Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My how time flies! I just turned a year older, Neale's birthday is in a few days, and it is almost Christmas! The girls are growing way too fast for me. I can't believe they will be 3 in January. They are getting so big and the things that come out of their mouths just amaze me. They are so funny and they just seem so grown up. It is amazing the things a two year old knows and can pick up on. AND...they are just so stinkin' cute! I could just sit and watch and listen to them all day long. I LOVE, LOVE my babies!

Kaylie is wide open. She is skinny as could be and it is because she can't sit still. She is full of energy. She still hasn't hit the 30 lb mark and she is almost 3. She talks and talks and wants to go, go , go. The only way to get her to calm down is to put a princess show on tv and then you can talk to her and she won't hear a word you say. She has become such a girlie girl. She insists on wearing "pretty dresses" every day. She has to have a pony tail and a headband or a crown. She wants chap stick or "lips" as she calls it. She is such a sweet child. If she accidentally runs into you or does something she immediately says "Well I am so sorry" and gives you a hug. She loves to snuggle and give hugs. Tonight she told me, "I love you, beautiful." She loves to dress up, read books, sing, dance, and watch cartoons.

Taylor is mellow and laid back most of the time. She does like for things to go her way and does get upset if you don't let her do everything by herself. She wants to open the doors, flush the toliet, let out the dogs, clean the house, etc. Many times she has gotten the mop out of the closet and dipped it in the dog's water bowl and mopped the kitchen. She loves to read and her favorite thing to read is Professional Photographer Magazine. She doesn't really care about dresses BUT she wears my shoes daily. I find them all over the house. She has become really attached to her blanket and it has to have the yellow side up. She also loves to cuddle and is as sweet as can be. She loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

The girls are excited about Christmas! We went to see Santa. Kaylie had the biggest smile and most excited look on her face when we got up to Santa. You could see the magic of Christmas in her eyes. Then..... Taylor started screaming so Kaylie started screaming. Neale and I had to hop into the Christmas photo or there was no way they were going to sit there with him. We prepped for it by telling them how nice Santa was and that they needed to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. They were so excited but they just got scared. Then after the whole screaming incident we walked off and Kaylie told me that we couldn't leave because she forgot to tell Santa what she wanted. She asked me to go back and tell him for her. So I went back and told him that she wanted an elephant. He said okay and we started to go. Poor Kaylie started balling her eyes out. She thought she was going to get the elephant right then. Oops. Kaylie wants an elephant for Christmas and Taylor wants a hippo. Taylor did want a tiger but I managed to steer her away from that. And...they wanted the real thing. I explained to them that real animals bite so they quickly changed their minds and decided stuffed animals would do just fine. We wrote letters to Santa. The girls helped me hold the pen and write a letter to him and they told me what to say. The girls had a Christmas show at school. The teacher said during practice that Taylor sang louder than anyone else but during the actual performance everyone kind of froze and just smiled but it was still precious.

Now that busy season is coming to an end, I hope to post much more often. The girls have said and done so many cute things but since I haven't written them down I have forgotten them all so I plan to post more often.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Photos Soon

Time is flying by and we have been so busy but hopefully I will have time to post more often soon. (After I get all my Christmas orders out!)

Since I am the room mom I put together a Halloween party for the girls' classroom. The kids painted pumkpins, we read Halloween stories, and they had a Halloween themed lunch with cupcakes. The kids had a great time. Halloween was freezing here! Kaylie was Cinderella and Taylor was Ariel. Kaylie is just like me and she is always cold. She is always telling me, "I don't want to be cold mommy." She ended up wearing a sweater under her costume. Taylor was so into trick or treating that she could have cared less how cold it was. She would go to every door and come back and say "More candy." She was on a mission. Of course Kaylie still doesn't like sweets so she was into getting the candy but not eating it.

