Tuesday Morning

    As many of you know, our house got robbed on Tuesday morning.  I had taken the girls to the doctor for a re-check on AKs ear infection and it was just one of "those" mornings.  Our appointment was at 9:15 and it was all we could do to get out the door in one piece.  If you have a toddler, and especially two kids, you know what I am talking about!  Well, we left about 9:05, heading to the doctor.  I got very frustrated at the doctor's office because we were seeing another doctor and it was taking a lot longer than normal and my patience was kind of running thin.  Anna Riley was bouncing off the walls and Ava Kate was sleepy.  We finally got out of the doctor and headed home around 10:15.  I was on the phone my friend, Mandy, because we were supposed to meet at the park a little later but it was drizzling so we were trying to come up with plan B.  I pulled onto my road and notice that the door was opened.  I thought at first I might have just not pulled it to all the way since we were in such a rush that morning.  As I got a little closer, I saw that the carport door had been kicked completely off its hinges.  I didn't want to get any closer, so I got off the phone with Mandy and called Riley and then 911.  Luckily my neighbor pulled up, so I sat in his driveway until the police came. 
    When the police came, they did a walk through to make sure no one was still in and then we came inside to see what was missing.  They took most of our electronics.  We have a big tv mounted in the den that I guess they couldn't get unhooked in time so it was spared but the big tv in the playroom and the one in our bedroom was taken along with my camera and lens, video camera (with videos of AR when she was little), the Ipad, laptop (with all our pictures), a small pocket camera, one of the car dvd players and two rings that were Riley's mother's.  They had gotten out our printer to take and my tray of jewelry but the cops think they either got tipped that I was on my way home or got scared but they dropped them in an odd place.  They also just went through especially our bedroom and just threw clothes out of drawers and gotten our huge mattresses out and flipped up on the walls and knocked pictures down looking for cash I am assuming.  We also have a big painting of our wedding picture in the hall and it was thrown down (possibly looking for a safe?!) but luckily not hurt.  I also have "memory boxes" in our closet that I keep special cards and one has things about Mrs. Cindy in it and they had knocked them in the floor.  
        We are thinking it happened somewhere around 9:45 or so.  My next door neighbor left for work at 9:30 and no one was here at that time.  So they had came in and did all that in between 9:45-10:15 or before.  I say "they" because I am assuming to get all they did in that time, it had to be at least two or three.  The cops also said it was a huge possibility that they had watched me that morning and maybe had someone follow me to the doctor or watch for my car to come back. I do not always go somewhere on Tuesday mornings so this would not be a morning they chose because they knew I wouldn't be there and I didn't write anything on Facebook about being away from home.
     I am very thankful that we just lost some "things" and no one was hurt and we weren't here! I have had a little harder time sleeping, but it is getting better each night.  I think the biggest thing was just thinking that the girls and I might have been watched that morning.  It is just a creepy feeling and not only that but anyone that has had their house broken into knows the violation feeling you get.  Just the thought of them being in our home and seeing all of our pictures hanging of our family.  I think God was watching out for us by keeping us at that appointment a little longer than normal.  I honestly don't think these people were out to deal with people, they just wanted our stuff but they sure were bold to do it at 9 in the morning!  Our neighborhood is so busy during the day and by that I mean either everyone is a stay at home mom, a part-time job or retired or they have a job where they come and go often.  Not many people in my neighborhood have "9-5" jobs so it was very bold to do that!  And not to mention, I live across the street from a cop! 
        I pray this never happens again, but I we have learned a few lessons!  We now have a great security system!  I honestly didn't know if I could sleep good again until we had one.  I will also back-up all of our files, pictures, videos, etc!  I was good about uploading pictures fairly fast and then I would email them to Riley so he has a good many of them, thank goodness!  Videos are another story...we have videos from the point of when I got an iphone because I emailed those to Riley.  I never could figure out how to upload the videos to the computer so I didnt.  We will also Password protect everything...we have already started with our phones!

