Tenlee Rose

Happy Birthday to our little baby toddler!!! 

Where did the time go?  How many times a week do we say this? 

 

Two years ago, we were getting me all hooked up to monitors and getting ready to break my water at this time.  Since I was induced it was an all day affair.  Took forever! She was born around 6:30 that evening.  Long long day.  Taydem was diagnosed with the flu a couple of days before and so my mom was staying home with her.  Neither myself or Tenlee needed to be around Taydem during this time.  My mom was so afraid to come see Tenlee after she was born.  I think it was almost a week before she did! Those first 6 months are usually the hardest with a newborn.  And now, she's working on getting potty trained! Can't wait until that day comes!

 

This morning I had a meeting at work at 6:00 am, so I laid out her clothes for Leven and put some brownies next to his wallet and keys to drop off at her daycare today.  I hated not being there, so I "face timed" them when I knew they were getting ready to leave.  I caught them in the truck and wished her Happy Birthday.  And Taydem had to let me know that she put some leftover Chicken N Rice in a dish, warmed it up, and wrapped that silver stuff around it (foil) to keep it warm until lunch time.  She also packed herself some goldfish and fruit gummies, haha!

 

Tenlee is starting to repeat what we say and she can communicate with us pretty well. She has been sleeping with Taydem really good since November and I'm thinking I'm about to break down her crib.  She doesn't want anything to do with that anymore.  Then maybe I can start working on her room.  When we moved in, I didn't do much to her room, because I knew she would be out of the baby stage soon.  Now I can make it more like a big girls room.  She's our cuddle bug.  Loves to still be rocked (I usually have want to rock her 4 times a week).  Every now and then she will just go get in bed with Taydem.  Now she lets me know when she's tired and when she's read to rock. It's the sweetest thing.  I can't tell you how many pictures I've taken of her in my arms asleep!

She completes our family!

 

  

He is RISEN....

...He is RISEN indeed!

 

Easter Sunday was a good one like always.  We got up early, put on our Sunday best, gave the girls their little Easter baskets and headed to Longview for church at http://www.mobberly.org/.

 

After church we headed to my parent's to take pictures as a family.  We have been doing this for years....like my whole life! My mom takes each of our family pictures every year and puts them in a frame that hangs on her wall.  So we all know to get a family picture for her. 

We were missing our boy though.

After pictures were taken, we all headed down to my Meme's house.  Meme is 92 and holidays are her most favorite simply because she can have everyone there with her at once.  She loves for us to call and visit with her as often as possible, but having us all together is a treat.  It's a treat for everyone! We ate GOOD (as always!) and then visited for a little bit before the kids started bugging us to hide the easter eggs.  Young or old....everyone loves this.  Us adults have fun hiding the eggs and the kids run out as fast as they can collecting as many as possible.  The kids are getting older so we have started hiding eggs with money in them to make it more challenging for the older ones.  The weather was so perfect.  All week it had been calling for some rain, but it all stayed away. 

We love when the weather guys are wrong!

Weekend full of.....

Fun, birthdays, Easter and volleyball!

Last Friday the girls birthday party went very well! The girls had a blast (worn slap out) and they were hooked up with the presents.  We are so blessed with friends and family.  And the weather was perfect!

Saturday morning I left the house at 4:45 am to make it to Plano on time for my last volleyball tournament.  It was a long day and a long drive home.  The girls gave me a picture frame signed from them all along with a few gift cards to my favorite mexican food restaurant and a new whistle with my name engraved on it.  So sweet and very thoughtful.  This team was my hardest challenge and turned out to be my most difficult one.  Overall, I hope they learned a lot from me and this experience.  (One day I will explain how my heart was broken yesterday!).

I will fill you in on the rest of our weekend tomorrow..................

To be continued....

Moments

Tuesday morning Tenlee woke up with 101.5 temp.  I ended up staying home with her and took her to see her doctor that morning.  She had a double ear infection.  Not something we were wanting to deal with the week of her birthday party.  She slept the majority of that day and I actually got quite a lot done around the house.  I got caught up on all the laundry, I planted about 5 more plants and then I created a new flowerbed in the back yard.  There's this small corner right outside the kitchen window where we had planted one of those trees and we needed something else there.  I was really proud of myself.  I think it turned out good! And I love looking at it from the kitchen.

 

Leven stayed home with Tenlee yesterday until about 2.  He has athletics last period and it was volleyball day so he needed to be there.  So thankful the daycare allowed him to drop her off for a few hours.  And she got there just in time to have some cupcakes from Baylee's birthday party.  Yesterday she turned the big 2! This picture is so funny of the two of them.

The teachers told Danin that the icing fell off of the cupcakes for some odd reason.  The girls are looking at their cupcakes like "where's the good stuff?"

 

Danin and I have finally got everything ready for their party tomorrow.  Now we just have to set everything up in the morning.  It poured in the middle of the night last night.  I'm hoping the sun comes out today and dries everything up! Or our backyard is going to be a mess. 

