Company?

While I was cooking breakfast this morning, Addy popped her head around the corner and asked, "Mom, are people coming over today?" I responded, "No, not today." To that she walked out in her underwear rubbing her naked belly with a look of pure zen on her precious face!

She is a lady!

Addy, I understand that with your busy schedule of preschool, toys and all the responsibilities that come with being a big sister that sometimes you just need a day to relax in your underwear.

That Addy!

Last night Tyler and I were are settled in. The girls were both in bed and we were on the couch watching our show. Ms. Addy came out into the room and said all of this:

Addy: Mom, I have a little story to tell you. Tomorrow I want to take Carson (who seems to be her preschool crush) to the cabin to meet Big Grandpa. I want him to go in our car and his mommy to stay home and not come. Just Carson in our car. Does that sound good?

Tyler: That's not going to happen. Go get back in bed.

Me after Addy had left: Did our 3-year-old just come ask us to go on an overnight trip with her boyfriend?

Tyler: Yep.

Summer at a Glance

Obviously I haven't posted for awhile. We have been busy with church stuff, finishing our basement and chasing our girls around, but did manage to have a fun summer as well.

Tyler had a birthday, shout "Hooray"! Doesn't he look like a teenager in this picture?

I went to the dentist one morning and came home to find this. Tyler and Addy had Torence all dressed up!!Forgive me Mother, for I have sinned! I told the city that Addy was a bit older than she really was so she could take swim lessons. I rationalized this in my mind in several ways: #1-She is potty trained. #2-She is not afraid of the water. #3- All the kids her same school-age could take swim lessons this summer. #4-She is big for her age. Nobody even questioned me and she loved it. I will never lie about that again (she will be old enough next summer).

Addy had a birthday, shout "Hooray"!

Torence loved the 4th of July fireworks.

Addy won the 4th of July race again.

Torence has a mullet! Addy had this same mullet. I am shocked that anything that came out of me would have such a country attribute, but you know what they say: "You can take the girl out of the country, but her children will be born with mullets." Or something like that.

Torence crawls EVERYWHERE. What should I do with her now!

We put Addy in preschool this year because it is right across the street and I know and trust the teacher. Addy loves going to school and it is so fun to hear about her adventures when she comes home each day. The first thing she tells me is what kind of snack she had, followed by a play-by-play of what boys got in trouble that day.

Hurry and Help!

I am putting a plug in for my neighbor and friend. She entered a contest to win a photo session for her family and needs votes! If you would be so kind and awesome, go to http://mommymodels.blogspot.com/ and vote for #2-Chanda. The deadline is Friday at midnight.

She bakes bread from scratch, sews beautiful dresses, has a daughter Addy's age, wins triathlons and probably does any other talented thing you can imagine.

Happy voting!!! (as long as you vote for #2)

Welcome Little One

This is my newest little niece, Vivian. She was 7 weeks premature, so she is just a tiny little thing. She is literally half the size of Addy's birth weight! She might be small, but I am amazed at how strong she is. I couldn't be more excited for my brother and sister-in-law. They have endured a lot of heartache in the baby department and are so grateful to have Vivian in their arms and hope that they will be able to bring her home soon.

We love you, Vivian and can't wait to meet you in person. We are so excited for you be able to go home to your loving Mommy and Daddy. We can't wait to watch you grow and play with our girls.

Happy Birthday to.......

THIS GUY!!!

This is Tyler in the bubble of the prairie dog habitat at the zoo.

Happy 31st Tyler!!! I love you so much. Here are 31 corks about Tyler for everyone's reading pleasure:

1. He eats PB & J nearly everyday.
2. He watches episode after episode of "Lost".
3. He loves "The Office" also.
4. He goes to "Tamale Tuesday" at Bajio nearly every Tuesday.
5. He eats at PF Chang's every chance he gets.
6. He likes to golf
7. play basketball
8. and softball.
9. When Torence cries he says "What seems to be the problem, officer?"
10. He likes to watch "Phineas and Ferb" with Addy
11. and without Addy!
12. He likes his steak cooked medium well.
13. He takes great care of our lawn.
14. He despises our garden so,
15. he does not work in the garden.
16. He likes to work on finishing our basement.
17. He does beautiful finish work....you should see our girls' rooms!!
18. His middle name is his father's name.
19. He loves the Tennessee Volunteers
20. even when they don't do so well.
21. He will only use cinnamon toothpaste and cinnamon mouth wash.
22. He likes to ride with his window down.
23. He goes through about 10 pairs of sunglasses per year.
24. He does not like tomatoes, but loves BLT sandwiches.
25. He does hand shadows with Addy every night before bed.
26. He sent me flower the other day...just because.
27. He made Torence laugh for the first time.
28. He likes to watch "Hell's Kitchen" because he likes when Chef yells at everyone.
29. He holds the highest score on the planet for "Brick Breaker".
30. He is a wonderful daddy
31. and husband

Happenings

It has been awhile since I have posted. We have been keeping busy and having fun. The girls are so much fun to be with everyday and are growing up so fast. Here is what we have been doing:
Baby Torence smiles now!! She is a happy, tiny, long little thing. She only weighed 9 lbs 7 oz at her 2 month appointment. I love having a baby around again. It still seems like we just brought Addy home. Babies make life slow down a little bit and leave more time to enjoy the important stuff.

Here are my little bundles of joy and the loves on my life, minus Tyler, of course.

Addy likes to take pictures now and here is one that she took of Torence in her swing. Addy does pretty well at taking pictures I must say.

Addy is really in to Princess stuff now. A few weeks ago the ladies at Tyler's office threw a little shower for Torence. I wanted to get Addy a present to open that day so she didn't feel left out. She loves the Princess jewelry and crown.

This is the most recent, tragic event at our house. Little Addy toppled off the couch and hit her face on the edge of the coffee table. She hit her mouth, nose and eye. When I picked her up there was blood above her eye, so I took her in to the bathroom to wipe it off, thinking it wouldn't be a big deal. Tyler followed and said, "She might need stitches" just as I wiped the blood off, revealing a big, deep gash on her forehead. My heart just stopped. Off to the ER we went and this is the aftermath.

This is the first "ER needing" accident at our house. I have dreaded this day since I had Addy. I know these things are bound to happen with kids, but I hated every second of seeing my child hurt. I am glad Tyler was home because he seemed to keep his cool much better than me.

Out of the Mouth of Addy

Addy spotted a wedding picture of us standing in front of the temple. She got so excited. Here is our conversation:

Addy: Princess Mommy, Princess Daddy and a castle!!!! (We apparently need to establish the difference between a prince and princess. Tyler wasn't super thrilled to be called "Princess Daddy". I, on the other hand, laughed my head off and immediately called to tell him the news.)

Me: You can go in that castle someday.

Addy: Otay. I will wear my princess jammies.

Sisters

I love that my little girls have sisters. I grew up with four older, awful, horrible brothers that beat up my stuffed animals and later my boyfriends. They would take apart my big-wheel and later my Bronco II. One time my parents went out of town for a week. They stocked the house with food for the week for me (I was the only one left at home at the time). My brothers came over and ate all the food. I lived off a box of poptarts for the whole week. I still can't eat those things. They remind me of a time when I nearly starved to death.

I like my brothers just fine, but am super excited about the sister situation. See... look how much fun they have.

This is what I do while Tyler is at work. He doesn't like this flower headband. He says it looks ridiculous, but I think it is SO cute.
Speaking of ridiculous... I think this guy is ridiculous. Our cat jumps everywhere. This is him lounging on top of the wall that separates the stairwell from the garage entrance.

Proudly Introducing.....

Torence Ruby

8 Pounds 2 Ounces

19 1/2 Inches

When we got to the hospital, I realized that there are no pictures of me pregnant with Torence, so here I am in all my pregnancy glory at 39 weeks. I was sooooo sooo nervous to have a scheduled C-section this time around. When we got to the hospital, the nurses hooked me up to millions of monitors and told me how awful the pain would be afterwards. I asked if I could get up and go to the restroom. I didn't really need to use the restroom, but used that alone time to plan my escape from the hospital. I decided that it was far too cold outside to be running around in a hospital gown and decided to stick around.

Here I am with my new baby girl!! I know every mom says this, but immediately after I heard her cry for the first time, everything was worth it. All of it!!

Here is Addy, the best big sister in the world. She loves her baby and calls her "Sisters".

Addy loved to come to the hospital to hold the baby and help me. She is very tender-hearted and liked to help me get out of bed.

Baby all ready to go home.

There she is!! Now we have two beautiful little girls. We are very thankful to be blessed with such sweet little angels.

Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Addy was so much fun and brought such a sweet Christmas spirit to our home. Santa was not shy either. There are no pictures of Tyler and my presents though. I got a new laptop, which I am using right now. I love it! Tyler got a large pile of lumber, which he then framed our basement with. He also got some clothes.

Check out what Santa brought Addy:

Opening presents with Daddy.

Addy asked Santa for a "horsey, please" and he delivered! She bounces up and down and the horse actually moves across the floor. See that kitchen in the background? Santa also left that. Addy has been making delicious meals for us ever since.Addy got a play-doh center from her aunt, uncle and cousin. She loves "clipping" and "smashing" the play-doh.

We got a ton of snow the week before and week of Christmas, so we got to play in the snow. Here are my snow angels!

Addy was bundled up really warm like that kid from A Christmas Story.