A new member of the brace faces!

Today marked a day that Alexis has been waiting for....since she found out what braces were!

Getting braces is ALLLL she has talked about...and talked about.....

and today was the day!

By this afternoon....she has now actually realized what braces truly are all about. She isnt liking the idea of braces..........so much now........BUT...she is excited and thankful to have them on so she can have a beautiful smile in the future!

I was waiting on when it would sink in that in reality, braces arent really 'fun' as so she thought. She has 8 months of 'phase 1' so..........she can hang in there and will be so proud to see a more beautiful smile!

We had a big breakfast before her appointment this morning at IHOP just in case she didnt feel like eating after she got them on. Surprising enough, she said that it didnt hurt too bad while getting them put on but at dinner tonight, she did mention that her mouth was sore. She is getting the hang of how to 'work her mouth' better too. What I mean by that is........she {at first} thought she couldnt move her mouth...or eat...since she has braces. She was surprised that her mouth still 'works' even though she has them on her teeth! ha!

Showing off the 'before' pictures! I cant wait to see the new transformation when the 8 months are up!

The before look!

She chose where to eat...and what all she wanted at breakfast this morning!

The highlight of it ALLL.........picking out what color bands to have! She went back and forth...and back and forth...and back again as to what color she wanted. I hate this picture is blurry but I didnt get my phone out fast enough before she had made her choice and the hygienist  was moving the container to get the color of choice. She chose aqua blue! :) She has already been talking about what color she will get at her next visit! :) :)

And.........her new smile for now! :)

And...LaLa sent me this picture today. Her and Mal went and met Grey this afternoon! Sweet baby has learned that he likes sucking on the side of his hand too! :)

Wordless Wednesday!

{Oh my goodness!} :)

As you enter the world we're in

Oh, as I sit here writing this...I am filled with several different types of emotion...

for today...

I became an Aunt.

Sweet baby Grey made his debut today weighing in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and 19 inches long!

When I held him today, my heart burst.

I pray for this new little fellow that he knows how loved he is...and knows how God loves him even more than anyone. I pray that God covers Grey in peace, love and protection as he takes on this big ole' world.

  My blessing to Grey: “May the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

My prayer for Grey:  “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Sweet sweet baby....just hours old!

 Uncle Tyler! We both have new titles today.

 He didnt cry once while we were there. His sweet little lip puckered and trembled a couple of times and he whimpered the softest little whimpers though! :)

 He opened his eyes a little too!

 Mom and Dad are doing great. They are proud parents.

 Nannie came to visit another one of her great grand children! This is a great picture of Nannie and Grey!

Soccer is in the air!

Lily had her first soccer practice of the season today!

She LOVED it!

She is so funny out there sometimes as she would run and kick....and then pick a flower or two...and then take off running and kicking again! :)

I cant wait for her season to start and seeing her in action!

My little soccer star!

In action!

Oh...you know...just picking up my soccer ball....after I pick a flower or two! :)

She was SO excited that one of her friends in her class, Audrey, is on her team!

Coach Teddy! There were 3 missing in this picture...all sick. :(

They practiced until they couldnt practice anymore! It was a great 1st practice!

Joining the Cast!

Today we had a fun afternoon!

Alexis has decided that she wants to join Cast Kidz and I am so excited for her! It is a production group where they do plays and musicals and I cant wait to see her up on stage shining!

So, since she is starting in March, we wanted to go to one of their performances to see what it is all about! Not to mention we have a good bit of sweet friends that are in it....so it was a 'win-win!'

We had Church and then lunch before coming home for a little bit until we headed to Anniston Performing Arts to see the musical. It was so adorable! Alexis, Lily and I so enjoyed it!

Though this was more for Alexis to see what it was all about and to see what she will be doing once she starts Cast...all the pictures are of Lily and her friends! Alexis was there...and some of her friends were in it...but she wasnt in the picture taking mood today!
So....I snapped some of Lily and her sweet friends!
Lily was SUPER excited when she saw Kelby walking down to come sit by us! She had a girl day with her sweet Mommy so they sat by us during the show!

