resolute

Happy 2012

We've been thinking long and hard about our goals for the New Year.

I thought I would share a few resolutions from my favorite girls....

Happy New Year from the Tippins Family!!

Christmas Top Ten

Presenting....


"The Top Ten Lessons Learned During Christmas 2011"


1.  Looks can be deceiving....especially during a "white elephant" gift exchange at MawMaw's house. :)
Exhibit A: Precious MawMaw who is as sweet as they come, tends to laugh the hardest at all the inappropriate gifts, and enjoy partaking in this little "tradition" more than we ever could have imagined evidenced by her gift below and her contagious laugh when her SON received it! :)

Exhibit B: self explanatory (it's amazing what a little modge podge can do!) ;)


2.  There is no such thing as too many Christmas outfits (unless you're asking Jeffrey) ;-) There is such a thing as "not enough time to wear them all."  If only it were acceptable to start wearing Christmas themed clothing as soon as the stores start putting out their Christmas decorations. If that were the case, my girls would be decked out come September.

3.  No matter how hard I try, I can't predict which gifts will be the "favorites"
Case in point, Libbi has been playing with a doctor kit (cheap-o, last minute, tacky set of "tools" that I bought on a whim) and a a clearance set of bathtub binoculars non-stop. Not the dolls, books, or princess accessories that I had assumed she would be enthralled with. go figure.

4.  No matter how hard Santa tries, he can't win them all. :)
Since Libbi's current favorite movie is The Lion King, Santa brought her a stuffed Simba and a stuffed Pumba.  I thought she would be so thrilled to see those two sitting beside each other when she came downstairs for the first time...but it didn't quite work out that way.  She rounded the corner, took one look at them and said, "Where's Timon? Why Santa no bring me timon?" sigh.

5.  Don't put candy in the stockings. Nothing else matters once Libbi sees the candy. And no matter how many ridiculously awesome presents we just lavished upon her, I suddenly become the meanest mom in the world because I won't open a reese's peanut butter christmas tree at the crack of dawn while we're opening gifts. ahem.

6.  Christmas will still come even if I don't send out Christmas cards....really, it will!
I just couldn't get it together this year. At least not in time for Christmas. And while I loved getting all of the cards from our friends and family, I still hated not sending out our own. But, Christmas still came and we still celebrated and I don't think anyone crossed us off their Christmas Card List just because we didn't send any out this year....right????
....right?!?! ;-) (ps - we are sending out New Year's cards)


7.  We will need to practice our "thankful faces" many times throughout 2012 so as to have them perfected by next Christmas. This year, we were off our game.


8.  There's nothing sweeter than seeing your children pick out gifts for each other and then watching their faces fill with joy when they realize that giving really is better than receiving. :)
Libbi picked out the cutest little toy for Laney. She was SO proud of it and even helped me wrap it. She showed it to Laney no less than 50 times a day and would remind her that she got it for her. She kept saying, "See Lay-Lay....it's a jingle bell" (it was a little toy that has a bell in it). But she felt sure that if she said it in a whisper it wouldn't ruin the surprise for Laney. And Laney was sweet enough to act every bit as surprised as Libbi would have hoped.

9.  No matter what the toy is, it always looks way more fun when someone else is playing it. Especially when that someone else is your sister...

And while we're at it, toys are really not all that necessary. You can garner way more laughs (and exert more energy) just running laps around, over, and in between your baby sister.

10. It's not all about the packages, bows, fixings, and trimmings. Christmas isn't about baking cookies, checking things off a list, opening presents, or even fancy decorations. It's about celebrating the birth of our Savior. If my girls never remember what their favorite toy was, what they wore to Christmas dinner, or even if they helped bake cookies; I'm okay with that. As long as they know that we celebrate the birth of a risen Savior at Christmas time (and all year through!) then they will have grasped the most important lesson!  I pray that we won't get so caught up in traditions that we forget about the true meaning of CHRISTmas! Don't get me wrong, we love our Christmas traditions and definitely plan on making more, but when it comes down to it, sometimes less really is more. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure Mary didn't dress Jesus in a smocked coming home outfit, the wise men didn't bring him gag gifts, and the shepherds surely didn't bake him homemade sugar cookies. ;-)


I hope y'all had a Merry Christmas!! Enjoy the last day of 2011 :)

christmas card outtakes...

I had every intention of getting our Christmas cards out by December 1st this year, but unfortunately, that just didn't happen.

We tried SO hard to get a good picture of everyone together, but as I'm sure most of you know, it's next to impossible to get an almost 2.5 year old and a 7 month old to cooperate.