I have two little divas. Every day when Kaylie gets home the first thing she does is put on a costume, a tiara, and dress shoes. Then she says,"I am so beautiful now." She will tell me to take her picture. Every time I turn around she has on another costume. It always has a crown or a headband, etc. with it. This morning we went out to breakfast and Kaylie wore a tiara. The waitress asked us if it was her birthday. Every morning Kaylie has to pick out her own outfit. She usually shows up to school in a dress or skirt with sunglasses and a headband or tiara. She makes quite the fashion statement. Taylor is just into shoes and she likes to have her fingernails painted.

Kaylie is still all over the place and hyper and Taylor is still laid back. They are opposite in just about every way. Taylor is very concerned about her sister. She will get a juice box and say, "I need to get one for my sister." They were watching "Sleeping Booty" (Beauty) and it scared them. Taylor said "That witch is not going to get my sister."

The girls went to a birthday party on a pirate boat in the Inlet and had a big time. They got their faces painted and got to squirt the pirate on another boat with water cannons. They got treasure (rings and coins) which Taylor was thrilled about. She left a ring in the bathroom and had a meltdown because " I lost my treasure".

The other night I got home from work and Taylor came and sat on my lap and started talking.....and kept talking for 30 minutes nonstop. Taylor is usually quiet so it was unusual. I mean she didn't take a breath. She was telling me about her day, her teachers, a movie she watched at school where they cut off the princesses' hair, etc. Finally Kaylie held her finger up to her mouth and said ,"Shh! Taylor be quiet. Shh!"

When Kaylie is being bad I give her until the count of 3 to do what I have asked. Now when she knows I am getting frustrated she looks at me very seriously and says,"Don't count."

Today during nap the girls were being loud, doing backflips off their beds, and both jumping in Taylor's bed. I could see and hear them on the monitor. I yelled upstairs for them to be quiet and go to bed. Taylor told Kaylie,"Be quiet so mommy can watch her football game."

Neale and I went on our annual trip to Key West with all of our "Parrothead" friends. Jimmy Buffett showed up and played. We had a great time and I had computer issues so I actually hardly worked for 5 days straight (now I am suffering for that and way behind but it was nice)! His mom and Dale were kind enough to stay with the girls which we appreciate! I know the girls had a great time with them and they ended up with new books, clothes, shoes, etc. that are a huge hit.

A couple weeks ago my parents were in town and my dad tried to get the girls to say "Go Tigers". Kaylie said,"No granddad. It is 'Go Gamecocks'. You need to go to timeout."

I will post photos soon.

"You are both mommies"

Taylor (in Halloween colors not to be confused with Clemson)

Taylor picking berries to make pretend pie and picking flowers

Turn your head for one minute and the walls or Taylor get colored!

Partying like a rockstar! Kaylie loves to dress up and of course she has to pick out her own clothes. Part of this is her Halloween costume.

Kaylie puts on a crown or a hairbow and says "Now I am so beautiful" .

Kaylie is full of energy. She is quite the talker these days. She is non-stop constantly going whether it is dressing up, singing, talking, running, or squealing with excitement. The other day I picked the girls up from daycare and Kaylie said,"Mommy, I love you and you love me. You are both mommies. You are my mommy and you are Taylor's mommy."

Kaylie always tells me there is an alligator on the ceiling in the corner of her room. She asks me if he is going to get her.

I was tucking the girls into bed and Kaylie said (just like she was ordering from a menu),"I want a hug and a kiss and a 'I love you' and a 'Have sweet dreams'."

Kaylie told me,"Mama you are a good girl. I am so proud of you. You will always be my baby."

Taylor's favorite song is "Jesus Loves Me". Kaylie sings it and then tells me as she nods her head,"Jesus is SO STRONG mama. He is SO STRONG."

Kaylie is into dressing up. She has to pick everything out herself and if you pick something out for her she will absolutely not wear it. Taylor is into shoes. She could spend all day putting on my shoes. She gets them out of my closet and wears them all over the house.

