Smarty Pants

Bethany was inducted into the Junior Honor Society yesterday afternoon at her school, and there's no doubt that she had a large fan club in the audience to cheer her on. She's always done so well in school, and if you'll allow me to brag on her for just a sec I'll tell you that she really is a model student. The model everything, for that matter!

Naturally, she had to have the perfect outfit for such a momentous occasion. She found a fabulous pair of shoes - she's a true girl - and then we designed the rest of her outfit around them! She looked so beautiful!
And somehow the only pictures I ended up with were this one 2 seconds before she received her certificate...

And then this one of her two seconds after...

Her mom got much better ones, thankfully! When they called her name, her family had to stand up in the audience which looked like nothing short of a Nikon convention! :)
Congrats, B! You always make us proud!!
I'll miss you this weekend...see you Sunday!

Fun While It Lasted...

It's rainy and the lower temperatures are coming back, blah, blah, blah. But we couldn't have asked for better weekend weather, and we definitely took full advantage of it! It all started Friday afternoon with a 3 hour park trip that included some of our favorite friends...

Somehow I got persuaded to hit the slide with Cate's friend Ella (all she has to do is look at me with that cute little smile of hers and I'll say yes to whatever she wants!) which turned into every kid at the park wanting to join in...

Once Towns and her friends saw what was going on they were making their way up the slide as fast as their little legs could carry them!

And we're off...

You don't want to see how that one ended!!
Cate and Ella missed their naps. And each had a paci in tow to keep the whining to a minimum. They tried so hard to play and make the most of it, but in actuality they were walking around like sleep deprived zombies!

And you'd think that afterwards they'd be asleep before any of us got home. Not so! Lila called to see if my children had passed out yet and we both confirmed that they'd all hit their 7th wind! That's what a long, cold winter will do for you. They had months and months worth of energy to burn!! Because it seems like that's how long it's been since we've seen the outdoors...goodness!

Saturday brought more good weather, thankfully. We did breakfast, a quick Target run, another park trip, and then it was off to our friend Katie's 5th birthday party. A gymnastics party! Towns was in heaven!
There were obstacle courses, games, and lots of free time to jump on the trampoline...





It's starting to hit me that these are the last months that all of these sweet kiddos will be seeing each other this much. They've practically been together since they were born - from church to school and everything in between. I'm not ready to face the fact that they'll soon be going their separate ways for Kindergarten! Can you say emotional disaster?!?! I think I'd rather bury my head in the sand and pretend it isn't right around the corner...

We clowned around a little after church Sunday morning before heading to Cracker Barrel for lunch (the one place both girls could agree on)...


Do you see Cate's hair? Bless her.
She's just a wild woman all the way around...that's all there is to it!
The girls had fun in the mini rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel, and in this one they're pretending they've rocked themselves to sleep...

Whenever I ask Towns to smile so I can take a picture of her, this is what she gives me these days...

Or either this face...

What's that about? Being a silly 4 year old? Probably!
So I've had my eye on this Easter wreath for a week now, and I knew that I'd end up buying it sooner or later. So I opted for sooner! And I'm so ready for Spring that I absolutely couldn't wait another day to hang it. Call me crazy. You don't have to remind me that it is still February. I'm well aware, but I don't care!

And one more for fun...

Isn't that the best? Saw it at Cracker Barrel and I'm thinking we must have it!
If only my children could read!!
Sunday afternoon couldn't come soon enough for the girls...they were ready to pick their Bebby up! It's just never quite the same with her gone, and Towns doesn't sleep a wink without being in bed with her. Thank goodness you're back, B! We missed you!!!!!

Hello Friday!

The sun is shining and it's going to be nearly 60 degrees today...HALLELUJAH!!!!!!
I'm picking the girls up from school and heading to the park with a picnic lunch. And I can't wait!
Want to know something else I can't wait for?
At this very minute one week from now I'll be on the road to spend the weekend with my favorite OOC girls!
Can it get any better than that?!
I think not...

My Valentines

Sunday was a sweet Valentine's Day. Cold, but sweet! I didn't feel right making a big deal out of it before we went to church Sunday morning. I was really excited that Valentine's fell on a Sunday this year...getting to jump start the morning at church doesn't get any better than that! And afterwards, upon mention of Valentines treats waiting at home, the girls were full speed ahead to the car! :)

But not before they stopped for a picture with their favorite fellow...

The look on J's face tells you how cold it was! HA!
They had this waiting on them when we got home...



Cate couldn't figure out her Pez (which totally took me back!!)...



The girls finally decorated their Valentine tree...

And Cate sent Towns into hysterics when she started un-decorating it...

But it didn't take long for them to be all smiles again...


Let's rewind. Friday we missed the big blizzard that the rest of Alabama got. So Saturday after I dropped B off with her mom I took the girls to Chick Fil A on the way back home because I spotted snow out in front of the parking lot...

It's always fun and games 'til somebody gets hurt. And that would be Towns. Actually, all that was hurt was her feelings when she slid down this hill and her leggings got soaked...

