Rory’s first official Easter Egg Hunt was on Friday. She had a blast! She was so fast finding eggs and I caught her stiff arming some people to get to them before anyone else could! Ha!

I absolutely love this picture- I managed to capture her “oh my goodness there is CANDY in the eggs!” face. Ryder is making her “get me the heck out of this stroller” face.

Ryder had fun, too, just being her usual happy, cute self.

The only pictures I managed to get of our family over Easter weekend…

Ryder is captured perfectly in both- making crazy faces. The kid is a comedian already, y’all.

Saturday we did stuff around the house and ran errands. I had a Thirty-One party Saturday night and it was so much fun!

Sunday we woke to see what the Easter Bunny brought the kids! Ryder got woken up before 7am and wasn’t too thrilled about the whole thing at first.

Then Rory completely melted down pretty much the entire morning so I didn’t get any good pictures. Oh well!

At the last minute before we headed to church I decided to throw the girls in the rocker and see if I could get a picture. It rained all day so I knew I wouldn’t be getting any outside pictures so that was my last ditch attempt.

My Easter girls, they are so precious and fun!

Let me tell you something. There is NOTHING like being the mother of all girls. They are sweet and sassy, bright and dramatic, energetic and loveable. I always pictured myself as a “all boy” mom because I was a tom boy of sorts growing up. But as you can tell by Rory’s legs, they are just as rough and tumble as little boys but have cuter clothes! Now I can’t picture myself having anything other than girls. I love all the clothes and bows and shoes and purses. I love how they can still get dirty and have fun but also love to dress up. I love that they aren’t wimpy but still need me to snuggle them and kiss their bruises. And I LOVE the look in their eye when Daddy tells them they are beautiful. Nothing lights Rory up more than that and I remember feeling the same when my dad would tell me that.

The rest of Easter was spent with friends who are more like family and resting. We had a WONDERFUL day!

I think Easter is my favorite holiday. Christmas is wonderful but it wouldn’t mean anything at all without Easter. How miraculous Jesus’ death and resurrection is! All day I was reminded over and over how miraculous our year has been. I looked at my girls with wonder at His power. I looked at Ryder’s scar poking out from her beautiful dress and get chills at how Jesus has worked in my life this year during such heartache and dark days.

And its all because He has RISEN and is a LIVING God that I can face every storm with hope and can praise Him through the darkest hours.

 ”Because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God.” 1 Peter 1:21

Hope y’all had a wonderful Easter!

Which is our normal life so why do I expect anything different?

Andy, the girls and I had a wonderful weekend at home. We cleaned some, napped some, went on a date to see The Hunger Games (!), read a lot, watched a lot of tv and movies, and played outside.

Oh! And Rory caught her first fish! She had THE BEST TIME EVER fishing with her Daddy. It was precious.

Of course I forgot my real camera, so phone pictures will have to do.

Speaking of “real” pictures….

I’ll have you know my children are also ganging up against me to make sure I don’t get a single picture of them acting like sweet, precious girls.

Which would actually be lying to all of you because clearly they are little butts.

Okay, act as silly as possible!

Quick! Look confused!

Now, pretend to be cooperating and look off right before she pushes the button!

See? They are totally conspiring against me.

Today is gorgeous so I took the girls outside to play.

Which is not an easy task, friends. But being that I’m super mom, I obviously have a handle on it.

Case in point. Rory would never eat anything like dirt and therefore have a dirt mustache/goatee in every.single.picture I take when we go outside.

And Ryder would never decide to play Angry Birds while I push Rory on the swing.

Please dear Lord tell me I won’t have another eater-of-every-object-known-to-man?

Nope. Just a put-everything-in-my-nose child. No biggie.

Ryder still loves to read, by the way.

And yes, I still worry about her eyesight.

On a serious note, I must go now.

Rory just ran in naked again declaring she “pee pee potty mommy! yay! pee pee potty!”.

Unfortunately she “pee pee pottied” in a play bowl from her play kitchen.

Don’t worry, I got this. I’m supermom, remember?!

