Through much thought and thinking

Through much thought and thinking....since I have not had any followers or any body to comment letting me know any one is remotely interested I have decided to cancel further blogging.  I will be on facebook if you care to socialize and keep up to date with what I choose to share there.  From here on I will just blog on my books to create memories for my immediate household.  Thank you all who have followed and commented faithfully.  For those who have their own blogs I will continue to follow you there when I can.  Thanks again and Blessings to all.

Some beautiful flowers at the Garden...The Garden pics came out pretty good considering I forgot my camera and took all Garden and Chucky Cheese pics with my phone. 

Green fountain for St Patricks Day  

So many beautiful Tulips all along the building...the couple were so thrilled they were picked for this photo...well at least she was the guy was kind of grumpy...lol

Another pond at the Gardens

My favorite bush..reminds me of the Burning Bush of the Bible although there is a bush with that name this is NOT it...although I forget the name of this one.

A great view of one of the lakes...again these pics are with my phone....I myself can not believe they look so good.

Some of the wonderful flowers to see

There are so many wonderful flowers and views to see and admire at the Gardens and its just a great walk and time to reflect and relax with all the beauty God has given us.

Best of Buds getting ready for the Royal Treatment

She was thrilled to have one leg smelling like Strawberries and the other Chocolate...her choices.

 Nails of pink with Blue Glitter, toes of pink with Pink Glitter, rings for hands and toe rings all included....Hair with lots of gel and Glitter too.

Purple eyeshadow of course and shiny pink gloss not sure what flavor that was.

A Look at me pic :-)

All Dolled up and out shopping...gotta love it!

Chucky Cheese's hugh rocking horse...my fav if not hers....it is so cool!

Rockin Round the Clock she goes!

Trying to feed that hungry frog was even hard for me.  She did really good at Basketball though

Eating pizza getting ready for cake

Chucky makes his appearance to crown the birthday boy and girl and sing Happy Birthday!

All ready for Easter and the egg hunt

Look I found one!

Egg cluster....yeah!  Notice the big basket....mommy does hardly no candy so the eggs hold money and sometimes gifts are lying next to the eggs

Mommy getting yelled at for the big heavy basket...not sure why I am getting the blame when the Easter Bunny did it!

Daddy helping check out the goodies

Clothes changed and taking a rest from Easter festivities with TV

Decorated House for the Birthday Girl with 3 foot balloon included for all to see.

I believe we are on year 3 now with I believe 2 birds (or the same one breeding twice) a year each time having 2 babies.  This one is currently keeping her 2 babies warm.  They survived the hail and are soon to leave the nest.  I am going to guess they are the last for the year but you never can tell.  All I can say is this is one very used nest, as you can see this year the two momma's have added a bit on top of the old.

One of her favorite gifts... her pet butterfly...mommy thinks its cool and has to say hi and wake it up every time I go in her room :-)

Some of the new birthday clothes

I think this might be a favorite one not sure if its cause it is pink, has butterflies or if it is cause its a dress or a combination of all of the above

Olivia her favorite person/pig

More dresses she was in heaven every time she opened a box and found another.

playin with the cool stuff Grandma made just for her.

hmmm do you think she liked this gift???

The Famous 3 foot balloon not quite filled to all of the 3 feet it could be but still bigger than her none the less.

Styling!!!

Her and some of her best buds at her Birthday dinner party

Daddy helping to get her to pedal foward only...it didnt take long but I think Daddy begs to differ.

Proud of herself don't you think....

