Popsicles

Well, we finally made it back from NYC. We had a great time! The traveling was not fun but the city was wonderful! I will post pictures as soon as I have time to go through them. The week before we left we went to my Dad's for my Grandmother's 81st birthday. He decided to give them popsicles for the first time. They LOVED them! Alyssa wasn't quite sure what to do with them at first but quickly caught on.

Trey & I have been married for 8 years today. On one hand I think time flies but on the other hand I look at everything that has happened in our lives over the past 8 years and feel like it should be more like 18 years!!! I am tremendously blessed to have a wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally. I know that can be VERY hard sometimes but he is always there for me!

My BIG girl!

Alyssa is officially in a big girl bed now. We went from the crib to a double size bed! She started climbing out of the crib and I was so scared she would fall on her head. When she finally goes to sleep she is sleeping GREAT in the bed - just when she goes to sleep! She plays for at least an hour and pulls everything out of her drawers on her dresser and then climbs on top of her dresser! I have got to figure something out about that!!! A couple of days ago the girls were really quiet so Trey went to check on them and they were in Alyssa's room on the floor putting ALL of the ponytail holders on their TOES! It was hilarious!!!!!

We are leaving Wednesday for New York!!!! I am SO excited! Trey woke up yesterday with an upset stomach so pray that it will GO AWAY!!!! I don't want him to be sick while we are on vacation because it is jam packed full. Wednesday night we are going to a Yankees game, Thursday morning we are going to the Today show then that afternoon we are going to the Dave Letterman Show. Friday is Trey's US Open day while I spend the day at the spa. Saturday will be our tour day and that night we are going to The Lion King. Sunday we are going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle then Monday afternoon we come home! Whew - we are going to be SO busy! So if you think about us please pray for safe travel (because I DO NOT fly well) and for my Mom while she is with the girls for 5 nights! I will post pictures when we return!

Bryan & Christine's Shower

Visit with Friends and the Zoo

Last week we went to the Monroe Zoo with our MOPS group. It was fun. The kids got to feed the giraffe. Mallory loved it! She just stuck her hand up there and let that HUGE tongue grab the carrot out of her hand! They got to pet a couple of animals and we went on a boat ride too! The week before that Megan and Jolie came over with their kiddo to visit. We had a great time catching up. A couple of posts ago I put some pictures up of Alyssa getting under her sheet. Well, I the other day she started screaming during her nap so I went to check on her and she was INSIDE her matress. She pulled up the binding on the side and climbed inside!

We went to DeRidder this past weekend for Bryan & Christine's shower. We had a great time! I will post pictures later!

Silly Girls

I had to take a picture of the girls last night when I walked in and saw what Trey had done to their hair. They look like coneheads!!!! The other picture is what we found when Mallory woke up this morning. It was HILARIOUS!!! She was in bed with socks and shoes on her feet and socks on her hands!!! That child.....something new everyday!!!!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!

I love my girls!!! It is so much fun watching their personalities develop! Mallory finished MDO last week. She will be out until the beginning of June then she will go to the summer session for 6 weeks. Alyssa finishes this week. She will go to MDO with Mallory this summer. I think it is funny how when you are a child you can't wait for summer and when you are an adult it really doesn't matter. In fact, in some aspects I really don't like it. There is nothing on TV and it is SO HOT! There are a few things I am looking forward to this summer though! I can't wait to go to NYC next month, Bryan & Christine's wedding is in July, and I am hoping to go on a girls beach trip in July or August!!!! Now I just need to figure out what to do with Mallory all week. We will both go stir crazy sitting inside all day everyday!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!!!

I had a great Mother's Day weekend! I was worried because Thursday night Alyssa threw up and was running a high fever. I just knew she had a stomach bug!! Well, Friday she was just SO sick. I have never seen her so pitiful! She could not lift her head up. I took her to the doctor to find out she had a urinary trac infection. She was so out of it that she slept on the exam table pretty much the whole time we were there. They gave her an antibiotic shot and she was back to her normal self Saturday!!!

I met my Mom in Shreveport for our annual Mother's Day lunch at the Tea Room! It was wonderful! I took Mallory with me and left Alyssa with Trey so she could rest. Mallory was SO good! We did not have any meltdowns (well, not until we came home)! We had lunch them shopped all afternoon. I came home to a bouquet of flowers and a card waiting for me on the table. He wanted me to open it then. So, I opened the card and it said my gifts were hidden. If you know me then you know I DO NOT like games like this! I get aggravated and frustrated VERY easily. So I looked for about 15 minutes then made him give me some detailed clues! I decided to go back and look in the card and found a gift certificate for a spa day hidden inside the card. He said there was one more gift. So as I was staring at the flowers trying to think where he could have hidden something else I noticed something in the flowers. I went to look and it was a BIG apple! I asked him what that was for and he wouldn't answer. After a few minutes I figured it out - he was taking me to NYC!!!! I only figured it out because my friend Elaine's husband did pretty much the same thing for her for Christmas and they are leaving next week! I have always wanted to go but Trey has been before and was not really interested in going back. Well, the US OPEN just happens to be in NYC the weekend we are going to be there!:) So, If anyone has any suggestions of what to do or where to eat I would love to hear them! Don't I have the most wonderful husband?????

School today

Apparently Mallory did not have a nap today at school. I should have known since she has been fussy and clingy since I picked her up. I went to the playroom to check on the girls because it had gotten very quiet and I found her passed out in the chair. Alyssa looks like she rolled around in the dirt at school. I don't think I have ever seen her that dirty! The picture doesn't do her shirt justice!

HOW IN THE WORLD???

So I went in to check on the girls before I was going to bed tonight and this is what I found. Alyssa was completely under her fitted sheet and the sheet was unmoved! She loves to burrow herself in blankets but this was hilarious!!! I seriously had to do a double check to make sure she was still there!!!! We are still trying to figure out how in the world she did it!!!!!

Weekend in Dallas

We spent the weekend in Dallas with 2 other couples. We had a GREAT time! We left the kids in Ruston with my Mom & Mike. We left Friday morning and ate some good Mexican food, went bowling, then went to the Rangers game. We were worried about the weather but it was great during the game! The Rangers got killed though!! Saturday the guys played golf while us girls went shopping. For dinner we went to Texas de Brazil for Brandon's birthday. Mr. Bubba was in town visiting Bryan & Christine so they joined us too! We had a great time! We headed home yesterday and stopped in Shreveport to eat at Superior for a late lunch! It was a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Easter Egg Hunt

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.
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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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!