Snow Storm

I guess I'm a homebody...being cooped up in the house from the snow storm didn't bother me too much. :) I love being with my girls, and it was especially fun having Alex home last Wednesday. I knew the roads had to be bad when Alex stayed home from work! The girls had fun playing in the snow with him.

Watching Daddy make a snow angel...

Friday evening, we decided to plan a quick trip to Indy at the last minute. Due to the snow storm, Alex's basketball was canceled for Sat., so after his bible study Saturday morning, we loaded up the car and went to Indy for the rest of the weekend. We attended the Home Show at the state fairgrounds. We got some great ideas and advice for our new house. From there, we went to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory. Yum!! We were stuffed full and ordered our cheesecake to go, but of course the girls had to get a quick taste in before we left!

The girls had been waiting all day to go swimming, and as soon as we were checked into our hotel room, they started changing into their swimsuits. Brynna was a little top heavy at first in her life jacket...it kept tipping her forward and she'd get water in her mouth. Once we explained that she had to keep her feet moving, she swam all over the pool and had races with her big sis. They both LOVE jumping in too.

Braylee "swimming" under water.

My parents were leaving for Hawaii on Sunday and I knew they would be flying out early. On our way to Indy, I had called my mom to see which hotel they were staying in by the airport on Sat. night. It just so happened that our hotel was directly across the street from their hotel! Braylee and Brynna enjoyed their visit from Mamaw and Papaw before bedtime. It was nice to see them before they left on their trip.
Sunday, we made it home in time for a Super Bowl party at Jenn & Brad's house. It was a typical Super Bowl party for me...the men were watching the game in the basement, while the ladies chatted upstairs. :)

Acting silly in the hotel Sunday morning

Tuesday, Alex and I met with the guy designing our house. We spent two hours making changes to our plans. His program allows us to see the house in 3D. It's so realistic that you can "see" in the windows when looking at the exterior...very cool. The snow had drifted so much while we were there, Alex and I barely made it out of his drive. It's the little adventures like that that remind me how much I enjoy my husband and his personality. :) The wind was blowing the snow around so much that at times it felt like we were driving through a blizzard. A few pictures to share...

She set up an entire little office do check ups on her babies.

Little mommy with her purse and baby carriage.

A few weeks ago, we went to see Hotel for Dogs with Abby, Lillie, and Pierce.
Watching Charlie Brown with her sissy.

Brynna had seen me measuring rooms (trying to prepare for the house)...guess she wondered if Leila would fit in the new house. :) When I asked her how big, she replied "29!" It reminded me of my nephew Ely...He went through a phase when his answer to everything involving numbers was "28."

Braylee went home with Lillie from church last night. It sounds like they had a lot of fun, but I missed snuggling her last night.
Tonight at dinner as Brynna was shoveling food into her mouth, I said, "You're a little piggy!" She said, "No I'm not. I'm me! I'm Brynna!" :)

Continue to keep Chelsa, Ryan, and Brycen in your prayers. I can't imagine the loss they are going through right now. As Andon's due date approaches, I'm sure it will be extremely hard on them. My heart breaks for them.

Happy Birthday, Pappy!

Today is Pappy's birthday. We had planned to go out for dinner, but the weather sort of changed our plans! We did talk to him on the phone a couple of times today though, and Brynna sang Happy Birthday to him. :) Here are pictures from his birthday last year, with the cake Braylee made for him.
Friday was Pajama Day at daycare. The girls were so excited about it! On my way to pick up the girls, I was talking to my dad on the phone and told him we could meet him for dinner...until I remembered the girls were in their jammies! We decided we better go home for dinner instead! ;)
Saturday night before the ballgame, Braylee tried her first drumstick. What kid doesn't like ice cream, right? Well, Braylee has just learned to like ice cream in the last 6 months or so and Brynna still isn't a big fan. She thought it was pretty cool that it came "put together." Brynna's hair is really getting long! I snapped this picture at the Buggy Bowl, which we lost. :(

Baby Brent fell asleep watching the game...so sweet!

I was just telling Jenn at the ballgame about how Braylee and Brynna always want to sleep together, but they end up talking too much and I have to separate them. But, they must have been extra tired after the game because I found Brynna asleep in Braylee's bed! :) Awww! Brynna ended up going to her own bedroom around 2am, but it was still sweet to see them snuggled together.
Yesterday, I had an orthodontist appointment in the morning. It was some of the worst pain I have ever experienced...thankfully, it wasn't prolonged. They were taking out my expander (yeah!!), but it proved to be a little harder than they expected. At one point, I told her, "I'd rather have a baby than do this!" Of course then all of the girls in the office started laughing, but I was sweating b/c it hurt so bad! ;) Ok, so maybe I have a low pain tolerance ??? but I have been through some pretty rough stuff before and this was seriously painful! The roof of my mouth "looks angry" (as the orthodontist said) from where the expander was embedded slightly...fun, huh? I don't even know what all they did to me, but I was in miserable pain the rest of the day. :( The good news for those who haven't seen me lately though is that the gap is almost completely gone! Woohoo!

Brynna looked awfully cute following her daddy out to the mailbox this evening. As short as her legs are, I think it was a little hard for her to walk in!
Brynna has a new trick! She can spell her name! :) It's so sweet. I've been trying to catch it on video for the last week, but well, we all know she has a stubborn streak in her! She is sooo close to being able to sing the ABCs correctly too, but still, it's quite impressive to hear even with a few mistakes thrown in! She has the cutest little voice! (Ok, I'm done with my proud mommy moment now.)

