It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And I'm trying to update the blog as much as possible....so here goes nothing.....expect lots of posts...

Monster #2 is ONE YEARS OLD TODAY! AHHHH

Cooper is 1!   Since having kids, time has flown by....but man, this last year has been the fastest yet. 

Now that Cooper's 1, I think we can slow down now :)

Happy Birthday to our little man!  The perfect completion to our little family :)  And the monster who had me up from 2-4am wanting to party on his birthday!  LOL

"C'mom, let's play vroom vrooms"

"It's my birfday"

"4am?  So?  It's time to party"

"Okay mom, you go back to bed, I'll stay up and play with my vroom vroom"

Halloween recap.

Halloween was fun for us. Taylor got to go Trick-or-Treating 3 times this year, which made up for some good candy mommy and daddy have been eating! ;)

Cooper was a dinosaur.  I wanted him to be a monster since that's my nickname for him, but Tim and Taylor insisted on dinosaur for him.  He was, of course, cute as ever!

He did NOT like the hat on at all.....so he was a dinosaur with a cooper head :)

And the pumpkin costume I made Taylor was adorable.  Then again, I had a great model :)

Cutest. Kids. Ever.

Adventures of a 3 year old....

And yet, for another "Adventures of a 3 year old".....



This morning, Tim wakes up and puts jeans and t-shirt on and walks out to the kitchen where Taylor was eating her breakfast.  She looks at him, smiles and says, "Dad, you look beauuuuuuutiful today". 



A few days ago, I was getting out of the shower and getting dressed.  Taylor, of course, was in there talking to me.  Here's how that conversation went:
Taylor: "Mommy, you dont look good"
Me:  "Oh, why's that"
Taylor: "You're wearing blue polka dot undies, black bra, green pants and a red shirt.  You dont look good at all. You're wearing too many colors"



One day, Taylor was bullying Cooper, trying to steal his blankie/toys/etc. I start explaining to her...
Me:  "Taylor, you have to be nice to your baby brother.  He's gonna be with you forever and he's all you got"
Taylor: "No, you can give me another one"
....Um...yea, sorry kiddo...not a topic of conversation at this point LOL

Oh...this kid.  She cracks me up.  And keeps me on my toes everyday :) 

You know you're a parent when....

You make a Halloween costume for your kid...

Ugh. What am I getting myself into?

Taylor wants to be a pumpkin for Halloween and will not give it up. Apparently, stores only sell pumpkin costumes for infants and dogs. And when you do an online search, you'll find some but they aren't very cute or cost more than I'd like to spend.

After visiting every store I could think of and begging her to be something else, she insists on being a pumpkin. Not even a pumpkin princess. A PUMPKIN. So, I decided I will make one!! She is excited.
Me?
Not so much.

More to come on this....

Sibling love....

They're starting to love each other more and more everyday.....

(yes, his hands are ALWAYS on his penis....oy)

Lake Fun

We went to Lake Hartwell with the family over labor day weekend....the kids had a blast!  So did mommy and daddy!   Fun was had by all.  Too bad it was such a short weekend...

MOST of the grandkids on the swing, being pushed by grandma!

This is what the Tomes men do at a Lake house....watch football (including Cooper LOL)

Me, Taylor and Madison on the tube, getting ready to go!

Cooper and his cousin, Mallory!

Me and Taylor on the jetski!

Tim trying to beat Mommy's all time high score of 140.  I would like to note that NO ONE could beat my score all weekend.  HA!  I rule!

Little pig, little pig.......

Our favorite snack in this house is popcorn (well me and Taylor's favorite snack).... One day, I decided to pop some popcorn, turn on some tunes and spend some time with my Tot while Cooper was napping. 

So I popped the corn, gave Taylor the bowl and got the drinks and cleaned up the kitchen a bit.  This took literally 5-8 minutes.  When I got to the front room, this is what I saw.....

Notice the bowl! 

This bowl was FULL when I handed it to her!!

Little pig loves her popcorn!  HAHA

LIfe with a 3 year old...

Every day is a new adventure....and mostly, I just love the hilarity that comes from her mouth/brain.

Here's some good ones from today, and we've only been awake a few hours....


(After taking my phone away from her and telling her phones arent for playing with)
"But Mom, you and Dad play with your phones, I wanna play too"  


"But Mom, Cooper's too tired to play with his toy, so I'll play with it for him"
(Trying to justify stealing a toy from Cooper)


"Okay Mom, I guess I'll eat some cereal because you forgot to buy my granola bars at the store"
Ouch.  That hurts LOL

Who doesnt love summer?

We do! 

Happy 4th!

From our great big extended family......

to yours

Tell me this kid isnt smart....

and I'd laugh at you!

She drew this picture.......

ALL BY HERSELF....

and said it was Cooper.

So smart. And so creative, too!

Taylor's morning ritual...

