And then they were four

Today, my sweet girls turned FOUR.  J and I were both able to arrange to be off work and spend the day with them.  The morning started with a pile of balloons in their bedroom.  Addison woke up while I was in the shower and came into the bathroom saying, "Mama, I found something in my room!  You have to come see!"

We took them to school, then returned a couple of hours later with pizza and cake for their "school birthday party".  It was so fun to watch them interact with their little friends in that environment!  They left school with us after lunch and went home to take a nap.  We spent the afternoon just hanging out, and A & M opened their gift from us (a very fancy "princess" dress).  Later, we went to my mom's for dinner...and cake, of course.  The girls were surprised again with a pinata, which they had been talking about since a party we attended last summer. 

I'd say it was a pretty good birthday for Addison & Mackenzie....and J and I certainly enjoyed it as well!  My girlies are growing so fast, but it just gets better all the time.

(On top of all that fun, J starts a new position at work tomorrow, and we couldn't be more excited about it.  We are proud of you, Jeremy!!)

Hockey, Recommendations, Pinterest, & Parties

---We took the girls to their first hockey game last weekend.  Some sweet friends (hi, Brandi!) invited us to share their very nice box seats, located directly on the ice.  Even though M was feeling a little under the weather and was tired, we all had fun.  The best part was seeing about eight little girls (including those in the box next to ours) lined up at the glass, banging and shouting along with the crowd.  And then, ten minutes later, they were squealing over princess figurines.  Girls are so funny.  Addison's favorite part of the game?  The popcorn and the fighting, of course.

---I am not usually a huge fan of special beauty or hair products.  I am pretty happy with my CoverGirl and Maybelline makeup; I don't get too fancy.  I must say, though, that this Organix Moroccan Smooth Perfection Cream has changed my life.  Okay, that might be a bit of an overstatement, but it has definitely improved my hair.  The cream instantly makes my hair much, much smoother, but not at all heavy or oily.  Recommend!

---While I am recommending, I will just go ahead and sing the praises of my current favorite clothing site.  I ordered from Shade when they first opened last year, but it took me awhile to start wearing that dress because it was a little too long (until I shrunk it just a bit in the dryer and and figured out it would work with boots).  Once I did start wearing it, I realized it was a quality item of clothing and it has become one of my favorite pieces this winter.  I recently ordered again, from their clearance sale, reasoning that since they have free shipping and free returns, it was worth a try.  Much to my surprise, everything fit and I am not planning to return anything.  I was so happy with my new clothes that I placed another order this week.  Again, I recommend.

(By the way, I am getting absolutely nothing for those recommendations...just sharing some recent favorites!  I hate that I have to clarify that.)

---I go through phases with Pinterest, and lately I have been using it more often than I have in awhile.  Nearly every time I am on there, though, I get frustrated.  I get so tired of seeing an interesting pin, only to click on it and find that it only goes to a picture, or to a link that isn't any good.  It happens way too often.  My absolute biggest frustration is with sourcing.  I know this has been debated all over the internet, but I have seen a big increase in what I consider unethical Pinterest tactics over the last few months.  For example, it drives me absolutely crazy to click on a pin that goes back to a blog post where the blogger raves about this great recipe that she found on so-and-so's site, then goes on to repost that recipe using their own pictures.  So basically, the blogger is using Pinterest to drive traffic to their own blog, using a recipe (or tutorial, etc.) that they took from another blogger.  Of course the blogger usually says the recipe is "adapted" from the original recipe, but most often, it's not "adapted" at all (at least in my experience--if it is, that's makes the situation a little different).  Does that make any sense at all?  Because I feel like I am mostly just rambling.  Pin with Integrity...that's pretty much what I'm saying.  Give credit where credit is due and pin the original, not the copycat looking for blog traffic.

(I am also working on accepting that Pinterest has become just another social media outlet and another tool for self-promotion, but I still have issues with the ethics of it all.  Obviously.)

---Party planning is about to get into full swing around here.  The girls' birthday is just a few weeks away, and they are full of ideas.  The most adamant request has been to do something at their school.  I haven't figured out exactly what yet, but we will take in a treat to share with their class.  A & M have also requested a princess party.  As a change from past years' celebrations, I am planning to have a very small party here at home, where I will let the girls get all dressed up in their finest princess attire.  We will have cupcakes and snacks with family and just a few friends.  (Naturally, the small party won't keep me from obsessing over all the cute little details...I'm headed to Hobby Lobby this weekend!)

Happy almost-Friday!

