Top 10 of 2010

2010 has come and gone. It was such a fun year! I am ready for 2011 though!! One thing I LOVE about blogging is going back and reading past post. Here are our Top 10 Moments of 2010!
(You can click the link on each one to view the post.)

Snow Day-This was such a fun day! To see snow in Mobile, Alabama!! The 4 of us don't care for cold weather so we are glad it doesn't snow often but when it did it was so fun to enjoy it!

Tanner turned 3-I still can't believe it and now he's almost 4!

Ryleigh turned 4-I don't know what it is about the age that she is at now but she is so excited about her upcoming 5th birthday! Is it at this age that it all kind of clicks for them? They understand they are getting older and what comes along with it...

Tanner played Tball-Still not sure about how we felt about this moment of 2010...some times he loved it and sometimes he hated it! He does say that he is going to play again this year. We shall see I guess!

Spring Break 2010-This has become one of my most favorite [parts of the year! A week at the beach in a nice condo with all my favorite people for pretty cheap since we all split it...yes, please! I can't wait to see what Spring Break 2011 holds this year!

Ryleigh's dance recital-Ryleigh had her first dance recital this past year. She did so good and we are so proud of her! I can't wait for this years recital. She is in 4 dances and I can't wait to see her in her hip hop routine!

ABC Kindergarten-Both of my babies were in school this year. Ryleigh started K4 and is doing so well. Tanner started K3 and bless his heart, he is getting the hang of it. We love ABC and are so thankful for the education they are receiving and the teachers who are there!

Disney-We took the plunge and went to Disney this year! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we went. I don't however feel the need to go again for a LONG time. We are Beach Bums at heart and Disney was just to much.

Evan-Bless his heart. He gave us the scare of a lifetime and I'm so glad he's ok. We love you Evan and we look forward to MANY, MANY more years with you! Please don't do anything crazy anymore! :)

Lindsey-She gave us 2 big moments of 2010. She got married and I was the maid of honor and Ryleigh and Tanner were the flower girl and ring bearer. (Notice I still haven't put up any pictures of the wedding. I promise I'm going to. She just recently got the CD from the photographer.) The 2nd BIG moment is that she is pregnant!!!!! I know I've just blogged about it recently so there is probably no need to tell you all HOW EXCITED WE ARE!!!!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas!! I'm going to do 2 separate post, Christmas Eve then Christmas day. One thing I regret already is I didn't take very many pictures. I missed out on getting pictures of so many people. I have got to get better at that.

First we went to Ryan's Granddads and had Christmas with them. The kids LOVE going over there because there are a lot of kids who are around their age.

Is this not the cutest little boy! I could literally eat his cheeks they are so cute!!!

We opened presents over there and ate. I love how we do it at 3 so I don't feel rushed and we get to sit back and enjoy it. We don't get to see his family nearly enough so it's always fun when we get to!

After that we went to Aunt Tena's to do Christmas with my side of the family.

Please look at how much taller than me he is! It's hard to get both of our heads in the picture because mine is at the bottom and his is at the top!

Ryleigh loves Evan!

I have a picture I wish I could find of us standing in this exact same spot with this same tree. It was Ryleigh's first Christmas and I was pregnant with Tanner. Man how time flies!

I LOVE this goofy, silly, crazy family that I have!

I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of the families...Like I said I have GOT to get better at that! Aunt Velvet is really good about taking pictures. She should be the blog photographer! What do you think Velvet? :)

Faith and Ryleigh...I couldn't get this to flip over. Aren't they both so cute! This time next year we will have another baby in the family...Ry and I are hoping for a girl!

Some of my absolute favorite people in the world!

Me and Paw Paw. I know he thinks I'm insane but thankfully he loves me anyway!

We played Dirty Santa and ate way to much food!

By the time we left there it was like 9:00 and we still had to go home and get everything together. We managed to keep the kids up the whole way home. I really didn't want them to fall asleep in the car. When we got home we fed the reindeer.

Good thing Gus likes Reindeer food!

Then we put out cookies for Santa.

Did you notice Tanner's "Christmas" pajamas? When we went to get Christmas pajamas he wouldn't get any with Santa or anything on them. He said those were sissy pajamas! So we compromised on red pirate ones. I love that kid!

They went right to sleep and Ryan and I got to work putting everything out. Ryan was EXHAUSTED! They had went scuba diving all Christmas Eve morning so he was wore out. He was a trooper though and helped me get everything out before we went to sleep.

