Photos of Kathy's kiddos

Hello blogging world!  My friend Michelle has her own photography business and yesterday she took some photos of Kathy and her two youngest kiddos, Chayse and Carson.  I have posted the pictures below.  They turned out SO GOOD!  If any of you in the area are interested in her services her photo blog site is http://michellegblog.com and her photography business website is http://www.michellegportraits.com.

She took Maggie and Emma's 1 year pictures last year and they turned out really great.  We even used the pics for their birthday invitations last year.  We were suppose to meet up with them yesterday too so we could get some updated pics of the girls but they woke up from their naps GROUCHY so we didn't go.  We are trying to plan for next weekend so hopefully I will be posting some new professional pics of my girls soon!

Enjoy!

Vomit and diarrhea and fevers, oh my!

Hi fellow bloggers.  I hope your families have been healthier than my little girls lately. 

Last Friday my little Emma threw up twice and then all day Saturday she had diarrhea (I'm talking 12 diapers on Saturday, yep, I counted) and ran about a 101 degree fever.  She was miserable.  All the while Maggie was running around a usual, eating and playing and laughing.  Well, that didn't last long, as expected... 

Sunday morning we all woke up and ate (Emma too).  Emma seemed fine and so did Maggie so I decided they were well enough to go to church with Kathy and her family.  We went to their church because Kathy was baptized on Sunday, wahooooo!  I will post an entry all about her soon.  Anyway, Emma did great.  No sick potties, no throwing up.  Success...er...not so much.  After church we went to the grocery store and that's when poor little Maggie started.  We were in the soup isle as I was going to get them some chicken noodle soup for lunch and blah, Maggie threw up all over the place.  Thankfully I expected something of that nature so I had brought a change of clothes just in case.  So I changed her and got them home.  Maggie threw up one more time Sunday but for the most part seemed okay by Sunday night.  Oh, did I mention that Jason was in San Antonio all weekend for his reserves training?  Yeah, Momma was dealing with all of this sans Daddy, no fun! 

Anyway, on Monday they both were okay.  They weren't eating much but neither of them had diarrhea or vomiting.  YES!  We thought we might be over it...until about 4pm when Emma threw up all over the place.  Since Monday, Emma has been eating a little better, has only had a few sick potties and hasn't thrown up but now Maggie has it in full force.  7 sick potties yesterday and two already today.  In addition, they are both coughing horribly!  We are now on day 6 of the stomach crud, and Mommy is READY for it to be over.  I'm pretty sure babies are ready for it to be over too!

I want my happy, playing, eating, smiley little bugs back!  Is that so much to ask???

On the other hand, I just read my friend Lindsey's latest blog entry and her 22 month old has the flu.  She also has a 4 week old baby at home with her right now so she's trying to keep the toddler from infecting the infant.  I guess we don't have it so bad here!  Hey Lindsey, we're praying for a quick recovery for Hutch and that Hazel doesn't get it!

I will keep you posted on the girls' health.  I hope I wasn't too visual for those of you with weak stomachs! 

Kissin' and Pickin'

Today the girls were being kissy, kissy with each other so I grabbed my camera to get it on video--they usually stop the second I grab the camera, but not today.  What I didn't expect is for Emma to not only start picking her own nose, but she also did Maggie the favor of picking hers too!  These girls are too much.  By the end of a typical day my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much.  They truly are our little blessings!

Tyler!

Hi all!  This post is all about Tyler.  I very rarely post pics of him because he isn't here very much and I don't ever remember to bust out the camera while he is here!  So, this one's for you bubba!

Tyler spent the second half of his winter break with us this year.  While we didn't get him for Christmas this year, we made the most out of our week with him after Christmas.  Tyler really bonded with Maggie and Emma over the course of the week.  We then had him this past weekend and because Monday was MLK Day, we had him for the extended weekend.  He bonded even more with his sisters.  I must say, he is an AWESOME big brother.  He has so much love for his sisters, it's incredible.  I am so thankful because he was less than happy when he found out he was getting two more sisters.  He already has one half sister on his Mom's side and SO wanted a brother.  He has adjusted well to being big bro to three little sisters.  He even told me the other day he was glad they were girls because boys probably would be too rowdy and would be hitting him all of the time!  He cannot tell the girls apart so he just calls them both, "sissy" or "sister".  It's actually pretty cute and since they both think their names are "sissy", it works out well!