Neale talks in his sleep and so do both girls. Last night I went into the girls room to check on them and Taylor was said,"I want to put on the other pair of shoes." She is so obsessed with shoes that she is even dreaming about them!

Both girls are potty trained except they wear Pull-ups to bed at night. After Kaylie went to the bathroom Taylor told her,"YAY! I am so proud of you!"

The girls are as opposite as could be. We took the girls to Octoberfest last weekend. They got their faces painted and jumped in the bouncy castles. Taylor held her head down the whole time the lady tried to paint he face. Kaylie had her head held back and thought she was a princess! Even a stranger at the festival said that just by watching them there she could tell that Kaylie was wide open and Taylor is laid back. They are opposites but they are both the sweetest, most loving little girls. I am so blessed!

The Things We Say & Do

Kaylie in my shirt

Taylor had a runny nose and I was taking some photos of the girls. I told Kaylie to give Taylor a kiss. She emphatically replied, "No, I'm not gonna kiss Taylor cause she has boogies."

On two occasions Kaylie has woken up really early in the morning when it is still dark. I can hear her on the monitor. She cries and screams, "Taylor!" repeatedly. Finally Taylor wakes up and groggily says "Right here" and then silence and they both go back to sleep. I guess she just wants to make sure her sissy is still there.

Kaylie is in to putting on dresses and headbands. As soon as she puts them all on she looks at me and says, "Now I so beautiful mama."

Taylor took it upon herself to go into the pantry and get the mop. She dipped it in the dog's water bowl and started cleaning!

At first when the girls were born I thought Taylor looked like me. Now everyone says Taylor looks just like Neale and Kaylie looks just like me. I haven't really been able to see a big resemblance in either of us until this week. Kaylie got a haircut and she was sitting on my lap and I was looking at her profile and it was just like looking at a picture of myself when I was little.

We took the girls to build a bear workshop and they got to make their own stuffed animals. Taylor was into it and Kaylie pitched a fit at first and then she got into it too. Taylor made "Doggy" and Kaylie made "Bunny". They got to give their animals a bath which was a hit especially with Taylor.

Halloween is around the corner. Now Taylor tells me she is going to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Kaylie tells me she is going to be Minnie Mouse. We will see if they change their minds. I have been explaining to them how Halloween works and how they have to go to the people's doors and say "Trick or Treat" to get candy. Kaylie told me she doesn't want to do that. She just wants to dress up and get candy.

I am so blessed to have these little angels in my life!

Appendicitis

After just having appendicitis and having my appendix removed I have to tell you that I am very grateful to have the family and friends that I do. I am grateful for having a friend and a husband who insisted I go to the hospital, for my parents who dropped what they were doing and drove down to help, for friends in the photography business that stepped in and picked up the work that I could not do, and for my sweet babies who keep wanting to "kiss your boo-boo". I am feeling much better now! I am way behind on posting so I plan to post a bunch soon.

Kaylie and Taylor are doing great in their new classroom. I am going to be the Room Mom. My mom always volunteered when I was young and I want to do the same for my girls. I may put the girls in a gymnastics class. We are on the waiting list so we will see. Neale and I want them to be around more kids. I guess they interact with other kids at school but not much out of school so we are trying to change that.

Kaylie is all about dressing up, playing with my hair, wearing as many bows, headbands (on sideways), and crowns. She loves to watch tv. We never used to let her watch much and ever since The Little Mermaid she is hooked. Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, Agent Oso and Barney are her favorites. She is a sweet little girl and she tells me,"I'm your sugarbear."

Taylor is cuddly. She sits on my lap and chats and asks a million questions when I do let Kaylie watch tv. She asks about where the sun went and is the sun going to come back up and when, etc. She is very inquisitive. The other day she told me in her baby voice, "I am wearing big girl panties. I am not a baby anymore. But I am YOUR baby." She definitely is and will always be that!

