TN christmas - gingerbread train

Every year we try to do some sort of gingerbread activity. This year the girls picked a train. As you can see, Addison did most of the work.

Of course Michael and I lent a helping hand when we were needed.

Morgan wasn't far away though. She sat there the whole time, but had more interest in coloring and hanging out with Nana.

However, when it came time for the candy part, Morgan was all about it. She won't pass up a chance to eat a piece of candy.

And there you have it. One gingerbread train.

We moved it to the fireplace mantle where it made a beautiful decoration during out visit. Then I'm sure it got tossed in the trash.

summer trip to tennessee

Back in June we took a week long trip to Tennessee. We hung out with family, did some fun day things with the kids, and had an adults only white water rafting day. I didn't take a ton of pictures while we were there, but I always manage to get some classic shots. Like this one at Firehouse Subs. 

Let's not forget the tour of the Mayfield Dairy plant where you are required to wear these fancy hairnets.

Did you know they take all the rejected containers of ice cream to a local pig farm? Interesting fun fact. We saw a lot of chocolate pint container go right into a garbage can. After the tour you get a scoop of ice cream. That's pretty normal.

One day we went to cousin Hannah's grandfather's house from her dad's side of the family. Got that? It doesn't matter. He had a golf cart and we rode around the neighborhood for about an hour. The girls loved it!

The highlight of Addison's trip was holding and feeding sweet baby Connor. It was pretty fun for me too.

And that's all I have in the way of pictures, other than the rafting trip. Hopefully I'll get those up soon.

conducting business

One of my favorite pictures of all time.

Maybe next time she'll close the door.

dad

These girls are pretty lucky. Michael is such a great dad. On Father's Day we spent 8 hours in the car traveling to Tennessee. They must have asked "are we there yet" a million times. And each time Michael would answer with a giggle and a smile.

Happy Father's Day! Thanks for being the best dad ever! 

fourth of july

I'm not sure how things were in your neck of the woods, but where we were in Tennessee, it rained for 5 days straight. On the way there we got out to stretch our legs. These are Morgan's legs all bruised up from the playground.

Wednesday morning the rain started. We were at lunch and things were already getting out of hand.

Everything was cancelled on the 4th. No fireworks, no fanfare. And since it was raining, we decided to go to the mall and the movies. We still displayed our American pride and got all decked out in our red, white and blue.

I didn't get to go to the adult movie with the boys, but that's okay. These sweet girls loved Monsters University. I thought it was cute, but I liked the first one better. My favorite part was the popcorn.

What's better than fireworks on the 4th of July? A long bath in Aunt Angela's giant tub.

Both the girls thought they were hot stuff when Aunt Angela and cousin Hannah did their makeup. It was fun putting it on. Not so fun taking it off.

By Friday night we had all gone stir crazy. 

They rescheduled the fireworks for Saturday, but it was raining harder that night than it was on Thursday. I was for sure they weren't going to do them until we heard booming sounds around 9:30. Needless to say, we really didn't have a 4th of July. Maybe we'll have to do our own display sometime in the fall to kick off football season.

the first tooth

It seems like this tooth has been wiggling for 6 months. It took forever, but it finally happen. Addison lost her first tooth.

While we were in Tennessee this past weekend, the girls spent the night at Aunt Angela's house one night. Michael and I went over the next morning to pick them up and Addison asked that I put some makeup on her. Side note: I do not let her wear make-up out of the house. The night before, Aunt Angela prettied them up for the sleepover. She was still on the makeup kick and since we were on vacation I told her I would put a "little" on before we left. My idea of a little and her idea of a little are too different things. For her it had to be caked on purple so you could see it from 500 feet away for it to be enough. During the argument she was biting on her shirt and when she went to take her shirt out of her mouth the tooth came flying out at me. After realizing what happen and rinsing the blood out of her mouth I asked her if she wanted me to finish the makeup. Just like that, the makeup was an afterthought.

