Divided and conquered!

We divided and conquered today from Oxford to Gadsden!

It was on the chilly side today {even though it was in the 60's} just because it has been in the high 70's earlier in the week but still a beautiful day to be out and about!!

Alexis had a blast spending the night with Caroline. She thinks she is SO cool and big to get to hang out with Caroline's older brother {Trent} and his sweet girlfriend Mallory. I saw this picture from Leyla and I realized....Alexis is not wearing her clothes! She must have raided Caroline's closet and asked to wear her shirt to go to dinner and bowling! Oh goodness!

Tyler and I divided and conquered today so as he headed to Lily's little friend MacKenzie's birthday party at the Anniston Museum....Lex and I headed to Jazz pictures! This sassy thing struck this sassy pose and was ready for her Jazz pictures!

Too cute!

Her Jazz class. Most of the class was not able to make pictures because the date was given at such a short notice. :(

Tyler and I got home within 30 minutes of each other. Just in time to distribute laundry from washer to dryer....do a couple of other items....watch an episode of Fixer Upper and then do a couple of flips, spins and turns on Tyler's toy truck...Lily's toy truck before heading to Gadsden for bowling and celebrating Andrew turning the BIG 3-0!!!

Tyler....Lily, thinks it is SUPER cool at how fast this thing will go.....you know...since it is Tyler's...Lily's truck!!  :) :) :)

Yep...this guy is 30! Nannie pointed out the nice fact at dinner that.....half his life is now over!! Here's to the next 30 years Andrew! Happy birthday! I hope the next 30 is your best and happiest yet!!  :) :)

We had a great time bowling! Ty won the 1st game and Andrew won the 2nd! Poor Alexis...and Gran....were dead last! :)

Lex did a toss up between using the 'bowling slide' and throwing the ball between her legs! :)

Lily was a pro today! :)
We enjoyed dinner and cake {complete with the happy birthday song} before heading home and crashing! :) :)

Are we in February?

This week....whew....

to say every day may not be good but there is something good in every day....

is an understatement!

To say that this week has had beautiful weather though {in the high 70's/low 80's} has been great but so weird with it being February!

So, to say Im glad this week is done and today is Friday....whew, thankful!

We have a very full day ahead of us tomorrow from morning to night and then a fun Sunday coming so I am looking forward to the weekend!

Alexis is spending the night with Caroline tonight so Tyler and I enjoyed a Lily night by taking her to dinner and then to Wal-Mart where she got to pick out a surprise! She chose Ice-e Pops! No toys for her...she wanted a treat! :)

Since we were down one child tonight...I did some straightening up and take a wild guess where I am?!?!

A closer look......

A different view..........
Lily's room! OH MY goodness, you would think a bomb went off! I asked her if she even knew what all was in that drawer and that she needed to clean it up and close it. She says, as a matter of fact to me... 'Mommy, I know where everything is....and I need ALL of this stuff!' :) I am not at all surprised coming from the girl that can pack a bag with 10,000 items all the while it is busting at the seems...but some way...some how, she gets it to zip!!! :) Oh Lily! :)

Then, I walk into Alexis' room...... and this girl is on a whole different spectrum! She knows exactly, too, where everything is....and needs everything in her room too! :)

This girl..........has every.single.thing. perfectly in line and in its place!

You move 1 thing from her room....................... I DARE you...................... to move 1 thing from her room.....
you will see what happens when you do! :) :)

On another note............this week, this melted me! There was a little girl sitting by us {who was around 7 but she was tiny} that Lily thought was her age. She was reading a book to her Mom. Well, Lily comes over to me and asks if she can go get her books from the car so she can read! {Mind you...she can't read yet} but OH...that little girl..........would NEVER known Lily didnt know how to read!! Lily had all those books and 'read' out loud{mind you} every.single.book. :) When she was done 'reading' all of them, she looked over at me and said... 'Okay, Mommy, I am done reading for the day!' It cracked me up!
And...then this afternoon...she asked me if she could go get a book and show Daddy how she has learned to read and how well she reads! So, after he got out of the shower.....she read to her Daddy!
Priceless!
I cant wait until she actually can read. She is such a determined little girl that it will be no time that she really will and she is going to be so proud of herself!

And today...helped end the week on a great note! I went to KittyStone and did the annual 'Germ' speaking with Missy and Tammy. I love to go and see the sweet kids...especially the ones I know! This group was super special because it was a lot of Lily's friends and they kept saying 'You are Lily's Mommy....I know you, you are Lily's Mommy!' :) Lily should have been with this sweet group but since she missed the age cut off by only 12 days....I get to do the 'Germ' lesson with her next year! :)
While we were in Wal-Mart after dinner tonight.....I heard a little girl yell to her Mom, 'Mommy, she taught me how to wash my hands today and showed me how much germs I have on me!' I dont even remember seeing her....but she remembered me and yelled it across Wal-Mart....as her Mom was looking really confused! :)

Wordless Wednesday!

 {Valentines!}

 I absolutely LOVE looking at the changes from year to year! :) The furthest I could find was 2010 though. :(

Circa 2010- I LOVE THIS!!!!

