My eyes...my eyes!

We just dont know what to do since we have had some sunshine the past couple of days! Today has been a beautiful day!! Heard through the grapevine that it is supposed to start raining again tomorrow! :(
Well...we can at least remember what to do with sunglasses today...and get to use them while we make silly faces! :)

Hard workin & feelin the blues...

Saturday funday has not turned out so fun this weekend!.........Lily, Daddy and I didnt get really any sleep last night. Tyler and I had a great time on our date night, but once we got the girls home the fun began! :(
Lily was up all night coughing and crying because she just couldnt get comfortable and breath through her nose. So, today I took her to the doctor. Poor little thing has had bronchitis, the flu and now upper respiratory asthma/sinus infection in the past 2 months! She has been through it all! :(
She is sleeping now, and hopefully the medicine she got will make her feel better soon! We were going to watch Alexis' little friends..Cooper, Walker and Nick play their basketball game, but we had to cancel. :(
While we were gone to the doctor, Daddy got the front yard finished! There are a couple more things that he wants to get done, but WOW at the transformation he has made! It looks great! He is such a hard worker. He just doesnt know how to sit down! :) .........he puts 100% in everything he does and never cuts corners! I hope that my girls look up to him and take after him as they grow! :) He is for sure a great role model for his girls! :)
So....we will be spending the rest of our weekend trying to rest and feel better! ....and now onto the back yard next for Daddy! :)


Lily was SO good while we were waiting on the doctor!

The next two pictures are the "before" pictures of our yard before Tyler got his hands on it! ha!

The next two pictures are the "work in progress" pictures! :)

And ...............drum roll please............... THE NEW LANDSCAPED YARD!

My funny Valentines!

This week was Valentines day week! We had alot of fun activities this week to celebrate the day of LlloOove! :)
Tuesday night we had dinner with Aunt Pam, Brandon, Nannie, Hogan and Gran at Aunt Pam's house. The girls are always so excited to go to Aunt Pam's house and eat all of her apples before it is time to eat dinner! :) Gran gave the girls the CUTEST little Tutu outfits for Valentine's Day to wear to their Fancy Nancy Tea Party that is next week! (Alexis can NOT wait for this!..we have been reading Fancy Nancy books for the past 2 weeks and she just loves Fancy Nancy! I call her Fancy Nancy Lexie and she just smiles sooo big!) Aunt Pam got the girls two fun Valentine books that they have enjoyed reading this week too!
Wednesday night Alexis had Awanas..and after we came home and got everything ready for her Valentine party at school the next day! She had soo much fun at her party on Thursday!
*Funny story:

I asked Alexis the other day who her valentine is…..and she said she wanted it to be Nick! ( a precious little boy in her class) so, I asked her yesterday when I picked her up how her Valentine party went... etc.

I asked her if Nick was her valentine? …………well……..she lowers her head and looks so sad and says no. I asked her why he wasn’t.

She goes……”Well Mommy, he did eenie meenie miney mo…and so I wasn’t his valentine.” (looking so sad when she said this)

So I said….”well he did eenie meenie miney mo…..to choose his valentine..so who was his valentine?”…………and Alexis said ……Ella! Haha!

Mr. little ladies man had a tough decision…………and what a genius way of making the decision than none other than eenie meenie miney mo!! 

I just laughed so hard picturing Nick standing in front of Alexis and Ella doing eenie meenie miney mo! WAY too funny! Alexis did say though that Nick……..and Walker gave her a valentine’s hug! Ha! It just cracks me up how they are at this age with things they do and say!! ha!

So Thursday was THE day! :) Tyler, the gentleman that he is, asked his mom to go to dinner with him so they went to eat and then enjoyed ice cream together after. So, Pawpaw wanted to be our Valentine...so the girls and I went to dinner with Pawpaw! (We had more fun that Nan and Daddy did! ;) )

Tonight Tyler and I get to have our Valentines date! whooo hooo! :) Gran got us a gift card for dinner so we are going to eat and to a movie! It has been a looong while since we have been on a "date" so...we are excited...and Gran is keeping the girls............so we are kid less too! :) whooo hooo! :)

One of these days Alexis is going to look at these pictures and say "Mom...what was I doing?"...and my response will be.."This is you..being you..and not listening to me and not wanting to put the love sign down and you making up your own poises!" :) .............but I love her poises she does! :)

Alexis was so excited to do her Valentine cards for all of her friends! She wrote all of their names and her name on each one! I was SOOOO proud of the great job she did writing! (She is only 4!!) :)

This is the cutest thing ever! Alexis made this at school to put all of her Valentines in! Is it not adorable!...and soo much fancier than the shoe box things I made when I was a kid to put mine in! I love seeing all of her valentines she got from all of her sweet friends!!

