Aunts and Uncles are so much fun....

Tori loves all of her Aunts and Uncles. I didn't realize how much fun it was going to be to watch my baby sisters and brothers loving on my baby like I have always loved on them. And Brandon is a wonderful Uncle!! I know it's fun for Adam to see too!
(Picture of Thomas and more recent one of Tori and G coming soon!!!)

One of my most favorite quotes ever!!

It still makes me tear up every time I see it.... because it's just soooo true!!!! My baby is growing up so fast... especially right now, I have to remember this!

Cleaning and scrubbing 
Can wait for tomorrow
For babies grow up 
We've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs, 
Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby, 
And babies don't keep

This is Tori, 4 hours old, the first time I laid eyes on her... 

What a precious moment

5 puppies, 1 dog, and 2 cats

That is 8 animals!!! Not to mention my 2 year old is completely and totally infatuated with the puppies and wants to be with them 24/7. 


My house is pure Chaos!! Needless to say I am very busy around here these days. 


Mya has mastitis, so we are having to give her antibiotics twice a day, and the vet said we need to go ahead and wean the puppies because they are big and healthy, and don't really need her anymore. Well, they are not too happy about this and cry for their mama quite a lot. Mya hates taking these pills and Adam and I literally spend 10 minutes or more every morning and night trying to shove them down her throat (we've tried treats, cheese, even spaghetti, nothing works). 


I am mopping at least once a day, cleaning up poop and pee all day long, and doing 2 loads of puppy laundry every day. 


This is no fun!! 


The pups are cute, sweet, and fun to have around... but man, am I ready to get them outta here!! I thought it would be hard to see them go, but after seeing all the work it takes to have 5 babies in the house, I am so glad, that I don't have to take care of them much longer!!


All 5 will be moving on to their new owners sometime in March. WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!! It's been an experience, but not one I would like to repeat any time soon!! Next time puppies come through the Battershell house, I want to be totally ready for them!! No more surprises for me!!

4 years ago today...

My sweet husband asked me to be his girlfriend 4 years ago on this day. Silly girls remember these things, but I was so pleasantly surprised when Adam told me happy anniversary this morning. What a sweet guy! I love him :) Here's a blast from the past!!

We look so little!! 

Playdate

Today we had a playdate with Emily and Taylor Kennedy. Taylor was adorable and called Tori, "Ori." Loving time spent with our newest friends!!

Conversation about Jesus with Tori

Tori is so young and sometimes I have a hard time explaining things to her about Jesus. Tonight, after she had disobeyed and we were talking about what she had done, we had the sweetest conversation about Jesus.

Me: Tori, it makes Jesus sad when we don't obey our Mommy!
Tori: And it make Mommy sad too?
Me: Yes and we have to say we're sorry and make it all better
Tori: I sorry Mommy... we be happy now!?(wish you could see her face on this one)
M: Yes we can be happy now.
T: And Jesus be happy now?
M: Yes, Jesus is happy now too!
T: I see Him mommy?
M: No baby, you can't see Jesus, but you can feel Him in your heart and you can talk to Him and He will listen! Just like when we asked Jesus to help Uncle G be all better, and now he is better! Jesus heard us when we prayed!
T: Where Jesus go?
M: Well Jesus is in Heaven
T: I go see Him?
M: One day in a LOOOONG time you can go see Him in Heaven.
T: And Mommy be there?
M: Yes Mommy will be there
(Then she went through everyone in the family's names asking me if they would be there too)
then she said the funniest thing
T: And I see Dora there?(Dora the explorer haha)
M: O I don't know about Dora... Tori where is Jesus?
T: Up der in heaven and in my hawrt(heart) (Points to the sky, and the pats her chest) and in Mommy heart(pats my chest)
Then she jumped off my lap and excitedly ran out of the room saying "I gotta go tell Daddy, I gotta tell Daddy!"

What a sweet lesson for my little 2 year old to build on throughout her life... This is only the beginning, but what a sweet one it was. Just wanted to share with everyone my first real conversation about My Savior with my sweet girl!

Calling all Backyardigans

Tori LOVES the Backyardigans. Today on our way home I took this video of Tori talking to each of the them on her play phone. Sorry for the shakiness of the video! I was focusing on the road, not the camera haha. Enjoy my little cutie.. She is so big!!
Ok yall i can't get this video to upload... try clicking the link on the left side of my blog called "Calling all Backyardigans" and watching it there!! It's just so cute!

