Happy New Year! Bring on 2012!!
I am going to publicize my near year's resolutions. I tend to be a person of my word, so if I tell you what my resolutions are, I'm more likely to keep them.
1. Get affairs in order. We have two precious children, and in our absense they will need care and financial support. We will have a plan, trust, and will by the end of 2012.
2. Date nights. Dan and I need a Saturday night date now and then. We love spending the weekends with our girls but our marriage would benefit from dinner and a movie every now and then.
3. Healthier eating. I said healthiER not healthy. I am not promising to eat organic and not have junk. I am resolving to replace a bad choice with a better choice when it's possible. Dan's dad having a heart attack was a real reminder we'd better all take care of ourselves.
I hope everyone has a blessed and happy year!

If Erin was checking this blog already, she'd be giving me far too much credit. But just in case, here it is: ;-)

HO HO HO!!! Christmas party gone personal this year. I decided not to have a big to-do. I'm spread a little more thin this year, and here lately it seems so is everyone else. So I invited three of Daniley's friends for a Christmas spend-the-night. Sarah Katherine was first on the scene.
After a snack and some laughs, the girls were in party mode!
Shortly after, Anna, Bray, and Ryan arrived. Anna LOVES playing with Little Darlin'. We watched The Polar Express to get ready for our ride on it tomorrow!! Both Daniley and Sarah Katherine have tickets, but not together. After the movie, the girls found Santa outside peeking at them behind a tree. He gave them a very personal visit. When Sarah Katherine saw him, she had a small, very miniature meltdown. No one said anything about her seeing Santa, but she just got a tad bit upset. Now Erin had ASSURED me SK would be primed for Santa this year. LOL. Well....by the time Santa made it inside, Sarah Katherine was his best friend!!
Daniley is always first in Santa's lap and I guess when you are the party host, that's your reward!
Here are Anna, Ryan, and Bray with Santa!
Little Darlin' liked Santa too! She asked for her Big Sister to always be nice to her. I'm not sure if Santa can really pull that out of his bag. Santa, please, Show me what you've got!! Here is everyone telling Santa goodbye. I love the expressions on everyone's faces.
Now I have two tired little girls all ready for bed! It's 10:45pm, and they're still in there giggling! :-) Goodnight everyone!! :-)

Brooke, (sis-in-law, mom to my new niece, bride to my brother) and I had a girls day out Saturday and decided to write posts about it without looking at the others' first, just to see how our perspectives differed. So here's my story: (You can view Brookie's by clicking her link on my sidebar, when it's updated.)

Saturday--we decided to get the girls together and do some shopping. My mom warned me we were crazy. I packed one of everything, so hopefully no matter what went "wrong" that day, I'd have a solution in the bag. (Everyone does know that with 3 kids the day isn't going to be like a walk in the park, right?) After some amount of chaos, and a trip back for what we forgot, only later to think of more stuff we forgot, we were on our way. Stop #1: Chick-fil-A. It was a mad house; we had to park at NTB and walk to CFA (with 3 kids and 80 lb. of luggage). Daniley ran into the play area (which was great for me) so Little Darlin and I got the food and sat down. I went to retrieve Daniley and I saw her before I got there. "OH MY GOSH!" I exclaimed! I heard some other parents say "Yeh we were wondering who she belonged to." Her pants were sopping wet. I was praying someone spilled a drink, but oh no. Daniley has never flat out peed in her pants, and she's been potty trained since well before she turned 2. I really couldn't understand what I was seeing but it was what it was so all I could do was deal with the mess. I just really wanted to get out of there without being seen and run away as quickly as possible. So I got the spare set of clothes and went to the bathroom (no spare panties, Commando). I was telling Daniley how upset I was with her and asking her why she did that (we had peed just half an hour prior). I said "Where did you pee pee at?" Reply: "In the car seat. In that hole." OMG. Well THAT situation just went from bad to worse. .... We sat down to eat finally and Daniley kept trying to drink my tea. I politely moved it to my other side and helped Daniley eat. I looked back over suddenly to find Little Darlin had swiped it off the table...it was upside down in her lap. At that point I just started giggling because Brooke is there and I'm supposed to look "experienced." LOL. Yeh she was getting the "experience" alright. So the lid was on and the spill wasn't too bad. I wiped her up, asked CFA for a couple plastic bags (because we were NOT going home!) and Daniley was just gonna have to sit on the pee in the car seat. So we get out to the car....and I'm ready.....but the car seat is dry. So I started perusing the carpet for pee. NONE. Everything was dry. I was perplexed. So again, I questioned Daniley. "Daniley, I thought you said you peed in your car seat. This car seat is dry. Tell me where you peed." Reply: "Mom, I peed in that car in Chick-fil-A, in the square hole." Well...it hit me like a ton of bricks. There's a car up in the play area. And by the way, she AIMED for that hole. That wasn't an accident. It was all coming together. I am so sorry world. Only a few times have I been more embarrassed. After we found out what really happened me and Brooke just died in laughter (even though it's not "funny"), and once again, we were on our way. It was off to get gas, then Hobby Lobby. Then JoAnn's. Then Costco. The rest of the day was pretty alright. (Really fun, actually.) It just takes a long time and a lot of effort to run around with a lot of kids. I wouldn't trade a minute of it.
After we got home I was holding Bentley and feeding her and Little Darlin' decided she would help: And then she started drooling: And then she decided she'd try to get her a bite.
Can't wait til our next outing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To all who came to the pottery party, thank you so much. I had a lot of fun and hope you did as well. Pottery is guaranteed by Dec. 18, but I hope it will be a few days sooner. To those of you who had to wait a little while, I thank you all for your patience. Hopefully you will find your little angel's prints worth your wait. :-)

