I'm behind in blogging again - shocker!!! So first you'll see some pics of our trip to East Texas over Thanksgiving and then some other recent shots of the kids below that.
We had a great visit in Jasper the week of Thanksgiving. We took so many pics that I'm having to do slideshows for all of them, but I wanted to start with a few standout shots...
Tag getting to meet 2 more of his great-grandparents. Here he is with Ganny (my grandmother)...
...and here he is with PawPaw (Douglas' grandfather)
Kinsey enjoyed getting to see both of them as well. Here she is with PawPaw:
There's some of her with Ganny, but I forgot to get copies from Mom's camera so I'll have some more in a couple of weeks when they come visit.
Kinsey had a blast being outside at Grammy & Poppi's house. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from that time...
So here are the slideshows...
First, a few shots of our time exploring outside. Kinsey was bound and determined to climb trees, feed ducks, and walk all over the place!
We also had fun inside, especially decorating the tree, and hanging out in the hammock with Daddy.
On Thanksgiving Day, we went to Silsbee to hang out with Grammy's side of the family. It was so great to see all of them. Grammy has pics of the whole family on her cam, so those will also come in a couple of weeks.
Kinsey had a blast with Grammy and Poppi's dogs, Tasha and Laser. So much fun in fact, that she decided to pretend to be a doggie and forced all of us to call her "Kinsey doggie" and rub her back and watch her crawl around. Too cute! The dogs were so sweet to her, especially at night when she wanted to play and they wanted to rest.
So this is the set of pictures that has Douglas calling me "the worst Mom ever" for allowing this to happen. But I couldn't pass up this perfect photo moment and I know Tag will forgive me. We took his exersaucer with us, which put him at eye-level with the dogs. They were so eager to give him kisses, and I finally had the camera ready...
And then we were all back outside for some serious creek/waterfall time. Warning, some of these shots may be dangerous to grandparents' sensitive hearts - I promise it wasn't near as precarious as it seems from the photos.
Ok, now on to other recent happenings. I might've mentioned in previous posts that Kinsey has taken to napping on her toychest. She used to pretend to do that with Pops and Nana, but lately it's the only place she wants to lie down for naptime and she actually falls asleep there most days. At first I was worried she would roll off, but so far, no. So one day I tried to catch her asleep, but when I hit the lights, she opened her eyes. Anyway, here she is one-second post-nap:
If you can see her face, she doesn't look too happy to be woken up with a big flash in her face :)
We finally gave the kids a bath together Saturday night and it was so fun! I know the day will come when it's neither appropriate nor convenient to bathe them together, but for now, it was fun and both of them loved it!!!
Now that Tag is eating food, we've been needing to get a new chair for Kinsey so Nana and Pops came to the rescue with a chair that will grow with the kids. Kinsey was all too happy to help Pops put the chair together, especially since it meant she got to play with a screwdriver.
While they were here, Nana brought some very special shoes for Kinsey. She's been playing at Emma's house and she loves to play dress-up there and a couple of weeks ago, Nana took her to cooking class at Emma's and she wanted to wear Emma's high-heel play shoes, but another girl was wearing them so she was broken-hearted. So sweet Nana got her a special pair of high-heeled Princess shoes of her own. It's amazing how well she walks in these!
Between everyone being sick, this was the first time in a few weeks that the kids had Nana and Pops here together and they had a really good time.
The return of "Attack of the Bows" happened on Thursday morning last week. Douglas took his 1/2 day off of work to get some rest and let me run some errands. He kept the kids and when I got back, Kinsey was "bowed" again :)
She loves doing that, but we had to take them out a couple of hours later because her princess crown wouldn't stay on her head with the bows there!
So Kinsey's favorite Christmas game has become positioning Nativity window clings. Grammy had these for her at her house and Kinsey had so much with them there. Grammy sent us a set for here, and Kinsey loves to move them around and sing Away in a Manger and re-tell the Bible story while she puts them in their spots.
I have to share 2 funny pictures. Our church staff is awesome - Keith, Nick, and Douglas really wanted all of us who serve to feel appreciated and loved this year, so at our Ministry Appreciation Dinner, they dressed as Howie Mandel from Deal or No Deal, Jeff Foxworthy from Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, and Ryan Seacrest from American Idol. They acted out each show, using volunteers from the audience, and lots of people won gift cards and fun prizes. The guys were so great as their alter-egos - here are a couple of pics of them...
Tag continues to grow. I swear he's going to be as big as Kinsey by the time he turns 1! Here are a couple of shots of him from this last week.
So CC sent Kinsey some awesome boots this week and she couldn't wait to wear them to church. Douglas bought this pancho for her in Peru when I was first pregnant with Kinsey and in this outfit, she was a big hit!
And finally, allow me to get mushy. Here is an oh-so-rare shot of Mommy with the kiddos.
At this time of year when we give thanks and reflect over the last year and the year to come, I am remembering that last year at this time, I was able to quit my job at Accenture and stay home with Kinsey (and later Taggart) full-time. I am eternally grateful to Douglas for his sacrifices of work, energy, money, and most of all, sleep, that allowed me to do so. He is my hero in so many ways, but one of the top ones is the fact that he values me and my contribution to him, our home, and our kids far above the financial gain that we could receive if I worked a regular job. I love my kiddos - the fact that they are so gorgeous is just icing on the cake of their sweet personalities and fun-loving spirits. Ok, I'm starting to get a diabetic rush from the sweetness of this post. Later guys!
