Let the Parties Begin....

Madelyn turned FOUR this past Sunday and we literally celebrated all weekend!!! She had a blast! We all crashed on Sunday night! (sorry, there are a ton of pictures :) )
On Friday, we sent pink and red sprinkled donuts for her class at school to enjoy for her birthday!

On Saturday morning, the four of us went to Madelyn's all time favorite restaurant: The Original Pancake House! She ate about 7 petite pancakes!

Before naps on Saturday, we let Madelyn open the gifts from us. Above, she is singing with her new microphone! She loves to sing and dance!!!!
She also got matching pj's for her and her American girl little bitty twin. The doll's name is: Two! Funny story: She received this doll at Christmas before her third birthday. SO I guess since she was two, she thought the dolls name should be that. Oh the things kids come up with!
Saturday afternoon and night we celebrated with both sides of our family! It was fun being together with everyone. Uncle Andrew probably threw my kids in the air 213 times! We went to Mafiaoxa's for pizza and then came home for hot fudge sundaes!! Yum Yum!

Aunt Wendy and Princess Madelyn
Grandan and Baba stayed overnight with us and we went to church and lunch with them on Sunday! It was fun getting to hang out with them. Baba made Madelyn this smocked dress she is wearing (Baba's first smocked dress). It will definitely be one we keep forever. Thank you Baba, we love it!!

Party time with friends - Sunday afternoon! Madelyn had a gymnastics party so I attempted to make her a balance beam cake. It turned out great, but I am not going into the cake business anytime soon! :)
Sweet Sarah Louis enjoying herself! Not quit old enough to do tumbling!

Madelyn loves the pit - the best part of gymnastics!!!
Cheese - "I am having a ball mom"!
The whole gang on the balance beam!

Everyone enjoyed watching the older girls that came in for lessons after the party! What a fun party! Thank you all for coming! Happy Birthday sweet girl! Love you!

Happy 4th Birthday Madelyn

Happy 4th Birthday Princess Madelyn!!! Thank you for all the joy and laughter that you bring to us!!!! We love you, Daddy, Mommy, and Brooks

More fun pictures from Madelyn's birthday weekend to come!

Spring Break

We had a great spring break last week! We went to Nana and Papaw's house the first part of the week. On Monday, we went to the mall in Montgomery and Madelyn and Brooks played with some of their friends that live in Auburn. They rode the carousal a couple of times and also did this hurricane tunnel thing and then we all went to lunch! Above is Madelyn and Sawyer on the carousal.
The kids always enjoy making cookies with their grandparents! They made chocolate chip cookies with Nana while we were there.
On Tuesday, we went to the indoor pool/play area at the Montgomery YMCA. M and B love to swim!!! We cant wait for summer to come.
On Thursday, we were back in Birmingham and we went to the Mcwane with some friends and the kids had fun but I was a nervous wreck by the time I actually got inside. The place was INSANE! I think everyone in Alabama was there that day! Never go during Spring Break. The parking deck was full and we drove around for 20 minutes looking for a parking space and then my meter didn't work. Anyway, I learned my lesson on where to go and not go during Spring Break! So all that being said, the kids had fun and I finally was able to enjoy it. I caught a picture with my phone of Madelyn under the car working on it (with a wet leg from the water table in Just Mice Size)! :) So on Friday, we decided against the Zoo (since it was probably a mad house too) and went to the park with our friends JT and Daniel! Fun times in the sun!
We ended Spring Break with a FUN weekend with our daddy!!! The weekend contained playing in the yard (a bunch), picking up sticks/limbs in the yard, planting herbs, going for a walk, grilling out, trip to Lowes, and a much needed date night for mommy and daddy Saturday night! Brooks thought his daddy needed this John Deere riding lawn mower for our little yard. :) All of these pictures are from my i-phone, sorry the quality is not the best.

We are looking forward to a fun birthday weekend with our little Princess Madelyn!

Like Father Like Son

Brooks loves ice cream just like his daddy! I have two wonderful men in my life, my high school sweetheart, Patrick and my little man, Brooks! Thanks for all the joy you bring to my life! I love you!

