A Wonderful Winter Break!

This year we got to enjoy our very first winter break. It was absolutely beautiful all week...sunny and in the 60's and 70's...felt more like Spring Break!

We started off our weekend with a picnic at the park with the McLendons and Poythresses. As always, the kids had a great time playing together. The tire swing is always a favorite. And Joshua walked around all afternoon with whatever food he could find. After lunch, we headed to Oregon Park for baseball practice. Jonathan is coaching this year and doing a great job! And we bribe Drew to play hard by taking him for icees after practice :)



Our cute little Daisy had her first try at selling Girl Scout cookies. She sold door to door on the snow week in January. She was determined to sell at least 400 cookies so she could get speakers for her I-Pod. She sold 444! We were so proud of her! But, it was a little bit overwhelming to pick up all of those cookies and sort them. We got to deliver cookies over the break. Thanks so much to all of our sweet family, friends, and neighbors who supported her!



Another first time adventure has been participating in a consignment sale. We signed up to sell at the Due West consignment sale. I had absolutely no idea how much work it would be! I have spent hours and hours pinning clothes, pricing them, and tagging them. It has actually been a bittersweet process. I can picture my sweet babies in every one of those outfits and they bring back so many memories. Still not sure I am ready to let go of the idea of one more...


On Monday, Jonathan was off for President's Day. We were looking for something fun to do with the kids outside, so we took them to eat at The Varsity and then went to Centennial Park. It was SO much fun! We started off at the kids's playground, which was very cool. It had a fun slide that Drew and Joshua loved and a seat that turned in circles was a favorite of Anna Caitlin's. After the playground, we took the kids to play in the fountains. They had a blast! It was pretty warm, so we let them run around and get wet. Who knew we would get to do that in February??!!

The playground...



Playing in the fountains...



On Tuesday, my friend Michelle and I hade a fabulous day of pampering! We spent the morning shopping at The Avenue. We had lunch outside at Macaroni Grill...it was so beautiful! We spent the rest of the afternoon getting pedicures and massages. It is so nice to have girl time!



On Wednesday, Dana brought the boys and Ella over to play. They had a great time playing outside in the truck and bikes. And I got to spend a few hours loving on that sweet baby girl. Pure heaven (and some baby fever :)

On Friday, the kids and I packed up and headed to Montgomery for the day to visit my friend Karen and her boys. Anna Caitlin informed me on the way there that she would "never drive to Montgomery again...it is too far!" Next time she plans to fly :) Once we got there, we had a nice suprise visit from a high school friend that we had not seen since high school. With all of our kids together, we had nine! Crazy!


We spent the afternoon playing outside on the trampoline and running around. It was almost 80 degrees! Bliss! It was so nice to catch up and hang out with such a good friend.

And so our break flew by way too fast. Great time of playing with the kids, sleeping in, and getting things done. Now, only 5 more weeks until Spring Break!

Birthweek Celebrations!!

Wow, I cannot believe that a whole other year has flown by. Turning thirty was very hard for me, and now I am already 34?? That means I only have two more years to decide if we are done with our family... seems hard to believe. But some wonderful things have happened in my 30's. I had my sweet Joshua. I have made some wonderful friends. And I would not trade those moments for anything!!

As most of my friends know, I take birthday celebrations very seriously...we celebrate for an entire week! I kicked off my birthweek going out with friends. Mandy, Michelle, Linda, Sina, and Teresa took me to dinner at La Parilla for good food and drinks, and great company! We had so much fun and I so enjoy going out with these girls! On Thursday, my sweet friends celebrated with me again over Japenese takeout...our favorite! I love working with such wonderful people!

On my birthday, I had a fabulous day! I spent the afternoon with my four very favorite people in the world. My sweet babies and husband. We had a picnic and hiked up Kennesaw Mountain. It was so nice to get out after we have had so much snow and cold weather over the past month. Anna Caitlin was a trooper!! Drew and Macie both got very tired during our climb, but we had a great time.