Sweet Precious Girl

I never get tired of
 watching her sleep... 

My little munchkin hates to have her picture taken

It's become this sneaky game of how fast can I get the camera and capture this moment before she realizes that I am trying to take her picture, and hides her face from me! The other day she was sitting on the floor in her PJs with her knee up to her chin and her elbow on top propping her head up. It was so cute!! I had to have a picture. So I began the sneaking, and walked around like I was going to go get a cup of coffee. Then I peaked around the corner with the camera, and she saw me... missed it... dang! So, then I tried to get her to do it again and I said very sweetly, "Tori can you put your knee back up like you had it so mommy can take a picture??"  She laid face-down on the floor, head in her hands,  and said to me "No, you not takea my piture mommy!!! I not yike it!!" She thinks she won this one, but I think the picture I got is quite cute, Success!!

Snowlady, hot chocolate, and puppies

So this winter Tennessee has had a ton of snow!! Usually around here we are lucky if we get snow that sticks once a year. This year we have had snow, ice, more snow, and lots of kids jumping up and down when they hear "school is closed due to inclement weather." The first few times it snowed I was sick with the flu so Adam and Nana took Tori out.  I ventured out once to take a few pictures, than ran back to my warm bed. So, today when I looked outside and realized that there was enough snow to play in I said, "Ok Tori let's go!!" She played a little while, I took a few pictures, and then I thought... "Tori has never made a snowman!" I don't think she's ever even seen a real snowman. So, off we went to the front yard and made our first ever snowlady!! Tori LOOOVVEDD it! She got to help me roll the snow into balls, then we went to her dress-up basket and picked out some clothes for "Ms. Snow." It turned out to be the cutest snowlady I have ever seen!!! I can't believe we've never done this before!

She had such a blast!!!

Then after playing in the snow, we came in for hot chocolate/coffee, and I captured a few sweet moments with my little girl.

Last, but not least!! The puppies are officially "crate training" wish me luck!! The first day is going wonderfully!! After 10 minutes of whining, all 5 of them slept quietly for 2 hours in the crate! WOOHOO!!

"SHH!! Mommy the puppies seeping!!" 

Haiti Earthquake Relief

For those of you who didn't get to see the Olympic's Opening ceremony you have to watch this video!! For the second time the song "We Are the World" has been re-made. This time is was re-made for Haiti and to encourage the Haitian people during their time of need. It's been 25 years since the first re-make and it is so amazing to see all of these amazing artists recording together!! If you didn't see it WATCH IT!!!

We Are the World

Haiti Earthquake Relief

Tori making her Valentines

Our Lullaby Legacy

You know when I was little I assumed everyone's mommy sang them the same lullabies that mine sang. When I had my own child I realized that there are lullabies out there, that I have never heard. A couple months ago Tori asked me to sing the "Moon song" I was like what?? So i broke into "Heavenly" by Harry Connick Jr. She liked that well enough, but it was obviously not the song she was talking about. I then figured out that Adam's mom, Anita (Nana), sang her a song about the moon that I had never heard before. Since then I have learned "I see the Moon" and it's one of her favorites. I also have a beautiful lullaby my mama used to sing to me called, "You Will Wear Velvet." And my grandmother sang it to Tori the first time she saw her. I then found out that Adam had never heard it! So now we have one special lullaby from my family and one from Adam's that will be so sweet to pass down. Here are the lyrics to our lullaby legacy:

You Will Wear Velvet

You will wear velvet little girl

When you grow up, you'll brighten the world

You will bring laughter everywhere

Slippers of silver, will carry you there

All your life, waits for you

And somewhere, love waits too

Smiling and sleepy, close your eyes

Carry your dreams to paradise

I See The Moon

I see the moon, and the moon sees me

The moon sees the somebody I wanna see

God bless the moon, and God bless me

God bless the somebody I wanna see

It seems to me, that God above

Created you for me to love

He picked you out from all the rest

Because he knew I'd love you best

And I think, that I will add to one more song to our legacy. I absolutely love the song "Baby Mine" from the Disney movie Dumbo. If you've never heard it click here Baby Mine. This is a disney redo with all the disney mothers in it (If you watch to long it will start singing it in Spanish haha). I am a crazy Disney fan, so I love it :). Here's the lyrics

Baby Mine

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine

Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine
 

From your head down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine

O and by the way Happy Valentines Day!!!

books, books, books...

