We have a mover!

Olivia finally rolled over today! She has been so close for a while now. She would get all the way on her side and just teeter, but today she figured it out. Now, as soon as I put her on her belly, she flips right over. She can roll to her belly from her back if she uses me or Abby to push off, but I don't count that. haha! She does get points for being innovative enough to use outside resources to get what she wants, though! haha!


AND.....thought you all would enjoy these 2 incidents of the day. First, this is what I get for taking a few min. to put Olivia down for her nap....
I mean, if I were 3 and had access to toilet paper, I would probably do the same thing, wouldn't you?! haha!



****And, she has been talking about slinky snakes all morning and I had no clue what she was talking about. Well, I have a bag of Twizzlers sitting out and she finally pulled one out and asked if I wanted a slinky snake. I also realized that there were quite a few 'slinky snakes' gone and I didn't eat them and I knew Abby didn't eat them, so where could they be and how long have they been gone???......She had stuffed them under her mattress. haha! I know they couldn't have been there too long because I just opened them a day or so ago...thankfully!

A Big Night Around Here!

Since Scott wasn't feeling well, Olivia and I slept in her room Saturday night. That was her first night in her crib. She did good, so I decided that I would try her in there last night, even though she isn't sleeping through the night, yet. Well, what do you know....she slept great and didn't get up to eat until 5am! That is MAJOR progress for us, so I will take it (and, to me, that is sleeping through the night-ha!) I think she has offically out grown her bassinett. So bittersweet! A part of me doesn't want her to grow up at all, and then there are days when I can't wait for her to get to the babbling/toddling age (I LOVE that age! If kids were born 12-18mo. old I would have 10-ha!) She is truly a dream baby, though, so I want her to stay that cuddly little angel as long as she can!

Christmas with Nanny and Papaw!

Again, since we don't live close to family, we usually miss out on celebrating with someone's family and since we were at my house for all of Thanksgiving, we didn't make it home for Christmas this year (and it STINKS because we didn't get to see anyone....I still almost cry thinking about it), but Mom and Dad came here to celebrate with us this weekend.

The girls waiting for Nanny and Papaw to get here Sat. morning.
Olivia with my Dad. Since Abby demands most of my Moms attention-ha!, Dad gets Olivia. They are quickly becoming best buddies! :)

More gifts....Abby was so funny, every gift she opened was met with one of the following statements:

'I have ALWAYS wanted this!'

'I wanted this ever since I was a little girl!'

'I REALLY wanted this!'

She is SO full of it! haha!...but, she was very appreciative of everything, and I am so glad, because I was really afraid that she would get a little bratty with all the opening of new things, but she even told me that we can take her old toys to the other kids. So, we are going to go through everything and take a load to Goodwill this week.

Olivia enjoying some of her new things, too!

Dad putting up Abby's new tent that Uncle and Marsha got her! haha!

Her Baby Alive...she loves this thing. She named it Olivia! So sweet!

And, I got the BEST gift EVER this year. Truly, in 28yrs. this is the best gift I have ever received. My Mom made me a quilt from all of my old t-shirts. She saved everything from elementary school thru college. It is amazing, and I love it! Thanks, Mom! You know you are the best. Now, I have 25 yrs. to learn how to sew so I can make these for my girls (and trust me, it will take every bit of 25yrs. for me to learn to sew-haha!)

This sort of sums up Christmas in this house....toys everywhere, Abby in costume and Scott and I playing RockBand-hahaha!

hahaha! This is from the Santa Mr. Potato Head! What a goof ball!

Nanny and Papaw stayed and played with the girls all day today while I went out and returned things and shopped ALONE...for like 5 hrs!!! It was so nice. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

*****And, Thanks to everyone in my family for all the gifts, too! We love them, the girls love them and we appreciate it all!

******We are truly blessed to have such amazing families and friends! We love you all, and hope that you had a wonderful Christmas, too! We missed all of you that we didn't get to see and we loved spending time with those that we did see.

Christmas with the Utley's!

After we finished up here Christmas morning, we loaded up and headed to Dixon, KY for Christmas with Scott's family.

Olivia playing with Aunt Linda and Caleb!
hahahaha! Papaw and Jeff!

Olivia loved her gifts!

Mass chaos present opening with all the kiddos!

Olivia loves Nanny! :)

ROCKBAND! We fell in love with Rockband, and Scott and I got it for ourselves the day after Christmas. Soooo...if anyone wants to join us for some Rockband, come on over! haha!

Once everyone left the in-law's, we had Christmas with them and my sister in law/brother in law! Here's Aunt Sara and Abby with their loot and passing out everyone's gifts.

If there is anyone in this world that the Snugli is made for, it's my mother in law. haha!

We stayed the night there and then decided to head home a night early to avoid driving the next day in the bad storms that were coming.....

