Turning 4!

Today was another special day in our house, four years ago today God gave us our second most precious gift. He gave us our sweet, funny, giggly little Breanna. Today I think was harder for me as it just seemed so unreal that our last baby girl was turning 4....seriously 4 years old!!!! I know longer have any babies in the house she is getting to the point that she has lost all of her baby features and is such a big girl now. I love our little girl and she was excited that today was her day to be the special girl!

Keeping with tradition we let her open one gift in the morning from us and Katie wanted her to open the gift she got her. Bree was excited to dig in to the gifts. Bree got a special Hello Kitty birthday outfit....she wanted all Hello Kitty for her party. Katie got her a Rapunzel dress up from Tangled, which she loved. Dress up is one of her favorite things.


Later that morning before we headed out to do Bree's special activity we let her open the rest of her presents. She loves the movie Ramona and Beezus so she was excited to get it for her birthday.

She LOVES Toy Story and has been asking for the Woody and Buzz doll. Of course she got them both for her birthday.

She also asked for this Weeble Wobble treehouse.

Our beautiful little birthday girl all decked out in her birthday outfit. Ready to go out her day.

She is so silly....This is one of the many reasons I love her. She can make you laugh even when you don't want to.

For her day she asked to go eat at Chickala (Chick-fil-a) and go to the aquarium. The day was cold and rainy so it was a good choice to get to be indoors. My beautiful girls checking out the sting rays.

Me and the birthday girl

Once we came back home we ate some dinner and then had birthday cake. She requested a Hello Kitty cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday Noodle!!!! Mommy and Daddy are so blessed to have you as our daughter. I love how happy you are and how you love to be silly and laugh all the time. You love to sing and make funny faces. You definitely keep us entertained.

6 Years Old!

Today was a special day in our household. Six years ago today God gave us one of the best gifts every. He put His precious Katie in the hands of Chris and I and allowed up to be her mommy and daddy. I can say for the past six years it has been a journey of love, thankfulness, joy, laughter, frustration and many other emotions but I know that it is a privilege to be her mommy and daddy. I wouldn't change a think about our sweet Katie and the wonderful personality she has. On her special day she was beyond thrilled that it was her birthday. It was a fun day to see how excited she was over every detail from the decorations to the presents.

This year we didn't do a big birthday party with friends. Katie said she just wanted it to be family, so we honored her request and planned a day of fun with just the family.

It has become a tradition that the girls get to open one gift on the morning of their birthday. I normally let it be an outfit so they have a special birthday outfit to wear for the day. Bree wanted Katie to open the gift she got her so Katie actually got to open two that morning. She got the Justin Bieber t-shirt(you'll understand why in a minute) from us and then Bree got her some littlest pet shop stuff.

Katie had school today so we had to wait until after school to start the actually party. When she came home I had the kitchen decorated and her cake out. She just kept saying "mommy it is so beautiful" she loved her balloons, she loved that the cake had her name on it. She was cracking me up. She just kept going on and on about how much she loved everything.

The cake she wanted was Justin Bieber, but no where around here could make it so the next best thing was this.

Time to sing Happy Birthday and cut the cake.

After cake it was time for the rest of the presents. Bree was willing to assist Katie in her present opening.

MONEY!!!!!!!

New game for the DS

After presents and cake it was time to head out for the activity Katie wanted to do for her birthday. She has been asking forever to see the Justin Bieber movie. We told her for her birthday we would go. She wanted to see it in 3D because she said she wanted to reach out and touch him. :) I'm telling ya, she is 6 years old going on 13. Does she look excited or what???

Chris and I were trying to decided or more like drawing straws on who would have to sit through the movie with Katie and the other would take Bree to a different movie. We really didn't think Bree would want to go. When we got there she said she wanted to go see the Justin Fever (Bieber) movie. :) We went in thinking one of us could take her out and sneak in another movie if she was bored. Surprising she sat through the entire movie with her 3D glasses on and watch every minute of it. I think she was just excited to be a part of Katie's big day and loves to be like her.

Happy Birthday Katie Bear!!!! We love you more than you can ever imagine and I am beyond thankful that you are our daughter. It is hard to believe you already 6 years old....sniff, sniff. I am so excited to see you grow and become such a beautiful girl!

A Chicken Poxed Our Girls!

Last week while we were still snowed in something crazy happened....a chicken came to our house and poxed our girls. I don't know how this chicken got in our house or who shared this chicken with us but none the less it got our girls.

Wednesday night Chris was getting ready to give the girls a bath when he called me to come look at something. Bree had little red bumps all over her back and tummy. She was on an antibiotic for an ear infection so I thought maybe it was from that but as Katie was getting ready for bath we noticed that she also had a few matching red bumps. Both of them said they didn't itch so we weren't exactly sure if it could be chickenpox's.

