Well, it's a boy!!! I can't believe it! What a lifestyle change it is going to be for us!
Here is his little profile!
Here are his little feet!
He is DEFINITELY a Boy!!! He makes his daddy proud!!
I needed to get a cute picture of Tatum for our Christmas cards, and was running out of time. We were waiting for my mom to get home on Saturday, so I decided to go out and take some pictures of Tatum out in the front yard of Nana and Papaw's house. She was so silly posing for the camera. She would look off to the side a lot, or have a cheesy fake smile most of the time. To keep her from smiling so fake, I would make her say Poop Head! I am sure I will regret that later down the road! (Probably by a phone call from her teacher!!!)
My poor little baby has been sick ALL week long. She literally was out from school Monday through Friday. She got a stomach virus, then it just knocked her down! She was so tired and weak. It was so sad seeing her so miserable. She is just about back to normal. She still wants to nap, which is NOT like her at all! But, I will allow it of course, as long as she sleeps at night! With her at home, Richard was able to work on her room, and get her hardwood floors put in. He replaced to baseboards too. It looks soooooo good! I will post pictures soon ,once I can get her feeling better to to take some pictures in her "new room!" She loves it!!
We hosted a Halloween Party here at our house this year. This Halloween was Richard's first Halloween to EVER be off in the 5 years Tatum has gone trick or treating. So, he wanted to make it fun for himself and Tatum! So, we send out invites, and I made a bunch of great food. I had bobbing for apples and a craft for the kids to do after they ate. They all went trick or treating around our neighborhood, which happened to be better than I thought, since most people around here are older and do not participate, and hand out candy. Tatum was a Cowgirl, riding a horse. She looked really cute! Of course, I didn't get a picture in the light, so it is hard to see how cute she really looked in her cowgirl hat and all! The weather was perfect last night for Trick or Treaters, and the party was a success! I didn't get many pictures since I was "hosting" but a friend did, so hopefully I can get some from her!!
After tucking Tatum in for bed tonight, I walked out of her room, looking straight ahead, to find this...on the wall in front of her bedroom. What was she thinking?? I called Richard in to check it out. He just laughs, and says, "Well, it is written really good!" Yes, it was hard not to commend her on the neat handwriting, since we have been working on keeping all our letters the same size....HOWEVER....it is my WALL!! So, we get Tatum out of bed, ask her what she did today that she probably shouldn't have...she didn't know. We pointed out the wall, and she says, "Oh ya, I did that!" Oh really, I thought Daddy did!?! We go over what we are supposed to write on, and tuck her back in bed. As Richard tells her, "but, Tatum, you wrote your name very good!!" Oh geeze, is that helping? Anyway, I guess we will be applying a fresh coat of paint to the hallway fairly soon!!! What else can I get my husband to paint??
WhooHooo! It's finally Fall. The weather has turned cool, and I can finally dress Tatum in all the CUTE Fall clothes I bought her during Back-to School! Now, if I could only dress as cute as she does...
We went to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday after school with The Peads. It was nice to have them here this time of year! Tatum and Gavin had fun running around, going on a hay ride, riding a "tractor train", and feeding the animals. We managed to squeeze some picture in there too. Though not as many as in the past. She is just too busy now. 
Here is the first picture of our new addition to our little family. My 9 week appointment was this past Friday. We obviously can't tell what the sex is, but...we will know soon enough. Tatum was super excited to get to see a real picture of what is going on inside my stomach. I think she is now getting the concept. When asked what it looks like, she said "A Girl!" I guess we will have to wait and see!! In the sono, the baby is upside down. The bottom circle part is actually the head. My doctor tried to wake it up, so it would move a little bit, but no such luck!! In Tatum's 9 week sono, she was awake, moving around, looking at the screen, and stuck out her hand to wave! This one MUST be a lazy boy!!!
The day before Tatum started Kindergarten, Nana and I took her to The Joy of Pottery to paint a piece of pottery before the school year started. I had decided that I wanted her to do this every year, right before school starts. That way, I can see how much she has grown and changed, just through her "art". She was so excited to do this. It took us all a while to decide what piece we wanted to paint. Tatum chose to paint a small plate, I chose a funky oval-ish shaped bowl, and Nana chose a cool bowl. It was a lot of fun, but very time consuming and actually hard to get the creative juices flowing, and decide WHAT to do with the piece. Tatum found these alphabet letters that she wanted to use. I thought that was a great idea, since she was going to Kindergarten and will be learning all about the alphabet. It turned out really cute! Stay tuned for years to come of some bright, colorful pottery, made by Tatum!
We got Tatum a Tony Romo Cowboys jersey this weekend. Just in time for Monday night football! Tatum is excited to watch football now in her new shirt! She even wore it to school today. She's a proud supporter of the Dallas Cowboys!!
Tatum delivered some news to our family last night at Shelby's 13th Birthday dinner....
We are so excited, and look forward to our future with the new addition to our little family! Tatum is really excited too, just the night before, she told a friend of ours that she wanted a brother and a sister for Christmas, "a real one!!" How do kids know!! Granted, it won't be in time for Christmas, but soon enough!!
Tatum LOVES her new bike!! It is hard for her to ride it in our neighborhood because there are so many hills, but we take it where we can and she rides it all around. Last night we took it out to Richard's softball game. It was so windy, but she still wanted to ride. I thought for sure the wind would carry her away! So, once she perfects the bike with training wheels, we will attempt to take them off! Oh my, I am already nervous!!
Well, I have started watching The Boys again this school year! I started watching Ty and Cole when they were 15 months old. I took the whole year off last year, and they went to daycare. Once Tatum started school, they called and asked if I would be interested in watching them again 3 days a week. The Boys are 4 1\2 now. My how fast time flies! Tatum loves playing with them, but can't as often now that she is in school. On the mornings that I am to be there to watch them at 7am, Jennifer now brings them over here, I take Tatum to school, then we head back over to their house in Celina for the rest of the day. Either I am off to pick up Tatum, or on the late days, Richard picks her up! It is fun to be back with the boys. I knew I should get a job once Tatum started school, so what better than to watch these sweet boys, and only 3 days a week!
Well, we made it through the first week of Kindergarten! Tatum LOVES it! She still wants me to walk her into the school every morning, instead of dropping her off in the car pool line, but that's OK with me! I know she is where she needs to be when I leave. I started volunteering at her school on Fridays. I will be working in the Workroom, making copies, laminating, etc. for the teachers. It was fun, and gets me involved in her school, and meeting new people! Her teacher, Mrs. Paine is great! She is even a Southern Living fan, so that will be fun too! Because Tatum had such a great first week, we told her we would get her something special as a treat for good behavior and learning at school. We went tonight and bought her a new "big girl" bike. She is so excited! It has training wheels, but Tatum and Daddy are looking to learn to ride without those very soon! It was dark by the time we got home from the store tonight, so she will get out there first thing tomorrow! I can't believe my little baby is growing up!!! I am looking forward to many more "firsts" with Tatum! It is so much fun!!
Well, my baby is at Kindergarten!!! All day long!!! She was so excited to start school full time. After a very long night, at 4am this morning, I was not sure we were going to make it there today! She woke up at 11pm, last night throwing up a little. Then woke up again at 1:30am, with probably one of the scariest croup episodes I have seen in at least 3 years. We gave her a breathing treatment, some steroid meds, and a sat with her in a steamy bathroom. At 4am, I was still panicking, woke Richard up to ask him if he thought we should take her to the ER. He, being cool, calm, and collected...(maybe he is trained to be that way??) said that she was not struggling to breath as hard anymore, and was just stuffed up. After searching around on the Internet to see what else I could do for her, and if I could give her a second treatment before 24 hours, I decided to call the after-hours nurse. She called me back at 4:40am, and ended up being able to call me in a prescription for another breathing treatment we use to give her. We let Tatum sleep, and decided to go get the prescription when the alarm went off this morning. Tatum woke up to the alarm in our bed, and said "I feel better mom!!" Thank GOD! I was really upset, thinking that she was going to be sick for her first day of school, and not get to go. So, Richard went and got the medicine, we gave her another treatment after her breakfast, and took her to school...with only a runny nose to show for it!! She will probably definitely sleep at nap time in school today! 
