Frozen

If you have girls, you have probably heard about the new Disney princess movie Frozen.  We decided to surprise the girls and take them to see it on Thanksgiving. This would be Brooke's first movie in a theater.

I didn't think it was a good idea to take Anna Grace, but Trey talked me into it.  He thought she'd sit in my lap and watch the movie.  I told him he'd be in charge of her if she would not sit still or takes too much.

Brooke was great and LOVED the movie.  Her eyes were glued to the screen.  Anna lasted about ten minutes. She would not sit still, so we let her stand up.  She wasn't too loud, but we has to take he out when she started dropping fruit snacks on the heads of the people in front of us. Trey agreed to stay out in the hall with her. He tried to bring her back in a few times, but would have to leave after a few minutes. Oh well.  Guess we can try to take her again in a few years.

Brooke has been singing the songs from Frozen non-stop.  Obviously, Frozen was a big theme for Christmas presents this year.  Brooke got the CD and an Elsa dress, Anna got a Frozen purse, and both girls for Barbie sized Anna and Elsa dolls and little click it dolls.

Boo boos

When Brooke was a baby, I nagged Trey about baby proofing the house. He insisted that our house was fine and we could watch her when she became mobile.  Much to my surprise, Trey was right.  Brooke never got into the cabinets and never fell onto the fireplace.

So Anna Grace came next and I had no concerns about the house.  Well, in the last month Anna has hit her head on the corner of the coffee table and the fireplace.  I feel so bad.  Luckily, she didn't cry very much with either injury. But she has had some nasty bruises.  The picture below is from her encounter with the fireplace.

Church Christmas party

We had a great time at our church Christmas party in early December. We had a great potluck dinner, photo booth, games and birthday cake for Jesus.

Sister love

We are having a good time on our Christmas break.  The girls have been pretty good and love playing with their new toys.

Christmas dresses

I has so much fun dressing the girls for church during December.  All of their clothes are hand-me-downs or bought at consignment sales.

Santa pictures

Our Santa visit and pictures was pretty easy this year. Our daycare had a night where they had Christmas activities for the kids including pictures with Santa. We only had to wait in line for a few minutes and got some great pictures of Brooke with Santa. Anna Grace wanted nothing to do with Santa. She was fine waiting in line. But once she saw Santa, she started screaming and crying. Santa did come stand next to her so we could get a picture.

Christmas card 2013

I didn't spend a lot of time our our Christmas card this year or send out as many as I would have liked.  I just ran out of time.  It was hard to get much done this year. It is crazy at work right now and it is also hard at home with the ages of the girls right now. Hopefully, next year will be easier.

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

The Nutcracker

Last weekend, Trey's boss gave him tickets to The Nutcracker. We decided that I would take Brooke and Trey would stay home with Anna Grace.  Brooke didn't nap that day and the show didn't start until 7:30, so I was a little nervous about how she'd behave.  

We got there around 6:50, so we has a long time to sit and wait. Brooke did great and quietly played on my phone during the wait. When the show began, she gave me the phone. She was quiet during the show and when she did talk she would whisper. She enjoyed the ballet and seemed to follow along well.  I could tell she was getting sleepy.  

The intermission started around 8:20. I asked Brooke if she needed to go to the restroom. She said no and we stayed in our seats. As soon as the intermission was over, Brooke has to go to the restroom.  I told her we were going to leave if we went to the restroom and she was fine with that.  I think she did great for her first ballet.

Christmas Eve 2013

My favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve. We have some traditions that we have created that just make it a special day.  

First, we attend the Christmas Eve service at church. Brooke went to the service and stayed for about half the service. She did great.

After church, we go to the Dickersons for lasagna dinner.  Brooke and Anna love running around and playing with the other kids.  Cynthia gives all the kids new PJs to open on Christmas Eve. Then we get them all dressed in the new PJs and attempt to take pictures.

I am so thankful for my family. God has truly blessed us.

Christmas 2013 recap

The girls had a great Christmas. So far the favorite toys have been the frozen dolls and the Doc McStuffins tent.  The girls have been pretty good sharing their toys with each other, but their have been a few fights.  

Christmas morning cuddles

The best part of Christmas morning was that both girls slept late. Brooke did wake up at 6:30, but forgot about Santa. She just wanted to get in our bed and go back to sleep.  She slept until 8:30. We finally woke Anna Grace a little before 9.