We made several attempts and I pulled out every trick in the book. I would hoot and holler and stand on my head if it meant that we could get a decent picture.

Spoiler Alert:

It didn't happen.

So if y'all are waiting on our Christmas card to arrive in your mailbox, just go ahead and plan for it around 12/01/12....

I will probably just post it on the blog this year instead of sending them out (tacky and totally lazy on my part, but...'tis the season!) :)

In the meantime....here are a few outtakes from our Christmas Photo Sesh:

(and we may or may not have someone making a cameo in these photos)

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I should have known better than to attempt a picture right after the girls woke up from naps (hence the blank stares) and during Sully's break time (hence the phone and dr. pepper)

Take Two was a little more successful...

Now, c'mon...act like you like each other! :)

On three, everyone make a silly face... 1, 2, 3!!

Individual Shots

(looks like somebody has a thing for blue mange)

"say uncle!!!!"

It's gotta be a sign that the photo shoot is over when the participants are using each other as pillows.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for....

our 2011 Tippins Family Christmas Card:

whattaya think???? :)

santa...i know him!

We went to visit Santa last week. While I was pretty sure Laney would do just fine, I had NO idea how Libbi would react. She's seemed to have grown a shy bone as of late.  While she is as loud and sassy as ever at home, she is much more reserved when she first sees new people. She likes to assess the situation and size up the person before she really lets loose. :)

For instance, there's a sweet older man that is a greeter at our church. He stands outside every Sunday and gives the kids "high fives" as they walk into the auditorium. Everyone knows and loves Mr. Bob....everyone except Libbi that is. As soon as we pull into the church parking lot, she immediately starts saying, "I no give Mr. Bob high five." Her fists remained tightly clenched until we are safely in the building leaving Mr. Bob "hanging" each and every Sunday. (And we may or may not tell her that Mr. Bob is sliding on the playground slide as we leave church on Sunday. I'm telling you what, we haven't had one incident with tantrums and meltdowns about the playground since. That, my friends, is parenting at it's finest :))

When we were at the mall last week, Santa was kind of hanging out in his little cottage just waiting on some kids to stop by. We just so happened to be walking by during this "down time" and Santa meandered out to chat with Libbi. Needless to say, she immediately became mute, her chin attached itself to her chest, and I'm sure she was silently willing herself invisible. Her little hands were tightly clenched into fists as Santa's valiant attempts at a handshake or even a high five rivaled the efforts of the infamous Mr. Bob. 

So, with those two experiences fresh in my mind, I honestly thought we were going to have one of the classic Santa freak out pictures to display this year. I tried to prepare Libbi as much as possible, but as most of you know - there are no guarantees when it comes to two-year-old's. We arrived at the mall nice and early. Libbi seemed excited, but again, I still wasn't sure. She kept telling Laney that they were going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him that they wanted "peasants" ;-)

What happened next can only be described as a series of Christmas Miracles...

Christmas Miracle #1 - there was NO line! We walked right up and saw Santa without even having to wait!

Christmas Miracle #2 - Libbi sat on his lap like she'd been doing it all her life. She was actually excited and made an attempt to smile (aka look like she's just gotten a whiff of rotting flesh)

Christmas Miracle #3 - She let Laney sit with her AND without her.

Christmas Miracle #4 - Santa was giving out slinkies! (one of Libbi's favorite toys! And I guess it's a good thing she can't read yet since Santa's elves left the "made in China" sticker right on the front of the slinky....)

Christmas Miracle #5 - Santa's chair is placed in such a way that the Great American Cookie Company's sign is highly visible by those that happen to be sitting on his lap. Let's just say that Santa's elves (and G.A.C's employees) sure knew what they were doing when they set up this whole locale.

After our successful visit with Santa, we went outside to partake in another tradition: The riding of the Macy's Pink Pig! Last year was Libbi's first time to ride the Pink Pig and since I was pregnant with Laney I was just the photographer. This year, we all got to ride! Since Laney was not allowed to sit in my lap for the ride, she and I shared a car and Libbi got to ride by herself. She was over the moon excited to ride all by herself and loved every minute of it! She loves telling Laney that she can't do something because "you just a baaaa-beeee" and this was the ultimate. :)

It's crazy how much can change in just a year! I can't believe how much Libbi has grown...was it really just a year ago that she looked like such a baby?!?

It's fun to see though, that even as some things change....others stay the same :)

(also know as the frozen face look. wonder if libbi will ever outgrow it?) ;-)

our "official" Santa pics from 2011:

parties and programs...

