UGA vs. UF

 I asked Cheyenne to take a picture of Berkeley and I... we tried about 100 times and this is the best we got:)

Cheyenne and I self portrait:

 UGA Basketball game vs. UF

Our awesome friends keep hooking us up with the all you can eat seats at the UGA basketball games:) It is so much fun! This time we got a babysitter and it was so fun, the kids had fun too. We sat right behind the scouts for the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz. It was so weird because they were just writing on the poorly photocopied paper. I would expect something more official looking from such a big organization, or to do it electronically or something on their ipads. We all discussed it and decided since the scouts were so old, they had probably been doing it most of their life and weren't about to change or learn electronically. So interesting though! A fun night for sure!

Last year's Christmas dresses

still fit! I love taking pictures of them before church, I just wish they would love it too so I could actually get a normal picture of them smiling!

Calendar

We have this school supply store by us that is going out of business, so everything was 60% off (everything was way expensive to begin with though so it is not as good of a deal as it sounds)... I stopped by to see if there was anything I wanted to get. I found this calendar kit and I have been loving it! Every day we do the season, the weather, the date and the days of the week. I think it will help Cheyenne understand the higher numbers a little better and it is definitely helping with her days of the week order. I think it is funny how the season and weather are usually the same: Winter, Sunny! Only in Georgia:)

Atlanta Zoo

Our library has this great program where you go and watch a zoo movie at the library about the history of the Atlanta Zoo and then you get a free family pass to the Atlanta Zoo. It has been there forever and I have been wanting to go for a long time, but we have never had the chance to take advantage of the opportunity. We almost missed out this time too because Jeff got sick on the day we were going to go, but luckily he decided to take a sick day and come with us the next monday (the passes are only good for a week and he was sick on his day off, so that validates taking a sick day, right?) We woke up really early and stopped my McDonalds drive through for breakfast. We got there when the zoo was opening and it was really cold and they said most of the animals wouldn't be out. We were so disappointed but we had driven all the way there and the tickets expired that day, so we just went in anyway. It turned out totally fine, it really warmed up by the afternoon and the animals were mostly all out anyway. I feel like we were dressed to go skiing it was so cold out!

Here we are with the elephants:

The flamingos were so beautiful. I don't think I had ever seen flamingos in real life before. I loved how when they lifted their wings they were all black feathers underneath. They were gorgeous!

Of all the exotic animals we saw, the girls favorite and the ones they pretended to be and the ones they are still talking about are the mole rats! They had an exhibit where you could see the mole rats digging tunnels and it was really warm in the room, then they had all these little tunnels the kids could climb through.

The real mole rats we saw were on top of each other sleeping, so here is Cheyenne pretending to be a sleeping mole rat.

The rest of the time she was trying to crawl around the zoo on her hands and knees saying, "Mom, I am your little mole rat! Say, come on little mole rat!" It was cute at first, but it started to take forever to get anywhere, so we forced her to be Little Girl Cheyenne instead of Little Mole Rat Cheyenne. Then a few weeks later at the library we found a book about a naked mole rat that wanted to wear clothes, so they loved that too.

The girls with the baby elephant statue.

Jeff loved this ape. He kept talking about how he wondered if they got in a fight who would win. The wind blew and that ape was the stinkiest thing I have ever smelled. Like the worst B.O. you have ever smelled x1000!

The girls wanted the mommy bird to get in the nest with them. Cheyenne was telling me to sit on her, when I told her I was not going to actually sit on her, she tried to crawl underneath me! Its from the nursery song about how the mama bird sits on the next to hatch her eggs all three. So funny...

My little lionesses. We watched Lion King as soon as we got home since we saw zazoo (hornbill), Mufasa, Nala, Simba (lions), pumba (warthogs), timon (meerkats) and also giraffes, zebras, and other african animals...

The saddest part of the trip was that I lost my awesome Georgia earrings that my volleyball team got me last year. I loved them and was so excited to wear them to coach my volleyball tournaments this year. One fell out somewhere, so now I only have one:( so sad! I hadn't even worn them to coach in yet!