Later that night, we celebrated with great friends at Maggianos. We always love going to eat family style and spending time with some of our oldest and dearest friends. We had such a great time. Nothing can compare to spending an entire evening laughing with these girls over both our childhood and adult memories!


On Sunday, we celebrated mine and Mom's birthdays at Sapporo's Japanese Steakhouse...our annual tradition. The kids love watching the fire when they cook in front of us. But we sure did miss having dad with us this year. Mom gave me some very special beads for my Pandora bracelet as a reminder of how blessed I am to have had such a great dad.

Winter Wonderland

Finally, the weather predictions were right! We have six inches of snow on the ground! It was so beautiful to watch the snow fall late Sunday night. I have never seen it snow so hard with such big flakes...we had the ground completely covered in just 45 minutes...that does not happen in Georgia!


Monday morning, we got to sleep in and then we got ready to play in the snow. There is a ton of snow, with a layer of ice on the top, which means perfect sledding conditions. We met up with the Riveras, Macenzie, and Abbie, for a fun afternoon of sledding. We had a great time!



Afterwards, we came in for some chili, hot dogs, and snow cream, and to play with Macenzie and Abbie. It was an absolutely perfect day. I was snowed in with my very favorite people, with no where to be, and nothing that had to be done. What an unexpected day of fun!



It is now Tuesday, and the snow and ice are not melting, with no sign of it getting better in the near future. It is not supposed to go above freezing until Friday. What a fabulous way to spend the week with my family! We have already been out playing and sledding this morning. Joshua has even started sledding by himself! I could not ask for a more perfect way to spend my week!

Drew sledding with Brandon

Mommy sledding with the kids

Merry White Christmas to All!!

Christmas is finally here! There is nothing like watching your children walk down the stairs on Christmas morning and seeing their smiles...it is priceless! This year, Drew came in our room to get us up, but we had to wake up Anna Caitlin and Joshua...they were exhausted! As we came down the stairs, a special surprise was waiting in the living room by the Christmas tree...Santa brought a puppy!! Anna Caitlin was super excited and focused all of her attention on sweet Macie. Drew was a little bit more mellow...he did not feel very good. He was very excited about his flying Batman and his Iron Man shooter (once he felt better, he became a big fan of Macie!!). Joshua was not a huge fan of our Macie. Macie thinks that Joshua is his size, so he must be a toy for her to play with. Joshua's new favorite phrase is "no, no dog." But Joshua was very excited about all of his Elmo toys and his car ramp.


After we went through our Santa gifts, each child gets to open three presents, just like baby Jesus. Anna Caitlin loved her doorbell and Drew loved his Spiderman DS game...Joshua really liked just ripping up the paper! Grammie spent the night with us, so we were so glad that she was there to celebrate too!



After we finished with gifts, we went over to Uncle Brent and Aunt Shanna's house for some yummy breakfast and to see what Santa brought Macenzie and Abbie. And this year, we got a VERY special treat. It started snowing!! It snowed all day long and we got our first white Christmas in over a century.



After breakfast, we headed over the Mama Judi and Papa Johnny's house for lunch and gifts. We enjoyed spending time with them and the Brown and Jones families. We gave them a very special gift as well. A DVD with pictures of all of our families over the years...they loved it! And as usual, the kids loved their gifts over there as well. Anna Caitlin got a laptop, Drew got a remote control Iron Man, and Joshua got a cool guitar! Mama Judi also gave us another very cool gift...a Disney Cruise with the family next Thanksgiving! We are so excited, we cannot wait!



Merry, merry Christmas to all! May you always remember the reason we celebrate and may God bless your family throughout the coming year!!

Our first White Christmas...


Christmas at Mama Judi and Papa Johnny's house...


Playing in the snow the day after Christmas. Drew was inside with a 101 fever :(



Anna Caitlin told us Macie likes the snow so much because she has been living in the North Pole for the past three months...



"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord."