New Year = New Do

On New Year's Day, we helped a little sweetie celebrate her birthday. Our niece Ella turned 2! She won't be the baby of the family much longer since we will be welcoming her new sibling and our little girl this year (hopefully!). We will quickly go from 4 grandkids to 6! :)
On January 3rd, we made a visit to Aunt Trista's shop to get new hair styles! Braylee had been begging for a few months to get her hair cut. A few weeks before Christmas, I cut about 3 inches off, hoping it would suffice...It didn't. So we asked Aunt Trista to officially cut it. Once it was done, Braylee kept flipping her hair around and looking at herself in the mirror. When Trista asked her if her teacher would recognize her the next day, Braylee replied, "I don't know?!" :)
(Sadly, since I had already cut a few inches off and I didn't want it to be TOO short, we didn't have enough to save it for Locks of Love. This made Braylee sad, but she knows we can try again another time.)

And here's a quick glimpse of what Aunt Trista did to my hair...made me a brunette! I love it! Sometimes I see my sister Tracee in the mirror when I'm getting ready though...didn't realize how much we resembled each other before! :) Also- our home study social worker told me I better make it blonde again before we go to China so that I match my passport! I'm excited about going to China... but I definitely want them to let me in AND let me leave! :)

One of Braylee's snow days fell on a day I had to work. The girls had a blast playing at Gramma's house in the snow. I love getting to see what my girls were up to while I was at work.

New Year's Eve 2010

We had a wonderful 2010 and enjoyed sharing the last evening of the year with some of our best friends! I am so thankful for our church family. We love them!! (Please excuse the poor quality of most of these pictures...it's a combo of using my phone and poor bowling alley lighting!)

The girls had talked all day about watching the ball fall that night and as midnight approached, Alex mentioned that there was only the one little TV at the bowling alley...so we hurried out of there at 11:45 so the girls could watch it on our big screen instead! :) The girls loved it and kept giving us lots of New Year's kisses!

Our girls talk about their new sister every day. During the day on New Year's Eve, they kept talking about how it was already 2011 in China (They realize China is 1/2 day ahead of us.) Braylee felt certain 2011 was coming to America since it had made it to China. lol. We also added our little girl to our Wii family. Isn't she cute?! I thanked my hubby for making mine so skinny! :)

Baby, Braylee, Brynna, Daddy, and Mommy

Christmas Memories 2010- Part 2

Since I'm way behind, I will try to be brief. :)

I left off on Christmas Eve...the girls were anxious for Santa.
They were even more excited to see what he left them the next morning.
Digging through the stockings is always first on the list.
This may be my favorite picture from Christmas 2010.
Brynna had just opened her gift from her big sister and she leaned over to give her
a "Thank you, Sissy!" hug. So sweet!
If you look closely at Braylee's new Barbie,
it may give you a hint as to where we will be on Spring Break. ;)
Christmas evening, we celebrated with Alex's mom's family.
The kids did a craft while the adults played Dirty Santa.
My girls sure love their cousins/best friends!
The next day, we celebrated with my mom's family after church.
All of the great-grandkids lined up on Grammy's fireplace...
We enjoyed spending another day with the twins.
On Dec. 27th, we had Christmas at Gramma & Pappy's house. Little Gabe and birthday girl Ella were not feeling well, but we didn't let it stop us from having fun! We opened gifts, ate seconds (or maybe thirds) of Lou's yummy meal, and wished Miss Ella a Happy #2!Thanking Uncle Adam for their new princess dolls.
Trying out their new umbrellas from Gabe & Ella.

The whole family- Andre', Alex, Adam
Braylee, Ella, Gramma, Brynna, Pappy
Tristen, Mandi, Gabe, Tera

We had a wonderful time with our families.
We were very blessed with their generous gifts and love.

Click for all of our Christmas 2010 pictures.

Christmas Memories 2010

On Christmas Eve, we always go to my parents' house to celebrate. We couldn't wait to get there because we knew two little munchkins would be waiting on us...Hadlee and Kooper! They are so adorable and look too cute toddling around being so little. We had a wonderful time opening gifts and eating lots of yummy food. Then we had a special event to attend. The twins and my cousin's baby were all dedicated that night at my Grammy and Gramps' church...the church we've always went to for Christmas Eve services.

Definitely her favorite gift...a DSi.
She was too excited to get a clear picture. ;)

Aunt Tracee's gift to Brynna...so cute!

Brynna's favorite- A puppet show stand with lots of puppets!

My parents recently bought a new house so it was a little sad having our last Christmas in that house. We moved there when I was 7.

Everyone together...our grandparents and Uncle Tom always celebrate with us.

-Our Family-

Mamaw & Papaw with the silly grandkids

Ready for Santa!

More to come!!

3 years later...

When did these cute little peanuts...

turn into such big girls!?

The girls wore these Santa dresses for our Christmas card in 2007,
and then wore them as tops this year!

They are still super cute!