My helper...

What a blessing it is to have such a wonderful helper. Two of them (some days) truth be told.

Both kids have been fed for the night, and we're just hanging out here at the house tonight...a rarity it seems, lately. No t-ball practice, no school activity, and we were home by 5:30ish, which meant dinner was over by 6. Again...all rarities as of late.

Back to my point.

I was putting a load of laundry in to wash, and apparently Tatum heard me. All I hear is a little girl running toward me shouting, "I help ou, Mommy! I help ou!"

Have I mentioned how much this girl L-O-V-E-S to help with laundry? As in, L-O-V-E-S it. Has thrown a fit because we didn't understand she was asking to help me with it one weekend. Really.

So I put the towels in a pile on the floor, in front of the washing machine, and sure enough, she was diligent in putting them into the washing machine. Yes, this was an added step in my process, but SO WHAT!! This gave her such joy! And as soon as we were through with that pile, she wanted to move on to other clothes...so cute! Then, she ran into the house and proceeded to tell her big brother that, "I help Mommy!!"

She was so proud.

So I asked if she wanted to help me some more, and got out the small hand vac...and she played with that for about 5 minutes...just beaming with pride that she was cleaning the carpet. No, it's not perfect, but that's not the point.

And wow....what does that say about how far I've come in kicking some of my perfectionism with that statement? Does that mean that I'm getting to the point that I'll let the kids do something if it's less than perfect or not done just the way that I would do it? Hmmm....

God MUST be moving here, folks!

Sweet words...

You have to know things will be great when your morning consists of a sweet girl and the words, "Kiss, Mommy!" followed by, "Cheek, other cheek."

Then, "Nose, eye, other eye, other eye." [I feel I must insert here that I don't actually have three eyes...she just kept going back and forth]

"Ear, Mommy."

"Other ear."

Awww....all is right with the world when things like this occur to start off your day.

Tatum's birthday & birthday party

Here are some pictures of Tatum on her actual birthday...She looked ADORABLE all dressed up that day! (Trust me, she did...the pictures may not have turned out all that great, but it was totally the photographer, not the model!)

The rest of the pictures are from her (VERY windy) birthday party, which we held nearby at the park. She had LOADS of fun playing on the playground, feeding the ducks, eating cupcakes, and of course, opening her presents. Which reminds me, I need to write thank-you notes. Ug!! Where has my mind gone??

Part of the fun was actually flying a kite...Winnie the Pooh, of course! It was certainly windy enough! Daddy and Mike worked on it, and for a little while, they even let the birthday girl play along. Except that her playing along was simply chasing after the kite as Daddy pulled it away from her! Tatum actually thought that was quite fun...Then decided she had had enough, and wanted to help with the real kite flying.




Here she is opening some of her presents...jewelry, dolls, a puppy, but the crowning jewel, perhaps, was the Aggie chair with the cup/water holder. Once she sat in it, she insisted on a water bottle, put it in the appropriate holder, and was pretty well set!



And here is the birthday girl with Daddy and Mommy shortly after diving into her cupcake...I wonder who she takes after with her affinity for all things chocolate??

Here is big brother very much enjoying the cupcake, icing and as many sprinkles that he could possibly fit onto the icing...and even some that didn't fit!

Catching up

I'm woefully behind in my blogging, so I'll see if I can TRY to catch up a little at a time. I've just downloaded several hundred pictures from my camera, so that should tell you how behind I am in that respect as well. Granted, we DID just get through with spring break and had a glorious time with many adventures captured on film (can you even say that now if it isn't really "film" anymore??), but you get my drift...Rather than get overwhelmed by catching up all at one time (yeah right!), I'll attempt to do a little bit...

Get ready!

Happy Birthday my (not so) baby girl!

I had another early morning with the kids today. For some reason, Tatum isn't making it through the night without some help (either putting her back in bed or settling her back down in ours) and Kellen seems to gravitate toward Mommy and Daddy's bed at some point in time in the middle of the night as well. So I woke up to Kellen sleeping next to me and Tatum hollering for 'Mommy!' I brought her back to bed with me, while Matt snoozed oh-so-nicely on the couch, so as to be sure his tossing and turning didn't disturb my sleep. Several hours later, when it was actually time to wake up, I got out of my shower to see Tatum still asleep, but Kellen starting to rouse and snuggle with her. He laid next to her, gave her a hug and kiss, then stroked her hand, which prompted her to grab onto his thumb - in her sleep, mind you - and hold his hand. So he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and just laid down next to her again. It was SO PRECIOUS! So precious, in fact, that I went and woke Matt up and made him come to look!

I then proceeded to tell Tatum "Happy birthday!" She got really excited and started saying, 'Happy birthday party!', so we tried to explain that today was her birthday and we would have her party later. All morning she walked around saying, "Happy birthday to me!" She's VERY excited about her upcoming party. But then again, this is the girl that will sit and have tea parties for hours, so...

I just still can't believe she's two. I'm in awe that two WHOLE years have actually passed since she was born. She's brought so much joy, laughter, love and SPUNK into our lives - I can hardly remember our lives without her!

Here are some of the current things that Tatum loves:

Shoes
Socks [Note: neither of these top two stay on for longer than perhaps 5 minutes in the car, but they MUST be put on prior to going someplace]
Having her toenails painted ("pretty toes")
Bows in her hair (although they don't stay there for long - most of the time)
Having her hair fixed (Pig tails, ponytail, top spout - there's another name for that...)
Pink and purple just about anything
Winnie the Pooh
Her lovey (the yellow one...that's why we have 3 identical ones)
Her blanket (a specific one - pink with minkey on one side and silky on the other)
Her paci's (although she knows that they're for night-night only, which includes naps)
Jackets with pockets
The Foot Book (Dr. Seuss)
Brushing her teeth (yup...she loves it!)
Baths (she loves the bath, but dislikes the act of actually getting clean, including washing her hair)
Going to the park to feed the ducks
Coloring (both with actual crayons and with sidewalk chalk)
Dancing to just about anything with a beat
Her brother
Her big girl undies
Having tea parties

These are obviously in no certain order, but I wanted to jot them down so that I could remember what she likes RIGHT NOW. Even if she's almost as stubborn as her mommy, she's such a tremendous joy.

Happy birthday, my sweet monkey!