Growing up I LOVED books! Even before I could read I loved books and being read to. It's so much fun to instill the love for books in my own sweet girl. I read books to her, that were read to me when I was little, and it's so fun to read the stories as an adult and remember hearing them when you were little. To me books are little treasures. I cannot wait until we have a huge bookshelf filled with books of all kinds. Tori loves to be read to. There are days I will find her sitting in her room with piles of books around her, and one open in her lap. I love to see which book she will pick out each night, and I especially love walking down memory lane with sweet little Tori and being happy to oblige each time she says "Again Mommy!!"

We also get books each month from the Imagination Library! You can sign your child up for free and receive free books based on their age. Today we got Corduroy in the mail today! One of my childhood favorites! Tori and I have read it 4 times already.

If you want to sign-up for imagination library click the link below and click "first time visitors."

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

My Valentine

I just want the world to know how much I love my husband!! Adam and I will have been married 3 years this June and at the end of this month (Feb. 24) we will have been together for 4 years (WOAH!) haha this may not seem huge to those of you who have been married for 10+ years, but it's so amazing to see where we have come from and where we are now. Back in October Adam and I had our very first weekend away from Tori. My parents sweetly offered to send us on a marriage retreat call "A Weekend to Remember" in Memphis, and to watch Tori while we were there. It was one of the most amazing weekends of my life. We had projects to do together, a date night, and we were asked to write love letters to eachother, and to make the most of our time together. This was a life changing weekend for us. We learned so much, how to communicate better, how to understand one another, and man has it been amazing to see how our marriage has grown!!! I just want to touch a little on what we learned with a few of my favorite quotes from the speakers:
1. Make Your marriage Fireproof! 
"Fireproof does not mean fire will not come. It means you can get through it WHEN it does."
2. "Unconditional Love...Adam is my gift from God, and I receive him because of this and no other reason."
3. Our goal is to acheive oneness:
"True oneness in marriage is not possible without God."
"Differences are God's tools to teach us to trust Him and His goodness."
4.  Resolving Conflict:
"We don't want victory, we want unity."
5. Me as the wife:
"My God given role is to be my husbands helper and completer in our marriage. He is to be the leader."
"Respecting my husband is a choice that I make that no matter how he messes up or what happens I will always be here. My decision to respect him will empower him to become the man God created him to be."
"Hold my tongue, and trust God with everything including my role as Adam's wife."
6. "God has designed His word to cost more to give out, than to receive."
7. The 3 essential ingrediants for oneness in marriage:
     1. The habit of Extravagant Love- This leads to genuine intimacy
     2. The habit of Generous Forgiveness- This leads to true security
     3. The habit of Enthusiastic Encouragement- This leads to authentic unity
8. "Fill your home with contagious joy."

Marriage isn't easy, and people tell you love is a feeling all the time, but love is not a feeling!! Love is a choice you make. My last quote from this weekend is this definition for love: "The commitment of my will to your needs and best interests, regardless of the cost." Every day, that I choose to love my husband the more I "feel" the warm fuzzy feeling in my heart that we like to call love. Love cannot be defined simply as an emotion, love is more than that, it is a commitment, a sacrifice, a lifestyle, and a choice. And I choose to love my husband this valentines day, and for the rest of my life!!

We love our friends!!

Playdates are so fun!! I love to watch Tori interact with her friends. A few months ago she would still just play by herself even when her friends were there, but now she has become so social. We had so much fun with the Stewart girls today! Tori refused to smile for a picture, but I still got a few good ones!! Carlee Hayes is such a cutie! Thanks for the fun day girls!!

Puppies!!

Nova(girl)

Alaska(girl)

Atlas(boy)

Luna(girl)

Attica(girl)

Apollo(boy) RIP :(

Me, Tori, and Alaska

Last night we had our first experiance making puppy mush and the puppies LOVED it! Now we have to slowly wean them off mama's milk so they can go to their new homes around the end of March

After they ate they promptly fell asleep in my lap haha it was precious!!