Weekend Getaway

      We had a "kid-free" weekend getaway with the Tidmore's to kickoff Courtney's 30th birthday celebration!  We had so much fun!  We stayed at Courtney's Aunt's adorable house in Perdido Key.  We went to dinner at Cobalt and the Flora Bama on Friday night...I could people watch there all night!   On Saturday, we went to lunch and laid out for a while and relaxed and then it was time to get ready for the Eric Church concert at the Wharf.  I had never been to a concert at the Wharf and I have to say I am so proud of our amphitheatre! Ours is so much nicer and more organized and you can only smoke in designated areas!! 

       The whole trip, I thought about how blessed we were to have such great friends in our lives!  Riley and Cameron have been best friends since they were in diapers and then college roomates  and now that they both have wives and kids, we are all even closer!  It is so wonderful to have life-long friends like that!! 

Courtney and I at Gulf Shores Steamer

                                               

Getting ready for Eric Church at
the Wharf

     Mom came Friday to keep the girls for us.  Dad came to stay Saturday after he got off work.  Anna Riley was so excited for Kat to be there and PawPaw to be coming that she didn't cry at all when we left.  I called to check-in several times.  I knew Anna Riley would be okay because she stays the weekend with Mom and Dad all the time but I knew AKs schedule was a little more "neccessary"  so I did check on that a few times to see how she was doing.  Also, I realized as I was getting ready to go that she has gotten attached to me recently and I didn't even notice.  When Mom got her from me, she started whimpering...I could have cried!  But, by the time I left, she was fine! 
      When PawPaw came Saturday, Anna Riley was on Cloud 9!  When I came home, Mom said they were napping together. (One of Dad's favorite's...we have pictures of He and I napping when I was little! haha).  She cared nothing about seeing me...she was just upset that PawPaw had to leave her! It was a whole 30min or longer process for him to leave.  She even hopped in the passenger side of the car and told him to shut the door and leave!  haha!  There was no..."Hi, Mommy! I sure did miss you this weeeknd!!" I think she was like "why are you back so soon?!"  :)   I am thankful that they have a close relationship!  I love that she is close to all of her grandparents and that she makes special memories with each of them! 



Napping with PawPaw
(PawPaw said I could not put the
picture of him sleeping on the blog...
I will let you figure out why! haha! :)





Miscellany Monday

Just FYI...this random post will probably be a little length with quite a few pictures from my phone and camera from the weekend. 

VISITORS:

Friday, my college friend Gabe, was in town for a wedding his wife was in.  He had some time to kill while Amy Beth was at the luncheon so he wanted to come meet the girls and visit.  I didn't get any pictures though.  Anna Riley had so much fun with him and wouldn't leave him alone!  They played the whole time he was here!   The minute he left, she passed out! 

 Riley and I also got to meet up with Gabe and Amy Beth after the wedding on Saturday.  It was so good to catch up with them!  The last time I had seen them, I was pregnant with AR, now I have two kids! :)

MISS KATIE:

I think everyone should have one good babysitter, other than grandparents, that they love and trust.  Of course, the grandparents always get first dibs on keeping the kids, but I don't want them to feel as they are just the "babysitters."  In other words, I don't want to ever use them for that! But, our parents love keeping them so I know they never feel that way but there are times that they can't and we do need someone to watch the girls.  We love Katie and she does such a great job with our girls!!! Anna Riley loves her too and talks about her all the time.  She usually sends me a text or picture to let me know how things are going.  This was from Saturday night. 

WEEKEND and WORK:
Riley has been working a lot the past month or two.  This is his busy season I guess you could say.  They have applications that are due next week so it is tons of paper work.  Therefore, he has been having to work a lot more on the weekends.  We will be glad to have him back next week and I know he will be glad to be back!  He worked most of the day Saturday just coming home for lunch so I could go meet 3 other girls for lunch to start planning our 10 year reunion.  He also had to go in Sunday after church for a while.  We went to PopPops for our regular Sunday night pizza night. 



Playing after naps on Friday before the storm...
beautiful weather though!



My nephew, Duncan

Watching the Basketball game with Daddy

 GROWING:

This little girl is just growing so fast!  I mean look at the pictures!!  She woke up from her nap and I just threw something on her since I knew she wasn't going to keep in on long before having to take a bath and change to go to his Dad's house.  The jacket is 24 month and apparently that size in winter clothes doesn't fit anymore! And as you can see in the second picture, I noticed the other day, her 2T jeans and pants are starting to look short!  Thank goodness most of what she wears has a huge ruffle on it and spring is around the corner because I can not deal with short pants! I know Riley is tall but seriously, I am not used to this...I have never had to deal with pants being too short...its always the other way around for me!!





SISTERS

I just love that these two are starting to really interact with each other.  Ava Kate has always watched every move her big sis made but she thinks she is so funny now.  And Anna Riley really shows her more attention too.  She likes to run in her room first thing and talk to her.  She also likes to give her high five and she thinks that AK is giving her one because she is constantly slapping her hands down! :)  When she was sick and AK would cough, she would come up to her and say "aww you ok, A.Kate, you ok, sissy??"  I can't wait for them to really be able to play together! I already know I will use the word share more than I want to imagine though! :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Trying to catch up...here are several pictures from February that I haven't posted. Its funny to look at these pictures and notice the crazy weather changes!! haha

These two look so much alike!

Daddy has big shoes to fill!

Fun times with Chocolate pudding

Ava Kate in the tub

Movie Star

My little lovebugs on Valentines Day

She is such a sweetheart!

Reading my Devotional in
Sissy's Bumbo

She was saying  "no Cheese!"
Thats what she says when she
doesn't want her picture taken!

Enjoying the weather with a morning walk

Enjoying the warm February weather?!

She is all into the "accessories" now

Such a  great Big Sister!!

My little angel! :)

Anna Riley and Addie Gail, our neighbor whom
she thinks hung the moon!! :)

Doctor visit and lunch with Uncle Wes

    I took both girls back to Dr. Roberts today for Anna Riley's re-check on her ear and for her check Ava Kate since she has a horrible cough and just not feeling well.  Anna Riley was so excited to be at the doctor!  Have you ever known a child to love going to the doctor?!  Well, my child does!!  I don't know if it is because she adores Dr. Roberts or if she is just amazed by what she does but she LOVES being at the doctor's office!  She cracks me up because the minute Dr. Roberts walks in the room she starts wanting her to listen to her heart and then she started screaming "ears" because she wanted her to look in her ears! And the whole time you can just see the look of excitement.  She went on to listen to Ava Kate and Anna Riley got so upset because she wanted her to keep listening to her!  Crazy, I know! Most kids hate the doctor looking at them! We decided that she might be a doctor in the making!! haha.
    
    Anyways...turns out Anna Riley's ears are better BUT now Ava Kate has an ear infection! Great!  But the good news is her cold is just cold and hopefully it will be gone soon.  We got antibodies for the ear infection.  She seems to be feeling somewhat better. But, she has so much drainage that she is getting choked a lot.  Her appetite is not that great either.  I am hoping she gets better soon.  I hate to see my girls sick! 


   We came home from the doctor and let AK take a short nap and then we met Uncle Wesley for lunch at El Kmart (not sure what the real name is but thats what we always call it...Mexican restaurant by Kmart!)



I forgot to mention in the last post that we
 started sweet potatoes and water in
 sippy cup last week...big fans of both :)



Lately

I have been slacking with the blog posts lately but we have had a house full of sickness this month.  I said I was going to name February the month of sickness because that is what it has been this year.  Since the beginning of the month to the end, someone in our family has been sick the entire month!  So here is a little run down of a few things that has been going on.

