My Top Model

Marie bought this hat for Tabs for Christmas. I don't know what it is about it, but every time she puts it on she says, "I just feel like a model in this hat Mom! Take my picture!" Okay...

I think she even has the stance down!

"Wait! One more Mama!"....

I think she's a NATURAL! ;)

Christmas 2009

We had a nice Christmas with our families. Christmas Eve was spent at the Muai's. Grandma lays the gifts out in piles unwrapped and then when it is time she calls the girls in to see their loot. I think Tabs was just a tad bit excited! Don't get in her way!!

Grandma made the girls matching, nighties, robes and slippers. They sure look cute in them. Too bad Syd couldn't be in this picture with the girls.

Christmas day was spent at the Meisenheimers. We sure had fun meeting the new little cousin. She sure was a CUTIE. And I am convinced that she has red hair just like her Auntie. ;)

The girls had fun giving gifts to Grandma too.

We spent all of Christmas in our PJS playing with the new toys. "I wish everyday could be Christmas!"

Christmas Concert

Emma's school had a Christmas concert. She had fun singing in it. Tabitha was sitting on my lap trying to record her on the cell phone at the same time I was doing this so it is a little crazy in spots.

Gingerbread Houses

We made Ginger bread houses this last week! The girls saved their Halloween candy so we had a lot of candy to decorate with!

Emma and I worked on one. I think it turned out great!

(My eyes are crazy in this picture.)

Anthony and Tabitha worked on the other one. Theirs turned out great too!

Nativity

We had a Christmas play at church last weekend. The girls had a lot of fun participating. Emma was chosen to be Mary, which she was super excited about!

Sweet Tabs got to be a little angel!

Don't let that angelic face fool you though!

O Christmas Tree!

We all had fun decorating the tree last weekend!

It's snowing in my house! No.. not really. This year we decided that we would spray our tree with the snow in the can. Well, the camera sure picked up all the little dust flying around. Makes me feel like that was a healthy decision we made. Could that be why Tabs has had a cough ever since?

Despite the possible health hazard I think our tree turned out quite nice...and yes that is popcorn strung on the tree, which unless you have 3 hours to kill I would not recommend it!

Apples Apples and MORE Apples!!!

There was an orchard here that we were able to pick apples from. The girls seemed to have fun-for a little bit anyways.

We ended up with about 12 full bins of apples! Anthony picked 10 of the 12!

I had never canned anything in my life so since my mom was here for Thanksgiving she got us started.

Of course we had helpers and taste testers!

We have so far canned 32 cans! I guess we only have 200 more to go with all the apples we have! We haven't even emptied one bin yet!! What did I get us into!!!????

HOLY TUMBLE WEED!

Some kids are late for school because they didn't get ready in time. My kids are late for school because they are blessed with a CRAZY mother who decides instead of getting in the car, lets stop for 10 minutes and take pictures of a GINORMOUS tumble weed that tumbled in front of our house.

I know I have lived here for almost 3 years now but these things still amaze me!

Cookies and Lemonade

A friend of ours was having a garage sale and she let me put some of my stuff in it. We also decided to let the kids have some fun with it too. I made 80 chocolate chip cookies and some Country Time lemonade and they had their very own stand! They sold them for 25 cents a piece. And were very excited! They wanted to raise money to buy ice cream from DQ.

2 minutes into it however my friend's little guy said "I need a break Phebe. It's time for my 15. Can you you pour me a glass and get me a cookie?" Kids! They are great!

(Having a "15")

Emma was a trooper! Long after all the other kids were done with selling and ready to play, Emma was still waiting for her customers. She loved it!

And what's the most exciting part about selling things? The Moo-la! They did really good. But who could resist such cute kiddos! And later that night they got their ice cream!

(You should have heard the yelling!)

How I accomplish nothing in a 24 hour period.