Nashville Zoo

As I mentioned, on Addison & Mackenzie's birthday, we took a trip to the Nashville Zoo.  Although we have been meaning to visit the zoo since the girls were tiny, this was their first trip...and the first visit in many, many years for Jeremy and me.  I think we enjoyed it just as much as the girls did!

Can you tell I bribed Addison to take a picture with her sister?

That's better!

The Nashville Zoo doesn't have a huge amount of animals, but it is an amazing setting.  The zoo is divided into "world regions", and most of the habitats for the large animals seemed very natural--not a cage in sight, except for some of the smaller animals.  Surprisingly, the girls' favorite area seemed to be the building with the fish/snakes/lizards/frogs/spiders.  I would never have predicted that!

Our first zoo trip was a hit, which is a good thing since we bought a family pass!  The zoo pass has lots of reciprocal zoos around the country that will allow us to get in free as well.  We are fortunate to be just in between Nashville and Birmingham, which both honor the pass, so next time we will check out Birmingham.

I wish we could bottle this beautiful spring weather and keep it forever!

We Partied Hard

On Sunday, April 1, we got together with friends and family for Addison & Mackenzie's third birthday party.  We decided to have it at our church again this year, which works out really well.  I don't have to clean the house and if the weather is nice, we can have it totally outside and have almost nothing to clean afterwards.  Score!

Some pre-party pictures:

They collapsed trying to take a group shot

We got it right!

A rare family picture

Following the (homemade, slightly redneck) yellow brick road

Brenna is FEARLESS.  She was all over that playground!

Wyatt inside the slide

Don't they look like troublemakers?  : )

Cupcakes!

Opening presents with a little a lot of help from friends.  My girls shared so well and loved having their friends help them--proud mama moment!  I love Addison's face in the background.

Great grandparents

Favors (little bags of Teddy Grahams)

An exhausted birthday girl and her Jen Jen watching our church Praise Team practice after the party.  The Praise Team sang "Happy Birthday" to the girls, and they LOVED it.

It was a really great party, and we are SO thankful that most of our friends and family were able to come celebrate with us.  Addison & Mackenzie had a blast (and we adults did, too!).

One of my absolute favorite party pictures is an updated version of this picture from A & M's first birthday party, in April 2010:

It's Addison & Mackenzie with Grace and Ella Kate, the daughters of my two college roommates.  All of these girls were born within a year of one another.  Last year's picture didn't turn out so great (I'm pretty sure only one of my kids even made it IN the picture), but I LOVE this year's version:

Love these girls AND their mamas!

THREE

Dear Addison & Mackenzie,

Yesterday, you turned THREE years old.  I can hardly believe it, but then again, it seems like you have been with us forever.  You are absolutely THE best part of our lives, and your daddy and I love our little family so very much.  Every year gets better and better.

 

Mackenzie, at three you are sensitive and kind.  You worry about things sometimes, so we have to be careful what we say around you.  You take care of your sister and get upset if she is upset.  When Addison goes to time out, you usually ask if you can take her a blanket or even end up sitting beside her while she serves her punishment.  You think of other people more than any barely-three year old I know.  Just the other day, you remembered I had been to a movie the day before.  You asked, "Did you like your movie, Mama?"  When I answered that I did, very much, you said, "I'm so glad!"  And then my heart melted.

If you notice I have on a new outfit, or just one you particularly like, you will say, "I like your dress, Mama.  It's very pretty."  Right now, you practically refuse to wear anything except a skirt or dress ("ballerinas", you call them), and I am happy to oblige and let you wear one nearly every day.  The little twirl you do when you first put on a favorite dress is so much better than any cute outfit I could coerce you to wear.  You are very attached to your Jen Jen and Ne Ne.  You love to snuggle and watch movies on the couch, and you are awesome at games of pretend.  You call any dog "Toto", from The Wizard of Oz, and you often tell people very sincerely that your name is Dorothy Ross H----.  I may cry the day you stop asking us to call you Dorothy.

My little Addison, you are the life of the party around here most days.  You are funny and silly and fiercely independent.  Sometimes I shudder to imagine how sassy you might be during your teen years, but we will cross that bridge when we get there, and I will love you even on the days you make me want to scream.  While you are less likely than you sister to cuddle up with me voluntarily, I also catch you more and more often sitting still "reading" a book all by yourself.  You have definitely inherited my love of books, and seeing that love grow makes your mama's heart very, very happy.

