Valentine's 2013

Our Valentine's week was very sweet, and eventful, to say the least!! Valentine's fell on a
Thursday this year, and since gymnastics and dance classes take place on Thursday evenings, we generally don't get home until 8:30 pm on those nights. So, Josh and I decided to celebrate a bit early. Last Saturday morning, we headed down to Marriott Marquis in Atlanta to spend the weekend.

The Marriott is a very swell place with 50-something floors....

Unfortunately for Josh (who is not at all fond of heights), ALLL of the elevators are made of complete glass so that you can experience all of these floors while you go up and down. I thought he was gonna barf every time we entered an elevator. :)

When we got to our room, though, the view was amazing...

 We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (we sat near the Willie Nelson and Guns-N-Roses stuff which Josh enjoyed), and we had a couple's massage that was HEAVEN (Josh kept snorting through it like Augustus Gloop). We also had some hot-tub time.....here's my "Oh.My.Gah...It's a Billion-Degrees" Face:

We even got to catch some rays a bit by the cabana, which was pretty neato for February!!

 We also watched "Bill Nye the Science Guy" on the big-screen and had some "refreshments" at the bar for a while.....he was talking about the large meteor passing by the earth. We love Bill Nye...."Bill Nye" is actually one of the names I call Josh on a regular basis when he THINKS he knows more than I do. :)

 We ended the night by walking around ATL and having dinner at Jalapeno Charlies.....I do believe their "seafood queso" was made by an actual angel....

While the weekend was AMAZING, the rest of the week was......just......wow. Monday, I had to go get stitches removed from my gums from a procedure I had the week before.....YOWZA!!! Tuesday, both Ella and Claira got sick, so Wednesday, I stayed home with them and took them to the doctor. Claira had an upper-respiratory virus and laryngitis, so her little voice was just so pitiful. While we had a couple of rough nights with close to a 104-fever, she was so sweet during the day on Wednesday, despite her sickness. I honestly enjoyed staying home and taking care of my babes.....something that I miss desperately. Here's Clairy-Berry on Wednesday, trying so diligently to crawl....

As for Ella, she had a sinus infection that was making her whole face hurt, and since she had so much drainage (I know, TMI), it was also upsetting her tummy....

On Thursday, I returned to work for Valentine's Day, and the students were OFF.THE.CHAIN!!! It was worse than Halloween and Christmas put together. Cupid had definitely gotten to them. Still, they spoiled me with chocolate (they know me so well), so I couldn't be upset for too long. Being a mommy and teacher, I really appreciate all my goodies from my students. We had to buy Valentine's gifts for ELEVEN teachers this year (Nora's 4 kindergarten teachers + Nora's piano teacher + Nora's 2 gymnastics teachers + Ella's 2 gymnastics teachers + Nora's 2 dance teachers). Here's the girls about to give their gymnastics teachers their chocolate roses:

As all Thursdays go, we didn't get home until late, but we had some little surprises waiting for us on Valentine's Day. Since the girls are OBSESSED with stuffed animals, Daddy had surprised each of his girls with a stuffed animal (even me). Claira got the big dog since she still spends a lot of time on the floor. I also got a pot of azaleas which is the longest-standing inside joke between Josh and me.

On Friday, we thought we were all in the clear of sickness, but NOPE!! Nora woke up with a fever and PINK EYE!!

Sooooo, Grandmama had to keep all 3 on Friday and try to nurse them all back to complete health. Grandmama is a special Valentine.....where in the world would I be without her?? She got something a little extra-sweet:

After a week of chocolate, sickness, and life in general, we were BEAT by Friday night. Can you tell?

Now that it's Saturday morning, and we have a WEEK OFF, everybody is starting to feel better!! I will leave you with the very sweet, romantic, and touching Valentine's card that I made for Josh....

He has been my Valentine for 16 years!!

That's more than half of my life....woah.

Excited to see what the next 16 have in store!!

xoxo

Bieber Fever!!!

As you may remember, Grandmommie and Paw-Paw bought their "big" grandgirls Justin Bieber tickets for Christmas. So, on Wednesday night, January 23rd, we headed on down to Phillips Arena to watch the Biebs perform!! All dressed up in Biebs-attire, we met to eat some Chick-Fil-A before the big show. :)

Since Phillips Arena does not allow cameras inside, we had to take all of over photos with our phones, so the quality is pretty lame. But great times, nonetheless!!

  Carly Rae Jepsen (the "Call Me, Maybe" girl) and some other dweeb opened the show, so Biebs didn't even get to the stage until about 9:00 pm.....kinda late for a school night. But, it was well worth it!! The girls absolutely loved it!!