When we got to school, Nana met us, and walked in with us. We found her cubby, put her backpack away, then began the search for Tatum's name tag on the table. She found her spot and began to play nicely at the table, waiting for class to start! She was all smiles...and a little runny nose!! We all gave her kisses, and told her good-bye! She waved us on, and out we went. A little teary eyed...me and Nana, not Tatum! Richard and I took Nana down to see the Gym, Cafeteria, and Library, then we left the building. 8:45am-3:45pm, seems like a long day, maybe for me, but I know that Tatum is having a BLAST!!!
We just got back from a great Family Vacation in Colorado. We originally went for my sister's wedding, then made it into a fun trip, with lots of exciting activities! I will break up the pictures into the different events and towns we visited. We started out in Estes Park for the wedding, spent 5 days there, playing and shopping, then went to Breckenridge for a day, then off to Stonewall for 2 days to finish off the vacation. We had tons of fun, but we were ready to head home. There is only so much time you can spend with 13 family members. Tension rises, and it was time for a break. I think that we said we would never take another Family trip like this, when we got back last summer, but we did....and we are glad we did!! So, enjoy the pictures....
Not the best clarity with this picture, but what can you do, when you forget your camera and have to use the cell phone!?! Morgan, Shelby, and I made our Twilight Series shirts tonight before heading out to the Border's Book Store Twilight Til Dawn party. We patiently waited for the clock to strike midnight, so that we could purchase the 4th and final book of the Twilight Series! I, sadly to say, was the OLDEST person who was dressed in a "theme t-shirt" and it was not the most appropriate. It was cute though, and I loved it! I did get a dirty look from a "mom", who wasn't even there for the event! Oh well!! Shelby's shirt was PERFECT for her, since she is literally OBSESSED with the series! Morgan's was great because of all the political debates going on in the news! We drank Vampire Punch and watched all the young girls get so excited about everything going on around them. It was a fun experience, not one I will probably ever do again, but I do have a fun t-shirt to wear to the Twilight movie that comes out on December 12th!! Well, gotta go...I have a 754 page book, I need to start!! See ya in 3 days!!!!
We met Richard for dinner tonight here in McKinney. Tatum loves going and meeting up with Daddy when he is at work. He let Tatum "drive" his car before he had to go back to work! She was so excited!!
So, last night was an eventful one! Richard played 2 softball games, one at 7pm, and one at 9pm. We basically spent the evening at the ball field! We got through the first game, hung out a while, then started the next. 20 seconds left in the game, Richard is playing short stop, like he always does, the ball is hit, a hard grounder to short, bounces hard right in front of Richard, his glove is down to receive it, it then pops up and hits him HARD in the mouth! OOOHHHH.....was all anyone could say. His mouth instantly fills up with blood, he spits it out, and the first thing he asks the third basemen is, "tell me my teeth are still there!" Paul looks, "Yes, they are there." Next thing Richard asks, "tell me they are not loose!" Paul checks by pushing on his teeth, Richard yells in pain, Paul says, "nope, their fine!" Thank God! That was Richard biggest fear! He wanted all his teeth! He is so lucky they are all still in there, not loose or chipped, or MISSING! He puts ice on them, gets the bleeding to stop, and gets back out there to finish the game. What a tough guy! After the game, we were checking it all out. It was pretty nasty. The cut on the outside of his mouth, didn't look too bad, but was getting bigger the more he swelled. The inside of his mouth the main concern. His gums were immediately bruised, and he had a huge gash out of the inside of his lip. We were advised to take him to the ER to see about stitches. Of course, he is 29 and has never had stitches or broken bones in his very active life. He has been very lucky. So, he was freaking out that he was going to have to have needles in his face. Why are guys such BABIES? Well, he needed them, he only needed 3 on the outside, and 1 on the inside of his mouth. He was so lucky it wasn't a lot worse. We have seen some bad stuff on the softball fields in the last 10 years, we are lucky he wasn't one of those others!! So, once the swelling goes down, and the stitches are out, hopefully he won't have anything to show for this eventful evening, but a blog of course!!!
Every single day, Tatum goes outside in the back to jump on her trampoline, then after about 3 minutes, she comes inside to put on her swimsuit, then goes back out to jump with the sprinkler! Today, she decided to take her Barbies out there to jump with her. She only has 5 Barbies and they are all swim Barbies. So, I guess she thought it was a perfect place to play with them!