Growing Up

Taylor in Edisto


Kaylie in Edisto

Taylor

Taylor and Mama

Kaylie and Mama

Us in Edisto

Kaylie posing for photos

Taylor posing for photos...she dressed herself. She has her shirt inside out and backwards and my shoes

Taylor on the Big Girl Potty

Building Turtles in the sand with Daddy at Grandpa's condo

Kaylie

Visiting with Grandma Fran and Grandpa Dale

I can't believe how much the girls have changed this year. Taylor is so talkative. She asks non-stop questions. Lately she is very well behaved and loves to hug and snuggle. She is very concerned about her sister. She will get stuff for her and the other night when they were in bed I heard her say, "Are you okay Kaylie?" She does great with going on the potty. I need to get her into a gymnastics class because she is constantly tumbling. Last night she was doing backflips off her chair.

Kaylie does great when she is rested and she has major meltdowns if she doesn't get a nap. She is definitely more of a handful right now than Taylor. I bought her The Little Mermaid for the car ride to Edisto and she is obsessed with Ariel now. She has always had the Ariel doll but was never really interested in it but now Ariel has new meaning and she is all about her. She sleeps with the Ariel doll, wears Ariel pajamas, and asks to watch The Little Mermaid at least 5 times a day. Kaylie is giggly and sweet as can be when she has had sleep. She likes to pose for photos.

When I tell the girls to do something they have started saying "No, you don't tell me." I explained to them that I DO tell them because I am the boss. Neale told them to do something and they said "No, you don't tell me." Neale told them he does and he is the boss and they said "No, mommy is the boss." Haha...we are working on their listening and obeying right now.

Taylor recently told me "Kaylie is a mine-o-saur" (which means she says all the toys are "mine"). She also said "Kaylie is a crybaby."

There are so many funny things the girls have said. I should have written them down but if I can remember them I will write about them later..but for now I gotta go back to work.

Vacation in Edisto

We just got back from Edisto Beach. I haven't posted in a long time because I am swamped with work. Gettting out of town was not easy but it sure was nice. We went down with my mom , dad, Jeff (brother) and Kelley(sis-in-law). It was great to spend time with all of them and of course with Neale and the girls. I treasure my time with my girls. They are just changing so much that I want to just be with them every minute. I can't even begin to tell you how sweet they are and how funny the things are that come out of their mouths. They constantly entertain and surprise me. I have no idea where the week went. We spent part of the days at the pool but it was HOT so you had to stay in the water the whole time which the girls enjoyed. The got floaties and noodles so they could float by themselves (in arms reach of course because those floaties aren't too floaty). Taylor liked going up and down the stairs and going to the "kitty kat" (kiddie) pool. Kaylie liked riding on my back. They both swam to us wth their floaties on. Neale and I took the golf cart too far and got stuck and had to get towed back by a car and an extension cord. I have a lot more to write but I have work to do so for now I am just posting a couple photos but more to come...

We are 2 and 1/2

The girls turned 2 and 1/2 on Saturday! I don't know where time is going but I do know it is going by too quickly! A quick update on what has been going on...photos to follow hopefully this weekend....if I can get caught up on my work!

The 4th of July was fun. We went to Coach and Candy's house. The girls got to do sparklers and watch the fireworks. They weren't scared of them which surprised me. Taylor is usually scared of everything. She is now scared of the dark. I got a nightlight for her room but she still says it is dark. I was terrified of the dark when I was little. I remember not wanting to spend the night at my friend's house because it was dark because she kept her bedroom door shut.

The girls can sing the alphabet and count to ten. They can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "The Wheels on the Bus", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "You Are My Sunshine", etc. They love to sing. They love to dance. They know "M" is for "Mom", "A" is for "Apple", and a bunch of letters and a word that begins with that letter. They can identify about 10 of the letters, They know their colors. This morning Kaylie told me she wanted a yellow hair bow. She has been asking for yellow a lot lately so I asked her if that is her favorite color and she said yes. I asked Taylor what her favorite color is and she said "Orange". That made me cringe because of the Clemson Tigers and then what she said next made it even worse. She said "and purple". Oh no, I will have to work on that!

