I LOVES SIZZA!!!  (errr, that is Pizza to all of you not familar with Taraese. )

Yep, my baby girl loves me and Pizza! It is a good thing she has her priorities straight…

Now, here is something you don’t see often:  A photo of me and my sweetie at the beach in July! 

Me and Dan at Gulf Shores

So, Dan wakes up about 8:30 and I open Savannah’s present – it was a “pinch pot” that she made in art class.  I opened it and said, “Oh, a ring box – how pretty!” and Savannah said, “No, it’s a pinch pot!”  Now what, you may ask, is a pinch pot?  Apparently, it is a little “pinch” of clay with a thumbprint-size “bowl” in it.  Still, it is the perfect size to sit by my bathroom sink and hold my rings – I love it!  Also, Tara had made me a little card at school too, which demonstrated her newfound love of coloring!!!

My next gift was from Tara.  I went to take a nap about 9:00 (hey, I had been up since 6:15 – a nap is the next best thing to sleeping in (which Tara does not allow as of yet, but that is a whole other post…).  Tara insisted on coming with me, so we settled into bed…she got bored and went to “go color” with Daddy.  She came back about 10 minutes later…got bored again and left.  About 9:30 she came back and this time, she fell asleep!  We both slept until 10:30!!!  (Although it was an early nap for Tara, it worked out good because we were running around that afternoon during what would have been her naptime otherwise.)

So, when I woke up, I find out that Savannah had made me a card while I was asleep.  All by herself, she printed HAPPY MOTHERS DAY I LOVE YOU SAVANNAH!  She told Dan what she wanted to say and he wrote out the words for her and she copied them onto her card all by herself!  Dan said it took her a while and once she got distracted and wanted to stop, but he brought her back to her task to finish it up.  She was so proud!  She also made me another card from Tara (since Tara was sleeping.). 

I also got the sweetest love note from Dan.  A couple of weeks ago, he came home with a beautiful piece of “lawn art” for me of a little girl lying in the grass reading a book.  When I saw it, I commented then, this is a great Mother’s Day gift – I don’t need anything else.  Well, when Mother’s Day arrived, he was a little worried that perhaps he should have gotten me something after all. 

But to me, Mother’s Day is not about gifts from a husband to a wife.  It is about art-project pinch pots and hand-lettered cards from your pre-schooler.  It is about naps with your youngest daughter.  It is a clean kitchen when you wake up and all the magazines that had piled up in your dining room being cleared away.  It is cherry limeades from Sonic and pizza for supper because that is what you wanted.  It is being with my wonderful family!  I am so blessed to have them in my life.  Happy Mother’s Day!

I know, I know, it has been forever since I have posted anything here.  And it is certainly not because there has been nothing to post.  The Little Princesses (hereinafter referred to together as “TLP”

So, let’s see, what are the highlights from the last 8 months? 

Halloween – TLP went as Disney characters…of course!  Savannah was Cinderella and Tara was Tinkerbelle.  They both had a ball and Tara really got into it when she realized that the nice people at the door were giving her CANDY!!!!

Savannah’s birthday – My little princess turned 4 years old!  She had her party at Sweet and Sassy.  It was a princess party and she and all her classmates had a wonderful time! 

Christmas!  Ha – need I say more?  The girls had an absolute blast.  It was really “real” for Savannah this year.  She was so excited about Santa Claus and it was a magical moment when she looked down from the staircase landing on Christmas morning and said in awe, “Mama, Santa brought be what I asked for!!!”

Tara’s 2^nd birthday in February was the next big event for us!  It was a Tinkerbelle party and she wore her Tinkerbelle costume from Halloween.  She was totally aware that the day was all about her!!! 

Between February and now, life has pretty much marched on at its usually hectic pace.  Tara changed day care centers and loves her new place!  Mama loves it too since its more convenient location helps her to get to work on time!  Savannah is finishing up her first year at St. Mary’s!  She got her yearbook the other day and all I could do was look at my little princess in her “pre-K” class photo and then flip to the seniors and think about how my baby was going to be all grown up one day!!!

I will leave you with a collage of recent pictures and the promise to do better and keep you more in the loop about what is going on with us!

Apparently, Savannah has a baby brother.  The first time I hear about him, the conversation went like this:

Savannah:  Hey, Mama…

Me:  Yes, princess?  (This is while we are driving to school/work a couple of weeks ago…)

Savannah:  Hey, Mama.  Now that Tara is a big girl (Savannah says that Tara is a big girl now becuase she can want), now that Tara is a big girl, she can go live with a family who needs a big girl and my baby brother can come and live with us.

Me:  (Avoiding the obvious baby brother question…)  Ummm, don’t you think that you would miss Tara if she went to live with another family?

 Savannah:  Nope.

