Finally, some pictures of Tatum

I feel like the worst mom ever! Being the 4th child in my family, I know what it is like to look through family pictures and realize that there just aren't as many photos of me as there are of everyone else. It's not that I don't love this little ball of cuteness as much as the others, I guess I just don't think about taking her pictures amongst all of the puking, cleaning, changing, puking, cleaning, changing........... she is always soaked with spit-up- yuck, it doesn't make for a perfect picture opportunity. So, as I looked back on my blogging over the last few months, I realized Tatum is just not getting any facetime and I would hate for her to look at this when she gets older and wonder why her mom never acknowledged her presence. So, yes I have taken some pictures- of course I wish I had taken more to chronicle her growth, but I am not completely incompetent.

At 5 months she is still not interested in ever rolling over. Am I worried? Not really, she hates being on her back, maybe it is the reflux. I think that she might just go straight to crawling.

It has been terribly hard to get Tatum to smile for the camera. As soon as I stick the camera in her face her face straightens right up- I got sort of a half smile here.

I realized if I can tickle her with one hand and take the picture with the other I can catch a good smile.

I put pigtails in her hair last week for the first time because her hair is getting so long. Oh my goodness, does it get any cuter than that?!

Snapshots

The kids were having fun posing for the camera. I thought I would post a few.

I can't help but think that I have some beautiful kids, especially Addyson because she looks so much like me- hehe- just kidding!

Snow

We have had some pretty cold weather here in Dallas the last few weeks. It actually snowed quite a bit on Christmas Eve. I never thought that would happen. We have lived in the Dallas area for almost 5 years and it has snowed like once or twice. I kind of felt like I was back in Colorado for a second. Then, it snowed again about a week later so we decided to take a couple of pics.

Whirlyball- maybe the greatest sport ever invented!

Our good friend Tiare had her Birthday 3 days after Christmas so her sweet husband decided to do something really fun for her for her Birthday and boy was it FUN! Whirlyball is kind of like a cross between lacrosse and basketball in a go cart that has a funky joystick for steering and no brakes. It doesn't get much better than that!

It was boys vs. girls and we were some serious competition.
The girls made a trophy for the winners, a Golden Cup, which is modeled by Jessica.

Shaunna had a fun idea to get shirts made that said Team Tiare with everyone's ages and names on the back. I was lame-O and didn't get one made.

And the winners were............the girls of course. And we didn't even cheat at all(wink, wink)!

Tiare blowing out her Birthday candles

Happy Birthday girl, we love you!

Christmas- The Best time of the Year!

We have had the best month with Thanksgiving and Christmas! We seriously are so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. It was such a busy time filled with parties, Christmas activities with the kids, early(really early) shopping trips with the girls, eating, did I mention shopping? Whew, it goes by so fast! We are very very lucky to have to have great people in our lives !

So, Christmas morning started really early for Addyson and Ethan. I am woken up by little voices downstairs by the tree, and when I turn to look at my clock I see that it is 2 a.m. Dave has to go and break the news to them that they need to go back to sleep because Christmas is not happening for at least another 5 hours. Of course, almost exactly 5 hours later they are awake and have sorted everyone's presents into seperate piles. They had already inspected their presents and were speculating what was what.

I was thrilled when Addyson asked Santa for a doll, because she has been asking for such grown-up stuff, I just want her to stay young and sweet. So, Santa delivered her B.F.C. ink doll named Addison and she was very excited!

She loves Littlest Pet Shop stuff these days!

Ethan did not know what he wanted, except for a Wii and a DS. I did not know what to get him. He was a little annoyed when he was opening up socks, underwear, and clothes. I thought it was pretty funny. Ask for cheaper presents, Ethan- ask for cheaper presents.

This Christmas was loads of fun with Paige! She was so excited and happy. She got lots of girlie stuff. She walked around with her dress up shoes, lip gloss, and bracelet and just kept brushing her hair with her new princess brush. Precious!

She is a princess!

We had a little bit of scavenger hunt for Addy and Ethan to find their big gift.

They found it!

Ethan didn't feel so bad about all those clothes when he saw the Wii. I think I was just as excited to play it as they were. I haven't been getting as much done around the house as I should these days because I keep getting distracted by Super Mario Bros.

Ethan lost his first tooth on Christmas Eve so he had both the tooth fairy and Santa visit him on the same night!

Christmas day was nice, we sat around and played with our new stuff and then my mom, step-dad, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over for dinner which was really yummy BTW. Another year gone and memories made. I can't wait for next year!

