Friday, November 29, 2013

Gulf Shores - Thanksgiving 2013


We are in Gulf Shores this year for Thanksgiving with Gerald's whole family! It's different from the usual dinner in Decatur, but has been SO much fun! I wish we could always do this! We're all staying a cool house Gerald's parents rented. It's right on the beach, and it's so beautiful here!!


Gerald enjoyed tossing the football on the beach with his nephew, Chase! He's so big now, and big into sports like his uncle.


    My cutie ;)


   Gerald with his mom and sister. They were preparing our yummy Thanksgiving dinner! Every bit of it was so good!! Definitely the best meal we've had all year! ;) 


   Love this picture of all the kids with their Great Grandparents, Mama Frankie & Grandaddy! We all loved getting to see them! The last time they saw Cole, he was just at a year old, so he'd changed a lot to them.


Abby and Cole are loving playing with their cousins Kayli, Chase, and Mary  Hyatt! Mary Hyatt is so cute, she follows Abby around and wants to do everything that she does. Just like Abby does to older cousin Kayli. Haha it's so sweet!! I wish they could all play more, but when they do get together it's like they were never apart! :) 


The weather has been pretty chilly up until today, Friday. It was absolutely beautiful today!! I think this picture is awesome!


Abby loves getting to hang out with Kayli! She's really grown up, and starts driving this spring! They have a great time together though, and I love this picture of them!!


    Me and Abby! She's getting to be such a big girl, and too pretty!! :)  






    Gerald's sister took all of these and I just had to share them all because I loved them so much!! 


   Needless to say we've had a great Thanksgiving holiday with everyone! The beach house couldn't have been a more perfect idea. Today we even braved the outlets for Black Friday deals, and it took us almost an hour it seemed to even get into the mall area haha!! Tomorrow is the Iron Bowl and we're so excited to watch it with our family (minus The Adams which have left to visit Ben's family at another beach house) for once! Lots of great memories have been made this week! :)

WAR EAGLE!!


Friends, Cake, & Choo Choo's! :)

Well, I forgot to mention in my last post that we finally moved into our new apartment right before Halloween. We love Daphne!! Now that Abby has met new friends in school we've been going to all their birthday parties here lately! The past party was at the prettiest park in historic, downtown Daphne. We had no clue about this park, and I'm so glad we discovered it! Cole tagged along and LOVED swinging on the baby swings!! He would just laugh and laugh, to the point where he could barely breath! 

 Aren't her friends so cute?! ;) 

The huge, ancient, water oaks make a canopy across the entire playground! 





There was a free carnival going on across the street from the party. So after the cake and presents, we all went for more fun, and the kids loved it!
Cole loved riding the choo choo train, and getting to sit in the firetruck! That was a BIG hit!!! 

 He's usually shy around strangers, but he went right to the fireman who showed him around. They even let Cole drive the steering wheel, and wear the helmet! :) 


We're so happy here, and getting out meeting new people makes it so much better!!




Halloween 2013

I know I'm very late on posting, but what's new!? Seriously doubt anyone reads this anyways haha!

Here are pictures from Halloween, I will just let them do most of the talking.



Cole was Batman, and Abby was Minnie Mouse!! :) He did such a good job and just walked right up to all of the houses to grab his candy! Abby did a lot better this year too! She's really starting to break out of her shell some more.






Okay so this next picture requires some explaining. A house in Lake Forest (behind our apartments) goes ALL OUT every year! I mean that is an under statement and there is no words to describe how amazingly awesome they're house was!!! You just had to be there to experience it yourself! It didn't feel like we were at a house or in a neighborhood at ALL! They had a carnival like atmosphere complete with tents, a fortune teller, and booths full of scary people. They literally transformed their backyard into a legit and amazing haunted house and all!!!  It was for sure the best Halloween we've ever had!!




Yes she is real! ;)



 Even though Daddy had to miss out due to class. It was the best Halloween ever!! Loved seeing the kids have so much fun!






Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Changes

A lot of things have changed in our lives since I was last on here. Some good, some bad, but it's progress. One huge blessing: Gerald ended up getting the position in the advanced aluminum welding class at AIDT (Austal's training center). It's a twelve week night course, and he started on September 9th. He also works at Chris Meyers (a car dealership) during the day, and then goes to Mobile for class from 5-10:30 at night. So needless to say, it's been a huge adjustment not having him home as much. Not to mention he's one tired Daddy ha ha!! It may not seem like much to everyone, but this is huge for our little family!


So on to my sweet kids.. 

Abby is loving kindergarten!! She went on her first field trip earlier this month to the skating rink in Daphne! They go once a month which I think is awesome because she loved it! She said she fell down a lot, but had fun. Haha! She's also becoming such a smart little girl! Her teacher says she's the sweetest one in the class and one of her all time favorite students. We are so proud of Abby and her kind heart! :) 


Eating lunch with Abby at Fairhope Elementary School. 

Her first project was a "Family Tree".. We had lots of fun working on this together!

A few art projects, I love her drawings!

The school mascot is the Pirates. So naturally on National Pirate Day, they celebrate big! Her class went on a "Pirate Ship" and even had a Treasure Hunt!! I thought these shirts they made were adorable!

