"Mommy, it will snow on Christmas, Santa will make it!!!!"

Yep, that is what Madison keeps telling me. Its so cute but I feel so bad because in the South we dont get snow. Right?? Well, that is what we have been telling Madison. Some places it snows and some it doesnt! I never thought it would snow here. BOY WAS I WRONG! And much to my surprise it snowed here on Thursday morning (December 11th). Daddy called us around 5 in the morning to let us know that it was snowing outside. But of course I didnt believe him and didnt want to get up! But of course he sounded like a kid on Christmas and MADE me get out of bed to go look! I think he was thinking that there was some snow but most wasnt sticking to the ground. WOW! There was a TON! I was so excited! It was of course still dark outside but I didnt care! It was gorgeous! So of course I had to wake the girls up since it was supposed to stop here around 8 or so. Well, when I woke Madison up she was BEYOND thrilled. And all she kept saying was "see mommy it does snow here" GREAT! But Rylee was a little more resistant. She doesnt like to be woken up for anything. HA! Remind you of someone else! OOPSS! But finally they were both up so I start getting them dressed. Then I realized we have no clothes that will be good in the snow. So I layered them in case they got soaked! Which of course they did! When we first went outside Madison went crazy! She was so so excited! She just lit up! Rylee on the other hand well she thought the snow was great until she actually touched it and it was cold! So of course she liked the idea of snow just not the actual snow! But she did play in it a couple times but then worked her way back to me! Madison had so much fun! She kept throwing snowballs at me and Rylee. And they were big! She saw all the snow on daddys truck and was so excited! But the snow was so much harder on the other side of our apartment building. But she was very content with playing in the snow by daddys truck. We did walk over there though and there was sooo many kids playing! They built a snowman almost as tall as me! And I am 5'10"! So the girls wanted to build their own snowman! So Madison ran back to her spot and started to roll the snow together. And she did it! She made her own little snowman!! It was precious! Of course later she used it as a weapon and was throwing it at me and Rylee. But all in all the girls had a blast in their first ever snow!

Just some pictures!

Here is a couple pictures of what has been going on with us!

Grady and Owen pushing Rylee!

Madison and Rylee on the Carousel

Again!

Rylee having so much fun!

Madison singing!

The girls on the Firetruck!!!

Christmas time!!

Its here!! Christmas time! And all the busy stores and crazy people on the road. I love this time of the year but WOW they have manaiacs this time of the year. I always wondered why my mom never wanted to shop after Black Friday until after New Years. Now I know why. I do the whole Black Friday thing of course because I try to get all my shopping done that day! Yea well that wasnt the case this year. We did get a lot of stuff but we didnt get everything. For some reason this year we have lots more people to buy for. It seems like our list doubled! Not sure how. The only people that I cna think of that is new is Richie's two kids, Lance and Hannah Grace. Richie is my sisters boyfriend. But they were actually not hard to buy for. Although shopping for boy toys is TOTALLY new for me. To be honest in all the times I have been to Toys R Us I dont think I have EVER stepped foot down the boy aisles. Or at Walmart or Target for that matter. Crazy! But our family has been girls for so long. HA! My poor dad has no hope of boys. Granted I do have cousins that are boys but I guess it just isnt the same. My dad has a sister and she has 3 girls. My dad has 2 daughters (me and my sis) I have 2 daughters and Leigh has one daughter. Poor man!! No wonder he was always working! HA! But anyways, I am trying to figure out how it grew so much! But I guess it doesnt matter. Its Christmas time!!! My favorite time of the year!
We are pretty sad though because Colin wont be able to be home (most likely) this year for Chrismtas. I figured that if I say he wont be here and then ends up being home it will be a wonderful treat. But not to get our hopes up of course! But I sure do wish he would be here. We will discuss what we will do a little closer to Christmas.
This year we had our tree up early of course! Once daddy got home from his last job before Thanksgiving we decided to put the tree up. I am very attached to our tree this year. It was my tree when I was growing up. I love love that tree. Its about 7 feet tall and about a million feet around :) Never did I realize how big it really was until we put it up in our small apartment! But I still love it. But of course my mom wants it back after Christmas! HA! My crazy momma! But she is trading me a 7 1/2 ft tree that already has lights! WAHOO! And it isnt as wide! Which is good! But anyways! Our tree is lovely and huge this year! The girls wanted colored lights (much to my dislike) but it actually looks great! And they love it!
So I guess here comes Christmas everyone!! Hope yall enjoy it!
I just hope Madison isnt too disappointed when she finds out it most likely wont snow for Christmas. These darn movies spreading false hope on these kids!