Aren't these outfits sooo cute for their Tea party coming up! Cant wait to see them in these!!

Nan got Alexis the cutest little desk so she can do her homework when she starts school! Alexis loved it..and Lily loved it too! Lily kept trying to get up there and sit too! ha!

But...they both LOVED the balloons just as much!! :)

Throwback Thursday ~ Loves Past!

Since today is Valentine's Day I thought it would be a great idea to do some of my favorite past Valentine pictures for Throwback Thursday!! I will share what all we did for Valentine's day on my next post! :)

My most favorite Valentine's Day memory (in my younger years :) ) was my Junior year at Auburn! *I dont have any pictures downloaded, but I wanted to share it for memory's sake! :)
Tyler was in Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity at Auburn. For Valentine's weekend his Fraternity had a "Sweetheart Formal" in Savannah, Georgia! For the weekend the guys and their chosen dates loaded up and we headed to beautiful Savannah! We had such a GREAT time! Savannah is beautiful! We all enjoyed walking the boardwalk, eating, hanging out, shopping etc! That Saturday night was the formal. We all got dolled up and ate and danced the night away to the band!
Every Fraternity has what is called a "sweetheart" in their chapter... which is the girl that they vote on that all the guys feel is the "sweetheart"  out of all the girlfriends, friends etc that hang out at their house. Well, Tyler's Fraternity voted and decided for me to be their sweetheart!  :)
So at the "Sweetheart Formal" they honored me and gave me flowers! I felt so special and sooo happy that all the guys voted for me! :) It meant alot because all of those guys were very special to me and still to this day are close to some of them! :) Tyler and I had so much fun together on that trip and I was so happy he was my valentine! :)

These pictures are just so precious to me of my beautiful little Valentines in years past!! :)

Alexis ~ 2011

Alexis ~ 2010

...

Alexis and Payton! She is "head over heels" for this little guy! :)

Sweet Lily ~ 2012

My Valentines ~ 2012

Wordless Wednesday

My heart

Lily is 17 months this week! She is the most sweet, loving and huggable little girl! I could just squeeze her to death! :)
These past couple of weeks have been the biggest changes yet for her to me. She has just become much more of a toddler so quick here lately! The "I can do everything by myself" attitude is already kicking in too. She will throw a little fit if you do something that she wants to do by herself!
Her vocabulary has taken off also! She is getting pretty good at copying words that I say. She has started saying no. Yep, no has officially hit the word list! (She usually says no no no, though!)
She also says "dop"....(stop), bubble, dog, night night and hey are some others that she has been saying too!!
She is obsessed with closing doors, cabinets, drawers, the trash can door, dishwasher, anything that is open...she HAS to close it and keep it closed. I have had several accidents almost of dumping left over food into the floor instead of the trash can because I will look down and it will be out and before I know it, she has already pushed in the trash can and closed the door!..........right when I am about to dump the food!
She LOVES to color with Alexis. She will sit in the chair...grab a crayon and just "color" like she is 4 years old too!
**I think she is going to be a lefty because she always uses her fork and writes with her left hand. Alexis would swap back and forth with what she would do at this age, but overall she would always use her right hand. Lily just uses her left hand every time so we shall see if she changes!
Speaking of forks.........she has become obsessed with forks lately too! She will grab my fork away from me and start using it if I dont get her one to use! She is getting better and better with getting the food in her mouth instead of on my floor! ;) Alexis at this age wasnt even interested in using a fork...and when I did introduce it to her, she would still mostly use her hands. Lily was the one that decided herself that she was ready! (Maybe that is a good sign that she will starting wanting to potty train herself too!) ;)
She is also loving trying to take her clothes off by herself. She will get mad if I try and help her...but madder when her shirt or pants get stuck...like over her head! And her MOST favorite thing to do is take her shoes and socks off.... All.the.time. It is such a PAIN too! :) Every time we get out of the car, we have to search for where she has thrown her shoes and socks and put them back on only to turn around 5 seconds later and see that she is trying to take them off again!......she has even been put in time out at school because she will not stop taking them off when the teachers tell her to stop! :)
She still loves to eat....and eat....and eat! She really isnt picky at all. Green beans are still by far her favorite!
She is responding so much more to questions when someone asks her something and more aware of her environment too! We are getting closer to 2 more and more everyday!! {insert tears here}

This picture describes her personality perfectly to me! That little sweet..innocent half smile, just has my heart!!

 Here she is using her fork! She is getting really good at it! :)

Here is a perfect example of Lily wanting to do everything by herself and little miss "Mommy" trying to help! Lily just had to put her shoes on by herself...even though it is on the wrong foot!...but dont worry "Mommy Alexis" was there to correct her! :)

Where is my "Rock~a~tar?"

