a great five days

My parents have been visiting for a few days now, they leave tomorrow. But we have had a wonderful visit with them. The kids have been playing with them around the clock, showing them anything and everything that they like to do. We are so thankful that the weather has not been constantly wet and cold...we have been able to go to a couple of parks which has been a lot of fun. We will miss you when you leave, Mamaw and Papaw! :(

candyland.

i never knew that the gumdrop guy's name was jolly. thank you, brice.
the game still engages my sweet tooth...and i love seeing my two and three year-old experiencing a wonderful childhood memory of my own.

And for some of my new favorite things as an adult

{Dream Dinners} http://dreamdinners.com/main.php?static=index

{Girls' Night Out...every Tuesday night, not an option}

{Erika and Urban Grace Interiors...a highschool best friend...most creative and talented decorator I know...one who shares my love for antiques and educates me on "good design." Check out her blog, I do EVERY single day and get so extremely involved in her world of design, that I forget I have things to do...aah, I love it.} http://urbangraceinteriors.typepad.com/

{etsy.com} buy. sell. drool. whatever you like.

not feeling like myself.

It's me, Kaitlin...I have woken up the past two mornings with my eyes swollen shut and crusted over, but the doc says it's either allergies or a really bad cold. And the remains of my black eye are from playing with my cousin last week...we like to play a little rough a lot of the time. Also, my mommy and daddy are having to correct me on not saying "mine" and pointing at my sister and saying "no." I don't know what the big deal is, because I just think it's fun, but okay. They love me no matter what though, and I just keep smiling no matter what, so there you go!

trip to the snow

Brad and I took Brice to Dodge Ridge with Brad's sister Natalie, Aris, and my niece Kaileigh. Brice LOVED skiing and did not want to stop. He caught on pretty quickly too, and wanted to do it all by himself. He was really cute.:) We went sledding too while Brad and Aris stayed on the slopes for the afternoon. We had a beautiful, fun weekend! To see more pictures from our weekend, click here http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=fgez5zq.4qpr2g2y&x=1&y=rjudzi

thankful.

i have no complaints today, i clearly see God's provision, and am full of curiosity as to why i have it so good. thank you God for using the stories of others to open my eyes to the millions of blessings you give to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th6Njr-qkq0

Milestones

Yay! Brice took off on a bike at school without the training wheels! His friend Colton was doing it, so he wanted to also, and he did a terrific job! Now he wants to ride his bike all the time with "the wheels off." :)
Brice also likes to dress himself, in fact, I have not put an article of clothing on his body in MONTHS. So here he is wearing a Larry Boy t-shirt from my parents, his cousin Cole's baseball pants, and his snow boots.
Jaeda is really into helping in the kitchen these days.
Kaitlin is into smiling all of the time, all of the time, all of the time.

favorite things today

I don't know how it is at your house, but at ours, there is always a newfound toy that has been missing for days to months, a new hairstyle, a new skill learned, a new behavior acted out (both good or bad), or a new word uttered. Over the past couple of days, here are some of the new things we have been enjoying...
Kaitlin and the Jack in the Box that her Aunt Stefi gave her for Christmas. She is learning to turn the crank and push the bunny back in the box by herself...it isn't as easy as it looks!

Jaeda and her new '80's hairdo that her Auntie Caitie gave her on Saturday night that she has been asking for ever since. She also says that her and her Baby Cinderella look alike now because of it. :)

snow days

Don't be deceived by this picture...we do not live in the snow. We prepared to go to the snow this weekend (Sierra Summit), but if you have been keeping up with the weather at all, you have seen why we decided against it (10 feet of snow, 100 mph wind, and blizzard the whole time we would be there). All of the weather channels had advised against going to the mountains unless abolutely necessary. The kids have continued to ask when we are going, but we have explained that it is raining and stormy and dangerous, but that we will go soon. It is so hard as parents to not give in, even when it is dangerous! But we DO know better than them, and since they do not run this family (though sometimes I debate that), we went with the icky feeling (and common sense! ) we both had about going and decided to stay home. It's funny, because before we had kids, we would have done it anyways probably, but it since we have had kids, Brad's attitude has changed so much...from risky to saying, "I am not taking any chances with my pregnant wife and three kids." I love him for this though! And thank you to all of our friends and family who have called to make sure we were being smart, we appreciate it. :)
Here are pictures from this morning...the kids wore their snow gear to school, and that was as good as snow to them! And to us!!

when will we learn?

Can you believe that she did it again? Can you believe that I "allowed" her to do it again? It does not matter where I put my makeup bag...as long as she watches me put it on, she will know where it is. She waits for me to leave the room for a moment, and she goes for it. What a girl, what a blessing.