So far behind...

I haven't updated in so long i'm afraid of how long a post I should write to bring you up to speed. My mother has turned verbally abusive towards my blog because I haven't updated anything. i'm afraid if I don't put something on here she may actually come after me with an axe.

Anne's out of town, in NYC for the weekend with her Mom. I've got the girls all to myself and we're having a BLAST. I was bummed because we were going to take the boat to dinner tonight but the battery was dead...typical I'm told, but the first time in 5 years of owning it that we've encountered that. We went to the newly updated skis hores and had a great time. Mom, Cole, Cross, Cannon and Mary joined us.

Don't worry about me, i'm not only surviving but I'm thriving. We had a non-stop day with errands to turn lights on at a listing, 2 runs to the bank, Chick-fil-a for lunch and 30 minutes on their play ground. A jaunt to the mall for a little cookie and a tempting outing to the Apple store for an upgraded computer (i'm out of space due to all my pictures and time for a new one!). Hoem for 2 hour naps then back at it again for dinner. Girls were in bed by 8:30 and 9:00 which isn't too bad for me...a little late but we had to do ice cream and spend about 20 minutes playing in the bubble bath...which is an excused absence as far as i'm concerned.

Funny side note...at the mall today Tatum said to me: "Daddy, I want to look at clothes." I told her we didn't have time and she stuttered and said "no, Daddy, no don't worry. I don't want to buy anything. I just want to look." WTF!? She's 3. This is so unfair. I dont' know where this comes from or who puts this in her head but I will absolutely go broke with these girls. I'll never be able to say no.

A few fun pics of the evening....

Poo Happens

It’s 2am. About an hour ago we were in the kitchen and Anne’s olfactory kicked in and said “one of the girls pooped”…then started the debate about whether to clean it now or in the morning. I used the “would you want to lay in that all night long?” line. It’s a tough fight. Under Annie Law, you don’t wake the kids ever, for any reason. I tend to be a little more sympathetic…granted however Annie’s method has worked like a dream and I’m thinking about patenting it and writing a book. Anyway…we agreed that it should be changed…then we actually debated over who would do it…we both wanted to. I played the pregnancy card and encouraged her to get her rest and I’d handle the man job.

Now…if you haven’t been in our house, the kitchen is a LONG way from the kid’s rooms. If you can smell something in the kitchen….there’s a problem. And if Anne can smell it, there’s a problem. Her nose typically doesn’t work that well and I’m the one with the blood-hound sense that can tell when something array.

I walked in Tatum’s room and was hit by the heavy fog of stink that hung in the air. I literally fought my way to her crib and there it was. A pit of poo. It looked like someone used her crib for a mud wrestling match. It was everywhere. On her hands, on her clothes, caked to her body, embedded in her blankets.

I know what you’re thinking…”we’ve all been there.” Well….I’ve seen some interesting diapers and I’ve wiped off many a particle from many a place. But this takes the cake. I didn’t even know where to begin.

I grabbed a plastic bin that was nearby and just started throwing things in it. I started with her pants, her blankets and her dolls. Then came the diaper. You can imagine where it went when I unfastened the Velcro. Next I resorted to my hands and using them as a human back-hoe to shovel it from the crib to the crate. I was finally at a point where I needed more hands because I couldn’t shovel, manage Tatum and keep from slinging stuff all over the walls. This is where Annie came in. I’m not one to call for help, but this was a job than needed some extra hands. Maybe more than help, I wanted a witness because this was a site you wouldn’t believe.

Between Anne saying "we have a problem" and me actually changing the diaper was about 30/45 mins. Annie was dead asleep but more than willing to help. She missed the magnitude of just how exciting it was but it was still bad enough. I can just imagine with her heightened senses how much un-fun this process was. We resorted to putting Tatum in the bath tub and raking if off of her in there. It took everything short of a steel brush but we got it off.

A job well done and a marriage partnership better defined. I think the smell will be with me for a week and the memory…a lifetime. I just hope I don’t make messes like that when I’m 90 for others to endure.

The good news is I don’t think she’ll poop for a week. She had to have got it all out of her system.

Night night.

Happy New Year

So again, I'm over a month behind. I'll bring you up to speed quickly. Thanksgiving we went to Emory to my mom's family's house. It was great. It was our first real family car trip...4 hour drive. Tatum threw up 2x on the way but we managed and actually had a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from the big day...

Annie playing Bingo w/ the family...

Tatum and Cross rollin' in the leaves

Our friends, David and Shelly, are expecting their 2nd...actually, they've already had baby Weston now...but at the end of her pregnancy they moved in to a new house and I decided to take their 3 year old, Reese, off their hands so they could get some work done. Reese and Tatum are big buds so we brought PTerry's over to the house and had a princess party. It was a blast. The girls got dressed up, helped me fix my hair and drove the "tacktor" around the backyard. I loved watching the 2 of them together and am excited for another play-date.

Giving Daddy an up-do. Have you ever had one of these things JAMMED in your skull? That HURT.

2 little princesses.

A glimpse of what's to come in about 13 years??

A fairy's fit...

We made cookies and put the first ornament on the Christmas tree.... Anne put four ornaments on but was there for moral support. Another big "thanks" to our mothers for helping with the lights and ornaments again this year. I don't know where we'd be without you. Yes I do...I'd be doing it myself...THANK YOU AGAIN!

