Christmas recovery

We had an adventure of a Christmas break this year. Not quite the tour of Arkansas we did last year, but plenty dramatic none the less. After a quick stop over in Monticello where we had a great time catching up with the Taylors, Montgomerys, Leonards and more...we headed to my parents to spend the week. Unfortunately on Christmas Eve, the drama began...Taylor got sick first, spending all night long hanging with the stomach virus. In the days that followed, we all got to join in the fun. Needless to say, there wasn't a great deal of celebrating going on. After Taylor got back to normal (kinda) she and Gran got on their matching aprons and made something from her new Paula Deen cookbook she got from aunt brandi.

We are finally all well on our way to recovery and ready for the New Year! I hope you all had a great Christmas yourselves!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Taylor is five!!!!

She woke up to pancakes and presents....

Then off to school for her Christmas party with friends.

Her day ended with a date with Daddy. He even wore his 'prince outfit.' Anabelle quit calling them by Taylor and Daddy and they became "Lady" and "Gentleman." It was so cute. They went to the Cheesecake Factory and got cheesecake. They even wrote "Happy Birthday Taylor' in chocolate on her plate. No pictures of that, but I'm sure it was adorable just seeing them together in the restaurant.

I asked Anabelle what she wanted to do while Taylor and Daddy went on a date.. "Pwobwe (probably) go a Tawget. We haven't goed a Tawget in a wong time." So I was happy to oblige.

Other recent two year old-isms...

'Mommy, it was a ASK-A-DENT, and askadents aren't for spankings." The only problem is that she doesn't quite understand that painting her toenails in her bed with Taylor's new 'make-up' while she's supposed to be going to sleep doesn't quite constitute an 'askadent.'

She's also talking in the third person a lot, but not the way you would expect. "Mommy, my baby's mommy is hungry" or "My baby's mommy needs to go potty."

PJ's and Teddy Bears

Anabelle and I had a big morning this morning. After dropping Taylor off at school we went to a PJ party with a few of our (her and my) friends. The girls wore PJ's and made teddy bear biscuits. They were adorable. We moms had a pretty great time too. There's nothing like house full of girls.

Sydney, Ellison, Kendall and Anabelle waiting for the teddys to be 'cooked.'

Gingerbread House, Eggnog and Christmas music

We had a very festive evening tonight decorating our gingerbread house, listening to Christmas music and drinking eggnog. Shannon spent thirty minutes convincing Taylor to try eggnog..YUCK! Of course Anabelle took no convincing at all. I hate the fact that it is even sitting in my refrigerator! GAG

Anabelle's most famous quote..."it was a ask-a-dent"

Christmas Card Attempts

Catching up.

After a few not so subtle reminders, I'm attempting to catch up A LITTLE on the blog. We have been beyond busy. The first few pictures here were taken this past weekend in Texas. We met the Rushing side of the family at a lodge to celebrate Christmas. The girls had such a great time playing with cousins. Below is T and her cousin Lexi who is only one month younger than she is.

Above is Papa Dopa Dee, Granny Ilene and Christian, Victoria, Lexi and the girls.

Of course you can guess this is Shannon with Nicky and Jason. Isn't it freaky?

Thanksgiving week: Papaw, Gran, Uncle Jared and Aunt Brandi came to our house to celebrate. Not to worry, I didn't cook the Turkey or the Dressing. Gran was all over that! We had such a great time. Below, Anabelle is obsessed with Uncle Jared's facial hair. She kept asking him if he brought his shaving stuff. :)

I'll post some funny Christmas Card picture attempts later.

Do you see what I hear?

That's all, no cute pictures. I just had to share the words Anabelle is singing through the house. I think that means it is almost Christmas time!

BIG NEWS PART 2!

First and most importantly, we are looking forward to girl number 3!!! We really are very excited. I'm just refusing to even imagine my house full of three teenage girls at the same time. Shannon on the other hand is a little nervous about three weddings. The girls are ecstatic. Anabelle has been telling us it was a girl for a while. I would say, "but what if it's a boy" and her response was either, "how 'bout a girl?" or "I named it a girl." Taylor did mention that maybe it would be a boy next time. YIKES!!!!!!

Our second piece of good news is that Shannon is employed! He has taken a job with Regions here in B'ham (even in the same building). Right now it looks great. He will be working less and have all the same benefits, etc as before. The fact that his commute won't change is an answer to prayers. He has begun training and I'll keep you updated on how he likes it. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. You have no idea what they have meant to us.

GOD IS GOOD!!!!

Birthday Party Saturday

This has become a bit of a regular Saturday activity...This week was Savannah's dress up party. Both girls got to go and dress up and put on make up and fingernail polish. Taylor was sooo excited to find out that she got to bring her make up home with her.