We had to head home about 1 so that we could make it back in time for Jeff's basketball practice. They also had a really cool Panda exhibit and petting zoo that were favorites. It was a great family outing!

New Christmas Dresses

I am obsessed with these adorable dresses Grandma Connie and Grandpa Frank gave the girls for Christmas! They are soooo cute! We made the mistake of waiting to take the picture until after church.... they were a little cranky and not excited about getting their picture taken, if you can't tell. 

Christmas Day

The scene on Christmas Morning! I couldn't sleep all night because I was so worried the girls were going to wake up before me and I would miss their reaction! They finally woke up at 7 and Jeff wanted to make them go back to bed, but I was ready to wake up! We always video them coming in to the room, but I think my videos are too big to upload to blogger or something because it never works. Anyway, the girls came out and went straight for the dollhouse from Grandma Connie and Grandpa Frank. They LOVED it! Cheyenne said, "I always wanted one of these!" Which I thought was so funny, because she had never asked for one, but she was so excited to get it. Berkeley said, "Look she's taking a bath!" and took the doll out of the bath tub who was wearing a swimsuit. Then she said, "I wanna go to the beach!" Also, it was funny because I had grabbed all these little toys I had in a box in the bonus room to add to the dollhouse (like these littlest pet shop Mcdonald's toys and stuff), they forgot they were already theirs and were excited about getting those as well!

 I thought it was a Barbie dollhouse, but the Barbies are a little big....

 After about 20 minutes of playing with the dollhouse, Berkeley looked up and yelled, "BIKES!!!!! BIKES!!!" It was so funny. I was so excited about the bike for Berkeley, but she can't even reach the pedals yet!!! She just pushes herself around with her feet though. Cheyenne is loving her bike and Rapunzel fits in the basket perfectly. Cheyenne can ride around the entire neighborhood, but she gets off and walks it down the big hills because she doesn't feel safe!

 The little giant eyed cat in Cheyenne's stocking "Cashmere" was also one of the biggest hits of Christmas.

We had the dollhouse in the front room and the girls played with it all the time. We have since moved it to the playroom and it hasn't gotten the same amount of attention, so I am thinking about putting back in the living room.

 It was surprising because Berkeley loves the dollhouse the most. You would think it would be more of a toy for older kids, but Berkeley is always playing with it more than Cheyenne. I will go in the playroom and she will be in there playing with it by herself.

 Jeff played Santa as usual and handed out all the gifts.

 Cheyenne and Rapunzel. She loves pretending she is Rapunzel's Mommy and I am the Grandma.

 Taking Rapunzel for a bike ride.

Berkeley trying to be just like her big sister... she is Cinderella's mommy:)

Sitting in the dirty clothes hamper, eating fishy crackers, watching the Grinch, while dressed as Princesses Cinderella and Rapunzel. This is the life for a 2 and 4 year old!

 Christmas Day was fun, opening presents, seeing the look on the girls' faces when they saw that Santa had come and brought presents and ate his cookies and milk! I remember my Mom used to take a picture by me with all my gifts and it is fun now to look back and remember what I got and which toys became my favorite, etc. I always want to do that with the girls but they wont hold still and gathering up their toys is impossible because they just pick it up, start playing with it and drop it somewhere else, so that is something I want to start in the next couple of years when they get a little older. 

It has been a month ago now, but let's see if I can remember what they got for documenting sake. Cheyenne got $25 from Grandpa Bob and Mrs. Karen, A Rapunzel doll with matching dress (santa), a princess bike with training wheels and a basket for Rapunzel (santa), a dollhouse to share with Berks (Gma Connie and Gpa Frank), a dress with tights (gma&gpa C&F), shoes (gma&gpa C&F), yellow skinny jeans/shirt (gma & gpa Janet & Bill),  three books (gma &gpa C&F& J&B), the Grinch movie (C&F), A beanie boo cat named Cashmere (santa), princess bubble bath, a spinny toothbrush , Shrek bandaids, fishy crackers, a ring pop, powerade(santa), and a sleeping bag(grandma sylvia & gpa steve), oh and some cinnamon letter cookies (from gma&gpa C&F).

