Yes, I'm aware that this is not the title of the song. However, this morning while we were trying to get out the door to go to work, I kept singing "Just another manic Monday. I wish that it were Sunday..." Before we left for the morning, we had a little photo session.....

Ellie, Annie & Mollie

My plan for last weekend was for us to not do much of anything. We had talked about going to Wild River Country, and I knew that I would need to run a few errands. Saturdays have turned into errand day. It's just too much most of the time to try to take all 3 girls with me all the time to run errands. As is usually the case, God had a different plan for us last weekend. As is typical, we were all up before Mollie on Saturday morning. Bless her heart, she is such a great sleeper. She will sleep very late if she can. When she got up Saturday morning, she was running a 100 degree fever. I called and got her into the Saturday clinic at LRCC. Dr. Keathley said it was just a virus. I always hate that diagnosis. I would much prefer a definite diagnosis. Tell me it's XYZ and give me medicine to make my angels better. Oh, well. We had to wait this one out. It's always hard when one of the kids is sick. Mollie is such a live wire. The house is terribly quiet when she's down for the count. It was especially quiet on Saturday. Mollie spent 90% of her day laying in my bed watching reruns of Hannah Montana on On Demand. Hannah Montana is Mollie's latest obsession.

Mollie laying in our bed watching Hannah Montana. Notice she has her pacis (aka Night Night), her juice and an empty cup that once held some no-no's (aka Hershey Kisses).

When Mollie and I got back from the doctor's office, the house was very quiet. Annie was sound asleep, and Brian and Ellie were playing Barbie in Ellie's room. He is such a good sport. I'm not very good at playing, but Brian is always up for it. It always cracks me up to watch him play girl stuff. Ellie was super good on Saturday. She played all day. She spent part of the day playing Barbie and the other part of the day playing dress up. About 5:00 pm, I noticed that the house was really quiet. Ellie was asleep in the recliner. Isn't she sweet??

I think the picture of her bedroom says it all. The girl played HARD on Saturday. It took Brian about 45 minutes or so to clean it up! He was super great and picked it up while I cooked dinner. What a man! As far as I know, he got most everything into the proper tub. Yes, Ellie's toys are stored in plastic Sterilite totes with lids (all white). Each is labeled with the contents. I'm a little OCD about it all, but that is OK.

Days at home seem to be few and far between in our little world. My schedule is supposed to allow for me to have one day off during the week. However, as is the case working for a church, this doesn't always happen. I'm OK with this except for when it takes a toll on my girls. Last week, I as able to take Thursday off. Only problem was that it was a major house cleaning day. Our house was super gross. I wanted to make sure that I got it clean before Brian got home on Friday. The girls were pretty cooperative. Annie slept all morning! Praise God!!

Please note...I was having major camera issues last week. I think that I have it fixed, but we shall see.

Ellie was a HUGE help. She asked to feed Annie. I would have been crazy to tell her no.

I remember being shocked the first time I saw the results of what happens when Mollie finds a pen. I've laughed as my mom, Britt and others have discovered how quickly she can write on herself without anyone seeing it. Last week, it happened to me. Mollie colored on her arms and hands with a marker while playing in Ellie's room....

Picture is bad. However, can you see her arms and hands?

Annie is 2 months old! She was officially 2 months old on Saturday, July 11. Today, we had her 2 month check up and shots. Annie was quite the trooper. She weighs 10 lbs. 12.2 oz. and is 24 1/2 inches long!! I can't believe how big she is getting! Dr. Ledbetter (previously referred to as Dr. Feelbetter by Ellie and Mollie) was very pleased with her progress! We are taking part in a study that is the final stages. It's the study for the new meningitis vaccine. Annie got the first shot in her right leg. She received the normal 3 shots in her left leg and the rotovirus vaccine orally. She was so sweet. Poor thing cried real tears, but she quickly recovered.

I'm pretty sure that she discovered her hand today. While we were waiting to see Dr. Ledbetter, I noticed Annie staring at her fist. Of course, her poor little eyes crossed while she studied her fist. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that this was her hand discovery day! So very exciting!!

Overall, Annie is doing great. She is sleeping through the night. She starts stirring around 5 am or so. I've about decided that she does this so that I will put her in bed between me and Brian. I can giver her a paci until just after 6 am. She smiles all the time and makes the sweetest little cooing sounds. She holds her head up very proudly and turns her head to find whoever is talking. She loves Ellie and Mollie. Her expressions change when she hears their voices. Both girls adore her and are such a help. She is a huge fan of the Soothie, as previously noted, and is drinking lactose free formula.

