LOOK ALIKE?

This week was a roller coaster with some extra time last weekend to relax since we all had Monday off thank you to Martin Luther King!    Grammy and Papa spent time with us before church visiting and then we said our good byes.   

Loves for Grammy and Papa

For us work has been crazy and I have struggled with tooth pain, just to find out a root canal is needed and will be this next week!  Wonderful right?   

Tuesday was a day we had been counting down to.....my car that we have has since 2003 hit 200,000 miles!     While sometimes it would be nice to have a new car, the benefit of no car payment and a car that runs really like it is new with little repairs needed at this point is a huge blessing.   We joke maybe it will keep running and last until Gracie drives!   Not really what we are targeting, but fun to joke.  If we can get at least one more year if not 3 that would be ideal.  Regardless, we will celebrate this moment and work to communicate to the girls the value of this decision.   Bring on another 100,000 miles!  

Worth celebrating!  

Thursday afternoon the weather forecast over night was going to get dicey with ice by morning on the roads, therefore the girls school was closed for Friday.   Before we even began to decide how to juggle the girls for the day, our neighbor who has a 2nd grader at CCS and one in kindergarten at the public school called to say she was off and would love to keep our girls for us!  Praise God.   That was a huge help to us.  It is so nice to have families in our neighborhood who we can help each other and trust the care of our daughters to them.   We pray that friendship continues to grow.   

This is how Gracie started her day off school..snuggled in bed!

Yesterday we had a working date.  While Ms. Tiffani kept the girls for the morning we fulfilled our volunteer day for Chattanooga Christian and managed to grab lunch with Aunt J.  It was fun to visit and catch up.   Then later that day Uncle Gabe and Aunt Katelyn came over for dinner.    It was fun to see them and play games once the girls went to bed.   We are now just waiting for Ellie’s arrival.   It was fun to give them hugs and tell them we may not see them until Ellie is on this side of her belly!  Can you tell we are getting excited?   

Looking at pictures from the week we had some fun reflection seeing and thinking about who the girls look like.   Gabe showed us a picture of him from when he was in college and over in China.  WOW.......check out the hair?  We defiantly know where Maggie’s hair comes from.   

Maggie at breakfast just this week, check out the hair

Uncle Gabe about 6 years ago while in China.  No doubt where Maggie gets her curly hair from! 

While we are told often how much Gracie looks like her mama,  when she puts her sunglasses on the top of her head I have to laugh that she is a mini me at those moments!  

Just like Mommy!  

The Best Day(s)!

Sight words....spelling words.....Bible memory verse........early dismissal due to snow projections....late start due to potential ice......What a week!  

Outside when it was a winter "mix".  We were disappointed this was all we got!

I heard this song this week and I LOVE it!  The best moments and days we have are those we spend together as a family and as a couple!  

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall

I know you're not scared of anything at all

Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away

But I know I had the best day

With you today

_ "The Best Day" Taylor Swift 

We had a great Saturday with the girls playing and attending a birthday party.   The girls also got time with Ms. Tiffany to play while we went shopping (and found nothing) and then time with Grammy and Papa while we we celebrated a late anniversary dinner.    We wanted to go to St. Johns downtown Chattanooga and that was difficult to squeeze in with Christmas travels.   It was a perfect day for all of us!  

Chilling at the birthday party!  

Small group Mommies with their daughters (each mom has their youngest daughter as you are looking at them on the left and the oldest on the right).   What a special group of families!  Also a fun note the oldest daughters each have the middle name of Grace! 

I love the South!  I love the language and that our girls have embraced it.   Although at times Maggie especially sounds quite southern.  Jimmy laughs and says “three is a difference between southern and redneck and she is close to the other side”.   Ha!   Maggie recently has been saying “cut the lights on” vs. “turn the lights on” and other sweet southern phrases.    

The bed Daddy ever....painting toe nails!  I wonder if he ever thought about his life filled with two little girls and painting toe nails before these little girls enter his world?!

Made it through the week!