These are the cupcakes we had made to look like ice cream cones.  Can not wait to take a bite!
 Lucy lives in our neighborhood and she and I went to school together. 
Her cupcakes are the best!

Hers not feeling good

Hers feeling better!! This picture cracks me up!

This is the cutest video!

 

 

Weekend.....

.....What weekend...........????

Yes, what weekend?  It went by way too fast for me.  Friday, the girls and myself headed to watch my niece and cousin play their first tball game.  That age is too cute AND funny! Leven had a good time Friday night at the Casino with Patrick and actually didn't LOSE.  Then Saturday I got up super early and headed to Shreveport myself for my volleyball tournament.  (We didn't have a good tournament this weekend.  I'll just leave it at that!). While Leven and I were in Shreveport, Trever got the girls up and headed back to the ballpark.  Taydem's first softball game was at 10:00 am.  Leven ended up getting up early and heading back so he could see her first game.  He will probably umpire the majority of her games this year (like tonight's game!).  She played pitcher and went 2-2 on batting! She is still playing coach pitch and is so much better this spring!

Sunday, Leven, the girls and myself got up and headed back to Shreveport for day 2 of the volleyball tournament.  He had about 12 girls from Carthage also playing at different times and wanted to watch as many as he could.  So the girls just tagged along.  It was a long day at the Convention Center. 

My parents (so thankful for them!) helped us plant 4 news trees once we got back to Shreveport.  Which made it an even longer day, but so worth it.  Sunday afternoon was the only time this week we could get them planted and I love them.  So thankful for Patrick bringing them to us.  They look so good! We put three in the front flowerbeds and then the Texas Rose Bud is in the back by our kitchen window, which I love! I look out that window and there's the tree.  I bought two more plants to go right there with the Rose Bud and we will make a small flowerbed there.  I need to buy about 8 more bags of mulch for the front beds and then this new smaller bed we are making, along with some kind of stones/bricks to outline it. 

This Friday, Danin and I are having the girls 2nd birthday at our house.  So I'm trying to get everything looking "right!".  Thank goodness my cleaning lady comes Thursday! The party is from 1-3.  We rented a bounce house (every kid loves a bounch house!) and we will have ice cream sundaes and cupcakes.  Praying the weather will be nice. Grans is also driving up for the party and to spend the night!

Austyn is ready!

Brittyn also had her first game on Saturday morning!

Trever and his babies!!

My Uncle Robbie is a great cook (BBQ Smoker? Griller?).  He enjoys competing in differnt BBQ competitions
in our area and he's done very well in all of them!
 My dad went this time and brought my Meme along.  92 and still looking good!
His RIBS are the best I've ever had!

Batter up

Taydem had softball practice last night.  Tenlee is finally at the age where she can roam around (always watching her) and she understands when I tell her "no!".  She's very busy right now and wants to touch and grab everything.  So during practice, Tenlee was having a good time in the dugout.  I took her shoes off so she could walk around in the dirt and of course loved that. 

This time of the year, we will practically live at the ball park.  I just looked at her schedule and she has 12 total games.  Last year it rained so much we probably only got to play half of the games.  Leven is umpiring again this year so he will be at the ball park A LOT! It's great extra money for him and he also went ahead and got certified this year.  This will let him do all ages, district tournaments and more games he can work in the Longview area.  He should stay busy all summer! He is headed to Shreveport today with his friend Patrick.  He's been waiting on this day all week!

Today, I'm meeting Trever for lunch.  I have seen him like 3 minutes since Wednesday so I'm glad we are getting to spend at least an hour together! lol I understand him wanting to see his friends when he comes home as well.  I was the same way back in the day.  He is taking Taydem (and Tenlee) to her softball game in the morning. Since I have volleyball in Shreveport and Leven will be driving home from Shreveport.  Thankful he can do this for us.  I just hope he keeps up with Tenlee!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Green it up

St. Patty's Day:

 

Neither myself or my kids wore green today....and it's not like we don't have any GREEN in our house.  This is our school colors.  But I've never gotten into celebrating this day.  Why do we even celebrate?? Let me give you a quick history lesson:

 

According to Wikipedia, "the day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland,^[1] and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general."

 

Eating and drinking lots of alcohol is lifted for this day.  You should put a shamrock in your beer.  After the beer is gone, either shallow the shamrock or toss it over your shoulder for good luck (never heard of this one!).  People wear green and associate the shamrock with this day because St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. 

 

Again, if you aren't Irish or Irish-American, why do we celebrate?  This holiday has been celebrated in North America since the late 18th century! Whoa......I guess this is why we celebrate. Because the people before us, before them, and before them....celebrated.  So it's part of our culture.

Well I felt like it was just another day and threw on some clothes!

 Plus I woke up late and was in a hurry!! haha

Leven let Taydem skip school today to hang out with he and Trever.  Not sure what they have in store, but I'm glad she is getting to spend a little time with Trever.  I also taught Taydem how to make a friendship bracelet last night.  I loved doing this as a kid.  And I knew Taydem would love it and pick up on it fast.  She's very artsy and loves creating things. 

