We started the morning off really early! Hannah was so excited about it being her birthday she could not stay in bed. She woke me up and proceeded to jump up and down with giddiness. Then she climbed in bed with me and Bret and waited until we could wake up! Once awake, we had Hannah's choice breakfast food - blueberry waffles.
We celebrated at Chuck E Cheese! She got a lot of great stuff: books, earrings, pool stuff, gift card, nintendo ds and ds extras and TONS of candy (thanks to all of her aunts and uncles)!

She enjoyed eating a nintendo ds cake and then enjoyed playing a real one.

She ended the day with a ton of tickets - all thanks to her wonderful aunts and uncles and friends that gave all their winnings to her since it was her birthday ( so sweet)! She danced and danced with Chuck E and played til it was time to go.

All in all, I say it was a pretty great day! I still cannot believe that I have a seven year old! But I am so thankful each and every day of those seven years and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in the future! Thank you Lord for such a wonderful gift! I treasure her so much!

Some cakes just don't make the cut!

I enjoyed making this cake, but it can't make the cake blog! Transportation was a little rough on it and the front cracked. I think it was the weight of the "diaper bag." I am still learning a lot about cakes and transporting the heavy ones is a lesson I need to take real soon! I think it turned out pretty well. There are of course some things I would do differently. That happens with any cake that I make for the first time. I need to keep a book with instructions on how I made it and suggestions to make them better the next time.

My Son the Photographer!!

I normally don't just post pictures of me, but when my son comes up to me and says, "Mommy, Mommy...can I please take your picture?" Well, how do you say no to such a sweet request. I let him and these are what he came up with. I think he did a pretty good job for a five year old! I think his Aunt Emily should give him some lessons. We could have a pro on our hands! =o)

Atlanta Fun!!!

We started the day off by going to Trader Joe's. What never heard of it? Just ask my mother-in-law all about it!! She loves this grocery store. Well, I had to see what all the fuss was about. It was a really cute store, very trendy, but I have to say, it was just a store! Cynthia is at a loss for words because I didn't go bonkers over it. But to each his own, right? Don't get me started on any store that has an amazing organizing section! =o)

We then went to the Science Museum and looked around for a while. The kids had fun and I don't have any pictures because I did a very bad thing. I forgot my camera in the car!!! How? I don't know! I seem to do that a lot though!

Well, on the way to the Braves game, we had an interesting time. Our car started over heating. We really thought that we were going to be stranded in Atlanta. Luckily, my handy man husband got it fixed well enough for us to keep on going!

We parked the car and took a leisurely stroll to the stadium. Hannah and Ian were fascinated by the big city! They even wanted to walk through the cross walk tunnel. They thought it was so neat that cars were driving on the road right above us! This picture is of Bret telling the kids that the crack in the top was going to cause the road to cave in! They are so use to him telling tall tales that they just look to me for verification or nullification! I was laughing and shaking my head no so they knew they were safe.

The kids played in the play area for a good little while before they finally got hungry. We grabbed a bite to eat and watched all the fun right before the game. Hannah and Ian even participated a little. They played limbo.

They each got a T-shirt!
And they really wanted a "hammer" as Ian called it.
So they spent their hard earned money a tomahawk.

After the game, we drove home. The kids slept and we enjoyed the peace and quiet!
All in all, it was a good day!

St. Patrick's Day

I know I am a little late with this post, but we had so much fun that I had to share it. It all started when my husband spotted these pajama bottoms at the store. He needed some new ones so I caved and bought them. Well, the day before St. Patrick's Day, Bret tells me that he wants a day of green. So we started plotting and planning.

Here are the pants that start all the fun.

We start the day off with pancakes. I don't know if you can tell, but they are green. And yes, I did try to make them into shamrocks. After trying about six times, I gave up and the rest were all traditionally round! I did have to make my daughter's second helping into the shamrocks...she asked with the puppy dog eyes and she didn't care if they were not exactly right!

We ate breakfast so late that it was really brunch. Well, that threw my plans off a bit. We were supposed to make shamrock cookies after lunch, but that would have put us too close to dinner. So we nixed that idea.

For dinner, we had Shepherd's Pie. I had never made it before so I was excited to give it try. Everyone really liked it except for my two. Hannah and Ian dislike anything remotely tasty.

Here is my adorable husband in all of his St. Patty's glory!!
He is so proud of his outfit. He actually wore his pajamas all day long!

My father-in-law showing a little St. Patty's spirit! Business man during the day, Shamrock party animal at night!!!

Then to top it all off, we enjoyed with some lime sherbet. Libby pointed out that it
is not pronounced "sherbert" because there is no "r" in the second syllable. I did not believe her
but there really is not. All these years I have been pronouncing it incorrectly.

I am so glad that my husband came up with this idea.

The day ended without me getting pinched and we enjoyed many things green and Irish.

Twilight - DVD Release Party!!!

