8.12.2017

Ally Ann : Big girl bed!

"I don't want to forget this..."  I say this often!
 This is one of those posts.

Two weeks ago, we allowed H&L to give us a theme for their "big girl" room. I had decorated their room for the past few years and they wanted to change things up. They wanted a mermaid room. Which I thought was precious & started to design away! >>>Pictures to come soon!

I had shown pictures of twin beds to Michael that I knew would be perfect for their room and grow with them over the years. The girls loved them and begged Michael to start building. When he started building Ally Anns bed I questioned him. I knew she would want to sleep in a big girl bed, but I wasn't sure that she (or ME) was ready for this transition. He knew she would see theirs and want one too.  I knew he was right. He built it & I teared up knowing my baby was growing up.

& the second we showed the twins their big girl beds, Ally Ann grabbed his hand and dragged him to her room repeating, "Me bed, daddy. Me bed!" while patting on her chest. We looked at each other and I knew she was ready. 
It was just me who wasn't. 
I melted into a puddle the entire way we walked to her room. 

The crib was going to be packed away. How? How could we NOT be in the crib stage of life anymore? How can it be that all THREE have grown out of this stage. Yall- the tears! I'm so happy and proud of our littlest girl. Her excitement for her big girl bed made/makes me so happy. 

She did AMAZING! I rocked her for  few minutes in her rocker, laid her in her bed, told her she was a big girl, and off I went. That first night, we constantly watched her sleep, after a few hours she woke up and made it to her rocker. I moved her back, and since then she has slept in her bed! It's been one of the easiest transitions. Can we all pray that potty training will be this easy, too??



Ally Ann: You, sweet girl, adore your big girl bed! You think you are SO big and its precious! Each time we walk you upstairs to your room you say, "Rock-Rock" and then "Apple, Apple, A-A-A" You want to be rocked while singing our ABC song. You want your blankie wrapped around you, and you want me to rub your back! If I stop, you grab my hand and move it back & forth. It's the sweetest moment. We say your prayers, I sing you our "I love you so much" song, I cover you up, and you say, "Night Night Momma! Wuv-you!"

You stay in your bed until I come to get you in the morning! You are so sweet, Ally Ann! Daddy and I love our big girl bed sleeper so much! Thank you for making this transition so easy for Mommy + Daddy!

I have to add- when we moved into this home, I questioned on whether to sell her rocker or keep it. To be honest, when it lived in the twins nursery, it was just a accent piece of furniture. Never. Used. I couldn't rock my babies... bc there was two of them. It was just too hard. The logistics just didn't work for us.  But, when Ally Ann joined our family, I nursed her before naps & before bed in that rocker. It became our thing. When nursing was over, I would lay her in her crib and she made the transition easy. When we moved, I had the movers place it back in her room. We hadn't used it since our last nurse time, which was when she was 14 months old. So, the average person would be all,  "It's been a year, Ann Marie!! Get rid of it. Move it to another room." I just couldn't. So it stayed. I am SO glad I felt the pull to keep it. I would have never imagined that she would want to "rock-rock" before bed! It's the sweetest moment that we get to share together each night. This baby may be moving into a big girl bed, but she is allowing me small moments of cherishing her littleness by rocking her for a few minutes each night. Mommas- follow your instincts. They grow up fast,  I'll try and keep them little as long as I can and when they smile at their achievements from growing, I'll smile, too. I'll smile and know that it's time to move on, and forever be grateful for the journey we went through to bring us to this time.





6.19.2017

Tiny Dancers 2017 - 2018

We're back at it! 

Soccer was fun. Ballet was begged for! 
Ms. Shelly... we're coming for ya! 




 Ballet & Jazz- this will be fun. :)


So precious! 

Tiny Dancers 2017-2018!
Hadley-"Mommy, when do we get to wear the pretty dance costumes and perform on the stage?" 
SHE'S ready to perform, y'all! 


And just to make you SMILE from ear to ear... here are a few images from our first dance days. 


These girls LOVE to wear their Ballet outfits. 


I mean! I just can't with these tiny littles! Noelle joined us- we sure miss the Lee's! This was the girls first class- age three!

Layton& Hadley>> THREE! 


Their first dance class at 2.5! 

Look at those baby faces. 




Ally Ann Ann dressed for one class




Hadley, Sloane, Grey

 & after looking at these precious tiny dancers- I'm off to search for a class for Ally Ann 


Summer, Summer, Summer TIME!

