Photo Shoot

I'm Fishing

Train Ride

Ella, Isaac and Alexis rode the Train at Mall of Georgia.

Mall of Georgia

The train conductor was punching holes in the kid's train tickets. It was just like the real deal. The kids kept calling it the "Thomas Train". I think this was the highlight of the day for Alexis.
Check out Ella's smile with one of her eye's shut like she is winking. So cute! Alexis told me that Ella and Isaac are both her "buddies".
The kids were playing in Germ Land...just kidding it was a little kiddie land play area. I really wish they had one of these in the Georgia Square Mall by our house. But don't worry, I smothered anti-bacterial gel all over the girls hands after we were done playing.


Today we spent the day at Mall of Georgia with Rachel, Isaac, Melissa, Ella and Nora. We all managed to pile into my bus (Suburban), double strollers and all. The kids had so much fun! They went on the carousel, the Nordstrom's train ride, had lunch, played at the kiddie play land and even became models at Picture People.

We were stopped by the Picture People staff because they claimed they wanted to train in a new girl and in exchange they would give us each a free 10x13 portrait. The girls that worked there were fabulous! I have to say we will definitely go back for photos in the future. Brandy was so patient with my girls even when Alexis wanted to stick her tongue out whenever she said smile. We ended up with adorable portraits and even a great group shot of all 5 kids. I knew it was trouble when we came back to the store 30 minutes later to see the photos and they had a bunch of portraits framed and blown up. I knew they were trying to suck us in...great marketing! I am such a sucker for pictures of my children! But they never pressured us into buying anything which was very nice unlike JC Penny's where they make me feel like a cheapskate. I signed a release form allowing them to use Lexie and Izzie's photos as displays in their studio. I'll have to go back some other day to see if they hung them up.

By the time we got our pictures, the kids had reached their breaking point. It was beyond nap time for everyone so it was time to go home. We had so much fun and it was extra exciting to get out of Athens for the day.

Say Mama!

If you are wondering what the girls are sitting in...they are bins that actually hold toys but they prefer to use them as "boats". This particular day they were fishing. I especially like that the stuffed animals even got a boat too.

A Day With Friends

Today, I watched Annabelle and Wyatt because I am their back up babysitter. It was their last day of winter break today. Here the kids were all sitting in their "boats".

Play Time with Sister

More play time riding in their "boats".
Fishing in their "boats".
My 'lil Gopher (see hat). Is that little bath robe not the cutest thing?

Give Some Lovin'

Random Pics to Start the New Year

I uploaded photos from my camera so I could have a fresh start to 2009.  These photos are from this past week.

Last Sunday, we had a shopping day. We went to Mall of Georgia and I forgot how much I love that mall. I love just walking the mall, window shopping and people watching. I talked to Melissa and we discussed taking a day trip out there to go walking equipped with our children and double strollers. Since the stores were having after Christmas sales and End of the Year sales, we got some nice deals. I was happy with my Bath & Body Works purchase. I stocked up on my favorite scent, Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion for $3. each and they are normally $10.50 each. The girls behaved very well in the mall as they usually do because good behavior means a carousel ride. This mall reminds me of the Mall of America minus the amusement park.

We also went to Target and the girls picked out some items with their gift card. I also had to buy Dane a new sweater because I accidentally shrunk his favorite sweater (or so he says) and now it fits Alexis. But it wasn't all my fault. I told Dane I don't have time to read all labels. So if your clothes need special care then put it on top of the washer so I know to look. If he puts a special shirt in the "community laundry bin" then it all gets dumped in the washer. His sweater was washed in warm water and apparently that was all it took to shrink a wool sweater. 

It's time to get ready for the day. The girls are playing nice together but in the process scattering their toys throughout each room. Thankfully, Alexis is at an age where she helps clean up. We are going over to Dane's parents house for New Years lunch and to cheer on the Georgia Bulldogs in the Capital One Bowl against Michigan State. It will be a good game and we will all be decked out in our Bulldog attire.

Happy New Years Everyone!!!

Last Day of 2008

We spent the last day of 2008 with my friends at Barnes & Noble (aka The Train Store) and got the kids together to play at the train table. They also had story time today. The craft was kind of lame though. They gave the kids a piece of paper with a face and tiny eyes, ears, lips, etc to cut out. First, it is virtually impossible to cut out these tiny facial features with safety scissors. Second, I could hardly do it and they expected toddlers to do this? Third, where's the glue or crayons?? Toddlers love to glue stuff to paper or at the very least like to color. The B&N lady told Alexis no glue after she asked for glue. Alexis completely lost interest in the activity once she found out there was no glue. At one point I remembered I needed to take a picture but then that thought obviously was interrupted by something else (which commonly happens). So I forgot to take any pictures. I'll have to post one of Lexie and Izzie thought because they are wearing matching sweaters that are so cute! Gramma Anne in MN picked them out and sent them to the girls.