There are some weeks I just am glad we made it through and had a weekend with fun, family and friends.   These are our reward!   

I traveled with work to Atlanta for Monday and Tuesday, therefore that means Jimmy was on single Daddy duty.    I tell the girls all the time how wonderful he is by spending time with them and helping take care of them.  I want them to fully grasp that not all Dad’s are like theirs and he is treasured!    I want them to understand the role of a husband and father is not just going to work to help provide so they get nice things.   I while I am gone I miss them terribly!   

My biggest reward is walking in to two sweet girls who almost tackle me as they scream “Mommy” and a husband who is eager for me to be home to do this life together daily!    These are the best moments!  

I had to chuckle when I looked on our dry erase board.  Tuesday is cleaning day!  This is one of those life balance things for us that when I decided to go back to work when Gracie was a baby we decided part of that budget would include someone to help with the house.   It is a huge blessing to us and I don’t take that for granted.   

Maggie had our first scissor issue, yes almost 7 years as parents and we have not worried about clothes, hair or other fatalities with scissors...until now.  When Jimmy picked Mags up one day this week there was a nice note “Maggie cut her shirt at the art center”.   When I got home she was so proud to show me the hole!  

By Friday, both girls first full week back at school, we were all exhausted!   It has been a great weekend.   Jimmy took the girls on a Daddy Daughter date for donuts.  It was filled with gymnastics as the girls had class and then a birthday party later! They were jumping and flipping all over!   

A New Year....a New Style!

A new year....a new style!   That is right, we now have a family blog to capture our lives!     This should be fun for all of us and I am hoping easier as I can do one post with pictures and each year print a book to capture our life!   

My Facebook post on Sunday:  “Nothing better to us as parents then to hear the girls without promoting tell each other they are pretty! Not because they are dressed up or have make up on but just because! We pray for many more moments like this over the next years!”  While we learn more each day about ourselves, how to parent, and how often we get it wrong, these sweet moments provide some encouragement! 

The girls got some great time with Aunt Tammy, Uncle Joey, Josh, Zach, and Ally on Monday while Jimmy and I worked.   They had a blast and no doubt were spoiled by all the attention.   It is so special to us that the girls have as much time as possible with family to build relationships and create memories together.  That is what life and family is all about.   Maggie kept everyone laughing with her sayings and looks.  She would say “did you hear that?”  after she would make a funny noise.  This was her impersonation from the Elf movie. 

We celebrated New Years Eve with a “fire night”.  We gathered around the fire to roast marshmallows and make s’mores.    Then Uncle Joey and the boys did fireworks for us to enjoy!  No one was up for ringing in the new year with our eyes open so we all crashed!    We also celebrated Christmas with them.  Gracie got the game "Disney Headbands" which we have loved playing.   

The first week of 2013 has still be full of family and play time as Gracie does not go back to school until Monday.  The rest of us went back to school and work on Wednesday.     Aunt Tammy was a huge help in keeping Gracie a few days.  They even managed to grab lunch down town with me at the English Tea Room!  It was so girly.   The last time we were all there was when I was pregnant with Maggie and we were having a girls day with Tammy, Ally, Gracie and my mother-in-law before Maggie’s arrival.  

This year as a family we have started to do a devotion book each morning at breakfast, Jesus Calling for Kids.   It is a fantastic.   January 1st talked about its time for change and how that is not always easy.  Gracie asked it was referring to money (coins) and we explained when events or circumstances are different like when she moved from her preschool to Chattanooga Christian for Kindergarten.   I was proud of her and surprised, she quickly said “and like when I changed to do carpool”.   This was a big change for Gracie as we have walked her in every morning to the gym since she started Kindergarten a year and a half ago.   Wow!  She is growing up!   

Maggie sometimes all I can say is “she is just Maggie”.  She would wear jammies all day if we would let her and when we do not she wants her yoga pants and short sleeve shirts.    She uses first person often “snuggle I” /  “tuck I in” /  “help I do it” .