Get up. Go pee. Go get in Cooper's bed. 

I have no idea why she wants to be in his bed and playing with him all the time, but I dont complain. They love each other. And that makes me happy.

I wonder if they're related....

Tim and I were looking through some old pictures we found and we are just ASTOUNDED by how alike Taylor and Cooper look/ed the first year.  Not convinced? Have a looksy below....you'd be amazed too.  Who are these babies? 

Water Babies!

We took the kids to the pool this past Saturday AND Sunday.  THEY. LOVED. IT

Taylor spent all last summer being afraid of the water and not really swimming but rather floating in a boat.  But this year, she's using swimmies and walking around/swimming in the pool by herself.  She's becoming a little daredevil so I think swim lessons will be in our future.

Cooper is a water baby!  He LOVES the water.  And spends most of his time splashing the heck out of it.  Even getting it in his eyes and laughing about it.  This kid loves the water. 

First time in a pool = stylin!

New friends...

A few christmasses ago, Taylor got a tickle me Elmo for Christmas from her Uncle Shane.  I cant lie, I was kind of excited she wasnt really interested in it.  If you've never heard a tickle me Elmo before, they are annnnnnnnooooooying.

Enter Cooper.
He loves Elmo.
And even knows how to "tickle" him.

Looks like we'll be hiding Elmo soon.

Wow, do I really need to explain this one??

Hanging with our Gabba Friends

Two of our favorite things:

1. Cuddling
2. Gabba Friends

When Mommy's away....

So two weekends ago, I went out with some friends to see a movie and eat some dinner...a ladies night, if you will.  I came home to this video and these pictures in my camera.  HAHA 

As long as they're having fun :)

"Why the Long Face?"

Uh...the title is a knockoff of my father-in-law's favorite joke...
"A horse walks into a bar and the bartender asks him.....why the long face?"
Yup, gotta love his jokes.  HAHA

Anywho, we attended a friend of Taylor's 4th birthday party this past weekend and boy did we have fun. Not only did Daddy watch Cooper so mommy and Taylor could have special time (I love special time with Taylor), but there were horses involved.....well, ponies...same thing. 

Taylor was a natural. She rode 3 times!!!  And I was so proud. She wasnt afraid, she petted and talked to the horses the whole time and looked great on a horse!  Proud mom right here, I cant wait til she's old enough to go on trail rides with me!

On Cheyenne...Cheyenne had a very smooth walk...great first ride!

On TyTy....Taylor said TyTy was her favorite

On Camanche, mommy's favorite :)

And of course, trying to cool off after riding in 100 degree heat!

And digging into some cake! 

1 down, 1 to go

........I've been dying to post this, but I wanted to wait until I knew we were officially in the clear......and it's been 10 whole days now......

TAYLOR IS FINALLLLLLLLY POTTY TRAINED!

You parents can understand my excitement! 

A few months ago, I realized that it was time to start potty training Taylor. We had been putting her on the potty here and there and she'd gone a few times, but nothing serious.  So we ran out, bought a potty chair, some undies and tried the switch.  She was NOT having it. She was not interested in sitting on her little potty at all.  She'd sat a few times here and there, but did not like it.  When I put undies on her, she'd just pee in em and keep playing like nothing ever happened.  And for the life of me, putting her on the potty every 20 minutes was not working like most parents say it does.  I tried everything!!  Sticker charts, candy incentives, time-outs (this worked for the poop), timed potty breaks, letting her run naked.  Everything.  We even went back to the store, bought a Dora potty seat that sits on the big toilet. And NOTHING was working.  So I just figured I'd be one of the few who has a 3 year old in diapers.....ugh. So we put away the potty chair and undies and continued our journey through her birthday in diapers.  Then I vowed to her teachers that my goal for the summer was to get her potty trained. I was planning to devote the entire summer to it.....even if it killed me.  I dont care if she was ready or not, I was not letting her start 3 year old class next year in diapers. 

                                    

So on the first day of summer, May 13, I decided to start our potty training adventure.  All it took was a brief talk about not peeing in her undies, how important it was to pee in the potty, etc etc important potty business etc etc....put her in some big girl undies ...and she started going!  And better yet, TELLING ME SHE HAD TO GO!   It's been 10 days and we've only had maybe a handful of accidents and most being in the beginning of the 10 days.  And in those 10 days she's also converted from using the Dora seat to now using the normal toilet.  Taylor's been able to poop on the potty for about a month now (I know, she backwards potty trained....who'd have thunk it).  But now, we are officially out of diapers (except the pullup to bed routine....we'll worry about the night time business later, baby steps people, baby steps!). Right now, she still needs to tell us she has to go, and we still go in the bathroom with her and wipe her.  But its waaaaaay less time/hassle to do that than change a diaper! And she even does well in public!!

So that's 1 down.......1 to go (yes, he's only 6 months old, but I'm counting down til he's potty trained).....