Sorry I was rambling!! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Potty Training!

It has been about 4 days now and Rylee is doing GREAT! Better than I expected. I of course did the cold turkey approach! I have lots of size 4 diapers if anyone needs some!!!! But I am so proud of Rylee. I figured it would take forever to teach her because she is so young and so stubborn! I think she gets it from her momma!!!! But she loves being a big girl. We did get a liner for her bed in case she has any accidents in it :) But only one so far! And boy that liner works! HA! And she hated having her bed wet! She never wakes up for anything and it woke her up! HA! . So I really dont think she will be doing that again.

Here is my approach if anyone is curious! I know lots of our friends are about to tackle this also so I wanted to share how we do it!!
As most of you know that read this, I dont do diapers even at night time (not even pullups) because it ruins it in my eyes. They get the confidence of wearing big girl/boy panties but at night they get back in the diaper or pullups. I know it works for some but for mine it doesnt! I would rather clean the mess then potty training take months! So I think just taking away diapers all together and doing panties always it is so much easier. Yes, there will be a mess but kids soon learn that they dont like it and it teaches them not to do it! Well, at least it has worked for my family :) In my experience it has only taken no longer than a week for my kids to be fully potty trained. At night and all. Of course we are on day 4 with Rylee and she only wet her bed on night 2. So I am pretty sure we might be passed that. But it is also important to do it at the right time. If you do it too early it will take longer of course. The only reason I started with Rylee now when she just turned 2 was because she loved going on the potty!! And she hated to be wet or dirty! HA! I think watching her older sister helped out a lot! Oh and another key thing is I asked them EVERY 10-15 min so they get the hang of it. On day 1 I make them sit on the potty every 10-15 min. Then on day 2 I still ask every 10-15 min but I only make them sit every other time I ask! Then hopefully they get the hang of it. We also did a Potty Poster. Everytime the girls went potty they got to put a sticker on their poster and got to color on it with glitter glue! They liked that they got to put the sticker on it where ever they wanted. I of course would date it and put the time on it! Madison enjoyed it a lot more than Rylee does though. For Rylee she wants a sucker everytime! HA! Which is fine with me. If that is what helps her then I say go for it~ HA! I hope everyone has fun tackling the potty training!! Good luck!

At the Park with Daddy

While daddy was home during the 2 weeks we took the girls to the park. They love the park of course since we go like twice a week. But its always extra fun with Daddy!! They were all so cute together! They ran and chased each other and Daddy even threw them in the air which they love. And since I dont do that they enjoyed it even more! Here are some cute pictures of them :)

Rylee a big girl?? WHAT!

Its official! I am tired of diapers! HA! I have been going back and forth on potty-training Rylee. I would want to start and then I would back off. Well not this time. I am DOING IT! We started last night and she is doing great! Usually I dont go anywheres for like 3 days when I start potty training. But the girls really wanted to go to Story Time at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore so we head out. Rylee did GREAT! I was so super proud! She is loving the attention. I just feel bad because Madison doesnt understand why her sister is getting all the attention when she goes potty and not her! But she is doing great helping her sister! So soon enough my baby girl will be potty trained! I am so proud! I will update soon!