The day that the dvd was released, I went to the best party. A group of fun women, good food, and vampires!!! The pictures say it all!! Amy, thank you so much for hosting such an awesome party. I really had so much fun!

Could this sign be any truer??

We couldn't drink this wine. It was just too cool. Perfect occasion to bring out the vampire wine!!!

I wanted to bring something super cute to the party. This is what I came up with. They were so much fun to make!!!!

Does Amy know how to throw a party or what???
The food was fantastic and the decorations....

were awesome!!!

All in all, I had a great night. It was so much fun watching the movie with everyone. The commentaries were my favorite!!!

SNOW!!!! SNOW!!! SNOW!!!!

The last time it snowed in Alabaster, my family was in Mobile. Did it snow there? Nope! Hannah and Ian were so disappointed. They got to school on Monday and everyone was talking about the snow. They even drew pictures about their snow filled weekend!

Well, not this time!!! We were here and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest!!! We made snowmen & snow-women! We had snow ball fights! They really hurt if you got hit in the face! And we tried to slide down the hill in the front yard. That one didn't go so well. Just not enough hill...oh well, it was fun trying!!

After the fun in the snow...we came inside and enjoyed a nice warm (not hot-they are only 5 & 6) cup of cocoa. Then we enjoyed a nice big bowl of chili!! Okay, so Hannah and Ian won't eat chili, but everyone else enjoyed it. They ate a hotdog. I know-of all things!!

Could the day get any better? If I only had the video of Snow Day! That would have topped it all off!!


Here are a few pictures that capture the fun we had this morning.

Not my finest hour, but I did have fun!!

January Favorites!!

Hannah lost her first tooth. She is in her bed getting ready to go to sleep. She is so excited about the tooth fairy visiting her for the first time!

Hannah lost her second tooth about a week later! She decided to give her two dollars to a fund raiser for some children in Guatemala. I'm so proud of her! And...she just told me that she has another tooth that is becoming a little jiggly.

I found this note card on Hannah's bedside table. I knew that it was the Bible verse that she was studying for the week, but wondered why she wrote on an index card. She told me she did it to help her study. She has seen her aunts, uncles and Gigi do this to learn scripture. I hope she continues this study habit!!

I learned who General Greivous was and even turned him into a cake decoration!


I have also been enjoying working with Ian (I just don't have any pictures). I am trying to get him ready for K-5! I can't believe he starts in August! My baby is getting big. I think that means we need to have another!!

How do your kids earn money?

When most kids want to earn money they get to do chores or open a lemonade stand. Some just ask their parents if they can have some money. Not at our house though...no not at ours. If any of you know my husband, Bret, you know that very little is done in a normal way.

To give you a little back story.....

Ian is sitting at the desk one day and has Hannah's glue stick in his hand. My husband then says, "Hey Ian, I'll give you a dollar if you lick that glue stick." Ian, of course, jumps at the opportunity and licks the glue. Bret pays up and Hannah wants in on the money making scheme and immediately licks the glue. She then says, "I licked the glue, where is my dollar?" Bret responded by saying, "I didn't offer you a dollar to lick the glue. You just did it for free." So Hannah starts be

gging, "What can I do to get a dollar, Daddy?" Bret begins his scheming!

Fast forward a week. We are in Georgia at my sister's house:

Bret sees some cat food and offers Hannah a dollar to eat two pieces. You have to understand that this child won't even eat meat. She will not eat chicken, hamburger, steak....no meat!!!! So I didn't think she would do it.

She was very doubtful, but in the end.....she did it! She got her dollar! I was laughing and telling Bret that he should have made her eat rice baby food because she was saying it smelled disgusting just the day before.

Hannah then piped up and said she would eat a spoonful for another dollar. Well, of course, Ian got in and they started a bidding war. I will eat two spoonfuls....three....four....five...six...seven....eight...and Hannah won with nine. Well, Aunt Erin made a small bowl of rice baby cereal and Hannah was pretty pumped that she was about to earn another dollar. Look how excited she was!It didn't take long for her excitement to change to disgust. She ran to the bathroom and spit it out, forfeiting her shot at a dollar.
Well, Ian starting chanting, "My turn, my turn!" So we gave him an opportunity to earn a dollar. He was thrilled. I guess he wasn't paying attention to Hannah's reaction.
He took a very small bite the first time and had a hard time swallowing, but since that wasn't the deal (it had to be a whole bite) he was willing to continue.
It didn't stay down for long. I tried to step in and give him something to throw up in when he started gagging, but I didn't make it in time. Ian has a bad gag reflex. Once he starts, he can't stop.
Since he did actually swallow it and it made him up chuck, we decided he earned the dollar. This picture makes up laugh because he is holding the dollar and the cup full of grossness.
He doesn't look happy here, but he really is...look at the next one.


We aren't completely heartless. We decided that since Hannah did try the baby food that she should get another dollar. See how happy she is with the money she made!