Sunday Christmas fun!

Back from church and being nutty! Rhodes taking a nap on the couch!

Time to put the lights on the tree!

Ali kept telling Ryan to blow on the "candle"

When we got home from church, we had a brief photo shoot to try again (we tried at the beach) to get a good picture of the girls for a Christmas card. I guess Ali wanted to try it out herself, b/c Ryan caught her taking these! I can NOT believe she figured out how to take a picture (did she turn the camera on by herself too?) and actually put her new favorite dolly, Leora Sandy, in the same spot she had been sitting earlier for her photo shoot! These are just two of the pictures, but I found EIGHT on the camera! Amazing!

Two peas in a pod

How we found Sandy after we left her alone with Ali!

Rhodes hanging out while we decorated the tree!
Ali learning how to put ornaments on the tree!

Ali's first Christmas tree decorating experience!

Just the girls

Yesterday, Ryan headed to Athens for the UGA/Tech game bright and early! So glad I did not make it to that one - not only was it bad weather, but also a bad game! (at least for us UGA fans!) I was all worried about Ryan having to go sit out in the cold and rain - but then I got a call from him saying that they were all getting to go sit in my parents' good friends' box for the game! Talk about the perfect to get the luxury of sitting in a box - warm and dry! Ryan was so excited and other than the game, I am pretty sure he had a great time (good enough to be gone for 12 hours) and the girls and I managed to stay afloat on the home front! :) I am pretty sure we watched Frosty the Snowman movie at least 5 times but it is now Ali's favorite movie and repetition is what we do here with a toddler!

Below are some pictures from our day together! (Even though we spend every day together!)

Say cheese!

Aunt Kate came to visit from NYC and brought the girls presents. She is always so good to them and they are so lucky to have her in their life. I just wish we got to see her more! :( It was so fun to get to visit with her and I am looking forward to seeing her again over Christmas! She brought Ali a Cabbage Patch doll for her birthday and as you can see - Ali loves her new "dolly"! She carried her around (and is asleep with her right now) and put her in Rhodes vibrating chair!

She got Rhodes a fun new (pink!) activity mat and Rhodes LOVES it! It was so nice to be able to put her down on something that is just hers (not a hand me down from Ali!) and see her play and play and smile and smile! :) Thanks Aunt Kate! We love and miss you!

We are thankful!

We have so much to be thankful this Thanskgiving! We are thankful for our families (and having them all close by in Georgia is WONDERFUL!), friends and eachother. Ryan and I both feel especially lucky to have these two precious little girls in our lives and are incredibly thankful for them this year! Happy Thanksgiving - gobble gobble! (as Ali says!)

Here are just some pictures of our girls from the past week!

Happy Anniversary Ryan!

Ryan and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Wednesday night. Seriously, 3 years?? I feel like that sounds not long at all (although it has almost been 9 years since we first started dating so maybe that's it) - especially for all that we've already been through in the past three years - what amazing three years they have been! We got engaged in February 2005 and spent the next 9 months having lots of parties/showers, Ryan graduated law school, I changed jobs, Ryan started his first real job, and we bought our first house in Brookhaven. (At that point, I thought we would be Atlantans forever! ha!) Then, we got married November 26, 2005 in front of about 500 people on a cold and wintery night (perfect b/c I LOVE Christmas and wanted a Christmas/winter them) and it was the most perfect night! (The picture above is the only one I could find on this computer - on our trolley ride with the wedding party on the way to the reception!) Since then, Ryan bought me my first baby (Baxter) for Christmas 2005, I came back to work full time as an accountant with my dad here in Marietta in February 2006, we found out we were pregnant with Ali in March, Ryan changed jobs to SEST in May, Ryan bought a new car, bought a new house and moved to it in October and had Ali in November, then two years later Virginia Rhodes was born. Three years, two babies later, I am so happy that we are here and so thankful for our life together! Ryan is my best friend in the world and sometimes I wonder why he puts up with me and my nuttiness - I am so lucky to have him!

Play date with Daddy!

This past Saturday, Ryan and Ali had their first (of many to come) little daddy/daughter morning to enjoy together while Rhodes and I went shopping with my mom! I started telling Ali about it on Friday as a bribe to get her to nap (if you go to take a nap now, you can go jump tomorrow with Daddy! - is that bad?) and luckily Ryan was up for it! They went and had breakfast Waffle House (b/c I will never go there!) and then headed to Monkey Joes for a few hours of fun! That kid was WORN OUT when she got home but had soo much fun with her daddy! The princesses are so lucky to have a dad like Ryan!! He is so good to them and so much fun - we all love him very much! :)

What has our Rhodes been up to?