Libbi had her school Christmas party on Thursday. She was SO excited to have a "happy day Jesus!" (aka birthday party for Jesus). Especially since there were cupcakes involved :)

(thanks to my sweet friend, Sarah for the FREE printable for cupcake toppers on her blog!)

Somehow I ended up as the "party coordinator" (don't ask.) Which meant that I had to coordinate the snacks and crafts for the party.

We were stringing red and green fruit loops onto jingle bell necklaces.

(don't let the look of concentration fool you.  See those TWO lone fruit loops on her necklace?! That's as far as she got. The rest were her "appetizer" before the cookies...)

Then, we decorated sugar cookies

(and by "decorated" of course I mean put one little teeny tiny drop of icing on the cookie and then lick the rest off the spreader).

They had fun though, so that's what counts...right? ;-)

After such a fun day at school, we were excited to go back that night for Libbi's Christmas Program!  Of course I made sure that she had on her Sunday Best:

Kidding! :)

Those are just her "loungin' clothes" :)

I was anxious to see how Libbi would do with the big performance. She'd been singing all her little songs at home for weeks and putting on big time shows for us. She also tried unsuccessfully to get me to sing the songs (that I'd never heard) and then proceed to tell me, "not like THAT, momma!" over and over and over. She's funny because she'll be so sassy and loud at home, but then sometimes in front of people, she'll just clam up.

I had no idea if she'd sing, freeze, cry, or what during the performance.

She started off rather gracefully....

And then she saw me!

After she saw me, she refused to sing or participate until she found Buddy. ha! :) I just kept seeing her little mouth move while saying, "Where's Buddy?!?" I finally told my dad to stand up so she could see him. Once she spotted him in the crowd, she actually began to sing!

She was precious :) I have a video, but there's no way to block out the faces of all the little friends that we don't know, so I'm not going to post it (which is also why libbi is surrounded by floating "ornaments" in the pictures) ;-)

they ended the performance with, "Merry Christmas!" and blew a kiss - so sweet!!

After her big performance, she had time for a few pictures with her adoring fans.

And then she did what any other superstar does after a big show.....

drink some chocolate milk and hit the hay!

7 months!

Lay-Lay, you are 7 months old today! (well, actually yesterday, but I was a little too busy to get this post finished up....sorry!) ;-)

I can't get over the fact that 7 months have passed, while at the same time it feels like it's been so much longer!

Here is a little about you on your seventh month of life:

You are still the roly poly-est thing ever and I think everyone that ever holds you just wants to give you a squeeze!

You weigh a little over 20lbs and wear mostly size 12 month clothes, although you can still fit into a few 9 month outfits.

You are definitely a momma's girl. You can spot me from across the room and pucker that lip like nobody's business until I come to get you! I love that you get so excited to see me. Your little legs and arms just start kicking and flapping all over the place!

You have two teeth and have two more on their way. I'm hoping that they will make their final appearance soon, because you are not the most easy going "teether." You do take full advantage of the two bottom teeth you have, though. You will use them to hold all your little toys and rings and let them just dangle from your mouth while you use your hands to do other things. You're already a great multitasker. :)

One of my not so favorite things (sorry!) is one of the new noises you make. It sounds like a cross between a hyperventilating cat and a car cranking. You do this all.day.long. Whether you're happy/sad/mad you make this noise. I love you to pieces, but this noise is like nails on a chalkboard. This is one little phase I'll be happy to see you grow out of! :)

You sit up like a pro, you can roll all over the place (especially when you're fighting sleep), and you can easily put your hands and feet in your mouth. You say mama, baba, and the occasional dada. You love to smile and laugh (and we love it, too!)

You still nurse like a champ, although I have to admit, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you would take a bottle every now and then! We're still practicing, but I have a feeling you'll just bypass them and go straight to sippy cups. There are also times that I *wish* you would take a paci. It would definitely make some long nights a little easier, but I know that I'll be glad one day when we don't have to worry about breaking that habit.

You've eaten green beans, carrots, oatmeal, applesauce, and bananas (once). You didn't seem to like the bananas and you threw up all night after you ate them, so we're backing off those for a while. I have to admit, Libbi had tried a lot more foods by this point, but we're in no hurry to see you grow up. So we're just taking our time (and obviously, gaining weight is not a concern for you!)

Laney James, we couldn't have asked for a sweeter baby... you are pure sugar !! I am so thankful that the Lord chose us to raise you and I pray every day that you will grow into a kind and loving little girl. I know that the Lord has great things in store for you precious Laney girl, and I can't wait to see what your future holds (but I'm okay with waiting....we're in no hurry!!) ;-)

Happy Seven Months!!!

and for comparison's sake....

from the waist down they could be twins! :)