Wordless Wednesday...

Gym again!

My girls waited frantically for their next gym class and today it finally arrived! Sophia had a little trouble though. She was feeling extra shy...As you can see below, Phillip is trying to "take off" before she has a melt down.

Of course...it did not work and I immediately scooped her up and loved on that baby. I had been gone all day to a workshop so I am sure she just needed a little mommy time.

 After about ten minutes, she perked up and my sweet friend Crystal was able to take her back into the class. I am happy to report she stayed the rest of the hour and had a blast!!!

Birthday Monkeys

Happy Birthday to our sweet friends Laura and Isabella! Laura is my lifelong friend. She and her daughter share the SAME birthday! Mallory and Isabella are only two weeks apart. It was so fun to be pregnant with Laura. I was actually with her when my water broke! We love you girls!

 The birthday girl!!!

Jumping on the trampoline is not good for the hair.

Mallory had rather jump in the bouncy!

Shots and Toys

Today the girls had an appointment for a "well" checkup.

 Just the wait alone was enough to get them TORE UP!

Next came the shots! Sophia got four and Mallory only got one! During this time I would have promised my girls ANYTHING to get them to stop crying. Fortunately, they settled on going to see Toy Story 3 (in 3D) and to buy some special toys afterwards!

My Sweet Mallory Lou

4 years old

38 pounds and 39 inches tall

My Precious Sophia Peri

2 years old

26 pounds and 35 inches tall

Gym Class Heroes

Today was a momentous occasion. My baby girls started their very first gymnastics class. This is something I have been looking forward to for a very long time. I remember going as a little girl and being so excited to get home and show my mommy everything I had learned. When I myself became a mommy to two little girls, one of my exciting visions was of them dancing and tumbling in their little leotards while we anxiously bit our fingernails and shook nervously while holding our video camera. Today was bittersweet. I am so happy to have my vision come true, yet so sad to think my little babies are growing quicker than I can handle. 

 I love this little booty in that outfit!

Grace, Fifi, and Presley. 

Mallory showing off some moves to her girls: Presley, Grace, Madison, Chandler, and Sophia. 

Out of control!!! 

 The tent...those poor women teachers....

Diddy...

Dear Phillip (Diddy),

Thank you for being the greatest man I have ever known. You have shown me how a man should treat a woman and most importantly how daddies adore their baby girls. I never had the opportunity to see the joy a little girl has when she looks at her daddy. So, Phillip, thank you. Thank you for giving my girls that joy and sparkle in their eyes. They look at you and see not only a daddy, but a strong Christian influence. They see someone who believes in them. They have someone to teach them about life, art, and literature. They even have the great advantage of knowing all about history and all its wars and heroes. Thank you for all that you do. We love you so much... 

Your girls,

Mommy, Mally,and Fifi

Daddy with Mallory on her very first doctor appointment.

2006

Daddy holding Sophia for the very first time.

2008

Daddy and his precious helpers...

2010

PCB Babies!

Well, the cabin fever finally got to us. On Monday, we decided to be spontaneous, pack our bags, and hit the road. Where would we go? Where else but PANAMA CITY BEACH! Some of our friends were already there so it was even more exciting to be going! My mother came with us and I am so glad! The girls absolutely adore her and are always concerned when she is not with us! We arrived Tuesday and came back Saturday. What a fabulous, fabulous trip! We originally had planned to stay until Friday, but because it was so beautiful we stayed an extra night. The girls played hard all day and slept wonderfully at night! Of course the food wasn't bad either! It seems like all we did was eat, eat, eat, eat, and eat some more! Which, is really perfect for the diet I had been on. Oh well, as our good friend Chris would say, "That's how you do it at the beach!"

 Exhausted after the five hour drive-but she can always eat!

 The girls hard at work...

All smiles while waiting on our food!

 Back to the room for some R&R...

 Daddy looking for crabs...

 Precious...

 Priceless...

***More special pictures to add to our special beach memories! 

Me, Mindy, and Randi

And my favorite of all...

Gran and Fifi

We all scream for....

Ice Cream Cone...CAKES!!!

 I made these adorable cones for my daughter's fourth birthday party! The theme was ice cream and I never could find a cake that I just fell in love with. So, I had a quick spark of creativity and decided to roll with it! Unfortunately, I am no baker and just a mediocre cook, so I was very hopeful these would turn out! 

*I started by baking vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. I also baked the same amount of mini cupcakes (you will need a mini to go with each regular size cupcake). One box of cake mix made 24 regular size and 24 mini cupcakes.

**Next, I took plain cones (48 to be exact). I stood them up in a mini muffin pan. I filled each one with a handful of skittles. After the cupcakes finished baking, I filled the cones with one regular cupcake turned upside down.

***The next step is to take a dollop of icing and put it on the bottom of the mini cupcake(this serves as the glue) and attach it to the top of the regular cupcake. 

  ****Finally, I iced both cupcakes. I used extra creamy icing in a large Ziploc bag. I cut the tip off and piped the icing on. I mixed in food color to make the pink. 

 I would also like to add that I ran out of icing and had to make another trip to the store. While I was there, I saw these little bad boys and will definitely use these next time!!!

They come in all colors and weren't at all messy like the Ziploc bags can be!!! 

*****I topped with sprinkles and red skittles. They were a big hit at the party! ENJOY!!!

Let the festivities begin...

The festivities began bright and early this morning for Mallory's birthday! The theme for Mallory's party was ice cream. I began the morning by making these adorable "ice cream" cone cakes. 

These cones are not at all filled with ice cream. They actually have skittles, cupcakes, and icing in them. I will post the steps to make these cuties a little later! 

It was an extremely busy and HOT day. The girls went to Gran's house so that we could actually be productive and get my to-do list accomplished. The guests arrived around 4:00 and the real party began! 

Sweet Grace

Josh and Jodi

 Randi, Chris, and Chandler

Chris and Grandmother

Grana, Amanda, and John

Papa, Evan, Mackenzie, Phillip, and Nana

Tammy and Winnie

 EVERYONE!!!

Mallory smacking the pinata (please don't mind the mop-we could not find any other stick to bust this thing!!!!)

CANDY!!! 

Thank you so much for the presents!!! She was so excited to get Buzz Lightyear, Woody, a cash register, clothes, and so much more! We are so blessed to have such caring people in our lives. We love you!!!