tears

I still tear up when I think about my grandparents. Like today when I went back and read the post I wrote the day after my grandmother passed away. It took me almost two years to visit her grave. I've only been in her house once since the day that I watched her go to heaven.

Today it's been two years. I think I miss her more than I'd like to admit.

serious updates

Made some major updates to the Shutterfly link on the right. See it? It's over there under pictures. Or just click HERE. Tons of pictures added that don't make it to the blog. Even some video.

More importantly, we are now pull-up free in our house! Addison came home last week and decided she didn't need to wear one to bed anymore. It's been 8 nights now and not one accident. I'm so proud of her. She's pretty proud of herself too.

We've also implemented a marble reward system for Addison over the last couple of weeks. It started as a way for us to get through the nighttime routine with no arguments. If she does not wake us up at night she gets another marble. Lately she's been dressing herself in the mornings, which saves us all time, so she gets a marble. We also add random good deeds which hopefully only reinforces the nighttime stuff, which was the major issue. I took her to the dollar store and let her pick our what prizes she wanted. Get 10 marbles and you get to pick a prize from the basket. She gets so excited to count the marbles and see how close she is getting. She's gotten two prizes so far and it seems to be working. Except for last night when I was up 3 times. No marble this morning.

Just some random pictures to end the post. Morgan looking cute in Minnie ears from Aunt Shannon.

The girls having a Publix picnic in the playroom. Have you had the kid's meals they sell in the deli section? Awesome. I *heart* Publix.

baptism

Baby M is such a joy to have in our family. And she's so stinkin' cute. She wore the same dress Morgan was baptized in and looked just as adorable. I just love her big brown eyes.

Baby M with her mommy and daddy.

The girls love, love, LOVE baby M. Addison wants to hold her. Morgan makes sure that she always has her paci. There are plenty of hugs and kisses. I can't wait until they are all running around together.

These three just make me smile.

godmother

Just add that to my title.

Baby M was baptized this weekend. I have some pictures to post, but the headache that I've had for two days has clouded my memory and I keep forgetting to bring my camera. Hopefully tomorrow. Here's one I took with my cell phone on Sunday.

I love her! I think she loves me too.

(Just a reminder. She does have a name, but her parents have asked that I don't use it on the internet. So I will respect their wishes and just call her baby M. Or maybe I'll start calling her chubs. Or curly. I'll have to come up with something. She won't be a baby forever.)

christmas morning

Here's a little video of the first Christmas moments.

Addison is excited about her pillow pet. Morgan looks so sick. And I sound horrible because I was barely awake. Couldn't ask for anything better.

the mask

This just may be one of the scariest and funniest things ever.

Addison wanted to make a mask. She enlisted the help of Michael, completely leaving me out of the process. I didn't even go in the kitchen. I wanted to see what they came up with and be totally surprised. Was I ever. Addison rounded the corner and about scared the pants off of Morgan.

Behold. Her cat mask. Complete with claw action. Pattern courtesy of Michael. Coloring done by Addison. Wow! They're both just so crafty.

I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. Actually, I think I cried I was laughing so hard. Is it a kitty cat? A big, tiger like cat? At one point Addison asked me to act scared and run away. Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing.

I'm laughing all over again.

happy 2011

We had some minor babysitting issues when it came to New Year's Eve. It seemed that everyone and their momma was getting sick so it looked like our evening plans might get cancelled. But my friend Beth came through and offered to watch the girls at her house since they were doing a big family thing. I think the girls had a blast. There was coloring, noise makers, sparklers and even friends their age.

Beth took a couple of pictures and I stole them from her Facebook page. This might be my new favorite picture of Addison. No goofy smile. Just having fun.

Michael and I went to dinner with friends at Restaurant Medure. The food was great and it was nice to hang out with friends we don't get to see often. And I didn't worry about the kids once.

We left around 11:30 to go get the girls. We had a champagne toast at Beth's and were home and in bed by 12:30. The perfect way to ring in 2011.

santa came!

Christmas morning was perfect. The girls slept in until 7:15, which was when Addison was at my bedside. She came directly to our room and totally bypassed what awaited her in the living room. I had to remind her that Santa came the night before and suddenly she was filled with excitement.

Morgan was pretty excited too. It was fun to watch her open presents and investigate all the new stuff. I put a spin toothbrush in each of their stockings and they were definitely a hit. Morgan had a death grip on hers most of the time she was opening presents. I had to hide it when she wasn't looking. You can see her testing out her new potty below.

Addison has been asking for a Pillow Pet for months. It was the first thing she spotted from Santa. At that moment I saw the magic of Christmas in her eyes. I love it! Other highlights included the Oso characters and the Barbie dolls.

Christmas afternoon we headed to my mom's to do presents. We made a quick stop at my aunt's house where I took the picture of Morgan on the scooter. She thought she was such a big girl. I just love her sweet face. And guess what? Mom got both the girls toothbrushes. Who knew they would be her favorite.

Addison got about a million Little Pets from mom and Jim. She was in heaven.

Baby M celebrating her first Christmas. I think she enjoyed it. She didn't care about the gifts as long as she had her hands.

That's it. That's all I have about Christmas. I'm always a little slow and just took all of the decorations down this week. I really don't mind it though because I like looking at the tree. Now the organizing, cleaning and putting away of the presents is going to take a lot longer. It's currently being stored in the hallway, covered with a blanket.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! It sure was for us.

christmas eve

I think we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off on Christmas Eve. We both had last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping to do. And baking. I'll get to that in a second. They were having a children's program at church Christmas Eve. Addison had been practicing to be an angel for weeks. I never commited her to doing it because I had a feeling she wouldn't participate. She is still so shy when it comes to doing stuff like that. I was spot on. She refused to even put on the angel costume. But they both looked so cute in their best Christmas dresses. Forced pictures, fake smiles and the purple glove on Morgan's hand. She's obsessed with stuff on her hands. I love it!

After church we baked cookies for Santa. I'm still lazy and go the break and bake route. The girls put the cookies on the cookie sheet and took them off again about 10 times. It was cute to watch. And all of Addison's dough balls had a bite missing. Good thing Santa isn't afraid of germs.

Maybe Mrs. Claus had to have some brownies too.

Michael asked Addison how many cookies she wanted to leave for Santa. Four, because he'll be hungry. Here you have it. Four cookies and milk, apple chunks for the reindeer (courtesy of a McDonald's Happy Meal the day before), and cheese for Santa Mouse.

At this point Morgan was pretty sick and barely made it through the cookies. Addison was so excited and couldn't wait for the morning. She and I read a ton of Christmas books at bedtime and off to bed she went.

tennessee christmas

While we were in Tennesse we rented a cabin and stayed up in the mountains for a few days. The family time is fun and we're only 10 minutes from one of the best outlet malls in the country. Wednesday night we did our big Christmas feast and festvities. Michael's grandfather wanted some nice pictures with the girls so it turned in to a mini photo session. Addison doesn't look too thrilled, but at least she did it. I had to bribe them both with Oreos.

 They sat still long enough for these with Michael's parents and then they were done.

The girls had a great time opening presents from everyone. Morgan thought the doll blanket was for her. She layed it down on the floor and decided to go "nite nite".

Addison received a Leapster from her Aunt Angela and she was in heaven. She played the drawing game for over an hour. Unfortunately she would not let Morgan touch it and Morgan was pissed. This is her best mad face.

The 10 hour drive home was not the best, but the girls did suprisingly well. Probably better than I did. It's amazing how long a DVD player and a ton of snacks will keep you occupied. Thanks to everyone for all of the gifts. The girls will be happy and entertained for a long time.