While Tyler was here over the winter break, Jason was able to take some time off of work and we were able to do some fun things.  We spent a couple of days at Grammy and Papa John's house.  Tyler received a bow and arrow and a motorized boat from them for Christmas.  The guys shot the bows, played with the boat in the pond and Papa John and Tyler even canoed a bit.  They really had a blast.  Then, on New Year's day, Jason, his cousin Patrick and Tyler went to the shooting range.  Tyler got to shoot a 22 for the first time and Jason said he was a natural.  He really enjoyed hanging out with the "guys" and being one of them.  He had a great sense of pride when he got home from the range which was really nice to see.  Jason is really excited to have found something that he and Tyler have in common that they can start doing together.  Tyler received a PSP for Christmas from cousin Patrick and pretty much fried his brain playing video games the rest of his Christmas break.  I think he had a good time!

The below pics are from our stay at Grammy and Papa John's house.  That's the only time I remembered to pull out my camera and snap some pics of the boy.  I got some really good one's though!  Enjoy!

Handsome boy!

Playing with his new boat--that thing is super cool!

Playing on the make shift jungle gym--I swear the child is part monkey!

Like father, like son--handsome men!

Check out those abs--he's very much about his abs these days and wants to show 'em off all the time (even in the 30 degree weather--that's another story though)!

We thought this pic looked like something from the movie "The Blue Lagoon".  I think he's far better looking than the kid in the movie!  I hope he never realizes how handsome he truly is...that could be dangerous!

It's Robin Hood!

Crazy Girls!

Here are some silly videos of our crazy girls.  They catch their second wind at about 6pm every evening so I try to pull out the camera around that time.  I usually get some funny things on video, much like the below clips.  Enjoy!

This one was a couple of nights ago. They wanted to wear Mommy's hoodies and spin around. So silly!

Last night they were being silly and playing on their ball pit, yep, I did say "on" their ball pit.  Not sure that's the way it was meant to be played with, but they sure had fun!  I had an even better video than this one, but it was too large to upload to blogger.  Oh well, this one's cute too!

My new necklace

I have been wanting a necklace with the girls' names on it for a while, so with some Christmas money I received I decided to buy myself a hand stamped necklace.  I found this wonderful woman online who creates this hand-made jewelery.  I had never heard of her before and I loved this one particular necklace she offers (the messy necklace) so I thought, what the heck, I will purchase it and hopefully it will be as awesome in person as it looks on her website.  The necklace was $48 plus $2.50 for shipping...not a bad price for this kind of jewelery.  I ordered it on the 26th of December (I think) and she had shipped it by January 8.  She promises shipment within 2.5 weeks.  As promised, she shipped it within the promised time frame.  I just received my necklace in the mail today and it is far greater than I even imagined.  This woman does amazing work.  If any of you are interested the website is www.etsy.com/shop/MamaBethBling. 

It is super easy to place your order and she confirms your order with a convo (you'll just have to check out the website to know what I'm talking about.)  I have posted a picture of my new favorite necklace.  I will be purchasing gifts from this lady in the future for sure!

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011!

I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's Eve and Day.  We had a very fun and low key New Year's Eve.  We rang in the new year with Jason's cousin Patrick and our very good friend Jennifer...and the kiddos of course.  We had Tyler the last half of his "winter break"--they call it that now because heaven forbid they call it Christmas break...anyway, I won't make this post a spiritual rant...I promise.  We adults and Tyler made it to midnight (barely).  Shortly after we watched the re-run of the NYC ball drop at midnight our time, we went to bed.  Like I said, very low key.  The girls went to bed at their usual 7pm and woke up in a new year.  It was just another day for them.

Tyler trying to stay awake.

Emma-not trying to stay awake

Maggie-also not trying to stay awake!

On New Year's Day we went over to my parent's house and hung out with the family.  We had our black eyed peas and BBQ chicken-yummy!  All in all it was a great start to a new year.  I am excited about things to come in 2011!  I hope God blesses each and every one of you in this new year.