Random Pictures of Tatum

I have several random pictures of Tatum that I thought I would post.

This first one was from Oct 25th, in the morning before her birthday party started...

This next one was one day after school. She made a little hat that had squirrel ears and a tail on the back. She did not want to put it on her head to take a picture, but we managed to get one of her smiling...

Tatum's grandmommy (my mom) got this little bike for Tatum, so we decided to try it out one day this week. We brought it inside since it was raining. (side note, please ignore all of the diaper boxes in the background) I am doing some cleaning and rearranging and don't want to throw out the boxes just in case I might need them...

Another night, Tatum started playing with one of Antonio's motorcycle helmets after she got done with bathtime. She thought it was so funny that the face plate (is that what it's called) would go up and down....

Finally, that same night Tatum decided she wanted to help me clean up a little bit. She was taking a break in the picture below to watch some Elmo...

Tatum says she only charges $50 an hour, so she can come do your house too! It might not be clean when she leaves, but you will have some entertainment for a while.

That's it for now. Check out all of the new blogs below.....there are several.

Happy Birthday Antonio!

Tuesday was Antonio's birthday and since I am not working, I decided to try to make him a cake. We had plans to go to Antonio's parent's house for dinner, so I was a little nervous that it wouldn't turn out great and I would have to leave it at home or else be embarrassed. Anyway, I decided to take step by step pics of how the cake progressed to either laugh at or be proud of later. You can be the judge as to which one I should do...

I wanted to make a layer cake, so first I just cooked a regular cake and as soon as it was done, I turned it over and got it out of the pan. As you can see, the bottom half stuck to the pan, so I had to scrape it off and replace it.....Let me just say now, if you hadn't already figured it out, that I am NOT BETTY CROCKER! lol

I let it cool for a while and then cut the cake in half and placed the bottom half in the pan first...as you can see, this cake is crumbling apart and at this point I was not very hopeful...

Next I added a layer of chocolate pudding....

Then a layer of whipped cream along with crumbled up Butterfinger candy bars.

Then the other half of the cake...

pudding....

more whipped cream....

and finally more crumbled up Butterfinger candy bars...

Don't think I am a crazy, pregnant woman who just randomly came up with the idea for this cake. One of my caters I use for work actually does a cake similar to this and it is MY FAVORITE. However, she won't give me her recipe, so I guessed this is how she did it.

Anyway, I figured the cake was good enough to take to my inlaw's house.

Here it is with the candles...

And here is Antonio about to blow out the candles. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the best picture because Caiden was between us.

The cake was a HIT! Everyone loved it and I was very proud that they did. We ate over half of it and I sent the rest home with Antonio's sister so she could take it to work with her the next day. It was kind of hard to watch it go out the door with her, but I knew if it was in the house, I would eat it all and that would not be good.

After dinner, we hung out and played. Of course, Tatum played with her FAVORITE person....Uncle Chris...

Chris and Eliana (aka Aunt E. E.)

Tatum wanted to jump in the picture too....

We really didn't do much to celebrate Antonio's birthday yet, but we are going to dinner and a movie Friday night and then going shopping Saturday for some things. Thanks to Chris and Eliana for keeping Tatum so that we can go out on a little date.

Saturday Birthday Celebration

Saturday, Antonio, Tatum, Laurie, Mckayla, Mya, my dad, my mom, and I all went to my grandmother's house to celebrate my mom's birthday. We hung out and visited at my grandmother's house and then headed to lunch.

Here is a picture of Tatum and Mya.
My dad, Tatum, Mya, and Laurie

Tatum giving Mya a hug...

Tatum and Mya were cheering for Mckayla while she did some cartwheels for everyone.

The birthday cake....my mom's birthday was on 11/7 and Antonio's was 11/11 so we kind of celebrated them both at the same time.

My mom with her new camera.

Gran with her great grandchildren...Mya and Tatum

We went to eat at the Old Country Store. After we finished eating the girls decided to get up on stage and play. Mckayla would sing and Tatum and Mya were supposed to cheer.

