Lazy days at home...

For our family, the most fun we have is when we're at home together just lounging around doing nothing. Wayne and I love to just have the time to lay down with our girls and watch tv or play games with them. When we came home from our cruise, we spent the next day exactly this way...just being together.

Presley still sucks on her finger! Our dentist bills are going to be through the roof one of these days, but the child refuses to stop doing it. Anytime she's not active (which doesn't happen to be very often- only when she's tired), she gets her blanky and puts that finger right in her mouth. I can't seem to make myself tell her not to either...she's still my baby.
Makenzie actually took this picture all by herself. We were playing after we woke up that morning, and I wanted to take some pictures of them in their dress-up clothes, but Makenzie didn't feel like posing for pictures. She's become quite the opinionated one! She went on to explain that she would rather take pictures of us so I let her give it a shot thinking she'd cut our heads off or miss us completely. I was shocked to see how well she actually did (pardon the fact that I'm in pj's and have on NO makeup)! Maybe she'll be a photographer one day! She loves taking pictures..she even asked me for her own camera..lol.

While we're talking about the funny things she says, I just have to tell this. The other day she asked me if her Mimi was home, and I told her I wasn't sure, but that she could call her and see. She looked at me funny and said, well, I don't have a cell phone, but I guess I could use yours! Is she a mess or what?

Presley has outgrown the baby bed! We decided it was FINALLY time to move Presley into a big girl bed despite my trying to keep her a baby as long as possible. For her to have the toddler bed, Makenzie needed a twin so Wayne and I went to Woodland and picked out a beautiful bed that she adored. We spent the weekend rearranging rooms, and then had to order new bedding to go with the new beds. It was really hard to talk Makenzie out of princess bedding (Mommy's no fun), but I did let her have her choice of bedding, and to my surprise she picked the one I liked too.

Presley's new bed... She transitioned extremely well to her new bed. She'd been asking to sleep in a big girl bed for months so I shouldn't have been surprised that she did so well. Why is it so hard for Moms to let go sometimes...I am NOT ready for my baby to grow up yet, and I'm DEFINITELY not ready for another baby in the house for those of you who keep hinting that it's time..lol!

Makenzie's new bed and the cute bedding she picked out...both girls' bedding matched their rooms perfectly.

Makenzie and Daddy play catch

Everyone knows Makenzie often says random things or asks random questions out of the blue...well, last week she asked me when her Daddy was going to teach her how to play baseball..lol. We have no idea where this came from or why she'd even be thinking about baseball, but when I asked her why she wanted to learn to play baseball, she told me it was because her Uncle Brent loves it. He should feel so proud! Aparently, he piqued her interest. Needless to say, later when we were in Wal-mart, I bought her a glove, ball, and tee-ball bat!

Throwing the ball to Daddy...

Learning to catch...

Fun Day at the Park

It was just too pretty last Saturday to spend the day inside. Makenzie, Presley, and I headed to the park to meet Angie and Addie. While we waited for them to arrive, I was able to take a few pictures of the girls playing. My camera died on me before I could get pictures of Addie too...sorry!

Launching of the Discovery

On our final night of the cruise, the captain explained that there was some fog that might cause us to have to sit out in the ocean until it passed. The delay would make us late getting back to Jacksonville since we would have to wait until the fog passed to make our way into port. In order to prevent this, the captain decided to speed up and try to beat the fog which would actually put us in port earlier than expected. Because we sped up, we were able to view the launching of the Discovery. We all gathered on the top deck of the ship while NASA counted the shuttle down. It was amazing to get to see this first-hand. We were so close, we could see blastoff and the seperation. The ship erupted in cheers as the shuttle made its way safely into space. It was an experience Wayne and I won't forget! The pictures definitely do not do it justice.

More Cruise Pictures...

After traveling ten hours to get there, we were READY to get on that ship...wish we could have just flown, but I wasn't willing to pay over $800 a person to do it!

Pictures taken before dinner on formal night...

This was Garden of the Groves in Freeport where we stopped for lunch on our jeep tour. The waterfalls were beautiful!

The sunset on our last night...

Cruise to the Bahamas!!!

We're back, and we made it home in one piece, thank God! The girls were good too (no problems or injuries) except for not wanting to sleep at night. They must have missed their own beds because as soon as Wayne and I got home, they slept fine. My poor parents! I thought I would post some pictures of our well-needed time away...enjoy!

We cruised on the Carnival Fascination out of Jacksonville, FL to Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas. The ship is Carnival's Hollywood themed funship and was very pretty.
In Freeport, Wayne and I took a jeep tour of the island. We were able to see dolphins, residential areas, Lacaya Canal, Ben's Cave, Garden of the Groves (which was absolutely beautiful), and Lacaya Beach. We even did some off-roading in the national forest! We stopped for a delicious lunch at Garden of the Groves and spent a good bit of time exploring there.

In Nassau, we headed to Blackbeard's Beach for some time in the sun and snorkling. We took a boat over to the beach, snorkled, layed out, ate lunch, and then returned to Nassau where we got a taxi and headed over to the Atlantis Resort. The resort was amazing and is definitely the place to stay if you plan on taking a trip to an all-inclusive resort in the Bahamas!