(It looks like Tanner got more presents than Ryleigh. He didn't. They had an equal number his just look like more because the boxes are bigger. I just didn't want anyone to think I wasn't being fair!)

Congratulations!!!!!!

Warning: This post contains way to many exclamation points and capital letters. Its the only way I can show you guys HOW EXCITED I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am OVERJOYED to announce that Lindsey and Brandon are Expecting!!!!!!She is going to be a MOM and I'm going to be an AUNT!!!!!!

(Also Brandon is going to be a dad! Let's not forget about him! He played a big role in the whole thing! Ha ha!!)

So a little back story for everyone that I want to remember in years to come. The other day I was on Facebook and saw where Lindsey's friend Crystal had wrote on Lindsey's wall. She wrote "Can't wait until Christmas! ;)"

Ok, when you just read that did you notice the winky smiley face? Probably not but I did! I immediately called Lindsey like 5 times and texted her another 5. She wasn't responding to me and I was getting more excited by the minute. Why you may ask? Why would I get so worked up over a winky smiley face?? Well Crystal is pregnant and somehow I just KNEW that Lindsey was to and that is why Crystal wrote that. I just KNEW that she knew Lindsey was pregnant and Lindsey was waiting until Christmas to tell us.

When Lindsey wouldn't answer I immediately called Whitney and told her what I read and what I thought. She said..."Calm down Tiffany I think you are reading way to much into this winky smiley." I thought maybe you are right but who writes they are ready for Christmas on someones facebook wall for no reason and uses a WINKY SMILEY!!!! Not a regular one a WINKY SMILEY!!! Lindsey beeped in while I was talking to Whitney so I asked her if she was pregnant. She INSISTED that she wasn't and that she had no idea what Crystal meant by it and that actually she hadn't even noticed the winky smiley.

Well, fast forward to Christmas Eve. We were all there and Whitney and I go on to tell the story about the winky smiley and how I got so worked up over nothing. (that was Whitney's words, not mine. It wasn't nothing, it was a WINKY SMILEY!!) anyway, anyone who knows us knows how animated we are so we go on and on telling the story and everyone is talking about how dumb I am for reading so much into the stupid WINKY SMILEY.

Well fast forward to Christmas day. We are all at moms eating breakfast and Lindsey and her whole family came over to see us. Well Lindsey walked over to Nana and all of a sudden I hear Nana squeal and in 2 seconds flat I was over there. Guess What............(I know you already know but humor me...)

Lindsey is PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She has known since THANKSGIVING and has kept it a secret! Her friend Crystal did know because she saw Lindsey at the doctor. She wanted to wait and tell her parents Christmas morning and then told all of us.

Lindsey, I am SO SO SO SO SO SO EXCITED for you guys!!!!! You are going to be a wonderful mother!!! I also promise to be a WONDERFUL AUNT!!!!!!!!

I think I'm getting on Ryan's nerves it's all me and Ryleigh talk about anymore! We can't wait to keep it. I also can't wait until we find out what it is. She already has names picked out which I LOVE but I didn't ask her if I can share them so I'll wait on that! I'm also planning her a gender reveal party for when she finds out what it is. I can't wait!

CONGRATULATIONS Lindsey and Brandon!!! We couldn't possibly be happier for you!! (As you can tell from all the capital letter and my use of exclamation points!!!!!!)

Parties, Parties and more Parties!!

We are Partied out! We have had party after party after party to go to this past week. Thursday I took off work to join Tanner at his School Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and he was glad I was able to go. Pleas check out this picture below...This is him with his class. He is a GIANT! My friend Courtney said he looks like Buddy the Elf! :) I'm so so so glad he's going to be tall! Maybe he'll be tall and coordinated and make us millions in baseball or football!

He did not like the reindeer hat! They played games, ate and exchanged presents at their party. They also put on a little program of songs as well. Tanner doesn't care to much for singing so he just stood there most of the time.
This is his teacher Mrs. Parden who we LOVE!! She was Ryleigh's teacher last year and we requested her again this year. She is so sweet and understanding but yet doesn't let them get by with much. I think she has the perfect mix of it all which is what makes her a great teacher! (She also has twin boys who I think are around 7. This also makes her incredibly understanding with Tanner! ha ha!!)

Thursday night we had Christmas at my best friend Lindsay's house with her parents. It was a lot of fun. They cooked dinner and we exchanged presents with them. Unfortunately my phone was dead that night so I didn't get any pictures. They are so sweet though and we were so happy to be invited over!

