Bye-Bye Sunny!

The weather lately has been more than a little crazy.

From frigid temps to almost 70 degrees in a matter of a few days!

Then back to frigidness.

Grrrr!

Then some fairly normal temps for this time of year, though still cold.

Now, I hear there's freezing rain and more snow in the upcoming forecast...

We definitely enjoyed the teaser Mother Nature gave us.

As soon as I get the pics off my camera, I'll post some just to prove it.

Tucker and Gracie even celebrated the passing of our beloved Sunny the Snowman.

Bye-bye, Sunny!

Come on SPRING!

Four-Legged House Guest

Last week we had a house guest for a few days. The four-legged type.

Please meet, Dixie, Papa & Memaw's sweet lab mix.

Lover of hugs...

or even better, hugs with treats

Lover of nap time

and tummy rubs.

"Guarder of the construction supplies at a construction site"  (official title given to her by Tucker)...

and she may have a new found love for pat-a-cake...

"Wanna do it again, Dixie?"

I'd say our house felt like home-away-from-home :).

The kids loved her before, but they love her even more now...

and ask almost daily when Dixie is coming back to stay at our house...

Tucker lovingly refers to her as "my dog" and even introduced her (twice) as "see our new dog we got?"

We sure enjoyed you, Dixie!  

Busy Weekend...

We had such a busy weekend, which is pretty much our norm.

The kids had their Valentine's Day party at school Friday morning, then we got to visit with a dear friend and her new little baby (both my kids were in heaven holding sweet Baby Baker, especially Gracie!), then Tucker had a basketball game that evening.  Saturday morning Tucker had another basketball game then we headed straight to Tatum's 5th birthday party at the indoor play center, followed by some yummy pizza afterwards.  We were going to fit in the Farm Machinery Show, but opted for a short, much-needed nap instead.  A quick rest, then the kids were off to their jammie/pizza/dance party at school.  (Yes, pizza twice in one day lol!).  Mommy and Daddy snuck in a quick date while the kids were partying it up.  

Today, we had an awesome church service, a very long, and even more needed family nap, then we took the the kids to the movies.  Tucker and Daddy went to see The Lego Movie and Gracie and I went to see Frozen (for the 2nd time!).

Busy, but lots of good stuff!

Here Tucker and Gracie are ready for their jammie party at school Saturday night.

(cell pic, a little blurry!)

As you can see, Tucker is in his FAVORITE jammies.  I believe if you scroll down through previous posts, there are probably at least a half dozen pictures of him in these exact jammies...

They had so much fun at their party.  They were wide away and talking it up when we arrived at 9:30 to pick them up.  They ate pizza, played with friends, danced their little hearts out (though their teacher said the disco ball in the dark scared Gracie a little), and got to eat lots of popcorn (according to them lol!).

And here are a few I snapped before going to the movies tonight.

 I promise I don't make my kids hug and kiss for pictures.... 
While snapping these I even said, "You don't have to hug and kiss.  You can if you want to, but you don't have to..."

I just tell them to stand over here and let me snap a quick picture before we leave, and this is what they do.  
Of course, I  L*O*V*E it :).

 Tucker's idea for the silly faces!

Hope y'all had a great weekend, surrounded by family and those you love :)!

A few pictures of Tatum's birthday party and of a four-legged house guest we had for a few days last week coming soon....!

Happy Valentine's Day

My sweet Valentines (minus their daddy)!

Yes, these were "Quick, stand here, look at Mommy and smile so I can get at least one picture of y'all on Valentine's Day" pictures.

It really was going great....

until Tucker decided, innocently enough, to share his KY hat with Gracie.

Her words exactly, "No, Tucker!  Don't mess up my pigtails!" 

Mommy just kept snapping.  You have to in order to make sure you get ONE turn out.

They resolved things pretty quickly :).

The aluminum foil clad thing that Gracie is holding is what's left of her Valentine's Day Box from school.  When we found out they would need Valentine's Boxes and I explained to Tucker what it was, he immediately said he wanted a robot.  Of course, Gracie chirped in that she also wanted a robot.  This Momma is not active on Pinterest....so we did what we could....  We covered coffee containers in aluminum foil, we painted toilet paper rolls and we raided our craft bin for the rest.

