American Girl Weekend

We planned a pretty extravagant, fun birthday for CGH this year...and plan to bless each of the girls with a special 6th birthday trip. We didn't throw a "friend" birthday party but decided on a getaway weekend party instead. 

Caroline and I had a very special one-on-one mommy/daughter weekend in Atlanta. We started our road trip with coffee/hot chocolate and dollar store sunglasses. We enjoyed the drive to Atlanta were we visited the American Girl doll store and she picked out her first real AG. It was so fun to watch her narrow down the process of choosing her doll. Finally, she chose and we both fell in love with the new addition:) My sister came to the store, had lunch at the AG bistro with us,  and joined us for a little Christmas shopping. I made reservations at a hotel for an American Girl package stay for CGH and I to enjoy that night. It was pretty awesome- from the royal treatment at check-in, to the all pink decor in the room, they provided a little girls dream weekend. They had a babydoll bed and pink bathrobe waiting for Caroline's new AG doll, brought us cookies and milk at bedtime (tiny cookies for the doll included!) and then delivered breakfast in bed the next morning. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then went swimming in the indoor pool. We ended the evening playing nail salon and doing each others nails. We woke up and lingered around until about 10- then went by Barnes and Noble and then hit the road back to Grammie and Grandpas house to see do the sisters and cousins:)

I'm not going to lie- this weekend was as much or MORE fun for me as it was for Caroline. It was so nice to devote all of my time, energy, and affection on sweet Caroline. The best part to me was the simple conversations that we got to have about life, the precious little hand holding that she still loves, and the fun pretend play that still comes so easily and innocently at her age. She is such a blessing- and I continue to be amazed at the mature, kind-hearted, FUN, responsible girl that Caroline is growing into. 

Meet Michelle Scarlett Hobbs:) Michelle and Jill are sisters....

The best of days; The worst of days

SOOOOO happy our best friends came to see us in Huntsville. It made us all feel so "complete" having our favorite friends in our new "normal". Sadly our few short hours were cut short due to a stomach bug hitting one of Melissa's boys. They drove back to Gadsden earlier than expected. Hannah threw a pitifully sad fit yelling "I want them to stay forever!!" as they drove away. Her fit was a perfect reflection of how I was feeling on the inside:( it was amazing just to see their sweet faces for a short period of time...and we look forward to the next visit...sometime soon:) 

Typical van full of crazies...

Caroline turns SIX

I know. Crazy. My girl is holding up more fingers than just one hand when she shows her age. She's so grown up- and so much fun!! I totally want to write about her- but I'm not going to finger type it via my iPhone keyboard- so until our computer is back in running order- pictures is all I can do!

We woke up on Wednesday and had our family celebration before school that morning. World record for celebrating fast but still getting to the carpool line at school on time;) 

Caroline got her first big girl Bible! She is reading so well that we thought she was ready to move on to more than just the storybook Bibles- and start getting into Gods word for herself. More on this precious moment later:) 

Birthday pancakes...then out the door!:)

Hannah and I ran home for a few hours, then went back up to Caroline's class for cake pops and chick fil a lunch. Brad was even able to make it. Both sisters joined in the fun. 

We spent the afternoon playing with her new gifts and then met up with some friends at church for pizza before their childrens choir. Lots of fun, lots of excitement, and a lot of love was shown for Caroline. 

The next day I took the three monkeys to the doctor for flu mists and Caroline's 6 year check up. Everything went perfectly- evidently we have a very tall 6 year old;) 

That evening I surprised the girls and took them to Disney on Ice. It was a blast. From $15 snow cones to sticky cotton candy- we enjoyed the night in style!

I love my girls. Nothing better than being able to dress up, spend an evening watching princesses ice skate, and giggling together. I feel like I'm living in a dream world because none of this has been possible for us on the past because we have always had a little one who couldn't make it until 9pm, or some other hold back...but the fun has begun and it is fantastic having all three girls able to join in the fun and enjoy it side by side:)

November is flying by!

So much fun packed into so little time- if I could stretch the months of November and December out longer I would. 

Ben, Sarah and little Ryne came to visit us for the first time since we've moved. It was a fun weekend- and we are so thankful we can do it so much more easily now that we are closer to them:) we stayed busy that weekend...but here are a couple pictures.

I took the girls to a big tree lighting at Bridgestreet. We enjoyed live music, an enormous tree lighting, carolers, fireworks, carousel rides, a pedicab ride, hot chocolate and cookies. It was a full, fun night- but it was miserably cold!! Like, below freezing with crazy wind cold. So the girls were bundled head to toe- and we still froze! 

Brad and I had the privedge of attending a Young Life banquet at a gorgeous place called Burrit on the Mountain- again- very fun, beautiful view, but SO cold we could barely stand it!! We had fun with some new friends and really enjoyed hearing about the happenings of YL here.

And what good party doesn't have a silly photo booth set up....

All that fun was packed into one week...but doesn't even compare with the next week to come- because next week is Caroline's birthday week!!! 

Trick or Treating 2014

Happy Halloween from our Egyptian princesses and Foofa (from the tv show Yo Gabba Gabba)! It turned out to be freezing cold and rainy- but we went over to some friends house for pizza and a few minutes of trick or treating:) 

I took emily and Hannah for free spooky face pancakes at IHOP to start the day off right;)