Friday was Ryleigh's Christmas party at school. What happens when you send a dad to a school Christmas party?? You end up with NO pictures. So just imagine Ryleigh having a good time at her party!

Friday night we had our annual Happy Birthday Jesus Party at Nana's. We have been doing this for forever and it's always so much fun!

Evan and Tanner while Nana was reading the Christmas story. The 2 of them together spells

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

This picture of Ry and mom didn't turn out very good but I liked how bright their shirts were.

3 of the 4 great grandchildren....when are you going to be adding to this number Lindsey?? I'm ready to be a aunt!!

Nana and all 4 of the great grandkids. Faith is our little miracle baby and she is so cute!!

Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I heard this on the radio the other day...there was only 1 Christmas, the rest are just anniversaries. I kinda liked it!

Ok, so this lady I work with gave me this really cute jacket that I love. Well I wore it the other night and Paw Paw and Whitney were making fun of me! Paw Paw said I look like I'm about to fly away and Whitney said I look lie inspector gadget. Here is the jacket on Whitney. Of course it looks a lot better on me! :)

Sunday night we had a Tacky Christmas Party/Wedding Shower to go to. Aunt Lisa kept the kids for us while we went. It was a lot of fun. This was the first party like this we had ever been to so we didn't dress up to much. Next year I'll be much better prepared!

Here is Courtney and Ward. Or as Ryleigh and Tanner call the Co Co and Pooter Tooter! They are getting married in March and it was their wedding shower. They LOVE a good theme anything!

Our friends Leslie and Blake who are getting married in April. I thought they looked really cute!

Ryan and I. Ryan's tie was hilarious!! He looked so ridiculous in it! he wouldn't even get out at the gas station to go get a red bull. He made me do it!

Court and her mom. I LOVED her veil that her mom made for her to wear at the party. Courts dad also looked really cute. He had a hunting short that had deer all over it. Well he got little red balls and glued them to all the noses on the shirts. It was priceless!
Traveis and Mck. His shirt lit up which was funny and I loved the balls on her head!
Last night we went out to eat for Ryan's Birthday with a lot of our friends. It started out small but we ended up with 16 people! Thanks to everyone who came we had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone.

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and were dominating in their Trivia game. We left before it was over or we totally would have won!

3 of the cutest kids ever! After dinner we went to this new place called Chill by Krispy Kreme. If you haven't been there stop what you are doing right now and go. It was so fun! Traveis and I had been to one in Bham but you know Mobile is the last place to get anything. It's a frozen yogurt places where they have like 30 flavors you pick from and like 100 toppings to choose from. Then you go up and weigh it and pay by the ounce. It's reasonably priced unless you get the biggest one ever like Ryan...then it's $9! They just opened on Friday and we got to meet the owner. They took some pictures of the kids eating to use in their advertising and then took a group picture of all of us to use.

So I'm sure it goes without saying I am partied out! We have nothing planned between now and Christmas Eve so I'm just going to enjoy hanging out with my crew. I probably won't blog anymore until after Christmas so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday Dear Ryan,

Happy Birthday to you!
I know you were not happy about working on your birthday but I'm looking forward to celebrating with you and our friends tonight. Just think you are also off on Thursday AND Friday this week! I hope you have a great day! I love you!

Family

Thursday I had the the pleasure of taking Nana shopping to buy gifts for all of my aunts and my mom. It was spur of the moment but A LOT of fun! It was so funny watching Nana at the mall. She said "You took me to stores I didn't even know existed!" Nana and I both commented on how we don't think we've ever been off just the 2 of us. Well at least since I've been older. I'm sure she enjoyed spending quality time with her FAVORITE grandchild. Yes, I said it. I'm her favorite! :) We got on the subject of my Blog and how much she loves it. She said how proud of me she is then she said "You turned out so well, you surprised me!"

Can you believe it?? My Nana not thinking I would turn out good....me of all people! :) (Believe it or not I was quite a handful when I was younger. I know SHOCKER!! :) )

Honestly, she didn't mean it like that. She went on to explain how she loves that I care so much about our family. She also said that everyone of us has a special place in heart but mine is the biggest! (OK, maybe she didn't say exactly that but you know what I mean.)