SICK:
Since I mentioned being sick, I will expand on that.  Anna Riley had a bad cold around her birthday and when we went for her 2 year she had an ear infection.  Then Ava Kate got the cold AR had and so did I.  We got over it.  Now Riley has pretty much the crud and feels horrible (so bad that he took a long lunch and took a nap which if you know Riley this is out of the norm for him because he never naps!) and AK has a really bad cold and cough.  I am taking both kids back to the Dr. tomorrow...AR for a recheck on her ears and AK for her bad cough.  SO...with that being said.  I am one tired mama.   When Ava Kate has a bad cold and can't breathe, she is just so pitiful.  I slept on the sofa bed in the playroom with her two nights and neither of us got much sleep at all.  She is sleeping better now but she still doesn't feel well.  :(

LENT:
The Lenten Season is here and I thought really hard this year about what I would give up.  I decided on Reality Tv.  I watch a lot of reality tv...pretty much all I watch is reality tv!  What made this even harder is one of my favorite shows, Bethenny Ever After, had just started the new season.  Riley was very excited about my choice to give this up and he is just hoping that I decide I don't want to watch them anymore after Easter either! He hates reality tv!!  Rather than watching these shows, I am reading the book that our church and Sunday school is doing as a book study during Lent...40 days of Fruitful Living.

WEEKEND:
We had plans to go to Bessemer to eat at the Bright Star for Mimi's birthday on Saturday for lunch.  But since Ava Kate wasn't feeling well and she and I had not gotten any sleep, we stayed home and Riley and Anna Riley went to eat with everyone.  Riley said Anna Riley was wonderful at the restaurant and everyone kept saying she was so well behaved for a 2 year old!?  haha really?!?! my child?  She is a great child, but let's face it she is 2 years old and that just doesn't happen often!  Maybe her Daddy needs to take her more often!  When they were finished, Riley met my Mom so she could go to Berry to spend the night with them.  She was beyond excited to go to "Paw Paw and Kat's".  She got to ride her new Barbie Jeep finally! 
Riley and I didn't go to church on Sunday since Ava Kate still didn't feel well and we didn't want her in the nursery but we did want to get out of the house so we went to the jazz brunch at FIVE and it was so good!!  Riley had the Wings and Waffles and I had the Cheeseburger and egg!  Ava Kate was wonderful while we ate, I think she enjoyed being out of the house and listening to the jazz music.  Mom and Dad brought Anna Riley back that afternoon and Pop Pop came by for a visit.  Needless to say, we had a very tired little girl who slept very well last night!

SITTING:
Ava Kate has been "practicing" sitting for a couple of weeks now.  She is getting stronger everyday.  She wants to sit up so badly and I am ready for her to!  I love when they can sit and play, it makes things easier!  She can actually sit by herself for a little while before loosing her balance.

BOOK:

I am in the process of getting our blog from last year printed.  Can't believe it is already time to print another one!!

BEACH:

Riley and I are going to the beach KID FREE the weekend of March 10.  We are going with our friends Courtney and Cameron to celebrate Courtney's 30th birthday.  I am so excited!!  We will be going to the Eric Church concert at the Wharf on Saturday.  Mom is coming to stay with the girls that weekend and Dad will be here for most of it too so I know they will be in great hands!  My parents do so great with the girls and they love spending time with them.  I will miss them but its great to get away and rejuvenate...I think it makes you a better parent!! 

Weekend in Fairhope

Weekend before last, we went to Fairhope and the Tidmore's came with us.  We went for the Mardi Gras parades that weekend.  On Friday, after we went to eat breakfast, the kids played outside.  Unfortunately, the rain came that night and so we didn't go to the parade. We did get out and go to eat though.  Saturday, we took the kids to Kangarooz, a jumpy place in Spanish Fort.  Anna Riley really enjoyed it this time and was getting in and out of all of them...no fear this time! We cooked a shrimp boil at the house that night and then headed to the parade.  We have had such a mild winter, but this night it was so cold!  I had Ava Kate bundled up and in the stroller with both canopies over her but she wanted me to hold her. So,  I watched the parade while holding AK while she slept with a blanket over her! I had a major arm workout!!  Anna Riley had so much fun catching the beads and stuffed animals at the parade that I don't think she even thought about being cold! 

 My camera died on Friday and I forgot my charger!  I will post more pictures when I get them from Courtney. 

Playing on the jumpy at the house

Talon, Tucker and AR