Memory Lane - part 2

More random cell pictures - the girls love to ride on tractors when we go to Lowe's/Home Depot. Which is good because we are there a lot!

Do not EVER leave your child alone in a room with markers.

Remember HK's upside down duck hat phase? She wore this everywhere for about a month.

HK sure did love those wings!

There is a shack in Macon, GA with no tables, just a bar along the wall (a wall with a very large spider. yuck!) that has the best BBQ ever!

Sweet girls!

Almost 2 years later I still miss my Grandmama so so so very much. every.day.

Poor Jared, there is no telling what picture I will send to him. I think this day I was whining about being lonely.

I should have been more prepared for HK's wild ways, she's been climbing from a very young age.

Daddy - please come home!!!

Love these sisters!

Matney's first trip to the movies - she saw Tangled with her friend Maggie. So much fun! Matney liked the popcorn a lot!

It is a bad idea to leave your child alone in the backseat with stickers.

Costco carts are awesome because both kids fit in the top!

Jared went to the store and came back to cook baby octopus. NASTY.

Ha! They love to go play in Party City.

A picture of them sitting together and smiling...not fighting. I should frame this!

Chocolate is messy.

Little girls will get into lotion and turn into greasy wild monkeys if I turn my back. The floor was covered in slippery lotion.

Caged in! Trampoline fun!

OK- I have more but the girls are up and we've got to get moving. I'll add more later. Isn't this fun? Kind of makes me want another baby!

Memory Lane - part 1

I am in the middle of printing LOTS of pictures from the past year (thank you Snapfish Penny deals for helping this mama catch up!) and have had so much fun looking back at the pictures from my cell phone. Most of those pictures are the fun ones I take all day long, because my phone is always closer than my camera, but they have only recently started getting on the blog. I think I fell even more in love with my girls last night while looking back at the past few years! Hope you enjoy these too! They uploaded to the computer in no particular order so this will jump around a lot!

Sweet Matney - I think she was 2-3 months old. Look at all that hair!

HK's first big bow...and a sweet baby yawn.

Matney used to be very scared of firemen!

Matney's first dining out experience. A grilled cheese at Steak N Shake.

Matney falling in love with an Elmo doll.

I took Matney to a bounce house/play place on May 21, 2009. She was just really starting to walk well but got stuck in on of the blowups. I had to climb up after her and yelled down that I bet I'd have another baby soon. About 10 hours later Halle Kate was born. Ha! Climbing around in big bounce houses apparently is a good labor inducer.

Welcome Halle Kate!

HK on her way home from the hospital.

Jared brought me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day just after HK was born. Wasn't that sweet?

See that rash? That was the beginning of the hives I got when I went back to the hospital after HK was born for high blood pressure. I was allergic to the first medicine they tried in the IV. There are so many ways that having kids is not for the weak!

OH! Halle Kate

HAHAHAHA! Jared is going to get me for this one! We had just moved into this house (see how empty it was?) and Jared was trying to put together our first pack and play. HA! I remember this night and yes, he had some serious trouble. Poor Matney, we had no idea what we were doing when we became parents!

Matney's first time trying Chick-fil-a. HK was a newborn and we ate outside at The Avenue so she didn't go in and get exposed to germs. How in the world did we survive two kids so tiny?!?!?

Fast forward - HK meets Santa when she was about 6 months old.

It's ok HK, Mantey doesn't like him either!

Can't flip this picture - a baby learning to feed themselves is MESSY!

To a toddler saying "please throw this in the bathroom trash can" sounds an awful lot like "Of course the toilet is a trash can and Mommy would love to go potty fishing later."

Halle Kate's first steps - we were at The Avenue again and some stranger was nice enough to snap this picture and email it to me. I don't know why I didn't have my camera out...except I assume I was trying to catch her before she fell.

We take fun pictures and send them to Jared while he is at work. I am not sure what he thinks we do all day around here!

So sweet!

Matney has been the "mommy" recently to hk, her baby she named "sulley" (pronounced sue lee, no idea wheree they came up with that one). Tonight Matney was putting Sulley to bed and she was crying. I thought it was a real cry until hk got up and jumped on M and said "sing". Sweet girls, hk just wanted to be rocked! I love my girls!

Sweet elf

So thankful our elf decided to cuddle baby Jesus today. That is much better than making a mess!

Look who's back!

The girls were so excited to wake up this morning and find their elf back! I wonder what he will be up to on the next few weeks....

still not ready....but they are sweet!

Do you see this sweetness? Look past the massive amount of stuff in my car and focus on those sweet hand holding girls. Can you say "Awwwww...."?