Well, the next morning Bree had even more and so did Katie. Katie started to complain about hers itching. I was mentally preparing myself for how bad this could get with two little girls all itching and trying to keep them from scratching. As always God is good to me and them. Neither of the girls had any of the symptoms that normally come along like fever, soar throat, headaches, etc. Both of them felt fine except Katie had one bad night of them itching and we used a half a bottle of calamine lotion to help stop the itch, but Bree never even mentioned hers itched.

Since I wasn't quite sure when they stop being contagious I kept the girls home for the next 5 days just to be on the safe side. As you can see the cabin fever of being inside lots from the snow and then having to stay home because of the chickenpox's....they were going a little crazy


The girls normally don't spend entire days together since Katie is in school and Bree goes to preschool. So the past couple of weeks have been an adjustment for them as I believe they finally just got on each others nerves. So the last couple of days of staying home I had one play in one room and the other play in another just to give them a break from each other and for my sanity.

Bree played in my office lots this day and watched some movies. She was getting lots of good use out of her Dora house.

Katie was spending her time watching shows and movies on netflix. Netflix was a lifesaver during this home bound time as well. They have such a variety to pick from that it helped pass some of the time when it seemed like we have done everything possible to entertain.

Both the girls went back to school yesterday and we are back to our normal schedule. Thank you Lord!! They both were so excited as well to go back to school and see their friends. Just in time for their Valentine Day parties too.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my wonderful friends and family. I hope your day was filled with love and you had a chance to show someone in your life a little extra love today. Valentine's Day is not an over celebrated holiday in our house, but we try to do a little something for the day. The girls woke up this morning to find a few goodies from their daddy. I didn't get a chance to take the picture before Katie ripped into hers but you can see a little of what they got. They each got a rose, some candy and little stuffed animal.

I even had a surprise in my office chair when I went to start work this morning. My sweet hubby gave me beautiful red roses, a very sweet card and a box of chocolate. Just so you know Chris, I wouldn't want to share my life with anyone else either. You truly are my best friend!

The girls asked for a vase for their flowers, I only had one small vase so I thought it was so sweet how they decided to "share" it. They put both their roses in the vase and then Katie got Bree's table from her room and they put in the hall right in between their rooms.

Instead of buying gifts for everyone from me I decided to cook a romantic dinner for my three valentines. The menu included steak (yes, the girls love steak), potatoes, broccoli, corn and cheese fondue with bread and apples to dip in it.

Katie decorated the table for me while I cooked.
My three valentines......my life wouldn't be the same without them.

After dinner while Chris and I cleaned, the girls were off playing. I heard lots of laughter and then I saw Samson come running around the corner. Poor Samson...it was only a matter of time before he was dragged into their dress up time. He was a good sport about it, even though it he looks pretty ticked off in this picture.

To end...I will put my favorite verse about love because it encompasses all that we should strive to be when we love someone.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Hitting the Pavement

Finally, after two weeks of being hauled up in the house and running all of my training runs on the treadmill, included an 8 mile one last Saturday......I got to get out for our Saturday run and actually run in the fresh air and sunshine. It was WONDERFUL!!!!! Today's run was a fund raiser for our free training program it helps raise money to buy the snacks and Gatorade that we use each Saturday. It was a lot of fun, the run is called The Poker Run. It is 5 miles and each mile you get a card and then at the end everyone gets a prize starting with the best hand down. Well, I was at the bottom I only had a pair of fours. I walked away with a glass...that was from a previous 5k. It was so good to get out and be outside for a little while and not be couped up in the house. There was still lots of snow but the main path for our run was clear except for lots of ice spots. I almost busted it about five times, but each time I ended up grabbing on to Katherine and she saved me from falling. I am just glad I didn't take us both down.

Here are my wonderful running buddies. These girls keep me motivated especially to get out in the cold each Saturday morning to do our longer runs. I honestly don't think I could be doing this on my own.

Me, Katherine and Becky right before the Poker Run

Making Frosty!

With all the snow that has been dumped on us over the past two weeks we definitely had enough to go out and make a Frosty. Just a side note: Since the start of February we have had 20 plus inches of snow. The girls have been out of school for 9 consecutive days (that is including tomorrow).

The girls helping to round out Frosty's lower half.

Daddy working hard on making the middle
Ta Da! Meet our Frosty! I laugh because I did his eyes with frozen blueberries. They wouldn't stay in. I think it looks like he is winking at us.