1) Ryder had a WONDERFUL first day of Mother’s Day Out! They said she did great and napped great. They also said she was very interested in everyone’s food and tried stealing some oranges from her neighbor. Typical.

2) Jackson is officially gone. I’ve cried a whole lot and am really so sad, but I know it was time. Rory keeps calling for him and that makes it even harder. We just told her he was staying with new friends for a while.

3) We sold our couch and are getting a new one. Problem is they can’t deliver it until TUESDAY so we only have the new recliner. I feel like I’m back in our college days!

4) A few weeks ago we got Rory and Ryder’s pictures made. They are gorgeous and I’m, again, amazed at Jennifer’s patience and work with them!

I want y’all to know that these kids are about to drive me to drink.

If you go to church with me, ignore the previous comment.

Now it seems that the girls are conspiring against me in this whole picture taking nonsense.

I mean, now they’re just mocking me.

Seriously though. This was not planned. I did not tell them to do this. I have no idea how I managed to get this picture.

But it captures their personalities perfectly.

The little butts.

Again… I say that with all the love in my heart.

I did manage to get a couple of cute, non-sticking-out-their-tongues-at-me pictures though.

Rory insisted on “hold sisser hand” in every picture.

Which is simply adorable, if I do say so myself.

Rory also talked and sang the whole time.

I tried to get pictures of Ryder by herself because she has my niece’s dress on, but this is the only one I got and it came out in this weird color…. and honestly, who has time to fix it?

So there you have it. I’d call that a successful photo session adventure. And no tears were shed! Amazing!

I’m trying to plan as many playdates as possible in the next two weeks because Rory doesn’t have MDO and will get so bored if we stay home all week.

And no one wants to see what happens when Rory gets bored.

Plus, my playdates with my fabulous friends in Paris always consist of a lot of coffee and awesome girl time. Who doesn’t love that?!

Ok! Happy Christmas Week!

On Friday after Thanksgiving we made our way to the TN river where Andy’s parents live. We had a great time just relaxing and letting the kids play and get spoiled. Then on Saturday Andy’s grandmother and aunts came to see the girls! It was so great to see them since we never get to. Marsha brought her granddaughter, Adrianna (hope thats how you spell it- if not forgive me!), and her and Rory played together.

Aunt Marlene and Ryder

Aunt Marsha, Adrianna, and Ryder

group shot

Then on Saturday we headed back to Jackson to my parents’ for the McIntire Christmas. We aren’t going to be home for Christmas and neither is Tasha so we decided (last minute) to have it while we were all together at Thanksgiving.

the kids opened presents

Papa made the boys traps for their presents. They were a huge hit!

Mimi made Rory tutus and a wand. We play with them every day… she thinks she’s a fairy!

I got my mom Just Dance 3 for her present. And somehow I didn’t get a picture of her and my dad doing it on my camera. I got one shot of it on my phone and there may or may not be a video floating around youtube. You’ll have to ask Patrick about that though.

Everyone had such a blast playing.

Rory LOVED it and asked for it for Christmas too. (I LOVED it as well which is why I made Rory ask for it.)

And of course, we had to get a family picture.

Please note Clayton on the bottom left.

After all of that, Rory got her FIRST haircut!

I wasn’t sure how it would go at first…

But thanks to Telena’s awesome skills and to some singing, she warmed up!

We had such a wonderful time and I can’t wait until we can all get together again. Christmas won’t be the same without going home but I am really excited about starting our new traditions here at our house and getting to spend a really long weekend together as a family at home.

]]> http://theharrislife.com/thanksgiving-trip-the-final-post/feed/ 3 http://theharrislife.com/thanksgiving-trip-part-one/ http://theharrislife.com/thanksgiving-trip-part-one/#comments Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:13:52 +0000 Tiffany http://theharrislife.com/?p=4196 Continue reading →]]> Well I am having to break up my Thanksgiving post into parts because I just uploaded 776 photos from my camera and there’s no way I can go through all of them today and put all of them on one post.

Anyways. We had an absolute blast in TN/MS last week! Rory and Ryder were so good most of the time and both enjoyed all the extra spoiling love and attention.