Hey there, here are a few updates and some pics from the weekend with Poppi & Grammy.
Here she is all bundled up for the cold weather. 
She is really hoping that Santa will bring snow for Christmas. The other day it was cold outside, but not quite this cold, and she said "Mommy, this cold outside makes my head wish it had a hat!" One other funny Kinsey-ism: last week she said she wanted me to plug-in her Christmas tree so she could "plug it out" when she wanted the lights off.
As promised weeks ago, here are a couple of more pics from Thanksgiving. It was really nice to get to see the Tennison side of the family and get a big group shot, even if I was looking at Taggart :)
And through the magic of cropping, here's a shot of us with my grandmother (Ganny) and her husband, Bill. 
And here's Kinsey reading with Ganny at her house.
Kinsey's sweet friends Emma and Jacob got her and Taggart some cute Christmas gifts this year. Kinsey was really excited about the gardening set - she thinks the kneeling pad is for standing, and she's really excited about her "garden tool belt" and tools - can't wait for Spring!!!
This weekend we had a visit from Grammy and Poppi and some early Christmas celebrating. Here are some shots of Kinsey and Tag with their grandparents...
They got her some cool foam blocks for building and playing with letters and numbers. 
And they brought some presents from Ganny, too including silly glasses and some books for Kinsey...
...and a really cool dump truck for Tag...
Kinsey had fun opening stockings and presents...
Great visit Grammy & Poppi! 
Merry Christmas everyone!
Feeding Tag is quite an event. He's so intent on getting his fingers in his mouth in between each bite and trying to grab the spoon and trying to put my wedding ring and finger in his mouth...well, it's kind of an aerobic workout as well as an exercise in patience!! I had to capture the outcome after dinner tonight :)
Our digital camera totally died a couple of months ago so we gave it to Kinsey to play with. Last night we wore the kids out taking pics in front of the tree for Christmas cards and such. So Kinsey decided she was going to play photographer afterwards. She kept brushing our hair and positioning the tripod and the camera and then telling us to say cheese. By the way, she's nekkid because she had pasta after the picture-taking and I was trying to prevent stains on the cute clothes.
...and here he is with PawPaw (Douglas' grandfather) 
Kinsey enjoyed getting to see both of them as well. Here she is with PawPaw:
There's some of her with Ganny, but I forgot to get copies from Mom's camera so I'll have some more in a couple of weeks when they come visit.
So here are the slideshows...
And then we were all back outside for some serious creek/waterfall time. Warning, some of these shots may be dangerous to grandparents' sensitive hearts - I promise it wasn't near as precarious as it seems from the photos.
If you can see her face, she doesn't look too happy to be woken up with a big flash in her face :)
Now that Tag is eating food, we've been needing to get a new chair for Kinsey so Nana and Pops came to the rescue with a chair that will grow with the kids. Kinsey was all too happy to help Pops put the chair together, especially since it meant she got to play with a screwdriver.
While they were here, Nana brought some very special shoes for Kinsey. She's been playing at Emma's house and she loves to play dress-up there and a couple of weeks ago, Nana took her to cooking class at Emma's and she wanted to wear Emma's high-heel play shoes, but another girl was wearing them so she was broken-hearted. So sweet Nana got her a special pair of high-heeled Princess shoes of her own. It's amazing how well she walks in these! 
Between everyone being sick, this was the first time in a few weeks that the kids had Nana and Pops here together and they had a really good time.
The return of "Attack of the Bows" happened on Thursday morning last week. Douglas took his 1/2 day off of work to get some rest and let me run some errands. He kept the kids and when I got back, Kinsey was "bowed" again :)
She loves doing that, but we had to take them out a couple of hours later because her princess crown wouldn't stay on her head with the bows there!
I have to share 2 funny pictures. Our church staff is awesome - Keith, Nick, and Douglas really wanted all of us who serve to feel appreciated and loved this year, so at our Ministry Appreciation Dinner, they dressed as Howie Mandel from Deal or No Deal, Jeff Foxworthy from Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, and Ryan Seacrest from American Idol. They acted out each show, using volunteers from the audience, and lots of people won gift cards and fun prizes. The guys were so great as their alter-egos - here are a couple of pics of them...
Tag continues to grow. I swear he's going to be as big as Kinsey by the time he turns 1! Here are a couple of shots of him from this last week.
So CC sent Kinsey some awesome boots this week and she couldn't wait to wear them to church. Douglas bought this pancho for her in Peru when I was first pregnant with Kinsey and in this outfit, she was a big hit!
And finally, allow me to get mushy. Here is an oh-so-rare shot of Mommy with the kiddos. 
At this time of year when we give thanks and reflect over the last year and the year to come, I am remembering that last year at this time, I was able to quit my job at Accenture and stay home with Kinsey (and later Taggart) full-time. I am eternally grateful to Douglas for his sacrifices of work, energy, money, and most of all, sleep, that allowed me to do so. He is my hero in so many ways, but one of the top ones is the fact that he values me and my contribution to him, our home, and our kids far above the financial gain that we could receive if I worked a regular job. I love my kiddos - the fact that they are so gorgeous is just icing on the cake of their sweet personalities and fun-loving spirits. Ok, I'm starting to get a diabetic rush from the sweetness of this post. Later guys!
