Birthday and Christmas Fun

Brooklyn celebrating her birthday with her little girlfriends.

Brooklyn at her family birthday party. Look at that smile!

Our precious girls reading together on the

couch in Tierney's room. All you can see is their feet...

 

Tierney is really starting look SO grown up...

The girls munching on pretzels.

 

The girls in their Christmas outfits ...

 

The cousins...

the only one that doesn't look happy is baby John.

 

Tierney LOVES her baby cousin

... a little TOO much sometimes!

 

Tierney's favorite Christmas activity -

standing on boxes, wrapped or not!

Brooklyn and one of the Barbies Santa brought her.

 

We hope everyone had

a very Merry Christmas!

Halloween pictures

We all had such a great time dressing up for Halloween. And, the kids really enjoyed going trick or treating. Here's some fun photos of the four of us Brooklyn (the cheerleader), Tierney (the inky black kitty), Kev and I (roman prince and princess), our niece Kendall (Tinkerbell) and our nephew John (the baby footballer).

We hope everyone had a safe Halloween. And, we're really excited that Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner! This is by far the best time of year!!!!

Birthdays, Real Estate & More...

My precious baby Tierney turned ONE last Thursday, October 8. I can totally remember when she was born, and although the calendar says it was one year ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. But, I guess that's a common memory for moms, huh?! In fact, the night before her birthday, we were running errands and we drove by the hospital she was born at and I remembered checking into the hospital at about the same time we drove by to start the induction process. A wave of emotions flooded me as we past the hospital and I felt those same nervous, anxious and excited emotions all over again. I even remember the pain I was in. I had an epidural, but it really didn't take that well, so I felt most everything. That and the doctor's had to increase the strength of my contractions and up my dosage of pitocin. Suffice it to say, I was in more pain than I had ever been in and could ever imagine. And, how I could barely keep my eyes open during those last few hours of hard labor because every contraction I squinted my eyes so hard, giving myself a headache and making it hard to see out of blurry contacts. But, the minute (3:54 p.m.) she was born, all the pain, the blurry eyes and headache completely disappeared. When the doctor laid my second born daughter on my chest, my world got flipped upside down and I immediately fell in love with this precious child God gave me. My little girl, named Tierney. Over the past year, my heart has only expanded that much more with love for this precious girl. She's very loving, very sweet, has a bubbly personality and a fiery way about her and she's as stubborn as it gets. But, I wouldn't change anything about her or one second of my life with her for anything. This time around, I got to witness first-hand every little milestone, every smile, every cry, every cuddle, every look, everything, because I have the wonderful opportunity of staying home with my girls and I LOVE it so much! This year she's walking all around the house and trying really hard to put those words together she's been learning, and I know that this year will fly by and by next year, I'll be wondering where the year went. I wish time could just stand still. But, it can't. So, here's to another amazing year for my Tierney. Happy Birthday sweet baby girl! Mommy loves you more than you can ever imagine!

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My husband turns the big 3-0 this Thursday, October 15. That's right, this is his birthday week. He has only 3 more days of being a 20-something. He's not too big on birthdays, especially his own, and it's not because he is nervous, anxious, etc. about getting older. But, this year, he's getting more in the birthday spirit I think. We're going to spend his birthday night at a hotel thanks to an interview he did on a brand new hotel in the town where he works and the manager offered a free night's stay at the hotel in one of their suites! You don't have to twist our arm that hard. We're there. The girls are excited about staying in a hotel and going swimming in the pool. And, really Kevin loves, loves, loves staying in hotels, so this is a great birthday gift for him! And, even better, he has the next day off too. Wahoo! It's like a birthday present for me too because what's better than spending time with your best friend. I can honestly say that he is quite possibly the one person that very rarely I get frustrated with. As much as I love my girls, there are days when being a parent is very hard and trying, but being a wife, better yet, being Kevin's wife, I never feel that way. He's such an amazing man and I thank the good Lord everyday for bringing us together. I have known Kevin for nearly 20 years, and my life is truly better because he's in it and because I know him, love him and he loves me. I simply can't imagine my life without him, and I'm so excited to be celebrating his 30 years of life with him. Happy Birthday to my dear sweet husband! You're my everything and I will love you always!