On Saturday we met my dad half way in AR. Rory was so excited to see him. She kept calling him “Papa Mimi” instead of just Papa. It was so cute.

Sunday we went to my parents church and it was wonderful to get to see everyone there. I’m so thankful for my dad’s church family and all of their prayers for Ryder during her surgery. After church I met up with one of my best friends from high school, Jodi, and we went to a Holiday Mart a school in my hometown puts on every year. It was great to catch up with her and hang out without kids.

Monday morning, the girls and I headed over to our great friends’, Katie and Sam, house. They have a little boy, Brooks, who is about 14 months old  who is ADORABLE. Unfortunately, my child refused to share and was so rough so they didn’t have the greatest time playing, but I enjoyed getting to catch up with Katie so much! Oh, and we tried to get pictures of all three kids together. It went so well.

“Stop touching me!”

“Please stop touching me!!!!!!!!!!”

“I’m outta here!”

Monday night we went and hung out at my sister, Telena’s house. Rory absolutely loved playing with Jacks, Jacy, and Riley the whole time.

Tuesday was nasty all day so we just stayed home and had a lazy rainy day.

Wednesday we headed to Dumas, MS. I’ve been informed that its not the middle of nowhere but instead the center of the universe.

Touché. Touché.

We had such an amazing time in MS. Its truly home to me, even if I don’t get back there much. I have dreams of living on my grandparents’ land one day.

My aunt and uncle live there (actually two aunts and uncles) and they have miniature horses. Let me tell you. They were a big hit! Here are all the kids getting to ride one of the horses. My Uncle Frank led them around and all the kids LOVED it. (Uncle Frank is loved by all kids. ALL kids.)

I had to include this. Do you see the boys pointing and laughing? Yep. The horse was peeing and they thought it was hysterical, of course.

Ok, can I just say I want to move Jacy in with me so I could have a babysitter on hand all the time? She was SO MUCH help the entire week with Rory. And Rory absolutely adores her. Jacy- you are the best niece EVER. Please come stay with me this summer… PLEASE???

Landon and Rory rode the pony together. They are the cutest.

My niece, Riley.

Sweet nephew, Jacks.

Cousin, Sadie Beth.

Beautiful niece, Jacy. (Notice that her legs almost touch the ground, ha!)

Cousin, Elizabeth.

Cousin, Maleah.

Sweet nephew, Landon.

Everyone took turns holding Rory… too bad she refused to look at camera.

Okay! That is all I can do today. My house is a DISASTER and we are having company this weekend. I will post part 2 tomorrow!

]]> http://theharrislife.com/thanksgiving-trip-part-one/feed/ 5 http://theharrislife.com/chaos/ http://theharrislife.com/chaos/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:01:03 +0000 Tiffany http://theharrislife.com/?p=4040 Continue reading →]]> For quite sometime our house has been just utter chaos. This is not news to any of you that read this here blog. Between all the craziness because of Ryder’s situation and bad habits that were created (by us mostly) before Ryder came along, its been NUTS. I feel like everything since Ryder has been born has been completely out of control.

Especially sleep.

Rory’s sleep issues started a really long time ago. Actually, it was about this time last year. And honestly she’s probably slept through the night three or so times since then. Its been… well, exhausting.

So this week we decided to take control, finally. First, we took down her baby bed because she HATED it. This has been key to our success! She loves her toddler bed so much! The other new thing is we are doing a set bedtime routine and time. And it sounds extremely early, but it has worked wonderfully- 7:00! The first night I was so worried she’d wake up at 4 ready to go because this is not abnormal for her anyways, but she has slept past six every day this week! HALLELUJAH!

The first night was awful and she screamed for hours even when I tried to lay in that tiny bed with her.The next night was much better and last night was awesome. She stays in her bed great and all I have to do is go in her room, tuck her in real snug, and sit next to the bed for maybe 5 minutes.

I feel like a new woman!

Yesterday I went and got Rory some Halloween cookies. They have a ton of icing on top and it was hilarious watching her for literally 20 minutes just look at it and touch it before eating any.

Before:

After:

She’s always telling the dogs to “shh!”.

Then she realized she could paint with the icing.

This made her very, very happy.