Cate did her best to console her while I took pictures and laughed instead of doing my share of consoling...

She somewhat gave me a smile when I told her that we'd run into Target next door and get her some new pants to put on since hers were wet. It's amazing what a change will come over our children when you mention Target!

Towns was freezing and decided to wait in the car while Cate built a tiny little snowman...

And since that was the extent of seeing any pretty white stuff, we had lots of indoor entertaining to do all weekend long. By Saturday night they were stir crazy. J had the bright idea of letting them wrap my V Day gift and giving it to me early just to give them something to do. I wish I had a picture of it before I opened it. It was in a big blue Happy Birthday gift bag. And they each held a handle of the bag and brought it to me in the kitchen singing "happy birthday to Mommy" about ten times over. Cate was only dressed from the waist up as you can tell, which made the whole thing even funnier...

After that, we hit the local motocross race. My husband was in heaven, and is plotting his return into the moto-x arena. As if my crew didn't give me near heart attacks on a daily basis! He's already talked to our insurance agent about long term disability insurance, which doesn't make me rest easy in the least!! Our insurance guy is also a good friend, so he knew that he needed to get me on the phone to make sure I knew what was going on before he proceeded! :)
This was our Saturday night in a nut shell...

Monday we got a little snow of our own. Not much, but enough to give everything a little dusting. Including my car (with the doors that were frozen shut and the windshield wipers that wouldn't budge because they were frozen, too!)...

It's beautiful and all, but I'm in desperate need of warm weather!
Oh well, we'll keep putting on our fancy shoes and making the most of it...

And here's to hoping Spring is right around the corner!!!!!

A Big Week!

(This one is from last week...totally forgot to post it! Imagine that!!)
This is the last time you'll ever see this sweet face looking like this...

...because she got braces bright and early Monday morning!
Yep, that's right. And in 18 short months (we're thinking positive, right B?!) she'll come out looking like the cover of a magazine...even more so than she already does! :)
It's been a big week for Cate, too. For the first time in her little toddler life, she ditched the baby bed and opted for her big girl bed. She's been really attached to her crib her whole life. Most kids would be itching to leave it behind and move on to bigger and better things, but not her. She's the one I just knew would be jumping from the rails to the floor at an early age. That's why I've been shocked that she's hung in there for as long as she has. I wouldn't say I've been exactly pushing the big girl bed on her. If you know me, you know my feelings about keeping her my baby as long as I can. She still goes to bed with a bottle full of whole milk. And her paci. I know, I know. No ridicule, please. I honestly can't help it. She might be my last baby, and I just can't let go.
Anyway, here she is in all her big girl glory...

I took so many pictures of her that I eventually woke her up...

So she sat up and we had a ten minute conversation about how big she was. And I might or might not have asked her if I could crawl in bed and snuggle up with her. I stayed strong and left her, Elizabeth, and Lamby to themselves...but I couldn't wait to get her up the next morning. I felt like her hair had grown ten inches and she was a foot taller because she looked so big sitting up in the bed waiting for me to come get her. Oh my goodness...she's my heart!
Speaking of babies, Towns was looking at the Kelly's Kids catalog the other day and decided she'd circle everything she wanted. And I do mean everything. But this particular page caught my eye...

Can you tell that she's campaigning for a little brother or sister? She circled almost every tiny baby outfit they had to offer. Her Daddy nearly died when she showed him. His response? "Those little outfits would look great on the Davis twins!" In other words, it ain't happening.

We've partied a lot this week. Towns had a birthday party for her friend Hayley which turned into nothing but silly little girls running from one end of her house to the other while the moms pretended there was nothing else in the world going on except good conversation!


Squealing like crazy, destroying her room (that they later cleaned up without a single complaint), and changing clothes 16 times....all in the name of birthday fun!
And since B will be with her mom on Valentine's Day, we had to have a little party. Naturally! I made her a homemade pizza per her request, and then it was onto this...

She waited in the den while Towns got it all set up, and she put on the best surprised face ever for us so Towns wouldn't know that she knew what we were up to...

She dug into her treats at mock speed...

Which Cate was very happy about so that she could finally get her hands on the cupcakes! Or maybe I should say cupcakes on her hands...

As well as the rest of her body...

This isn't the first run-in we'd had with the cupcakes today. She and Towns got to lick the bowl after I made them. Which really turned into Cate stealing it and running, Towns getting pretty distraught about it, and then being happy again once she found out that the arm of the rocking chair in the den made a great vault. And when I say that Cate wasn't giving the batter bowl up, I'm not kidding...

She sat in one spot for a little while, then moved with her bowl to another spot...

And I caught her trying to wipe her hands on the couch. Nice. From this picture you can tell that it's not the first time. The couch has seen its better days...

Oh well...such is life!
A few more fun pictures from the week...




And one of my favorites...

Happy Valentine's Day, Bebby! You hot tamale, you!