SWEET and SASSY!

Maylen and Adeline were invited to their cousin, Hollie's, birthday party at Sweet and Sassy. All the little girls dressed up in princess clothes, had their nails painted, hair, and make up done with glitter stars on their cheeks. Then they got to walk the runway and get their princess crowns. I have never seen Adeline sit still, but she had no problem sitting still to get her hair, nails, and makeup done! She was the littlest princess, but was right there keeping up with the big girls! Maylen was a pro at her princess cat-walk and poses. I've got two little glamorous princesses for sure! Happy Birthday Hollie. What a fun way to celebrate!

SNOW! and the FABULOUS Snow Girls!

Snow! What a rare thing in Memphis. We had been telling Maylen that they were predicting snow, but we could only really believe it when we saw it happen. I think we got 4-6 inches! Maylen kept saying she wanted to build a snowman. She was up at 7:45 this morning (we have forgotten what it is like to sleep in on Saturdays). William went outside with her to build a snowman (he said this is the first snowman he's ever built). I woke Adeline up at 9:30 (she loves to sleep in!), and we went outside to make our snowman a FABULOUS Snow Girl! Maylen thought it was great fun to decorate her snow girl with pink feather boa, silver chandelier earrings, beaded necklaces, gloves, wand, posh pup, feather trimmed handbag, princess crown, pink painted mouth and high heel shoes! She looked glamorous! Adeline wasn't so sure she wanted to walk on the snow; she was happiest in the swing eating chocolate (which she snuck out of the house)! She's the candy addict of the family. Maylen made a snow angel and then had fun eating the snow off the slide in the back yard. She told Adeline to eat the snow because "it tastes good, and its clean".

All About Adeline!

Adeline turned 2 today! It doesn't seem like she should be two yet! She is such a sweet and funny girl and we are so thankful to the Lord for her life and her sassy attitude! Adeline loves to play with Maylen and copy what ever she does. Her favorite word is "no" lately even when she doesn't mean it. But her vocabulary has really been expanding lately. She is a sponge for new words. She also likes to play hide-n-seek. She will come and say "hide, hide" and then she goes to hide from us and we go find her. Its especially funny when all of her body is exposed except her head and she thinks she is hidden.
Adeline celebrated her special day by taking cupcakes to MDO. But the day was cut short by a snow storm coming in to town. So by evening she and Maylen were sleading down the snow covered hill at her Papa and Nana's house. For dinner I made pizza and we sang happy birthday and let her blow out the candle on her cupcake! We were surprise that she immediately blew her candle out with no prompting as if she had been practicing. What a fun day!
We have so much love in our hearts for our two little girls and feel so blessed to have them both.

Girly Girl or Wild Child

the girls with uncle brian

Its funny how different siblings can be. Even though I have two little girls, I see so many differences about them. Maylen wanted to dress up in her princess costumes tonight. So I got out the trunk full of dress up clothes. She immediately pulled everything out of the truck and started piling on the fancy outfits. She loves Fancy Nancy books, so the more glam and glitter the better! Even thought Adeline likes "Rella" (Cinderella) and princess pajamas she is my little dare devil. Instead of putting on costumes, she decided to climb on top of the empty trunk and make a game of jumping from the truck to the bed! She has no fear!

Things can change in one evening.

Daddy's Kitchen Helpers

I came home this afternoon after spending the night at a women's retreat for the church. I've had a cold so as the weekend went on I started losing my voice. When I got home the girls were very glad to see me (and of course I was so glad to see them). But Maylen heard me talking and wasn't quite sure what was going on. She turned to William and said, "Daddy, what's wrong with Mommy's taking?" I told her that I am hoarse from having a cold. She had such a peculiar look on her face, so I assured her that I am the same Mommy and will get my voice back. She looked at me, her face full of question and asked, "Mommy, why do you have a horse in your throat?" I love her literal mindset--what a cutie!

Adeline has become quite the talker lately. I've even heard her start forming sentences. Today she said some things I had not heard her say before. We were eating dinner and she said, "drink, please" all without our prompting, and then pointed to her mouth and said, "pepper". Telling us that it was hot. I love that she is communicating with us. She's getting to be such a little girl!

