Anna's Birthday at the Park

We went to Anna Bowling's birthday at Cook Park this Saturday. It was a beautiful day and the girls had a blast. I was sick all week with the flu. It was not fun! Friday night was JA Dinner and a Movie. JA is a service organization just like junior service league. Since I am a member I had to work the event. It was really busy so the time went by pretty quick. It was in Railroad Park in downtown Ruston. There was all kinds of entertainment and booths for the kids and at dusk we played the movie Babe on a big blow up screen. Saturday morning was the Women's R&R conference at Temple. That lasted from 8-12. It was good. The speaker was great! We were at church most of the day today. So I guess that sums up our weekend. We don't have a very eventful week so maybe I can get my house picked up!

First day of school

Alyssa started preschool at the Lincoln Center today. This is the public preschool but they have a special class for children with learning disabilities. She walked right in and started playing with the toys in the room. I am very excited about her being there. I think it is really going to help her! She was supposed to start Monday but she has been running fever all week. She finally started feeling better yesterday so I took her today. The only think I don't like about it is that she has to wear uniforms! I know that will be nice later but right now I still want to dress her cute!!! Oh well, I guess I will have to accessorize with bows!

Alyssa's 3rd Birthday!

The Beauty of Holland

I just had to share this post that a friend of mine from college posted on her blog.

The Beauty of Holland by Emily Pearl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability -- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful vacation plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very, very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?", you say." What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy. "
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They landed in Holland and there you must stay, forever.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.
But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are so many days that I feel like I am living in Holland but I would not change it for a minute! I know EVERYTHING happens for a reason and as long as I keep my eyes fixed on the Lord then he will be my tour guide through Holland!

These boots were made for SLEEPING????

So today I got home from a Kelly's Kids party and went into Mallory's room to get some wipes for Alyssa and this is what I found. Apparently Mallory put them on then got in the bed to take a nap. She LOVES these frog rain boots Papaw got her for Christmas. When she sees them they are immediately put on her feet!!! I was laughing hysterically!!! The next 2 pictures are just some random pictures we took during the week. Also, Alyssa said MOMMY yesterday!!!!! For those of you who know her situation you understand this is HUGE!!!!! We put her on a special diet about a month ago and it has really seemed to help! Oh, we took the girls to have their birthday pictures made yesterday at Sears and it was a disaster! Mallory screamed for the first 20 minutes then by the time she was ready to take pictures Alyssa was done! Oh well, I think we got a few descent ones! Hopefully they will be better when we take them again in April with Kevin!!!! I guess that is all for now.

Bathtime Fun!

I realized that I NEVER take pictures of the girls in the bath. I guess we are so busy trying to get everything done and put them in bed that we don't even think about it. Well, tonight they were having so much fun that I just had to capture it on camera! Alyssa always LOVES the bath. Mallory is not a big fan unless Alyssa is in there with her. You can tell by Alyssa's picure how much fun she is having!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a pretty good day. We spent the morning playing with the girls. The weather was so nice we played outside for a while. Then my Mom & Mike came over tonight and kept the girls and Kamryn so we could go out to eat with the Rhodes without kids! We surprised our friend Richie last night at Superior in Shreveport for his birthday. We dropped the girls off at my Dad's while we ate. So we have had 2 dinners in a row without kids. In other exciting news Alyssa tee-teed on the potty this week. She only did it once but hopefully it is a step in the right direction!

Mallory's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had Mallory's 2nd birthday party Saturday. We had so much fun. The party was at Trinity United Methodist Church Gym. They had everything you could imagine to keep the kids busy. It was perfect! Today is her actual birthday. She is a groundhogs baby! I also thought I would share some pictures from her last 2 birthdays to see how much see is growing up!

