Christmas Time

I am so happy that Christmas time is here. It is my FAVORITE time of the year. I just love everything about it and everything it stands for. I really try not to get caught up in all the unnecessary things involving Christmas, but I do look forward to continuing traditions that Josh and I grew up with. One of my favorite things to do is put the tree and decorate it. Growing up we would always decorate the tree at night time with most of the lights off so that the tree lights were all we had. We always had a huge tree so it took a while to decorate. My dad would always play Christmas music which usually included Elvis' CD. Some of my best memories are listening to me daddy (sorta) sing along to Elvis. It was so annoying at the time, but now I wish I could go back and do it again. We decorated our tree this morning and it was so much fun. Emma did a great job.This is the first year that she has really known what to do and she was very careful and particular about where the placed the ornaments. She loves the Christmas tree and she is the only one (according to her) who can turn the lights on and off. She turns it on as soon as she wakes up and turns it off right before bed time. Ryleigh wasn't really interested but that was to be expected. Maybe next year. I am so looking forward to spending the holidays with my family. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. 

Catching Up

It's been a little bit since I last posted. This past week was very long and there way a lot going on so I'm just going to do one big catch up post and then hopefully start blogging regularly again this coming week. We hosted Thanksgiving for my moms side of the family at our house this year so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning I spent cleaning, getting things I needed, grocery shopping, etc. Wednesday afternoon Emma had dance class. She had so much fun but I was ready to get back home and finish preparing for Thursday. But, on the way home the girls and I were in a car accident. It was my first and also the girls firsts too. We were rear ended at a complete stop by a car going probably 35-40 mph. Several EMS and fire trucks came and we were all checked out and we are fine. The girls were screaming so much but I think it just scared them more than anything. We finally got home around 6:00 that night. Since the accident wasn't my fault we have to go through the other driver's insurance. My car isn't drivable so I need them to provide me with a rental car until they fix mine. However, we haven't been able to get in touch with anyone and I am going on day 5 of not having a car. It's very frustrating, especially since it wasn't even my fault. But anyway, as a result of the car accident we had to purchase new carseats for the girls. (which the insurance company will be paying for) The girls love their new seats. This picture is after we moved our cars from the main road.  You can still see a couple of the trucks there. The accident was in between the trucks.

(the rest of the pics were taken with Josh's phone)

Thanksgiving Day was long but so wonderful. After the accident I had some really bad back pain which made everything we had to do Thursday morning that much harder. We had around 20 people here and it was so great to be with the whole family. I am thankful for so many things this year. My two wonderful girls, my husband, my family, our health, the roof over our heads, food we eat. I could go on and on and on. Truth is, life is hard, but we all have so many things to be thankful for. 

Josh fried two turkeys this year. The only way to do it, in my opinion. 

Katie came over early and kept the girls busy for me. Emma and Katie are coloring, Ryleigh is throwing crayons in the floor.  :)

Today we took the girls to the playground to get some energy out. They hadn't left the hosue since the accident on Wednesday so I think it did them some good to get out. They had so much and Ryleigh even started going down the big slide. I can't believe how fast these girls are growing.

We put our tree up on Friday night and we had plans to decorate last night but that didn't happen. We decided to wait until tomorrow morning. We always make Christmas cookies while decorating the tree and since I already told Emme about them, we went ahead and baked our cookies. Emma LOVES the little sugar cookies with the pictures on them. I am really looking forward to decorating the tree without our girls. 

I think that's about it. We are all caught up and I'm looking forward to having one more day to spend with Josh and the girls before Monday comes once again. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.

still here....

Yes, I am still here. I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. This past week was just kind of slow and boring. Josh was out of town and then got home Thursday night. He took a half day off work on Friday and we went out and ran some errands together. It was so nice spending the afternoon with him. Other than the beach vacation in September, he hasn't taken any days off this year so it was great that he could be off, even if it was just for a half a day. Yesterday I attempted to do some pictures of the girls at Old Salem for our Christmas cards and it went horribly. It is nearly impossible to get a 1 and 3 year old to smile and look at the camea at the same time. They looked so cute in their matching dresses though. Maybe I'll show yall some outtakes. They are kind of funny. Ryleigh will not let Emma stand where she is touching her or else she pushes her away. Last night Josh's parents come over for dinner. He grilled a flank steak and I fixed some baked potatoes. I hear the flank steak was really good but I don't eat steak, so I'll just have to take their word for it. Also about 7:30 last night I went to my nannys house to clean it for her. I will be doing it once a month for her. I didn't get done until about 12:30 and then got home around 12:45. It was really nice to spend some time with her though. I love the wonderful stories she tells about life "back then." This week is going to be so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am so excited to have all my family at my house for dinner. I still have to go grocery shopping and clean, which will take most of the week. I will try to come back soon with a few pictures of my girls.

Hope yall have a blessed Sunday!

1st Sleepover

Let me start this post by saying that I am awful at editing photos. I took these indoor of course with a flash and they turned out ok but I really just don't know what I'm doing. Hopefully Autumn can do something with these. I wanted to get Josh's help but we've been busy and he is leaving tomorrow for 5 days so I wanted to go ahead and post these. 

Autumn and I couldn't wait for the day that we would have kids old enough to have sleepovers. I'm still not quite sure ours are really old enough to understand it but they still had fun. Emma was so excited to have Cheyenne come sleep in her bed. After dance class on Wednesday I brought Cheyenne home with me to stay that night. Josh was out of town so it was just me and three girls. Cheyenne doesn't come to our house very often because we live about 40 minutes away from them so her and Emma were all over the place. That's where things started to get a little crazy. Isn't it funny how your kids don't want to play with the toys they have until another kid comes over and starts playing with it? Well, I had 3 girls fighting over the same toy that usually my girls could care less about. But I quickly explained to them that we all had to share or the toy was going to be put away. 