Life is good here in the Bennett house. I feel like we are slowly getting into our new normal. Such a praise! It's so fun to have 3 little girls. It's not always happy, but it is a blessing!

Annie - 2 months old

Annie was officially 8 weeks old yesterday! It's hard to believe that it has already been 8 weeks. I cannot believe it! I have no idea how much she weighs. We go next Monday for her shots and her check up. Annie is doing great. She's eating between 3 and 6 ounces at a time, and she's beginning to sleep through the night more often. Praise God!!! She is such a sweetie. We are loving her smiles and her giggles. I think she fits in perfectly around here.

Sleeping in our bed....No, she doesn't sleep there during the night - just early in the morning.

Mollie's favorite food right now is mini pancakes or panpakes as she calls them. She asked me the other day if she could help make her panpakes. What a chef!

Last Thursday afternoon, I happened to notice that the temperature in the house according to the thermostat was about 4 degrees warmer than the temp I had it set on. Hmmm.... When I called and asked Brian about it earlier in the day, he seemed to think that it was a result of the excessive heat outside. However, we quickly learned that our unit was frozen. After finding out that there was nothing that could be done until Friday when it thawed out. I went ahead and went to Girls Night at Tara's house. When I got home, it was about 78 degrees in our house. We ended up having a family camp out in the den. Unfortunately, Mollie had a little trouble settling down. So, I had to get out a sleeping bag and instead of sleeping on the couch I had to sleep on the floor. Mollie ended up watching episodes of Hannah Montana on On Demand until midnight! By the way at one point, Mollie, Ellie and I were all laying on my pillow. Good times.

Fortunately, we all slept late. We ended up going to my mom's to hang out in the air conditioning. It was heaven. It's a long story, but we ended up calling in a favor and were able to get the air back up and running by mid-afternoon Friday. (The company with which we have had a service agreement on our heating and air couldn't come 'til Saturday to get the air fixed! Uh, I don't think so. They said they had contract customers who were ahead of us in line. I'm sorry, I have 3 kids. We can't go without air!) The unit ended up freezing again on Saturday. Chenal Heat & Air came back Saturday night and fixed it. So far, so good!! Praise God!!

Ellie and Mollie entertained themselves by playing in the playpen.

After 10 years of driving his precious white Ford Ranger, Brian traded it in last Saturday. He is now the proud owner/driver (I'm the owner too ;) ) of a 2008 Hyundai Tucson. He is super happy! I don't think any of us will be too sad to not have the precious stinky truck around any more. I am very happy for him that he is getting to drive a vehicle with power locks, windows, etc. Plus, it's great to know that we have a vehicle that can fit all of us if we need it to. :)

Ellie playing on the porch at her Nannie & Pawpaw's house.

Ellie before she gave up her paci.

Ellie dressed up!

Mollie and Ellie at the doctor's office. I think we were seeing Dr. Feelbetter on this day. Pretty sure M had an ear infection.

I know, I know. It's been a while since Ive updated our blog. Yikes! I had no idea just how long it had been until I looked at the blog tonight. It's been an incredibly wild few weeks. May and June are always my busy times at work. Once we finish First Kids Day Out, we become 100% buried in VBS. I focus most of my time on the decorations. I work with my friend Lora. She is the creative genius behind what we do, and I'm the computer girl/workhorse. It is always great. (I'll post pictures later) However, it is incredibly hard on our kids. The girls and I were at the church 5 days a week for about 5 weeks getting ready for VBS and actually putting it all into action. What a week we had the last week of June - VBS week. Ellie went to her first official week of VBS. She was amazing!!! She went to worship every morning despite the crowds and chaos - 2 of her least favorite things. I am so proud of her! VBS wasn't her absolute favorite thing in the world, but she had a good time. It was amazing to hear her retell the Bible stories each day. I love watching her learn and truly grasp new things especially Biblical understanding. Mollie wasn't left out. Part of my responsibility with VBS is to provide the VBS experience in our preschool/nursery area. Mollie had a great time spending the week with her friends Mark, Elijah, Claire and Kayla. She was in heaven. One of the mornings, her teachers got me to come see what she was doing. Mollie had been praying for all of her friends. WOW! She loves to sing and to pray, so I wasn't surprised. Annie also got to VBS. One of our ladies had volunteered to work so she spent the week with Annie. It really was a great week...By the way, the first part of the week Brian went out of town again. This time, he went to Houston and to Dallas.

Mollie saying the prayer for her class.

In the middle of all the craziness, Annie finally got her bellybutton! We were all super excited! I wanted to take a picture of her first bath. However, I had a little helper; so it didn't work out to take her picture. Annie loves taking a bath. Praise the Lord!!