There you have it, Savannah is ready to trade in her little sister for a new model.  That was actually one of those moments I know I will file away to tease them both about later.

Anyway, since then, there have thankfully been no further references to sending Tara away, but there has been all kinds of talk about Savannah’s baby brother.  She loves to tell me how she grew in my tummy and Tara grew in my tummy and so did her baby brother…

 Dan just says that he hopes she cannot predict the future…

We had a pretty good trip to Rincon, PR, where we stayed…oh, yeah, except for the TWO hours we were stuck on the plane in Charlotte NC while they removed the luggage of a person who was unable to board the plane b/c of a panic attack!  Apparently, the person must travel with the luggage–so if the person was not on the plane, they had to find and remove thier luggage!!!  Security, I know, but that was 2 extra hours to entertain the girls. At least Tara took a nap, but then she was awake the entire 3 and half hour flight! So, we get to San Juan and rent our Grand Caravan without any problems. One of the back brakes was bad…everytime we braked, it sounded as though a plane was passing overhead…

Tara had her 15-month checkup today.  She weights 26 lbs 13 oz (97 %-tile) and is 31 inches long (97 %-tile).  That is only a 3 oz weight gain since her one-year checkup J and a 1.5 inch increase in length.  Her weight gain is slowing down and evening out with her length.  For the longest time, she was off the charts on weight and only about 50% on length.  Now she is very proportioned. J  Her doctor was very pleased!  Dr. DeLamerens said that we can give her 2% milk instead of whole milk, since her weight is good and she is eating well. 

She got three shots today.  The first one she didn’t even make a peep, but the next two, well, she let everyone in the building know what she thought of those.  But, as soon as Mama picked her up—all better!  Although she sniffed for a few more moments and glared at the offending nurse.  I wish I could make all her hurts in life better that easily! 

She says lots of words now—Mama, Dada, Uh-oh, Dane-dah (“thank you”) and Nah-nah-nah (an empathetic “no”), dah (“here” or “take this” or sometimes “gimme, gimme”), and most recently, kak-kak (“quack-quack”), woof and cup.  She also says the occasional Ah-na-na, which I am pretty sure now is “
Savannah.”   

She has finally started to take some steps, but for the moment, she still prefers crawling as her mode of transport of choice…  But, she loves her little push toy—she is like Danica Patrick with that thing!   

Tara’s absolute favorite thing in the world to do is…whatever it is that
Savannah is doing. 
Tara is convinced that the sun rises and sets on her big sister. 
Savannah is reading a book—
Tara wants to read a book. 
Savannah is playing with a doll—
Tara wants to play with a doll. 
Savannah is using the potty—
Tara wants to…well, you get the idea.  (I keep telling
Tara that is she will just master that walking thing, keeping up with
Savannah will be so much easier… 

Savannah says that they are “sisters and best friends.”  I hope you always are, my darlings.  I hope you always are.

We had a great day. We spent the day at home together. The girls woke up to Easter Baskets. We had Easter Brunch with my “special” eggs that I make at Christmas and now, at Easter.Then, even though it was cold outside and we weren’t going anywhere, we dressed them in thier Easter dresses and had an Easter Egg hunt in the living room. Tara would get so excited to “find” one egg that she wouldn’t look for any more. She would just hold that one like it was a rare treasure… We must had hidden the eggs 6 times and Savannah would get so excited each time, you would have thought they were made of gold! Then she wanted to hide them and when we would “look” for them (cuz she pretty much put them all the places she had found them herself), she would get so excited that she would show up where they all were… 

Great news!  We learned yesterday that Savannah was accepted into the 2007 Pre-Kindergarten class at St. Mary’s Episcopal School. www.stmarysschool.org  I am so thrilled for her—you would think I had been accepted!  I can’t explain to you enough what a great school St. Mary’s is and what a great opportunity this is for Savannah.  It was a difficult decision to decide to enroll her for the fall.  She loves her class at Calvary Place and it is a wonderful day care with a fantastic pre-school program.  But, I am convinced that starting her out now at the beginning in a school that excels in academics and the arts is the best thing for her.  She is such a bright, intelligent little girl.  I want to nurture that in the best place possible. 

We loved St. Mary’s from the moment we first visited last October. 
Savannah still talks about her “Mary school” and asks to go back to play again.  Although I knew that she would not understand, I told her yesterday that she would go to school at St. Mary’s in August.  She grinned from ear to ear and said, “Yes and I will be a grown up.”  

First thing this morning, she started talking about “Mary school” and when she told her Daddy goodbye, she told him she was going to “Mary school.”  When I tried to explain that it was not time for Mary school yet, she was clearly put out with me!  At this rate, it is going to be a long six months until August!

So my baby is an “official” toddler now.  She drinks milk out of a cup and faces forward in her car seat!  Not quite walking yet, but expect some news in that department soon! 

Stay tuned!