Happy Memorial Day

You are probably SHOCKED...2 updates in 1 week....I know!!!! But not writing much just posting a pic of the start of a fun Memorial Day weekend! She is a HOT Mess!!!!

Long time, No Updates!

Hello All, I have proved to be a very poor blogger in these last few months. So much has passed since my last update. Our beautiful girls both had birthdays! Addison turned 4 and Ansley turned 2 (tear). They are growing up so fast and frankly it makes me sad. We had a big joint birthday bash with an Ariel & Nemo theme. Addison pretends she is a "real live mermaid" and Ansley LOVES Nemo & Dory. SO naturally a joint underwater party seemed perfect! Charlotte and I started a company called Cotton Candy Cottage. We sew and embroider children's gifts/clothing and bridal party gifts. We have a website www.cottoncandycottage.net and an etsy site https://www.etsy.com/shop/CottonCandyCottage. We were asked to sell items on Zulily in January and this has kept us VERY busy. I blame trying to actually work again on my lack of blog updates! :) We are so thankful to have this opportunity and it is proving to be somewhat successful so we are very pleased with our work so far. We went to Vero for Mother's Day and Grandaddy & Mimi surprised the girls with a new playset in their back yard! Addison wishes we could live there forever. They have a pool, pond, huge yard and now a swing set! It is a child's paradise!!! Addison just completed her 1st year of "school". She went Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-12. She did awesome and really enjoyed the interaction and crafts that school provided! We just got back from a quick trip to TN to visit Mama Jo & Daddy John. On the way up to TN we passed beautiful wild flower patches so we stopped to snap some pics and let the girls stretch their legs. The girls had a blast up there and the older they get the easier that 9 1/2 hour drive gets for mommy and daddy! So that is our quick, get you caught up with our past 4 months!!! Oh and Ansley has done GREAT with being potty trained! She only wears a pull up to bed at night (not at nap!!!) and she loves being a big girl (much to my dismay!). We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Gerard. The girls are thrilled to be big cousins!!!

Bye Bye Diapers

This is bittersweet for me! I think every mom longs for the day that they can shop the aisles of Target and NOT have to spend $40 on diapers and instead on some of their super stylish clothing! Well Ansley decided last week at the ripe old age of 21 months she is no longer wearing diapers and is going potty like a big girl on the potty. I figured it wouldn't last and I was not going to pressure her, she is not even 2 for heavens sake! But even outside of the house she asks to go potty..... Well she more or less announces that she has to pee pee and starts to drop her pants wherever she is standing. :) that led to some interesting looks at Panera a d Chucky Cheese this weekend. I am so proud of her though. Her biggest challenge is when she is playing outside she does not like stoping to go inside but if I remind her then she does great! So the bittersweetness comes when I realize my baby is not a baby anymore. She is no longer wearing diapers (except at night) and she speaks in complete sentences (3-4 words) and she yells (more or less demands) that I do not leave her room when I put her down for a nap or bedtime. She is growing up entirely too fast and that is because she idolizes her big sissy and does whatever she does. Their relationship is so loving and fun to watch. We truly are blessed! As for "big sissy".... My new favorite one liner came tonight before bath when I asked her repeatedly not to do something and she chose to ignore so I had to show her the consequences of choosing not to listen....( think stern border line loud voice) " I am THREE years old, do NOT challenge me mother!" Alrighty then.....how in the heck do I keep a straight face to that?!?! Part of me wanted to pop her, the other part of me laughed and laughed and hugged her for be so independent! If I only knew what God had in store for me in about 12 years......

Quick Update

Hi All, It seems to have taken me longer than years past to get back into the post holiday swing of things! We had an amazing Christmas having all of my family at our house. The girls were so much fun Christmas morning and needless to say, Santa was extra good to them! Quick update on our friend's baby girl, Brittany, who has cancer. She completed round 2 of chemo and her cancer marker which was originally over 200,000 was down to 1,800!!!!!! That is remarkable. The tumor shrunk 40% but the surgeons in TX who will perform the resection thought it would be an easier recovery if they did one more round of chemo to hopefully shrink it a bit more. Surgery is scheduled for January 28th (I think). Please pray for the entire family!!!! They will have to be in TX for a month and leave their older two daughters back in Tampa. Brooke & Brianna will fly to TX a few times to see Brittany, mom and dad but this still has to be incredibly hard on all of them. The recovery will be pretty hard on baby Brittany too since they will take a big chunk of her liver. All in all, I think they are happy to be going over the final hump of this disease and be on the road to recovery. All prayers are appreciated and her response to these drugs just show the power of prayer really works! Happy New year to everyone! Hopefully 2013 will be wonderful for everyone!

In Loving Memory...

Of Tootsie 7/1/00-12/24/12 No matter how much we emotionally and mentally prepared ourselves for this day it does not make it easy. We have known for the last year that today was coming I guess we just did not expect it to be Christmas Eve. Tootsie was born on my 17th birthday. She has been a huge part of our lives for over 12. We could not have asked for a sweeter dog. She survived a car hitting her, a fight with a bulldog, the loss of a toe and getting her face stuck on barbed wire. We believe she had a stroke yesterday that she could not recover from. She was a tough dog who loved us and our girls so much. We know that she is now enjoying God's endless pastures and ponds and nestling down into the coziest cloud she can find. We loved Tootsie, she was a part of our family. (even if her pooping all over my house drove me borderline insane! :) ) Have fun in doggie Heaven Toots and give Bella a kiss for us!

Classic

I love this picture! It is such a classic Santa picture. Addison has never feared Santa so this is our first Santa picture with tears. Ansley tried so hard to be brave and to hold back her tears and the result is priceless! We took all the grandkids to get a group picture for Guy & Reva and since Ansley was not directly touching Santa she was fine. Put her on Santa'a lap and....let the tears flow!

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. Hard to believe Christmas is only 3 days away. Sorry for the lack of updates...we have been busy with the hustle & bustle of the Christmas season! We are hosting Christmas dinner...our first...so I will let you know how that goes! Merry Merry!

Being Thankful

It is so easy to take things for granted. This Thanksgiving we have been reminded of that and have really taken a step back to look at everything in our lives we are so very grateful of. We have two beautiful daughters, we are surrounded by a loving family and great friends, we have a lovey home and Charles has a job he thoroughly enjoys. Monday, Charles received a call from his dear friend Danny who lives in Tampa. He informed Charles that his youngest daughter, Brittany was just diagnosed with stage 3 Hepatoblastoma (tumor in the liver). She is 15 months old and absolutely sweet as pie. This of course hit very close to home for Charles and I. We are so deeply saddened by this news and are praying with all of our being that Brittany fights with all she has to kick this cancer to the curb. Thinking of what they are going through and the long road ahead hurts my heart and brings tears to my eyes mutiple times a day. I am writing about this for two reasons. First, I am asking everyone I know to pray. Pray like crazy for this little bundle of love to fight! She can overcome this and she WILL. Second, is to make everyone stop and count your blessings. Brittany's mom, Vanessa, has started a "blog" that I am sharing so you remember to pray for them. http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brittanybergin The Bergin's were a huge part of our support system in Tampa when Addison was sick. They visited often and Addison played with Brooke and Brianna multiple times a week. We wish were still in close proximity to them so we could do more to help. We hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We of course ate too much and enjoyed the company!