Valentine's Day

The girls both had Valentine's Day parties at school. Sydney had to cover a shoe box and decorate how she wanted so she could put her cards in it at school. Brooke's teacher made her Valentine's Day box. Brooke made gift for us at school and she had to wait for Dad to get home from work and it was killing her to wait all afternoon. As soon as he got home she had us sit down right away and open them up. They were to cute. Sydney also made us a Valentine's Day card and her hand prints shaped like a heart. Shawn and I gave the girls books for Valentine's since they both like to read. The girls and us had a great Valentine's Day!!

Sydney's Valentine's Day box she made.

The top of it.

Brooke's special gifts she made us. The note said "Wrap these hands around you whenever I'm away. So you can have a hug from me anytime of the day! Happy Valentine's Day! Love Brooke". This gift was for Shawn and I together.

This was the gift for me only she told us.

And this gift was for Daddy only that he had to take to work and hang up. It says "Thumb"-body loves you!"

Brooke's teacher made this Valentine's Day box.

This is what Sydney made for all of us. The bottom says "Thank you for the best Valentines!!

Sydney made this at school with her hands in the shape of a heart.

Warm Weather in January

We are loving the warm weather down here in North Carolina. It has been so warm here that the girls are loving being outside to ride their bikes and four wheeler. Today we took the girls out shopping for new bikes. For Christmas Mimi & Papa Krause gave them gift cards for them to go shopping for new bikes. So today was in the 60's and the sun was shining so we took them shopping and they found what they wanted. Both girls have to get use to riding them because they are a little bigger than what they had but they were so excited to get home and ride them. It is suppose to be warm all week so we will be outside after school to enjoy the nice warm weather.
Friday after school.

Wild woman Brooke riding her new four wheeler that she got for Christmas.

Sydney on her old bike that she taught herself to ride without the trainging wheels.

Brooke on her new bike. She was so excited!!

Sydney on her new bike. She is so excited.

Sydney trying to get use to riding her new bike.

Sydney's Belated Birthday Sleepover

Sydney had her belated birthday sleepover party last weekend. Her birthday is in December and we were going to have the sleepover then but we had to cancel and reschedule the sleepover. So we had it last weekend. She invited three friends (Tori, Savannah and Emily) over for pizza, cake, games, making a gingerbread house, movies, and pancakes in the morning. She and her friends had a great time. They slept on the floor downstairs with a bunch of blankets and I slept on the couch to make sure that they were O.k. all night long. Brooke had some fun but was not happy that she could not sleep downstairs with us. The girls were up at 7:00 the next morning which is not to early but it would have been nice if they slept in a little longer since they were up until 11:00pm. Sydney however was the first one to fall asleep. She had a great time with her friends.

Sydney, Savannah, Tori and Emily playing headbands that her friends Savannah brought over the game and then Sydney also got the game from her friend Emily. It is a fun game.

Sydney opening up her birthday gifts from her friends.

Sydney, Emily and Tori looking at the new earrings that she got from Tori.

Sydney looking at her card from Emily.

Making the gingerbread house with the girls. Yes I know this is something that you do in December but I bought it then for them to do and we had to cancel the sleepover so I saved it for the girls to do when we reschedule. They did not care they had a great time making it.

All most done!

Yes they are having fun.

The house is finished and I think they did a great job and they had fun making it.

Side view.

The other side.

The back of the house.

Singing Happy Birthday to Sydney. She wanted a birthday cookie instead of a birthday cake.

Blowing out the candles.

The girls with their dolls.

Tori, Emily, Sydney and Savannah. Instead of doing goodie bags I went out and bought all the girls the same pj's for them. They all loved them and could not wait to put them on.

Breakfast in the morning. I made them pancakes for breakfast.

Where they slept at.

Girls playing twister they had fun.

Silly Girls!

Family Pictures

We finally got family pictures taken. The last family pictures we had taken Sydney was two and now she is eight. Our friend Laurie that lives in the neighborhood takes pictures on the side so we asked her to take them for us. We could not be anymore happier with the pictures. We had them done the beginning of October and decide that we were not going to tell anybody or post anything on facebook because we were going to surprise the family with the pictures at Christmas. So for Christmas I made a photo book on shutterfly for the parents and we also made one of the family pictures into a 8x10 and put it in a frame for them. They all loved it so much. It was really hard to keep it a secret until Christmas but it was well worth it since the parents had no idea until they opened up their gift from us. Here are a few of the pictures that we loved.

This is the family picture that we gave to the parents for Christmas.