Happy New Years to everyone!!! I wish many blessings to you all in 2009!

Diva In The Making

Like Daddy, Like Daughter

This is an old photo of Dane and his little sister, Danita. I had to post the fact that Alexis looks so much like her Daddy! I also have to note that I think Dane was the cutest little boy ever!! I have a whole bunch of old Walthers family photos that I scanned onto the computer because for Christmas, I made my mother and father in-law a DVD of old and new family pictures. I did the same for my family as well except it contained mostly pictures of Lexie and Izzie. 

I have this program on my iMac called iDVD and I can make great home videos and it has professional quality templates. It's a Grammy winner when compared to the very generic Msft PowerPoint. I was requested upon to do this every year for Christmas from both sides of the family. In fact, I was also informed that I should do this as a business. It did make me think about it since it appears I have a natural ability for making personalized DVDs. It is for sure something I have to perfect and continue to play with before I consider making a business out of it. But it is so fulfilling knowing that everyone appreciated my "home-made" gifts.

Scootaloo On The Go!

The number one gift Alexis really, really, really wanted for Christmas was Scootaloo On The Go which she saw on a TV commercial a couple months ago. It is a remote controlled scooter that her ponies can ride on. It even came with the pony, Scootaloo which came equipped with a helmet, visor and scarf. I knew she would freak out when she opened this gift from Grandma and Grandpa Hedtke in MN so I recorded the moment on video. I should have kept the video going because after she tossed the gift at Daddy to open it up, she ran to the other side of the room, did a little happy dance and then ran back to Daddy encouraging him to hurry and let Scootaloo out of the box.

Christmas Day...Santa Came!!

First, I want to clarify that Santa did not bring the gazillion My Little Ponies shown above. That collection has been in the making for the past couple years. She brought out most of her ponies to watch her new My Little Pony DVD she received for Christmas. Hence the word "most" because I have frankly lost count on how many ponies she has now. I think she is in the 30s but if you ever go to the Hasbro website there are literally hundreds of different My Little Ponies. I was looking through my baby book and my mom wrote that my favorite toy when I was 4 was My Little Pony. I guess my daughter is more like me than I thought.

The second picture above is a gift from daddy. Daddy had her first fish mounted by our Taxidermist. Daddy even had a little plaque engraved that says, "AL's First Fish". Daddy calls her "Al". I prefer Alexis or Lexie, it's more feminine. Al is a man's name but whatever. He justifies it by saying she is named after my grandfather, Al. 

Isabelle received a battery operated baby doll that coos, moves and says "Mama". It is motion censored so it seems like it is constantly cooing and saying "Mama". The good part of this gift is Izzie has been saying "Mama" like crazy which always brings me joy. She could say that word before but now she says it more often which is cool in my book. 

Overall, the girls had a great time opening all of their gifts from family in MN, Us and of course Santa. I love that my daughters are excited about virtually any gift they are given...even the new toothbrushes that Santa brought. 

Christmas Eve

I was very pleased to learn that Dane gets off today at 2pm.  Which means he gets to join us at church.  Yay!!!  Now I won't be outnumbered (2 kids : 1 parent)

We went to St. Joseph's Catholic Church at the 4pm mass.  My in-laws were there nice and early to save us a seat or rather a row since there was a total of 10 of us.  The row was cramped so I decided to sit with Isabelle in front of them (which was actually the first pew in front of the alter). It was great seats because they put on a live nativity story during mass with the children.  Baby Jesus was even played by a live newborn baby.  It was great and the girls were surprisingly well behaved throughout mass.  There was one issue and I feel a little guilty admitting it outloud because church is all about being nice and only saying nice things.  But it has to be said...the lady next to me had the worst B.O. ever!!!  It was very distracting.  She was overweight but that is no excuse for being smelly and obviously not wearing any deodorant. Enough about that.

During mass, the children in the church are all welcomed to sit up front on the alter stairs. Alexis went up and sat on the first step directly in front of us. This is the first year she went up there by herself. Granted I kept my eyes glued to her so I wouldn't loose track of her. I will always be overly protective of my children. Alexis was Miss Social Butterfly. No matter who was sitting next to her, whether girl or boy, or an older or younger child, she made friends and chatted away quietly. I was a little bit curious what 4yr old girls say when they get together but she was whispering so it was impossible to hear. After mass, we saw Rachel, Donavan and Isaac (or Ike as Alexis calls him). Alexis and Isaac held hands and walked around the alter. It was so cute! We took our traditional family photo before departing.

