Let's PARTY!!

It's a pony party!

This year Sarah Grace picked a My Little Pony themed party. She found the cake first and we went from there. The cake turned out really cute, and bright, and it was quite tasty!

All the gang was there, family and friends, almost everyone was able to come. Sarah Grace was so excited. She had been asking for days "how many hours till my party?". Well it was finally time. When she came downstairs for breakfast everything was decorated. There were ponies hanging in the doorways and from the lights and there were candy colored balloons everywhere. The table was covered in bright green, and blanketed with Pony confetti. She approved, and so did Charlotte. We caught her stealing confetti more than once...Once everyone was there we blessed the food. She had asked for her usual party staples... nuggets, pasta salad, egg salad and PBJ sandwiches, fruit, veggies and pigs in a blanket. It was all there and then it was all gone. Usually we have leftovers to snack on, but not this year!

After lunch came present time! And she was ready to open them. She even let her friends help her. She got all kinds of goodies, games, $, craft toys, glittery horses and clothes. The biggest hits were the cash and Hungry Hungry Hippos. She was so excited to get it. She and Charlotte play with it every day. It has a permanent spot on our coffee table. I'm starting to be able to tune out the noise it makes!Next it was hot potato time. We had to improvise this year because it was too cold to go out and do a pinata. In years past we have always had warm weather for her party (which is odd) and the kids play outside. Not this year, it was a high of 35! So, hot potato it was! But they really enjoyed it. Payton ended up being the winner and was quite proud of herself. She won the prize (a giant pixie stick)!

It was finally time for cake. We all sang it was a group effort to blow out the candles. After cake the kids all went into the keeping room and watched an Ariel movie she got as a gift. It was refreshingly quiet, for a little while. It was fun day.

Meet Blueberry

She's all grown up... Sarah Grace turned 6. Six just sounds old, which I guess makes me feel older... Bummer. ;0)The night before her birthday we made lemon cupcakes for her school party and she picked out Tinkerbell plates and napkins. She woke up the next morning swearing she was taller than the day before because "I'm 6 now." Which she wasn't for about another 4 hours. She got dressed, in a new outfit, and we got ready for school. When she got downstairs she saw that the balloon fairy (Pawpaw) had come and left her a surprise. Then after breakfast she got to open a couple of gifts from us and a card from her grandparents.Later in the morning I took her cupcakes to the school, and all the kids devoured them. But before they ate, her teacher did something really cute. She brought SG to the front of the classroom and asked her to pick 6 friends to be the 6 candles on her cake. They all circled around her with their hands up high like candles and after we all sang she blew each one out. And then she had one more school surprise later in the day... Daddy came for lunch! It was a first, so she was really surprised!That night was a big deal! She had been waiting for weeks for her gift from Mimi and Pawpaw. They had promised her a trip to Build-a-Bear at the mall. Until recently she had no interest, because she thought the noise from all the machines were too loud and scary. But she was ready now. She had been telling me all about the bear she wanted and we ll really hoped they still had it. We met for dinner at PF Chang's, because she loves Chinese and shrimp. So we had shrimp fried rice and she had a special birthday dessert. After dessert, it was time!And much to our delight they still had the bear she wanted! Although mom and I tried to persuade her to get other ones that we liked better. But she held firm and got her blue and silver sparkly bear. She picked out a heart, made and wish and stuffed her bear. She chose only to stuff her a little bit, so she's really squishy. After she stuffed and stitched, she fluffed and brushed her and then it was time to accessorize! Once again, mom and I got into a bit too much and tried to get her to pick the outfits we liked but she knew we she wanted! It was so much fun, I told Adam I wanted to make a bear! At one point she told Adam "Mom and Mimi are telling me I have to get what they want!" So we backed off and let her pick and then mom bought her the outfit we liked as a surprise to open later. :) She took her time "matching" the outfit and finding the right accessories. She finally chose a pink sequin dress, pink glass slippers, pink ruffle socks, a sparkly purse Hello Kitty panties (yes, they have panties), and pink satin headband. We got Blueberry all dressed and she turned out really cute. Sarah Grace did good.She loves Blueberry, and has taken her everywhere ever since. And she's been wearing the out fit we picked out since she opened it! ;0)After building Blueberry we headed to the carousel and Mom and Dad took the girls for a ride. Oh, and we brought Charlotte a stuffed animal from home that she had never seen and she thought she had gotten something special too. She has slept with her purple puppy every night.

