Merry Christmas Eve!

It is not a very good picture, I admit.  Oh well.  Just wanted to show Taylor in the same pair of footed pj's.  They are getting cramped in the toe area and Taylor says they are getting too small, but he won't let them go!  Reagan is wearing Taylor's outfit from when he was 1 years old and Trent, well you can't see the embellishments on his toosh.  Hope you are all spending Christmas with friends and family and having a joyous time!  Deck the halls with boughs of holly- fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, Tis the season to be jolly-

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We opted to celebrate Jesus' birthday tonight and open one present before bed.  Oh what fun!  Reagan was too tired and grumpy so she didn't get to participate.  I am pretty sure she can partake of the sugar cake tomorrow.  The kids begged for more bites of the frosting while I was making it.  They are my taste testers!  Anyway, an update on the kiddos:  now Taylor has the Roseola rash and I expect Trent to break out with it.  We sadly had to miss the Christmas Eve service due to the outbreak here at the house.  I had wished so much to take the family!  Hope you all have a Merry Christmas Morning!  Love from Georgia!

Taylor helps out with Jelly making...

Visit with Grandma Bobbied and Grandpa

Sorry that I am a little slow at posting.  We recently had some visitors from Midland, TX come out.  We had lots of fun!  We made reindeer food and a gingerbread house (which is so hard to stick together!), we played games and saw Christmas lights.  Grandpa Ed even got to take Taylor to school and see how quickly Taylor is engrossed with all of the excitement there!  We wanted a tour of everything but Taylor was too busy talking it up with his friends that we just got the third degree!  Taylor is so very social it makes me laugh!  It wasn't Reagan's day for school yet she ached to go and almost cried because she saw her teacher and didn't understand why she couldn't stay.  Bummer!  I am sure that Trent will find it hard to be the last one to go off to school!  Anyway, lots of fun with the children and believe you me, that if the children can tire me out I am sure they did the grandparents too!  We hope you are doing well!

Cheese!

Here we go, BIG smile!  Complete with 2 teeth on the bottom.  Bonus:  drool and a mess on his shirt.  Isn't he cute!  

Blog update...

"There were 3 in the bed and the little one said, roll over, roll over-"

Being bashful.

No, I won't smile for the camera.

Hold on, let me do another silly face.  Okay, now can I see?!  

Here are the kids, they are so crazy!  They make me laugh!

The kids

Okay, squeeze together and smile!  Taylor, getting bigger everyday!  He is such a big help!  Reagan is learning how to be very clean now!  She is getting finicky about messes in front of her and likes to wipe the table and I caught her the other day getting under the sink to grab all of the extra sponges I have stashed as replacements!  Trent is growing everyday too, I don't want to leave him out.  He now has 2 teeth popping out on the bottom.  He doesn't quite sleep through the night, but we are seeing longer stretches at a time and appreciate that!  All 3 kids are excited about Christmas and I will post pictures of our tree soon.  Have a wonderful night!

We love this woman!  She is wonderful with kids and has a wonderful spirit!  Reagan loves school!  It is cute all of the things I get to see her do.  

Here Taylor stands with his wonderful teachers.  He was the star of the day yesterday and got to give a news report and lead the class in the pledge of allegiance and many other things.  He loves school!  I am so happy!  He is a smart kid!  

This just in...

The school was nice to send this via email and I love it!  I had tried to get a good image myself but couldn't capture it without a glare and the angle was off.  They have professionals!  Anyway, this is on the board in the hallway of his school.  It is updated periodically with other classrooms but here is Bubba's shining moment!

Happy Thanksgiving (a week late!)

Let's see, since a week has past since all of the food at Thanksgiving are you:

 A) working off your meal at the gym doing cardio?

B) sleeping it off?  Deciding that now is not the time to work out considering that more sweets galore is coming your way?

C) still eating?  You just can't pull yourself away from the table!  Mom makes the best sweets and if you could eat like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you would!