Poor thing! Tatum came in this evening from outside in the back yard, crying! I asked her what was wrong and she said, "a bug bit me!" She was crying uncontrollably. I asked her if it was a wasp, and she said yes. After getting information out of her, I finally understood, she showed me where it was, the wasp was stuck in the net enclosure around her trampoline, and she decided to touch it. Smart! She said she just touched the "paw" (leg), but I guess it was still able to sting her on the finger from the "stuck in the net position!" Her poor little finger is all swollen and red. She made me put a band aid on it, but I was afraid to put it on there too tight. I don't want it to swell more, and cut off the circulation. So, this was her first wasp sting, hopefully the last! Funny, because I just had Richard knock down a huge nest that was in the front yard above her window, yesterday. I guess they've moved to the back yard now! This picture is of her milking it! She wanted to lay on my bed, and I had to bring her her pink blanket and her blankie! She is so dramatic!
Tatum wanted me to see her and the dogs playing outside today. I caught this great picture of Petals giving Tatum a nice WET kiss! I guess she asked for it!!
She wanted to do the same with Angel, but at least there was no tongue with this one!!
My newly 5 year old decided to act like a 2 year old tonight and CUT her own hair. I walked into the living room tonight to find her sitting on the chair watching TV, calmly cutting off the hair on the side of her head. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING??? I am in total shock. It's not even funny to me. We already have issues with the slow rate her hair grows, now she will be going to kindergarten in a month and a half with a bald spot in the back of her head. When we took her into the bathroom to show her what she had done, I then noticed that she cut all her bangs off to. I could cry right now! The back of her head looks like we took the clippers I use to cut Richard's hair, and buzzed a spot on her. How can she even get scissors to do that? My mom asked me if I was going to keep that hair she cut. WHAT? No, I never want to think about this day again!!!
This picture of the back of her head doesn't even do it justice. It looks WAY worse in real life!
I know this picture is gross, a pile of hair. But, I wanted to show you how much she actually cut off. We probably didn't even get it all from down beside the chair cushion! I am in total shock right about now....but I am sure I will get over it!!! She will NEVER play with scissors again!!! THANK GOODNESS it was AFTER her birthday party pictures!!
WOW! 5 years ago today, this was one of the very firsts pictures that was taken of Tatum. I remember it like it was just yesterday! I went to my regular weekly doctors appointment, at the end of my pregnancy. I was sure I wanted to wait until I went into labor, and not schedule an induction. She asked me again when I was at my appointment, I had changed my mind. I was done being pregnant. I was induced at 4pm, on July 8th, 2003. Tatum was born on July 9th, at 1:24pm. 5 days later, we were able to bring our new baby home, and start our new lives! I wouldn't change a thing! She is the sweetest little girl ever! Here are some pictures of Tatum on her birthday every year since this first picture! My how she has grown, not much, but she has definitely grown!!
Here is a picture of Tatum at her 1st Birthday party! Could she be any cuter? She was so little!!!
Here she is at her Tu-Two at the Zoo Birthday party! She still loves the zoo!!
On her 3rd Birthday....eating cupcakes!!!
The aftermath of eating cupcakes on her 4th birthday!!! Sure looked good!!!
Having fun at her 5th Birthday Party!!! We can't wait for the many more years of exciting Birthday's with Tatum!!!
Today, we took Tatum to Hawaiian Falls for her "real" birthday. She LOVED it! She was able to go down more rides than I expected. Her favorite was the Doubles Tube Ride. Of course, Mommy was her favorite person to ride this with!!! Maybe because I made it more fun, by screaming and yelling WhoooHoooo, the whole way down!! She joined in on that fun too!! 
Richard bought her an ice cream cone with "Birthday Cake" flavored ice cream! Good thing, because tonight at dinner, she fell asleep before her brownie and ice cream was served at the restaurant! She had a long, FUN day!!!
She got a trampoline from Mommy and Daddy for her birthday! Nana and Papaw got her the enclosure. She has had a blast jumping on it everyday! 
She even got her Nana out there to jump with her!!!
So, I think Tatum had a great birthday this year! She will start Kindergarten in a couple of months, and we will have many more changes, and LOTS more fun! We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy little girl!! Thanks to all who helped us celebrate Tatum's birthday and life this year!!! 