My little painter at work

Stopping for a smile check

Time never slows down around here it just seems to continue to speed up.   We have been so busy and I am just trying to find where I am most of the time.  We have had home improvements done, mostly cause they HAD to be done and it just keeps going.  We have had to replace doors, furniture, redo bathrooms, replace main water connections and more.  I guess that is to be expected with a house that is over 70 years old.  With that said having such a house, I guess, comes in handy with storms like the recent ones.  All that golf ball sized hail with some larger and smaller did not seem to affect us much at all, thank God.  We did just plant a new tree which took a beating but I think it will survive.  We had some really good weather before this, letting us visit the Botennical Gardens already and some where along the lines Easter came and went, egg hunt and all.  Mikayla had a birthday which she really enjoyed.  Now 4 years old and going on 40 she is so smart and growing so much.  She has grown 3 inches each year to be exact.  She still believes her Birthday is like a month long.  With gifts coming daily in the mail, our gifts on the actual day and then the ones that slowly creep up days after, keep her believing her Birthday never ends....one day she will have a rude awakening but at least not now.   For her birthday we had a nice sized group of some good friends go eat at her favorite Restaurant.  Then for her birthday, a week later, her best buddy took her to Sweet and Sassy for the works which included a full manicure and pedicure, makeup and up hair do.  Complete with tons of glitter that never goes away.  Right after the make over at a time much too late in the evening she had a photo shoot while she was all dolled up and she did awesome.  Following that event her other playmate next door who is exactly a year older with the same birthday and her brothers is the next day and a big party at Chucky Cheese a place she has never been to.  She had a blast and rode so many rides and played so many games.  After we left though it was nice to know she felt just like mommy... that the place was way too loud and our ears hurt.  Something to remember if and when we ever go back.  After that things slowed a bit she was finally able to enjoy her birthday gifts, like the new big girl bike from Grandma.  It took her a little bit to learn she can only pedal forward after stepping backward on the brake a dozen or more times.  We ride it around the block every day now, she is having a blast pedaling and going faster every day becoming a pro making mommy run after her (the plan of course so I get my workout). She loves playing all the new board games, wearing all the jewelry and clothes she has received.  Now as the birthday bashing is finally at an end, I hope, we've been doing some gardening at home, pulling weeds, trying to fix our diseased grass and planting a new tree.  We did some painting and playin with chalk, cleaning the out door water table and club houses etc.   The weather is our normal crazy Missouri weather where we dont know whether to get ready to swim or pull out the winter gloves.  Now of course we are just doing things to stay active and also get some spring cleaning done so to speak.  There will be more home improvements going on coming soon I think like painting and such.  I think I am going to have to ditch the Hawaiian room, the hot pink will have to go along with I think redoing the Living Room and Hallway (not sure what color but probably a white with tint).  Things to get done just never end.  Mikayla is out of school right now for the next 4 months.  We are calling it her Spring/Summer break.  We thought get her out of the school teaching her bad habits for a while so we can straighten her out before she starts her new school where they will NOT put up with all the garbage she was learning plus save some cash for a bit, even though the new school will already save us a ton of money from the old one.  With that said with her home, some of the home jobs are back to getting pushed to another day or not getting done and I am also back to teaching her at home.  Her new school starts in August and she is excited to start even though she was a bit sad to leave the other one.  While she is on break we will possibly be going to some camps or activities at the Zoo, Botennical Gardens or at her Swim School not really sure on that just yet.  What I do know is that she will get to spend a whole week with Grandma here at our house soon and right after she will spend another week with Grandma, Aunt Georgette and Cousins Dominique and Sabrina at their house which should be a blast.  We will have the Lantern Festival to go to at the Botennical Gardens also which we never were able to make in years past which I am excited to see as I hear it is awesome.  Lots happening all the time here keeping us all on the go.  My thyroid is still not regulated so I am dealing with that and all that goes with it and some, although the blood pressure has been fixed when I got off the crap drugs the doc had me on.  Greg is doing fine and doc says he can do a bit better so doing more tests to see how we can make that happen but nothing major just your normal old folk issues.  I will let you all know that with all that life has brought us and kept us busy with, I am sure this blog will be nearing its end as the Growing With Mikayla saga is coming to a close.  This is not to say I will not be blogging or Mikayla will stop growing....that definitely will not be the case.  We just will be starting a new chapter in our lives and will do so under a new blog name that will focus on the entire family....so stayed tuned so you dont miss a beat.   Love you guys, Many Blessings to you all.  AJ

My Oh My Time Just Keeps Slippin Away

Her fav blanket from her fav buddy Olivia for Christmas

Santa at our House....do you think she liked it.

