We're expanding!

We have been wanting to enclose our back porch for a while now but was crushed when a conman the devil in disguise  took off with our money.  It has taken us quite a while to figure out what to do. My very handy and wonderful uncle said he would be glad to come  and give us a hand. I am so glad he did because his ideas were so much better than the fake plans from the criminal ( Can you tell he still erks me?)! Originally were going to do the basic enclosure of a panel of windows up top and siding at the bottom. Carmel and my uncle decided to frame, insulate, and sheet rock. They took down the vinyl siding and brick on the inside to make it look more like a room. From the outside it will look like part of the house. There is still some work left to do but it is looking great so far.  We jokingly say this space will be an expensive doghouse  for Chewy. Yes... it is for him to stay in during the day while we are gone but the main use will be the kid's playroom. 

Here is the before picture.

Here is the work in progress.

My uncle kept telling Ella if she worked hard enough he would hire her and she could make some money. Ella kept running inside every few minutes to tell me, "She was almost hired".

Hopefully, I can share with you the finished product very soon!

We've been robbed!

Isn't that what you would think if you saw this?

or this

It is amazing that just 30 minutes prior it looked like this....

My over the top helper!

Every once in a while, Ella will get an itch to help out her momma. She likes to surprise me! I guess she has heard me tell her father one to many times that I like the girl's clothes hung up. The other night while I was gone she got that itch. I went into the laundry room to switch out clothes from the washing machine to the dryer when I found this.....

At first, I thought, "Wow! I finally got through to my husband about hanging up the girl's clothes." When I looked in the washing machine I saw Ella's red cheerleading outfit in with white clothes. My hubby knows by now that is a BIG HUGE NO NO! As I glance at the hanging clothes a little closer, I am confused. There were pajamas hanging up. A closer look revealed this....

 

Now I am convinced! This is not the handy work of my husband after all.

I walk into the kitchen and ask, "So who is my big helper that hung up the clothes for me?" 

Ella very quickly announces, " I wanted to surprise you mom. Aren't I your big helper?"

Awwww! It was one of those sweet moments I wish I had on video. 

Reenactment of the big helper

Announcing an engagement!

I would like to announce the engagement of ............

this here tall(.750ml to be exact), clear,smooth, and handsome guy

to this long, tasty, 14 strands haired beauty.

 Although many people desperately wanted Vodka, he did not like the way they were when he was with them. He decided to give online dating a try and that is where he met his true love Vanilla. Vodka knew once he saw her they could be something special together.

He waited to pop the question once she arrived....by mail!

And there was no doubt in his mind that she would say......

YES!

Later that night they were going to have an engagement party. Vanilla insisted she have her hair done for this special night.

She was radiant!

The party was wonderful! Especially when they had the first dance.

Now you may be thinking Vodka looks a little different....... maybe hard to recognize??

Well, he went to Ross and found  a new bottle to wear for the evening.

The happy couple plans to wed in about 6 months....around late July early August.

I hope you will come back and join them for their special day!

Edible snowman

If you are from the South like us, then you do not see very much( if at all) snow. I thought I would share a fun way the kids can still build a snowman. The best part is they can eat it when they are done.

How to make:

Take a long skewer and slide on 3 big marshmallows. Use sprinkles for the eyes, nose and buttons. You will have to push these into the marshmallow for them to stay. Next, take a fruit roll up and wrap it around to make a scarf. After you have finished decorating your snowman, poke a hole in a Styrofoam plate and slide the skewer through. The kids could have a little fun before they eat it by acting out a story or creating a puppet show. We sprinkled some powder sugar on the plate to make it resemble snow.

A couple of the others that were created.

These were a blast to make and even better to eat.

A Forgotten Post?

Well, I was doing pretty good there for a while with posting daily and then work, ballgames, lessons, life, etc........happened. I have several post planned...... if only the snow/ice along with canceled days would come back again then maybe I could get ahead. Which reminds me. I was thumbing through my pictures hoping I could find something to use for a quick post.  Low and behold I had pictures from our snow ice days. I did not get to many because it was rainy and lets just face it WAY TO COLD FOR ME! I am a beachy girl remember?

 

Yep! A picture of aggrivator #2. Can you guess who came in first?

This is what you build if  you can't roll a snowman.

Ice bowling anyone?

I am starting to question my Mother Of  The Year Award. Why you may ask? If you look a little more closely at the picture above you will see Ella has no pants on.......just tights! What's worse? I didn't notice it until after I went inside and looked at the picture. 

So what would any good mother do? 

I went outside and buttoned up her jacket.

Step up...Step Back.....Introduce Yourself!

My name is Ella...... yeah!

And I'm a cheerleader......yeah!

I got that spirit.......yeah!

Alright! Alright! Alright!

Ella cheers for the big kids playing basketball.....usually her sister. She has surprised me! I thought she would follow in her mommas footsteps by being the one to play sports not cheer for them. She is loving it and is very serious when it comes time to cheer. Every move is precise and sharp just as it should be. 

These girls are so entertaining!

Happy Birthday Dad!

From your favorite daughter!

Don't worry your secret is safe with me. The other 2 will never know that I am your favorite!

I love you!

New Year's Eve

Happy New Year!

Okay so I am a little late. It will just fit right along with this post then!

New Year's Eve we spent part of the night a church eating and playing games.

We left church and headed home before 12:00 so we could ring in the New Year as a family. Griffin had purchased some fireworks so he was very eager to get started playing with matches.

We sat back and watched the show.

We enjoyed it even more when Griffin announced that it was sparkler time.

As usual Griffin put on a great show for us!

Saying goodbye is so hard

especially when they are so little and cute!

I loved this picture! Emma was telling everyone goodbye and when she got to Carmel she laid her head down on his shoulder.