It's a...

Girl!

(just thought you'd like to know)

Valentine cookies

Just for fun, we made Valentine cookies the other day. I used a great recipe from Southern Living for Lemon Butter cookies. I highly recommend it, the dough is so easy to work with! Anyway, I let Braden and Emma Kate have free reign over the icing and decorating of the cookies. They had a blast and I tried not to let my type A/control freak personality get in the way. I have to say that I did very well and we were none the worse for all the icing and sprinkles everywhere. However, the kids did take a bath afterwards. Later that night Braden said, "Thanks,mom, for letting us make Valentine cookies." That made it all worth it!

The final product...100% kid decorated. Okay, I decorated 2 cookies...can you tell which ones?

I told you...

that Emma Kate has gotten into the Nesquick. And, here's the proof:

Busted!

The other morning  I hadn't heard from Emma Kate in a while and this is where I found her:

She got the Froot Loops off the kitchen counter and helped herself to another breakfast under the dining room table.  This is her hiding place of choice when she's doing something she's not supposed to do.  Some other things Emma Kate has gotten into when I haven't been looking: Nesquick, sugar, chocolate chips, jello, yogurt, apple juice, and I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.  I promise I watch my kids, she just seems to seize every opportunity when I'm occupied.

She was so proud of herself!  She said, "Mom, I did it self!"

Snow Days

Braden was not happy about stopping to pose for a picture.

Emma Kate trying to figure out all the snow and ice.

Sledding down the hill.

The reason why...

I haven't been posting as much is because I'm pregnant and I'm TIRED! For those of you who don't already know, I'm 15 weeks along and finally starting to come out of that 1st trimester fog. I have a few pictures still in my camera to upload and post. I plan on doing that this week so stay tuned. Sorry for the lack of posting, I blame it all on the pregnancy!

Christmas pics, finally

Here are a few pictures from Christmas day. Sorry, it's taken so long...I know I've been slacking on my blog recently. I will be posting more pics this month, promise.

We had a great Christmas, it was very relaxing which was nice.

Emma Kate caught on VERY quickly to the unwrapping of presents. (Yes, she has a pacifier in her mouth, we've haven't broken that habit yet...don't judge me)

I think it took Braden less than 2 minutes to open all of his presents. Good thing the grandparents were coming with more later.

Braden posing with his dog (not a gift) and his new Spiderman book.

The big 3-0

So, I turned 30,gulp, the week before Christmas. To celebrate my mom and my aunt took my cousins and me to Atlanta for the weekend. It was a blast. We went down on Saturday morning and came back Sunday night. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton...all I can say is, "Wow!" It was the nicest place I have ever stayed. We went shopping, ate great food, and generally enjoyed hanging out with no men and no children. Thanks to all of our sweet husbands who took care of the kiddos while we were gone. And thanks especially to my mom and my Aunt Sandra for

making it all possible.

We got to have our picture taken with Santa outside of our hotel. He was driving a cute little red vintage Mercedes convertible.