The Importance of Today...

Six short years ago today, I officially became a Mom and my life has never been the same.

I can still remember the excitement leading up to the birth of our first daughter, Maddie. She has brought us such joy. I can't imagine my life without my precious little girl.

She has the most amazing ability to light up any room.

Her giggles resound in my head even when she is sleeping.

She is absolutely hilarious.

Watching her grow and mature over the past year has been amazing. She has come so far in school just in the few months since we started. It's hard to believe that my "baby" girl is reading. What's incredible is the fact that I was able to be there with her every step of the way. Together, she and I reached this milestone. Absolutely amazing!!!

She is the most gorgeous little blonde I've ever seen. (I really don't think I'm biased here)

Maddie loves to sing and dance. (Look out Hannah Montana!)

She's always been such an easy going child (after we got past the colic!)

She has this uncanny ability to make people like her. (I think she gets this from her Daddy) In fact, she can convince any adult or teen to play with her. She's just SO MUCH FUN!! And boy does she have some energy!

We celebrated her birthday today (well...four of us did) starting with breakfast at Panera and finishing off with dinner(?) at IHOP.

We had a fantastic day together. I think today she really felt like a Princess.

She enjoyed her favorite cinnamon crunch bagels for breakfast.

A movie instead of nap time (while Carter and Hailey slept) with Mommy was her midday treat. She picked Kung Fu Panda. We truly enjoyed our quality time together **just us**

For dinner, she made the difficult choice between Chili's and IHOP...breakfast again! Our waiter really topped off her day when he delivered a special hot fudge sundae - made just for her.

I think she went to bed happy...I KNOW I will! I just celebrated the sixth anniversary of the second best day of my life!!

I love you, my Princess! Don't ever change who you are. You are perfect just the way GOD made you!!

(P.S. I love you more than that, plus 21 to infinity and beyond, plus one!)

Tall and Skinny

The girls and I took Carter for his 9 month appointment today.

(the above picture shows off his 5 teeth!!)

Dr. Bel checked him over and was very impressed with his development. According to "the list" he should be (and is) sitting on his own, crawling, pulling to stand, using words with multiple syllables (MA-MA, DA-DA, etc...), waving, responding to pictures, picking up things with thumb and forefinger, holding two objects in hands and hitting them together - well, that's all I can remember.


He eats like a champ! There is nothing he won't try. It's funny, though...when feeding him, we always know what he likes and doesn't like by the faces he makes. This little man has more faces... We're finally starting to get him to drink from a sippy cup, but he still gets choked a little.


On to the real reason you are all here...His current stats are as follows:



Height: 29 1/4 inches (90%)
Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz (10%)
Head: 45 cm (40%)



Like I said, tall (no idea where that comes from) and skinny (wonder where he gets that? LOL!! What can I say, he IS MY boy!)


He LOVES his bath time:

Check out his mad splash skilz:

And I should add...lately, he has become SO kissable. He's gets in these moods where he just gives kisses non-stop. LOVE IT! I don't even mind all the slobber (from teething) and snot (from all the weather changes.)

Well...They ARE Both Green!!

Hot Rod was helping Maddie get ready to go to the reception for Dad and Tanya a little over a week ago. She had begged to wear the new dress that they had given her for Christmas. So when he pulled the shirt over her head, the collar was up.

In a slight whine, she asked him, "Oh, Daddy...is this one of those frog neck shirts?!"

"No, baby...it's not a frog neck...but it IS a turtle neck."

WHAT was he thinkin'?

This picture needs a caption, any ideas??



When Maddie was born, Hot Rod's cousins Melani & Curtis gave us the cutest, most cuddly pair of pajamas. Since they were not gender specific, all three of our children have worn them. In fact, Carter has them on in the photo above. I'm kind-of thinkin we might need to replace them...what do you think?




And while we're on the subject of Carter, I feel like I should mention he has added a couple of new teeth to his collection. So now he has both his top two front teeth. (the left one came in on Saturday) On Sunday, another one on the bottom popped thru. I noticed it while we were driving through Prestonwood looking at Christmas lights. That brings our tooth total up to five. He's eating anything he can reach to put in his mouth. (Which is not necessarily a good thing. He has an attraction to shoe strings!)