Dang. That’s one cute kid.

So is this one:

And when you put them together its almost too much cuteness to handle!

Apparently my kids prefer to be pant-less….???

Speaking of cute, how precious is this picture of Andy and Rory?!!!

Ok! Happy Halloween Weekend!

And I really don’t have anything to add other than that. We are currently trying to get Rory to sleep. Here’s the story: During those months of non-stop ear infections she stopped sleeping through the night. After tubes, she slept for a few weeks really good. Then the baby came and all that came with that rocked her world and she started waking up again. In attempt to just do whatever to get sleep during those times we threw her in the bed with us. Now she isn’t even sleeping well in the bed with us- she constantly wakes up wanting to talk and to say “shh, daddy, shhhh!” because of his snoring. No one is sleeping now (except my little tootie Ryder who is a much better sleeper than Rory already). So now we are “sleep training” and its hell on earth but we are making progress. Last night she never got out of her toddler bed and that is definitely progress even if I tried to cram my big ol’ butt in there with her to help her go back to sleep for 3 hours.

Yawn.

So if you see me, I most definitely have bags under my eyes and have a tired look. You don’t have to tell me that I look like death because I already know.

Love,

Zombie Mommie

Rory was in a mood this morning and that made ME in a mood. Ryder was screaming because she seems to be starving all the time but isn’t eating well. I was short tempered and a total butt. Therefore, Rory was the same. Isn’t it funny how that works??

Then we get to school and a friend of mine’s kid threw up in the car  in the parking lot and I just totally lost it. Cried like a crazy woman for a good hour. Threw myself an awesome pity party.

So all in all… fantastic morning! ha!

In fact, I’ve been throwing a pity party for a couple of days now. I’m mad that we have had to go through all of this. I’m mad that Ryder just can’t get better with her eating. I’m mad that people say things they THINK are helpful but honestly are just rude. I’m mad that Rory won’t sleep at night. I’m mad that things are completely out of control with every aspect it seems at our house. I’m mad that I can’t get a break without feeling guilty for being away, for leaving Andy with crying kids, and the list goes on. I’m mad Andy gets to leave to go to work (because clearly that is so much fun all of the time for him). I’m mad that I can’t write a dang blog post without it being about something heavy. I mean, who wants to read sad/depressing stuff all the dang time?!

And yet, even through my pity party, Jesus loves ugly ole’ me anyway. Isn’t that crazy? I sure wouldn’t love me right now!

So there you have it.

Let’s move on, shall we?!

Rory had a much better party yesterday- a painting party!

See the paint, Mommy?!

Are you seeing this, Mom?

Hold that thought, I’m getting inspired…

hold it…. hooollllldddddddd it….

okay, what were you saying again?

mmmhmmm I’m listening, I’m listening…

har har har, that was hilarious, Mom!

Did you notice my pink fingernails and toenails, yet?!

Let me just take a second to enjoy my amazing artwork.

After the paint party, I threw Rory in the shower (I thought it was more humane than hosing her off with the water hose outside). You tell me if you think she enjoyed it.

I believe she did.

Have a great Thursday!

P.S. : You are all going to want to come back tomorrow because I am hosting an awesome giveaway thats starting tomorrow! Yay!

Andy’s parents were here over the weekend (will blog that tomorrow) and so we went outside to take pictures.

As I was looking at these pictures, I had to laugh and say “what a typical southern Sunday!”. How many times in my life did my family growing up go outside in front of the house and take pictures? How many times will Rory and Ryder do the same with us?

I’m so thankful that I was raised going to church and raised LOVING church. I had some years after moving away that I didn’t love church so much. But now I’ve fallen in love again because we absolutely love our church and church family. We have been to some WONDERFUL churches (First Baptist Starkville and Calvary in Alexandria) but First Baptist Paris is by far the most we have ever felt apart of the church. It is home. It is family.

I’m also thankful that I was raised by parents who were in love with Jesus and showed it through their marriage and parenting. We have a wonderful relationship now and its because of that love for Jesus. I hope that Rory and Ryder see that in us as well.

Hope you are having a wonderful “Southern Sunday” too!