I wake up at 5:30 get ready to work out with a friend. Sit on the couch and wait for her to pick me up. Look at the clock 6:30am-did I fall asleep and miss her or did she not wake up? Either way it's too late to go now- Ant has to leave for work. Lay down on the couch to get a few more minutes of sleep. Wake up 10 minutes later with a dog and child trying to squeeze on the couch with me. Sigh. Not enough room for all us might us well get up. Start to eat some cereal with Tabitha. She gets thirsty. Get up to get her a drink. Hear yelling in the bathroom. Emma somehow locked herself in the bathroom. Go remind my child how to unlock a door. Forgot to give Tabitha her water and hear all about it. Get her water. Then pour cereal for Emma. Tabitha starts complaining how something stinks. Makes me remember I need to take out the trash. Go to take out trash-then Emma starts crying because Tabitha hurt her feelings - apparently she is the one that stinks. Forget about the garbage to calm girls down. Then I remember my cereal. Too Soggy to eat. Sigh. Now what to eat? Take it into the kitchen to put in the sink. See chocolate cake from last night. Cut a piece. Eat it quick so I don't have two more people eating cake for breakfast. See the dirty dishes from last night. Start to put them in the dishwasher. Before I can finish Emma comes by telling me the dog is eating my underwear. Go save my underwear. It reminds me I need to start some laundry. Open the washing machine. There is clothes already in there. How long has that been sitting there? Maybe that is what Tabitha was smelling. Rewash clothes in the washer. Smell reminds me of the garbage. Go to take the garbage out. The girls start arguing about which cartoon to watch. Forget about the garbage. Go help them compromise. Decide I need some peace so go and take a shower for 20 minutes. Go back to finish the dishes. Emma tells me the dog is stuck. Find dog stuck in between the bars on the futon. How did he do that!? Save dog. Make sure he can walk okay. Dog looks good. What was I doing? Oh yea dishes. The phone rings. Talk to a friend for awhile. Remember I need to grocery shop. Tell girls to get dressed so we can grocery shop. While they dress remember I need to make invites for a baby shower. Go online to get ideas. Girls start to argue again. I Ignore the yelling-it will stop. Nope-I think someone just threw something at someone. Go to intervene. Calm everyone down again and realize it is pretty much lunch time. Feed everyone. Realize I never finished the dishes. Go to wash dishes. Knock at the door. Stop to answer the door. Two cute kids in the neighborhood are trying to raise money to go to the local fair. The fair is going on!? When and where? Google about the Benton County fair. Phone rings. Talk to mom for awhile. Kids are getting whiny because I haven't played with them. Play go fish for awhile. Remember I need to water the garden. Go outside and turn the water on. Push Tabitha and Emma on the swings for awhile. Remember I still need to get Emma her school supplies. Go inside to get the list. Get the girls in the car. Drive to Target. Get there and realized I forgot the list. Try to remember what it said. Get what I can remember. Come home and realize I still need 3 things. Sigh. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Phone rings. Talk to sis in law for a little bit. Oops!!! I forgot to turn the water off of the tomatoes! Go to turn the water off. Step in dog pee on my way out. Dog peed in the house! Forget about water. Go to clean up pee only after Emma stepped in it too. Turn on afternoon cartoons so everyone can just chill. Sit down to watch for a minute and remember the water again. Run to turn it off. Decide it is time to start dinner. Was going to make a chicken dish but realize I don't have all the ingredients like I thought I did. Now what? I never went grocery shopping. Find hot dogs in fridge and some leftovers. Warm up some chili with the rest of food. Ant comes home. We eat. I eat a whole chili dog while he eats leftovers. Then Ant decides he wants a hot dog. He takes a bite and spits it out gaging. What's wrong with the hot dog? Apparently they have been in the fridge for like a month. I take a bite of one of the girls-yep it sure is DISGUSTING!!! Anthony goes to puke while I take away the girl's hot dogs before they get sick too. I find them cereal instead. Realization sets in that I ate a whole hot dog not knowing it was rotten because of the all the chili it was lathered in. Start worrying that I gave myself food poison. Decide it is okay to be bulimic for just one day in my life. Sit in the bathroom for 20 minutes trying to convince myself it is for the best. Unable to convince myself. I guess I will just take whatever comes. Maybe I won't get sick. Go sit on the couch. Decide that I am through with my day.

