JANUARY
Taylor took a couple more horseback riding lessons. Unfortunately, with the cold weather and us just being so busy, we stopped going and haven't been back. Hopefully soon we can go again because she just loved it, and she was actually really good!
FEBRUARY
Nursery Rhyme character day at school. Taylor was Mary Had a Little Lamb. Mary also got some vampire teeth from the treasure box. A year later and Bella is still usually walking around the house half naked ;-)
Tacky Day
MARCH
March 2nd was another major day of tornado outbreaks. Multiple tornadoes touched down in Alabama and other parts of the southeast all the way up to Ohio. Another tornado hit the Harvest area. It was a scary day because every time our weather radio alarm would go off and say there was a severe thunderstorm warning, it would go off again about 5 minutes later and say it had been upgraded to a tornado warning. Unlike April 27, 2011, we still had power so I could keep up with the weather on the TV and radio. Between 9 and 10 that morning, a tornado warning was issued. As Bella and I were getting into the closet, I heard on the radio that there was definitely a tornado on the ground near Sparkman High School. It seemed to be taking the same path as the one that hit us the year before. I started to panic a little. When the tornado hit us before, we had no power so I wasn't getting a play by play on what was going on, and I didn't really believe it would hit us, so I wasn't scared until it was already there. This time I knew it was coming, and also, it was just Bella and me at home. Jared was at work, and Taylor was at school. Having your whole family together in a situation like that brings an added measure of peace; or in this case, having your family separated, adds stress to the situation. As we were sitting in the closet, my sister-in-law Cari called and asked how I was doing. At that point, I just broke down. I didn't know if I could go through it again, especially without Jared there to help keep me calm. Although the tornado did take some of the same path as the one on 4/27/11, this one went a little south of us and continued on to the Meridianville and New Market areas.
We were under a tornado watch for the rest of the day. This picture was actually taken around 4:45pm (about the same time that the tornado hit us on 4/27/11). We saw this and thought there was a tornado heading for our neighborhood. Because of the trees, we couldn't tell if it was touching the ground or not. It ended up going just north of us and we watched it pass by. It was headed straight for Hazel Green where my mom lives, so I called and told her to take shelter. They weren't mentioning anything on TV or the radio about it, but it sure looked dangerous. I suppose it could've just been a wall cloud or something because a tornado was never reported to have touched down in Hazel Green. It sure scared us all though.
Something good that happened in March was that we found out we were having another girl. Okay, so I admit, I almost cried when I found out. Although I've never felt great with any of my pregnancies, I was just so completely exhausted with this one that I had convinced myself that it was a boy. After the initial shock of the news of girl #3, I became very excited to have another girl. I love my girls so much!
APRIL
We went to the circus!
We commemorated the anniversary of the April 27th tornado.
Our neighborhood put together a potluck dinner. Brad Travis from Channel 48 News was there. It was good to spend time with neighbors especially those whose homes were destroyed and have since moved to other areas.
This is the family (Manuel and Lilly) that took shelter with us at the Forbes' house after their 2-story house was badly damaged in the tornado. It was an all brick house, so although it part of it was still standing, the whole home ended up being bulldozed. They chose not to rebuild but to move to another home.
Someone had framed an aerial view picture of the neighborhood after the tornado.
Taylor had her 2nd season of soccer.
Her team played against some of our good friends from church. Of course, while she wasn't in the game, she was cheering them on ;-)
Taylor had to get her first stitches. On the days that I worked while Taylor was in pre-K, my friend Ann would watch the girls. Her daughter was in Taylor's pre-K class, so she would just pick them both up from school, and I would help with carpooling on days that I didn't work. One day I worked 8am-4pm. Jared picked up the girls from Ann's house on the way home, so I was already home by the time he got there. He walked in and said, "Taylor might need stitches." It was a pretty small cut but looked like it probably needed a stitch or two. We called an urgent care place in Meridianville that we had been to before, but they had already stopped taking patients for the day. So we called another urgent care in Madison, and they said they closed at 6:00pm. At this point, it was about 5:30pm, so Jared asked if they took patients all the way until 6:00. They said yes. We literally walked in the door a minute or two before they were supposed to close. I know they loved us, but I really didn't want to have to take her to the ER! The doctor said he could stitch it if she would cooperate, but if not, we would have to take her to the ER, and they would do it there. I was a little worried at that point; you have to know Taylor- she can be a bit of a drama queen when she gets hurt, and she hates needles!! She did SO good. She was very tough, and I was so proud of her. Just one little stitch is all it took!
Oh, you may want to know the story of how it happened. All of the kids were playing outside at Ann's house. One of her kids was playing on the swingset (can't remember if they were on the swing or just swinging from a bar), and Taylor apparently got too close and accidentally got kicked in the head. Ann said Taylor did really good and actually didn't notice anything had happened until later. When she first noticed some blood, she thought it was from a caterpillar they had been playing with. I think she may have gotten a little freaked out once she realized the blood was actually coming from her head, but once again, I'm proud of how tough she was!