Summer is here! Last week, we kicked off summer with morning VBS as Cottonwood Creek! They allow 4 year old to participate. The girls had a few friends join them and they had so much fun! Tuesday night we went to Ashbys 5th Birthday Party and celebrated her princess style. Talk about fun! The girls had a BLAST.  Wednesday night was booked too! Candace is in town so Claire and I enjoyed catching up with her while enjoying dinner! On Thursday, 30+ other women enjoyed a fun ladies night in! Macy lead us in worship on the back patio & then we had an amazing speaker, Regan, come and do a uplifting inspirational talk that kicked off Summer in the BEST WAY!  It was a busy week, but OH so fun! And just when I thought our week was busy... check out this past weekend!

I mean! Look how sweet, you guys! Sugar & Spice in downtown McKinney. 

Happy Birthday, Ashby

Our weekend was jam packed with fun! On Friday, we dropped the girls off at Lala & Papas house! They spent the night with them & had a blast at their neighborhood block party.



Thanks to the Vansicle Family for planning and sending me these pictures of the girls at my parents block party! SO FUN! 

The next morning, they went to the Coppell Farmers Market in downtown Coppell & then played in the splash pad.



 While they were doing fun summer fun activities with my parents, Michael and I headed on a couples date night!

Kali & Kyle, and Melissa & Sean came along for the fun and we patio'd it at MiCocina at the Shops in Allen!! The next morning, we picked up the girls from my parents and then headed to the pool for a swim with Daddy.


 The girls and I pool it during the week and he wanted to check out our little fishes in the water!


That evening, we went to a community event right down the road from us. Tucker Hill! They put on a amazing concert, had food trucks, and the girls had SO much fun playing, dancing, and enjoying slushies!
  
Please take a minutes a check out Ally Ann Ann! haha! Her cheese pose these days has Michael and I rolling! 


We meet the Knight's! These too snuggle bugs- Layton & Harper 

Look at the girls the background! 

The littles dancing


Slushies! They were SOOO good! 


Sunday Summer swim party at our community pool





Sunday was a busy morning (with LOTS OF coffee)  VBS prep at our church, Hope Fellowship, and then our neighborhoods Summer Kick off Party! The HOA hosted yummy hotdogs, slushies and a DJ at the pools in our neighborhood! Phew! We were tired! We ordered pizza for dinner and hung out in our jimmies all evening!

Our Summer is off to a great start, I'd say!! 

4.10.2017

Our Little Stars

As a previous Kindergarten teacher, I love the fact that our girls are getting to the age to enjoy fun school activities. Hadley was the star student of her classroom a few weeks ago and Layton is the star this week. She is so excited for school tomorrow. She keeps talking about how she gets to be the line leader. Which is pretty big deal to the average four year old! Hadley is being so sweet and sharing in the excitement. 
Being a Momma has its tough days and moments, but watching them grow up & experience simple things like this, beaming with excitement, makes me grateful. They are growing, learning, blooming and simply the loves of our life, along with their little sister! 

The twins told Ally Ann that she has to wait a few more years for start student status. ;)

Happy Star Student week, Layton! We love our little stars! 


Hadley McKee 4yrs

 First McKinney Baptist Church- Preschool 
Ms. Alyson & Ms. Elaine

Layton Aaron 4 yrs


3.26.2017

Ally Ann turns TWO


Our sweet baby is TWO! We enjoyed breakfast at a favorite in the Tennison household.. Chick Fil A! Ally Anns birthday card said, "Cluck, Cuck, Moo, Moo Ally Ann is turning two!"

Ally Ann LOVES cows! Every time we see one she waves and waves at the "puppies". Which we think we finally have her calling them cows now. :0)


We invited family and H&L got to pick a friend to have come too! 
























Kayla did an amazing job with the decorations! 





@whynothaveaparty on Instagram 





Sorry for the picture OVERLOAD! :) 
Our sweet baby had a great party! We loved celebrating her. 

Her party was so cute! We used the colors teal & pink and as you can see above, it turned out precious. 
I have a friend, Kayla McAfee, who has started her own party business 
 and she helped plan and decorate the party, so we got show up and everything was DONE! 
It was pretty amazing. If you have a party to plan... leave everything to her! 

Our baby at ONE... look how tiny! We can't believe she is TWO! We love you so much, Ally Ann! We are so thankful for your sweet little self!