And, it's a good thing we did because Scott got REALLY sick Fri. night after we got home. And, come to find out, 11 people that were at Christmas with the Utley's were up puking that night! UGH! The girls and I have managed to not get it, so I am hoping we are in the clear. Don't know if someone just passed a virus to everyone or if it was something that everyone ate or what, but what a nightmare. Thankfully, Scott (and everyone else, as far as I know) is feeling 100% again, but he didn't even leave the bedroom yesterday, poor guy!

******On another note, ha!, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for the girls gifts and our gifts. We truly appreciate it! Even with the sickness, we are glad that we got to spend Christmas with everyone!....next year I will be spraying everyone with Lysol upon entering Ruth and Gog's house! hahaha! (yeah, you can only imagine how a germaphobe like me is reacting to this...I think I have cloroxed and lysoled everything in this house at least 20 times and I wouldn't even let Scott breathe near the girls yesterday-haha!)

Christmas Morning!

Abby wasn't quite sure what to think when she woke up Christmas morning...she just sort of stood and stared for a min., but it didn't take her long to start digging in everything.

Yay, the pink Barbie roller skates she wanted!

She also got a big treasure chest full of dress up clothes...I think it might be

her favorite gift. Olivia got a few toys and LOTS and LOTS of books! Santa must have known that we are working on filling her book shelves, too! ;)

We had a great morning, and got lots of goodies. Scott and I both got new tennis shoes. We also got coats/vests, book, movie. I got some new resistance bands-YAY! And, other little treats: candy, chap stick, things for Scott to wash the vehicles-ha!

Christmas Eve!

This year we stayed home on Christmas Eve so that we could be here on Christmas morning. In the past, we have gone home and/or my IL's and we tried to fit in everything and seeing everyone, but now that Abby is getting older, we think it's best to be home on Christmas morning. Of course, this means we miss seeing lots of family, which is sad, but we try to make the most of it. This year we ordered take-out from our favorite little mexican resturant, we let the girls open their gifts from each other and Scott and I both opened one gift. We had a TON of fun!

Abby REALLY enjoyed Christmas this year....it was so fun to watch her. Olivia got her a Yo Gabba Gabba guitar that she has been eyeing at Target for the last few months. She was SO excited!

Abby picked out this toy for Olivia...she loved it! :)

Scott got to open his electric razor and a steering wheel cover that Abby picked out for him, to go on his truck!
I got some new pj's!

What a sweet gift!

A little concert was in order before bed!

Future Rock Star!!??

It was so sweet....I was putting Abby to bed on Christmas Eve and we were talking about the next day, and what we had planned, etc. She said, 'I already opened my gift, I thought today was Christmas!' And, she would have been totally fine with just that one gift. She can be such a sweetheart.

Dixon's Christmas, Our Big Girl and Christmas Miracles!

There is one member of this family that does not get much face time on the blog, and that's our dog, Dixon. Well, Dixon had to go to the 'hotel' this morning. Unfortunately, with the Holiday and the weekend, poor Dixon has to be boarded for 5 nights, when we will only be gone 2! :( We love both places that we take him and we know he is well cared for, but it's still a bit sad. Anyways, since he had to be there by noon today, he got his present early this morning.

Yes, Dixon, it really is for you! ha!

He got to take his new toy with him today. And, look at Abby's face. If she is this excited over giving Dixon a new rope toy, I can't even imagine what tomorrow morning will be like! ha!

****In other news, Olivia had to go to the Dr. this morning. She has had a runny nose and cough for a few days and while I was quite certain it was nothing, I wanted to get her checked out before tomorrow and the traveling, etc. Thankfully, she is perfect...her lungs are clear, etc. They weighed her today and guess what she weighs??? 12lbs. 2oz. haha! She was 10lbs. 10oz. at her 2mo. appt. so she has gained 1 1/2 lbs. in 5 weeks. You go, Olivia! She still looks so small, though. Dr. Reger says she is a little muscle and strong as an ox, just like her big sister! ha! They are small but mighty! :)

****And, a funny story: Scott has been talking about Christmas miracles all day...as in, Abby was watching a Christmas show and Scott mocks that that everything happening on the show is a Christmas miracle! ha! Well, a min. ago she was pretending to make lights to hang on the outside of our house, and said, 'if we can get these on our house it will be a Christmas miracle!' Now, what makes this so funny, is for those of you that don't know Scott, he is deathly afraid of heights, so unless someone else does it we will never have Christmas lights on our house, so yes....if we had lights outside it would truly be a Christmas miracle! hahaha!

Fun Night!

Last night was Grace's birthday party at Dr. Jazz. Since it was so cold, and Olivia is just starting to feel better, she stayed home with Scott, and Abby and I got to have some big girl time together. :)

Getting ready to leave for the party....Abby had to wear her tu-tu over her clothes....all night long! ha! She looked so cute!

