Take a Hike!

After camping all night, we decided to pack up and check out some of the hiking trails around the area. We knew there was a waterfall within a short walking distance that the girls would love. P and I actually hiked this area and took pictures at this waterfall while we were dating. Anyway....the girls had a blast using their new hiking sticks Daddy cut for them. They did a great job hiking and never complained!

Miss Priss showing Little Bit where we were going.

The trail was only 1/2 a mile, anyone could make it!

Looking over the top of the waterfall.

Daddy always has to live on the dangerous side of life and see how far he can go. This one really isn't hard to walk around though.

Look, Meg was on this trip!

Waterfalls are so pretty!

The girls think so too!

P climbed back up the rocks to the top of the falls.

 

Miss Priss the hiking chick!

We will definitely be taking more family trips like these in the near future. Hopefully we can talk some others into joining us (and staying the whole time!) next time!!

Campers have S'more fun!

Okay cheesey title I know, but we did go camping and we did have fun! Santa brought the whole family a new tent for Christmas and we finally had the opportunity to use it for the first time this past weekend. The tent is really big and cool! It has two "rooms" with a hallway in the middle. Plenty of room for the whole family. We really hadn't planned to go camping, but the weather was too nice to say no. Plus the girls wanted to try out their new sleeping bags from pop and nonna along with the new lanterns from Aunt Les.

We have camped out behind our house down by the creek before, but this time we wanted to give the girls a chance to experience camping away from home. So we packed the trooper FULL of stuff and drove to Cheaha State Park. We have decided future trips will be longer! It's crazy to set everything up just to take it down the very next day!

Little Bit hanging out in the tent.

The kitchen.

This was another one of our Christmas presents for the family. Its a two-eye propane stove. P put this box together as our "kitchen". He cut out two pieces of wood that hang off the box for the stove to sit on. He's so stinkin' creative!

Pop and Jay rode their bikes up to visit for a while.

Hiking around the campsite before it was too dark.

Everyone helped gather pine cones, sticks and whatever else we could find to make sure our fire stayed strong.

Of course Shelby had to go too. This is what she did while the rest of us gathered things to burn.

Little Bit helping Daddy keep the fire going.

Craziness!

 Chillin' out in front of the fire after all that hard work!

For a spur-of-the-moment trip we had a great time. The girls both slept all night, never complained and truly seemed to enjoy the great outdoors (as if we didn't already know they would!). Can't wait for the next trip!

It's that time of year again.....

....to start planting seeds for our garden! Yea!!!

Miss Priss carefully "fluffing" the dirt!

Waiting for Little Bit to join us, Miss Priss reviews all the seed choices to make sure we have everything we need!

Little Bit burying her row of seeds.

Shelby had to check out what the girls were up to.

It's fun to get a little dirty!

My gardenin' gals!

They were having so much fun, Little Bit decided she wanted to dig a little more. They just can't wait to get into the real garden and start planting. Its bound to be another great year of yummy veggies!

Lady of Arlington

 This year as part of her 3rd grade curriculum, Miss Priss had to do a research project. The guidelines were very simple and gave the students a lot of room to be creative. Each student had to pick a topic, any topic, research that topic and present it to the class in some fashion. They could choose anything! Some kids chose science topics such as weather and volcanoes, while others chose to give information and history of toys like legos (that was a neat project!). Miss Priss wanted to give her classmates a lesson in history.

Over the past few months Miss Priss has shown an interest in the Civil War. So one day while admiring my Civil War shelf on our new bookshelves in the study, a book titled "Lady of Arlington" caught her eye. She had never really thought about the women during that time period. When we hear the word war, most of us automatically think male soldiers, not of the women they left at home! Once we started talking about the Lady of Arlington, Miss Priss knew exactly what she wanted to do her project about.

Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, was referred to as the Lady of Arlington because she grew up at the Arlington House and loved the property all her life. She has a wonderful story being the wife of a beloved general and Miss Priss was excited to share with her classmates what she learned.

