Valentines

On Valentine's morning, we woke up to these sitting on the kitchen table. 

Tanner: Whoa!! What are those for?

Me: Your daddy loves me so much so he got them for me!!!
Tanner: But doesn't he Love ME too??? [sad look overcomes his face]
Guess who's sharing??
Me: Oh, yeah.  You're right.  See, there's one flower for you, one for Brooke, and one for me.  And luckily 2 chocalates. Daddy loves ALL of us.  [Whew, that was a close one!!]

But before you go feeling sorry for Tanner, don't!! He finally finished all the stickers on his chart and finally earned his new Transformer Lego set.  [Did I mention how much I LOVE target clearance?  70% off baby]

But still not nearly as cool as the cowboy sheriff station we created earlier this week.  Most morning usually start with Tanner looking through the Lego encylopedia book, and inisting we build XYZ.  And depending on my mood, we try out best to re-create it. 

Brooke, on the other hand, had no problem sharing her true feelings. 

Me:  "Brooke, do you love your momma?"
Brooke:  Her only response "Da-da-da!" 
Go figure!!

My little angel baby!

But as much as I love these two kiddos, I love their dad way more.  He's my whole world...and I couldn't live a day without him.  Good thing he's mine for eternity!!

Table Scraps

The other day, all was quiet in the house.  Like really quiet.  Tanner was in the room next to me, happily reading a book, and Brooke was no where to be seen.  

Where did I find her?  Underneath her high chair, eating some of her own "leftovers" off the floor.  Gross!!

Followed by "Oh no, I've been caught, let's get out of here!" 

She is finally scooting around, crawling with one leg in crawling position, and the other in sitting position.  She has been able to scoot for while, but now she seems to have taken off.  My world -- flipped upside down.  I keep asking myself, am I ready for this? 

But unfortunately, the answer doesn't really have any bearing.  Like it or not -- she is on the go!

And that's not even the worst of it.  One day -- I saw Brooke reaching into the cracks of her high chair seat, finding some "goodies" leftover from yesterday's food, and proceeding to eat all the dried, out nastiness.

But it gets worst.  One day, I was cleaning out her high chair before I put her in there -- thoroughly making sure I got every nook and cranny so Brooke wouldn't mind any more "leftovers."  I set them in a bowl with some of her leftover oatmeal from lunch.  Finally got it nice and clean, put Brooke in there, and Anthony walks in the door.  "Do you want to feed Brooke so I can make dinner?"  Of course.  

I proceed to make dinner and I hear Anthony begin talking to Brook, "This looks yummy with all these different pieces?"  I pause immediately.  "OMG! Anthony, what are you feeding her!?!?"  Yep, you guessed it, the leftover bowl of oatmeal with all those gross, nasty dried out tidbits of food from her high chair.  Anthony thought I had just whipped it up for her and didn't think twice before giving her spoonful after spoonful.  And she was loving it!

Things like this only happen to the second child.  I already feel sorry for any future children that might have to endure such tragic experiences.  

Luckily, she has Tanner.  He is such a big help and just loves her to death. This morning, I awoke to Brooke beginning to fuss, but it just a few seconds, there was Tanner, "Sweetheart, it's okay!" Reassuring her, playing with her, and from there, nothing but sweet lil giggles.    

Happy New Years!

This year we had a “NOON Years Day" celebration with the whole family. 

The kids didn’t notice that it was already New Year’s Day – you just start counting down and the excitement starts all over again.

But rest assured, the party wasn’t just for “KIDS!”

What’s now to love about balloons filled with jokes, candy, and yes, even money?  My favorite part was stuffing them full of the jokes – these were hilarious!

Why doesn’t anyone like a nosy pepper?  Cuz they jalapeno buziness!!

What kind of cheese is not yours?  NACHO cheese.

Why did Tigger go to the toilet?  He wanted to see Pooh.

After the balloons were popped, we came and had a toast to the new year.  Could it really be 2013!!

Nana and Papa made the festivities.  Of course you’d expect a tear jerking performance from Papa with hopes for a new year filled with love, peace, and happiness.  I can’t come close to matching his eloquence (especially not a month later when I’m typing this out) so we’ll just stop there.

All the other adults wished for your typical things – peace, simplicity, weight loss, and educational/work pursuits.

When the kids weighed in on the subject, we never knew they had such large ambitions floating around up there.  These kiddos are so cute!!

Mason wished for a real “choo-choo” for everyone.

Avery wished for a puppy dog?  Seriously, who can say no to that?  But will it be enough to change her parents heart?

Quincy’s new year resolution was to be potty trained.  Or was that your mother speaking?

Brooke’s new year’s resolution is to sleep to her hearts content by taking long, restful morning and afternoon naps.  No more of this 15 mins here, 30 mins there business.  But that was definitely her mom speaking!!

And Brittany, her goal was to open her own real school, and of course she’d be the teacher.  I’d sign Tanner up anytime.  She’s such a loving, sweet lil thang!

And Tanner, he’s still thinking about his goal.  Maybe be the time next year rolls around, he’ll have a good one to share.

Thanks, Emily and OBB for the great ideas.  This is sure to be a new family tradition.