Happy Birthday to my Memaw!

Her birthday was actually Wednesday, but I am off to visit this beautiful lady today and celebrate with her in PERSON! I cannot wait!

I love you Memaw!

November on the run...

WOW! The month of November just slipped away from me! I'm not sure what happened. We have been busy celebrating birthdays and preparing for the holidays around here. Addie is working on writing the alphabet at school and still struggling with a little separation anxiety. She is such a fast learner, and I must admit, it makes me melt when she tears up at the classroom door because she says she is going to miss me! How will I ever put her on the school bus next year? YIKES!

We finally got a "real" hair cut this month....5 whole inches of hair came off, and she looks adorable with her new "do"!

Hayes is still the sweetest little man I ever knew. He tells me that he is "mommy's baby" when he wants an extra snack or doesn't want to nap :) That makes me melt too! He is still having a hard time with his skin and not sleeping extremely well at night. He has become his Daddy's nightly bed buddy around 2:00 am. Tim hasn't complained yet!

Their Mamaw bought them these fun hats for the winter. Hayes wears his and roars at strangers as they pass by us, and Addie just thinks she is the cutest little thing in her Hello Kitty hat!

I love the holidays with my babies. I hope they always have fun memories from these times.

My Birthday this year...

was FABULOUS! And very, very, well celebrated! I had a nice dinner out with friends, and my book club ladies treated me to lunch. We had a great steak dinner at Mom's, and finally, Tim and I had a night away that included the best meal I have ever eaten and the largest slice of peanut butter cheesecake I have ever seen! I was spoiled rotten this year. Did I mention the Ipad Tim gave me? Yeah, it sleeps in between us at night. I love it...already. AND...my bedroom got a makeover.

Don't you just want to curl up in that bed and snooze the day away? I wanted to get away from the dark, cozy feel and make it more soothing and calm. I love how it turned out. Thanks to Tim for painting on his days off, and to my mom and Dave for the bedding. (Do you all know how much I love Pottery Barn?) And thanks to Dad and Julie for the curtains.....(shhhhhh.....we'll just pretend they came from Walmart!) Doesn't it look sensational?

Of course, these two little munchkins helped make my birthday special too! They are so rotten!

Halloween Night

As always, Halloween fun was had by all! The magic of the holidays come alive with little ones...that's for sure!

Addie's Halloween Parade at School

For Halloween, Addie decided she wanted to be a fairy. We have been watching Tinker Bell over and over here at our house, and I believe she fell in love with the little winged characters. Her mamaw bought her a set of fairy wings and a magic wand, and we found the perfect fairy dress in her dress-up box filled with hand-me-downs from friends. She made a beautiful fairy.

Halloween Day I was a volunteer at Addie's preschool for their little Halloween party. I decided she would like it if I too wore a costume to school that day. They also had a parade for the parents that day at school where the kids all got to show off their costumes. I forgot that I had to attend the parade in full costume before I headed to the party. It was a little embarassing when I walked outside to stand in line for the show and the other parents thought the parade was starting....."No, no...it's just me...a crazy mommy...all dressed up as Dorothy, complete with sparkly red shoes.." I blushed a little.

Here comes our little fairy...

The party was so much fun! I decorated halloween cookies with the kids, and I even managed to make some cookies that Addie could eat too! The icing and sprinkles were a MESS!

I am so lucky to be able to do things like this with her!

Halloween Preparations...

I have so many fun pictures to share with you! We had a lot of fun this month getting ready for Halloween. We carved a pumpkin, dressed up for our ballet class, went to school in our costumes, and of course, had a blast trick-or-treating this year with our cousins!

Addie enjoyed pumpkin carving this year. She drew on the face, and her Daddy helped her with the actual carving. Hayes, on the other hand, was not impressed with the pumpkin guts at all!

Addie had to come dressed in costume for her ballet class this particular week. We chose to save our "real" costume for trick-or-treating, and she chose one of the plethora of costumes in her dress-up box to wear to dance. She was the cutest little witch I've ever seen!

This is Addie with one of her little friends before class.

Aren't they cute? I'm sure they looked even more adorable dancing around that little room to music!

It seems as if we celebrated Halloween for months! I had my decorations up and out by the first of the month, and I had a blast with the kids crafting it up and creating our own homemade decorations to spooky up our house a bit! I'll have to share one of those creations with you too! Next, I'll post about our class party and the big night. They got lots of candy they can't eat, but that didn't spoil their fun...Hayes discovered Skittles and Addie has fallen in love with Ring Pops! I'll blog again soon....promise!

Cuteness and Eczema

This little boy deals with something many of us will never fully understand. You know that itch that you just can't scratch? Or that time that you got poison ivy? How about when you had chicken pox as a child and soaked for hours in a tub of oatmeal just to feel comfortable for a few minutes straight?

The weather change has been horrible for the little man's skin. He is rashy and itchy for the most part of the day, and he has stopped sleeping through the night too. I have a feeling he wakes himself up itching each night and can usually tell in the morning how rough his night has been by the blood on his little sheets and the red, raw patches behind his ears and on his little fingers. This makes for a tired household and an abnormally grumpy Hayes. Although, I must admit, he is the best cuddler in the world. If I could only figure out a way to sleep while his arms are wrapped tightly around my neck and his little face is pressed against mine...our nightly cuddle sessions would be perfect. Tim volunteers most nights to snuggle with Hayes, and I usually get a little brown hair girl visitor after a nightmare or potty break around 2:00 am. We don't mind :) We saw a new doctor for Hayes and have some new ideas that we are trying to help give him some comfort. Hopefully, he will adjust to the weather and start feeling better here really soon. Please say a little prayer for him!

Addie visits the Fire House

And of course I had to sneak one in there of the little man. Isn't he such a big boy now? He's talking more and more each day too. Every new word he learns brings a big smile to my face. I am so thankful he is starting to communicate better. He is still as sweet as ever.

Addie's preschool took a trip to the local fire station a couple of weeks ago. I have never been on the inside of one before, so I really thought it was pretty cool. Addie enjoyed having me with her, and she liked doing something different than a normal school day. However, the fire trucks and ambulance, and even the rather handsome fire fighter who showed us around didn't seem to impress her much :)

She has really grown up a lot in the last several months. Those "terrible" two's and "horrible" threes are behind us for the most part. Unless she is extremely tired, she is such a good listener and tries really hard to be helpful and sweet. A little on the shy side, she is quiet at school, but eager to please her teachers and show me her hard work when I pick her up at the end of the day. She makes me so proud!

Soccer playin' Addie

You know how little girls play pretend and sit around and imagine their life as a mommy with adorable, well-behaved children, one boy and one girl...and a handsome husband who works 9:00-5:00 and then comes home to sit down to dinner with his family before coaching his little girl's soccer team? You know how little girls dream of that?

My dream came true. Well, all except for the "well-behaved children" and the husband who works "9:00-5:00". My children are not always well-behaved, but certainly they are always adorable, and my husband works much harder than "9:00-5:00", but I must admit, I am living the dream.

"Firsts"

During years one and two, there seems to be "firsts" every time you turn around. Her first words, her first steps, her first foods, her first bath....but now, those "firsts" are less frequent and farther in between. Here are the "babies" getting ready for Addie's first soccer practice with Coach Daddy!

The following few pictures were taken on her her first day of "4-year old preschool". She was so brave. There were absolutely no tears this year and not a single hesitation as she brushed off my hug and strolled into that little classroom. Once again, I was a proud mommy.

Can you tell that she was growing impatient with my picture snapping?

I love all of their "firsts" and their "seconds" and "thirds"! There is nothing I love more than being their mommy!