After church, we went to my mother in-law's for dinner, gift exchange & cookie decorating contest. I was excited by how much everyone got into the contest even the guys. The highlight of the gift exchange was when Alexis opened up her FurReal Kitten which she really wanted & when MeMaw opened up the porcelain tea set we gave her. She was so happy. Every Thursday night when MeMaw comes over to babysit, her and Alexis have a tea party. Our tea set only has 2 cups and MeMaw had mentioned she will need one for when Isabelle gets old enough to participate in their tea parties. I have to say it is really cute. It even came with 4 small red cloth napkins and tiny little stir spoons. It was a really nice night!

It's A Heat Wave

I just had to post that I was watching the news and the weatherman said it was going to be in the 70s this week.  I am sure I will have some photos later this week with us all in short sleeves outside.

I read my friend, Melissa's blog this morning.  She lives in Fargo, ND and I saw a picture on her blog of one of her house windows completely covered by a huge snow drift (approx. 6 ft high). I got chilled just imagining myself there.  But then I see the cute photos of her kids playing in the snow and it brings back fond memories growing up.

My sister in-laws went back to MN yesterday and they said it was freezing up there.  It was -6 degrees and with the wind chill it was -28 degrees.  They were advising people to stay indoors it was so frigid.  The cold temps up there definitely keep my occasional home-sickness at bay.

Family Visit From MN

Here is Amanda with the Baltimore Ravens Mascot, Conquer.
Just the girls...Sheila (Dane's mom), Me, Teresa, Danette, Dana, Danelle and Amanda.  You can tell which ones are related to Dane by looking at their names.  They all have DAN in their name.
Alexis and Daddy

Three of my five sister in-laws, Dana, Danette and Danelle and my niece, Amanda came to visit on Thursday and will be staying until Monday.  It is always fun when family from MN come to visit.  It always makes me a little sad when they leave because I miss not being closer.  They spoiled Lexie and Izzie with non-stop attention.  They loved every bit of it.  We had so much fun while they were here.

I've Fallen and I Can't Get My Boot Off!

Tonight, Dane was getting ready to go duck hunting in the morning.  He was trying on all of his hunting gear and apparently put one too many pairs of socks on.  He could not get the boot off. I tried but the boot was not budging as I pulled with all of my might.  We were seriously considering cutting the boot off.  Dane called our friend and neighbor, Donavan (Rachel's husband) over to the rescue.  Donavan pulled just twice and got the boot off.  Thank goodness!! It was so funny watching another man pull my husband's boot off that I had to capture the moment.  

It's Chilly Outside

We got all bundled up to go to Walmart to get some Christmas dress shoes for Izzie.  

I know all of you from "up north" will laugh when I say it was a freezing 40 degrees here in Athens today which is why we have our winter jackets, hats, scarfs and gloves on.  It felt so chilly outside, Lexie asked where the snow was.  It's suppose to get up to 51 degrees today so we may be able to downgrade to our fall jackets this afternoon.

I just ordered pictures of the girls to put in our Christmas cards.  I ordered them from Kodak and they will be ready for pick up in 1hr at Target.  How sweet is that?!?  I am hoping to get these Christmas cards finished so they can be mailed out this week.

I have 2 more quizzes to finish today to meet my deadline of 11pm tonight.  

I can't wait for my Christmas present to arrive in the mail.  I am really excited about reading the Twilight book series.  My friends, Teresa and Kristy got me hooked on the movie and the characters and motivated me to read the books.  They insist that once I start to read, I won't be able to put the books down.  I am looking forward to reading for pleasure instead of this Essentials of Psychology textbook that I've had to read cover to cover.  That just puts a damper on the enjoyment of reading.

It's My Party, I Can Cry If I Want To

I had to post this photo.  Izzie was playing with Lexie's slinky and was upset when Lexie took it back from her.  Izzie had a 2-sec meltdown which was actually humorous since she doesn't have tantrums very often.  Izzie is very easy going.  Apparently, taking the slinky away was the last straw for her.

St. Nicholas Filled Our Stockings!!

Alexis is feeling back to her healthy self.  Luckily, it was a 24-hr bug.

Last night, St. Nicholas filled our stockings with goodies.  Alexis got a slinky, santa chocolates and Hello Kitty socks.  Isabelle got animal crackers and a Santa rubber duck.  Dane got a hunting ornament and a coke bottle in the shape of an ornament.  I got a rolling pin which I really wanted. I had been using a can of coke to roll out dough up until now.

After some pre-christmas cheer we had breakfast together and enjoyed a nice Georgia winter day.

Dinner Swap

Tonight I attended my first dinner swap with the ladies in my mom's group.  They have been doing this each month for the last couple months.  It was a success and I will most definitely participate next month.

Teresa hosted the dinner swap and greeted me with a wonderful Pina Colada and scrumptious snacks.  Her homemade guacamole should be sold, it is so good!

How it works is we all make 4 family sized meals that are freezable and package them into 8 medium containers.  I made chili.  We get together and go home with 4 different meals but in our case it is really 8 meals because we have a small family.  I took home Lasagna, Eggplant Parmesan, Brunswick Stew (my favorite) and Chicken Pot Pie.  The best part is in the evening when I don't feel like cooking then I throw one of these meals in the oven and ta-da a home cooked meal.