Here are the kids doing what they do best!  This is them in the raw!  Taylor would love to show you his food, and Reagan actually stands up on the horses back while bouncing (learned from her big brother), while Trent just loves being a baby and RELAXING!  We must learn to take his cue this holiday season and get some much needed rest and not stress out or busy ourselves!  (This is personal therapy for me, I am talking to myself here...)

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

Time with them is so precious!

Doesn't it look like Reagan is posing?!  Well, if not her, Taylor is really hamming it up!  Trent, we will give him time!  They sure do make us laugh and we just love snuggling with them!  Daddy has got his little princess and his work-out buddy oh and his little munchkin to hold and really, we couldn't have a better bunch of kiddos!  Let me take this time to THANK daddy for being home for the holidays!  We are truely thankful for him!  We function better as a family together! 

Little Trent-Trent is most definitely sleeping.  Se are in the playroom probably reading a book before bed.  Good times!  I love that they listen for books!  I wonder how much time I have before they don't want to cuddle anymore or read in my lap?  Thank you for these times!!!

Tomato Rice Soup

Tomato Rice Soup

Prep Time: 5 minutes (bring everything out of the pantry)

Cook Time: 25 minutes

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped (or 2 tsp. onion powder)

1 carrot, diced

1 rib celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, pressed

2 teaspoons orange zest (I didn't have this)

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon fennel seeds, CRUSHED

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cups water

1 28oz can petite-diced tomatoes

1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used some great vegetable broth)  HAVE MORE ON HAND!!!

½ teaspoon salt (use to taste after everything is already made)

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)

¼ cup white rice

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (my son didn't like this fresh, so I might sneak it in dried next time.)

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté onions, carrot, celery, garlic, orange zest, thyme, and fennel seed for 5 minutes, until the vegetables start to become tender. Add tomato paste and water, whisking until the tomato paste is fully incorporated. Stir in canned tomatoes, chicken or vegetable stock, salt, pepper, sugar, and rice. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Stir in parsley and basil and serve hot.  Makes 8 servings.

NOTE:  This really doesn't make enough for 8.  Unless you serve tiny portions before a big steak and salad or something.  Also, if you wanted, you could puree the soup before you add the rice.  Oh, and we added some diced ham which was perfect!  

Taylor

Now, I am going to start off by saying that I didn't know how to title this blog...

Should it be:  I can't believe him sometimes.!?!; Taylor and his honest moments.; I wonder what he will do next?; I hope the rest of the children don't follow suit.; WOW!; REALLY?!?!.

Okay, so I didn't choose any of those but I will share with you some stories.  You will laugh and at the same time say:  "Uh oh!"

Just the other day, Taylor and I were out in the garage.  He was running around in the driveway and told me, "Mom, guess what," he said, "when you pushed the button on the garage (for the garage door to open) the other day, I held on really tight to the garage and it started to pull me up."  [Now maybe he pushed the button and ran out to hold on, I can't remember what he said...]  "Then," he said,"I couldn't hold on, so I let go."  I immediately thought a million things... wow!  Cool!  Amazing that he would think to do something like that.  Oh no!  What if he was strong enough to hold on the whole way?  He is starting to get a little heavy, it could fall maybe on him...  Did I at his age do some crazy stuff like that?  But, I had to laugh too at the silliness of it all.  He told me.

Another day, Taylor told me he had a secret.  He didn't want to tell me, but he thought it would make me go crazy that he was so sneaky.  So he said, "I put my wet diapers (from the night time, you know the SATURATED ones) under my bed."  I was blind-sighted!  "What?!?"  (Disgusting!  Do you really?!  Why?) All of this ran through my head!  He told me to go look.  What, were these a treasure?  NASTY!  I went and looked and there were probably a good 7 aging, soaking, extra absorbent diapers for my 4 year old, under the dust ruffle, under the bed, on the carpet.  I was stunned!  Thankfully, I told him once to NEVER do this again, and it stopped!