 This one is for Mrs Claus....Mikayla did cook some Broccoli for Santa and picture proof he did eat it....lol

 Getting into her Christmas stocking not sure what she saw but she was thrilled.....I think it was her lip gloss

 Of course Christmas would not be complete if the boys did not join in...here's Louie liking his new tiger....that has been given to Jake by Louie

 Jake's keeping tabs on the old toys while guarding his new coon......which has been given to Louie by Jake...I guess it was a good trade at least they were happy with it. On the right is no finger but a Louie Butt in the way..lol

 The Ice Sculpture competition....The number one pic of the day hmmmm I wonder why!!!

Same day same carver .....Cupid came just in time.

 Different carver same day....another nice piece of work

 Mikayla and Daddy's very first Snowman.....he looks so sad

 Of course it's Mikayla having fun slinging shovels full of snow

 Not her first cars but her first cars with track...a very old Discovery Toy set from Grandma....do you think she likes the ole toy??

Just this morning a very happy little girl got what seems the best gift of her life from her favorite buddy of all time....Daddy!

I am still trying to get a movie on youtube and its not working so I am posting just this for you now so you at least have something to keep you up to date on everything.  Enjoy!!

Christmas came and went, New Years came and went along with Chinese New Year and the Ice Sculpture Competitions and now Valentines Day.  I am here finally, at least I will be caught up for a moment in time before it all slips away again.  Things have been a bit crazy here, while we still deal with Attorneys, we had two minor water leaks one in the main bathroom somewhere under the tub that I re-caulked everywhere and could not fix then one under the master bedroom bathroom sink.  Both were drainage leaks which I guess was a good thing as far as water consumption but yet nothing was minor at all about either one.  The plumber came and with a house over 60 years old we were told the stack in basement would need to be replaced (we knew it would need to be eventually but hoped later than sooner) and the master bedroom bathroom sink was illegally done (not by us) so they had to redo those pipes, in the master bath it was the overflow area leaking.  Needless to say for 2 weeks or so the entire master bath got refinished tiled floor and walls, new tub, sink the works, the stack in basement, pipes in other bathroom along with toilet all redone.  This was not in the budget right now to do but had to be done non-the-less.  This caused havoc on cleaning which when they finished about killed me to catch up.  It also put a major cramp in funds for other ventures that WERE in the budget AND THEN the mailman had to bring that letter that we had to sign for...grrrr.  Just more headaches while my blood pressure is in the scary zone (I think due to the Thyroid or Pre menopause issues or just cause I am crazy who knows).  Now blood pressure still high and things done, I hope to have some kind of cleanliness in here and some sanity I think we are good for now unless that darn postman comes a knockin again.  Maybe I should just let the boys answer :-)    Mikayla has been sick, coughing and sounding like a frog other than that she is still running around unphased by everything.  She was a bit worried and scared about her bathroom destroyed and having no floor or walls she even made me keep the door shut.  She does love her new bathroom and could not wait to take a bath in the new tub and is always playing in the new sink wetting the new tile floor.  In the mess of things Mikayla has continued to go to School and continues to love it although she sometimes follows the bad habits of friends there and winds up not earning her star for the day.  She currently is into cars and playing with her matchbox cars or her kinderkid parking garage (watch out cuz Ashley competition may be on the rise). She also loves riding her tricycle around the house (Grandma I believe will be upgrading that for her birthday coming soon).  She is doing lots of puzzles and loves to paint (nothing great created yet other than pics for a mommy to love).  If she isn't playing she is working cooking meals for mom and dad in her kitchen (fully loaded) or doing Daddy's nails (he still refuses to let her paint them only file them) or doing massages.  She is such a busy working girl...oh and I can not forget she loves to sweep and yell at the boys for tracking in dirt and mud.  She even likes to take time out to exercise and walk the treadmill doing usually a 1/4 mile at around 2mph even up and down hills not bad for such a peanut.   The boys are doing about an 1/8 of a mile at about 1 - 1.5 mph as they are very much still in training mode.  So as you see we are still busy busy busy....and yet we are still surviving even if sometimes we are barely keeping our heads above water.  God has at least done that for us.  I just wish he would stop giving us things to make us come out stronger, cause that just means he can sling more and more stuff at us then before.  :-)  Hanging in there for now.  Love you guys!