I often call you my wild child, but you have a sensitive side too.  Sometimes when you realize you are about to get into trouble, your little face just crumbles and you burst into unexpected tears.  (Yes, that makes it very hard to stay mad at you at that moment in time, a fact I hope you don't figure out anytime soon!)  Just the other day, you were bouncing around while I combed your hair and you caught sight of an ASPCA commercial on tv.  You asked me if the doggie was sad and I, without thinking, answered that he was.  Your eyes immediately welled up with tears and you became inconsolable, wailing, "I don't waaaaannnttt him to be sad!"

You are very much a mama's girl right now, but you often get caught up in things your daddy is doing too.  You love to help him work on the lawn mower and you request to visit the John Deere store almost weekly.  You love to run and play "chase" right now and you can far outlast any of us adults.  You scrunch up your nose when you smile, just like I do, and you have this funny little abrupt way of talking sometimes that absolutely cracks us up.  I can't describe it, but I'm pretty sure I will never forget it.

The two of you together are an unstoppable combination.  You are our yin and yang, our sweet and spunky, the perfect complement to one another.  You are our wild and crazy monkeys, and our lives before you seem dreadfully boring in comparison to the excitement you bring to our days.

As I have said before, being a mama to you girls is by far the greatest and coolest thing I will ever do.  I will make mistakes, and lots of them--like, um, taking your pacis away the night before your 3rd birthday so that you were sad ON your birthday instead of waiting until the day after (sorry about that!!)--but I promise you I will always do the very best I can do for you girls and for our family. 

You are so very loved, girls, don't ever forget that.  Happy third birthday!

(Since you are such big girls now, can you go ahead and forgive me for this paci business soon?  Pretty please?)

Love,
Mama

Ten for Tuesday

• Thanks for all the input on our next computer.  After much dithering, we purchased a Macbook Pro yesterday.  If you ask Jeremy, it's probably my Valentine's Day/Mother's Day/birthday present for the year, but hopefully it will prove to be worth it!

• On that note, I am quite sure I will be asking you experienced Mac-users many questions in the weeks ahead.  My first question--Do you store your pictures in iPhoto on the hard drive?  I want to use the editing features in iPhoto, but I like to keep my pictures on the external hard drive, and at this point, I am a little overwhelmed by all of that.  What's your photo-editing and -storing method? 

•  There has been a virus going around our town and I am so very ready for it to move along and leave us alone.  Nearly everyone I know has had it in some form over the last few weeks, including Mackenzie (last week), Addison (right now), and my mom (also right now).  I am feeling the urge to deep clean the entire house...which, if you know me, is SO not normal.  

• We are starting to talk about the girls' THIRD birthday, which is coming up in just over two months.  I keep saying they are almost three, leading them to some confusion when asked how old they are.  Two?  Three?  Somewhere in between?

• A & M have gotten the idea in their heads that they want a blow-up bounce house at their party.  In our previous experiences with bounce houses, they only wanted to jump when there was no one else in it, so I'm not too sure how that will go over at the party.  I foresee my girls doing their jumping after everyone is gone, but maybe the other guests will enjoy it.  

• They got the idea of the bounce house while watching a child fly off of one on America's Funniest Home Videos...maybe it's time to discontinue viewing that show before they get any more ideas?

• I really want to go see my sister in Baton Rouge next month, so I'm on the lookout for cheap airfare.  She is working as a missionary with Campus Outreach at LSU and will be moving into her first real house soon.  She's all grown up, and I could not be more proud of her!

• I am debating the possibility of scheduling my trip to coincide with Mardi Gras, which I have never experienced.  I'm a little worried that I am too old and uptight to enjoy it, but I still want to do it at some point in my life.  Have you been to Mardi Gras?  

•  Looking at airfare really gives me the travel bug.  I have all sorts of trip possibilities planned in my head right now.  Looking back at 2011, we did quite a bit more traveling than I expected at the beginning of the year, both as a family and Jeremy and me.  I look forward to many more adventures this year...mostly nearby, but we might sneak a couple of larger explorations in there as well!  I dream of a relaxing getaway to Charleston and Savannah, but I feel like it could get a little expensive, so we'll have to see on that one.

• Speaking of expensive traveling, we are very tentatively beginning to talk about a trip to Disney World.  I have my sights set on December 2013.  I have heard December is a good month to go, with mild weather and not too many people.  The girls will be four--old enough to enjoy it, but still plenty young enough to really love the magic and wonder of the experience, I think.  Also, that will be the last year before they are in school (!!!!), and I like the idea of not trying to plan around a school schedule.  Is Disney on your family must-do list?  