They all did so good on stage!

Sweet friends! Ryleigh, Lily, Emma and Kelby!

So fun and cute! Cant wait to see Alexis up on stage. Her first performance will be 'The Wiz' ....they are doing the Wizard of Oz next! :) :)

Oh what a beautiful day!

The weather...

OH how I wish the weather could stay JUST like it was today!

Forever!!

OH, that would be the BEST!

We loaded up and headed to Abby Grace's birthday party! Lily has been dying to have one of her friends have a birthday party since she keeps saying a lot of Alexis' friends have been having parties that she hasnt been invited to. I think it is sinking in that Alexis has her own friends...and she has her own friends. Finally! Even though...she still wants all of Alexis' friends to be hers too! I hate it for her..but it just doesnt work like that....

SO, Alexis stayed home since it wasnt 'her friend's' party and Carli rode her bike over so they 'hung out' during the party time!

We came home after the party and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon...until it was too dark to see...outside!

Perfection!

A skating party! Lily and Alexis,both, got a pair of skates from Santa a couple of years ago. Well, Lily went to put hers on and they were too small. Sooo....she pulled out Alexis' and they fit! She was pumped! Everyone at the party was super impressed with her because she was SOOOO good skating! She has always been sooo good at ice skating but never that good at roller skating....until today! She was a pro! I dont know if it was because of her 'new' skates...or what but she had so much fun today!

Sweet friends!

 Look at her go! She was awesome out there!

 Lily didnt want to take her skates off...or leave...but everyone else had long past given up on skating and put their shoes back on! They all just walked around with Lily as she skated! haha!

Cake time and singing to the birthday girl! The three amigos had to take a quick picture together! :)

Meanwhile...these two cruised around our neighborhood and thought that they were SUPER cool!

They rode...and rode...and then came back...then needed to go riding again...then came back and then took off again! They had the best day!

After the party...Callie and Jaycee came home with us for a little bit to play since Carli was already over. These three played  their hearts out. They wore themselves out with jumping, etc on this beautiful day today!

Jumping and jumping!

Sweet friends!

Once Carli and Callie had gone home...Lily and Jaycee had a soccer game in the front yard!

Lily practiced her skills! Im looking forward to soccer starting next week! Whoo hoo!! We had the best day....just hanging at home and with friends!

How many kids?

We had a girls and kids night out last night at Baja.....and we had such a great time!

When the waitress asked us how many there would be....we lost count because there were so many! :)

We loaded up on cheese dip and salsa while the kids were on one end of the table {making concoctions with mixing certain things and daring each other to eat it} while us Moms were on the other end chatting away {and trying to ignore the kids at the other end of the table} :) :)

Alexis and Aly didnt want in the picture because they all of a sudden acted like they were too big to be with this crew!
Sweet kids! Cant wait for the next time!

Double Wordless Wednesday!

So...I have a double dose of Wordless Wednesday today! ha!

This was something that cracked me up this week! So, we have had accreditation this week with SACCOCS coming to hopefully have our new DNP program accredited! So, I took it upon myself...along with my fabulous secretary, Christy, to spruce up the lobby of our Nursing building. We hauled huge bags of potting soil, new plants and pots and replanted plants and added the new soil to the indoor planting areas we have. It was A LOT of work! We were both sweating like pigs by the time we were done! So much so...that I had to come home and take a shower and change clothes because I had a 2:00 meeting that I had to go to and knew that I could not sit at that meeting looking like I did! ha! Poor Christy lives in Piedmont so she wasnt able to go home...so needless to say...our co-workers had a great time making fun of us for 'smelling' etc! :) They all loooovveee to mess with me and joke around with me so the next thing I knew...I had this bottle in my office as my 'trophy for being so great!' Well....it didnt say 'America's favorite...Amber' on it! ha! I added that and took a picture and sent it to the ones that gave it to me because the joke was back on them! :)

