Thanksgiving Feast

Lyla & Haddie had their Thanksgiving Feast and they were both adorable. 

Haddie didn't sing much but she knew those hand motions!

Our cute little Indian girls.

Lyla and her cute little friend, Julia.

I am so thankful for their school and the wonderful teachers who truly love our girls!

Happy 4th Birthday Lyla!

I'm having so much trouble with my blog lately.  I'm not sure why this has moved to today.  Lyla was 4 back in May!  UGH!!!  I don't want to delete though....


Today our Lyla Grace is 4 years old!!! She is so excited to be celebrating her birthday, but she is also sad she is no longer 3. She has been telling us for months now that she doesn't want to turn 4. Crazy, right? Well, her reason is because when she is 4 she will no longer fit in her princess dresses! Priorities people!!! Her daddy has assured her though that he will buy her new dresses when she grows out of these.
She certainly keeps us all in line, entertains us with her many outfits, every single dramatic thing that comes out if her mouth.
Lyla at a couple of days old

First birthday

Second birthday

Third birthday

And today, on her 4th birthday...

Happy birthday to our sweet princess. You are the sassiest, most loving girl we know! Thank you for being you! We love you!!!

Our sweet girls

I love these two so much!  I love the way Lyla wanted to pose perfectly for each picture, while Haddie would run in & out of the shot.  Beth did great catching her a couple of times.  

Look how excited she was to smile for the camera!

One of the tricks to get Haddie from running - a kiss with her sister

Nope, you are not getting a smile out of me!

Precious!

Ok, maybe a tiny little smile...

These two are amazing!  So blessed!

Gingerbread House

 One of our kids' favorite Christmas traditions is decorating our gingerbread house.

This year I never did buy any candy, so we got creative and used things in our pantry... marshmallows, cheerios, Trix, Apple Jacks, M&Ms, small vanilla wafers, pretzels, & goldfish.

It worked and turned out quite cute :)

Christmas Dance Show Off

Lyla's little dance class had a Christmas Show-off.  She loves dance, but gets a little shy when we watch.

 Her teachers are amazing and all of the little girls are precious.  I love watching them learn to dance each week.

 Our tiny dancer

Our visit with Santa

Today we took the girls to see Santa.  Lyla was so excited to tell him what she wanted.  The only thing she is asking for is Fantastic Dora Gymnastics.  She loved talking with him and was excited about the candy cane he gave her.

Haddie, on the other hand, wanted NOTHING to do with Santa!  She just wanted OUT of his lap!  Poor baby!  I know it sounds so mean, but I LOVE this picture.  This may be my last one of a baby crying with Santa.

Here is sweet Haddie Jane BEFORE we tortured her.  Precious, happy girl!

Happy Halloween

We had an excellent Halloween!  Check out our little trick or treaters.

Lyla had a costume parade at her school & found another princess friend.  We had to get a picture with Snow White!

I LOVED this little boys costume!  Do you watch Duck Dynasty?  He was adorable!!!

I love nerds!  Especially this one!  Caleb was the cutest little nerd!

Gavin thought his costume was hilarious and loved having everyone try to figure it out.   Do you know what he is?

A Ceiling Fan, of course!

Sweet Haddie was a little peacock.  It truly feels like I am constantly chasing a little peacock with this girl on the move.  She never stops!

And Lyla was one of the newest princesses, Merida from the movie Brave.  She looked adorable with her red hair.

On Halloween night we had fun with friends trick or treating.  Lyla and her friend Anslee were too cute holding hands on the hayride and while walking up to each door.

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Lyla's 1st dance class

Way back in May Lyla & I attended a dance recital for our little friend Paisley.  Lyla loved watching the dancers so much that she cried when we left because she wanted to immediately go to dance class.  We have been talking about dance since then.  Lyla loves to dance!  It doesn't matter where she is.  When she hears music she MUST dance.  She loves for us to play her Princess CD and she will dance to the ENTIRE album!

Last week we FINALLY went shopping for dance clothes along with her ballet & tap shoes.  I literally had to hide everything.  She wanted to live in her outfits.  Wednesday Lyla started her class.  It was adorable!  She loved it and just smiled the entire time.  I love that she loves it!

 Lyla's teacher gave all of the girls these color pages after class.  She came home and colored it first thing.  So proud!

Back to School for Lyla

Lyla went back to school on Tuesday.  This was her 2nd year at her little pre-school and she was ready!  Check out how sassy and confident she looks.  She is into posing for the camera right now :-)

 She had a great first day.  Her teacher told me she is very smart.  She said she always knew the answer when she asked.  I'm just thankful she is talking.  It took her a whole semester to speak last year.  She has certainly grown up and is showing everyone what we see ALL THE TIME!  

Love you Lyla Grace!

Our Beach Trip

We just returned from a fabulous trip to Gulf Shores, AL. It was so nice to be lazy with the family! We pretty much just played on the beach, swam in the pools, and watched movies. We did get out occasionally to do a little shopping and eating.

Lyla LOVED the sand and water! She enjoyed building sandcastles and jumping over the waves. Towards the end of the trip she was ready to go back to our house so that she could put on a princess dress. We have now been home 3 days and she has worn nothing but princess dresses.

Caleb enjoyed swimming in the ocean, but anytime he had the opportunity to go to the pool he would. He probably enjoyed lying around the beach house watching movies and eating popcorn just as much as he liked being at the beach.

Gavin could have stayed on the beach all day. He loved getting out as far as we would let him go in the ocean. He scared me several times. He also loved building sandcastles and digging holes.

Haddie did really well for her first trip to the beach. She did not enjoy her sunglasses or sunhat so being outside was a challenge with her. Scott & I took turns taking her in for naps. Boy, did she sleep well there! We usually had to wake her up. She started standing on her own this week. She will be walking soon!

We made some wonderful memories and had a great time just being together!

Azalea Trails

Lyla & I went with Christie & Paisley to the Azalea Trails this year. It's really sad that this is my very first time and we have lived here for almost 14 years! Hopefully this will become a yearly tradition.




There are these high school girls, called Azalea Belles that stand in the beautiful yards in these fun vintage dresses. Lyla loved seeing them and would call them the "purple princess" or the "blue princess." She realized they all had parasols and fans and thought she must hold something in each photo.

She loved watering the pretty flowers.



Posing for pictures is not what she wanted to do. It's a good thing she is cute even when she doesn't smile. She prefers her sunglasses upside down. New trend maybe? :)



"Momma, look at this pretty leaf!"



Christie's dad let us take one of his cars. We all loved riding with the top down. So fun and such a gorgeous day for it!