My Big Girl

So yesterday morning I woke up to Mallory crying. Most of the time she wakes up talking and playing so Trey quickly ran in to check on her. When he opened the door she was pushing her baby doll stroller around he room. She FELL out of her crib. She kept pointing to her knees so I am assuming she fell on them instead of her head. Of course you would know that we decided to wait to order the conversion kit until we needed it. Well, we need it and it takes 4-6 weeks to come in! So, we took the front off of her crib and bought a cheap bed rail from Wal-mart. It is not the sturdiest but it will work for now. I put her to bed last night thinking it was going to be an ordeal but she went straight to sleep. She didn't wake up once during the night and as soon as she woke up she started reading a book. So now my baby is sleeping in a big girl bed!!!! Now to potty training!!! Another thing she has been doing lately is putting herself in time out. Today she was in my office opening drawers she wasn't supposed to be opening. After the first time I put her in time out every time she did it after then she would put herself in the corner! What do you do with that???? She KNOWS she is doing wrong but continues to do it AND punish herself!!!!! UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lately

Lately we have been stacking blocks then kicking them down. Jumping on our jumpy the girls got for Christmas. Check out the static in Alyssa's hair!!!! Speaking of her hair I am SERIOUSLY considering cutting bangs on her because I can't keep it out of her face. Any input???? The thought of taking her to get a haircut makes me really sad because that makes her a big girl!!!! :( The last picture is what I found yesterday when I went to check on Mallory. She had been really clingy with me lately so I have let her run around the house so I could get some stuff done. Well, I was in my office working and realized I hadn't heard her for a little while and decided to check on her. She had pulled brand new box of wipes down off of her dresser and pulled EVERY single one out! Today we decided to try peanut butter with Mallory. I wanted to wait until Trey was home just in case she had a reaction he would be here to help me. Well.....she had an allergic reaction. She broke out all over her face and she started swelling around her eyes. I was at Occupational Therapy with Alyssa so Trey rushed her to the doctors office. We just gave her benadryl and no more peanut butter for at least a year. I have been busy planning Mallory's 2nd birthday. I can't believe she will be 2 in a couple of weeks! Well, I have 3 baskets of clothes to fold so ta-ta for now!

Future Doctor?

So everyone is finally well. Alyssa had a cold the week of Christmas. Mallory got sick Sunday after Christmas so we assumed it was the same cold because I had it too. Well, we took her to the doctor to find out it was RSV then Alyssa got it Thursday. Mallory mainly ran a high fever and it affected Alyssa's breathing. We had a close call to the hospital but were able to control it from home. I guess Mallory went to the doctor too much because today while they were having their snack I looked over and Mallory had found Trey's stethoscope and was putting it up against Alyssa's back. It was SO cute!!!! I also posted a picture of Alyssa staring at my new dryer. She LOVES to look at herself through the door. Well, back to work. My next post will be products of my new obsession. All I will say is that Mom got me a monogramming machine for Christmas and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas with all of our family! We had Christmas with my Dad last Sunday, then headed to DeRidder Wednesday, then to Carthage on Friday, and then finally back to Ruston to have Christmas with my Mom. We all had a very good Christmas and feel extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Look what I got for Christmas!!!!!

So today I opened a present from Trey and the girls and it was a box of Bounce. Upon further inspection I realized that the side was opened so I peeked in and there was a picture of my new washer & dryer!!! I was so surprised I cried!! They will be delivered Monday. We had a great Christmas here in DeRidder with Trey's family! We are headed to Carthage tomorrow then we will have Christmas with my Mom in Ruston on Saturday. I love it when Christmas lasts a week!!!! Anyway, I was so excited I had to share!!!!

Christmas at Dad's

We had Christmas with my Dad last night. We had a great time! Dad got them a Barbie jeep and super cute rain boots and a jumpy thing! They also got a baby doll and stroller. They had fun playing with it all! Mallory pushed her baby all around in the stroller and Alyssa tried to get in it! They both got in the Barbie jeep but haven't quite figured it out. It is too cold to go outside and play with it today so they will have to wait! When we got home last night Andy & Kelly were pulling into town! We are heading to DeRidder on Christmas Eve. Have a Merry Christmas!!!!

