The Birthday Girl

Okay, two birthdays in one week. It wasn't a big deal this year, but I have a feeling that it will get more complicated as the years go on. Well, Tori is a year old. Thank goodness! Everyone kept telling me that the first year was going to be rough with her. That was an understatement! This was the longest, most difficult year of my life. This is going to sound terrible, but thank goodness it's over!! I love babies, but Tori was difficult (to say the least) and hopefully now that she's learning to walk she'll be more independent and happier. So, for her birthday we decided to have a birthday BBQ/Bonfire at my parents house. The weather was amazing and it was so nice to be outside. I thought it would be easier clean up for Tori with her cake since we could just hose it off the back deck. Tiffany made the most delicious cake and I thought for sure Tori would just dive right into it. Instead, she stuck one finger in the frosting and that was it. Needless to say, there aren't any cute pictures of her covered in birthday cake. She loves the baby doll that Nicole picked out for her and she has been dragging it around all over the house. She was totally oblivious to the fact that it was her birthday. I'm okay with that because I'm sure that next year she'll want to be the center of attention like most 2-year-olds. I love my little girl and I'm glad that things are getting easier. I hope that I can be the kind of mother that she needs and that eventually she'll move past these difficult phases. It's a good thing she's so dang cute!

The Birthday Boy

Tyler is 5! He's so excited about it. I was going to do a picture montage of him every year on his birthday, but they aren't working right now. So here's Tyler in the present. He is the best little boy I could ever hope for. He's sweet, sensitive, funny, caring, generous, and loves to be my snuggle buddy. He helps with his sisters, draws me pictures, wants to tell me all about his adventures and still thinks that I'm the greatest mom in the world. He is so smart and loves to learn. I love him so much and I can't imagine life without my sweet little boy. I love watching him get bigger and learning all of these new life skills, but at the same time I want to pause his life and keep him this age forever. Everyone who knows him loves him and I am so glad I have been blessed with such a sweet little angel of a boy.

Spring has Sprung!!

No one is happier about the warm weather than I am. We went to my parents' for dinner tonight and the kids had a blast. Here's some photo-documentation:

Tyler and Nicole got to ride the 4-wheeler with Grandpa. They love going on adventures with him. Nicole pretends to be Dora the Explorer and my dad is Diego (her cousin). Tyler is Dash (from The Incredibles) and poor Tori is Isa (an iguana). Someday she'll be old enough to fight back and I have a feeling that lizard is gonna kick somebody's butt for leaving her out of these explorations.


Tori is trying to decide if she really likes swinging. At first she was shaking and scared, but after a few minutes, she relaxed and seemed to really enjoy herself.


Tyler got to DRIVE the tractor today. all. by. himself. You would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven. Thanks for not going too far away from him, Grandpa.


Tori might be new to the swing, but Nicole has been waiting (not so patiently) for months to get back on. She's pretty happy about the turn in the weather.


When the kids were tired of swinging, 4-wheeling, and tractor driving (wait, they didn't get tired, I just forced them to go in the house) it was time to take a bath and get in their jammies. Of course, I forgot pajamas for the kids. We found pajamas that would fit Nicole and Tori, but no luck for Tyler. My mom pulled out this shirt that he could sleep in. I LOVE this shirt. My mom had it made for my dad when she found out that she was pregnant with me. My dad was 22 or 23 in this picture. I wore this shirt all the time as a kid. It seems like most of my pictures are of me in that shirt. I'm so glad she still has it. I want to frame it and hang it up somewhere. So here's a picture of Tyler playing Wii in my favorite article of clothing of all time:


All in all, it was a good night. No one got seriously injured, no big fights, and I ate way too much taco salad. Here's a few extra pictures of the night:

Tori's Update

My poor tired baby. She was so tired today, but I was trying to keep her awake until we went to the store. I was trying to get everyone ready as fast as I could, but apparently it wasn't fast enough. I finally got my hair done (straightening takes forever, even when it's this short) and when I went to grab the kids, this is what I found:

So now she's asleep in her crib (I moved her out of Tyler's bed because she'd probably roll over and hurt herself). I don't know if I'll ever know how she got a bottle or how she got into Tyler's bed, but if I could get this baby to put herself down for a nap every day, life would be good. :-)

Now, for those of you who knew Tori during the first 6 months of her life know that she's never been an "easy baby" but that things are getting better. Well, things were getting better. Now she's learning to walk and I feel like we're back to the days of non-stop crying! Ugh. I usually don't like when babies start to walk because they fall over a lot and get hurt, plus they get into everything. This time, I'm really looking forward to Tori being able to walk on her own. She just wants to hold my fingers and walk all day long! Everywhere we go she wants to walk. She won't ride in the stroller, grocery cart, or baby backpack anymore. She constantly claws at the front door (like a puppy or something) because she LOVES to be outside. So please pray that she'll learn to walk soon so I can have my fingers back! Here's a picture of her reaching out for me. This is what I see all day. If I try to deny her, she starts to scream. Trust me, that's bad news for everyone within a 5 mile radius.


I don't mean to make it sound all bad. She definitely has her happy moments. One of her new favorite hide-outs is the dryer:


I don't know if you can really tell, but she has WAY more teeth on the left side of her mouth than the right side. She already has 4 molars! Is that normal? She seems to be teething all the time. I'm hoping that ends soon so maybe she can be more comfortable.
So, if any of you are contemplating having children but don't know for sure, spend a day with my baby (PLEASE!!) and you'll either be scared out of your wits or you'll think, "well, it can't be any worse than that!"