I am so glad I was able to talk Shannon into going with me. I couldn't paint both girls fingernails at the same time so he had to join in. Notice the blue eyeshadow on Anabelle's cheeks.

Mr Turkey

Mr Turkey

Mr Turkey

Big and Fat

Big and Fat

I am going to eat you

I am going to eat you

Just like that

Just like that

We went to Taylor's Thanksgiving Feast today and got to hear a few songs, but that one was my favorite.

The election in the eyes of a two year old.

I was trying to explain voting, the election, etc to the girls this morning and Anabelle and I had the following conversation.

Me:...And we all get to choose who we want to be the president..

A: I want to pick my own one.

Me: Ok, which one do you want to pick for your president? Barack Obama or John McCain?

A: I want the pink pwesent, because that is my favowite.

I didn't have the heart to explain we were talking about presidents, not presents. Oh well.

On Saturday we went to Braydon's third birthday party. What a blast. They got a bouncy thing. (I'm sure they have names, I just don't know what they are) All the kids (including shannon) had so much fun.

Poor Braydon has some unexplicable fear of the Happy Birthday song. Even when you sing it to someone else. Did that stop everyone from singing to him? NO! This is his meltdown during the song. Bless his heart, we all tried sooo hard not to laugh.

Shannon spent the first half of the party reaching into the bouncy thing, playing with the kids. He wanted to get in sooo badly. When the crowd thinned out, we gave him the go ahead to get in. That was UNTIL a small two year old little boy came out crying b/c "That big man is scaring me. He's saying RAAAAAAHHHHH" Poor kid.

Trick or Treat

We had a great time tonight at the Polks. They have a great neighborhood for trick or treating and boy did we have a crew. This is the group that remained after trick or treating. I don't know what was more funny, watching the huge group of kids converge on each house, or the line of parents taking pictures.

Scary huh?

Cowgirls

We spent some time at the park this weekend. Rob was in town coaching a cross country meet, and the meet was at a great park here in town. The girls played on the play ground until after dark waiting to see "Mr Rob." They were soo anxious to see him. I didn't get a good picture of them together, so you'll just have to imagine how much fun they had with him.

Sat morning we went to Ryan's bday party at a local stable. It was great! Taylor had a wonderful time riding Mr Stoney several times. Anabelle decided that she was too little to ride the horse, but she will when she's four.I just have to show the awesome cake that Tamara (Ryan's mom) made for the party. Don't mind the small fork mark out of the front. The birthday boy just couldn't wait.

After the party, we went next door to the petting zoo and fed the animals. Besides the goats trying to eat Anabelle's new cowboy hat, the girls really enjoyed it.

Escapee

"Girls, I'm going to jump in the shower, I'll be back in two minutes." Apparently, Anabelle saw this as her chance to escape! Little did she know I'd be walking back in the room in just thirty seconds. Not that I do that often, but it looks like those days are over.

Open House at school was last night. We got to see Taylor's class do their morning routine complete with the pledge, Monday Tuesday Wednesday song, etc. WE LOVE MRS ELIZABETH!! It was great! Anabelle even got to show us her class and introduce Taylor to Miss Kimbuhlee. Anabelle adores her!

It is not unusual for us to be playing outside when Shannon comes home from work and this was one of those days. Anabelle was in charge of "Ready Set Go" while Taylor and Shannon raced. I can't imagine where she gets her competitive spirit. He doesn't even let her win every time!?!?! SHE'S FOUR!!

Big News at the Rushing household

The good news first. Many of you probably already know, but Taylor and Anabelle are going to get a little brother or sister soon! I know that ultra sound pictures are only cool for parents, but indulge me. This is little man/woman at 14 weeks. He or she will arrive somewhere around April 11th!



Now, the not so fun news. Shannon found out Thursday morning that Regions is doing away with his entire department. There are a LOT of people who will soon be out of work, him included. We are completely trusting God to work in this. If you know Shannon, you know he tends to be better at that part than I am. :) Together, we can't wait to see what comes next. Please keep us in your prayers.

"Go Cheerleaders!"

This was Anabelle's cheer during the game yesterday. I guess the players could have used a cheer or two also. She also has been calling the hogs..."Whoooo Razowback sooie!" ...almost

Quick Trip

We made a quick trip to Arkansas this weekend to pick up some furniture for the girls rooms and got to do a little visiting. Friday night we went to the Glen Rose vs Arkansas Baptist football game and it was fun. It has been a long time since I've been to a highschool fooball game, but they are just the way I remember them. The girls got to meet the mascot for Glen Rose and they thought that was cool.

Then on Saturday the Montgomery's came up from Monticello to visit and watch the game. (how sad) This was the first time we had seen Mason in a long time and he has turned into such the little man. The girls and Averi picked up where they left off last time and played and played and played.