No Training Wheels!

Presley got a new bike for Christmas and since then she has begged her Daddy to teach her to ride her bike without training wheels.  Wayne finally gave in and took them off so the girls could give it a try.  It was so funny watching them!

After several attempts around the yard, me holding my breath the entire time, they finally wore themselves out and were ready to stop.  Thankfully, no one fell off and hurt themselves!  Makenzie, always the more cautious child, had a harder time remembering to keep peddling after Daddy let go and would jump off of the bike at the first sign of trouble!  Presley, on the other hand, seemed to have it under control from the start.  She actually did really well, probably because she's not afraid of anything, and she does EVERYTHING "full blown" with complete disregard for her safety! Ha!

The end result:  "Daddy, I think we might better put those training wheels back on for a little while.  This was kind of hard!"- both girls.

Until next time....



Makenzie's 6th Birthday!

Makenzie recently turned six and to celebrate, we hosted a slumber party!  We had 11 (yes 11 little girls!) of her friends and cousins over for the night.  The girls had a blast, and they were all soo good!  I have to admit with that many little girls (and being 30 weeks pregnant) that I was a little nervous that I'd taken on too much and that I wouldn't be able to manage on no sleep, but the girls were great!  We turned Avery's soon-to-be bedroom into a "dance room" complete with a disco ball per Makenzie's request, and they danced and sang karaoke for hours.  After pizza, cake, and ice cream, we piled into the living room and each girl made a slumber party pillowcase to take home with them.  They all signed each others to remember the night.  Thankfully, about 9:30 or so they were ready to settle down for a movie.  We had little girls all over the living room, but 3 movies later, all of them were sound asleep and stayed that way until 7:00 the next morning!  I was one relieved Mommy!

Here are a few pictures from that night...

Yes, they spelled her name wrong on the cake, but oh well, it was cute anyway!

Girls girls everywhere!  I was shocked that ALL of them made it through the night without any of them having to call Mommy to come get them.  We had girls ages 4-8, and I just knew the younger ones (especially the ones who'd never really stayed away from home before) would wake up in the middle of the night wanting to go home.  Luckily, I guess they wore themselves completely out and never made a peep!

Thanks to everybody who helped make Makenzie's party so much fun!  I also have to give a VERY big thank you to Makenzie's Aunt KK who came to help out.  I couldn't have made it without her!  What a combination lol...two sleepy pregnant ladies trying to entertain 11 little girls, but we did it!



My How Time Flies....

This pregnancy seems to have flown by really quickly for me.  Life has been so busy and hectic that I haven't had the time to update as often, but we're all doing great!  I'm 33 weeks along as of today, and everything seems to be right on schedule.  I did have some strong contractions and pressure a couple of weeks ago that resulted in several hours at the hospital being monitored, but thankfully, the contractions stopped, and I was able to go home.  After a sonogram to check my cervix and a hormone test to check for pre-term labor (plus monitoring my contractions), the Dr. determined that I was having some uterine irritability (apparently common in 3rd pregnancies), and that we wouldn't go into labor within the next 14 days at least.  That was a BIG relief for this Mommy!

Avery is very active which reminds me of my pregnancy with Presley (uh-oh), and I am in that stage of pregnancy where I am just plain miserable.  I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl!  It's been sooo long since we've had a baby in our house that some days I have a bit of anxiety (especially since we have yet to get the baby things out of the attic), but I am excited to see Makenzie and Presley as big sisters.  Makenzie was so young when Presley was born that she doesn't really remember Presley as a baby so technically this will be the first time she'll be able to remember experiencing life with a newborn lol.  They are counting down the weeks until they meet their little sister.  They have prayed for this baby since before she was even conceived, and they love her so much already! 

Thanks to my awesome sister-in-law, we were able to have a 3D sonogram done in Jackson at 27 weeks, and since I haven't been able to share the pictures, I thought I'd do so!  The sonogram was amazing!  We even have a good 10 minutes of video in which we get to see Miss Avery suck her thumb and yawn.  We even got to see the hair on her head! Yes, I'm sure if she's anything like her sisters, she'll have a head full of jet black hair when she's born! 

Here's one of her sucking her thumb...



She's definitely a little girl! She was sunny side up, with her head down, and the minute they put the little wand thing on my stomach, I was like, yep, no doubt...she's a girl! LOL

Look at her foot!  HUGE!

Tiny little toes...Can you see how she's laying?  Her feet are over her head!  They tried to get her to cooperate for a 4D, but she kept her hands and feet over her face the entire time. :(

We are sooo in love already! Can't wait for Miss Avery Kathryn to make her grand entrance.  Love my little girls!

Christmas 2011

I have to just say our family is extremely blessed.  We had an amazing Christmas with our large extended families, and what could be better than celebrating the birth of Christ with those we love?  I am so thankful to have each and every one of you in my life.  Here are just a few highlights of our Christmas with family.

Christmas at Papaw and Yaya's...

 

Oglesby Christmas...

We always let the girls open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve.  I LOVED seeing my girls act so sweet toward each other!

Christmas morning...

VERY excited about her new Ipod.

Yay! New Toms! 

Morgan Christmas...

My Dad with his Grandbabies...

Makenzie, Britlee, and Presley

Such a wonderful Christmas! I was shocked at how easy it was to get up and open gifts and still manage to make it to church on time Christmas morning.  We weren't rushed, and it made for a beautiful day.  We enjoyed lunch with my parents and Christmas with the Morgan's that night.  We wrapped up our family Christmas time on New Year's Eve with the Fulgham's.  The girls were sad to have to go back to school today, but overall, it was a GREAT two weeks of family time.  Hard to believe next year we'll have a 9 month old to add to the mix....can't wait!



Christmas Cookies Galore!

Baking Christmas cookies is a tradition at our house, and this year we baked TONS.  We started off by cutting out and baking cookies to take to the Templeton's for some decorating fun.

Brennan and Presley worked hard on those cookies....

Addison and Makenzie

And...the whole gang. They had so much fun decorating together and then playing for a bit afterward.

We then had the Ballard bunch over for our annual Cookies for Santa decorating party. 

Goodness...I think our families grow each year lol...We have too many more kids and we'll have to find a bigger table!