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I have begun a new adventure and I'm really excited. Getting more and more excited by the day really! It's official, I'm a real estate broker! Real estate has always been something that I've kept in the back of mind as something that I would love to pursue if the opportunity arose. Well, this July, that opportunity arose. A real estate class was being offered by a Realtor that I knew from my newspaper advertising days and Kevin knew from interviewing him on occasion for different stories for his newspaper. So, at the beginning of July I went back to school for real estate. Six weeks later, the class was complete, I got my certificate saying I passed the class and had to sign up to take the PSI (real estate) exam. The exam has two portions, the national and the state. I registered for the exam, arranged a babysitter and studied my heart out and went and took the test. About three hours later, I clicked submit on the computer submitting my test to be instantly graded. I looked at the computer screen in the testing room and saw the words "failed" twice. Ahh. My heart sank. I cried a bit walking out to my car and called everyone that I had told about my test and received all words of encouragement, but still I felt terrible. I took the weekend "off" from studying and went at it again. I scheduled a retest and after a lot more extensive studying, I took the test on a Saturday while Kevin watched the girls. Again, I clicked submit, and again that terrible word "failed" appeared again, twice. Ahh..not again. How big of a failure am I to fail both portions of the test not once but twice. Come on! This time, my first call was to my instructor to see what words of wisdom, if any, he had for me. We arranged to meet and go over the material on the state portion again which was very helpful. Again, I studied like crazy for both portions of the test. Again, I registered for the retest. This time I drove about an hour as compared to 30 minutes to get to the testing center. And, again I clicked submit on the test and again I saw the word "failed" but this time only once. Hallejuah! I had passed the state test and missed passing the national test by one, ONE, stinkin' point. Oh well! At least the state portion was behind me. I celebrated my success by redoing my girls' bathroom which now has bright pink walls! I was determined not to let the national test get the best of me, and so I registered yet again for another retest. This time, I looked over the materials very briefly. I have sort of a photographic memory and so lots of the questions came back to me and I looked up the answers I wasn't sure of and that's about it for my studying. So, on the day of the test, I dropped my girls off at my mother-in-law's house for her to watch them and traveled the opposite direction of my previous tests and took the national test. After clicking submit on the test, I prayed to God to please let this be the final time, just let me pass. When the results appeared on the screen, I saw the word I so wanted to see "PASS!" Hallejuah! The proctor congratulated me and I flung my arms out and gave her a hug because I was beyond thrilled and needed to hug someone. Finally, I had done it! I called Kevin and his response was "Yes!" So, finally, finally, I am a real estate broker working with Coldwell Banker. I'm working on getting my first client and I am so excited to begin this new adventure. And, still the best perk of all is getting to still stay home with my precious girlies!

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That about wraps this LONG post up. But, there is one person that I haven't mention and who my life wouldn't be complete without and that is Miss Brooklyn Marie. Brooklyn is such a spark, always trying to learn more and more, has the world's best memory, is a great dancer, a wonderful singer, funnier than ever, a wonderful, truly wonderful big sister and just an all around amazing little girl who I'm sad to say will be turning FOUR (ahh .. makes my heart ache) in December. When did this little girl grow up? When we drive by the hospital where she was born, she waves to it and blows it kisses. So sweet! She can't WAIT to start school next year, preschool that is. I've been doing some things with her at home and she's learned her how to recognize all her numbers and letters and has even learned to write a little bit and really wants to learn how to read. She's fascinated at how everything works. I want to just sit on her so she can't grow up anymore! Is that possible? She just amazes me everyday. I am so very thankful that I'm her mommy. I love her to the moon and back and then some.

What an afternoon!

So, I had to record this somewhere to remember it because it just cracks me up when I think about it.

#1 - Brooklyn enters our bathroom and says "Oh Mommy it stinks in here like tacos ... did someone poop out tacos?" LOL!

#2 - I had the great idea to run errands this afternoon. I had the idea of running said errands after lunch and before naps. Usually this is pretty doable as I can keep Brooklyn awake by bothering her and Tierney by not giving her a pacifier. Well, this time around Tierney already had her pacifier, so she was going to sleep in the moving car, duh! And, I got a phone call that kept me from bothering Brooklyn, so she feel asleep too. So, errands were ran, children were happy, then we come home and I try to put them down for an afternoon nap after about 30 minutes of playtime. Tierney, who doesn't believe in sleep, takes about an hour nap, and then wakes up not wanting to go back to sleep. Brooklyn, who took a 15 minute nap in the car, refuses to go sleep, but lays in her bed for an hour awaiting my approval to get up. For this hour, I'm trying to get through as much material for a test I'm taking tomorrow morning, hoping to get through quite a bit. But, now they are both awake and requiring my attention, so I can't. I say to both of them "You silly girls aren't going to let Mommy have much study time today, are you?" And, little Tierney looks at me and says "Nope," while flashing me a huge smile.

#3 - Minutes after they woke up, our doorbell was ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing. I'm not a huge fan of going to the door because nine out of ten times, it's a soliticer and I'm totally not interested in what they are selling. We've had kid after kid standing on our porch trying to sell us chocolate or their services in bringing in my trash cans, which again, not interested. So, anyway, I went to the door after the first two rings and saw it was the little girls across the street. I immediately thought ball in the backyard but nope, they live across the street so that couldn't be it. I didn't answer it. I went back to the girls. Then, it kept ringing. I finally gave in and went to the door. The two little girls told me that their school was doing a fundraiser and would I like to buy anything. I looked through the magazine and saw they were selling Christmas wrapping paper and decided to buy a roll. After all, they are our neighbors, and my girls will be doing this one day too, and wouldn't I want our neighbors to buy something from them. The wrapping paper is cute and reversible. So, everyone wins. The funniest part was when I went to pay for it and I asked who I needed to make my check out to and they said, "Well, just leave it blank and we'll take care of it." I told them that if they could find out who I neede to make it out to, I would do buy something. They found out real quick! So, we'll have some cool new wrapping paper this holiday season and we supported neighborhood kids. Yay!

