A Beautiful Mess

Things have been rough lately. The twins are hard. They've started biting. Mother's Day Out is over for the time being. The laundry continues to grow exponentially while my ability to do it continues linearly. I haven't showered in 48 hours. I didn't brush my teeth until 2 pm yesterday. A random family caught the boys before they ran out into a parking lot at the splash park today when I wasn't looking. I find myself looking around and thinking,

What a mess.

I long for a day off. Just a day to go walk around Target. Or browse random antique stores for junk I don't really need. Or watch a trashy Lifetime movie. Or go eat a meal without a child on my lap or while driving with my knee. I just feel tired.

Then I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself. Because I'm so lucky to have all of this:

I got to see Laney be a flower girl for the first time last weekend. She was stunning.

She chased and crushed on the ring bearer all weekend long. This would have been adorable if he wasn't her cousin (I guess we should explain that soon).

The boys got dressed up and Parker immediately started posing. Such a ham.

Brooks clung to Daddy (in true Brooks fashion).

And some nose-picking ruined my only shot of a picture of the boys together.

Our life really is just a mess. A beautiful, beautiful mess.

That's My Baby

Laney has a very bold and dominant personality. This surprised me at first because Marshall and I are both very go-with-the-flow and were actually both pretty timid and shy children. I just wasn't expecting her to be the little spit fire she is.

But I love it.

I don't want to break her spirit or stifle her true personality. I know they're going to serve her very well as she ages. It's just hard to wear those big pants when you're 3. Or I guess it's actually just hard for me to know when and how to reign her in appropriately. I definitely don't want to be one of those moms who lets her kid get away with being mean and blames it on a "strong will."

Most of the time, though, she just cracks me up. Like today at the park. An older kid (like so old that I was wondering why he was playing on the playground) couldn't get through a pathway because Brooks was in the way. He said, "Ugh...I can't get by because of this baby." Laney marched right up there, looked the kid in the face, and sternly said, "HEY. That's my baby."

Now, she can't even tell them apart and has no idea which of her babies it was. But it was her baby. And nobody was gonna talk to him like that. Big sisterhood suits this girl.

Fall Photos

Each year my side of the family has pictures made in November. We use the same photographer that shot our engagements and wedding. She's great. On the way there, I told my mom I thought this year would be easier than last year and the year before. Five minutes into the shoot, we looked at eachother and started cracking up. It was sooo chaotic. Getting two 18-month-olds and a 3-year-old to sit still and look in the same direction at the same time is just about impossible. Tammy captured some great shots, nonetheless. We're up on her photography blog. Go take a look!

Tammy Marcelain's Photography Blog

Boo.

Trick-or-Treat 2012 was a success! This was the first year that it was actually fun. I'm pretty sure Laney thought it was the best night of her life.

Of course, a good picture of them all together was far too much to ask. Laney tried.

But we all had a BLAST! There's even talk of a decorated trailer complete with lights, music, and lots of friends for next year. Having kids makes the holidays so much fun. The magic has returned!

Penny Lane

One of our sweet kitty cats, Penny, was hit by a car last night and passed away. We are heart broken! She was a little over 4 years old. Luckily, a neighbor saw it happen and told Marshall in time for him to hold her and talk to her before she passed. All of our kids love our kitty cats (especially Laney). She was worried about us last night because we were so sad, so we decided to go ahead and tell her that we were crying because we wouldn't get to see Penny anymore. We told her Penny went to Heaven. This morning, she woke up and asked, "Mommy are you happy now? Did Penny come back yet?!" She looked around for her for a little bit. Jack (our other cat) has also been looking around for her and meowing. Breaks my heart!!!

It's crazy how pets can hold such a huge place in a family. Penny loved being around people and was so incredibly patient with our babies. She let them poke her, pull her tail and whiskers, hold her, and mess with her all the time (I think she knew that was their way of loving on her). So unlike a cat! We're already missing our little party girl, Penny! I don't think I can do this pet thing again. It's too sad when they go!

Nicknames: Penny Poo, Peeny Deeny, Penny Pie, Peener Weener, Peeeeeeeny

Laney Lou and Cousin Kate

I feel like I don't take / post enough pictures of the kids. I just never have an extra hand for my camera! And when I finally do get the chance to sit down and blog, they're asleep. Ha. I post the most pictures on my Instagram (Go follow me! melanie87), but even that hasn't seen any action in a few days.

Since I don't have any super new pictures, I'll show you some from a few months ago of Laney and her cousin, Kate. I guess they're not technically cousins. She's Marshall's cousin's daughter. So what is that? A 2nd cousin? Anyway, Kate and family just recently moved to town, too, which we're SO excited about! I never had family close when I was growing up, so I'm thrilled that Laney will.