Bama vs. LSU. Cold fall night. Wiener roast. Time with family (4 grandparents, 3 neices and nehpews, 2 brothers and sisters, 1 guest.....and a partridge in a pear tree.) What more could you dream for?
We ate around 30 hot dogs. (like one for every field goal we missed, haha!!) This was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it more often. Check out my dad gettin' riled up during the game. That's just exactly why I love watching football with him. :-)

The other morning before work I took Daniley over to Sarah Katherine's for a play date. She had had some minor surgery so we thought she might be happy to see a friendly face, especially since she'd been booted from daycare (only by the Dr, of course!). And yes, we are in our morning robes. Don't worry about it.


I just sent Erin these pictures, and she was quick to remind be about "yesterday."

Now matter how big they get, they'll always be my baby girls!!

Last night was Parent's Night at the dance studio. We missed week before last due to sickness, and last week due to vacation, so I was caught off guard by the whole thing (meaning I didn't even have a camera or even my phone). Someone was nice enough to capture this on their phone and email it to me. The girls and music were so sweet. I just started crying. I hope no one noticed. I love my little Sugar Booger so much and sometimes I just get all choked up. She is so precious!!

I'm TOTALLY not in the mood to be blogging. But it's been a while, and I have family and friends that need this blog to keep up, so here I'm fulfilling my duty.
HALLOWEEN!!
Yes it's been almost 2 weeks since then but I've been running nonstop since. We had parties from Thursday until Monday. Thursday was our party at dance class. I guess the pictures are still on a camera card but there wasn't much to see anyhow.
Friday we went to Hoover's Veteran's Park for Trick-or-Treat and a hayride. Their hayride was pretty impressive. They had the woods decorated and people in the woods to scare you. We happened to be on the very back of the hayride (both trips) so Daniley was the target. Serious blog readers probably know by now the kid isn't afraid of much. I was concerned we might have our first scare-down, because they were pretty scary. But she tried to scare them back...and on we went.



Saturday...in the morning, Alabaster's Buck Creek Trail. They had trick-or-treating and a little craft show. We tried it out for the first time and it wasn't our favorite thing we did. Probably won't do it next year.