At the moment I can't think of another story except that Taylor says everyday, he loves me and I love him too, very much!  He says that I am the QUESADILLA.  He is my MONKEY!

In the wee hours of the morning...

Here they are.  She just loves him!  I had just fed him and she helped me pat-pat-pat him.  She loves to help with him.  Anyway, it is 1:00AM and she never got up from her nap so we let her sleep since she is sick.  Now at 1:00AM she is getting medicine, food and water.  Lucky for her she had a playmate while I put-zed around.  Daddy called from the bedroom to see if I needed help and so she ran to him to give him a kiss.  Thankfully, they both went right back to sleep and I got a few hours rest.  Happy Tuesday!

Communication level at 19 months.

Since everyone wants to know, here we go.  I almost think I am going to take the video in when she has a Dr. appointment next week.  We still do sign language with her and we still try to have her imitate us, but she has decided to take things at her own pace!  I think she has said DA since she was 9 months old.  Anyway, here she is now.  Maybe she will be on American Idol or the X factor singing or something when she is older.  We will see.

Late night walk.

All bundled up and in her pink boots too.  Thank you C!  We love this!

It is beginning to get chilly!  Break out the winter gear.  Oh wait, it is going to be in the 80's tomorrow.  Okay, one night of coldness is fun!  Let's go!

He loves his boots and cold winter gear!  He loves walks!  If you can, try to imagine us singing as I take this.  We are singing, "The ants go marching one by one, Hoorah!  Hoorah!"

And we make it home!  What fun!

Our morning,

He wants to sit up all of the time!

Here he is, sin pacifier, sin eye mask, sin every gadget we have purchased for colic.

Playing in the playroom before school, while I make lunches in the kitchen.  Let me tell you what they are doing.  They are emptying out the toy train box and throwing them all over the playroom.  If Reagan could physically lift the box, she would, and she'd dump it.  

Happy day!

This morning it rained, but now it is beautiful!  I just got home from picking up the kids from school.  I decided to try for one picture.  This is what I got.  Hope you like it!  They are such happy kids!  Reagan is learning spanish now in class.  I don't think she says any of it, but she is learning.  Taylor is testing in his class, although I don't know all that that entails.  Trent, is growing up and wants to sit up and acts like he wants to crawl.  He is very social now and loves to talk.  I was almost going to report to you that 3 kids was too much for me, but things are getting better around the house and we are starting to work things out. They are a fun bunch!  If only I had the camera on me more often I could show you more of the things we are doing.  I will keep trying.  

Drumroll please~

I know you have all been waiting to hear from us.  I am sorry that it takes a while in between postings these days.  Hopefully, our posts are highly entertaining and keep you anticipating more that you do come back to check in.  Anyway, I wanted to report that Trent is a transformed boy!  He is no longer sick with whooping cough, he no longer takes anything for acid reflux, and we don't have to stay up long hours with him anymore at night.  And, And... we have kind of got him onto a routine with the other kids and he doesn't cry in the hallways at school pick-up or drop-off anymore.  He sleeps in his own room now at night and from the likes of the video, you can see that he is much more happy these days too!  He loves to talk to us!  He sometimes sticks his tongue out but mostly we catch him just talking away.  Sometimes just to hear his own voice, but he likes to talk to someone and be heard and now Taylor and Reagan enjoy talking to him too.  It is so fun to listen too.  Oh and PLEASANT!  Sorry about the lighting in the video, it is 5AM-ish here and he was just fed and about to go right back to sleep.  

If You want a laugh.

Another video of Trent

Fun with friends!

