One Sunday afternoon while Tori was napping...

A girl and her mommy.

Aren't we cute??!

More pics!

Tori the Beaver Fan! Go Beavs!



Cousin Time! Andrew & Sophie at her birthday party.



Big Boy Smiles!



Too much Pink! It was a gift. Enough Said.

Take a time out!

There are certain rules at our house that are non-negotiable. Not throwing your plate during a meal is one of them. Andrew decided he didn't want applesauce & graham crackers for breakfast the other morning and decided to tell me by flinging his entire plate onto the floor in a fit of frustration. No way, Dude! So he got a spank on the rear, was required to help me clean up and then headed to his room for a time out. When he takes a time out, he has to sit on his bed without toys. If he throws a fit or gets off his bed, his time out starts over. During this particular time out he was doing really well--there wasn't any noise coming from his room at all. Then, suddenly, he starts screaming "MOMMY!!! MOM! MOM!!!" I'm thinking the world must be ending and go running into his room to find him completely naked, standing on his bed holding his pee-pee that is spraying all over the place. He's squeezing it as hard as possible, sobbing and yelling, "I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!" I pick him up, head to the bathroom and explain to him he's fine. He tries, through his gulping sobs, to explain to me that he was doing his best to hold it and knew he couldn't get off his bed but he just didn't quite manage it. Poor little dude!

But what a sight--I'll be laughing about that one for a while.

Some things just aren't meant to be.

*sigh* We really thought we were going to get internet this week, but it's just not going to work out quite yet. Ugh. I feel so incredibly disconnected from people!! SO NOT FUN!

Pray for us--we're a little stressed about finances again but we're doing our best to manage and get through it.

A little each day...

Tori has started eating solids these days. So far, carrots and apples are a big hit! Yay for growing babies and new foods! And super yay for less time spent nursing. WAHOO!

While on an outing...

Okay, not just ANY outing, but dinner out for my birthday (NO KIDS!!! WAHOOO!) Mark and I noticed an idiot driver in a Porsche. An older Porsche--nice car, but nothing to really talk about. He was weaving in and out of traffic and just being a jerk. Well, we ended up at a stoplight behind him and he was revving his engine (Oooo....big tough guy...WHATEVER). I read his license plate and laughed! He had to have been a dentist. Probably single and wanting to find some chick to share his dinero with. It read: "Flossin".

When the light changed, he slammed on the gas, skidded his tires and took off like a shot.

What a dork!

I'm wearing this!

Andrew decided this was his outfit for the day...

SLEEP!!

They slept last night! Both of them! WAHOOO!!!! I actually feel almost energetic! Happy Birthday to me!

Not EXACTLY what I had in mind...

This week has sucked. Both kiddos are sick with a nasty, nasty cold and my nights are longer than they ever should be. Right now, I'm operating on about a total of 4 hours of sleep and two cokes. God bless the man who invented caffeine!

Anyway, tomorrow is my birthday--this isn't exactly how I hoped to celebrate. *sigh* Maybe the kids will be kind tonight...MAYBE.

On a more positive note, I am going out tomorrow night. WAHOOO!!! Our favorite babysitter is coming over and kicking us out of the house. WAHOO!!! Let me say that again: WAHOO!!!! Dinner out! NO KIDS!

Thank the good lord for Stacy...

Happy birthday to me!

Birthdays! Yay for birthdays!

My birthday is only days away...four days! Yippee! Not sure exactly what I'll be doing for sure, but I do know it will be fun no matter what. It will either be dinner out with my hubby or dinner at home with my hubby, madre and some friends. Either way is A-okay with me! I can't wait! I LOVE BIRTHDAYS! Celebrating life is super fun!

Some New Pictures!

Yay for being healthy! Boo for shots! Part II

Tori had her four month well baby visit today and is a happy, healthy baby girl. She's also a little chubster weighing in at 15 pounds 2 ounces and is 25.5 inches long. Those numbers put her in the 80th percentile for height and 85th for weight. Go baby girl! WAHOO!

