has been on the allergy shots for 2 months now and the ENT Specialist says to give it time. Well when you can see the veins in your child's head throbbing then giving it time just won't cut it. I made an appointment with her pediatrician for today and I am going to beg her to do some blood work to check to see if there can be something else ailing her besides the allergies being the culprit to the headaches. It breaks my heart like you would not believe when your child is so engrossed in pain and there is nothing you can do and no pill that helps. My mind has been taken over in anguish thinking about my girl. I am hoping the doctor can help her. She has suffered way longer than anyone should.

Okay, that's it for now. I will post an update once we get some kind of answers. Chances are she will feel just fine once she steps foot in the doctor's office *sighs*

Family Photo

It is amazing that you can take over 2 dozen photos and ending up going with the first shot! It is very tough working with a toddler. Here is what we ended up with.

Flashback Friday

Aww just look at my girls when they were little! They were 4 and 6 when these shots were taken. They were doing a coloring activity together. Everything was always so organized and clean. Of course Hurricane Willie has changed that now!

Look at those cute faces. They are now 13 and 15 and even though they are best friends still, you won't ever see them hug like that anymore~!

Allergy shots

Our daughter Briahnna has been suffering from headaches for years now and has gone through many doctor visits (including 3 Cat scans) to finally come to the conclusion that it is all sinus allergy related. It was recommended by our ENT Specialist that she gets a weekly allergy shot. As a mom I was not sure if that was what we wanted to do. I insisted that we try her on a different round of allergy meds and see how she did with it for 90 days. It worked very well for about 2 weeks and then the headaches were back. There is nothing worse than seeing your kid in pain and no matter what you give her she is not improving. We finally broke down and agreed to the shot. The alternative would be surgery and the doc says he really does not want to go that route. We started the first shot last week and we are not sure if it is really happening or just in her mind but it seems to have calmed the headaches down a little bit. The doc says that it generally takes 3-6 months to see improvement (they have to give you a longer time frame) and some people have been known to see a major difference within 30 days. I am really hoping we are one of those lucky ones. The great thing about the shot is even though it seems a pain to get it once a week, the office is close to home and it take a few minutes and you are in and out of the office with no wait or appointment. I will keep you all posted on her progress.

If anyone has had the allergy shot please feel free to share anything you think we might need to know. So far we have only heard positive things.

Brie is a teenager!!

We spent the Labor Day holiday celebrating Briahnna's 13th birthday. We had lots of food and family time. It was a really great day!

Can you tell she truly is a teenager by the fact that she was totally embarrassed to be getting a kiss from her dad?

It is seldom we get a family photo taken and of course William did not want to fully cooperate once he saw the camera.
Here is a rare photo of me since I am usually the one that takes the photos!

We had to get a small cake because we have to celebrate Chardie's birthday this coming weekend and don't want to be caked out.

Brie's first day of 7th grade

Here are a couple shots of Briahnna all ready for her first day back to school. She is in 7th grade now and is so super excited to go back. She was sticking to me all day yesterday telling me how much she will miss me while in school even though she is glad to be there. Awww!! I love this kid!!

It's still dark when it's time to leave out in the mornings. I have to get adjusted to the early mornings all over again.

Here are a few photos of Chardie and Brie at their best friend Haley's house. They have thoroughly enjoyed their Summer and are trying to get prepared for back-to-school. Lucky for me they LOVE school so this it's really easy!

They both went through a growth spurt this Summer.

William and I are officially the shortest people in our house!

I will surely miss these girls when they go back to school. Chardie is starting high school...YES high school! She's even talking about getting her driver's permit *gulp*

Flashback Friday and 300 posts!

Today marks our 300th post anniversary! Who knew we had that much to say?! Well I leave you with my all time favorite photo of the girls when they were 1 and 3. I used to dress them up like doll babies about 5 times per day! They were the cutest little things. I miss them so much at that age. We wish everyone a great weekend!!