#4 - I was sitting in our recliner in the family room looking through work emails and Tierney would can't leave my side at times required me to put her behind me in the chair. As she is moving around, squirming like a worm, scooting to the edge of the chair, I reminded her that she's high up in the air. She just smiles at me. I put her in my lap to protect her from falling but she once again squirms behind me. So, I just watch her more carefully. Then, she lets out this sigh and leaps off the chair, head first into the carpet. She cries for like a half second, looks up at me and gives me the most disgusted look, like as if to say "Hey Mom, why'd you let that happen?" And, then she crawls away from me to play with her sister.

So, all four things happened in a span less than 30 minutes. All I can do is laugh. Aren't kids just the silliest?!

One month left

Seriously, there's only one month left before my baby girl turns ONE! It doesn't even seem possible. Time has gone by far too quickly. It makes me sad and excited at the same time.

Tierney is such a wonderful addition to our family. She has an amazing personality, so bubbly and bright, so inquistive and so sweet, so gentle and so loving. While she's a true Mama's girl, there's nothing more that excites her than when her Daddy comes in the door after a long day at work. He's greeted with loud squeals, smiles and a "Hi Dada!" The only thing that comes close is the excitement she has when she sees her sister for the first time in the morning or after naps. I can attest that being greeted by this precious little one by a squeal, a smile and a giggle just makes you melt into a puddle right there. She's not much of a sleeper at all and because she hates her crib and being confined, she sleeps on a little kid sized pull-out sofa on the floor of her room. It works, and she's gotten a few full nights of sleep, so we're sticking with it. She crawls everywhere and tackles the stairs like they're nothing. She loves to play and when her big sister pays all the attention to her she just lights up. But, I can say, that as much as her face lights up at the sight of us, our faces and our hearts light up so much because she's a part of our lives and a part of our family. I'm so thankful God choose me to be Tierney's mama (Brooklyn's too!). Nothing in life is sweeter, more challenging or more rewarding.

Here's to one more month of my baby being a baby before she is officially a one year old...

A Special Weekend

This past weekend, I got to experience something quite amazing. My father-in-law is a Vietnam vet. He hasn't really kept in touch with those that he served with, and while I've seen the photos of him over in war, I haven't heard all the "war stories," which I think could be interesting. Every year, the men he served with get together for a reunion and this year my in-laws had plans of going, but plans changed and they didn't make it to the reunion. I was kind of sad that they weren't going to be able to go because I thought it would be a great time and besides they never get away, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for that. So I was surprised and excited for my father-in-law when we found out three of the men he served with were planning a trip to come see him!

Three men - Alan, Tommy and Terry - arrived at my in-law's house on Friday afternoon. Two of them live in Texas and the other in Iowa. The whole weekend was spent talking, reminiscing and sharing life together for those few days. My family and I went over on Saturday to meet them and talk with them. My brother-in-law was there too and this was fun because it was like the old vets meeting the newer vet since my brother-in-law just got back from a tour in Iraq in February. They had a lot in common and a lot they could talk about that only military men would understand. These men were so friendly. Sometimes the conversations would have you in stitches and sometimes it would have you in tears. The things these men remembered including my father-in-law amazed me.

I was really bummed when I learned from Kevin on the ride home that I missed the battle story where all four men walked through the day my father-in-law got shot because I was putting the girls (my two and my niece) down for their naps. I have always wanted to hear that story, but never asked because it feels like such a sensitive subject. Kevin told me that everyone was teary-eyed as the story went on. He said the group got ambushed immediately after leaving the helicopter behind. The men on the front line ended up fighting with their hands, knives and the bottom parts of their guns rather than through gunfire because they were simply too close to the enemy. One man on the front line survived, Terry. Kevin said all the men said his dad was way too modest because he really was a true hero that day saving lots of men's lives. There were a lot of men that pretended to be dead so they would make it out alive.

Kevin's dad was never supposed to make it out alive. He wasn't supposed to live. Ahh, I can't wrap my mind around this because my life would be so changed. One of the men said that we should all consider my father-in-law a hero to which my brother-in-law said he always considered his father his hero. Ahh, heartwrenching. I know that Kevin feels the same way. My father-in-law is an amazing man who has been through a lot, who is very down-to-earth, has a very hands-on approach to life and who would do anything for his family. And, I love that these men came to visit him. As Kevin said they did it for him, but they also did it for themselves. I was so glad that I got to be a part of such a special weekend.

Alan, Dan (my father-in-law), Tommy & Terry

New Design

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged. And, really I do have good excuses. Brooklyn & Tierney. These two girls have been keeping me hopping along with some other exciting life changing things. We've been thoroughly enjoying our summer together. But, I've missed my blog and missed journaling our life. So, when one of my closest friends Jenn started her blog designing business and offered to design a blog for me, I couldn't resist. Here is my new design. Thank you Jenn! I love it! And, I can't wait to start journaling again.