Kaylie got dressed yesterday and then said matter of factly,"I pretty, mama." Taylor but on a dress this morning and said in her baby voice "Nana likes this dress. It is beautiful." Nana and Granddad just came to visit while Neale was in Virginia taking classes for his Masters in Special Education. They were a huge help and the girls loved seeing them. They enjoyed putting Granddad in time out.

The girls often pretend to go shopping and to go to work. When you ask them what they are shopping for it is always "shoes". When you ask them what they do at work they always say "I take pictures of babies." They even pretend to type on their toy laptop. Kaylie sat with me the other day when I was editing photos. She caught on pretty quickly. She would say "His eyes are closed" and point to a person on the screen because she knew I would delete that photo.

On occasion when I tell the girls to do something they will say "No". My response was, "Don't tell me 'no'." So now when I tell them "No." They say "No, you don't tell me 'No'." They say it like I am doing something wrong. Oops. I forget them mimick me ....often. Taylor will say "Mama, Kaylie told me No." and then she will tell Kaylie, "You no tell me no". Taylor likes to tell on Kaylie when she does something she isn't supposed to. Taylor is very talkative and very inquisitive. She is constantly asking questions. "Mom, what's that, mom?"

Kaylie is a happy girl. She gets excited easily and when she is excited she runs around and squeals. She always tells me, "I'm a good girl mama." She likes to take pictures with her camera and likes for me to take pictures of her. She will let me take one or two and then say "I'm all done mama." She loves to play with my hair and give me "piggy tails". She is very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily. When she gets upset the only thing that will calm her down is for you to hug her or for her to hug a stuffed animal. Minnie Mouse is her favorite right now. She tries hard to be good and listen and to make me proud.

Taylor is sweet, independent, and stubborn. She wants to do what she wants to do and she will pitch a fit if you don't let her. She has to have things a certain way. She has to turn on the lights, flush the toilet, shut the door, feed the dogs, etc. She has to do EVERYTHING by herself. She is very inquisitive and talks a lot. She loves to tumble and do front flips out of her bed. She has the silliest face when I take photos of her. I will post some soon. She smiles as big as she can and closes her eyes.

At night when they girls go to bed we usually read some books. The other night I was reading this book about construction on a street called "Easy Street". The girls had every word memorized and sang it with me and danced and jumped up and down on their beds. I wish I had it on video. After I give them multiple hugs and kisses and flip their blankets to the "other side" Taylor always says "Have good dreams Mom."

Gee-boo!

The girls have started taking swimming lessons. Neale and I both go because so we can each hold one of them in the water. They seem to really enjoy it. They have learned to blow bubbles, go underwater, float on their backs, kick on the kickboard, and jump off the side into the pool. Since we go to the beach on the weekends I want to make sure the girls learn to swim as soon as possible. We also got the girls a new plastic little pool so they can play in the water in the backyard. We would really like to move to a new neighborhood with a pool but until the market turns around a little bit we are staying put.

We have started separating the girls at nap time. One will sleep in their bedroom and the other one will sleep on a cot in the hall. Usually whoever is in the hall will nap and whoever is in the bedroom will play the whole time. The girls are doing great going potty. The good thing about the pull ups is that the girls can go to the bathroom by themselves. The bad thing is that they can take them off by themselves. The other day Taylor was sleeping in the hall and I guess she woke up with a dirty diaper. Next thing I know a dirty diaper comes flying over the stair railing down to the bottom of the steps. Nice....

The girls came home from school with some artwork. It had sparkles on it which ended up everywhere. The girls told me they had "farkles" on their faces. Kaylie says "Gee-Boo" for "Thank You". Taylor laughs and tells me "Kaylie said Gee-Boo."