Breckenridge, CO

What a GREAT ski trip with some of our best friends. Let the pictures begin!!! This first picture is at the Birmingham airport of me and Laura Leigh on the day we were leaving. Our husbands were rolling their eyes at the amount of pictures that we took the whole trip! :)
P and I on the lift
The first night there, Laura Leigh and I decided to go sledding out our back door (little did we think that we would be walking back up the hill after we were done). We were so out of breath, we thought we were going to have to visit the 24 hour oxygen bar. Pretty much the whole trip, we all stayed out of breath. The altitude is around 12,000 ft.
Klay, Laura Leigh, and I all went snowmobiling one morning while Patrick skiied! We had a BLAST!


This is the top of the mountain where we snowmobilied!
I got to ride the lift one time with this little four year old girl named Skylar. She was in ski school and the instructor asked me to ride with her. We had fun talking about all her pets. It made me miss my little ones!


God's creation is so beautiful!!!!
I think I have to say that Breckenridge has topped the list in my book of best places to ski. I CANT WAIT to go back soon! I miss it!!!! Thanks to both sets of Grandparents for keeping our kids while we went on our trip!!!

Fun Times in the Winter

Well, what can I say, I am behind again! I feel like I am always recapping our months. Anywho, 2010 has been great so far but has been very very cold. Knock on wood, so far so good on sickness, except for minor colds with the kids. We have stayed pretty busy as always. Madelyn has been in gymnastics for five months now, but this month we switched gyms and are taking a class with some church friends. Madelyn has really enjoyed going to class every Monday with her friends. The class is designed for 3 and 4 year olds and they are learning all the basic stuff on the floor, beam, and bars. The next three pictures are from their class.



About a week ago, we went on a tour of Bud's Best Cookie factory in Hoover. It was only 30 mins long but the kids loved it, esp the free cookies. Dont you love our great hair nets! :)
Gina, Caroline, and Hudson
Me and the kids and sweet Meredith peeking over!
We took advantage of one of the warmer days and went to the zoo with some good friends. The kangaroos seemed to be the most active that day!
Madelyn and Quinn
Quinn, Caroline, Madelyn, and Brooks
I thought this was funny because these 7 or 8 monkeys were all crowded together on this slim ledge next to the window!
We took our little circus (M and B) to the circus last week! They had a blast and did great. I was a little worried because it didn't start until 7:30 and they go to bed at 8:00. Besides moving around a little and eating some snacks, they pretty much watched the whole circus. I cant wait until they really understand what the circus performers are doing and how these acts are CRAZY!!!!!
The elephants and the motorcycles in the cage were my favorite part!
Father and Son
Fun Times at the Circus!!!!!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things that I have made this year (well one was not made this year).... Above is a frame I bought at Christmas Village this year, and I, of course, love it!! On the subject of favorites, the picture in the frame is one of my favorite family pictures that we have made. All the pictures from this photo session were awesome!!!!
This painted window frame is in Madelyn's room! I made this earlier in 2009 when we converted Madelyn to her big girl bed!
Finally, I made a bow holder big enough to hold all of her bows. Chore for 2010, go thru and pull off the small bows that we dont wear anymore.
Earlier in the year, I hung a curtain rod on each side of my craft room to display Madelyn and Brooks' art work. This is Madelyn's side and as you can see it is over crowded. We stay busy doing crafts! She loves crafts just like her mommy!
Wow, I was busy with these outfits! I made 4 outfits (2 UA and 2 AU) for the kids. I feel like it took me forever to finish them. I do have to say that I loved how they turned out!!!!

For this Winter, I had the snowman shirts made and then I made some reversible pants to go with them. I plan on Madelyn and Brooks wearing the pants this Spring with another shirt.

Precious hand prints: Each year, I have the kids hand prints done by this lady that works out of her home in Trussville. I started three years ago and the first time I went with one of my good friends to her house to have it done and the last two years the lady has come to an open house my friend hosted in October. I think I will run out of wall space soon but would love to continue this tradition!!! Madelyn's hands are on the left and Brooks' hands are on the right.
Christmas Advent Calender - this was so much fun to make but was also very time consuming! The good thing is that a few of my friends were working on theirs at the same time so we were able to bounce ideas off each! Goal for 2010 is to make a "Give Thanks" calendar for November. I am looking forward to the fun things that I will make in 2010!!!!

This last picture I love because they are being sweet and watching a movie together. Happy New Year to Everyone!!!