Next up...our favorite event of the weekend...The Payne Party. This was a first but was so awesome I have a feeling it won't be the last. What was so great? What wasn't? Campfires. Kids. Haunted House. Play room. Outside. Costumes. Snacks. Need I keep going? The invitation read, "Wear your costumes." So we did. Dan and I always dress up with our children. We try to do a unit costume where we all tie in to one theme. I requested no one reveal pictures of me on the internet because I typically will not disclose my costume until I arrive in it. Daniley was a bee. Little Darlin' was a flower. Dan and I were bee keepers. I was wondering how we (Dan and I) would fit in and then one day it just hit me like a ton of bricks (as things usually hit me.) :-) The most memorable part of this party was the haunted house. They had an empty garage out back that they converted. When we arrived I heard chainsaws. I suppose I considered that this could freak Daniley out, but quite honestly I needed to see what it would TAKE to get Daniley scared. I have never seen her scared. Well, as you guessed it, this did it. It wasn't the chainsaw the freaked her out though. When we first walked in, the first thing I saw was a monster with a 12" knife down his leg. She's aware that knives stab people because there is a scene in Snow White.... Then there were some scary clowns and other creatures. They took it easy on the little ones...they didn't jump out and such but I know she was freaked. I was a little worried that this could lead to big problems, but thankfully, it did not (no nightmares, crying later, etc). However, I did try to get her to go back through the Haunted House once more, just to see if she had any common sense, and I'm happy to report she does. She would NOT go. I could not DRAG her in. So at last, I found her limit. :-) We all had a GREAT time at the party and can't wait for next year. We won't miss it!!


Sunday. First Baptist Church of Pelham (Sarah Katherine's church). (My church did an event too but it wasn't convenient for us to make it.) We did not wear our costumes because I knew there would be slides and such and it wasn't worth the battle. We had a great time. They put on a really nice event. Thank you guys so much for inviting us.

Monday. HALLOWEEN. It's one of my favorite "holidays". I took the day off to just hang out with the girls. We trick-or-treated at Dan's office, had a nap, and prepared for a long, exciting night. First we started at LeLe's who has an awesome-isn't-enough-word party. Since Honey and G-Paw moved in next door, however, I was anxious to spend some time at their place too. So I decided we would split the night. We met at mom's and Daniley and SK played at the party and then went trick-or-treating. Before I blinked twice, it was time to go. I have to admit, it was hard leaving, even though I was very excited about Honey and G-Paw's. We have always trick-or-treated at their house, that wasn't new, but this time we would be there during prime time. :-) Their neighborhood was awesome!! Next year I'm going to plan better and hopefully have the girls a hayride! Honey and GPaw seemed thrilled with the HUNDRED OR SO :-) trick-or-treaters.
I can't wait for next year. Here's my favorite picture from all the events. Love this picture.
The only problem on Halloween--fitting it all in! Happy Halloween everyone!

Has your two year old ever just REALLY embarassed you? Not like Haha funny, like Haha NOT FUNNY. Something that happened back several months ago that I forgot to make a record of....
We had been at Alabama Adventure all day long. After that was open house at the dance studio. We've never taken dance so all this is new to us. Daniley was tired. We had played hard all day and there was no nap. However, she was behaving rather well. So about 6pm we got at the dance studio, and I didn't realize we would be buying her dance outfit that night. At this particular point in her life, she HATED anything tight, be it panties, shirts, pants, socks, anything. So.....we are in the dance studio and pretty much it's about 5 adults working there, and us. We start to try on a leotard and Daniley starts having a breakdown because the leotard is tight. Then suddenly she exclaims, loudly and madly, "THIS DAMN THING IS TOO TIGHT!!!!!" I heard her, loud and CLEAR. But I was so shocked, I said, "WHAT did you just say?" (Not that I really wanted her to repeat it.) The next two seconds seemed like an eternity, as I was too embarassed to look at ANYONE. As a parent, what are you to do at that point? Look up and say "She didn't learn that from me!" or "Oh please excuse my little angel." Or then again do you just yank them up and whip that butt? Wow, that one really caught me off guard...something I had not anticipated. Quite frankly, I didn't even know that she KNEW that word, better yet how to correctly use it. Honestly, I know everyone in there was looking at me like for sure this was every day language. I wanted to crawl under the bench, or at LEAST get out of there absolutely as quicly as possible.