 Happy Tuesday....I'm off to cuddle a sick little girl and hope this is the LAST of this virus for our family!

For my Mama

Today is my mom's birthday.  She has been such an amazing, supportive mother who taught me the most important things I know, including above all else, what it means to be love and be loved unconditionally.  She is my rock, my strength, my sounding board, and my best friend.

I know two little girls who happen to think she is a pretty wonderful Jen-Jen as well.

Happy birthday, Mom!  We love you and we are so incredibly blessed to have you!

Birthday Ramblings

Taking a cue from my friend MandyE, I decided to share a little bit about ME on this, my 29th birthday...

My family didn't make a huge deal out of birthdays, though I do remember having a party each year.  The most memorable ones are an early birthday party at McDonald's, back when they provided a cake, party hats, etc. (which must have been at least 25-26 years ago!) and the slumber parties that started around age 9 or 10 and lasted through junior high school and early high school.  Oh, those parties were so much fun, but so full of girly-drama.  Can you imagine the drama that will be involved with TWO girls sharing the spotlight?

We still don't make a very big deal out of birthdays (except for the girls, of course!), but I always get a good gift from my mother-in-law.  She's a very good gift-giver. 

Tonight, the girls are going to spend the night with NiNi again and Jeremy and I are going to dinner and a movie.  I feel a little bad about sending A & M off again, since we just got back a week ago, but I asked them last night if they wanted to go with mama and daddy or go to NiNi's house.  They enthusiastically answered "NiNi's house!", so I'm not spending too much time feeling guilty about it.

Since they are spending the night away, I plan to get up and go to yard sales in the morning.  I love to "yard-sale" (bet ya didn't know that was a verb too, huh?) and go to thrift stores, but it's hard to scour for bargains with two little helpers along.  And it's really hard to drag them out of carseats at every yard sale when there may not be anything of interest at all, so I plan to take full advantage of the morning alone.

Later on this weekend, I will probably treat myself to the new Sookie Stackhouse book for my birthday.  I have been slightly obsessed with these books, flying through all ten in less than three weeks, but they are light and entertaining...the perfect summer reads.  I am thinking True Blood, the HBO series based on the books, will be on my summer to-watch list.  I enjoy catching up with a series I have missed over the summer when there's nothing else on.

Now, tell me...what are you reading/watching this summer?  Anyone else share my Sookie love?  How are birthdays handled in your family?  Do you remember a favorite birthday?

Celebrate!

So, the birthday party...

Last year, I was so on top of things for Addison & Mackenzie's first birthday.  I had the party planned weeks in advance, including handmade accents and personalized dresses.  I hired a photographer to capture every detail of the party--a decision for which I am grateful every time I look through those fantastic pictures.  I was (still am) very proud of the party I threw to celebrate my girls' first year of life (and our survival of it!).

Pancakes and hot dogs for breakfast, at the request of the birthday girls

 

This year?  Well, let's just say the party was a little more true to our family's style than last year's soiree.  I did a lot of thinking and list-making in the weeks leading up to the party, picking up a few supplies here and there.  I didn't have a good picture ready for an invitation, so I picked up some blank invitations and planned to print them myself.  Naturally, I ran into printer issues and ended up just hand-writing invitations on some cute blank notecards.  I also used Facebook to notify our guests...is that a sign of a 21st-century birthday party, or what?

We had planned to have the party here at home like last year, and I will readily admit that we were dreading the pre-party cleaning and preparations.  I began to seriously question the sanity of this decision when I saw the weather forecast for the week leading up to the party.  Rain was predicted for literally every day that week, except for Saturday!  We needed the backyard for the party, there was no getting around it.  Finally, on Wednesday, I gave in and admitted that the weather was not going to cooperate.  Thankfully, it was relatively easy to orchestrate a last-minute move to our church, which has plenty of open space and a great outdoor play area.

A rare picture of me and both girls!

 

Addison

Despite my relative lack of preparation, everything fell into place and we had a great party.  I picked up supplies to make the girls' birthday shirts and threw them together Friday night.  They turned out great and coordinated perfectly with pants we already owned.  I ordered cakes (separate ones this year!) from our local bakery, and they were delicious.

Mackenzie and my dad, in deep discussion about cars

Best of all, Addison and Mackenzie had a wonderful day celebrating with friends and family.  They looooved the attention and of course, the cake...which they had been talking about for weeks beforehand.  The only problem is that my silly girls don't seem to understand that "birthday" is gone until next year!