Farewell Jensen's & Happy Birthday Emma Jane!

This week we helped do the final packing for the Carl's sister in ATL. We are so sad. They are now in New Hampshire. We will miss you dearly. We had so much fun with them. We were there Monday-Thursday. Since Emma Jane's birthday was on Saturday, we had a little party for her there with her cousins. Then, on Friday, Emma Jane had her Birthday party at our house, and it SNOWED like 3 inches!

All the cousins at the computer.


Carl thought this would be fun for the kids to play with while Amber and I packed. What do you think?


Don't worry. Carl cleaned up all the mess. :)

Robbie could carry CJ around. It was so cute!

Aubrie, Emma Jane is still talking about how much fun she had with you!

Emma Jane's party at Amber's.

CJ and Emma Jane with their snowman.

Our Alabama snowman. Roll tide!

CJ even made some snowballs!

The snow princess!


Frolicking in the snow!

The birthday girl opening some presents!

Emma Jane's favorite present: her new kitty backpack!

CJ's favorite present: the easel!

Did anyone have cupcakes in icecream cones when they were a kid? I made them for Emma Jane's birthday, and they were so fun. They brought back so many childhood memories.

Emma Jane sure liked them.


Her party!

And, CJ did too!

Happy Birthday Emma Jane! We are so glad to have you in our family. We are so lucky. You are such a sweet little girl and a wonderful, big sister. We love you!

Back from Orlando, FL-- Beware! Tons of pictures!

We got back from Orlando on Wednesday from a well-needed family vacation, but I left my camera in Dothan on our way back home. Thanks to mom for mailing it, so I could show you guys our trip.
Carl's babysitter growing up is a manager at Hollywood Studios. We met her there, and she got us into the parks on Friday and Saturday. She was so nice to show us around Hollywood Studios. She took us to the front of the lines and watched our kids, while we went on the Rock N' Rollin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Tower. She got us VIP seating at the live production of Beauty & the Beast, and then took us to go meet the cast. It was just awesome. The kids had so much fun. They were really in Heaven especially when they got to meet Mickey Mouse. On Monday and Tuesday, we went to Sea World and Universal Studios. Carl used is media card to get us free tickets. Here our some (a lot) of pictures & videos from our trip:
On Friday, we met Mary at Hollywood Studios:

We went on the 3-D Toy Story Ride at Hollywood Studios.

Mickey Mouse Club House Live at Hollywood Studios

This was Emma Jane's favorite. CJ and Emma Jane love Playhouse Disney in the mornings, and they were in heaven watching Mickey Mouse, Handy Mandy, Winnie the Pooh, and Little Einsteins live!

Then, on Friday Afternoon & Saturday Morning, we went to the Animal Kingdom:

The kids loved these figurines that were all over the place.

The Fam waiting for the awesome live show of Lion King.

The Lion King Celebration Live at Animal Kingdom (Emma Jane gets picked out of the audience)

Emma Jane & CJ loved the petting zoo at the Animal Kingdom

Then, Saturday afternoon and evening, we went to the Magic Kingdom:

Carl & Walt Disney

The highlight of the vacation--Meeting Mickey & Minnie. I think CJ gave Minnie a dozen kisses. He kept saying, "Wook, wook-Mickey."

CJ also had an eye for Sleeping Beauty
And a little for Cinderella too!

The kids dancing to music at the Magic Kingdom. The whole time we were there Emma Jane would tell CJ, "Your the prince, and I am the princess."

Then, On Monday we went to Sea World:

Feeding the Sea Lions at Sea World

We lived in San Diego when I was little, and we had season passes to Sea World. So, Sea World has a special place in our family's hearts because that was like our "science center". I even got to sit on Shamu when I was little. Its my favorite place. It still makes me want to secretly become a marine biologist...as long as I never saw a shark. :)
Feeding the Dolphins at Sea World

Emma Jane on the Roller Coaster

She loved the Roller Coasters at all the parks. She even wanted to go on the big ones. Our little dare devil.
On Tuesday, we went to Universal Studios and went to Islands of Adventure for half the day before returning home. We had already packed the car up, so we couldn't get our stroller out. Needless to say, we were tuckered out on our way home. We forgot to bring our camera in to Islands of Adventure, but Emma Jane loved the Dr. Suess world.

Now we need another vacation just to recover!

And, we're back!

Sorry for the absence. Migraines having been kicking my trash. Anyway, here is our favorite things of the past 6 weeks:

CHRISTMAS--My mom and dad were able to come up for Christmas. Carl had to work every day until the new year, so we were thrilled to be around family. It took us all day to open presents. The kids could have taken more time. They would open a gift, and be done. They wouldn't want to open any more. They would just want to play with the one they opened.

CJ's FAVORITE GIFT: His Tool Set-

He went right to work. Apparently, the chair needed some work and just about everything else in the house.

EMMA JANE'S FAVORITE GIFT: Her ZU ZU Pet: She loves to mother everything, so CJ was excited about about not having two mothers for a little bit.