And....this CRAZY bird has been driving me crazy in the past couple of weeks! He kills me. He sits there frozen thinking I cant see him at all! I have no idea how he got it in his head to have this spot as his 'hiding' spot...but sure enough...every night...he is sitting just like he is in the picture up there! He is a pretty little thing with a pretty red chest. I wouldnt mind him up there...if he just wouldnt poop all the time on the deck! I have cleaned up soooo much of his poop! I even put a chip clip up there thinking he wouldnt have room to fit. Well, he bit it and broke it off! I went out...and sure enough..he was sitting back in his spot...with the green chip clip broken on the deck! AND....just last night....he had a girlfriend sitting right under him! She was sitting just as still as him too! Tyler just couldnt believe it when I opened the door enough for him to see out! So....uggh....but funny!
Wordless! :)

A day in the sun!

Today was a perfection of a day!

The sun was shining...

the breeze was blowing...

the temp was perfect....

and we made the best of it!

Today we celebrated President's day. Alexis and Lily were out of school....and I took off since....boo...JSU was still open!

Alexis had a dermo and orthodontist appointment to fill most of the day...but in the mix...we hit the park and played out in our backyard before heading to eat with Nan, Pawpaw and Brandi.

We checked out Choccolocco park in Oxford and it was beautiful! I havent been down since it is fully completed and Im so glad we did! The lake was huge and the trail and the scenery was just gorgeous!

Alexis and I couldnt keep up with little miss 'fast girl' Lily.....so we had to take a break! We rested under one of the gazebos that sticks out into the water...and the view was sooo peaceful! The girls played at the park for awhile before heading home!

And this was my view for the rest of the afternoon! I opened the back door and let the breeze flow through the house...and it was perfection!

Lickin and kickin!

We have a long weekend since it is President's day weekend and the girls are out of school tomorrow.

Alexis has a dermatologist and orthodontist appointment so we will be super busy catching up on fun things like that since she is out of school!

We thought the whole weekend would be full of rain since the chances were so high....but thankfully, it has been pretty beautiful and so we have gotten to enjoy it....and some sunshine that is finally coming out!

Friday night....Alexis and Lily kicked off the weekend with spending the night with Nan and Pawpaw which meant...Tyler and I had a date night! Whoo hooo! We had dinner and watched a movie. We had heard that we had to see 15:17 to Paris.....

Well...

it was a waste of time and money {to be honest} We liked that it was a true story...and that the guys were heros....but it just had no substance. But.....we enjoyed having a date at least! :)

Yesterday we loaded up and headed to another movie {I know..two in the same weekend} to see Peter Rabbit with the girls! It was a cute movie! I was surprised at how much I heard Tyler laughing at it!

We, of course, ate at Moes....did some shopping before heading home to ride bikes and relax the rest of the afternoon before the rain actually came later on!

And today....Church...lunch....a Wal-Mart run....MORE riding bikes....and we left Germania Springs just as the rain started coming! Now...we are all curled up at home...watching the National Geographic channel that has monkies, snakes and beetles on it...while baked potatoes bake and our steaks marinate! EEeekk!! :)

The girls loved the movie!

They also loved that I loaded my purse with candy for them to eat! :)

She matches her baby perfectly! :) :)

Lily with her baby too!

And...on we go! Just a kickin the pedals away!! Lily has gotten soooo good at riding her bike! She still needs a little help to push off and get started....but she is getting it!

Us two! :)

Daddy and his girl!

Alexis wanted me to take a picture of her 'perfect cart-wheel!'

Look at Lily! She was SOOOOOOO proud of herself that she rode all the way to Turtle Lake...with no falls..no anything! She is so proud of herself...and it makes me smile!

We didnt see as many turtles as we normally do!.......but we still enjoyed it!

They wanted a picture 'up high!' We have had such a relaxing....slow paced weekend! Perfection!

When we got home from riding...and playing at the park, I gave the girls some raspberries and Nutella...per their request. The raspberries were supposed to be dipped into the Nutella and eaten. Well....I walk into the living room.................and find this.
They were licking their plates...............
they had eaten all of the raspberries by themselves and then decided to lick the Nutella off the plate!
Gross!
Oh me....with these two! :) :)