Circa 2011

Circa 2012-We were technically 'homeless' this year so no Valentine picture with the normal 'theme' of signs, etc because all of our things were boxed up as we were waiting to find a home in Jacksonville....so this picture will have to do for 2012 since it was taken around the time of Valentines. :) {And...yes, Alexis has a bruise on her forehead} :)

 Circa 2013

This picture cracks me up because I distinctly remember Lily trying her best to pull it from Alexis so she couldnt hold it and Alexis was trying her best to keep it and smile at the same time! Hence why Alexis has a death grip on the sign and why Lily is looking determined!

Circa 2014

Circa 2015

 Circa 2016

 Circa 2017

Motivation Monday!!

Twisted photoshoot!

Ahhh....

this weekend has been perfection!

Yesterday we didnt step foot outside our home and it was glorious!

We hung out at home all.day.long. without anything on our calendar!

I can not tell you the last time we have had nothing to do!

We filled our day with relaxing and enjoying just being at home!

Thursday, after dance, the girls spent the night with Gran and Ben and today was packed full with Church and seeing LaLa and Aunt Pam for lunch with everyone since they were in town for a baby shower, Tyler working on yards, math tutoring and more.... so....having one day....stuck right in the middle....of doing nothing...but just enjoying home....

perfection!

Amongst the relaxing....the girls filled the day with tons of games. They were all kinds of twisted while playing! Along with this...Alexis worked on perfecting her jump roping skills....to which...I busted out my old skills {much to Daddy's surprise especially} on how AWESOME I am at jump roping!! :)

Twister girls!

Decided to do a mini photo shoot today!
Havent had a chance to do our yearly Valentine pictures....so I took a couple today!

Making silly faces at each other....oh me.....when I let them do their own poises, this is what I get! :)

Love!

And....see what I mean with what I get when they do their own poises! :) ha!

She is just grown!

Two sisters!

Two stinkers! :)

Love this of her!

Love!

Doing some modeling!

Tired of taking pictures! ha!

Her expression! She is a mess!

Her new love therefore her week is made!

This is finally in....

so her week is made!

She is LOVING Jazz and was super super super excited when Mrs. Jessica said they were here and to try it on!

Super cute....super pink....one super happy 8 year old! :) :)

Pretty in pink!

Her favorite color + Jazz = a huge smile on her face! :)

Wordless Wednesday!

{This little one is now registered for Kindergarten!!} Ahhh!!!

Heart day!

Even if it was a regular ole Tuesday...

today was the 'day of love' and even if we didnt do anything over the top, being with my little family of four was the perfect day!

With heart day being on Tuesday......the girls had to get the most out of their Valentines shirts! To throw in tights with 'LOVE' on it...makes it even cuter this week!

How does she look 25?!?!

And today is the day! This one was sooo excited about the day of love and spreading the love by giving her friends their sweet treats! She has such a giving and loving heart!

Sweet sisters!

Crazy craziness today giving 145 3rd graders a HUGE bowl of ice cream FILLED to the rim {if not over the rim} :) of toppings! Their faces were priceless watching them eat and enjoy the Valentine ice cream party! Us Moms gearing up for the mass to takeover after this picture was taken! :) :)

I hate this picture is blurry, but love this little girl with my whole heart! I know she knows, without a doubt, how much I love her and enjoy helping at her school and seeing her sweet friends!

Imani came home with us today since duty calls even if it is Valentines day! Gym class was still in full effect! :)

Love seeing the sweet Valentines and goodies that the girls bring home! Makes me happy!

LOVE this! She made it herself and was soooo happy and proud to give it to me!

This is the sweetest! When I was walking into the school today, Caden just happened to be walking out of the bathroom. He came running over to me saying 'Mrs. Amber, I got Alexis a Valentine! I got her a cute teddy bear that I think she will love, I got her a heart chocolate box with a lot of candy and I got her a BIIIIGGG Hershey kiss too! I had to put it at her desk since I had to go back to my class and I havent seen her so I hope she likes it!' {Talk about my heart exploding that my daughter has this sweetest little guy telling me this!!!} {Even though....I am perfectly fine with NO boyfriends...and 'boys are just friends' right now situations!} :) :)  I gave him a big hug and told him what a sweet gentleman he is and he just lit up! It was the sweetest thing and I will be A-OKAY if I could put arranged marriages into affect and set it up for them! :)
Then when I got home, that is the first thing that Alexis showed and told me about! She wrote him the sweetest little thank you card to give him!
It was the sweetest thing!!

Of course...I am not surprised that she requests McDonalds for her 'fancy' Valentines dinner! So, she got it................and we compromised and we got Momma G's while Alexis was at gym! {Dont worry, we were back in the McDonald's drive thru for Alexis too when she was done! :)
I would say heart day was perfection! The girls came home and after bath/bed routine...they both curled up and requested to watch the movies their Daddy got them in their beds! Lily got Mary Poppins from her Daddy and Alexis got another set of American Girl movies! Tyler and I caught up on our missed episode together of The Bachelor while they enjoyed their movies! Ahh...nice! :)