SEEING FUN UNCLE BRANDON-- The kids had so much fun seeing uncle Brandon. They keep asking me why he had to go back to school. They had so much fun playing with him while we were down in Dothan.

FIREWORKS: While we were down in Dothan for New Year's Eve, Nana and Papa introduced the kids to the wonderful world of fireworks. CJ, who was already obsessed with fire, is now even more obsessed. Thanks? Emma Jane had so much fun picking out the fireworks. This is the kids all decked out in our firework wear-pjs.
GOING TO VISIT THE JENSENS: We went to visit Carl's sister Amber this Monday-Wednesday, and we had a blast! Ryan is now the coolest person in CJ's eye's because he started a fire in their fireplace with one match. CJ was just in awe! We are so sad that they are moving to New Hampshire soon! It is always so much fun to hang out with you guys.

Well, that covers it! I promise to be a better blogger in 2010. :) I know you guys were just in such suspense waiting to hear from us.

Oh yeah, the video...

We are loving Missy. She is so playful. Here is the video I promised when she first came home.

IT'S ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!!

I really thought it would be a year or two before this would happen. To be honest, I think it surprised both of us. We are glad its a girl. They are so much easier to deal with. Sorry we didn't say anything before this. Like I say it kind of hit us by surprise too. I knew it would eventually happen, but the timing is the part that surprised me the most. With biz school possibly on the horizon there is a lot of change coming in the next year, and now this.... Taking care of something so little takes a lot of time and effort. Of course its worth it and I already love her to death, but I guess I'm just surprised.

Meet Lyla, the bulldog. The newest addition to the fam-diddly. She turns two in January. Her former owners spent two thousand on her and have determined they're not bulldog people. Their loss, our gain. We got her on the cheap. She has had all her work done and then some. She is house and cage trained. Mabel and her did really well at first. May be a little aggression and sharing we'll have to learn. She is one of the prettiest bulldogs I've ever met, though. The owners got her in Georgia and say she is a descendant of Georgia's mascot, Ugga, but I bet a lot of sellers in Georgia say that. She does kind of look like Ugga though. I'll post video of the two of them meeting. It was funny.

I really wasn't expecting this, but I am excited and think once the two of them are best friends it will be pretty sweet. Oh, and she is not spayed/neutered so.... who wants a bulldog puppy?

We might also rename her so if you can think of any really good names, leave a comment. Our favorite is Missy.

Happy Halloween w/ a Happy Birthday & Lots of Pictures

First off, to explain, Carl's Birthday is on Halloween, so last week was a week of celebration. It all started on Wednesday when I planned a surprise birthday party for Carl (which I totally forgot to take pictures at). Anyway, of course the biggest news story of the year hit, and he had to stay 45 minutes later at work. Needless to say, he was a little late, but everything turned out well. Here are some pics in random order of the week's festivities:

The kids all ready to get some candy!!!!!!

The police station had a big party on Halloween, so we stopped by there.

Our little man in the yellow hat!

The kids were very excited about all of Carl's presents.

Mainly, they just wanted to open them themselves.

Carl, now 27, with his little helpers.

Our trip to the zoo, and of course, our hard core bama fans.

Some lady gave us a coin to ride the carousel & and the rest of us rode free. Emma Jane was in heaven.


Just Listen to CJ giggle.

Our little farm girl. Ready to get to work.

Our little outlaws!

Best Bum Buddies!

Happy Birthday Carl!! You are amazing in all that you do. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father for our children. Your talents never cease to amaze me. After all of these years, you still make me want to be a better person. I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Thanks for being such a wonderful part of our lives!

Pumpkin family, part 3

I guess I had forgotten how gross the insides of pumpkins are, because I was really excited until I opened it up. Courtney was the master pumpkin carver.
Here is what they looked like outside. We'll let you guess whose pumkin is whose.

Family Night: Part 2: The Pumpkin Patch

So our very astute children asked after last week's Family Night, "Where do baby pumpkins come from?" Well, we certainly weren't ready for the birds and bees question, and I have no clue about pumpkin anatomy, so we did what any parent would and took them to the source.
It wasn't gross at all. In fact, it was kind of fun.
Warning: the following post contains graphic, real pictures of where pumpkins are made.
You start out at a play area with inflatable slides, pumpkins, etc. Best part, kids two and under were free. This was inside the big, inflatable pumpkin. Kind of eery, but cool too. Emma Jane was mesmerized by the pumpkin face at first, but then decided not to jump anywhere near it.
Then you go to the petting zoo/pony ride. Couple turns for a buck. Emma Jane never would have gotten off if I hadn't run out of singles.
Then you take a covered wagon ride to.... well you know, "where they are conceived".
side note to Nana: speaking of conception, this is the town where we picked up Daisy. We drove right past the street.
The kids wanted to pick up every pumpkin in the patch, including the rotten ones. It made for good pictures. Court and I just sat back and watched.

He got it about an inch off the ground before dropping it. I think it weighs more than he does.

Tag team. It's funny watching both of them run.

Video of the day: I don't think she realized how high and fast this thing went until after this first run, becuase after that she only wanted to go with one of us.