Now they are cheering....

My pictures are out of order, but here is my dad helping my mom open her present...the camera.

Gran and my dad...

It was so nice to relax and visit for a while. My grandmother also spoiled me a bit. For some reason, I have been wanting some HOMEMADE applesauce....I know, weird. Anyway, my grandmother made some for me and it was perfect! She didn't even offer it to anyone else! I got to take it all home with me...YUMMY!

Tatum's Big Girl Room

We moved Tatum into her Big Girl Room a few weeks ago and she is doing great (except for waking up around 5:30-6am every morning). Anyway, here are some pictures of her room from a few weeks ago. There is still nothing up on her walls, but it does look more lived in now.
We got this bookcase from some friends (Chuck and Cindy) and it works perfectly in her room. We were in desperate need of somewhere to put all of Tatum's books and other random things, so this was great. Tatum has tried to climb it a few times, but I think we have gotten it through to her that climbing the bookcase is NOT a great idea.

Here is her bed, of course. When we bought the bedding, I thought a bed skirt came with it, but I was wrong. So, we had to buy it seperate and that is why it's not on there in these pics. Also, this bed is the one that Antonio sanded down and repainted for Tatum. It turned out great in my opinion and was MUCH cheaper than buying a new bed.

Here is a better pic of the empty bookcase. Like I said before, it is pretty full now, so I need to take new pics.

And finally, here is Tatum's dresser. This is the one that we sanded, repainted, and changed the drawer handles on. I am very proud that we were able to use the furniture that we already had vs. having to pay for all new stuff.

That's it as far as her room goes. I will be posting a few more blogs today, so stay tooned.

Halloween Pics (I know, VERY LATE)

I am WAY behind on blogging, so I decided that I would play catchup today. We will start with Halloween. Tatum was a Memphis Cheerleader this year. I tried and tried to find the "perfect" costume for her, but didn't find anything I really liked that I was willing to pay $30 for her to just wear it once, so I got her a new cheerleading outfit. She also wouldn't keep anything on her head and had to wear her costume to school, so that eliminated lots of costumes. If I had my way, she would have been AMIGO Care Bear like the one she always carries around, but no such costume exists. Anyway, here are some pictures of Tatum before we headed to school...

I left my camera at daycare so her teacher could take pictures of the class. As you can see, Tatum was not wanting to pose for her picture to be taken. These pics are not good, but it's the only ones I have. This is also the last day that Tatum was in this class, she moved up to the 2 yr old class the following Monday.

Obviously, we are not the only Memphis fans that have kids at our daycare. Tatum had a twinkie at school and her teacher got some pics for me.

Halloween night Antonio had to work late, so I decided to take Tatum to a church around the corner that was having "Trunk or Treat". Tatum loved it and did such a great job. She told everyone "Thank You!' after they would give her candy. We just stayed for a few minutes and then we went back home. I took her to 3 neighbor's houses of people we like so she could experience the REAL trick or treating. She had a blast doing that. Then we headed home to pass out candy for the rest of the night.

What Do YOU Think???

While I was pregnant with Tatum, I didn't get "hormonal" and mess with my hair at all....this time, i can't say the same thing. I got it cut short a few months ago, and this past week, I decided to go dark. Here is a picture....

So, I am not in LOVE with it. I actually thought she was going to do it a little darker, but my hair dresser thought I would regret it, so she did it a shade lighter. I also told her I wanted blonde highlights around my face still. There are a few, but not as many as I had hoped. Overall, I can live with this until I go back, but I am not sure if I should have gone darker? or if I need to add more blonde in it when I go back next time.....what do YOU think?

Side note, I usually style it a little sassier with it flipping out in the back and stuff, but I took this picture today on my phone before I headed to physical therapy, so I figured I shouldn't get too "dolled up".

Do you like it like it is? Do you say GO DARKER?? or Do you say BRING BACK THE BLONDE??(You can be honest, it won't hurt my feelings, I promise)

Below is a "before" me with blonde hair. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago.