LOL!

Some days my kids just make me laugh so hard that my abs hurt. Today was one of those days and here a couple of videos that captured the moment. First, Brooke made a pirate hat at school and when asked what a pirate says this is how she responded!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9koxB8ugGE

Next, Heather has a time trying to sit on the big girl potty! She wants so bad to be a "big" girl and its hilarious!
What's even more funny is that before bath she did the same thing and actually peed in the potty for the first time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY6WXbp6rYs

Enjoy! ~ I'm still laughing!

iPhone Pictures

What? Two posts in one week! I'm on the ball or maybe it's just that my husband has been having insane calls and I can do stuff like this after the girls go to bed.

Well here are several pictures of my life captured from my iphone....

Halloween! Ellis Pottery had their 1st annual pumpkin glow and we went along with Nonga, Stacy, Jason, and Big Mama. It was a really cute event. This was the best picture I got of the kids. Jason looks so cute in his monster costume!

The girls had a halloween party at their MDO. Brooke, of course, was Minnie Mouse and Heather was a little angel.

At school, they invite the parents to walk with their children during the Halloween parade and then celebrate by watching your child and their classmates eat cute cupcakes that I'm sure some creative artsy mother spent hours making. I better get to creating because I think I signed up for sweets for the Christmas party! Anyway, Brooke wanted to show me her favorite hat to wear at school. I thought this was a hilarious picture. I love to go her parties and get a glimpse of what she does all day.

Sweet sister hug!

One of our neighbors hosted a Halloween party and hayride for the kids. It was great and I hope they continue this every year. Here is a picture of our family on the hayride. Notice the minnie ears and Heather's bow are no longer in their hair. I try to put bows and barrettes in my girls hair, but they want nothing to do with them. I am still hoping this is just a phase and eventually they will like their hair done!


I heard through the grapevine that Pump it Up was closing. I decided to look at their website and they were in fact closing. And it just so happened the day I looked was also their last pop in playtime. So, I packed up the girls and we headed out. Heather learned to climb the ladder to the slide all by herself. The owner told me that they are relocating, but don't have a building yet. He said that Pump it up has changed their layout and is no longer using their current set up. I hope they find a place soon because it was a great place to take the girls when it was too cold or rainy outside.


Last weekend Uncle Nonga, Aunt Stacy, and Jason came over. Stacy practiced making her cake for Jason's birthday and then we all had dinner. After dinner Nonga had fun entertaining the girls.

Where's Nonga? Hiding away where nobody sees...

Then the girls wanted to try!

A few weeks ago, I set up our portable hammock on the back porch. One cooler day the girls discovered it and wanted to give it a try. Can you tell who was thrilled about it and which one did care so much for it?

One evening a couple of weeks ago, our Sunday school had a fall party. Here is a picture of Brooke and her friend Samantha eating dinner. It was a little chilly that night so we stayed mostly inside, but did venture out for the hay ride. Brooke is loving all of these hay rides.


Here is a sweet picture of Daddy reading to his girls before bedtime! I love it!

Notice Brooke's bed is converted to a toddler bed! I also have both girls finally sleeping in the same room at night. So far, they have been doing great. Tonight was by far the worst night Brooke had with getting out of bed. She was just too wound up and in the future I may just keep her up a little longer when she is acting that way. But at least it didn't bother Heather and she still went to sleep relatively peaceful.

This past weekend we went to Samantha's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. This was the first time for me and the girls to go to a Chuck E Cheese. Brooke loved it and wanted to play everything even though she is still too small for most stuff. She loved the Barney ride, air hockey, and photo booths.

She is on the clock ride where the kids sit in this seat and it swings in a half circle slowly back and forth. I thought Brooke would have liked it more, but she wasn't too sure of it.


Here is the girls 30 seconds after getting in the car after the party! Chuck E Cheese wore them out!

And after nap time they were playing outside and Heather was having fun on the four wheeler when Brooke wanted to join the fun.



Whoa! Wild Hair!

Today Ryan was post call, but still worked from 7am until 9pm. So, in addition to going to church, I decided to get some projects done around the house. One being to change light bulbs that I have been meaning to change for months. Give Sam a bath and his flea and heartworm medicine. Clean a bunch of foam tiles that I used underneath the inflatable pool on the back porch. Assemble a storage box for the back porch. Do 4 loads of laundry. Finish Heather's 1 year picture frame. I was a busy lady today, but I feel like I accomplished something. And I still squeezed in a blog update while I was updating my phone to the new software.

Both girls wanted to help me assemble a utility storage box for our back porch.


I finally finished Heather's 1 year picture frame.

Heather 13 months

Sorry, it seems I've been checked out of blogging lately. I have several projects that I have been working on lately and Pinterest is addicting!

Heather is 13 months. Where does the time go? She is following Brooke all over the house and trying to mimic exactly what she does. She wants to be a "big" girl so bad. She loves to color, sort blocks, fill up containers and dump them out, put all the rings in the bath on her arms like bracelets, pick up balls bigger than her (basketball) and walk around even though she can't see where she is going, she loves to pull Sam's tail and make him spin around to see who is messing with him, the list goes on and on. That is all that comes to the top of my head for now. Heather is definitely my silly girl and loves to extract a laugh from you!

She is babbling all the time and sometimes she will repeat exactly what you said, but I know she doesn't understand the words and can't duplicate them. She knows the words mama (finally!), dada, dog, cat, bath, go. She can sign for all done, more (which also is the same as eat for her), and bath. She can moo like a cow when she sees a cow. We have been working on identifying eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Most of the time she will point correctly to her ears.

Heather is eating well these days! I was just comparing the 1 year pics and the 13 month pics and I think her face is noticeably rounder. I think she was going through a growth spurt a few weeks ago and during the spell I couldn't feed her enough food! She has discovered CANDY and loves it! She knows that most of the time Brooke gets a piece of candy after going potty and Heather is also waiting for her treat after I give Brooke one. I can't help but give that sweet innocent face a treat! :) She also loves yogurt melts and baby cheetoes! She does well eating most fruits and some vegetables (corn, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes). She is fully weaned now and drinks whole milk all the time.

She sleeps continuously through the night. Bedtime around 7:30 and sleeps until 7am. Naps around 12 until 2. She is wearing 12 month clothes, size 4 shoe, and size 3 diaper. At her 1 year check up she weighed 18lbs and was 29 3/4" long.



Here is my helper playing peek-a-boo with Heather.

Of course, Brooke wanted her picture too! I think Brooke looks so much older in this picture and she is losing her baby features! She isn't my little baby anymore (sniff, sniff). I still love her dimples!

The Corn Maize

Saturday we went to Danville Farms in Kilgore to visit the corn maize and pumpkin patch. We went with Big Mama (Ryan's mom), Aunt Sara, Aunt Stacy, and Jason. It was a little hot, but a lot of fun! In addition to pumpkins, they have a lot to do for kids of all ages. First, we noticed the staged photo area with hay bales, pumpkins, scarecrow, fall decorations, and cute little ride on tractor. I tried to get a cute picture of the girls, but it is really difficult to get one with both of them looking at the camera and not squirming around or picking their noses!
This is the best picture I got! After this we headed over to the big pillow bounce. It is a humongous long colorful rectangle that is blown up with air and you bounce on it like a trampoline. It always induces lots of giggles from Brooke and Heather even enjoyed holding on to my hands and bouncing. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures from this part of our trip.

Next, Brooke wanted to race some ducks! Aunt Sara showed her how to use the water pump and then she went to town pumping away! While they were busy racing, Heather wanted to explore and I caught her playing on this stage coach with a cedar porch. She was being playful and I was able to capture a few cute pictures.

Then we discovered the corn box, which is like a sand box, but filled with corn instead. The girls loved playing in it and luckily Heather didn't eat any....that I know of.

I was even able to get a great picture of Aunt Stacy with her little love, Jason!
They also have several metal frame play cars and climbing area. We played there for a few minutes before heading over to feed the goats.
After feeding the goats we took a tractor ride around the park and all the kids enjoyed this!
We were even able to get a good picture of Big Mama with all her grandkids! I just wish my two littles were looking at the camera, but at least Brooke is smiling. :)
Then we attempted to do their famous corn maize. After about 5 minutes of walking we decided it was too hot and Heather was starting to have a melt down so we turned around and walked out. Before we left, we let the kids climb around the pumpkins and we tried once more to get a good picture in their staged photo area.

Heather's 1st Birthday

Wow this year has flown by and I can't believe it has already been a year! You are doing so much! You can walk!! You first took 5 steps on your own on 9/17/11. Then you saved the rest to show off at your party later that day. It has been a week since you have taken your first steps and walking is now your preferred method of getting around (other than mommy holding you). You are getting more confident and can dodge most obstacles, turn corners, and change directions. You can also carry objects in your hands while walking. You can go from a sitting to standing position unassisted. You love your new found freedom.

