1-10-13

Payton and Taylor have both joined the chess club at school.  Payton joined immediately when the club began.  Taylor wasn't even remotely interested until she had to attend with Payton one afternoon when I didn't have any way to get her home.  She was hooked after that.  Payton asked for a chess set for Christmas and has since been trying to teach Hayden how to play. 

 

1-9-13

Most afternoons are consumed with after-school activities and homework.  Today, the girls had a little bit of free time so they did what any kid their age would do.  Check Facebook and eat cucumbers.

 

Here is my favorite snuggly girl in her usual form.  Wearing pajamas and acting goofy.  These pink pajamas go in every single load of laundry I do.  Hayden puts them on every day after school and wears them all weekend unless we are going somewhere that is not appropriate for pajamas.

1-8-13

Happy Birthday, Bryan!  Possible reasons Bryan is smiling:

A.  It is his birthday.

B.  He loves being surrounded by his daughters

C.  He loves his gift of wireless headphones for the TV

D.  He is still smiling after Alabama won the National Championship last night.

 

You decide.

1-7-13

ROLL TIDE!!!!!

 

I don't know what else needs to be said.  We love the University of Alabama.  We especially love Alabama football.  And most of all, we LOVE when Alabama plays for the National Championship. 

 

Good friends and good food make it even better.

 

The red candy is always a hit at the party.

1-6-13

Our living room has been taken over by flying helicopters.  Bryan and Hayden have enjoyed their twin helicopters.  Despite running through the AA batteries, these have been the perfect gift. 

 

 

 

Bryan took this picture as we pulled out of the parking lot of church this afternoon.  That's right. 110000 miles.  And they are all mine.  So many memories to go along with those miles.  Road trips, car pool lines, time spent as a family, a million trips to Walmart.  My car is starting to show its years, but I still love it and all the memories we have made in our car.

1-5-13

Bryan received a set of pretty nice colored pencils for Christmas.  It took me a while to convince him that they were more awesome than your average colored pencil.  Once he finally decided to use them, he understood.  He spent the evening drawing and watching bowl games.  Fun times!

1-4-13

I went to pick Taylor and Payton up from Mimi's house today after school.  She suggested a trip to Old Dutch.  How could I refuse?!

1-3-13

On Christmas Day, Mobile was hit by an F-2 tornado.  Luckily, nobody was killed.  However, there was extensive damage to several streets in the midtown area.  This included Murphy High School.  The school system decided to temporarily house the Murphy student body on the campus of Clark.  This transition means that, unlike the rest of the schools, we are not starting back to school today.  The superintendent held a meeting this evening to explain all of the details to the Clark parents.  We found ourselves with a little extra time on our hands before the meeting, so I helped Taylor curl her hair.  She said it was because she wanted to use her new Christmas present.  I think she was wanting to look extra cute in case we ran into some cute guys of her friends at the meeting. 

 

Even though Taylor and Payton are out of school until Monday, Hayden still had to go back.  Since I am working tomorrow and she is going to school we took the other girls to spend the night with Mimi.  Of course, we stopped off at our favorite place to pick up dinner. 

1-2-13

The best part of returning home from our vacation is that girls are finally able to break into all of their Christmas presents.  Hayden has been dying to play with her legos.  I can believe it has taken our family this long to discover the fun in legos.  I think this will become a long term obsession.

 

 

 

Hayden is also excited to finally be able to spend the day in her pajamas.  Those snuggly cat pajamas were the perfect gift from Aiti.

 

Payton may be getting older but she still loves Monster High Dolls and her Christmas list showed it.  It was filled with all things Monster High.  Thankfully, Santa knew that.  While Taylor and Hayden played legos, Payton and I spent time creating our own monsters.  Do not be deceived.  This toy is quite awesome!

Happy New Year!

What an amazing way to begin the new year - in the Magic Kingdom and watching fireworks with my 4 favorite people. This day/night/early morning was the perfect ending to our Christmas vacation to Disney World. We were there when the park opened at 8am and we were trying to stay to the bitter end but I think we only made it to about 1am.

We took a break from rides to stop for the fireworks but we went right back to the rides as soon as they were finished. When we got settled in on Small World, the girls all passed out.

That must have been a power nap because they were all ready to keep going when we got off. So we headed over to ride the new Little Mermaid ride. I love this picture of the castle in the background as we waited.

We are definately sad to leave this beautiful sight, but life is calling.