Merry Christmas

I am way behind on blogging, but hope to get caught up soon.  It is Christmas morning and we have had a great day so far.  We probably overdid it with the Santa gifts, we limit our gifts to 4 for each girl: something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read.

More to come...

Thanksgiving outfits

The girls have some cute outfits to wear the next couple of weeks.  I'm lucky to have a friend with two older girls that are two years apart.  She have loaned me some cute matching outfits for the girls.  Here they are in their turkey dresses.

And I found a cute monogrammed shirt for Brooke at a local consignment shop.

20 year high school reunion

It looked like my class was not going to have a 20 year reunion.  Then a few weeks ago, my best friend from elementary school started posting on Facebook that she was trying to put a reunion together.  So last night, Trey and I drove up to Dahlonega for my high school reunion.

It was a little awkward at first. I have not kept in touch with anyone other than through Facebook.  It was fun, though, once everyone got more comfortable.  I was a little disappointed  in the low turnout, but thankful for a chance to reconnect with some dear friends.

Happy birthday

My sweet Brooke turns 4 today.  She is growing up way too fast.  We started the birthday celebration last night by going out to eat.  Brooke picked Mexican.  The waiters brought out a huge dessert and sang to her.

Then we went home for cake and gifts. Brooke wanted a Rapunzel cake.

For gifts, we have Brooke a few books, Barbie alarm clock and Lalaloopsy doll.  She was so sweet after opening her gifts.  She said, "thank you all for everything. I love my gifts."

We then made a last minute decision to head to Lake Lanier Island Night of Lights.  It i normally $60 to drive thru, but they had a special last night. Free entry if any person wore a tacky Christmas sweater.  The girls had a great time and it was worth it for free entry.

Brooke has her official birthday party today at our local zoo.  She invited her classmates and church friends and several attended.  The kids got to touch a opossum, rat and duck. We also went on a walking tour of the zoo.  After the tour, the kids had cake and ice cream.  It was a lot of fun and we had to do very little.

I am so thankful for this precious little girl.  

6 years

My life changed forever on November 2, 2007.  On this day, I married Trey.  We have had many ups and downs in these last 6 years, but I know I wouldn't want to go through life with anyone else.

Halloween 2013

We had a very busy week leading up to Halloween.  On the Friday night before Halloween, Chick-Fil-a organized a trick or treat event with several businesses in the area. We decided to do that.  It wasn't that great. The highlight if the night was that Menchie's gave little cups of froyo.  Some businesses ran out of candy.  Some just had buckets of candy for kids to help themselves.  We are telling our girls one piece only yet the kids in front of us would grab as many pieces as they could with encouragement for the parents.  It is just disappointing to see that sort of behavior.

On Saturday, we went to the Athens Corn Maze.  We all had a great time.  We did the maze and the girls played in the box of corn.  Then we did the hayride. We finished our visit by petting the animals on the farm. 

We bought our pumpkin at Publix this year.  Brooke helped carve the pumpkin. She wanted a sad face because our pumpkin was sad that we took him from his mom and dad.

Our church decided to not do a trunk or treat this year, so we went to another church's trunk or treat on Sunday night.  Brooke played a few games and we got lots of candy.  Brooke dressed up in a Rapunzel costume and AG dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

A group at UGA has a festival type event for kids every year.  We just found out about it this year. It was on the 29th.  The was a small fee but we decided to go to this as well.  The girls got pizza and a drink.  Brooke rode a pretty large pony.  I actually got nervous a few times as she looked like she was about to fall off.  They had a few more animals and games.  Brooke also saw one of her teachers from school. Both girls dressed up as fairies.  Brooke was Tinkerbell. I found the costume at a consignment shop for $5.

Finally, we went trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween night.  I had Brooke's old Elmo costume for AG.  At first, she did not want to wear it. But once she got it on, she loved it. We started around 6pm and a lot of houses did not have lights on at first. But eventually most houses had lights on.  Anna Grace was loving every minute. She would even say trick or treat. She started getting tired around 7pm, so we headed home.  I put AG to bed and Trey and Brooke set up in the driveway to pass out candy.  We also has some cards from our church to pass out with the candy.  I think Brooke had more fun passing out candy than trick or treating.  They stayed out until around 8pm.  

It was a busy week, so it will be nice to get back on our regular schedule.