You can say bye-bye, bye-bye daddy, dog (which sounds like daag), and hi. You love to put things in buckets/baskets and dump them out. You love to clap when you have completed a task such as putting a toy or puzzle piece in the correct place. You have a very easy going and happy disposition (unless you haven't napped well ---but I think that is true for most people).

You are a great eater. You are eating all table foods and drinking whole milk. I'm still nursing in the mornings and evenings. You have eaten strawberries, grapes, pasta, peanut butter, and scrambled eggs and loved all of them! Most days you will eat more than Brooke.

You are sleeping through the night consistently now. You go down for bed around 7:30 and wake up around 7am. You take a nap from 12-2 most days. You are going to mother's day out 2 times a week and usually don't nap as well there, but otherwise love it. You went through a 3 week separation anxiety spell where you would scream and cry anytime I dropped you off, but have since gotten over that. (Thank goodness!! It killed me to hear you throw a fit.) You have had several weeks of on/off diaper rashes and I'm trying to figure out why all the sudden you seem to be getting these. We are now trying different brands of diapers. You are wearing 12 month clothes, size 4 shoe, and size 3 diaper. We will get your height and weight at the next doctors appointment in October. I will update this post when I get it.

Personalize your own free slideshow design

Heather's first birthday was a blast! We had about 25 family members come and help us celebrate. Her theme was owls. Look whoo's turning 1! Here is a slide show of the evening. She showed of her new walking skills several times so everyone got to see her new moves. She liked her smash cake and made a huge mess! She wasn't very interested in opening presents and we had to keep redirecting her. She will get it in a few months, Christmas is coming up and she will have lots of practice.

It has been such a blessing to watch Heather grow and develop over the last year. Some things were very similar to Brooke while other things were completely different. I am so honored that God has picked Ryan and me to raise these beautiful daughters!

Happy 1st Birthday Heather! I look forward to watching you continue to grow and develop!

The joys of parenthood

I used to consider myself lucky and thankful that I never had a baby that played with their poop and made a huge mess in the process. Well, today was my pay day!

I was on the phone in our bedroom when I heard one of the girls crying. I turned on Heather's monitor and it wasn't her. I got extremely worried that something was terribly wrong with Brooke because she doesn't cry when she wakes up from a nap. Oh, my mother instinct was totally correct this time! I could smell the stench before I even opened the door to her room and I knew something was terribly wrong.

Since we have been working on potty training, I have decided to make her wear big girl panites full time during the day. During nap time I have been putting her potty right next to her nap mat, so when she wakes up she can go potty. She has been really successful the past 3 days doing this.

Today when I opened the door to her room the stench was so strong that I immediately felt like vomiting. I looked at Brooke and was in such shock that I didn't know what to do first. She was covered in poop and had clearly been finger painting her body with it! It was in her hair, nose, hands, arms, legs, torso, feet. She was crying and I felt bad, so I didn't scold her. I just assured her we would get her clean.

I picked her up and put her in the bath. While the hot water was filling the bath, I cleaned up the mess around her potty, thankfully she didn't paint anything else except her and the potty. As I was cleaning her up, she had dried up the tears and I asked her what happened. She kind of gleefully talked about playing with her poop. It took me by surprise because seemed to be distraught when I walked in the room. I didn't know how to handle it, but I just talked to her about how yucky it was to do that and we need to flush poop down the potty so he can be with his other friends! I hope the talk and disgusted look on my face as I cleaned her had an impact and that she will never do that again! Then after I gave her 3 baths, I felt like she was clean and not a biohazard anymore. Then I cleaned out the tub and filled it with clorox and threw away all the toys that she had touched. I just can't stomach the thought of keeping a bath toy after thinking that feces possibly touched it and then Heather putting it in her mouth. YUCK!

Then I told her she still needed some quiet time, so that I could go and shower!
So, if anyone needs last minute gift ideas for Heather, they need a whole new tub full of bath toys!

I no longer consider myself lucky. Pay backs a witch!

First Day of MDO

Today is the first day for both girls to attend the PREP school! I hope they are having fun and making new friends! I was heartbroken as I walked away from Heather's door and I could hear her crying. I know she will have fun, but it will take some adjustment and momma will get some much needed time to organize and do kid free chores! I wanted to share a picture of the girls from this morning. All morning I have felt like I am naked and missing something. I keep checking and double checking to make sure I have everything! Ha!