Flashback Friday

This is a photo of my girls 9 years ago when they were 3 and 5. It was Chardie's first day of kindergarten. They were eating grits with cheese but when they were little they called it gritcheese. I was the nice mommy back in those days that cooked a hot breakfast lunch and dinner EVERY day. I used to put a towel over their clothes so if they accidentally spilled there would be no need to change. Now they make their own breakfast, lunch and help cook dinner. They wash and iron their own clothes, they rarely spill or make a mess, they don't need me as much. Okay, now I'm getting teary eyed! I guess they can't stay babies forever but they will forever be my babies :)

It's Tacky Day!

It is spirit week at the girls' school and yesterday's theme was "Tacky Day". My girls LOVE that day! Briahnna loves it mostly because she says "YES! I can finally wear what I want!" Yep, my baby has a little natural tackiness in her and we love her for that. She does not understand why you have to match. I let her wear whatever she wants as long as she is covered, appropriate for the weather, and is comfy. Can adults have tacky day too? lol!

Life's tough lessons (sorry, long post)

Yesterday afternoon was a really big day for my daughters. I have mentioned in previous posts that both of the girls are a part of the EL Wright Middle School volleyball team (Briahnna is a team manager and Chardonnay is a team player). They had their final game of the season against another team (Blythewood Middle) that was 7-0 just like their school. This was that biggest game of the season. The game that would give title to one school that would be the #1 in the district for middle school volleyball. Unfortunately our team did not win the final game. The other team had stronger serves and had a little better strategy that gave them the title. Chardonnay and her teammates were crushed and disappointed. They had to brave through doing the final handshake with their opponents. They held their tears back like champs. Once the final handshake was over they ran over to the side and sobbed uncontrollably. The reason for this is because in the last 2 years of playing, the veteran players had never lost a game. They were the reigning champions of the district for 3 years. This hit them so hard since they had never experienced loss in the sport they trained so hard for (18 hours per week not including regular school and other activities). Their coach had to tell them to hold their heads high and know that they played their hearts out and rank #2 in the district which is still very good. When I looked over at the girls' tears and pain I knew I had to hold it together.

Someone had to win and someone had to lose. It's life.

Chardie did something out there on the floor that most girls don't master until high school or are not skilled enough to attempt. She was jump serving her butt off! You should have seen the little powerhouse! She is one of the tiniest girls on the team but can play like a true champ. She received so much praise from other players, parents, and even folks from the other school! We all encouraged her and let her know that she did the best she could. This did not make her feel any better, tears were still falling. I had a small victory gift at the house for both girls for whether they won or lost. It brought a little smile to her face. We then went out to dinner and she had a double serving of dessert. Ah, ice cream covered in hot fudge sauce and M&M's the way to a girl's heart! Still, she was a little sluggish. Papo brought home a gift which was a funny card and what else but a brand new volleyball! Now the girl was looking like the child we know! She came up to our room and chatted with us about the game. Even though she was not happy with the end result she accepted things for what they were. She now knows what it is like to lose. She knows that you have to lose some time. She still wants to get out there and work hard. She is a winner.

To end this sad story here is the best part. Briahnna is trying out for the team next year because she says "I want a shot to BEAT Blythewood!!!!" That's my competitive baby! She's got as much heart as her big sister. I love those girls!! I am proud of them always.

whining and see ya laters

I had to drop Briahnna off this morning for her to go on her very first out-of-town overnight field study for school. She is going to Camp Greenville and will return tomorrow afternoon. I miss her already. She has been sneaking text messages to let me know what all is going on. They are not allowed any electronic devices since the purpose of this trip is for team building and getting to know your classmates. I gave her permission to sneak me, Papo or big sis a text when she could. (I know bad, rule breaking mommy) When I was seeing her off I gave her a big kiss and hug and told her to remember my 150 rules and be respectful and before I could finish saying all I needed she was on the bus. What a brat! Chardie went on this same trip when she was in the 6th grade and her life changed forever because of it. I hope Briahnna feels that way.

Now as for the littlest member of the family, he has learned how to whine. I don't like it one bit. I get enough of that from the hubby and now I get a double dose. What did I do to deserve this?!!