I wake up the next morning only to dirty dishes still in the sink, laundry still in washing machine, and trash needing to be taken out. I still need groceries, school supplies and last but not least my sanity.

Lots of Pictures!

WARNING! I am posting a whole lot of pics! :)

Last week we spent the week with family and I just couldn't leave people out. The week started with visiting Marie and Rena before they left. Had to get our fill before we don't see them for another 6 months! :(

A couple of cute girls! They really had fun together!

We got to see Alexander too! Emma just absolutely adores ages 2 and under and thinks that they are all her "babies." Alex was pretty easy going though and humored Emma!

After hanging out in Tacoma for a few days Anthony and his family headed off to California for Jake's wedding. I wish the girls and I could have gone. It sounded like it was a beautiful wedding. I traveled to Portland area with my family for the annual BBQ.

Uncle Wayne made sure he had airplanes for the girls and they spent hours flying those off the deck.

It sure was nice to see Aunt Bonny and Uncle Darrell too! I think Aunt Bonny got enough little girl hugs to last her till she could see hers again!

I loved seeing my Grandpa too. In the words of Tabitha, "I sure do love my great Grandpa, Mama!"

Okay so what else can I say other than that there is way too much orneriness in this picture! Here comes DOUBLE TROUBLE!

I had the camera so Anthony didn't have a chance to bring back pictures although he did bring back a lemon off a lemon tree that was at the house he was staying at.

Um, Yes! That is as big as her head!

It's all in the shoes

You can tell a person by the shoes they wear-right? Well you can in my girls! Emma and Tabitha are like Night and Day. Complete opposites. I took them shoe shopping today and all I can say is their shoes say it all!!

Tabs pick...

Verses...

Emma Pick!

(Emma has been begging me for high heeled shoes for a month! She is 5! But (sigh)Mom gave in.)

RENA!!!!

The girls were so excited to see Rena this last weekend! Oh and RE and Grandma too! :)

I could hear Terina screaming with excitement before she even got out of the car.

Marie brought some Poi balls and Emma has been trying so hard to master them! I think we all got hit by them at some point during the weekend! (Notice Marie looking scared!)

Cousin Love!

We got to see little Sydney quite a bit this weekend too so I don't know how I got away without a picture of the cutie!

Swimming Lessons

The girls have been in swimming the last 4 weeks. Last Friday was their last day for a few weeks so they got to have a fun day. They got to put life jackets on and swim all over the pool and jump off the diving board if they wanted to.

The girls were in the same class. Emma is in the pink and Tabs in in the orange.

Tabitha Jumped! (Well, okay she got thrown-but by choice!)

What do you mean swimming is over?!!

We finished off our Fourth at Anthony's parents house. Ashlee and Jared, being the nice Auntie and Uncle they are, got a TON of fireworks for the kids. Thanks Guys!!

Ashlee showed the girls how to throw poppers. They sure enjoyed that and they managed not to throw them at each other!

Waiting for it to get dark so we can start the show!

Were they cold or were they trying not to get eaten alive from all the NASTY mosquitoes?!

Yeah for sparklers!!

4th Fun

Our 4th started at the park for Anthony's annual family reunion.

Emma suckered Grandma into helping her on the monkey bars.

Captain Anthony leading his team to victory in the games. :) They had to peel a coconut and some bananas. There was an egg toss and a contest to see who could put on some clothes the fastest. For all their team effort they won (drum roll)............a box of Costco crackers!!!

Tabitha loves to climb!

Of course the day at the park was not complete until after the pie eating contest.

5 Shari cream pies + 70 Samoans = Everyone is wearing pie home