There was lots of magna doodle drawing....

 and doing flips.

There was also A LOT of dancing. They turned on Emma's music player as loud as it would go and danced around the whole house. 

For dinner I had planned for the girls to put a pizza together. I wanted them to sit at the kitchen table so I could get some good pictures of their faces but they insisted on sitting at the kids table. Either way, they had a lot of fun making their dinner. 

After dinner we played a little bit more and then settled down to watch a little bit of Madagascar before bed time. 

I put them to bed around 7:30 and they giggled until about 8:40. I heard Cheyenne over the monitor say "Emma, I'm so tired, goodnight." and then Emma said "Goodnight Cheyenne." Then they both rolled over and went to sleep. It was the sweetest thing ever. About 5am I heard Emma moving around so I looked at the monitor and she was saying "wake up chey". Emma has been sleeping through the night since forever and  I figure that she just woke up a little bit and saw Cheyenne in her bed and thought it was time to play. Cheyenne is a really sound sleeper so she stayed asleep. I went in their room and told Emma to roll over and go back to sleep. By the time I got back in my room I heard her telling Chey to wake up again. After doing this about 4 more times I decided to bring her in the bed with me so that she wouldn't wake up Cheyenne. Emma really didn't understand being in the bed with me but she finally fell back asleep around 6 or so and then got up at 7. I was dragging a little Thursday morning but it was worth it. They had a great time.

They played all morning long and then Autumn came to get her around 3 that afternoon. All things considered I think that it went very well and that enjoyed it. Hope we can do it again soon. 

almost there.....

Tomorrow is really Friday?!? Thank you Jesus. This week has been a loooooong week. I know I say that every week, but for some reason I never thought the weekend was going to get here. Josh got home tonight around 6pm or so and he leaves again Sunday. This week was pretty busy for us girls though. Emma had dance class on Monday and Wednesday and they both had a doctors appointment on Tuesday. After dance class yesterday I brought Cheyenne home with me and the girls had their first sleepover. I am preparing a whole other post for that but I gotta get some pictures edited. I attempted to do it tonight but I am so lost. I am horrible at taking indoor pictures and editing wasn't making them look too much better so I'll get Josh's help tomorrow. My sister would disown me if I posted them now. :-)  But the girls had a great time and Emma was really upset this afternoon when Chey had to leave. This weekend is going to be pretty low key which is good. Hopefully we can get some family time in before Josh leaves. I have a big midterm exam so I gotta get studying for that. Hope you all have a happy Friday!

Tiny Prints

I absolutely LOVE Tiny Prints. If you have never been to the site, drop everything you are doing and go now. http://www.tinyprints.com/  Tiny prints has everything from birth announcements, calendars, cards, photo books, etc. They have so many choices and they are great quality. I have used them for birth announcements before and I will be getting my Christmas cards there this year too. I have picked out a few different holiday cards that I like. I am having a really hard time deciding though. You can view all of their photo holiday cards by clicking here.  Here are the few that I really like.

Click here

I love these ornament cards. I think they are so cute.

Click here

Click here.

I am so glad that it is that time of the year for picking out Christmas cards. I also really love getting cards in the mail. I look forward to it all year long. Since we are in a new house this year I have found the perfect place to display all of our cards. I hope they start rolling in soon. 

Happy Shopping!!!

If you would like to feature Tiny Prints on your blog please click this link, fill out the information, and submit.  If you are selected you will get 50 Free Holiday Cards from Tiny Prints. If you sign up, please leave me a comment and let me know. Thank you.

:playground fun:

Today was a long day it seemed like. The girls adjusted well to the time change on Sunday but today Ryleigh got up at 6am which is over an hour earlier than usual as she seemed really tired and fussy most of the morning. After nap time she was fine though and fell asleep within 2 minutes of being put in the bed. Emma had a make up dance class today and she will have another one on Wednesday. I wish I could watch her so bad but it distracts them, so no parents allowed. They will participating in the parade in December and they will also have a recital in May so I'm pretty excited to see that. Anyway...on sunday we went to the playground with my mom, Autumn, Chey, and Hailey before going to my parents house for dinner. The girls had a great time playing together as usual. Here are a few pics.

Of course there was lots of sliding on the tummy. 

Gracie is so happy she gets to come too. I love this little dog so much. 

Josh left to go out of town again this morning. He will be gone till Thursday night and then he leaves again next Sunday-Thursday. November seems to be a busy month for him but I'm trying to make the best out of it and get a lot of things done so I can just spend time with him while he is home.  I've got a long night of school work ahead of me, so I better get to it. 

mommy & girls

Josh went out of town yesterday morning and won't be back until tomorrow night. Me and the girls have just been hanging out at home while he has been gone. I've been cleaning....they've been making messes. It's a never ending cycle it seems. This afternoon we went to the grocery store to get a couple of things and I picked up some things to make tacos for dinner. We almost always have tacos when Josh is out of town. Emma requested them and she also help me make it. 

After I got dinner cleaned up I got out the mega blocks and we built some castles. Excuse Emma's nakedness. She has decided lately that she doesn't really like wearing clothes.

As you can tell, it has been a very uneventful day. Sometimes it is just nice to spend the day at home with my girls and do whatever we want though. 

It's time for Survivor now, then I have lots of school work to do. Only 2 days till the weekend!!!