All things normal...kind of.

Week 1 back to our routine and we're all exhausted.  The kids had a hard time getting into the swing of school, dance and homework....as did Mom and Dad! We're all happy to have a schedule again though.  Shelby's birthday is approaching fast and she's changed her mind at least 100 times on what kind of party she wants. I finally ordered invitations for a Princess Tea Party so she can't change her mind now. :-) Her most wanted items for  her birthday: a bike, a doll and a battery powered car. A little birdie told me she's getting her wish, too.  Before school started again we spent a few days enjoying all our christmas toys and playing outside...which was a good thing because winter hit the Deep South.  12 degrees with a wind chill of 9 was, I believe, the lowest we got....too cold for this Southern girl!!! The kids must have asked 1000 times if it was going to snow...I agreed that if it's THAT cold...it should snow. We warmed up to a balmy 65 degrees today though and the kids sucked up every last second of daylight. It was great!!!

Peyton won a $150 gift card to Toys R Us for being a top seller with Scouts popcorn campaign. He used that card to buy himself a new bike. We were so proud! 

Santa brought Shelby a new playhouse! 

My poor Camelias. It's enough that they have to withstand little fingers with a love for everything pink and pretty, but they also had to endure the cold. They didn't do too well with either.  

See? 

Coldest day we had...she LOVED it. Weirdo 

My all time favorite picture...my prima ballerina 

This kid....he climbs anything standing still...I was SURE this was going to end with a trip to the E.R. He slid down like a pro with zero scratches. I was impressed. 

New Years Resolutions

So I'm not even sure I know how to work this blog anymore, but here's my promise and hope...that you will get an update, at the very least, ever month.  It's easy for me to let my blog slide because of facebook and other media outlets, but in reality all those outlets do is take away from my family time. So I'm going to work on taking 30 minutes every week to update this blog....instead of 30 minutes everyday on useless social media.  So here's my update for this week:

Welcome 2014!!!
I can't be more excited to get a new year started. 2013 brought lots of changes for our family...the biggest changes being we sold our home that we've lived in for the last 8 years. The home we brought both kids home to and the only house thats ever really felt like "our home".  As sad as it was, we have moved on to an even better place that is already FULL of wonderful family memories.  Its been a work in progress, but we're getting there and everyday we settle just a little bit more.  The saddest change for us this past year was losing our family pet in October.  Brad and I brought sweet Pepper into our lives just 4 months into our young marriage.  She has been my companion through so much and she is DEARLY missed. Peyton has done very well with the loss, but Shelby is still struggling. In the last week she has worried everyday if Pepper has food and water in Heaven.  My fear is that the only way to get her through this is to bring another loving puppy into our family...but I'm going to hold out on that as long as I can. ha!  So those are our two majors for 2013.  We're excited to see what 2014 has in store for us. Happy New Year!

 This one got into some hair gel in the middle of the night. 

La Tech Basketball game 

Tuesday night dance night. It's our "thing"....McDonalds with Ella! They are BFF's. 

 Merry Christmas from our new house!!!

Night Before Christmas party at school.  It was....fun? ha! 

Making cookies for Santa 

We took a walk to the lake after the last day of school....the kids LOVED running on the beach in their clothes instead of swimsuits. It's the little things!

Merry Christmas....again! 

Happy New Year from this party animal! 

and these 

And this is for good measure...Halloween in our new neighborhood...we got SOAKED. 

Our sweet Pepper. She is SO missed.

Happy Halloween!

The kids certainly got into Halloween a lot more this year. So much that I couldn't even keep up with Peyton to take pictures. ha! We got smart this year and hooked up our trailer to haul our kids along with my cousin and one of her kids plus a friend. We had a blast and thankfully this year it felt like Halloween with it being so cold. By the end of the night Peyton said his ears were ice cubes! ha! Definitely a southern kid. Shelby has as much fun as Peyton although had a hard time keeping up...insert Mommy carrying her to most houses. She also was TERRIFIED of any child dressed as a bug...including the 2 year old dressed as a bumble bee. Only my kid!!

Shelby about 5 minutes ago...eating her loot!

Our trailer full of trick or treaters

Little red riding hood!

There are just no words....I love these kids.

This was his scary face. hahaha!

We had to limit the howling to 2 howls per house. He forgot all about howling once he started getting candy.

Last weekend we made our first trip to the fair in Laurel. The kids had a blast and I've come to appreciate the times my parents took me a lot more after spending as much as we did. ha! Peyton LOVED riding the rides and Shelby enjoyed the animals. Can't wait till next year!

Peyton HATED the petting zoo...you can tell by his face. :-)

Shelby on the other hand LOVED it...she would've crawled in the pins with them.

Pony rides!! favorite for all.

The only game Shelby wanted to play...she would've fished for "quack quacks" for hours.

They wanted it, but neither one were really fond of it. Whose kids are these?

The ferris wheel!

Oh sweet soccer. I'm thankful for last years experience because Peyton has improved immensely. He really enjoyed it this year and so did we!!

Getting his trophy at his last game.

Peyton, Maw and Paw at his last game.

Peyton in action!

His first field trip....the snow cone place. :-) They had a ball.

Just because she's cute.