We had a great weekend! Saturday got up to 62 degrees! I love when I dont have any "obligations" and we just have an easy...go with the flow...weekend. That is exactly what we had! Our friend Becca called and invited us to the Anniston Museum so we loaded up and met Laynee and Walker to play! The girls had a blast just running around, playing and looking at all of the animals! We had lunch with them and then headed home for perfect timing of the afternoon nap! ;)
Daddy worked on the yard and it is almost done thanks to Nan coming up to help him out!
Every Sunday...I cant help but get the song "Manic Monday" in my head! I love the lyrics..."I wish it were Sunday....thats my fun day...I dont have to run day!"....and that is what we are doing so far today!
The girls decided to have a "rock show" this morning! They were cracking me up!! Lily was just dancing and singing  right along with Alexis! (She kind of stopped when I cut the video camera on though)!


Alexis, Lily, Laynee and Walker. This is the best picture I could get of four busy kiddos! (The bear in the background just ended up having to be chopped out of the picture!) :)

This video cracks me up! The rock show was going great until Alexis had to go find her "Rock a tar" (her guitar...she couldnt think of the correct word!)...

Seeing double

I just fell in love with this picture when we took it of Alexis when she was a baby! When Lily was born, I could not wait for her to be around the same age as Alexis so I could get a picture of her too!!

Sweet .....sweet....beautiful little ballerinas!......

These two faces

These two faces make my week! We have had a great week this week, just doing our same ole groove. We havent been too busy and this weekend we dont have any plans really either other than Tyler is REALLY needing to get our yard finished. He is re-landscaping the front and back yard because it was in BAD shape when we moved in! (before and after pictures coming soon!!)....and I am planning on taking Alexis to practice tee~ball since it is supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow!! :) I hope everyone has had a great week and going to have a great weekend too!!

Throwback Thursday ~ For the Record!

Dear Alexis and Lily,
For the record....once upon a time...(which I would like to say we still are today)....and (still are when you girls are ever reading this) :)...your Daddy and I are/were some really "cool" people!
Yes, that is right....Mommy and Daddy were/still are cool! We have done alot of fun things, we have been on alot of fun vacations even before you two were ever born!
Your Daddy and I dated for 5 years before we got married. We were married for right at three years before we had kids...and as of today we are going on eight years of marriage! ~all while being "cool!" haha!
I want yall to always remember that when the day comes that yall think your old Mommy and Daddy are embarrassing and not "cool"! ;)
Love,
Mommy!

For a "Look back in time".............this week's look back is our very first trip (that we paid for) and (by ourselves) trip as a married little couple! We went on a cruise! The year was 2006! :)

**A little History leading up to the cruise:
Tyler worked at Shoal Creek Golf course during this time. He met and became really good friends with a guy named Bryan Scroggins who worked there too. Together they started their own landscaping/lawn care service. So, after work they would load up and go work on their yards. Bryan did the "side job" since he had a brand new baby...to have extra money for Ava. Well, since Tyler and I didnt have any kids yet, he just saved his extra money he made.
 Well, we went on a honeymoon cruise to the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands. It was beautiful and sooo much fun. Well, Tyler decided to surprise me (with the money that he had saved up from his "side job") and for our 1 year anniversary we went to the Bahamas and Belize on a cruise! (He remembered how much I loved the Bahamas because it was sooo pretty!!) :) It was sooo thoughtful!...and a huge surprise!

We had so much fun on this trip! We just relaxed, shopped, ate great food, layed out on the beaches, saw the sights and in Belize we went Cave tubing. Cave tubing was unbelievable. To this day, Tyler and I both say that is the best/most fun thing we have done yet! It was creepy/scary/thrilling/amazing all at the same time! We each had our own huge tube that we sat on and floated our way through underground caves. The water was cold but bearable, and it was so dark! We had these little flashlights strapped to our foreheads so we could see (kind of) what was around us! There were bats in the caves too! Talk about alot of memories made on this trip! :)


The Hard Rock Cafe was SO good! It was so neat to see all of the displays they had with different rock star's outfits etc from the Bahamas!

This was a HUGE chair at the Atlanis Hotel in the Bahamas! This hotel is A~plus...top of the line....high class....so pretty...I could go on and on! One of these days...maybe we will be staying here when we go back to the Bahamas! ;)

Our huge cruise ship! When went to Belize, this ship had to anchor down really far out away from the shorelines because Belize has a huge reef. The ship couldnt get close to let us off because they didnt want to ruin the reef. We had to take little boats back and forth from this ship to the pier.