The students were given the choice to present their findings in a variety of ways. They could write a report, make a poster, give a speech, make a diagram or a diorama, dress up or demonstrate an experiment for the class. Miss Priss chose a combination of making a poster, writing a report and dressing up to share her information. The work in the following pictures was done solely by Miss Priss herself! We looked up information and printed pictures together, but she designed the poster and wrote the report herself. Pretty impressive!

The dress she is wearing took a little more time and talent from a wonderful friend of ours. Mrs. Tucker has been sewing for me for what seems like my entire life. She made Drum Major uniforms in high school, altered my wedding dress and many other things along the way. Now she is not only making things for me, but for my kiddos as well! She was kind enough to put this southern belle dress together for us and Miss Priss thinks it's the best thing ever! Mrs. Denise let us borrow her southern belle hat and Miss Priss was ready for the part.

Not only did she have a great time researching, Miss Priss learned a lot about the Lady of Arlington and how to do research. I am so proud of her for her hard work. She did a fabulous job! Oh and she's just cute a button too! ;)

 

Miss Priss turns 9!

I am still not sure how I, me, Meg have a 9 year old! It's crazy and just not right. For one I am just not old enough and two my baby can't be that old yet! Never-the-less time is flying right before my very eyes and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it! UGH!

This year Miss Priss and I decided we wanted to do something a little different for her party. It's hard to plan a January party here in Alabama. Sometimes the weather is actually nice enough to have an outdoor party, but it can change on you in a split second and turn yucky. Miss Priss loves the outdoors and would love to have a party outside, but it would be on such short notice I am afraid people wouldn't be able to come and she would be disappointed. So we racked our brains until one day this past fall when we were invited to a cake party. We knew from that moment on what type of party we would be throwing!

A friend of ours started a new company this year called Design-A-Cake (click on the name to go to the link). They bring the cakes, icing, candies and other supplies, your kids design the cakes. The kids enjoy an hour of piping, shaping, sprinkling and decorating. And they love every minute of it. Each child gets to take their masterpiece home to show off and eat! It's the perfect party!

 The birthday girl ready to decorate (this is the 3rd cake she has decorated.....they get better and better each time and she hasn't gotten tired of coming up with new themes for her cakes.)

 Hard at work on making it perfect.

 Moms just stand back and let the kids do all the work.

 Little Bit's masterpiece. (This is also her 3rd cake party. Her cakes have really improved since the first time. Its cool to see them really put some thought into the designs and themes of their cakes.)

 Gracie getting some tips from Mom.

 Look how busy their little hands are!

 They all look so serious.

 One of favorite pictures looking down the table at how much fun they are all having. (And the best part is that I don't have to clean up the mess!)

Some of the girls and their final creations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Even the adult table seems to be enjoying themselves!

 Miss Priss's American Girl Doll birthday cake.

Officially turning 9 according to Little Bit!

 Everyone enjoying the yummy cake and cupcakes.

 The whole crew. 

Back row L to R: Caroline (Beth Ann's sister), Caroline S., Beth Ann, Miss Priss, Ramsey, Gracie R. and Gracie A.

Front Row L to R: Sarah, Little Bit, Abby D. and Daisy

 The whole crew silly picture.

 Present time!

 The big gift of the day from Papaw and D: Miss Priss's first official American Girl Doll. All the girls gathered around to watch as she was pulled from the box. It was really funny to watch them all get so excited!

 Miss Priss and her matching AGD, blue eyes, blonde hair and even a matching outfit.

Miss Priss knew what she was getting for her birthday so she asked all the other girls to bring their dolls too. It was cool to see all the girls with their dolls. They could have played the rest of the day together with those dolls if we had let them.

So there it is, I officially have a 9 year old. I still can't figure out where the 9 years have gone. I'm sure the next 9 will go by just as fast! 

Happy Birthday Miss Priss! We love you very much!