Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband, Adam Housley, share two kids

Photo: Tamera Mowry Instagram

The Sister, Sister star and former co-host of The Real shares son Aden, 12, and daughter Ariah, 9, with her husband, Adam Housley, whom she married in 2011.

Motherhood has given the actress and talk show host a newfound appreciation of the little things. “They have taught me to be present and enjoy the most simple things in life,” Mowry-Housley told PEOPLE of her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren in 2016. “It gives me so much joy, especially as a busy mom, just giving them a bath, reading them a book, brushing our teeth together. They taught me how to have fun in the most simple moments.”

In a 2022 episode of The Ellen Show‘s YouTube series “Mom Diaries,” Mowry-Housley got emotional while talking about her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren. “They literally are the love of my life. I’m proud of the little people that they are becoming,” she said with tears in her eyes. “You can tell that they were raised in a home full of love. You want that for every 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥.”

Aden John Tanner Housley, 12Tamera Mowry Instagram

Tamera Mowry Instagram

Tamera Mowry Instagram

Ariah Talea Housley, 9Tamera Mowry Instagram

When it came to naming their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 girl, Mowry-Housley wanted both her 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren’s names to start with the same letter. On her website, The Santa Stakeout actress revealed that she and Housley came across a shop named Araya before they were married. “I stopped and immediately told him I loved the name and wanted that to be my future daughter’s name. It was and is such a beautiful name,” she wrote. “The only catch was that I wanted to spell her name phonetically, so people wouldn’t mess it up and call her a-RAY-ya.”

Tamara Mowry Instagram

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

“Being a young girl in Hollywood, and unfortunately the covers of Teen, the covers of Seventeen didn’t always have faces that looked like mine,” she said. “When you see yourself and you see yourself in someone else that may look like you. It’s empowering.”