This was the beach in Freeport. We walked along looking for sea shells to bring home to the girls, but it was a bit overcast that day, and the water was way too cold for us to get in. Other people with us swam, but we weren't that brave! :)

This picture was taken at dinner on formal night. We were fortunate to be able to eat dinner each night with four other wonderful couples from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Indiana.

Naughty Girls....

The girls were playing in Makenzie's room yesterday morning while I folded laundry in the living room. The telephone rang, and after confirming an appointment I quickly hung up. I realized it was too quiet and went to check on the girls. I found them both not in Makenzie's room, but mine. They had gotten into their makeup and had it all over them and all over my room (my sheets, pillow cases, walls, and picture above my bed). I wanted to be furious, but I could barely keep myself from simultaneously laughing and crying. Makenzie immediately knew I was upset, and when I just sat down in the floor from shock, she came over, put both of her hands on my cheeks, and said, "Mommy, I'm so sorry...I won't do this ever again. Please don't cry." Presley had come over by this point, and she too kept repeating I'm sorry over and over again. They know they're not supposed to play with their makeup unless I'm helping them (I don't like messes), and they had to climb to get it down because I keep it out of their reach so things like this don't happen. Needless to say, I couldn't discipline them the way they needed to be disciplined after Makenzie was so concerned about me so instead I threw every bit of their makeup in the garbage which, in my opinion, was worse punishment..lol. I just had to take pictures of them...that makeup was all over them!

They both have lip gloss.
They had lip gloss and eye shadow all over their faces, arms, and legs. It took me forever to get all of it off of them, and I had to practically scrub them raw.



They, of course, thought they looked beautiful!

Since we're talking about them being naughty, I need to share what they did to my poor Mom a few days ago. She's been keeping them and Britlee at Hanna's house throughout the week, and while she was putting her makeup on in Hanna's hall bathroom, the girls were playing in the floor in Britlee's room while Britlee napped in Hanna's room. Mom could lean out the bathroom door and see the girls, and she kept checking on them every few minutes. Mom's cell phone rang in the kitchen, and she went to answer it, and as quickly as she walked away, my mischevious little girls got themselves in trouble!

Mom found the door to the bedroom shut and locked when she returned, and in a panic, Mom tried to figure out how to open it. Presley was crying inside, and Mom kept telling Makenzie to unlock the door to which Makenzie replied she couldn't. There's no way to unlock Hanna's door from the outside, and Mom was considering having to call the fire department to get them out, but finally Mom told Makenzie that if she didn't unlock the door, she would just have to stay in there for the rest of the day. Makenzie said, "Fine!" and unlocked the door...

THEN....when Mom walked into the room, she couldn't find Presley, but she could hear her whining. She looked over and found the closet door shut and thought, oh no, not again....She opened the closet door to find Presley sitting in a baby bath seat (made for babies between 4-6 months old). Presley looked up at Mom with tears rolling down her cheeks and said, "I'm stuck!" Mom tried every way possible to get her out, but she was really stuck. Again, Mom began to panic, thinking again that she was going to have to call the fire department!

Instead, she called my Dad who luckily was in Starkville that day. When she told Dad that he needed to come to Hanna's and maybe even bring a hack saw, he just laughed. When Daddy got to Hanna's and tried to get Presley out, he couldn't budge her either! He got his pocket knife and whittled away the back of the bath seat until they could pull her out! Once she was free of the seat, Presely wrapped both arms around Daddy's kneck and said, "Thank you Popa, I stuck!" Are they naughty or what? I think my Mom was ready to throw in the towel that day! ;)

As a side note, I realize I haven't been able to blog often. Things are just so busy right now, but I had some time today which is why there are 3! I'm trying to catch up.... Now, we need prayers! Wayne and I are leaving on Wednesday for Jacksonville, FL for a cruise to the Bahamas. We haven't taken a vacation (just the two of us, for more than one night) since Makenzie was four months old. After the stress of last semester, we felt like it would do us both good to get away for a bit, but after last week and all the mischief our girls got into, I'm a little afraid to leave them for a week! Please pray that we'll be able to enjoy ourselves and de-stress and that our girls will behave themselves and make it through the week without injury!

Daddy has some big shoes to fill....

I was putting laundry in the dryer the other morning, and I heard Presley come in behind me. When I looked up to see what she was doing, I saw that she had climbed into her Daddy's boots. I couldn't help but laugh when she pointed to herself and said, "I Daddy!"

Of course, when Makenzie saw what she was doing, she had to do it too... They were so funny trying to step in and out of those boots!

Mommy! It Snowed!!!!!

Our girls were so excited about the snow on Sunday morning! We awoke to screams of joy from Makenzie, and we HAD to get up right then and go play in it.

Makenzie catching snowflakes on her tongue...


The girls enjoying the snow...they just ran around in it as long as we would let them, and were upset when they had to go in. It was just too cold for Mommy!

Makenzie even made a snow angel!

After we came in, Makenzie begged for hot chocolate...so, since it was a special day, we gave both girls a little to help them warm up. There's just nothing better than cartoons and hot chocolate in the morning... :)