Scott says that Abby and I 'have the same bratty look when we are mad or somewhere that we don't want to be!' Whatever, Scott!...I don't know what he is talking about! hahaha!

We left a little early for the party, and drove through the light display at the park. It was fun, and Abby loved it. We might go back this weekend, Nanny and Papaw! ;)

Party time! wooohooo!

All the kiddos got ice cream sundaes at the bar (and I uploaded a pic of Abby sitting at the bar with all the boys that is so cute, and I can't find it now....grrrr....).

Knock-knock joke time with Pete, Missy's husband! The kids were making up knock-knock jokes and Pete would act like they were so funny, it was hysterical, and the kids were loving it!

Abby and Preston! So sweet! (Preston is Missy's son, and Missy is an old friend/roommate/sorority sister from college. She is married to Amanda's brother, and lives here and it is so fun to be able to see them and have our kiddos play together!)

And, all the moms repsonsible for these wild children! haha!

Thanks, for a great party, Amanda!

For the Ladies!

This is for all my friends and all the women that read this blog....WATCH. Trust me, it's worth it...and you might want to grab some kleenex!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

Merry Christmas! :)

Funny stuff...

I just had to share a few things that have happened in the last 24 hrs. or so that have made me laugh pretty hard:

1. A few days ago I lost one of my diamond earrings. I got them as a Christmas present from Scott a few years ago, and I have not had them out since that very day. Well, the other day I was drying my hair and noticed one was gone. :( I looked everywhere and found the back in bed, so while I have yet to find the earring, I know it is in this house. Chances are it will show up somewhere in 10yrs or so! ha! Anyways, last night I got in bed and stuck my hand under my pillow to adjust it and felt something small and hard...MY EARRING...I was SURE of it. I grabbed it and ran to the other room to turn on the light. I turn on the light and what am I holding???....a tortilla chip crumb the exact size of my earring! aahhhahahaha! Abby was eating in our bed a few days ago, and I guess she left that behind for me. So, as I am standing there in the pitch black house, holding a crumb, I got so tickled by what was going on, I could NOT stop laughing. I laughed for a good 10min., I bet. Oh, such is life......and I still have not found the earring! haha!

2. Yesterday, Scott walked into the kitchen and saw that the vent had grabbed one of Abby's balloons and it was hovering in mid air, since the heat was on. He yells for Abby to come and see. She comes over and quickly goes to get all the other balloons in the house (we always have balloons, it has been Abby's toy of choice for almost 3yrs. now-ha!). So, there they both stand witht the balloons floating above the vent and Scott says to Abby, ''wow, look...it's MAGIC!" Abby looks at him dead serious (almost with pity, as in, how could Dad be so dumb) and says, 'no, it's not, Dad, it's because of the air!' hahahaha!


3. And, one last story. The girls and I were out last week a day or so after the winter storm and the sidewalks were still SO slick. We saw a man and his 2 teenage daughters walking out of the restaurant. The girls went and got in the car and he was on his way down to the store. Well, he hits the first slick spot and down he goes. Not hard, just on his butt, but enough to make me stop and ask if he's okay. He is laughing and says, 'yes, I'm fine...I bet my girls are just LOVING this.' Sure enough, I look over and there sits his 2 daughters in the warm car, laughing HYSTERICALLY at him!! I had to start laughing with them, because I could just see Abby and Olivia doing this to Scott, and I could just see me and my sister being the same way if we saw my Dad bite the dust like that-ha! This was almost a week ago and Abby still mentions the guy that slipped and fell EVERY day! haha!

Time for Christmas cookies!

We have been planning to bake cookies today all week! We wake up this morning, coldest day of the year...negative 20 wind chill, and about 8:30 the power goes out!!! WHAT!? My whole day involved washing laundry, baking, cleaning, etc....all things that require power (we have a generator which is why I wasn't worried about keeping warm, between that and the fireplace, I knew we would be okay in that area, but still). We call Ameren, gotta love Ameren...ugh!...(that comment is dripping with sarcasm), and they tell me that most of the town is without power and that it should be back on by 5:45pm! Oh, super! Well, thankfully, it was only out for a few hrs. and then it was time to start baking!! YAY!

Yummy, cake mix cookies...the messiest kind! :)

Waiting, impatiently, for them to bake!

Voila....cake mix cookies!

We also made choclate chip cookies (my favorite...I mean, Santa's favorite;) And, I didn't think about it in time, but you could easily leave off some of the powdered sugar on the cake mix cookies and decorate them with icing and they would be just as good!

If anyone is wanting a quick, easy, fun dessert, whip these puppies up. And, if you have kiddos, they are super fun to make with them, because there is a lot they can help with. Here is the recipe:

1 box of cake mix

8oz. of cool whip

2 eggs

Mix that together, drop onto cookie sheet, sprinkle with powdered sugar, bake at 350 for 10-12 min.