We're Moving...

That's right we're packing up and heading South. No, not South Georgia, South Florida! Can you believe it!?!? Adam got an opportunity for a transfer to the Miami area and I think we're taking it. It's an amazing opportunity and he's really excited about a change of scenery, not to mention the $$$! We had a realtor set up some appointments for us so we flew down to check out some properties this weekend and here's a pic of our new digs, from the "backyard"...

Just teasing, about the move anyway. We did spend the weekend in South Florida but for a reason much more believable... We met Adam's parents and brother in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday for a short weekend to go to the National Championship game in Miami. The trip started out a little rocky. Our flight was delayed, by 4 hours! So it was a long time going back and forth in the airport trying to get on another flight. We ended up getting the last 2 stand-by seats on a flight that left at 3:30 instead of 4:00 so we got there a little sooner... but we missed our whole first day and got there just in time for dinner and checking in the hotel.

But the next day was great. The weather was perfect, 80 and sunny. Just like here. ;0) We had a great breakfast at our hotel, which was really nice and newly remodeled. It had lagoons, gardens, fountains, waterfalls, swans, koi ponds and the rooms were really nice too. After breakfast we headed to downtown Ft. Lauderdale. We took a walk across a draw bridge (because we were tired of sitting in traffic) and saw the boats going under. In the distance you could see the ocean and several cruise ships in port.

When we got to the other side of the bridge, we met up with the car and drove to the water taxi. It was a great day to be on the water. The taxi takes you down the canals and rivers in the city. You can get off and on at different shops and restaurants and then get back on and ride some more. We stayed on for about 2 hours and then got off and walked to the beach and found somewhere to eat lunch.

The taxi takes you past huge mansions, yachts and marinas. They also told you who lived in what house and who sold who yachts, and how much they cost. The boats cost way more than the mansions!! One house cost $18 million and the boat in front of it was $34 million! Crazy! We rode past one house that had a yacht docked on one side and 4 red Ferraris parked in their showroom-like garage. We rode past hundreds of houses on canal after canal and yacht after yacht... people in Ft. Lauderdale have some $$$$!!!! It was really fun to "window shop".

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and change into our game gear! We got the stadium about 6:30 and got a great parking spot right in front with all the tailgaters. It felt like a real college game. Most of the tailgaters were Florida fans and some made comments as we walked by. We got in the stadium and got to our seats and were there as the Sooners took the field for warm ups. It was so exciting! Everyone was soooo ready for the game! The bands played and the fans went crazy! Sooner fans were out numbered, but we still made some noise. There was a fighter jet fly-over at the end of the National Anthem and they went right over us, we were about 10 rows from the top of the stadium...it was so fun. They did fly-overs at the other Championships and it's always exciting! The game was super exciting. It was super close the whole time, until the last 10 minutes. There were lots of cheers and lots of near tears moments but we still had hope. We stood up the entire game and tried to out scream the Gator fans...We were all hoarse and exhausted the next morning. When we saw that the game was taking a turn for the worse we left with about 3 minutes to go and headed to the car. We got back to our hotel about 12:30 and stayed up watching replays of the game. It was a long, late night! The next morning we ate at the hotel, again, and then headed down to Miami Beach. We stopped off at the beach and went for a short walk. It was another gorgeous day, just windy. There was a kite surfer flying up and down the beach. After brushing the sand off our feet we got back into the car and headed to the team hotel, the Fontainebleau, to find OU t-shirts. It was the most lavish, enormous, over the top hotel I've ever been to. It was nicer than the Ritz on Maui!! It was amazing, hard to describe really (you should check it out online). The shirts were all sold out but it was still fun to see the hotel. Adam also ran into one of the OU players and got talk to him and shake his hand. That was better than a shirt for him.

I only had one place I really wanted to go while we were in South Beach, Miami Ink. For TLC viewers you know what I'm talking about...for the others it's a tattoo shop. They have a weekly 30 minute show on TLC and it's so interesting. I love to watch it, they're amazing artists and it's relaxing to watch them draw/tattoo. We drove by and I was able to get a quick pic before traffic forced us on. For dinner we ate on Ocean Drive right across from the beach in an outdoor sidewalk seafood cafe'. The food was good and people watching was very interesting. After dinner it was time to go to the airport. We got stuck in traffic on the way there, but it was okay because we were right across from the cruise ships and 4 of them were leaving port full of people, heading out to sea. It was fun and sad because I wanted to be on those boats!!! Our flight home was on time and uneventful. We got home about 10:00 that night and spent the rest of the weekend in our pj's (in rainy, foggy, & cold weather).