Okay on to that other sweet child of mine. Cole bear will be TWENTY months in a few days! Yeah it's mind boggling, and by the time I blinked my baby is almost two years old!! Really when they say not to blink, do NOT blink! After seeing how fast Abby has grown, it makes it even harder to watch his "baby-ness" quickly slip away forever..... and ever. Boo hoo, being a mommy is tough business! :(

Anyway enough with the hormones! Over the month his vocabulary has really flourished. I can't even remember every little thing, but some stuff he has learned are: "Coco" -Cole, "Bab-bee" - Abby, he says "bye bye" and waves a lot more often now and at the appropriate time, he says "buh" when the school bus is coming down the street, he LOVES to ride his car and play with all of his little scooter toys outside (he used to not be able to push them). Oh and let me tell you I hung the moon the other day when I let him sit in my lap to move our vehicle to the backyard for a wash! Ha ha he was head bangin' to the music like never before (which I have to add -he ALWAYS does in the car & it's hilarious)! He is a goofball!!  He also copies us SO well now, and follows demands/request much better than last month! It's really crazy how fast they change. The last few days I just stare at him, and he reminds me SO much of Abby at his age. The faces he makes, his goofy looks he always gives - ALL Abby!! I know once he hit two it's going to be blur of how quickly he transform into a little person, and I wish I could just bottle him up right now. Abby too!! Oh don't even get me started on that subject...I can't even!


I'll try to post soon when we get into our new home! Oh and War Eagle :)


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

First Day of School

Abby's first day she woke up and did great at getting ready! We drove to the school and decided to park across the street/down a little ways, and walk with a lot of other families. Abby and Daddy were laughing and she was just really excited. She didn't seem very nervous like I'd expected. We walked her into the school and down the hall to her classroom, but we were stopped mid ways by another teacher. Apparently they don't want parents walking their kids to class?! (First day guys come on! They're brave for doing that to emotional mamas is all I'll say haha! ;)) The lady said "Tell your Mommy and Daddy bye!" Abby hugged our necks and walked off with the lady, that was that! So as we walked back to the car we were both like "That wasn't what we expected?" She gave us little time to react or get emotional though so I guess that was good, she distracted the big picture I guess. I saw lots of mamas with the same reaction on the Kindergarten hall that morning haha!


 Anyways, after school we waited or Abby in the "walkers" section. Walkers are the last kids to be let out of school, her bell rang at 3:00. They let kids go ONE at a time, making each parents sign them out. It's an incredibly LONG process, but I guess we're thankful that it's so secure. The car lines are the same way. All the kids sit indian style in the halls (with a ton of teachers supervising each pick up station around the school), and when your car gets to the front of the line they go and get your child (two cars at a time). Imagine how long this takes?! Yes it's crazy, but like I said very safe so that's good. Because of this and our work schedules we've decided to let Abby ride the bus with her best-friend/neighbor (Isabella) in the mornings. Then in the afternoon she will go to Extended Day until 5:30 or 6:00.


After school yesterday Abby gave us an ear load! Haha we loved it though! I wanted to know everything, and she sure gave me everything plus some. She told me about lunch and snack. How she was a ballerina in music class, and said she "was shy at all". She kept doing this goofy dance in Wal-mart that was sooo funny! Then she told us how PE was boring, because they kept saying "what she's nooot supposed to do, and what she issss supposed to do!" (Imagine her saying this, but with a annoyed little diva voice haha.) I had to explain how this week was about rules, and then comes the fun/learning. Of course, she already knew this. ;)

Abby's teacher's name is Mrs. Tynes, she's a sweet older lady, and so many people (including a mom standing in the walkers line yesterday) have bragged about how good she was with her child. Seems like we got lucky this year! She's already assigned Abby projects, one being a "Me" bag. She colored the outside of her Me bag/white paper bag, and put three favorite things from home inside. She will stand up in front of the class and "show and tell" about them! Then, yesterday Mrs. Tynes read her class a book about some mouse and a cat that hides? (Haha that's all I got from Abs.) They are going to do a scavenger hunt around school Friday, finding the "clues", paw prints, leading to the cat. This is to familiarize them with the school layout. Like I said it's a huge school so should be interesting. Her last project due next week is a family banner. We're looking forward to making this, and got all the supplies yesterday! Fun fun!

Today was her second day, but first day to ride the bus to school. Getting her up this morning was tougher than the first day because she is exhausted from this huge change. The bus leaves at 6:40 so we get up at 6:00 am. Actually it's a big adjustment for us both hahaha (mamas not an early morning person!) Daddy slept through it today because he had work a little later this morning. While waiting for the bus to arrive we walked down to ours neighbors so the kids could exchange stories. They are so cute! Then the bus pulled onto our street and the girls were so excited! Abby got on with Isabella without a blink! Such a big girl!! Mama is very tired, and I'm sure we'll have a very sleepy girl this afternoon. Can't wait for her to get off that bus, and tell me all about her day!!


 That's all for now!

Prayer request: I have an interview tomorrow for a daycare, Gerald has an interview at Austal Thursday morning (very huge for us if this comes through.) even though he already has a job this is what he's been trying for. Then I have another interview that afternoon for a dental office. Also very huge for me and the fam! God has really made this a BIG week for us, but we're so thankful and excited about our life. We may have not always been the best of parents, at all, but we sure are trying and working hard to get everything back together!

Have a great week!
xoxo,
Tiffany 


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Last Week of Summer

So this is the last week of summer. It is also the last week that our baby girl, Abby, will be at home with us! She starts KINDERGARTEN on Monday!! I can't believe how fast time has passed by. It seems like we were just staring at her all night long, so in love, in the hospital just yesterday. We've been soaking up every last bit of freedom we can get this week, and it sure has been a fun one! Please keep Abby in your prayers as she starts this new big journey in life. I will be posting lots more pictures, and stories on her Meet the Teacher/first day of school! :)









We LOVE playing at the bay, and I love these pictures!! Sure will miss living within walking distance when we move next month.


xoxo,
Tiffany