It got me thinking. Why am I the way that I am when it comes to our family? I LOVE our family and I always try to make sure we do stuff together and include everyone. My mom and all of her sisters are really close and I try my best to make sure I stay close with all of my cousins.

Nana said she and mom think that it has to do with me losing my dad. I had never thought about it like that. They think that with me losing him that I see how short life can be and I want to make sure we spend time with the ones who are important to us. That may be it...I'm not sure.

I had always thought that it was just because I realized friends come and go but family stays forever. (That so sounds like it needs to be cross stitched on a pillow!) For real though. I had tons of friends in school and at that time they were more important to me than anything. I would drop a family get together in a heartbeat to hang out with them...are we friends still? Most of them no. We still talk occasionally and keep up through facebook but that's about it. I learned that it may sound cliche but it's true. In the end your family is going to be the one that stands by you.

So whatever the reason I am the way I am, I'm thankful to be this way. Our family is crazy, loud, hilarious and sometimes weird but I LOVE that about them and I love everyone in it!

And now that I said nice things about you all make sure you get me a good Christmas present! Ha Ha! :)

Friday's Letter

Dear Ryan, I would venture to say you are the best dad in the world. You care about our kids more than anything and take off for everything. I hope you and Ryleigh have a great time at her Christmas party. Dear Ryleigh you make me laugh. This morning you said to dad, "Are you wearing that to my Christmas party?" (buckle jeans and an affliction button up) He said "Yes, I am. Why what's wrong with it?" "I really want you to just wear your old work clothes." Ryan asked her why and she said "Because mostly mommas go to Christmas parties and when you wear your good clothes you look cute but when you wear your work clothes you don't. I don't want every ones mommas thinking you look cute!" I DIED laughing!!!! It was HILARIOUS!!!!! Dear Ryleigh, you are getting 2 letters today because I had to tell the above story. You did so good at visitors day at dance. You are coming along in Hip Hop I pray you don't take after me! Dear Melinda Leigh's Dance School, Thank you for having visitors night. It's so fun to go in and watch them. Sorry that we may have broken the 2 person rule by like 5 people! :) What can I say Ryleigh has a lot of people that love her! Dear Tanner, I had so much fun at your Christmas party yesterday. You are such a sweet sweet boy and I love you. You may also qualify as a giant. You are at least 4-5 inches taller than everyone in your class. Dear Nana, shopping with you yesterday deserves it's own post. But I will say please get a debit card. You will thank me later! Dear Stokley, I think you look good in work clothes or good clothes! Please don't pick up a new momma today at Ryleigh's Christmas party! :)

Christmas cards

Christmas cards are one of my FAVORITE things about Christmas!! I love sending out our cards and getting cards in the mail. It's a nice treat to check the mail and have more than just bills and junk mail! Last year I showed all of our past Christmas Cards.

Count Your Blessings Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly for unique, personalized Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

This year I LOVE our card!! Love it! I like them because for the first time they are actual cards made out of card stock. Christmas past we have just had the photo paper card where the whole thing looks like a picture. I really love the quality of these this year. Shutterfly had a lot of really cute ones I loved but in the end I let Ryan pick and I knew he would pick this one. He always says we are blessed. The only thing I would change is I wish it said Christmas instead of Holiday Season. I could care less about being politically correct. It isn't a "Holiday Season" it's CHRISTMAS, Jesus's birth!

Children of the World

We had a great weekend. We hosted children from the Children of the world choir. Due to privacy I can't post any pictures or names of them but I still wanted to write about them and our experience with them. You can check out their website at www.worldhelp.net.
We had 3 girls...yes 3. So that means we had 5 kids this weekend. I know, I can't believe it either.

First we had V for Uganda. She was the most outgoing and the loudest. It didn't take her long to warm up to us and she was ready to go. She lost her dad when she was very young and was sent to live in the orphanage. She is doing remarkably well now and she was so much fun to have. When we were coming down our dirt road she said "We have rodes like this in Uganda!"

S from Nepal was quieter than V but still outgoing. She was so cute. I would say that she was the moodiest of the 3. She reminded me a lot of me. If things weren't going her way she would pout. But it was still so sweet and cute. Saturday when we were getting ready for the Christmas parade I was putting Ryleigh's bow in and S's eyes got so big. She had never gotten to wear a bow. So I took her in Ryleigh's room and pulled out her bow drawer. S's eyes lit up! They don't ever ask for anything so she just stared. I asked her if she would like to wear one and she literally got so excited. She put 6 in her hair! Thankfully I was able to talk her into just wearing one...the biggest one!

