January 2018

January flew by! Busy month hence the monthly post of a few pictures of January happenings in our life.

New Years Day was low key! We hung out at home, played and relaxed then went to Mimi’s for lunch before coming back home to watch the Alabama run over Clemson in the first playoff game

During the Alabama playoff game the girls played downstairs while the boys played upstairs and watched the game

Savoring the last couple days of winter break. Tuesday was a slow start but once we all got moving Mimi, Sara, and Katie came to have a fun day with Leia, Ivy, and Lisa. We went to Carrabba’s for lunch (girls pick), to Surge for a couple hours of fun (even Mimi and mommy jumped), and then Mimi treated the girls to pedicures. Wish Stacy had not had to work and could have joined in on the fun.

Sara decided she is too big for the kid chairs now; they are growing fast

Lisa was thankful to get to trade work days so she got the last day of the girls winter break off to spend with them. The girls woke and played then Lisa played games with Ivy since Leia wanted some chill time watching TV and Ivy wanted to be more active. As we were getting dressed sweet Ivy saw Lisa’s outfit and ran back to change so we were dressed alike when we went to Chuckecheese. We were surprised there with a special Wednesday deal of a hour unlimited play. The girls got enough tickets to win a blowup Chucky then they saved the rest. They requested pizza for lunch which we had enough of for the first day back to school too. Loved getting to spend so much family time together during the break!

Chris was the mystery reader for Ivy’s class the second day back to school then stayed for lunch with both girlies. They loved getting a surprise visitor at lunch!

We headed to Newnan to see Grandpa on his real birthday when we got out of school. Deedee ordered pizza and we had a low key night since he was having a big birthday party on Saturday evening. The party decorations looked great!

Happy 70th birthday to Grandpa!

Saturday, party preparations were in full gear with Deedee putting finishing touches on everything and Chris uploading the video he helped make for the party. The Rhoads and Mimi were coming to town for the celebration too. Our girls had been planning their time with them in Newnan since they heard they finally were getting to come to Grandpa and Deedee’s house. Lisa and the girls met the Rhoads and Mimi when they arrived in town for Grandpa’s birthday celebration at “Bubbles and Brushes” for all the girls to paint master pieces. Leia and Ivy have been talking about this place to Sara and Katie for over a year and were so excited to show them the fun stuff to do near Grandpa and Deedee’s house.

Fun at Bubbles and Brushes

Next on the kids agenda was Sky-Zone. Chris and Grandpa met us when the girls finished their paintings to take them for a couple hours of jumping to use up a little more of their energy

Chris and Grandpa dropped the girls off at the hotel to go swimming in the indoor heated pool then Lisa picked Leia and Ivy back up so they could get showers and dressed for Grandpa’s party

Grandpa and Deedee invited Mimi, the Rhoads, and Cathy and Larry over pre-party to visit. Larry had everyone going that they had won the lottery for a little bit and Grandpa was getting the Genesis he said he wanted for his birthday.

Party fun!

Sara decided to go back to the hotel that night but Katie bug spent the night with us at Grandpa and Deedee’s house

The girls loved playing the rug game with Grandpa before Mimi and the Rhoads got there for a yummy breakfast on Sunday before we headed back to Alabama to prep for the week. Thankful we all were able to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday weekend

Leia does not have Gymnastics on Tuesdays so after we dropped off Ivy and Katie one day, Leia asked mommy to go to StarLake and for a donut. Mommy ceased the moment picked up the donut and headed straight there for some sweet one on one time with Leia. It was a short but sweet time since gymnastics is just a hour long but Leia got to enjoy her donut by the lake and feed the ducks.

The girls got a long weekend since they were out of school and we were off work for MLK day. Friday Chris got home earlier than we expected since he was traveling and they did not want to get stuck with arctic weather making it’s way back across Alabama; it dropped almost 40 degrees within a hour. Which the chilly air we stayed in Friday night. Family fun night playing hide-n-seek, escape, Barbies, and more. The girls ended up staying up to almost 10 with all the fun

Love family fun nights!

Saturday the girls woke up ready to play again and headed straight to the playroom upon waking. After breakfast they asked if they could have Ivy Bailey over to play too so she came over and played a couple hours. Mommy took the time to cook a couple pots of soup, chicken and rice casserole, and a cauliflower and chicken casserole so we could have fun the rest of the weekend and just warm up food. that afternoon Mimi and Mr Al came over to go bowling with us and have dinner.

She loves taking selfies! She thought this one was hilarious

Saturday night fun bowling with the family. Al said that is was the first time he had gone in decades; the last time he went bowling score was kept on paper

Leia almost beat everyone the first game. Chris rallied to get a strike in the 10th frame to claim victory

Sunday we opted to skip church with the high number of cases of flu we have heard Sunday school friends or family members have been battling. It was sweet walking out and seeing the girls snuggled up on the couch together watching a cartoon. Although it also made mommy realize they are getting big and will not be coming in to wake me right when they get up all the time now; savoring the times they do come in to get me or climb in the bed to snuggle knowing that one day will be the last one. Instead of snapping a picture to freeze the moment mommy sat down to snuggle and watch cartoons with them until Ivy said she was hungry and wanted to cook with mommy so off to the kitchen we went for some momma-daughter cooking time.