While I was away William did a good job of taking care of the girls. When I came home he had the house picked up, the carpet vacuumed, a load of laundry washed and folded, and was doing yard work! What a sweet welcome home. I should go away more often; I think they actually missed me. :)

Happy Birthday Maylen!

Maylen is 4! Its hard to believe that it was 4 years ago, on Feb. 27, that I delivered my sweet little baby in the middle of a snow storm in the Carolinas. She has grown to be quite a big girl!

Yesterday she woke up and said, "I'm happy because it's my birthday!" We took cupcakes to Mother's Day Out and she seem to have had a pretty fun day! We are so thankful for Maylen's life and for her spirit! She is my good helper, always great with helping mommy clean and pick up the house. She's a sweet, protective (and sometimes bossy) big sissy, who doesn't let anyone mess with her little sissy. Her favorite things are painting, stickers, being read to, changing clothes, cleaning windows, playing with friends, and going places! She loves to be on the go! She often says, "Mommy, where are we going today?" For bedtime she likes to stick to her routine--all these things and in this order--pajamas, brush teeth, 2 books, 2 songs, and prayer time. Then she asks for "new water" and a kiss and hug, and her white blankey "like a square" (which means lay her blankey flat across her). William and I laugh about how OCD she can be about things.

I thought it would be cute to asked Maylen some questions and journal them every year at her birthday.

Q. What is it like to be 4?
A. Well, I'd rather be 6, because then I wouldn't have to take naps.
Q. But, what is your favorite thing to do now that you're 4?
A. Wear panties at bedtime.

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. A mommy! And maybe a teacher too, like Miss Rachel (her MDO teacher).
Q. How many kids do you want to have?
A. 6 girls and 5 boys
(Recently she said she wants to live in the house that we live in now. I asked her where I would live and she said in a different house, but that I can come and see her.)
Q. Who will you be married to?
A. I DONT' KNOW!

Q. What is your favorite place to go?
A. Chucky Cheese

Q. What is your favorite thing about mommy?
A. kissing and hugging me.
Q. What is your favorite thing about daddy?
A. just kissing and hugging me, just like you.
Q. What's your favorite thing about Adeline?
A. when she kisses and hugs me too.

Q. What's your favorite movie?
A. Dora

Q. What's your favorite thing to do?
A. Play on the play ground.

Q. What's your favorite color?
A. pink and purple

Q. Who's your best friend?
A. (giggle) Christopher Robin (from Winnie the Pooh)

Q. What is your favorite food?
A. Spaghetti, and um, cheese sauce

Q. What's your favorite dessert?
A. Ice Cream
Q. What kind of ice cream?
A. Chocolate chip ice cream

Q. What's your favorite thing to do with mommy?
A. Eat
Q. What's your favorite thing to do with daddy?
A. Go swimming
Q. What's your favorite thing to do with Adeline?
A. play (she then put her arm around Adeline)

Q. What's your favorite book?
A. The Jungle Book

Tornado Tuesday

On Tuesday the news called for an emergency tornado warning. I called William to find out when he was going to be traveling home from Jackson because I was worried about him driving into the storm. Thankfully he made it home just as the sirens started to sound in Cordova. The girls and I spend an hour in the bath tub while William and Javie (William's classmate) tried to be brave and watch the radar on TV and "look out" for tornados from the back door. I think the girls thought it was weird that I wanted them to stay in the bath tub with me, all fully dressed and reading books. I left the tub for a few minutes to gather coloring books and crayons and we colored for a while. By the end of it, Maylen didn't want to leave the tub because she was having fun. We are thankful to the Lord that we did not have any damage in our neighborhood. However, Union University was hit pretty badly at about 7 pm that evening. I posted some pictures of the campus, and needless to say, William is out of class for at least the next two weeks while the school tries to assess the damage and make the campus accessible for students again. Because he is out of class and not working, I'm putting him to work around the house -- he'll probably be so ready to go back by the end of it :).