AR is from the Philippines. I hate to say we had a favorite but we did and it was by far AR. She was so beautiful and so timid. My heart just broke for her. She was very quiet. I seriously LOVED her, we all did. Ryleigh just took to her. They held hands basically the whole time she was with us. She was really shy around Ryan at first but towards the end she really warmed up to him. It was just something about her...we all felt drawn to her. I would adopt her in a minute. Seriously, we even asked but unfortunately these kids aren't adoptable. They travel around to put a face to the terrible needs in their countries. The whole time during their performance on Sunday we couldn't help but watch AR. She was so quiet the whole weekend but when she got on stage her face just lit up. She was dancing and singing. The whole time she sang she had her eyes closed and her hands stretched towards heaven. After everything she has been through (we don't know their back stories we weren't allowed to ask) she still worships the creator.

Friday night we took them to Bellingrath Gardens and to eat at Ci Ci's pizza. They LOVED Ci Ci's. Loved it. Anyone who knows we knows that I am not an emotional person. I rarely cry or get attached to people. But Friday night they all sang that song Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am so glad you gave.

Yall, I was crying. It just broke my heart how sweet and innocent these kids are. It made me think of Ryleigh and Tanner's sheltered lives and my heart just broke for these kids. It's not fair that the leading cause of deaths in their countries is unclean water. UNCLEAN WATER!!! We go to the sink and turn the water on and let it run then entire time we are washing dishes or brushing our teeth. As Americans we use more water in a single flush of the toilet than they use all day long.

Walking away from the weekend I couldn't really tell you how I felt...did Ryleigh and Tanner see that there are kids in this world who aren't as well off as them...probably not. Did they make some new friends...yes. Did Ryan walk away changed...probably not. He has always had a heart for missions and children. Did I walk away changed...more than anything. Sandi and Freddy our children's pastors said how proud they were of me for doing this. Doing something that everyone who knows me knows I wouldn't normally do. I wouldn't be proud of me...I'm actually kinda ashamed I never did anything before. My eyes have been opened to the hurting world around us.

Thank you V, S, and AR for doing this. The 3 days I spent with you has changed my life forever.

Christmas Tour of Homes

Good Monday Morning! I have a lot of things I want to share from The Children of the World Choir we hosted this weekend but today I wanted to join in on the blogging Christmas Tour of Homes! The Nester and Kelly's Korner are both hosting this year.

I love decorating for Christmas! I usually start right around Thanksgiving. One of the new things we added this year that I LOVE is our Happy Birthday Jesus sign. I think it looks so good. It really helps us to keep what the season is all about into perspective.

Here is our main Christmas tree. I love the lime green and red. This was my first year to use the art mesh and it needs a little work. That stuff is hard to work with!

This is our kitchen table. The kids like to hand things they colored from the light fixture in there. If you look to the side you can see the gingerbread pops we made last night. Much easier than a gingerbread house!

The kids LOVE the Christmas trees we put in their rooms. Tanner's is a fishing tree and has fishing stuff hanging from it. I think it turned out really cute. Boy trees are much harder to do.

Here is a close up of some of his ornaments. He says after Christmas he is taking them all off and going fishing with them! (they are real lures).

This is Miss Priss's tree. I love, love, love her tree! I wish is were 9 feet tall and in my living room! It's so girly and cute!

Here is our Elf on the Shelf that hides everyday. Yesterday he hid by our Alabama plate in the glass cabinet. This has been one of the most fun Christmas traditions we started. We started it last year and it has been even more fun this year.

This is our Jesse Tree. This is also another tradition that I love. One thing Ryan and I both try to do is to keep the whole reason we have Christmas top of my mind. It's not about a over commercialized big guy in a red suit (who I can't stand!) It's about the birth of our savior. The Jesse tree is a devotional thing we do every night that has a story to read and leads up to the birth of Jesus. Each day there is a different ornament to add that represents the story for that day.

These last few pictures are out of order but my computer won't cooperate. Here is a close up of our stockings.

This is on the table below our TV. Ryan painted the nativity scene but I still want to get a play on for the kids. This one isn't breakable but it'll chip if they drop it.

Here is our mantle. I love our stockings. I spent way to much money on them a few years ago but I figured it's something we will have every year so why not!

I just noticed there is trash in our fireplace! That's where Tanner throws stuff away. He won't use the garbage can anymore!