I have a feeling when I get home from work today, she will have made at least 3!!

 

Bubba's home

My flowerbeds looked so much better yesterday when I got home from work!  Money well spent.  But in the end, 10 plants had died and were pulled up.  So now we are left with gaps! I'm hoping to get 2 Crepe Myrtles and then I will just buy some bushes of some sort for the other places.  I also recently purchased the two pots standing on both sides of the front door. 

We are enjoying getting our house/yard together.

 

 

 Look who got home today!! Bubba! Tatum schools had an early release day so Taydem got to get out of school early and see her brother.  It's been a few months and we've missed him! He's getting to stay with us until Saturday.  Taydem has her first softball game on Saturday morning and he wants to stay and see her game before leaving. 

 

 

So I've started my Hammer and Chisel videos once again.  I'm going to try HARD to do this workout every day for 60 days. Well you get Thursdays off....but I will probably have to replace my Saturdays sometime and do on Thursdays.  Since Leven and I are going to Cabo in June, my goal is to get this body toned up.  I will try and post my "accountability" videos every now and then on my blog.  Last night was a tough one.  I have never been a very good jumper.  No "ups" on this white girl and I still can't jump well.  And now, there's a whole lot more jiggling going on everywhere.  I've moved my workout space into Tenlee's room.  This room is the room we are least in.  I need to go ahead and break her crib down because she won't go near that thing now.  She sleeps with her Taytay every night. 

 

I have two more Wednesday volleyball practices left.  This club season flew by, but so does eveything else. Our tournament this weekend is in Shreveport.....finally a close one! Happy HUMP Day!

Touch of spring

Love my new plants in my pots! This morning Leven had to drive back into Longview to buy 10 more bags of mulch.  I didn't realize our flowerbeds where that big! I'm excited to see the difference when I get home this afternoon.  Yesterday we cleaned up the back porch and Leven turned on some music outside.  He started dancing with the girls and they had a ball with him.  It was really sweet to watch.  There's a Daddy/Daughter dance coming up soon so he told Taydem they needed to practice.  Then you look over at Tenlee and she's got her hands up in the air "my turn my turn" was written all over her face. 

Well then Momma got a little jealous and also wanted a turn! Love this time change.  I can't say it enough.  Later after eating supper and cleaning up, we all took a ride on the golf cart.  Leven and Taydem ended the night with some softball practice while I did some walking.  Who knows what Tenlee was doing....kidding.  We keep a close eye on her!

 

Taydem has gymnastics today until 5:00 and then Leven will take her straight to softball practice.  I'll grab Tenlee on my way home and then she and I will head to the fields.  Tatum has a really nice walking trail around the park.  So she and I will hit that up a few times until Taydem is finished. 

 

 

Leaping into Monday......

 

Today I met Leven on my lunch break at Lowe's to buy some mulch for the flowerbeds (yay for time change and being able to get more things done when I get home from work! #workingmomissues). And we also bought a couple of plants to go on our back porch.  Quite a few of our plants died (soil issues) so we will eventually have to buy a few more for the flowerbeds.  But for now, it's weed pulling time and mulch it up!  

 

This picture is the first time where I slightly miss the Yukon.  Small car = not enough room.  The stroller and Taydem's bat bag are in the trunk! Yikes! But I'm still loving this car!

 

Happy Monday....

I'm headed to a client's office to drop off some things and then headed home to plant my new plants!

It's getting a little ridiculous.......

.............I'm talking about all of this RAIN!

It has rained ALL WEEK LONG.  Creeks, rivers, lakes, etc are filling up and flooding has damaged so much for so many people.  I just hate it for everyone affected.  My cousins, who are building their home right now, storage was flooded.  They spent all day yesterday cleaning up the mess.  And she's 8 months pregnant!! Both of my brother's and their families along with several of our friends are up in Mena, Arkansas playing in the mud.  They love going up there on Spring Break and riding their ATV's on the trails, but this year it's raining.  So I'm sure they are getting stuck, a lot. My sister and her family were also supposed to go, but she got the flu the day before they all left.  yuk!!

Tomorrow night Leven and I are going to try  http://www.2johnsrestaurant.com/ in Shreveport.  We haven't been before but we've heard wonderful things about it.  Date night! I'm sure we will drop by the casino on our way home and play a little black jack or something. 

Trever is getting to come home a few days next week while he's on Spring Break! We see him like 3 times a year.  So it's always nice to see his cute face when he gets a chance to make the drive home. 

I am heading up (with some wonderful help) Tatum's first Lil Bumper's program (volleyball).  We have softball/baseball, football, cheerleading and basketball, why not volleyball?? I hate that our girls know nothing about volleyball when they get in 7th grade.  So I'm wanting to change this.  The program will be for girls 3rd-6th grade. We had our first meeting last night and I had some great help show up and discuss everything.  Makes me all excited inside.  I've never done anything like this before. 

 Check out some of these pictures taken from the East Texas area this week.  Just terrible!!

This is a picture of our friends and family in Mena, AR this morning.  Looks fun!

 

Sweet Tenlee Rose!