Home Today

This morning, Alexis woke up not feeling well.  Let's just say my washing machine has been running non-stop and I have been disinfecting everything like crazy.  She has been quarantined to her room.  She gets to watch lots of movies today.  I am trying everything I can to prevent Isabelle from catching it.  I called the Dr this morning and his nurse said something is going around big time.  Apparently they have been bombarded with ill kids in their office and phone calls from parents.  She said the good thing is it's a 24-bug.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will be as good as new by tomorrow.  I feel bad for her because I know she doesn't feel right. The strange thing is, she has a normal amount of energy.  I have had to tell several times no running or jumping on the bed. I called Erinn to make sure her kids were feeling ok. Thankfully, her kids are healthy.  Apparently all of the other kids at the play date on Tues are feeling fine. I have no idea where she would have picked this up from. The only thing I can think of is she licked the Target shopping cart the other day.  Eww!!  

Since I took the day off from work, I am taking advantage of my time at home today.  This morning, I washed the kitchen and foyer floors on my hands and knees.  I washed the cabinets and wall base boards.  I had the carpet cleaner come over today and he steamed our carpets. Ever since, I've been trying to catch up on laundry.  Washing, drying, folding, putting away...repeat.  This afternoon, I am hoping to catch up on some reading for my Psych class. Finals are in a week and half.  I have a lot of quizzes and reading to do in the meantime.  I may sneak in a little bit of time to work on my next quilting project if I'm lucky.

Kids Being Kids

Tonight, we went to the Athen's Parade of Lights.  Thank goodness it stopped raining just in time for the parade.  It was so much fun.  We all enjoyed the decorated floats and the candy treats that were being thrown.  The highlight for Alexis was the "pokadot pony" and Santa of course.  Santa waved at her and she was shouting out, "Hi Santa, I be a good girl".  Alexis asked if Santa is bringing her Scootadoo On The Go which is a remote control scooter for her My Little Ponies and she also asked for Real Cat which is a FurReal cat, it meows, purrs, and moves when you pet it. I am so excited for her to open her presents this year. She understood Santa last year but this year she totally gets it. I can't tell you how many times I've used the old, "Santa's watching you so you better be good" trick.

Other than the wonderful Santa tradition, I want Alexis and Isabelle to understand the real meaning of Christmas and the importance of giving.  We talk about baby Jesus a lot.  We are also going to go through Alexis' toys and pick out some to donate. I explained that these toys are going to little kids who don't have many toys. She was excited to give her toys to another child.

I'm Not Lexie, I'm Santa

Too Tired To Eat

We ran errands, went to the quilt shop and saw Ryan and Connor with their mom Julee there. We had McDonald's for lunch which was a special treat.  Isabelle had skipped her morning nap and was so exhausted she fell asleep while eating her cheese burger.  It was so cute.  She is so precious when she sleeps.  I could watch her for hours.

We went over to MeMaw's (my mother in-law) and put up her Christmas tree and decorations today.  The girls had so much fun going through all the decorations.  My mother in-law has at least a dozen storage boxes of decorations.  It was like Christmas in itself going through all of those bins.  The girls both took great naps.  It was a nice way to spend my work day. :-)

Playdate at Erinn's

We went over to Erinn's today for a little impromptu play date.  Alexis had fun as usual tackling Max and giving him lovin'.  Alexis had a blast with Jade, her BFF.  It was fun to overhear them talking and interacting together in the other room.  Isabelle grabbed a cup from the kitchen table and spilled iced tea down her which is why in the first photo, she is wearing Max's shirt and her stockings.  I had to dry her clothes in Erinn's dryer because they were drenched.

MNO: Mom's Night Out

Thank goodness for MNO!!  I have been looking forward to tonight for a couple weeks.  I went out with several of my friends from the Mom's Group that I am involved in.  We met at Loco's for appetizers, drinks and trivia.  Tuesdays is trivia night at Loco's.  It was fun.  Our team name was, "Hot-ta-mamas".  We had a great start and were in 3rd place.  By mid-second round we started to loose our momentum.  The questions were strange and on topics we were not interested in, let alone had knowledge in.  Some of the questions were definitely geared toward nerdy men in my opinion. We all agreed if there were some trivia questions on diapers and breast feeding, we'd rule.  It was relaxing to have a break from my children and hang out with my friends.

Just Us Girls:  Julee, Erika, Ginger, Me, Rachel, Erinn, Teresa and Shannon

Julee and Erika
Julee and her "bearded admirer".  He kept looking at her.  It was funny because she had no clue and he was one of those "nerdy men" that knew all of the answers to the trivia questions.

Wee...Look at Me!