These two could not be more different, which is so neat. Kate has a big brother and is very rough and tumble. She's just precious! She's always up for rough housing and a scrape on the knee or a trip-and-fall-down won't even elicit a cry from her.

We all got to hang out at Lake LBJ for my mother-in-law's Sister Reunion about 2 months ago, and it was TOO FUNNY to watch these two! Kate was splashing around and Laney would not even get her hair wet. Ha. Maybe if we hang out enough, Kate will toughen our girly girl up a bit!

Marshall's other cousin also just had a baby boy, Tristan. He is the perfect little pal for P&B! Look at those proud dads with their sons! I'm so glad Marshall's whole family likes to pop those kids out early like us...ha! These "cousins" are going to have a blast growing up together!

My Boys

Guys, I'm so behind on loading pictures onto my computer. The Macbook finally crashed back in April or so (boooo) and we were computer-less up until 2 weeks ago. So now that I'm finally getting to dump my camera onto this new computer, I'm finding so many pictures that I simply have to blog about. I just died when I saw these that I took of my boys on Easter. I know. That's a long time ago. But look at these troopers letting me dress them up all matchy-matchy! How long do you think they'll go for that? Junior high? High school? Ha. I won't hold my breath.

It's Brooks in both of the pictures with one baby. Parker slept all day and didn't want to take part in the full photo shoot, I guess.

It's hard to handle all this handome in one house. My heart explodes often. :)

Hello Splash Pad!

So Abilene finally caught up and got a splash pad. Hallelujah! It opened this past weekend. We went on Sunday evening with a family from our new Life Group. This park is nothing to write home about, but we'll definitely go back. Just enough water to cool the kids off on these 100+ days.

Laney held true to this new "girly girl" phase she's in and barely got wet. That girl wears me out sometimes. She swears she had fun, though, and can't wait to go back. I'm calling it a win.



Our GiGi

Marshall's sweet grandmother, Gaye Morris Griffith, passed away at 72 years old last week unexpectedly after suffering from a short illness. She had become a huge part of our lives over the past 2 years. We looked forward to our weekly dinners with her and her husband James. I grew really close with her this past summer when she spent most of her time with me at my house helping take care of the boys. She was a twin herself, so she had a special place in her heart for them. All three of my kids absolutely loved her and I had grown to adore her, as well. She kept up with my blog all the time, so I wanted to remember her on here. Our hearts are aching from this sudden loss, but we are glad she did not suffer long. GiGi, we'll miss you always and remember you often. You mean the world to us.

Family Photo Faux Pas

I love pictures. Love them. And I'm not the best at taking them myself. Luckily, we have an amazing photographer, Tammy Marcelain, that has become very special to our family and captures most of our "big moments" for us. We found her while searching for somebody to take our engagement and wedding  photos, and after she did, we were hooked. I'll know I've arrived when I can afford to have her follow my family around and photograph ALL our special moments (still holding my breath for that one).

As you can imagine, I've been looking forward to our first set of full family photos since the day I found out I was pregnant with our twins. I couldn't wait for that perfect picture of our complete little family of five. What I didn't expect was the SHEER CHAOS that goes with trying to photograph three children all under the age of two. I mean, I should have known. I did already have one photograchically-uncooperative child by that time. But I didn't. Here's a little how it went: The twins were either sleeping or awake, but never at the same time. Brooks pooped all over his precious little diaper cover at the very beginning of the shoot. Parker peed on both my mom and Marshall at different times. Laney was having NO PART of cooperating for any picture to be taken of her. Instead she was crying and running around messing her hair up like a crazy girl. The temperature in the house was nearly 100 degree. And every adult in that room was in need of a VERY stiff drink. Tammy, though, was so incredibly patient with us and shot all sorts of pictures (and re-shot them when they didn't work out the first time) for over 3 hours! She got some really great ones. I am so pleased! If you want to see the great ones, go to her website by clicking here. If you want to see the out-takes, read on.

Many thanks to my sassy and stubborn sweet little angel-face Laney, we didn't get that perfect family photo. But we did get some pretty funny ones that are just priceless and probably better than a perfect one anyway. Here is my favorite one:

Parker is sleeping and Brooks is screaming. Laney somehow doesn't look like she was being the absolute toot she was being. Marshall is looking down and wishing he were anywhere else in the world. And I'm smiling this totally embarrassed and uncomfortable smile that only a mom can understand. IT'S PERFECT!