30th Birthday Suprise

This year was a big year for me, I really can't believe that I just turned 30 years old. I am no longer in my 20's, Ahhh! My super sweet husband did a great job of helping me enter my thirties with a bang! He joined forces with my mom, sister-in-law, and some of my good friends to plan a suprise party. I usually have the disadvantage of having my Birthday around Thanksgiving so usually most of my friends are out of town or have family in town and it usually ends up being a pretty low-key event so I expected no more than the usual dinner with my husband and dinner with my friends but WOW was I suprised!

The day started as a typical Saturday does, chores and more chores but a couple of my friends had invited me to go shopping with them later in the day before I was supposed to go out with Dave. After a few hours of sushi and shopping they dropped me off at my house, that is when it got a little fishy. Shaunna had to use the bathroom and apparently it was going to take a long time because everyone got out of the car and came in. Dave had everyone lined up along our stairs in the dark and when I opened the door I saw 31 of my favorite people yelling suprise!

Dave and a couple of helpers had prepared dinner for everyone complete with decorations. I was pretty impressed- he really thought about the details.

Just some of the coolest girls ever!

Dave got my favorite cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory yummy Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake!

After dinner and dessert everyone decided to play a hazardous game of spoons. Others decided to stand back and stay out of danger!

How many people can play a game of spoons? It got pretty crazy!

Thanks to my wonderful husband and friends for giving me a 30th Birthday to remember, with them I will never feel old.

Twilight girls night out!

Just in case you have been living under a rock, the sequel to Twilight was released last weekend and of course I had to be there. Why not make a girls night out of it right?!

It just so happened that it was about the time for our monthly supper club so Kari and Jessica hosted with picnic style dinner. We were supposed to eat our picnic at the Anna ball fields and play some kick ball but we got rained out.
After our dinner we headed to the theatre to stand in line for an hour and half. Normally, I would hate standing in line for that long but we had a blast.

My commentary on the movie: It was okay, I didn't love it :( Of course, I will still see the next one because I do love the books and honestly it is kind of fun to be a part of all of the hype.

Tigerthon 09'

Every year the elementary school does a fundraiser called The Tigerthon where the kids train to run laps for $$$. Every year it is sort of a big deal but this year just seemed to be an even bigger deal because now we had 2 little tigers to support. Ethan is pretty much excited about anything having to do with school so he naturally wanted Dad to be there. Dave was able to work from home most of the day and I am so grateful because what a day!

Addyson ran first and she did such a great job. In years past she did not care much about pushing herself but I think that maybe because her Dad was there to watch her this time she really ran hard. Five laps equal 1 mile and she got 8 so she did well!

Go Addy, Go Addy!

She loved showing off her sister. It is funny how much she acts like she can't stand her at home but when she gets around her friends, suddenly she is the best sister ever.

After Addyson ran we headed home for a short while and then we were back at the school for round 2 to watch Ethan.

I thought that Ethan would push himself hard for sure because he seems to be a lot more competitive than Addyson. He was so lax just walking most of time, chatting, maybe running a couple of yards here and there. He was just there to have a good time- there is nothing wrong with that I guess. He did a great job.

Refueling with his class.

That was an exhausting day for all of us!

Another Texas campout

Now that we have established that summer camping in Texas sucks we have started a new tradition of fall camping. Seriously, I am so glad that I have friends that love camping just as much as I do because when it comes to camping, the more the merrier! It just so happened that the weekend that we decided to go camping it got pretty cold so some people maybe didn't enjoy it as much as they could have but I have to say being a little cold sure beats sweating to death. We were able to enjoy the fire and hot cocoa which is pretty much the best part of camping anyway.

Dave decided to get himself a new hobby and bought himself a telescope. The kids thought is was very cool to see everything up so close.

He is still trying to figure out how to use that thing.

Camping breakfast- YUM!

I don't know how that kid gets as dirty as he does. There is a little bit of marshmallow mixed with some dirt and who knows what else on his face.

All of the kids lined up and ready for some adventures with "Adventure Dave".

Susan and Andrew were a new addition to our camping trips. They sort of had a rough night and I really hope that they don't decide that they hate camping because they were so fun to hang out by the fire with.

My mom gets the grandma of the year award for offering to take Tatum for the night so that we could enjoy ourselves more. It was a cold night so I am grateful that I didn't have to worry about her getting too cold.

One with nature

I really love fall in Texas. After enduring the dreadfully hot days of summer I am all about getting outside as much as possible. While Dave's mom and brother were visiting from Canada I decided to drag everyone outside for a Sunday stroll through some nature trails. I discovered some nature trails behind our community center that I never knew existed so I thought it would be something that the kids would enjoy, and they did.

Along the trails they had a "Meditation Grove" where we stopped and the kids used their Yoga skills. They became one with nature.

Ohmmmmmmmm

Even Dylan and Joyce gave it a whirl.

After our walk we went to one of our favorite spots and fed some ducks.

A lovely Sunday afternoon.