All kinds of cute Christmas outfits for the girls. This is getting to be expensive and Christmas isn't even here yet. I don't remember needing 8 outfits for the Christmas season. Welcome to girls, right? i know...just wait. i'm scared.

Cole and Tara's daughter, Cannan, had her big 1st Birthday. She's as cute as a mouse and is the sweetest little thing. She's working on her walking and it won't be long...

We had a great "Dads and Daughters" night out to the Zilker Christmas Tree. A big thanks to my brother-in-law J. for coming up with the idea. We had dinner at Chewy's, walked to the trail, spun under the tree until we remembered why that's not as much fun as it sounds and then walked thr trail of lights. The trail got a lot of flack this year for how much they cut back. I actually thought it was a lot better as it was more manageable, neater landscape rather than just a flat pasture and they had fun performances for the kids to watch at the stage. Anyway...it was a really fun night.

Pippy and Annie took the girls to the Children's Museum to do their annual Gingerbread houses. I went along to capture the moment. It was so cute to see them work. Our houses were the best BY FAR...

Christmas came and we had a blast. I was more excited than the kids...I did my best to get them all riled up...we talked about Santa for 2 weeks straight. We wrote a letter to him, we baked cookies and milk and left them out for him. We politely asked him to not let the reindeer poop on the roof as that would be messy but encouraged them to drink from the pool if they needed some water. Tatum became increasingly concerned about them pooping on the roof...I probably shouldn't have pointed out that possibility to her.

Christmas night I couldn't sleep. I used to not sleep because I was so excited to open my presents. This time, I was so excited to see the girls reaction. We came down at 9:00 and turned the corner, video camera in hand...and...wait for it...wait for it...nothing. no reaction. She picked up some vest she got the day before that was at the bottom of the stairs and pranced around with it for about 2 minutes before we could get it away from her and focused on what was under the tree. It was a total let down. I was expecting screaming, giggles, hugs and laughs...I got nada. NEXT YEAR...it's going to be off the charts. We're going to start the Santa education/reminder process a LOT sooner and I'm not accepting anything short of a FREAK OUT when they walk down stairs. The girls hit the jackpot... Santa brought them a tricycle for Tins, a bouncy tricycle thingy for Tatum. Grandpa' Papa Clause brought a convertible red mustang which was awesome. Grandma' Nettie Clause brought the hands down favorite...the vanity mirror...complete with every type of make-up a girl could ever want. All afternoon Tatum and her cousin, Natalie, played in front of that thing. Tatum did her eyebrows with fingernail polish...an awesome combination I'd never thought of before. She put on more blush than any hooker I've ever seen (not that I've seen a lot...). Her outfits were piled on top of each other including princess crowns, gloves, glasses, parasol, high heels....you name it. It was awesome. Even Tinsley picked up on it and went over and grabbed a lip stick and started checking herself out in the mirror. it was priceless. Then came the worst moment of my life...Tatum put on a wedding dress and veil and did her make up sitting on the stool. I did get some priceless pictures of that moment that will come in handy down the road. But let's hope it's a LONG way down the road...like when she's 45 or something and maybe I'm dead. I don't know how Dad's can give away their daughters. I understand now why my father-in-law thinks I'm an asshole. Nobody is good enough for your girls. Lump. Swallow. Breath deep.... I'm back now. All in all Christmas was a lot of fun. We bought 8x more crap than we needed. I will remind myself of that next year but you all know it won't stop me from doing it again. Speaking of...do you watch the show Hoarders? Wow... I think if our house weren't so big we'd be candidates for that show. Luckily we can just string it from one end to the other and it doesn't look so bad. One day that's going to catch up with us too.

I love the lips

Check out the hat and scarf for the top down in winter time.

Tinsley on "the hopper"

Uncle J. with out little Monkey, Tinsley

Look at the concentration...

No. No. No.

Some of the best moment's life has to offer...

Tinsley wanted to play dress up too

New Years Eve was a different twist this year. With the economy being as fun as it has been and my income taking the plunge that it did, we decided to hold off form tossing $10k at a party to remind ourselves we have friends. We had a quiet night at home...I cooked beef wellington (first time ever and it was awesome if I do say so myself), we watched Hang Over and we ran to a friend's new bar literally for 30 mins to hear the stroke of midnight and came home to be asleep by 1:00am. it was the most sober, laid back and easy NYE we've ever had. I missed our party and we hope to bring it back next year and make up for lost time...we'll have to double up on the fireworks or something.

The polar pool plunge was a blast. The pool was something in the mid 40's...damn cold. We had a small group jump in to prove their manhood. I did a fun video invite...here's the link to it if you want to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjWeHi2-3pE

Well...happy new year to all of you. As I've been saying...we survived '09 and hope to thrive in 2010. 2009 was a testing year for us in so many ways. We learned a lot both personally and financially and learned what's really important to us. So we're going to spend less time together and more time working. KIDDING. Relax. We learned that we enjoy time at home more than traveling, time in our backyard more than time at bars. Time with our kids is more fun than time with friends (no offense intended...we still love you all). When things come back around we're going to be more careful, more appreciative and be more prepared. But even if it all goes away...I've got my wonderful bride and 2 beautiful girls....that's what's important.

Happy New Year. A few pics we had done before the holidays...