Here are some of the other ones that I love that didn't make the cut. Enjoy!

Lauren Michele

I just finished reading the most recent post on a blog that belongs to a person that I do not know. Well, I keep up with her blog and actually feel like I know her pretty well (disturbing, I know), so I guess I should say she doesn't know me. When tears began running down my face as I scrolled through the words, I began to wonder exactly what it was about her blog that made it so good. And I realized something- she has good characters. She talks about the people she loves and is around so much that you begin to care about them, too! So, I've decided to start "introducing" some of the key players in my life (other than Laney, of course, because you already know all about that little sweetie!).

SIDE NOTE: I kicked Marshall off the "contributors" list for this blog. Because he never asked to be a "contributor" anyways and only posted one time when I begged him to. Ha!

Back on track. I want to introduce you to my sister, Lauren. If I had to rank the most important people in my life, she'd be one of a select few tying for first place. She's my only sibling and has become one of my best friends as we've grown into adults. Here are some things about her:

-She makes one great aunt. From the moment I found out that I was pregnant, she loved Laney almost as much as I did. She was in the hospital room with us when I gave birth to Laney and was the first one to actually "see" her. I needed her in there with me because she puts me at ease with her confidence and laughter. And laugh we did, even as I entered into labor.

-She's pretty stinking funny. Her wonderful sense of humor blossomed when she was about 12 years old and she's had us in stitches ever since. She's so witty at the most unexpected times. She'll make fun of anyone...and it ends up being hilarious and not mean. Well, maybe a little mean, but she can get away with it for some reason!

-She loves fashion and make-up. And she's a VERY talented make-up artist. I actually ended up canceling my make-up appointment the day of my wedding because I got nervous and knew that Lauren would make it look just how I wanted. I can't remember the last time I went shopping without her. A lot of times I feel like she's my older sister even though she's younger because I'm always wanting her approval on anything I wear. And ANY time she's home from college, I have her come do my make-up- even if I'm not going anywhere special. It's one of my favorite things. :)

-She's a natural athlete. I found this picture on Facebook (she's gonna kill me). It's from when she played youth basketball and was (as you can see) a BEAST compared to all her peers. Unlike me, Lauren excelled in soccer, basketball, track, and volleyball. I've always admired her muscular legs and athleticism. We can only hope that Laney might inherit some of those genes of Lauren's that are oh-so-absent in me!

-She looks a lot like me. I guess I should say "we look a lot alike," but I'm sticking with "she looks a lot like me" because I'm older! When people get us confused and call me Lauren, I take it as such a compliment because I think she's so beautiful. I want to look like her when I grow up.

Those are my favorite things about Lauren. Now you'll REALLY know who I'm talking about when I mention her in my posts. She's pretty special. I don't know what I'd do without her. She's the reason I want to have another girl- so that Laney can experience having a sister the way I have gotten to. There's nothing like sisterhood. Lauren is the only person I can really trust on certain things. Simple things. Like how I look in an outfit. Or what I should do in a certain situation. She's just so special to me. And now you know why.

The Fayes

This picture was taken while we were at Gulf Shores this year, but it somehow got left out of the post I made earlier. It's special because it includes all the living Fayes, named after Faye Casey (my great-grandmother) who is no longer with us. Hopefully someday Laney can continue the Faye legacy with a daughter of her own. Lauren was mad that she got kicked out of the picture and became the picture-taker because her middle name is Michele. She says she's starting her own line of "Micheles." I guess I'll have to take their picture for them when the time comes, because she was so good to take this one for us. :)

Laney Faye, Melanie Faye, Amelia Faye, & Doretha Faye:

Good, Great, GREAT Great.

I only have a few minutes to complete this post- by then, Laney will be more than tired of her jumper and quite ready to be doing something else! Here goes. When I started hanging out with Marshall and getting to know his family nearly 8 years ago, I thought it was so special that I got to meet his great-grandfather, Eldon Roberts. All of my great-grandparents had passed on either before I was born or when I was quite young, so I never got the privilege of really getting to know them as an adult. I've spent much time with Eldon "Paw Paw" Roberts since then, and have come to love him very much. When we found out that we were expecting a child last spring, Marshall and I were thrilled at the thought that she would have a great, GREAT-grandfather (yes, that's two "greats"). A few weeks after Laney was born, we got all dressed up in white to have dinner with Marshall's side of the family at Fairway Oaks Country Club and take THE five-generation picture, including Eldon Roberts, Gaye Griffith, Dale Morris, Marshall Morris, and Laney Morris. The picture ran in the Abilene Reporter News two Saturdays ago. Here is the original: