Blog world, meet Twinkle...

...Twinkle, meet blog world.

This isn't the best picture of Twinkle, but I think the flash startled him, so this is the best I got. Twinkle is a male and is pink. I don't think Candace knew he was a he when she let Sydni name him Twinkle.

We are fish-sitting this week. Our friends, Tim, Candace and their girls are off to Disney World for a week!! We offered to go with them as kid-sitters, but settled for fish-sitters at home instead. Mallory is pumped, to say the least. I can't tell you how many times she asked when Twinkle was coming over this morning. She could probably sit at the table and watch Twinkle swim around all day long.

So, this will be our test run. Candace promises me that there is a 2 week guarantee for Twinkle. So, if he is floating on Sunday, when we get home from Burk, they get a refund. If everything goes well, there might be a fish in someone's Easter basket...

Valentine's week

I think I have found a new love for Valentine's Day! The girls have had more Valentine outfits, get togethers and crafts than any other holiday so far! It's probably just because of the colors and having girls. At any rate (wow, I just sounded like my dad), we had a fun week leading up to the "big day".

On the actual day, we had a group date with some great friends! I don't think we've ever spent a Valentine's day with other friends. It was a fun way to mix things up. We dropped the girls off with a sitter (our first time to pay a sitter!!) at Candace and Tim's house. Then we drove really fast to Marla and Nate's house (since our time was ticking away), ate a fabulous steak dinner, watched a hilarious rendition of the "vote for pedro" dance by Nate, played a version of Loaded Questions and ate yummy dessert (chocolate dipped strawberries and creme brulee). It was a super fun night, but it went by waaaaay too fast!!!

Nate (aka Napolean), Marla, Tim, Candace, me and Brad

One of the many attempts at pictures for Valentine cards. This was the best I could get!

Mallory thought she was big stuff getting to roll out the cookie dough! It took a while to get the concept of using a cookie cutter. She kept wanting to press it over and over on the same spot:)

One of the aforementioned attempts of pictures. Morgan was not in a picture-y mood!

Mallory posed pretty good, though.

We totally backed out on our gift for Valentine's day to the girls. We had decided to buy a fish, but talked ourselves out of it while we walked around Petsmart. Are we lame-o parents, or what? Maybe we'll find a green fish for St. Patrick's Day??? In the meantime, we'll just visit Petsmart to look at all of the animals. It was free entertainment!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Morgan just learned how to say "cheeeeeese" for the camera. It will now be at least 2 more years before we get a decent picture:)

More of our favorite friends!

Another one of our favorite friends is Madelyn, Oscar and Laura's cutie patootie baby girl. Mallory and Morgan LOVE Maddie! I've been meaning to blog about her for a while now. Brad just reminded me. This, coming from the guy that thinks blogging is silly.

We spent New Year's Eve with Oscar and Laura this year. We put the kids to bed at our house and then played Outburst. I was so proud of Laura, she stayed up until midnight!!!

Here are the girls: Maddie , Mallory and Morgan . Talk about a tongue twister. Try saying all 3 names fast. It's impossible!!

Back in January, Laura and Maddie spent the night at our house. Brad and Oscar were both gone overnight, so we decided to have a slumber party! I'm telling you, the girls are obsessed with Maddie. I love this picture because it shows just that. And, Maddie is just fine with the doting:)

Hugs from Mallory!

We got more Maddie lovin' last week when we got to babysit her. I'm just waiting for the day when Mallory asks for a new baby brother or sister. With all of these babies around, it's bound to happen sooner than later!

Thinking positive

We are down and out with a stomach bug around here. So, instead of wallowing in my self pity about how many things I haven't been able to do because of it, here is a recap of a fun visit from friends!

Our friends, Katie and Jeremy, are going through a tough time right now. Jeremy's dad, Henry, is battling a brain tumor. He was put into inpatient hospice last week. Jack and Ryleigh came over to play last Thursday while Katie spent some time with Henry at the hospital. Jack and Mallory are only weeks apart in age, and little Ryleigh is 3 1/2 months old. Everyone had fun and it was great for the girls to have some friends to play with!

Here's all 4 kiddos: Jack (holding Elmo lipstick, just for the record), Morgan, Ryleigh and Mallory

As I was sitting in the recliner feeding Ryleigh a bottle, I looked around the room. I realized I had a (very) small glimpse into my mother-in-law's life in 1977. Brad was 3 months, LaShay was 14 months and Jason was 2 1/2. Can you imagine???? God bless you, Sharon!

Smitten. She will go crazy if we have a 3rd baby!!

Best buddies!
(please excuse Morgan's peach fuzz in the corner)

The kids had a blast and I enjoyed the free entertainment for Mallory and Morgan!!! Anytime, Katie, anytime!

We survived!

Sleeping and traveling without the paci, that is!!

The first afternoon, it took almost a full hour for Mallory to fall asleep. There were no tears, just a lot of talking and singing in her room. About 2 minutes after I put her down, I heard LOUD talking from her room. I listened at the door and heard this:

Mallory, talking to her giraffe: "NOOOOOO, you threw your paci in the white trash can! The trash truck came and took it. Yea, Mallory!! I'm so proud of you! You are a big girl! Yea, Joshua (her friend that inspired the "throwing the paci in the trashy")! I'm so proud of you! You are a big boy!!"

It was hilarious! I had to go in twice to tell her to stop talking and go to sleep. She finally fell asleep for an hour. After her nap, we left for my parent's house. Yes, we went out of town for her first weekend away from her paci. Again, not how I planned for all of this to happen.

She asked for her paci twice that night at my parent's house, and again, there were no tears. I just reminded her how big of a girl she is and that the trash truck had her paci. She slept through the night great. Saturday morning I took Mallory to get donut holes to celebrate throwing her paci away. Then, we headed to McKinney for our nephew's first birthday.

Luckily, she wore herself out on bounce houses and lots of playing. She went down for her nap so easy, only asking for it once (but probably just to hear how big of a girl she is!). That night, she went to bed without even asking for it!!!

I am shocked at how easy this was. I was sooooo dreading it. She was addicted to the thing. In fact, each time that we bought new ones, it took several weeks to get used to the new one (which was just a newer version of the exact same one). I thought for sure it would be "you know what" at night when we finally got rid of the thing. Once, again, I am proven wrong by my 2 1/2 year old. It's funny how they do that to us!

Not exactly when I planned for this to happen...

...but I couldn't tell her no when she literally woke up this morning asking to do this:

Oh boy!!! Sorry ahead of time to Mimi, Grandpa, Jason, Jenn, Julia and Johnathan!!!!

"You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."

My youth pastor always quoted that and it's always made me laugh. But, what doesn't make me laugh, is Mallory with her finger in her nose ALL DAY LONG. Seriously. I think I am getting payback for being the booger police when she was a baby. Now, I am all for crust-free nostrils, but in Walmart, at church, in public...it is just gross!!! I keep reminding (okay, really almost yelling) her that she doesn't need to pick her nose to get a booger out, she can get a tissue. She almost always replies back, "But I've got an ITCH!!!" It's quite humorous. So, I have a dilemma. Is this a battle I want to pick (pun way intended)? Or, is it just something that 2 1/2 year olds have to do for a season in their life?

Peer pressure, total peer pressure

Or, mostly sister pressure! I joined Facebook last night. Actually, while Brad and I were watching The Office (which was hilarious, by the way), he signed me up. He might really regret that decision. I don't know if he'll regret it because we'll be doing "rock, paper, scissors" over who gets to hog the laptop to check their account...or, because the dishes won't be done, the kids won't be bathed and the laundry will pile up. Kidding, only kidding.

Come be my friend!!