She also got three shots. *sigh* It's good for them in the long run (obviously) but sucks for just a couple of days. Oh well...

Looking Back just a bit...

So, of course yesterday was 9/11 and, therefore, we revisited a huge tragedy. As I told Stacy, I have to be careful how much I watch on television or I'll end up with nightmares for several days following. *sigh* This year was no different--I watched the news and watched the reading of the names of the victims at Ground Zero and watched the same clips over & over again. It suddenly dawned on me that I was watching way too much when Andrew came into the room and said, "Mommy! Airplane! CRASH!" So we turned the television off and turned some music on instead. While I don't want to raise my son in a sheltered world of never knowing what happened, I don't think he needs to think too much about it at the ripe old age of two.

I did find one show in particular interesting. There were people being interviewed about where they were when they found out what was going on--morbid curiosity got the best of me and I listened and watched people share their side of things. It was a reminder of how quickly our world changed that morning. Some people were on a morning jog and ran by someone with a radio who flagged them down to fill them in. Some people were at work already (that was me that morning) and some people hadn't even started their days (Mark and his roommates who I woke up with a phone call that morning).

Here we are, six years later, still trying to work through things and still trying to mend our country. Much of what was shown yesterday was historical but some of it was opinion of who did what and why did it have to happen. I watched the historical stuff. I can do without that many opinions...

Birthday Time! WAHOO!

My birthday is coming up! I'll be 27. I will officially be in my late 20's. What have I accomplished? Not much, but enough to make me pretty darn happy with myself. Yay for birthdays! Only 11 more days to go.

Go ahead and say it...you might just make someone's day!

Today I was at an appointment with my kiddos that ran late so we were nearing the end of Andrew's tolerance for outings, the car and other people. It was very past naptime by the time we were done, but we still had to do lunch, so I took the kiddos to McDonald's (yes, *gasp*, I even let Andrew have french fries! OH MY DEAR LORD! *WHATEVER!*) and we ate and chatted (Andrew was talking about bears. Again.) After we were done, we were getting ready to leave when an older gentleman came over and said, "Let me just take the time to tell you I think you're doing a great job. You have great kids and I can tell you're a good mom."

*blush* "Thanks for saying so! You just made my day!"

I love it when people say nice things about my kids! WAHOO!

Her carpet dwelling days are ending!

*sigh* Gone are the days of leaving Tori on the living room floor while I run into the other room for a few minutes. This morning I briefly left her and came back to her in the dining area. A far stretch of carpet and linoleum between where I left her and where she currently was. I took some pictures of her going after some toys, but I can't get them posted just yet. I'll work on that some more.

You know you're in trouble when...

you walk into the living room and your 2 year old automatically starts saying, "I SORRY!! I SORRY!!" Hmmm...you stop and wonder what he's been up to...you quickly scan the room...nothing is out of the ordinary....you keep scanning while your 2 year old continues hugging your legs and saying, "Momma! I sorry! I sorry!" Okay...keep scanning...and then you see it....

He has figured out how to unlock and dump the vaccuum cleaner filters. Everything you've vaccuumed in the last three months is now on the living room floor in a heap behind the couch and the air smells of dust. Hmmmm...to discipline or not to discipline? He wasn't being mean. He wasn't being bad. He was being curious. He was being 2. It's what he does.

*Heavy Sigh*

I assured him it was okay, and easily fixable. However, I also told him the vaccuum filters are not to be played with anymore and if he chooses to play with them again, he will get a spanking. He nodded in agreement (I think he would have agreed to anything at that point simply out of fear) and we washed out the filters, hooked it all back together, and vaccuumed it all back up.

Silly, silly boy!

I am learning a few things...

Here are five life lessons...

1. Money really is the root of all evil. I am tired of being broke and stressed about it.
2. Two year olds don't care how embarrassing it is for them to throw a fit in public.
3. People will always give you a dirty look for spanking your child in public. OH WELL.
4. A three month old doesn't care if its midnight or 2 AM...when they're hungry, they are HUNGRY.
5. No matter how hard I try to get all four of us out the door on time, we are always late. WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?! I hate being late!