Here's just a few quick videos of Carly Rae, The Biebs, the girls dancing, and the screaming chaos of teenage girls that FILLED the arena in his sold-out show (the loudest thing you've ever heard in your LIFE!)

This was the best shot I could get of Biebs with my crap camera-phone. I gotta give it to him....the kid is SO TALENTED!! The singing, dancing, instrument-playing, and overall show was SUPER!! Even us parents dug it!!

Just FYI, don't let Josh fool you.....he knows every word to "Boyfriend." :)

Thanks for the EXCELLENT gift, Grandmommie and Paw-Paw!! WE LOVE YOU!!

We definitely caught the Bieber-Fever!!

Finally....some family photos :)

Now that Claira is 6 months old, we thought it was finally time to take some family pictures of our party of five. The ONLY time we have had a picture made together was in St. George in October, so we were definitely overdue for some family photos. Last week, Lea came up to our house to beautify all of us girls (she tamed our fros a bit), and she helped snap some pictures of us:

For all of the pictures, check out our newest slideshow....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrVlMMfAq3A&feature=youtu.be

Everyone thought it was kinda weird that I was taking pictures of the girls' feet, but I made my new favorite poster that is now hanging in our hallway:

Living, Laughing, & Loving.
Words we strive for each day.
Cheers to family (and feet!) :)

Happy New Year ~ Bring on 13!!!

The number 13 is actually mine and Josh's lucky number, so we are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!! This New Year's Eve was one of the best ones yet because we didn't do NUTTIN'!!! We sat at home with our babies and had a swell ol' time!! The most fun was playing with sparklers!! We made circles:

 We broke it down a little bit.....frankly, no one can do the Austin-Powers-thrust like me!!! :)

We ran around like little cheerleaders with jazz-hands....

Nora and I made Venn Diagrams (my teacher-friends will appreciate that....it's all about the Graphic Organizer!!)

And Josh ended the firework fun with a heart for his wife.....or is it a butt??? Eh, either way, still pretty neato.

We came in and played a little music. Nora has become such a little music-buff (I guess it's bound to happen in this family). She recently started taking piano-lessons, and she is forever singing and dancing her little heart out. Here's a little clip of her singing "Blue Rocking Chair" while her Daddy plays the guitar. (side note----what you don't see is Ella dancing butt-naked to the far left....surprise, surprise). :)

We finished up our night making cookies, taking long baths, sipping hot chocolate, and falling out on the couch....

We didn't quite make it to midnight, but I would like it noted that I was the LAST ONE UP!! I always get made fun of for being an early bird. So, ha!!

Cheers to a new year of....

New memories....

New adventures....

New blessings!! :)

Christmas in the Mountains!!

This year on Christmas morning, the girls woke up to a note from Santa stating that he had booked us a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains!! So, he brought the girls a lot of "cabin-stuff"......movies, games, pajamas, tablets (although Ella broke her tablet within 24 hours.....but what was Santa thinking by bringing a 3-year-old a new tablet, anyway???) :)

Anyhoo, the day after Christmas, we headed up to the mountains with our new goodies and lots and lots of food!! When we got there, it was SNOWING!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack from driving up a steep, narrow mountain in the snow (which made Mama's car get STUCK). Looking back on it now, it was quite funny (and typical). :) Plus, it was great to watch the snow come down on the mountains.

Any parent knows that while Christmas is the best time of year, it's also sooooo exhausting! So, we just wanted to come somewhere where we could EAT, SLEEP, RELAX, and do a whole lotta NOTHING. And that's just what we did!! We ate......a lot. Big breakfasts.....

...and big dinners....

...and a whole lot of munching and movies in between!! :)

We also played a lot of games (that I always dominated).....such as Jenga....

 Battleship....

 Spades....(this picture would have been really neat if it wasn't for that one blown-lightbulb)..

We also did several puzzles....

....played in the hot tub....

 ....took lots of naps....

.....and had an abundance of "naked-Ella" time. :)

Santa also brought the girls some "marshmallow shooters," so when the snow cleared, we went outside and had a marshmallow battle (IT.WAS.FREEZING.) Check out the girls' "war faces"...

 But Ella can never have a scowl for too long....

Unfortunately, we had to come home a few days early because Claira literally got sick overnight. We went straight from the Blue Ridge cabin to the doctor in Douglasville. Poor baby had a upper respiratory virus which later turned into other infections. 

We had all recently gotten over the flu, ear infections, colds, fevers.....you name it, we had it!! But thankfully, we are all back to 100% now!! Even though our trip was cut short, it was a great little time spent with family doing NOTHING and enjoying God's creations....

Nothing like sunrise on a mountain!!

Thanks for the memories, Santa!!! :) :)