Ivy asked to cook a treat since Leia wanted chill time in her room but as soon as Leia heard we were cooking she joined us

Starting to think they only like to cook to eat the batter then they forget about the cooked item

Love having family fun! Snuggles, basketball, and dance

Mommy took the girlies to Mimi’s for spend the night fun! I think they had fun. We had to drag them back home

They celebrated Monday night when we told them school was canceled Tuesday for threat of icing on roads

Tuesday we waited all morning for the snow since it was suppose to arrive between 10 and 12. At 11 they pushed it back to 12 to 2. The girls were excited to go to AlexAnn to play while they waited and had fun playing camping in the house and ninja warrior. It finally started sleeting at 1:50 but it was no where near as much snow as predicted but the girls had fun playing in it and coming in to sip hot chocolate to warm up with neighborhood friends.

Their campout inside

Yeah the sleet started

Big kids showed up at AlesAnn’s house so the sweet little girls walked down to our house

Popcorn and movie time warming up by the fire

Back outside playing

As soon as they came back in they wanted hot cocoa by the fire to warm up. Alabama girls are not use to single digit temperatures

Love these two and the sweet bond they share!

The girlies got two snow days out of the minor event but we enjoyed it! Mommy had to work from home but the girls enjoyed chilling out together and going in and out of the cold outside then they invited neighborhood friends over to play.

Great day for sister snuggles and enjoy the crisp, cold air outside

Facebook gave us a little time hop from 5 years earlier when we were chilling out at home with a little snow on the ground. Sweet babies! Sweet memory!

Ivy loves taking selfies! Mommy loves her love of pictures and is always ready to freeze a moment in time with her

Friday , when the girls went back to school after the ice storm that did not happen they were happy mommy came to have lunch with them! Lisa stayed for lunch with Katie bug too. She would have went with Sara bear too but Sara and Katie’s were at the same exact time; thankfully Mimi surprised Sara so all the little monkeys had a lunch date (she did not take a picture though). The next week Lisa went with Sara and Mimi went with the other three monkeys so they all had fun lunch dates for two weeks in a row.

Friday evening Chris and Leia got to go to Shades Mountain Daddy Daughter Date night. Leia looked forward to it for weeks! It was not exactly what either of them expected since they were expecting more like IVC daddy-daughter date nights but they had some special time together and Chris brought her flowers and gave her a corsage.

Sweet Ivy was a little sad that Leia was going without her and getting to hang out with friends but we had flowers for her too and she was happy to get a picture with sissy and daddy

Uncle Mark too Sara and Katie too

After party at Krispy Kreme

Ivy and mommy had fun on their date night!

Saturday night we were suppose to have friends over for dinner but they had to cancel since their child got sick so we had the family over instead which turned into a spend the night party. So much fun having cousins for friends!

From 7 degrees on Tuesday and Sunday to 60 degrees on Sunday it is Alabama weather at it’s finest. We all enjoyed the sunshine, warm weather, and being outside. Several neighborhood friends came over to play with us too and we ended up going to the Faulkner’s for dinner. It was a fabulous much needed vitamin D, fellowship with good friend kids of day.

Chris had to travel a few days in January. Mimi volunteered to spend the night with us one day when daddy was out of town. It is nice to have some momma daughter time with her that evening and the girls loved that she took them for donuts before school 🙂

The girls were surprised to have lunch dates the last Thursday of the month; Lisa did not make it to lunch with Leia and Katie since she went with Sara that day (picture earlier in post)

Sweet Ivy had a rough week! She couldn’t do gymnastics because of a nose bleed and smashed her finger in the door at aftercare but playing with sissy made it all better. Praying these two are always as close as they are now.

The last Friday of the month was family date night. This week it was dinner and shopping.

Love watching these two monkeys using their imagination and having fun!

Sweet Ivy pulled her 6th tooth while were visiting Mimi and mommy had ran to the store. She likes to pull her own teeth! The toothfairy will be visiting our house

Deedee headed on her annual girls trip. She and Joy have been doing trips with Gigi for years and expanded it to friends a few years ago. Hope they have a great trip!

When Daddy goes out of town the girlies sleep with mommy. Enjoying this time when they are little and the three of us can sleep in one bed. Leia said she didn’t want mommy to be alone when daddy is gone since mommy is use to someone sleeping with .

The girls prepared for the 100th day of school

Mommy made the sweet treat for Ivy’s class

All ready for the 100th day of school dressed in her version of a 100 year old on Monday, January 29th

Class shot

Their version of 100 year old’s face

Nana told Mimi that she knew where she was going on Monday during one of their visits that day. That evening when aunt Charlotte stopped by she told her Jesus was going to take her home and Charlotte told her when Jesus was ready he’d come get her. In the early morning hours Tuesday, January 30th Nana went to her heavenly home. She had 88 wonderful years on this earth. We are thankful for the life she lived, the love she shared, her spunky and energetic spirit, but mostly for the gift God gave each of us through Jesus that she is now walking, running, and dancing on the streets of gold in heaven with her son, husbands, momma, dad, and host of other family and friends that went before her. We know it was a joyous reunion and she walked through the pearly gates into paradise and when the time comes for angels to carry us home we will be reunited

Real life shot! She rarely was serious and loved goofing off. She might have been sticking her tongue out at Lisa since she was getting to hold Chris’s hand