I hope everyone has an awesome day!

family updates

Oh boy it has been busy, busy, busy for this family. Let's see, where do I start...
Well, Sunday was Briahnna's 12th birthday. Since it is volleyball season we decided to not have a a party because of how busy the family's schedule is. I let the kid decide what she wanted as her special birthday dinner. This is what she decided on...

Jumbo shrimp cocktail (that's my kid!)

Fried chicken tenders, steamed broccoli, homemade mac'n'cheese, and corn on the cob.

She was happy with her choices.

Poor little Milo just won't give this toy up. The more beat up the toy the better it is to him. Milo, it's time to let it go.

Here is Will sleeping on his daddy. Yes, he is drooling!

The girls are both a part of their school's volleyball team. Briahnna is a team manager and Chardonnay is one of the talented athletes. They played their first game yesterday and won! I would have taken photos but the hubby had the camera last and did not recharge the battery. This was all I got...

Briahnna had to steal a quick kiss from little brother before I yelled at her to get back to her manager's post. Can you tell that William does not get enough attention?

We have games every Wednesday until October 22. I try to do as much as I can always to support the kids. I baked about 2 dozen giant chocolate chip cookies for a bake sale at school and Chardonnay sent me a text to tell me they sold out in a minute! Some of them were already purchased by my family before they even made it out the door. That was worth my 3 hours in the kitchen! I know I spent more than they probably made but the kids are more than worth it. Okay that's enough for now. I hope everyone has a great day!!

Back to school today

Well today is the day. The girls are all packed up and shipped off, I mean sent back to school. No matter how old they get I can't resist taking that first day of school photo. They are both especially excited because they are at the same school again. Unfortunately it is just for one year and then I will be split between middle & high school. Here are a couple shots of them all ready for their first day.

Of course Briahnna has to have her signature silly shot.

Getting ready for school

The girls head back to school on Thursday so I have been busy busy busy getting school stuff taken care of. We were smart by shopping early to not have to make the last minute dash but there was still registration day, volleyball tryouts, shopping for lunchbox stuff and practicing getting to bed early. As far as the getting to bed early, let's just say mommy and daddy don't have a problem with that. The girls... you should hear all the chatter and laughter going on for 2 hours after they supposedly go down for the night. Makes me remember when my sister and I were that age, we did the same thing. Yeah, my mother always said I would get my share of all what I have done. I get my little doses here and there.

We had to pay fees for the girls at registration. I thought I was stroking a check to pay for tuition to a private school! Can you believe that if your kid takes an honors class that gives you high school credit (if you pass with at least a B average) you have to pay for it? I thought they actually have to earn the credit! I better stop complaining and know that it all goes to a good cause, my kids' education.

I am going to miss those knuckle heads while they are at school. I was so lucky to have 2 extra sets of hands with the baby. Speaking of baby, he weighs almost 20 pounds now! He's in size 4 diapers. The bigger the size, the fewer in the package. Not fun. I know the girls will miss their little brother and he will miss them too.

The hubby has to finish getting my car prepared for my school year job as a chauffeur. You know what, I would not not have it any other way. I love taking the girls to school and picking them up. I love to listen to them telling me all about what happened in school all day. The sweetest thing is they always ask me first how my day was. Okay, now I don't want them to go back~!

Country girls

Today the girls did a very interesting thing that they can certainly say they have never done before. They shelled speckled butter beans. My father-in-law is from the country and he took a trip this past weekend. He came back with a HUGE bag of what I thought were sugar snap peas or something related to them. He said that they were speckled butter beans and that they had to be removed from the pods in order to cook them. Usually he brings them from the Farmers Market all packed in pound sized bags already shelled and cleaned. Let's just say that 2 1/2 hours of manual labor yielded about 1 3/4 pounds of beans. I helped a little until my fingertips were sore. It is kinda fun and the girls enjoyed doing it. We explained to them that a lot of people in the country grow their own produce and have to do all the cleaning and sorting. I thought they would have moaned and groaned and asked why we can't just go to the store to buy some. They really had fun doing it. What they found to be really cool was that the shells that looked all brown and yucky gave you beans of the most gorgeous purple shades. It's great that my kids are content with doing such simple things with no complaints. I guess I could learn a thing or two from them huh?