Yeah this is me...Mommy...being "cool"! :) (This Caribbean man was sooo stinky smelling!) ha!...but it was fun to play with him!

**See how "cool" Mommy and Daddy are!!! :)

Wordless Wednesday!

*** I know this is "wordless Wednesday"............but I do have to say that my hair looks like I stuck my finger in an electrical outlet...and Lana Murphy is in big trouble for doing this to me! :) ..........though I seem in the picture to like it! ( oohhhh me!!)..... :)

The Maiden and her Knight

We had a busy but fun weekend! We headed to Birmingham to do some shopping and then over to the  Rigney Castle to celebrate Payton's 5th birthday! I just can not get over that he is 5! Every birthday he has just shocks me that Alexis is always right around the corner to be that age! 5!! 5!!....oh my Alexis is about to be 5!! :)

Before we went to the birthday party we enjoyed our MOST favorite place to eat...Moes!! It was sooooo good...and goodness how Tyler and I miss it! :) Then we headed to Academy and picked out Alexis' Tee~ball gear!! She got a new glove, bat, balls, and cleats! She looked soooo cute in all of her pink stuff! (Yes..her bat .....her cleats..her glove...are all pink!) :)


While we were getting ready to go to Birmingham, Alexis said she wanted to have curls like a Princess for Payton's party. Soo...I got out her hot rollers...and even though they were soooo hot...(and I burnt my finger tips)...I got her hair all curled up! She was soooo excited about it....

see the smile............well that didnt last 5 seconds when I took the rollers out!!!........

Well....right after this picture...I took out the rollers. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!....she started BAWLING!!!! She almost couldnt breath she was crying so hard! She kept saying.."My hair is fat...Mommy, my hair is fat...I dont like it!"
She didnt even give me a chance to brush it out or fix it....NOTHING...she hated it...said it was fat and was SO upset how her hair looked!
*Note to self I will never have to worry about Alexis ever having a "bouffant"!! :)
So Daddy took her and rewashed her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. No curls...no big poof!

Alexis was so excited to get all of her Tee~ball stuff!...especially that it was all pink!

Lily was just enjoyed the buggy ride!

And checking out all the stuff Alexis was trying on and doing! :)

Alexis....the birthday boy...and Sammy! (The Maiden (Princess) and her Knights!)

**Funny story: Alexis said to Payton that he didnt look like a Prince..and he goes, Well because I am a Knight....and Alexis says..."but Payton you are my Prince!" haha!!

Lily wanted to be a Maiden too!

Lily was so funny. The whole time all the other girls were making their crowns...she just stood back and watched all of them. Well, when they were done....and gone....she went over to the table and started making her crown! She was going cross eyed trying to stick the "jewels" on her crown!

And AHHHH.......Tyler and I LOVE to wear the girls out....that means...a nice....peaceful drive all the way home!!.......

The month of LoOooOve

We are already into the month of February! Goodness time is flying! This was our last week in January and I have to say I am looking forward to the month of LllloOOoove! :)
Alexis is so excited about her Valentine's party coming up and giving all of her friend's their Valentine from her too!
This week was an improvement in the rain and sick department! It did rain a good bit but not as much as the weeks earlier. Lily is still a little congested too...but she is getting better! We didnt have a very busy week this week....just the same routine of Awanas....bible/book study etc!
Alexis was sooo excited this afternoon when I told her that I registered her for Tee~ball!! I am a little nervous but excited for her to do this. I hope so much that she likes to play. I have been practicing with her and so far...so good....but she still needs ALOT of practice! :)
If I throw it to her and she doesnt catch it...(which is pretty much every time)...she will say something like "Mommy, you threw it too high"...or "Mommy you need to throw it better" etc (which I did throw it good)...she just doesnt know how to catch :) So I am curious how the Tee~ball thing is going to go with her! Especially too...I hope that she doesnt get hit with the ball somehow and then gets upset and doesnt want to play anymore! ha!....but we/she will never know if she will like something new until she tries it!
 I read a great quote today that I think is fitting for Alexis' new adventure in Tee~ball:

Face it…Challenge it…Go Forward…Conquer. Never. Deny...Evade....Falter…Crumble  ~unknown

 **when you are faced with a problem or a challenge in life in general, face that difficult situation..admit you have a situation that is hard and take steps to conquer it! When you deny you have a hard situation and you falter...it will only make everything else in life crumble.
I hope Alexis and Lily both, always faces their challenges and doesnt falter and conquers!

 We are looking forward...as always...to the fun filled weekend! We are heading to Birmingham again for Payton's birthday party. Alexis and Lily will be dressed as Princesses! (Pictures to come!) :)