They have been friends since they were a little under 6 months old.  They have grown up before our eyes and it is so cute to watch them still giggle together and snuggle.  This time we went up to visit Athens, GA. where L's grandma and grandpa live.  Lucky for us all it is a quick drive and we are able to enjoy an afternoon of the sweet children.  This time, I had 3 kids to juggle and my girlfriend just had her 2 girls.  It was a crazy zoo!  Total excitement!  I was so happy to see them all play!  Here is a scene from the day:  I was trying to change diapers and put shoes on and help Taylor who had fallen in the toilet.  I hope it wasn't too crazy for my friend and her in-laws!  Lucky for us we had fun outside too and the kids biked and played with chalk and such and we had quiet time for a movie too!  Unfortunately, because of the bouncing back and forth, we only got this one picture.  I was sad!  What were we to do.  Oh well!  Thank  you C for the GREAT shot!  You should get paid for your precious photography!  I LOVE IT!

Harvest Carnival

This was so much fun!  He sat behind his friends and sadly I couldn't sit with him since I had Reagan in the stroller.

Watch me go!  I love rides!

Oh me, oh my.

Hey mom!

This is the screamer!  He found some friends over here too.  (This was set up at the church down the street where the kids go to mother's morning out.)

I think it was 49 degrees today, but I had to get the kids out so I could get medicine and things.  They were sick and snotty, but we weren't confined indoors so I thought it was okay as did they to go have some fun.

Reagan sat, and we went to the petting zoo where this giant goat smelled the hotdogs we had in the stroller.  Oops!  There were turkeys and funny looking chickens and lamas and donkeys, you name it.  We didn't touch any of them!  Just looking for now.  We all got on a fun ride together and Reagan loved it.  I started to get sick so when the ride manager asked if we wanted to stay on for another ride, I sadly declined being the mother who had had enough.  Wow!  Does that qualify me for being old?!  I couldn't do it again, sheesh!

NOTE:  Daddy is at home sleeping with a fever and watching Trent who also is asleep with major sickness.  Ergh!  We missed them!  It is okay though, we brought home some yummy cotton candy for daddy.  We got it for free and we all shared it.  YIKES!  Think of all those germs and sugar.  Oh well, we are done with sugar.  We tossed out all of the halloween candy already.  Sadly, most of it was dairy anyway, which hurts the tummy here.  

Reagan

She is the messiest child ever... it is so funny!  If you find flecks of rice in her hair, I am not surprised!  Or spaghetti in her diaper, again, not surprised!

Loves to primp already!

Just walking around the house after bath like this.

Already into jewelry and purses.  She hates sharing them!  These are all sides Reagan, and it is fun to watch her!  Just wait till she gets into princess high healed shoes and such.  OH NO!

Toys,... NAH!

This is my new hat.  I can pretend I am a pirate.  Or a robot, or a space invader, or...

My turn... I want a turn!  The fun is limitless!  By the way, when I don't do pancakes on the weekend or eggs or Dutch Babies, this is what we let the kids have, yes, it is FULL of sugar!  It only lasts maybe 2 Saturdays though if we all have a bowl of it.  

Trent

Here he is.  A whopping 3 months old and starting to coo and sit up a little.  He is starting to get a tooth that may take forever to come in and he has Whooping Cough.  You may or may not be able to tell that he has a cough in this video, but we are medicated and he is sleeping quite a bit.  Here he wants to sleep, I just need to grap a diaper and such before I put him in the ultimate swing.  Enjoy.

He is such a big help!

Sometimes when I am making the kids' lunches, I can't very well feed Reagan the bowl of oatmeal that she is after.  So, I have enlisted the help of her big brother Taylor.  He loves to help with whatever he can.  It is too cute to watch!

We tell them everyday they're nuts!

Look at me.

I love this silly face!

Such a poser!

Is this what I am going to look like all growed up?

My turn with the face.  Haha!

Being silly.

Keeping busy.

Here he is... now we use an eye-mask.  It works on occasion, just like everything else.    

Everyone is happy to play playdoh.  Reagan is excited because this is her first time.  Okay... and her last for a while.  She ate some and it was a huge mess and well, she just wants to be where the activity is.  

Hey daddy-O.  

I love my daddy SO MUCH!

He is a WONDERFUL little boy!  Such an angle!