What has Rhodes been up to?? Well, a little bit of this.... (Rolling over)

And this...(Hanging out and holding my pacifier - putting it in my mouth and taking it out!)
And lots of this.... (sleeping - although not usually here - our little pea in the pod)
More sleeping (and getting kisses from my big sis in her princess towel)
What a sleeping beauty! :)

Miss Rhodes is growing up fast! I feel like she is getting so big! She will be 7 weeks tomorrow and it has flown by and we are just falling more and more in love with her every day. This past weekend (Saturday), I decided to put Rhodes on her belly for some tummy time. It was the first time I had really done it b/c Ali used to hate it so much (and would scream so loud!) that I was a little afraid. Rhodes has had a strong neck from the get go and she was just laying there, holding her head up and I left the room - Ryan yelled to tell me she rolled over. I was shocked b/c I feel like it took Ali a lot longer to do it. I came back in and she did it two more times - not just a fluke. When I went to go get Ali's baby book to see if I had written down when she rolled over (b/c I remember worrying that she was never going to roll over- but then she ended up doing everything else like walk, talk, etc early!) and it was not until 4 months!! 5 months both ways - about the time she was sitting up!! It made me realize how different these two sweet girls are already! Rhodes is rolling over at 6 weeks and Ali did not until 4 months, it said Ali slept through the night from week 1 - we are no where near there with Rhodes, Ali started smiling at 1 week and Rhodes started at 6 weeks. I love the differences between the two so far to make them both their own unique little perfect selves! :)

And one of Ali...

Oh, I am so excited about videos! Here is one random one of Ali - two weeks ago - the day of the GA/FL game - dressed for the game!

First video - let's see if it works!

Okay, so I just realized I could make a video on our regular camera - and I finally figured out how to get it online (I think) - so here is my attempt. Not sure if it will work!!

Here is a little video of our sweet baby Rhodes (and a glimpse at Ali) at 6 weeks hanging out in one of her little chairs! I am loving all of the smiling, cooing and laughing we are getting now! So much fun!

While I'm at it...

A little over 6 weeks ago, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby #2. I didn't know how life would go when we met this little one or how I could possibly open up my heart to love another baby like I loved Ali...and then I met Rhodes. She is such a sweet baby - laid back and not a big cryer (unless she is hungry which can be often - she is quite the eater!) I think she is going through a growth spurt by the way she has been hungry the last few days and she is already getting so big!! (she also went through one about 3 weeks) She is waking up about once a night - going to bed after her 10/11 feeding, up once and then up again at 6:45/7 (then usually back to bed, but I am up at that point). She has been a good eater from the getgo - the first time I really got to hold her (when she was clean) at the hospital, she was hungry and latched right on and ate for 30 minutes! I was shocked b/c it was a lot different from Ali. This week, she has really started smiling, laughing and cooing and is very active when she's awake and it makes me fall in love with her even more. Here are some pictures of our sweet Rhodes (on Ali's birthday) with her Mama and Daddy!

Family celebration

Finally, after Ali's birthday party, we invited our families over for lunch and our family birthday celebration! We got a new cake, some Chick-fil-A trays, dips and fruit and just relaxed, played and opened presents. Ali loved being with all of her family that could come - it was the perfect ending to the perfect morning! Here are some final pictures of Ali's birthday! Phew!

Daddy and Rhodes bringing in cake #2 (That was just picked up when Ryan went to go get the food for everyone for lunch since the party cake was gone and we thought everyone else may like cake!)

Checking out cake #2!

Blowing out the candles - Ali was getting good at this!

Showing everyone how old she is with her fingers

So excited it's my birthday!



Opening presents

Playing with some of her toys

This was after a loooonnng nap (and she woke up about 6:30 p.m., when bedtime is 7:30) - no more tutu or hat and all the food/drinks from the day all over her - what a successful day!
Monkey see, Monkey do - Ali trying to pretend she is Mama and wanting to feed Rhodes

Just realized....

I just made two new posts and Ali's birthday party pics ended up further down the page (I guess b/c I started them earlier but got frustrated downloading pictures) Be sure to check them out! ;)

Birthday Dinners

Since we had Ali's birthday party on her actual birthday (Saturday), we took her out to dinner on Friday night to Bugaboo Creek. She liked all of the animals but started getting afraid b/c she heard other babies crying when the came out. Finally, I talked her into liking them again and when they started talking she would crack up and say "It's MY birthday!" - it was cute. Here are some pictures of her checking it all out - including the big Moose that came to sing Happy Birthday to her at the end! She even liked that and gave him a kiss (although didn't get close enough to actually touch him, of course!) Notice, that she still has her hair do from her day of pampering with Aunt Ashley!




On Sunday, we decided to take her to our favorite restaurant, La Parilla to get them to sing to her too! (Might as well live it up and enjoy the free desserts!) Here are some pictures of the Mariachi (sp/) band singing Happy Birthday to her!