My sister-in-law's mother heard the story and offered to make her a little tooth bag for her tooth. Addison carried that little purple bag around all day with her, showing it to everyone who would look at it. That night I was all over Pinterest looking at tooth fairy ideas. I came across a mini letter and sparkly money. Voila! A personal letter and fairy money from the tooth fairy.

This was the note she asked Aunt Angela to write on the chalkboard in cousin Hannah's room. Earlier that day she only asked for $3.

The next morning she ran in to show me everything she found under her pillow. She was so excited and proud.

I was only going to give her $5, but because the glitter was so fun I threw in the extra $1. The coins I left in the pouch. It's sad that I only had 15 cents in my wallet.  

We searched and searched for a good name for her tooth fairy. We were leaning towards Minerva, but decided on Dentalina. Dentalina made sure to let her know that she got extra just because it was her first tooth.

My sweet little girl and her new smile. A couple of weeks ago she told me that her tooth hurt and I blew it off thinking it was just from wiggling it. It took a week before we noticed her permanent tooth had come in behind it. Hence, the pain. 

The one next to it is nowhere close to coming out. I predict another six months before she gets another visit from Dentalina.

flower girls

April and May have been nothing but go, go, go. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I don't think I had one free weekend. All of our plans were fun, but busy. My June calendar is pretty open so I plan on catching up on a few things. Including this blog.

Michael's really good friend Eric got married on May 18th to the sweetest girl. Carolyn asked that the littlest girls of Eric's friends be flower girls in the wedding. There were 6 of them in white dresses walking down the aisle with 2 gallons of petals. The girls were excited.

We set off on our trip.

When we got into town we spent Thursday afternoon and Friday morning with family. The weather was great so we sat in Michael's mom's backyard playing and chatting. There were a ton of clover's in the yard so I decided to make clover crowns for the girls. My grandmother taught me how to make these when I was a little girl. I can't wait to pass down this tradition to them.

Friday morning we went to cousin Hannah's 8th grade graduation. I met Hannah 10 years ago and she was just Morgan's age. It's crazy to think that she starts high school next year. Man, I feel old.

After graduation we had a little girl time. I took the girls for their first pedicures. Addison has been before, but chickened out and would only let them paint her toes. This time she was all in.

Morgan had no issues hopping right in the seat.

With our toes painted we headed to Knoxville to check into the hotel and get ready for the rehearsal. Before the rehearsal I did what any good mother would do. I bribed the girls with a chocolate chip cookie.

The next day was a little hectic. I worried about doing their hair so I took them to get their hair done. It was the best $40 I ever spent. They both sat in the chair like angels while getting their hair done. With their dresses on, they were ready to fulfill their flower girl duties.

Carolyn is one of the sweetest girls I have ever known. She went with the flow the entire day and was so good to the girls. All the girls. Morgan was enamored with the "princess" as she called her and wouldn't leave her side. You can see Carolyn camped out next to the air conditioner in the above picture. That chair right next to her was Morgan's chair. If I couldn't find Morgan I knew where she was. Right next to Carolyn. Or on her lap.

Michael was one of 9 groomsmen in the wedding. Eric and Carolyn have a lot of friends. 

Carolyn had a kids table right next to us setup with coloring books and toy cars. They even got a special dinner of chicken tenders and french fries. They topped it all off with the nice serving of dessert from the ice cream bar. She literally thought of everything.

We had steak and chicken to eat, but he couldn't resist the chicken tenders.

A look at Morgan's hair. It turned out really cute and lasted longer than she did.

Morgan was very clingy and whiny the entire afternoon. The trip and change of schedule finally caught up with her. She disappeared with Aunt Angela and when I found her she was out cold. Being a flower girl is exhausting.

On the other hand, Addison is a party animal. She danced with me until I finally cut her off around 10 and sent her back to the hotel. She was a little upset with me.

We always have such a great time when we get together with Michael's old friends. All of us get along so well it's like no time has passed since the last time we saw each other. We get to catch up on kids and families and life in general. And I get to see Lauren. I love this girl to death.

A little Vegas vacation with the whole bunch may happen this year. Oh, I can't wait!