About the next week, we were on our way back to Alabama Adventure and Erin and Sarah Katherine were meeting us there. Brooke rode with us too. We were talking about seeing Sarah Katherine and Daniley suddently exclaims, "If Zarah Kaffrin says 'damn it' one time her Momma's gonna spank her butt!!" Well that wasn't much of a learning experience at all because all I could do was bend over the steering wheel in silent laughter. LOL.

Daniley now knows that this is a bad word. If you say damn or dang, dern, dadgum, or anything like it you will immediately be reprimanded! Glad we got that cleared up and behind us!!

Daniley is really starting to like Little Darlin. She has been touching her, talking to her, letting her smell her feet, all kinds of stuff. Sunday after the pumpkin patch, she asked to feed her. It was messy like crazy but if you thought I would have complained about her trying to help out you are dead wrong, even if the clean-up was longer than me just feeding her myself. Little Darlin LOVES Daniley; she watches and laughs at her all the day long!
(Excuse the hair-do...it was left from pumpkin patch! We always have fun hair at the pumpkin patch!) :-)

Happy Halloween!!!!!! I am so excited about the festivities this year. Our party starts tonight at 5:00 and doesn't end til Monday night at bedtime. One thing in particular I am excited about is Honey and GPaw being next door. We have always trick-or-treated at their house in PG but now that they are so close it really opens the door for us to do more at their locale! Seeing all my family on Halloween has always been a priority but now we'll have more time playing and less time driving! My mom is the Queen of Halloween and festivities at her house are a-rockin' too!! Looking forward to EVERYTHING HALLOWEEN!!

Several of the homes in Honey and GPaw's neighborhood are decorated and last night we took Daniley out for a Goblin Hunt. We walked up the streets and at the decorated houses she would go up and take a close look around the bushes to look for goblins and check everything out. I made her go up by herself each time because I certainly DIDN'T want any homeowners to come out and see US Goblins....It was a lot of fun and we might have to make a "Goblin Hunt" an annual event!
Not to get my cart in front of my horses but I'm SO EXCITED about Christmas too! I have a lot of my shopping done already and I cannot WAIT to decorate the tree and wrap the gifts and spend time with my sweet little Angel Babies!

This past weekend was wonderful. I had such a nice time hanging out with the family! First, Friday, we ran around a little bit and then met Honey for breakfast. Daniley played in the Chick-fil-A play area and we let Danslen slide down with her once. I was at the top with Little Darlin' and Honey was at the bottom. I was telling Daniley to hold her like this and like that, and I figured Honey was thinking "Surely she isn't really about to let go of her." LOL. Suddenly Daniley and Danslen appeared at the bottom of the slide...upside down. LOL. They flipped over around the curve, and it didn't bother Danslen until Daniley used her as a crutch to get up. Haha. I was even going to let Daniley try it again but she didn't want to, so I took Little Darlin down a time or two myself. We were so busy playing, that I COMPLETELY forgot Little Darlin' had a well baby checkup at 9:30 am. Oh don't worry, I didn't remember til 6pm so it was no use stressing over it then! :-)
Saturday we went to yard sales, just me and the girls, while Dan worked a while. We had such a good time together. Nothing is like being with them by myself. We just all laugh a lot, especially me! Saturday night, Daniley got an invitation to spend the night with James and Eli at Honey and G-Paws house. Now to me, this was a big deal, because Daniley has never spent the night with any other kids except for at our house. I was hoping to get a good report, which mostly I did. She and James play really well together, not perfect, but really well. While she was there, we took in the game at Danson's with the rest of the gang. Fun fun fun fun fun, as always!
Sunday morning I called over to Honey and G-Paw's and delivered Daniley the special news: "We're going to the pumpkin patch today." I heard, "The pumpkin patch? Oh my gosh!!" LOL. She was excited to say the LEAST. We met up with Rachel, Art, and Everett. We petted the goats, chickens, and pigs, and rode a horse.

Then we went down to the patch where Daniley and her Dad found the perfect pumpkinwhile me and Little Darlin' snacked on the vines.
Man, this stuff is DELICIOUS.
Well, then again, maybe it isn't so good.Then we sat down for a family photo, and Little Darlin' got her a wad of hair (one of her favorites) and Daniley yells and then gives it back to her for another wad. LOL.
And here are a few more irresistable pictuers of the Little Darlin'!!