Already missing the weekend...

Carly and Olivia....gotta love the giggles!!!

Lacey was the first to play in the snow!

Just a swingin'!

Poor Luke wants to play!!

The foam pit was a favorite for most kids...but maybe a little overwhelming for Little Miss Carly

Man, oh man...Where do the weekends go? Sounds a little cliche, but this weekend has flown by. Friday night, Carly, Lacey, and I had our first sleepover with Katie and Olivia. Neither of the babies slept very well, but it was still nice to spend some time together. Plus, I even got to hold Olivia for a few minutes without Carly throwing a fit. Carly seems to like Olivia pretty well. She likes to look at her, rub her face, bounce her in her seat, and push her in her swing....but she DOES NOT like to share her momma!! So, I was pretty impressed when Carly continued to play when I picked up the baby. It's not like Carly actually realized that we were having our first sleepover, but it got me thinking about what our slumber parties will be like when the girls are older. I hope they are as good of friends as what me and Katie are planning.

My sister had Ryan's 4th Birthday party on Saturday afternoon. She had it at Owensboro Gymnast. I was super excited about it because I loved that place when I was a kid. I thought the kids would have a blast....which, they did, especially Ryan!! However, Carly woke up that morning with a really runny nose and just was not feeling up to par. She seemed to like running aroud the place, but I didn't get to see her adorable little smile very often. Being in the building brought back so many good memories of cheerleading and tumbling. It got me wondering about what Carly will do want to do when she gets older. Will I be taking her to gymnastics, soccer, softball, or cheerleading practice? Will she be a singer, a dancer, an artsy-fartsy girl? Will she be more into reading, studying, academic team? Well, it doesn't really matter...I know whatever path she chooses to take she will make me proud and I will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS love her to pieces!!!

Today...Last Year!!

We had a snow day today and last year on this exact day we had an ice day. Actually, it was the beginning of many ice days. Last year an ice storm hit Kentucky in January 26th. We missed a couple weeks of school and went even longer without electricity. Carly and I stayed at my mom and dad's house along with my brother and sister's families. Let's just say it was CROWDED...12 1/2 people stayed there (my sister was 8 months pregnant). Now, my parents did not have electricity either and we ran out of water within a couple days but at least we stayed warm with their gas fireplace! You know, the first couple days weren't so bad, but after that I had about enough. Carly was only a couple months old and we were still battling her acid reflux issues. She was extremely out of routine, throwing up every bottle, and having problems sleeping through the night.

I'll never forget the trees cracking, not branches, but WHOLE trees and the way the sky lit up when transformers blew. The thing I remember most is how I had lots of trouble falling asleep and sleeping through the night because I was afraid Carly was going to freeze to death. I kept waking up to make sure she was still alive. I don't wait to complain too much because we did have some fun playing cards by candle light and sledding on the back of four wheelers. Well, since I had a c-section 8 weeks before I didn't sled, but it was fun to watch everyone. I have to say, I had never been so glad to cuddle with Carly on our couch, in our warm house, sleep in my own bed, and take a long hot shower as I was when we finally got power back at home.

Our BFF....best furry friend!!!

A dog wags it's tail with it's heart!

Well, I remember when Jason and I first got married...I had to have a puppy. And I wasn't settling. I had to have a little shih tzu because we had a shih tzu mix at my parents house and it was so hard for me to leave her behind. So, as soon as we moved to FL, I was on the hunt. Jason wouldn't let me buy one from the pet store because they were so expensive. There was one for sale at the store just a few minutes from our apartment so I would go visit it while Jason went to work. Crazy, I know, but I had just moved 8 hours away from home and didn't know anyone. After I taped pictures of shih tzus all around the house Jason knew I was serious. But he wouldn't budge on letting me spend $1200 on a dog. I looked in newspapers around Pensacola and also around Owensboro (my hometown) but I didn't have any luck. It was so frustrating. I mean how often do you find shih tzus for sale when you are not looking for one. Luckily while planning a short overnight trip to New Orleans with my brother and his new wife I decided to look on the internet for shih tzus around there. There were tons of listings so I jotted them all down and headed to find my BFF. The first house we went to looked more like a puppy mill than a home. It was pretty hard to see all the dogs running around in the large kennel through the pouring rain but there were bound to be 20 or more of them. After we trudged through the mud to get into the house, that seemed to be falling apart, the lady brought in a few of the puppies that were up for sale. Yes, they were cute but I just had a feeling that they weren't healthy. So, I left empty handed. I was so sad. The next morning we headed to another house to in hopes of finding our new puppy...and we did!! I was so excited!! Lacey was the cutest little thing. I immediatley began treating her as if she were a child. She was so much comfort and company while I was living away. I'm not sure I could have survived the homesickness without her. She has always been such a great dog, but I was a little worried about how she would react to Carly. But she has been great with her. Yeah, she growls and snaps every once in a while. Wouldn't you if you were getting your hair yanked?? But they are so cute together. It's funny to see the jealousy between baby and dog. Sometimes if Carly is sitting in my lap Lacey mopes and if Lacey is my lap Carly fusses. But Carly loves her puppy. She tries to play fetch with her. She'll hold up a toy, click her tongue, and throw it a full two inches....and sometimes Lacey goes to fetch. She's also started to call for her "dog...dog...click...click" and pat the couch for her to sit next to us. It's so adorable. I am happy that Carly loves Lacey so much...but I'm afraid I may loose my bed buddy one day.

Dogs leave pawprints on your heart!

Wordless Wednesday (older photos)

Is there a better way to spend the day???

Carly started in bright and early this morning. Within minutes of waking up she had begun to drag her toy basket into the center of the living room and she never slowed down. Usually I have her help me pick up the toys throughout the day, but today I decided to just go with it. So we have been playing, full force, ALL day long. I am so thankful that she was feeling so well today. I guess she is finally fully recovered from the virus that came to visit last weekend. Now, time to pick up the toys that are scattered around the house! Oh, and Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Snow Days

I had mixed feeling when I realized the snow was on it's way. I LoVe, LOvE, lOvE a good snow but I am less than excited about making-up school days. Last year, we went to school in June because we had so many make-up days. So, Wednesday afternoon when most of the teachers we're doing the "snow dance" I was praying that it would pass us by. But, it's hard not to get that warm, fuzzy feeling when you read DAVIESS COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS, KY-CLOSED scroll across the bottom of the screen at 5:00 in the morning. It's always nice to curl back under the covers with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. Except, this year, that wasn't necessarily the case. As soon as I got back under the covers, Carly decided she was ready to get up and play. We stayed inside most of the day, but I couldn't resist the temptation of bundling Carly up and seeing her reaction to the snow. Oh, it was so difficult to get her into her gear and even harder for her to move around in it. As you can see in the pictures she had a little trouble moving aound. She spent most of her time on her hands and knees while we were outside...yet, she didn't seem to mind. As soon as she came in we shared a cup of hot chocolate while hanging out in our pjs. What better way to spend a snow day! Carly started runnning a fever on the second snow day so we pretty much stayed home the rest of the weekend. I painted a couple of art canvases for Valentine's Day (my first experience with this) and pulled out the finger paints for the little one. She seemed to enjoy painting and I was surprised by how much I did. Maybe I started something!! It's Tuesday now and most of the snow has melted away...but some good memories were made on our first snow day of 2010!!

2009...in pictures (better late than never)!!!

Carly and Lacey, sharing the Kong...EEEWWW!
Getting her hand painted for her 1st Birthday Plate.

We loved our days in the pool!!

Fourth of July with some cousins and distant cousins!