Pots and Pans

So, our little Ali girl LOVES to play with the pots and pans. It drives me CRAZY!! She is always pulling open the drawer under the oven - all of my lids are glass and I have nice stuff and want it to stay that way. Oh well - she has fun.

Here are a few other random pictures.
Ali with pigtails - she is getting so big - I love it!
Andie in a new dress - but she wanted to show off minnie - so it's hard to see. Oh well, we will try again.
This is my "May" purchase for our emergency preparedness. Back in March when the power went out for 3 days (only 4 hours for us, but 3 days for a lot of people) we only had a flash light and some candles. We thought it would be nice to have a lantern for more light. While we were at the outlets in Commerce we found this little guy in the Coleman Outlet. It was 25% off - making it was whopping $5.48. Now we have a better source of light!
Andie had her friend Alex over the other day and they had so much fun together. I had to get a picture of them holding the memory game with their toes - they were so goofy together, but giggling the whole time! It was great!

Remember When...

I had braces and was so skinny (relatively speaking!) It is a slow journey, but I look forward to those days again (not having braces, been there, done that - TWICE!)

Easter Pictures....a month later

I finally went and took the girls to get their pictures taken. It was not planned, scheduled or thought about - and they SMILED - LAUGHED - and had a lot of fun!!

First I wanted to show a side by side comparison! Andie is on the left, 15 months old - Ali is on the right, 13 months old.Funny - I think Ali looks older and more slender. Their hair is doing the same wave thing in the front.
Andie is usually crying, creaming and NEVER sits long enough to take a decent picture - I was VERY excited she posed and smiled - this was the very first shot!! Way to go Andie!
This was the best picture of them together. I like to think Andie is telling a funny joke or something - whispering secrets. We had trouble trying to get Ali to sit long enough with both of them together - and this was Andie's attempt to go in for a hug/kiss. It was funny. It shows their friendship.
Of course - they want you to buy every package available - and have 1000 pictures of your kids. The photographer made a collage and had the quote "Sisters by chance, Friends by choice!" I thought that was cute, even though I didn't buy it.

No School = Family Fun

We have had so much fun with Shawn this week. School is out and he doesn't start class till June 5th! Hurray!! We have taken the kids to the park every day and have loved spending time as a family in general. Here are some fun picture and video's of yesterday's park day.
Little Ali LOVES food - yes, it is only a water bottle - but as soon as we pull it out she doesn't want anything else!


Great family picture taken by the stairs and our automatic timer! haha

Andie loves to be pushed with an "under dog!" Unfortunately in this video she was worried about her shoes - but usually she is laughing and screaming with excitement.

Happy Mother's Day!!

A day late and a dollar short - but Happy Mother's Day to All. I received a surprise knock on the door on Friday afternoon. It was a UPS guy who handed me a box. I said, "Shawn, did you order something?" Inside the box was this...
My WONDERFUL mom had sent me a mother's day gift!! WOW! It was a Harry & David gift box full of pears, chocolate popcorn, mixed nuts, cherry chews and CHOCOLATES!! It was so delicious!! Thank You mom so much! I loved it.

My mom is the greatest mom there ever was. She has always been there for me and is one of my best friends. She is moving to Russia in July - I can't believe it! I will miss her so much and so will the kids! We skype with her almost everyday and they love to talk to her - especially Ali! I know she is going to be the best missionary mom ever! I love you mom.

I am also grateful for my mother-in-law. She has always been kind to me and showed lots of love to our family. Hope you had a great Mother's Day as well!!

Grandma's are the best too! I love my grandma's so much - they are so loving and special!! You know who you are - Happy Mother's Day!


On a side note - I made egg rolls the other day and they turned out so good. I used ground pork, red cabbage and found a delicious sauce to stir-fry it in. Then, to be a bit healthier and a lot less messy - I broiled them in the oven, lightly brushing oil on each of them before hand! They were delicious!
We had a few extra egg roll wraps left over - so I made a treat. I stuffed them with freshly sliced strawberries - bushed them with butter, broiled them and then sprinkled them with powdered sugar and cinnamon! They were SO delicious - I think next time we will have more "extra" wraps to enjoy more strawberry filled wraps! YUMMY!

1 down, 3 to go!

Congratulations Shawn!!! He has officially completed the first year at UGA! Boy that was fast - too bad we can't have 4 consecutive 9 month periods - we would be out here in no time!

We have had a great day with Shawn at home. We played Mariokart in the morning, went to the park after lunch and then Andie and I went to the pool!! We ended up only sticking our feet in, we weren't changed in our swimsuits, but we are definitely ready to go swimming!

The best part of the day - it's only FRIDAY!!!

Playing with Friends

Andie was invited to a birthday party today and had so much fun. She was excited all morning long, always saying, "Ellerie, party, Andie, party, nice!" It was so funny.They played games, ate cupcakes and were just silly girls being 2. It was so nice to have a break. Thanks Ellerie and Nivette for inviting Andie. She had a great time. In the car, on the way home, Andie kept saying, "Ellerie, Fun, Andie, Fun." It was funny.

Nivette had made cute little bags for each of the girls to take home. I need to find the camera and take a picture! Thanks again Nivette!

Six Flags

Another late post. Our Stake Temple Day was April 18th and since we have season passes to Six Flags, we thought we would take the girls. It worked out great. We had a few families at the temple together and the teenagers watched all the kids. Then just our family head to Six Flags for the afternoon.
We rode only the rides that all of us could go on - but it was perfect. We were there for 3-4 hours and the girls LOVED it.

Here is our very first ride. Andie and Ali drove while I was the supervising parent. The ride was a little too small for Shawn's height, so he took pictures on the side lines.
Such Funny GirlsOur next ride was on boats that flew in the air. Ali enjoyed it......Until it started. Then she sucked her thumb. I think it might have gone a little to fast for her. She and Shawn waited while Andie and I rode it a few more times. It never has a line, you get on every time!
Shawn and Andie on the Hot Air Balloon ride. It was kinda like the tea cups, in air.
Ali and I enjoying the ride across from Shawn and Andie.
The favorite was of course the carousel. Again, no line and we rode it twice. The first time Andie was able to ride on a moving horse and she loved it! "UP and DOWN...UP and DOWN." Then the worker changed and told us they both had to be on a "non-moving" horse. Andie had been so excited from the first ride that as we were waiting for it to start the 2nd go around she kept saying, "UP and DOWN....UP and DOWN" So, I told Shawn to bend his knees (he was standing by her) too make it feel like she was moving up and down. It worked! It was so funny!

Ali was squilling in excitement on this ride and cried when we had to leave.
We had so much fun - great quality time spent with just our family!

PS - Here is a little video of the Bugs Bunny Performance, followed by a video of Andie's excitement.



We definitely LOVE Disney World and miss it!