Runner up!

Last week during school, Briana's class drew pictures of a memory they had of going to the zoo. Briana drew an amazing picture of her and Mike photographing an elephant. The kids all displayed their pictures in their classroom and then voted on who's picture they liked best. Whoever got the most votes gets to have their picture displayed at the zoo, and they get a pass for free zoo admission for one day.
Tuesday at school, the kids voted. Briana voted for herself and her friend, Josie. She said she could hear a lot of kids whispering during the voting and she overheard a lot of "vote for number 2!" whispers. Her picture was number 2.
Yesterday, the kids found out the results. And, Briana was the runner up!! She is super excited about this honor. She said her friend Holly won. So, if anything should happen to Holly's picture, guess who's picture will be hung up at the zoo? That's right! Briana's.
She is very proud to be the runner up, as she should be.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I think this might be the BEST Valentine's Day ever. I got to go to the girls' Valentine's parties at school. They were super fun.

Look what Mike and the girls surprised me with!

They are the best!

And, Briana created an amazing pizza for dinner.


It was delicious and good lookin.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Uglydoll by Stacey

This past Christmas, Lila recieved an ugly doll from Mike's parents. It was one of her favorite gifts (ranking right up there with the Justin Bieber calendar we got her), and Briana instantly wanted one of her own. Well, after I finished making Sydney her amigurumi mouse, she suggested that I make Briana a crocheted ugly doll. It was a fantastic idea and I got started on it immediately. It took six days to finish, but I got it all done today. It was a perfect get well present for my sick Briana.

Sydney Kate, Toothless Wonder

A True Story written by Sydney Kate

I went to mamaw's house I went to the basement I watched toy story 2 mamaw told my to wait two days then I asked if I could pull my tooth out so I pulled it out then my mouth was very bloody so I got a glass of water when I spit the water back in it turned red when my mom came to pick me up she was very excited!!

Well, there you have it! Here are the photos to accompany the story.

The End!

Valentine's Cake

Check out this cute cake the girls and I whipped up on our snow day!





It's one of those Pillsbury Valentine's cake mixes and I used my flower decorating pen for the frosting. Well, I should say Briana and Sydney did most of the flower-ing. It's cute, and it's delicious.

The Plain White T's and ME!

This past weekend, Shannon and I went to the Plain White T's concert.

We were certain that the Plain White T's would want to call us up onto the stage to sing along with them. When that didn't happen, we didn't get discouraged. Especially since after the show, the band sought us out and requested that they get their pictures taken with us. How could we say no? They are the Plain White T's, after all.

Shannon and I with the guitar player.

Me and the drummer.

Me and another guitar player/singer.

Me and the lead singer (Sydney just informed me his name is Tom Hagenson. She learned this from watching iCarly.)

Ellie is Two!!

Yesterday was Ellie's second birthday. Yes, we celebrate the dog's birthday. The kids really get into it.

So we got Ellie some frosty paws, and a a present! After dinner, the girls put a candle in Ellie's frosty paws, and we got to sing to her.

The girls blew out her candle for her.

Then Ellie dug right in.

Briana wrapped up Ellie's present, so the girls helped her with that too.

Finally, we got to have a treat of our own for Ellie's birthday!

Don't worry, that isn't frosty paws that they are eating!

Happy Birthay to my Ellie Belly!