We celebrated Bella's 3rd birthday! She wanted a Dora cake. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself; she loved it, and to this day, she still talks about her Dora cake!
After her party, we went to have dinner at Casa Blanca- our family's favorite place to eat dinner! Our girls love "the cheese dip place."
Free ice cream for her birthday!
MAY
Jared and I were able to go watch our good friends Bobby and Kristy get married. They got married in Jekyll Island, Georgia. It was a long drive (about 10 hours) which was super rough on me while I was pregnant- my legs ached so bad!- but it really was worth it to be able to be there for them!
It was also worth it because it was there that I finally figured out what girl #3's name would be! Before I even got pregnant, I knew if we had another girl that I would want to name her Quinn. However, it was not easy to come up with a middle name that would go with it. I had pretty much decided I either needed to pick a different name, or she just wouldn't have a middle name. Then, while we were at Jekyll Island, I went out to the beach, and I saw that someone had written "Bryson Everly" in the sand. I didn't think much of it at first. I laid out on the beach and was looking at a book of names with no luck. The beach was super hard and uncomfortable, so I decided to go lay out by the pool. On my way back to the pool, I looked at the name written in the sand, and all of a sudden it hit me- Everly could be her middle name! I thought it was so unusual and beautiful. It seemed perfect and just felt right (I just had to convince Jared!).
A few pictures from the hotel. Pictured is the back of the hotel with the pool, the fire pit next to the pool (loved this!), and also the walkway that leads out to the beach.
Supermoon
Driftwood Beach- the beach where Bobby and Kristy had their wedding. It was so beautiful.
Happy Mother's Day to me!
Jared helped the girls make these shirts. They were perfect. Bella's says "Best Mommy Ever" That is something typical for her. Everything is the best thing ever. At dinner, she always says "you make the best food ever!"
Jared ran his first marathon! It was in Chattanooga; we drove up there the night before and stayed the night at the Chattanooga Choo-choo hotel. We walked around looking at the trains and then got some ice cream. The girls enjoyed jumping from the chair to the bed.
So proud of him! I can't even imagine running a marathon. He did a trail marathon, which made it even harder, but he did it!!
Soccer awards program
Visitor's week at dance. We got a preview of their recital dances.
We went to watch Taylor's Pre-K End of the Year program.
program and Pre-K graduation
Mrs. Albert- she was an amazing teacher! She even took the time to tutor Taylor once a week. I believe she had a lot to do with how well Taylor is doing in school this year.
Mrs. Temple- the teacher's aide. Taylor loved her, too!
Field Day
Enjoying Grandma's pool
JUNE
Dress rehearsal and recital
I finally got the nerve to get Taylor's hair cut. She had at least 8 inches chopped off so we could donate it. I won't post the immediately after picture because it doesn't accurately show how cute she looked. I had some serious post-haircut guilt afterwards and it wasn't even my hair! I couldn't decide if I really liked it or not, but Jared loved it and everyone else raved about it. I finally got used to it, and I don't know if I'll ever let her hair get super long again.
I don't know if she'll ever let me cut her hair that short again (it ended up way shorter than I ever planned for it to be!), but just look how cute she is!
We made some last minute plans to go to the beach. My mom, Neal, Sarah, Bryson, and Rylan went with us. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip.
A photographer walked up to us on the beach and asked to take some pictures of the kids. He said we were under no obligation to buy any of the pictures. So we watched how he posed the kids and then took our own pictures later.. haha (The above picture of Taylor and Bella hugging is actually a picture that he took and I purchased).
I just loved how Bella would sit and let the waves crash on her. Her reaction was always priceless.
Taylor has become fearless, too. When she was smaller, she hated the beach. She just couldn't stand the sand. Now she loves it!
Love this sweet picture of Taylor and Rylan :-)
more pictures of the cousins by the beach photographer
Granni Price and Aunt Pat came to visit from Texas
(the girls were playing in dress up clothes)
I turned 30! There's nothing like being big and pregnant on your 30th birthday.. haha I was 32 weeks in this picture.
I went to youth conference again this year. Normally, I'm lucky and don't really have much swelling while I am pregnant, but after a weekend of walking around UNA's campus in the blazing heat (seriously- it was like 100+ degrees the whole time; I even drove from place to place a lot of the time!!), this is what my feet looked like by the time I got home.. and it hurt, too! My amazing husband had cleaned the house and told me to just come on home and put my feet up and get some rest.
JULY
Jared took the girls fishing.
On the 4th of July, we went swimming at my mom's house.
I told you- fearless!
and then we had a campfire, food, and s'mores at Dawn and Shawn's. I made these yummy red, white, and blue strawberries.
Not sure what the grouchy face is about... probably because she wanted a turn on the go-kart.
Bella had her first dentist appointment. She did awesome.
and the best thing that happened in 2012 is Quinn Everly Mayfield was born on July 31st!
(to be continued....)