Our pastor and his wife, who also happen to be good friends of ours too, will be welcoming their new little boy tomorrow! Please be praying for an easy labor, a healthy baby, and also for a safe trip to the hospital in the morning. They brought Abby home in 22 in. of snow, so this should be easy for them! ;)

Fun in the Snow

Being the insomniac that I am, I was super excited when I saw the blanket of snow outside at 3am Monday. I had picked up some hot cocoa at the store on Sunday just in case. I'm not really a big fan of hot cocoa (especially after I burnt my tongue drinking it in NYC as I solemnly tried to warm up after seeing Ground Zero in the bitter cold...and while a stabbing occurred in the bathroom as we tried to enjoy a cinnamon roll in the cozy little coffee shop...), but I thought the girls might enjoy it. Brynna took one look at it and pushed it away, but Braylee loved it. She must have said, "Hmm, this is sooo good!" about 12 times. :)


Today, after we left the library, we picked up Gabe for a play date at our house. He was such a good little boy. When Mandi came to pick him up, he had to show the girls how to rock Ella in her seat. :)

Tracee #2

This is for my family...Does Brynna look like Tracee in this picture or what?! I didn't notice it until I received the prints in the mail yesterday. When I was flipping through them, I immediately said, "Oh my goodness, that's Tracee!" So, I cropped the picture some so you can see her better. It reminds me of that picture of Tracee in the rocking chair with the little white sandals, remember which picture I'm talking about? I'll have to see how old she was then...

Burr, it's cold!

Last Friday, Abby and Emma came over for some play time with the girls. Emma and Brynna LOVE their bear blankies, as you can see in the pictures.
Sunday, we had dinner at Gramma & Pappy's. Gramma's birthday was the 3rd and Pappy's is the 27th, so we took them a cookie cake. I don't know what we'd do without our Gramma & Pappy! The girls were thankful for another chance to hold Ella.At dance class the last couple of weeks, Miss Brittany has been measuring the girls so she can order their recital costumes. Brynna doesn't miss much at dance, and when I found her measuring Braylee one morning this week, she said, "We at dance class!" :)Monday, Braylee got an A for her oral hygiene at the dentist's office, just a 6-mo. cleaning. We spent the afternoon with Mamaw and Aunt Trista, which of course included a trip to the Mexican restaurant. My girls love chips with salsa and cheese almost as much as I do.

Tuesday, it was cold and blustery as we headed to the library! Burr! And it just keeps getting colder. I'm ready for spring already!

Silly girls

My silly girls have kept me on my toes this week. :) Monday, I was typing an email to Krista when Brynna came to me with pasty hands and a messy shirt. My first thought was that she must have a mixture of butt cream and powder on her. I followed her to the kitchen to find white footprints on the floor. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I make pancakes!" Sure enough, she had dumped some instant mix into a dish and was needing help to finish! So, we had pancakes for dinner instead of the meatloaf I had planned.

Tuesday morning, we were getting ready for story time at the library. While I was fixing my hair, I turned around to see the girls had completely dressed themselves, minus socks. (I should note though that Brynna's pants were on backwards and her shoes were on the wrong feet!) So, I congratulated the girls on getting dressed and told them to find some socks...cream ones. I say, "Not white ones, cream ones. Ok, Braylee?" She nods and then as they walk off down the hall, I hear Braylee tell Brynna, "Cream ones are the ones with sugar on the white." Of course! :) What else would I expect out of my cupcake-and-candy girl!

While at the library, we heard stories and sang songs about snow, including the book The Snowy Day. They painted tracks with white paint to mimic the tracks the little boy in the story makes in the snow. Conveniently, God placed a nice blanket of snow on our deck during the night. The next morning, the girls ran out to make tracks and prints in the new snow...barefoot! Burr!! When their tracks were covered over a few hours later, Braylee attempted to sneak out for another round, but I caught her that time!

After enjoying popcorn and watching High School Musical together Tuesday night, Braylee showed me a handful of popcorn kernels. She said, "Mom, if we plant these, we'll have a popcorn tree!!" I called Papaw to tell him Braylee needed a refresher course on seedcorn! :)

Miss Brynna is now wearing panties during naptime too! In a few more months, I will be able to stop buying diapers for a couple of years!

Just have to add one more...tonight while we were doing our little devotional with the girls, we were talking about God's wonderful creation. I asked Braylee what her favorite creation is. She said, "Mommy & Daddy." When I asked Brynna..."Pink!" This Pinkalicious girl loves her pink!! :) (Brynna received the book for Christmas, very cute!)

Happy New Year!

We celebrated New Year's Eve at our house. There are a few couples we have celebrated New Year's with pretty much as long as we have all been dating. It's fun to look back at pictures and see how much things have changed over the last 11 years!! We are so thankful for these forever friends, and we know our little ones will enjoy growing up together too. A few of us decided we might want to try an "adult only" party next year though...it's hard to enjoy our games or conversation with all of the kid noise in the background. I know we played several rounds of our game with at least one of the mommies being MIA at some point. Regardless of the chaos, we filled our bellies with yummy snacks and chatted the evening away. I couldn't believe how quickly midnight rolled around!

Belated Birthday cake for Daddy

The Big Girls...

and the little girls. :)

Braylee had a sleepover at Sydney's the night before New Year's. Tim and Krista were filling us in on some of their conversations. They are like two 14 year olds in little 4 year old bodies. They are the best of buddies and seem to always be planning their next sleepover or play date.