Most definitely not brag-worthy lol, but hey, the kids were happy with their Robots, so that's all that matters :).  They had SO much fun at their Valentine Party at school.  There was lots of talk about the fun games they played, passing out their Valentine's Cards, and having breakfast for lunch ;).

I hope you had a happy Valentine's Day :).

Future Olympian Perhaps...?

Gracie has been enjoying the Olympics.

Her favorite are, of course, the ice skaters!

Every since being introduced to the Olympics at school last week, she has been doing lots of spinning and twirling :).

See for yourself.

(Oh, and while you do, please ignore my messy house!)

As you can see, she adds her own music.
She loves to do what I like to refer to as "free-associating-singing".
She just sings random words, or whatever pops into that sweet little heart of hers.
In this video you can hear her sing about her milk and water (both of which were sitting on the table), letting Dixie (my parents' dog) out to potty, then she starts singing about the potty, a popsicle... You get the idea.

Whether she's our future Olympian or not, she's definitely got STAR written all over her :).

Happy Birthday O'mauri!

O'mauri turned 9 last Friday (February 7th)!

That is so hard to believe...

We were very excited to have him at our house Friday morning to celebrate with our traditional colored pancake stack!

He doesn't look very excited, but trust me, he was :).

This boy is all kinds of awesome!

 Just ask my kids.

They LOVE their big cousin O'mauri!

 It's pretty obvious as to why!

And they're also pretty fond of O'mauri's big brother and little sister :).

Happy, happy birthday to the best 9-year-old nephew EVER!

We love you, Mauri!!!

Cheerios, Sports Illustrated, Sleepy Heads, & Sprite

Yesterday morning Tucker and I were up bright and early.

Having a little bowl of Cheerios, perusing through the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated.

"What were Daddy and Gracie doing?"

Well, I'm glad you asked.

This.

Sleepy heads!
They had went to the Collin's basketball game on their Daddy/Gracie date the night before.

It was pretty late when they got home and Lil' Mama got in bed.

Here's the pic Wes texted me from the game.

Now you know why my kids think Daddy is so much cooler than Mommy.

He bribes them with sodas!

God's Canvas

This weather has definitely been crazy!

As much as I am so ready for spring, or at least weather we can get up and go in, I must admit, God sure does paint a beautiful picture :).

Here are a few pictures I snapped over the past couple days.

It's definitely times like this (along with a thousand others) that I wish I was better with a camera...

Not pretty to drive in, but sure pretty to look at!

 My favorite tree in our back yard.

I really feared we were going to lose a branch or even the whole thing! 

Thankfully, she's a pretty tough cookie!

 "Sunny" was not too pleased with the ice storm...

A little randomness...

Gracie LOVES to help make pancakes in the mornings.

Or, to help with any cooking for that matter.

"I help you cook, Mommy!"

As she slides her green chair up to the counter.

She's actually really good at measuring and dumping.

"I DO IT!"

She's even almost got cracking an egg down.

Of course, the best part is watching for the bubbles in the pancakes that let us know it's time to flip!

(Notice the picture of big brother in the frame behind her.  He was about her current age ;).)

 "I see bubbles, Mommy!"

See this guy?

He's the sweetest.

Yeah, I know I say that all.the.time.

But, he really is.

See his little fingers there?  Know what he's doing??

He's showing me that he is ALWAYS going to be my little boy ;).

"THIS little, Mommy.  I will ALWAYS be your very little boy."

Yes, I make him promise me that at least a zillion times every other day.

I also make him promise me that he's going to feel the same way when he's 16 and when he's 36!

Love him!

Wes and I got a date last weekend.

A get-dressed-up, my-super-hot-husband-in-a-tie-other-than-for-work, I-actually-have-on-fire-engine-red-heels kind of date.

Needless to say, those dates are pretty rare.

 It was for a great cause and we had a blast. 

 (And I have the blisters from cutting a rug on the dance floor to prove it lol!)

LOVE this guy! ;)