If you saw him today in our yard, both of his arms are missing, eyes, nose and mouth are all gone. He looks kind of sad. :) Oh, now his lower half is partially yellow thanks to Samson. He was out in the front yard with me the other day. He went over and sniffed at him. Then lifted his leg and peed on him . Poor Frosty! I don't think Samson liked him in our yard.

100 Days

Katie school celebrated 100 days of school the past Monday. Her class was celebrated by completing a chart that counts to 100, reading a story about 100's and then they had a project they had to complete by Monday. They had to make a hat that had 100 things on it and wear it on Monday.


Here is Katie's hat that she did all by herself by the way. Chris just supervised. She cut out the number 100 and then colored it. She stapled the numbers to her hat. She then decorated the rest with 40 stick on jewels and 60 dots of glitter glue. A hat fit for a princess.

Here is the back.

Here she is ready to go to school. She was so proud of what she made that she wanted to wear it to school. I was so impressed with how creative she was in making the hat.

Crazy Weather and Serious Cabin Fever!!!!

Late Monday night we started to get ice and then by Tuesday morning we were in a down pour of snow. Blizzard 2011 had begun. The amounts of snow that we were to get kept increase all day. First 9 inches, then 12 inches and I believe we ended with 16 inches.

We had lots of wind blowing the snow everywhere. You can see some of the high snow drifts we have.

See that their swings are almost buried under the snow.

So far so good on the trampoline.....I really thought that the weight of the snow would break it but not yet.

The girls were wanting to go out in the snow so bad but the temps are really cold and the wind doesn't help it. When it finally stopped blowing snow we took them out for a little bit. Here they are charging out the front door. The back yard has way to many snow drifts that they really couldn't even try to go out in the back.


You can see that Bree is up to her waist in snow.


Trying to climb their way out of it.
Back inside to warm up and eat some yummy snow cream

As most of you know a snow like this in the south pretty much shuts down the town. Since Tuesday we have been in the house and YES CABIN FEVER has set in. Since I work from home there really isn't a way I can call in and say I can't work, but THANKFULLY Chris' work was closed from Tuesday - Thursday so he was at home to play with the girls. They did plenty to keep the them occupied..

Painted toes nails and finger nails, played dress up, watched lots of movies, played in the snow, took naps, colored and read some books.

Here is a little video of Samson and the girls in the snow. Samson was out playing when the blizzard was happening. He was having fun chasing all the snow blowing around and then you can see what he has to go through every day just to go outside to go to the bathroom.

Happy Birthday Samson!

Happy Birthday Samson!!!! He turned 1 year old on Tuesday. You're a handful but we love having you around.

A look back....bringin Samson home at 8 weeks old.

He was so little and cuddly
Today....full grown. Still such a cute little face.

Suprise!!!!!!

I accomplished what I didn't think I could. For the past two weeks I have been planning a surprise graduation party for Chris. It was suppose to happen back in December but it was just to hectic with Christmas stuff. I have never really been able to surprise Chris on anything even down to birthday or Christmas gifts. So it was a mission for me to pull this off.

The to do list included email everyone invited, getting the food ordered, getting decorations, order the cake and getting everything over to Stefanie's house the day before. And of course hoping and praying no one including myself slips up and says something. On Friday, it was so far so good. Everything was completed and ready to go.

On Saturday all Chris knew was that we were going over to our friends Jeremy and Stefanie to have dinner with them and let our kids play. Everyone was already at their house ready and waiting. We pulled up and walked in......and it was a huge surprise for him. He was truly shocked. So yay for me and all involved for helping me pull this off!!!!! Chris just kept smiling and saying he had no idea. :)

We had such a fun evening(so much so that I completely forgot to take pics). I had Rib Crib cater the dinner so we had wonderful BBQ, we all sat around enjoyed are dinner and some how got on the topic of how everyone met their spouse. We had some very interesting and funny stories. Always learn something new. After dinner we dove into the cake. I order an OSU cake which I thought turn out really nice.....even though some of our guest were OU fans they were gracious enough to eat the cake. :)

After we had our tummy's full we all played a fun game of Battle of the Sexes. Good ole fashion guy vs girl competition. We had a blast trying to trip the other team up from answering their questions. But in the end the guys won the game.....but the girls came to the conclusion that this game was created by a guy because only a guy could come up with some of these questions we had. I know that I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. It is definitely good for soul.

As the evening was wrapping up all of our guest signed a picture frame I had for Chris. I thought it would be a wonderful memory for him to have.

Everyone that was there has been a big part of our lives in some way. Always encouraging him as he was completing his MBA. I know we are so blessed to have each and everyone of them in our lives. I am thankful they were able to to be there with us for the celebration.