Defiance of a Toddler

So, let me just say my daughter has officially reached the stage of testing her mom and dad (aka: terrible twos, or in her case threes). Lately she is so defiant, it is scary. I know she is testing the waters and we are trying to be consistent with her. When it gets really bad and I don't know what else to do... I start praying out loud. Seriously. Sometimes I am at such a loss that I just pray. It helps give me some peace and perspective so I do not act in anger towards her.

Being a mom can be so hard sometimes, but so rewarding. Yesterday she went her first whole day without an accident. Very exciting! It was a Memorial Day in the Wiggins house so to speak :)

Okay now for a few new piggys. These obviously don't have names yet, but they have room to add them. I figure if I can get in at some craft fairs I can just have them ready to add a name. Let me know what you think.

This Little Piggy...

So, I guess I can spill the beans (I am so not good at keeping secrets). I am going to try and start my own business. It may sound crazy, but I started thinking about it and I know God has given me some gifts and I haven't been using them. I have been wanting to contribute to the families finances and at the same time stay home with my kids so this seems like the best time to try something like this. Anyway, I just got to thinking what could I do and I came up with the whole personalized piggy bank thing. I have a lot of work to do to get things up and running. First things first I had to come up with a name and I came up with: This Little Piggy. I think it is pretty self explanatory :) I am very excited and happy to finally be tapping into my creative side.

I made "This Little Piggy" for a birthday party Annbel was invited to.

Needed to practice so I made this one for a special little boy :) Hopefully I will get it to him soon.

Hopefully I will get better as I keep practicing, but in the meantime if you invite Annabel to a birthday party it is a good bet you will get one of these :)

New Opportunities

Well, it has been a few weeks. A few things have happened. Last weekend David's brother got married!! Very exciting. The wedding was beautiful and the happy couple looked great. Annabel was the flower girl and David officiated the wedding. Our trip was quick and I vowed never to make the long trip for such a short time again (we were only in town for a few days). I did managed to spend an hour and a half at the beach, with no sunscreen, and I think I may have the skin cancer to prove. Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but I did get burnt. I seriously think there are two different suns for Florida and North Carolina.

For other news... we spent a day in Greenville a few weeks ago. We took Annabel to the zoo and ate dinner at Sonny's. We saw an 'elle-ee-flunt' and some monkeys that I think may have been mating (needless to say we rushed passed the monkey exhibit very quickly). It was fun, but I have to say the Navarre Zoo is probably better.

Yesterday we took another family adventure to see some waterfalls. We hiked about a mile total and saw two different falls. It was very fun and beautiful. We were thinking back on last year this time, I was pregnant and had no desire to hike up anything so now that I am back to 'normal' we are looking forward to many new adventures this summer.

So, there is something new on the horizon for me, hence the title 'new opportunities'. I don't think I am quite ready to spill the beans... but I will soon (and NO it has nothing to do with being pregnant or having any new children in our home). I am very excited and hope to have something official to share soon.

I am trying to post pictures but I think our internet it too slow... will try later.

Mother's Day

I don't get to write on here very often. OK, well it's not so much that I don't get to as much as it is that I just don't.

There are TONS of great stories about our family, but I am saving them for my tell-all memoir about life as a Wiggins. I can't give it all away on here (you know, publisher restrictions and such). By now I think that we have established that Annabel is cute and precocious and Jude is discovering new abilities and growing at an alarming rate. In fact, it seems like you know something about everyone in my family except for my wife. So in honor of mother's day I am posting these thoughts about my wife AND my mother.

I know that Nicole has posted about my mom on here before, and I want to echo her sentiments. My mom is, simply put, one of the most thoughtful, selfless, generous, classy, talented, and nurturing ladies there is. Proof? Well setting aside the fact that she produced me (ha!), there is the fact that as she has recovered from her brain surgery, her best therapy has been already trying to get up and do things for other people. She and my dad just give and give and give and it has been a blessing in the last couple of months to see some of that lifetime of giving come back around to her when she needed it most. I love you, mom and you are one of the main reasons that I am the man that I am and that I married a woman like Nicole. You taught me never to settle for anything less than the best and hopefully I have made you proud by marrying the greatest woman I could ever imagine in Nicole. Happy Mother's Day!

Nicole doesn't like to be talked about. When someone talks about her or builds her up she gets these little puddles in the bottom of her eyes, not from emotion but from embarrassment. Her esteem, identity, security, and heart are found completely in Christ. I have never known another person with the same genuine desire to know, love, and trust Jesus. It is absolutely the most beautiful thing about her (and that is saying something). It is not "Wife's Day" so I will save my praise for her as a wife for another day (that will be a long post). Today I will say that I am supremely confident that my children are going to grow up to be men and women with a great sense of self-worth, security, and generosity. See, Nicole is a stay-at-home mom (toughest job there is, btw) so my children see these qualities in her and are ALREADY starting to reflect these in their life. It's like she was born to be a mother and pour herself (literally.......sorry, couldn't resist) into these little ones. I love and respect her more and more everyday as I watch her with our kids and I know that I could not have married a more wonderful woman or mother. Happy Mother's Day, baby, I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there. What is your favorite thing about your mom?