Last time I tried taking the girls out of town we made it less than 24 hours before I tossed them in the car and came back to Atlanta. I waited almost 6 months to try again and we headed south last weekend. For your information they still have not earned their "good traveler passports" and will stay home for at least another 6 months! AGH! The 2.5hr ride there was really good. The only time HK got really frustrated Matney was so sweet and said "it's ok, Hal. I will hold your hand" and they rode like this for 20 minutes. I love those girls so much I can't even stand it!

 

They were really well behaved but they just don't sleep well anywhere but their own beds. I had pillows, blankets and toys from their beds at home but we were pretty much up all night long. Matney and MoMo were talking/laughing so much that they woke me up at 3 something. Poor Matney really has had some trouble sleeping now that she doesn't have a paci. We headed south to go to a holiday market at the GA Fairgrounds that opened Sat at 9am. Since we had been up since 3am we were more than ready for the doors to open. Without sleep the girls were not so excited about holiday items and we didn't stay long. It should go without saying that we did not stay another night. After seeing a few friends they got tossed right back in the car and we came home to our own beds. Hope you had fun girls, no more overnights for you for at least 6 more months!

Now that we're back in ATL we are in full holiday mode. I was up until after midnight and got lots of things ordered last night. Christmas pictures are done and cards are on the way here! All the personalized printing gifts are ordered so no extra money on fast shipping this year. Point for me! Now I am up blogging before the girls are up while smelling the food cooking for Thanksgiving tomorrow. The girls are getting very excited about Christmas and are so much fun to watch. Our family has so much to be thankful for this year!

November Catch up!

Wow! I am way behind again. I think if I were to go back and read the blog "way behind" has been the theme of my life in 2011! My goals for the past few years haven't been too impressive - survive and keep my children semi-happy without growing too much mold in the house or being overrun by noisy plastic toys! Funny how things have changed since having two kids! Here are some pictures from the beginning of November.

The leaves have started falling and occasionally we have a cool day outside. The girls are fascinated by the leaves on the ground and love going to play outside. Since it hasn't gotten cold yet we have been spending lots of time outside.

See the pants half off? HK has gotten extremely good at getting her clothes and diaper off by herself. I often see a naked hiney streaking past me and hysterically laughing. I used to laugh too until she started hiding, pooping (one day she'll so appreciate me sharing this!) and then getting naked. Cute clean tush I can handle, poop flying around my house I cannot handle. She HATES it but I've started duct taping her diaper on most of the time, especially if I am the only adult home with her!

The girls did not want to carve their pumpkin but they enjoyed painting.

Jared enjoyed carving his pumpkin.

Sweet Max is still here. HK and he are still hit or miss but he and Matney are best buddies. She is in love with that dog...which makes the incredible amount of hair he drops all over my house a little more tolerable.

More leaves

We had a fun birthday party a few weeks ago. Our birthdays are one day apart so mom and I always celebrate together. I really like icing but don't care too much for cake (pretty sure the girls inherited that from me!) and always request rice krispie treats for my birthday. This year was a double batch shaped like a birthday cake. YUMMY! It was gone in less than 72 hours and 90% of it was eaten by me. Yes, I requested elastic waist pants for my birthday!

And you can tell in the picture above how long hk's hair has gotten. It hasn't ever been cut but could use a trim. However, any time I ask her about going to the "glitter hair place" like Matney she screams "NO!!!!" and some battles I am not fighting right now!

HK trying to get a piece of my cake. Well, HK with her piece of cake and Max hoping to get a piece.

We went Trick or Treating with some of the girls best friends. Everyone had a blast. Special events are SO MUCH FUN as a mom. I LOVE seeing my girls excited!

All the cuties!

HK didn't want to be in a family picture so I had to grab her.

And yet another family photo fail. I was super excited about something, wasn't I?!?!?

HK's costume - crocodile shoes, spider tights and a pumpkin surround and a robot. She is festive.  

Matney was in a car with Jared and I had HK so I don't have a picture of Matney alone. She was a mermaid and very proud of all her jewelry. After the first 20 minutes I was carrying HK and Matney was whining about being too tired to walk so we didn't have to fight them to go home. About a week after Halloween we left Matney's Halloween bucket on the kitchen island (on accident) and left the house. Hours later we returned to find that Max REALLY likes sweets, except Smarties, those he left in the wrapper in a pile. The good news was that he didn't die...and Mantey was so funny. I was upstairs putting HK down for a nap and heard her screaming. When I got downstairs I found her nose to nose with Max yelling "I AM SO MAD AT YOU MAX. I AM SO MAD!!!" I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard. I didn't even know she could really put the emotion word with the feeling. ha!

Cheese before bedtime....aka - I ate too much candy and need something not sweet! While Trick or Treating HK saw a dad dressed as Batman and went crazy. I don't know how she knew who Batman was but she chased that poor man all around the neighborhood. He thought it was cute and played along. Every time he spoke to her she was so excited. Three weeks later if you ask her about Halloween all she talks about is meeting Batman.