I Miss Him

Look at that handsome man holding my son. My dad has been gone 1 whole year and it seems like it has been 10, and yet some days it seems like I just saw him and gave him a hug. I was thinking about him the other night and the little things that I miss about him.

I miss him calling me "Nicollie" (Long and drawn out); I miss him calling me his "Precious Kid." ; I miss his laugh when he was making a joke to tease you and how he would say "Oh, Sorry" and then laugh again. I also miss him telling me that everything will be ok and that all will work out, when I am having hard days.

Living in Michigan has taken me away from a lot of heartache, because I am not as close to my family and his absence, but at the same time I feel sad that I am not there for my mom and sister and that all I can do to help is to talk on the phone. I feel that dad left the family affairs to me and sometimes I don't think I do the best job taking care of everyone. He always had everything under control and what he couldn't control he basically would say,"To hell with it." I would give anything to see him again, to talk to him again and to hug him again. I do sometimes see him in my dreams and it seems so real and then I wake up and remember that he is gone, and the void returns. He was such a wonderful man and this world is a better place because he was in it. Love you dad and I miss you so very, very much!

Our Valentine's Day

My Valentine's Gift from Vaughn and the kids, beautiful roses. I loved the flowers and the day. (On a side note the flowers made me remember back to my college days at Dixie, Wendy you might remember me doing this, working at Cameo Florist till 2 in the morning the night before Valentine's Day and into the night on Valentine's Day. I feel bad for anyone who's in the floral business during this holiday)
But luckily I didn't have to work in a flower shop today, I got to spent it with my little family and we had a ball. We first had to get the weekly shopping done at Walmart, which we did in record time. I cut the list in half, Vaughn and Tyson took some and Taryn and I took the rest and we met at a register when we finished. We were in and out of there in 30 minutes. Good time for us.
Then it was off to the big white dome for some Mini-golf at Mulligans.
Vaughn has always told me what a good golfer he is, but his skills ran out today because I almost beat him and I was holding a baby and golfing with one hand. I had the handicap and only lost by one stroke. But he does have good form...Looking good babe!Since this was Tyson's first time mini-golfing he had no idea what to do. We had to explain to him that he didn't need to pummel the club into the dirt and rocks by the tee. He also had to learn to hit the ball gently and then wait for it to stop and let others have their turn. LOL It was a sight.

Look at the handicap I have. She is the cutest little handicap!! One handed and I still got a hole in one. YEAH....I am that good. HA HA HA just kidding.

Tyson and Vaughn's golf balls spent a few dips in the little pool areas surrounding the golfing greens. It was so funny the first time it happen because Tyson was so distraught. He thought he couldn't play anymore until we explained that we could get it out or go and get another ball. Then we found these small fishing nets made just for fishing out golf balls and he wanted to play with that for a while. GEEZ!

Tyson's wind up hit!!

It was a ball golfing. I hadn't laughed that hard for a while. After golfing we went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. YUMMY! Tyson likes that place cause he can draw on the tables and it is ok, and encouraged. It keeps him occupied. We had a nice dinner and Taryn was good to sleep through almost the whole thing. We only had to take dessert home. A memorable day with the family.

My little artist! Tyson wanted to make cookies for his friends, so I frosted them and he did all the decorating. I was impressed with his ability to make them look so good. Great job buddy!

Friday The 13 Thoughts

So I know this post is coming a few days late, but I get to the computer when I get to it.....so it's late! I had almost forgotten that Friday was a Friday the 13th, until my sister called to tell me how terrible her day had been and that it must be from it being Friday the 13th. I, on the other hand, had a wonderful Friday and like I said, totally forgot it was Friday the 13th.
When I was younger, in grade school, a whole bunch of us girls used to be completely freaked out on Friday the 13th. We were always scared of bad things happening and paid careful attention to what we did on that day, so as not to attract bad luck.
But I remember one Friday the 13th, back in 6th grade, there had been rumors on the news that a devil worshiping cult was traveling through our neck of the woods and was looking for young girls to sacrifice in the grave yard on Friday the 13th. I recall that I had a sleep over that night with my cousin Michelle at my house. We were so scared of the news that we didn't dare leave the house and I wouldn't let my parents leave either. Needless to say, I was glad when Saturday came.
Now I am not as superstitious. I have had good and bad Friday the 13th's. How about you?

We Got Out

I was going crazy today, stir crazy that is! I had to get out of the house and luckily for me, it was a nicer day, meaning it wasn't sub-zero temperatures. I got out the backpack carrier bundled up the baby and Tyson and out the door we went. It was a bit chilly, but so worth it. Taryn fell asleep, so she wasn't cold, and Tyson enjoyed the fact that he could get out of the house. It was just a short walk up to the mail, but that short walk was heaven. I am done with the snow, and ready for the spring to get here.

Every morning, for about the first 30 minutes of Taryn being awake, she will just talk in her own little lingo. She can sit or lay and just stare into nothingness and just talk away. Most mornings I am so sleep deprived that I don't even think about getting the camera out and videoing it, but last night she actually slept a bit and so did I! So I was ready with the camera to capture her debut of talking this morning. Tyson also gets a kick out of her talking. He laughs just to see if she will talk back to him. Enjoy!

The Phases of Taryn

Tyson was eager and ready to roll Taryn's ball she got from Christmas. We finally took it out of the package and decided to try it out. Tyson wanted Taryn to roll it back to him, so mom had to explain that she is still just a little bit small for that. Mom helped Taryn with the rolling part today.Here is Taryn preparing to catch the ball rolled, or should I say shoved, from her brother.

Look at that double chin. Aren't those just the cutest cheeks you have ever seen? I love chunky babies. Tyson was just as chunky and it took a long time for him to loose those chunky cheeks.

Her little legs are so fat and full of rolls that any pants I put on her have to be 6 month or bigger to go over the hips. LOL. And she is only 3 months old!

Such a beauty queen!

Tyson had her laughing while I snapped this picture. She will only laugh for him. She just loves her big brother.

Ok, so she isn't happy at all in this picture. Tyson wanted to hold her the other night and she didn't want him holding her. HA HA HA.