I've Been Tagged

Suzanne tagged me! The way the game works is you have to post the 4th picture from the 4th picture file on your computer. So, here is ours. This picture is from October 2006. Alyssa was about 6 1/2 months old and we had custody of her for about 2 weeks. This was her first trip to Carthage to meet Trey's Grandparents. Actually, I think this was the first time Trey's Dad met her too! This is Trey's Dad holding Alyssa. My how time flies!!!!!!



Now I tag Megan, Marcie, Elaine and Ashley.

UH-OH

So today I dropped Mallory off at MDO and EVERYONE was handing out presents! I was doing good to get the teachers a gift! So I decided to run to the store and figure something out. I lucked up and found a few things at The Dollar Tree, put some ribbon around it, and used my new CM tag maker to make some cute tags. Fortunately, the parents don't really do that at Temple so I only had to make 6! I took cupcakes for each of the girls Christmas parties and so the girls had the leftovers for snacks after school. I don't know if you can tell but Alyssa has green all over her mouth from them! Mimi & Poppi sent the girls a musical Christmas card with scooby doo singing jingle bells. Mallory LOVES it! She threw a fit when I took it away! Anyway, I thought I would share a picture of the gift I made and of course a few of the girls!

Christmas with the Critters

We took the kids to Papa Simpson's Farm this weekend. We have never been but they were having Christmas with the Critters so we decided to go. It was fun! We weren't too excited about paying $8 per person but we really enjoyed it! We went on a hay ride that took us to the back of the farm. Mama Simpson was there and read a Christmas Story to the children. There were 7 boxes out on the hay bales where we were sitting and the child that was sitting closest to it brought it up front. Boxes 1-6 were different pieces of a nativity scene and the last box was the gift God wanted and it had a mirror in it. Then all of the kids got a Christmas book and we got to roast marshmallows. The girls enjoyed the marshmallows! We then rode back on the hay ride to where all of the other activities were. We looked at chickens and roosters, petted goats and baby cows, found baby Jesus, looked at Santa, and dug through snow. They had horse rides and you could take your picture with Santa but it was $5 and they wouldn't let you use your personal camera. It wasn't too cold. We will probably make that a Christmas tradition!

The Tyler's Birthday Party

We went to a birthday party last weekend for Jake and Landry Tyler at Gymboree in Shreveport. The girls had so much fun! They went wild playing on everything. Mallory was not too fond of their little mascot clown. In fact, she was down right terrified of it. Of course, she was also scared of making cookies with me yesterday too - but that is another post. Anyway, I thought I would share a few pictures from the party.

It's THAT Good!!!

Trey has been begging me to make some baked potato soup. It takes a good hour of constant stirring to make so I don't like to make it very often. Well, I made it last week and Mallory loved it! She likes anything with potatoes in it but she REALLY liked this! We had the leftovers for lunch Friday and she had two bowls. I was eating mine and looked up at her to see her licking the bowl! I had to get a picture! I guess I need to make it more often!!!!

My Big Girls

Just wanted to share some pictures of my big girls. They are growing so fast. I have been going through some old pictures lately and have really noticed how much they have grown over the last 6 months.

So I have a new addiction! Yes - my name is Tara and I am a digiscrapaholic! Last week I got Storybook Creator (creative memories digital scrapbooking software) and LOVE it! I haven't even gotten to an actual book yet. I have been working on some Christmas presents and our Christmas cards. The banner at the top of my page is one of the Christmas cards I made. It is so easy to use and it can do anything you want it to. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone! After I complete the current traditional scrapbooks I have been working on (for 2 years) I will only do digital!

Here is another interesting fact about Christmas I learned from my Bible study:

Xmas. The Greek name for Christ is Christos. It begins with the Greek letter chi which resembles a small x. During the 16th century, Europeans began using the first initial of Christ's name, "x," as a shorthand version of Christ. One of the many words they abbreviated in this way was Christmas, making it xmas. Although early Christians understood who the x stood for, later Christians did not and mistook it as a sign of disrespect, "taking Christ out of Christmas."

WOW! I am one of those later Christians!