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

The flight home was much better for Charlotte, although it was delayed. She did great! She stayed in her seat, played, snacked and never fussed one time. Thank you Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Tyler and Lollie (Lauren) for all you prayers! We arrived home to Atlanta at 3:00 on Christmas Eve. We got our bags, got to the car, and were at Mom and Dad's house to change clothes by 4:00 and at my grandparents' house by 5:00 for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a whirlwind. Adam and I were exhausted but the girls weren't affected a bit. They were so excited. After sneaking some pre-dinner desserts we got the little ones to the table and had a great meal.

After dinner we cleaned up and then headed to the family room for presents. In years past, we go one gift at a time in age order, youngest to oldest. But this year we let all the kids open and then it was the grown ups' turns. Sarah Grace got, among other things, the thing she wanted most, Pixos. She thought they were coming from Santa, so she was really surprised to get them early. She also got a real digital camera and had fun taking pics of everyone. Charlotte got a baby doll. She loves babies, she immediately kissed it and wanted it out of the box. When she got it she went to her diaper bag and got out the changing pad and "changed" her baby's diaper. Later she also got my sunglasses and was playing "mommy" with her baby. It was really cute. The baby was hit, she and Claire passed it around all night. Before we left we put all 4 girls into their matching pj's and then it was home to bed, sort of...We got home about 9:45 and the girls wanted to go outside and do reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with glitter) and then put out cookies for Santa. Then we had to go through all our suitcases and find all the stuffed animals and blankets so they could go to bed. They finally got to bed a little before 11:00. Then we had to straighten up, make Christmas breakfast and prepare for Santa. Adam and I were zombies Christmas morning...We had to wake the girls up the next morning to go see what Santa had brought. But they hopped right out of bed and were ready! My parents and Adam were downstairs waiting, cameras in hand, as we came down to check it out. My grandparents came a few minutes later to watch the fun. Surprisingly, SG went straight to the kitchen to see if Santa had eaten his cookies. He did, and he left a few crumbs and a chocolaty napkin. When she saw her treats were hit she was ready to see her toys.

Santa was good to the girls. Sarah Grace went to her stocking first and didn't look at anything else, which is funny b/c I used to do the same thing. She was excited about everything. She was even grateful for her apple. When she was three all she wanted was a Barbie and an apple and she loves that he still brings a big red apple every year. This year she said, "and now he gives me an orange too, because he knows I'm almost 6!". The big hit for her was a password journal. You have to say the "secret" password to read or write in the diary. She also got dress up clothes, games, an art portfolio, a snow cone maker and a bean bag chair. Charlotte went straight to her new baby doll and stroller. She put the little diaper bag on her arm and off she strolled right out of the room! She totally ignored all her other gifts. We had to empty her stocking for her and show it to her later. She loves babies! She did eventually play with her other toys, which included a set of baby dinosaurs, which she really liked. When we went to make Santa lists before Christmas she liked the dinosaurs, trains, balls and babies. She has enjoyed playing with her other toys too. As the day went on she gradually discovered the rest of them and had fun playing. One of my favorite parts of the morning was when Sarah Grace gave us the gifts she had bought for us at her Secret Santa Shop at school. She did pretty good. She thought about every gift. She gave me 2, one was a pearl bracelet and the other was a pair of dangle earrings with red beads and silver hearts that said "I love Mom" on one side and "XOXO" on the other. For Adam, she got him an American eagle on a flag figurine. She prefaced it by saying, "Dad, they didn't have anything OU so I got this". She knew what he really wanted but "settled" for the next most masculine gift she could find. She gave Charlotte a #1 sister ink pen with a toy attached to one end. She did really good, it was fun to see what she picked out for us.After gifts we all ate breakfast, french toast, bacon and fruit. It was really good and fun to have everyone over for the morning. After breakfast the girls played, and we cleaned up and tried to find the living room floor... Christmas day we went to Krista's house for lunch with my mom's family. It was very laid back, we ate, my grandparents opened gifts and the the kids played. We stayed till about 9:00 and then took two sleepy little elves home to bed.

Merry Christmas & Happy new Year!