BTW - if you are in Houston, you should really check out the house that has the lights set to blink with music. I could just sit and watch it. Plus, they have a Santa that moves around in the window. That's pretty neat too.

The girls have asked Hot Rod and me if we can do that to our house...I told them, "we'll see." (Such a typical Mommy answer -- LOL!!)

When I was younger (much younger)

I remember playing lots of fun games: Ring Around the Rosey, Duck Duck Goose, Red Light Green Light and.....TAG.


Well, folks it appears I've been tagged - TWICE! In one week! No fears, I'm ready!

First lets tackle the "Crazy Eight" meme that my friend D'Lyn tagged me with:

Eight shows I watch

1. How I Met Your Mother (If you don't watch this one...you should!!)
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. Desperate Housewives
4. American Idol
5. Biggest Loser
6. Two and a Half Men
7. Scrubs
8. CSI: Miami (or NY)

Eight Favorite Restaurants

1. Chili's
2. HB Japanese Steakhouse
3. Logan's
4. Pappasito's
5. EJ's Pizzeria
6. Pei Wei
7. TGI Friday's
8. Chick-fil-A

Eight Things that Happened to me today

1. Woke up at 4 AM to play with my 8 month old (Argh, 8's!!!)
2. Enjoyed Maddie reading to me during school
3. Took advantage of "Happy Hour" at Sonic (Route 44 -- Oh, how I've missed you!)
4. Experienced 2 girls with NO naps
5. Washed, dried, folded and put away LOADS of laundry
6. Ate dinner at Logan's
7. Visited Santa (pictures to follow) at the neighborhood clubhouse
8. Cuddled with Hot Rod on the couch - w/o a baby in my arms

Eight Things I Look Forward to

1. Weekends
2. Time with Hot Rod
3. Christmas
4. Birthdays (any of my immediate family)
5. Seeing my Mom again
6. Our Disney World vacation
7. Cuddling my babies (all three of them)
8. Shopping

Eight Things I Wish

1. That my children will live Christ-centered lives
2. And they will marry Christians
3. We lived in a neighborhood with acreage
4. That I had more time to cook
5. And I had more time to sew
6. I could throw things away
7. I enjoyed cleaning - since I "get" to do it so much
8. That Hot Rod will be here on Christmas Day

Eight People I Tag

1. Mrs TD @ The TD Family
2. ErinKH @ Who's at the Helm
3. Laural @ Laural Out Loud
4. Mrs De Miranda @ The Road Less Traveled
5. Carly @ Our Family of Four
6. Euphrony @ Euphrony Rambles
7. The Character @ The Character's Craziness
8. Erinlo

Second, my friend ErinKH tagged me to post my Christmas Decorations. Actually, it was originally a pic of my front door. Since I don't really have anything more than just a simple wreath that I snarfed from my Mom's old Christmas decorations, I decided to pick just a few of my favorite decorated spots from the around the house.

So, without further ado (just felt like saying that) here they are...

Our tree:

((Ooh, that picture came out dark!))

The girls' tree (they decorated it themselves):

((Shoot! I forgot to turn the lights on!!))

My village (this is my favorite spot!)

Did you see Elfie? He's sitting on top of the Pharmacy.

So, Kelsey, Sharon, & Heather - Ladies, show me your stuff!!

I think tomorrow I'll take better pictures of the trees when it's light outside and post those, but until then...

...TAG, you're it!! Be sure to add a comment so everyone can read your post!

Up High, Down Low, In the Hole...

I forgot to mention that Carter has gotten rather good at giving "FIVES"

He doesn't care if it's high or low, just don't expect him to stick his finger in a hole 'cause I think he's still too slow.

I Slept Alone Last Night

...well, Hot Rod was there, too. BUT, all three of my children slept in their own beds.

ALL...NIGHT...LONG

Yes, this is the longest Carter has ever slept. 10 1/2 hours straight!!! Saturday night, he slept 8 hours straight. Before that, I had only gotten typically 4 or 5 hours.

This is probably the most rested I will ever be for the next 18 years.