Berkeley got $25 from Grandpa Bob and Mrs. Karen, A Cinderella doll with matching dress, a Dora bike with a seat that lifts up to put stuff in, a beanie baby Boots doll, Dora bubble bath, a Dora spinny toothbrush, colored bandaids, fishy crackers, a ring pop, powerade (all from Santa),a dress that matches Cheyenne's with tights, 3 books, the grinch movie, doll house to share with Cheyenne, and cinnamon letter cookies, (gma Connie & Gpa Frank),  and a sleeping bag (Grandma Sylvia & Grandpa Steve).

Jeff got some gift cards (olive garden, visa, kroger, itunes), some clippers to cut his hair, some nice headphones, portable speakers, some cologne, socks, oreos, m&ms, powerade, some laundry hampers (to share with me) with covers,

I got some cheetah shoes and a dress from my sister, a shark steam mop, a laser printer, some new sheets for Jeff and I, a really pretty red sweater, a cute black jacket, some gift cards (kroger, visa), some chocolate covered pretzels, face wash, face lotion, chocolates, hot tamales.

I feel like I am forgetting something, but anyway, we loved all the gifts we got and had so much fun opening them:) It was great Christmas. After we opened presents, we just napped, played with our presents, and relaxed, watched Christmas movies and ate leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas Eve

So for some reason this year, I just could not get into the Christmas Spirit. I did all the things I usually do... we opened a book a night to read Christmas stories, I did some service, I bought and made presents for loved ones, I had Cheyenne write a letter to Santa and did some crafts with the girls and watched lots of Christmas movies... I don't know why just for some reason I didn't feel it in my heart the way I usually do. I mean it was fine and Christmas came and went but you know how sometimes you just feel that Christmas spirit more strongly than others? And maybe it was because last year I felt it so much but this year just wasn't my year for some reason. 

The only thing I didn't do this year that I have done every year since we have been married was send out a Christmas card:( I'm so sad that I never got around to it, because I love doing it and I love getting them. Next year I will have to start early...

Christmas Eve was fun this year, we went to pump it up with some people in our ward and it was so much fun! That night we had a big Christmas dinner with Ham, potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls, the works! Jeff and the girls made cookies for Santa and the elves. We did the Christmas Story with the nativity scene and sang some Christmas songs. I think we also watched a Christmas movie, but now I don't remember which one.

We let the girls open one present and they opened the ones from Grandma Sylvia and Grandpa Steve. They were sleeping bags! We let them sleep in them in the playroom. The girls were so excited. Jeff and I watched Christmas movies and wrapped gifts in the living room and helped Santa and the Elves set up some toys. Then Jeff and I went to sleep in the girls room and set up a barricade, because I was so nervous the girls would wake up before us and I would miss it!

 

2012-2013 ECCHS Basketball Season

 Thanks to my mom for the magna doodle it has brought hours of entertainment at church and basketball games! Cheyenne and Berkeley love to draw and they love to tell me what to draw. Cheyenne also loves to practice writing letters and words.

 The cheerleaders have been so awesome this year. They are all so sweet and they always say hi to Cheyenne and Berkeley and play with them. One time we got to the game and Cheyenne said, "Look Mom, there's the cheerleaders, they know me!" like they were celebrities or something, it was funny.

This has been a pretty good year for Elbert County Basketball. They are averaging something like 81 points a game and are really fun to watch. Their record is 15-5 or something with some very close losses. They lost one game to Morgan County by 3 points at the buzzer and now Morgan County is ranked 2nd in the state. Jeff's team is very athletic and talented. It makes it more worth it when Jeff is gone all the time when they are able to have success. Right before Christmas they had a 3 day tournament in Macon, GA. The girls and I went with him to stay in the hotel and the girls had a blast. They love staying in hotels and there was also a hot breakfast so that was fun. Jeff's team played some tough teams at the tournament, but they played pretty well. It has gotten a lot easier to go to the games now since the girls are a little older. They love to cheer once in a while, but mostly they associate the games with candy since I always bring treats to keep them occupied. I am looking forward to bringing them to games as they get older, because it will become more fun for them and less stressful for me I think. So far it has been a great season and we are having a great time supporting those Blue Devils!