Well just as we were getting ready to go to Sarah Katherine's birthday party Dan let me know he was planning to stay home and watch the football game, which I had previously told him would be fine. However, I told him not to expect us home too early, because after the party we'd (me and the girls) be going out to eat without him, and then shopping to find fabric for Daniley's new curtains. That didn't really gain buy-in either so finally, I did a deal. You know, a DEAL. It worked. In the car he came. FOOMCL. We took the girls out for seafood. Daniley was really good other than telling our waitress, in detail, about the scorpion I found inside the house, and how I screamed like a girl and smooshed him with my shoe....and then when she finished she got so excited she stood up in her chair and yelled "DO YOU KNOW WHAT A BLACK WIDOW IS? IT'S A BLACK SPIDER WITH RED ON ITS TUMMY!!" All I could do (often) was laugh and hide. :-) We had a great time at Sarah Katherine's party but I didn't feel like taking my big camera and doing pictures the whole time. Sometimes its good just to be in the moment, and that's where we were....well, there, and in the waiting room keeping our eye on the football game. ;-)
Sunday was church. Our preacher is so wonderful...his message today was on living a joyful life. I've recently undergone some emotional/psychological testing through work...part of a leadership development class. I scored waaay, way high on happiness. I scored so high I wondered if Dan took the test if he'd score that high. Probably not, and I need not know that, because then I'd be all worried about it all the time. Anyway, moving on, here we are after church. Is it cool to dress your kids alike if they aren't twins?? These are the only matching dresses that we have, and I bought them long before Danslen was even thought of. They were at a yard sale for a buck or two, and I thought, well...maybe one day. :-) (Here we are!) :-)
So anyway, back to that leadership class...those started in February and have been pretty intense. As far as clothes...well Corporate Headquarters, where I DON'T work, has a new dress code that's pretty business-ey, and I tried on my suits a while back and they weren't CLOSE to fitting. So I had one maternity dress and one regular stretchy black dress and I've worn those two dresses to every meeting since February. The meetings are always two days (back to back) a month, so basically I wear the same thing every time we meet. So, we're taking a formal picture Tuesday morning for a publication, and a suit is required. So this afternoon, I thought to myself, "If that black suit doesn't fit, I'm fixin' to have to go shopping" WHICH I DESPISE! So I got it out of the closet and un-optimistically dressed myself...and guess what? TAAAA-DAAAA! Have a nice week blog readers! :-)

Greetings from the Lil' Darlin'

Here are the photos from Daniley's tea party she had on her birthday. LeLe gave her this party, and took pictures of all the girls for their Mommies. It was so fun! If you are interested in a tea party for your little princess and 3 of her closest friends, they are for sale. Call Leigh @ 205-669-5333, leave a message. The price is $175 and that includes the photo shoot and pictures.

Photo Book

Every year, I make a photo book to remember what we've been up to. This is for the girls to have when they get older, and share with their children. And I hope it brings back memories of a happy childhood, one they want to re-create for their own children. Here is a snapshot to last year's book. I am proud of this. It takes me a lot of hours and work to get it just how I want it. Our next book will feature two little Connells. Sorry it's so small.

Click here to view this photo book larger

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE SUGAR BOOGER!
This past weekend, Daniley turned 3. It was a magnificent birthday. LeLe gave her a tea party Saturday at brunch. 3 of her best friends came over and they did photos for all the girls. Each mommy got copies Saturday night at the birthday party! It was all I could do to keep my composure during the party. When I post a picture of it, you'll see why. It was perfect. If that was the only party we had, it would have been plenty. But...that was only half! Daniley had another party Saturday night for her friends and family. For her birthday, she got a new bedroom. Dan and I have been working on it for 2 weeks and keeping the door locked. You'll see in the slideshow as she was coming up the stairs. We had told her she had a big surprise. As we walked in, everyone yelled SURPRISE and Daniley was SO EXCITED. She loved her room. Then we had an outdoor movie night with friends. There is a picture in the slideshow with her little girlfriends that made it through the movie! I had so much fun. It was such a wonderful night with my family. In fact, we are already planning our next shin-dig (however you are supposed to spell it)! I bought the big screen with the intent of doing this far more frequently!
Now, back to that bedroom. Daniley has slept in our room since she was born. We were co-sleepers, because I breastfed and that kept me from getting up at night with her. Everyone told me how I'd never be able to get her out of my bed, but when we bought her a toddler bed and put that in our bedroom, she had no problems adjusting. You know, as a parent, I hear a lot or horror stories. But I've found most of it to be hogwash. I love my babies. Even if something IS a little bit of trouble (like hauling both of them around on Fridays to run errands, in and out of 10 places, carrying bags and buggies and carseats, it's okay with me. I LOVE them. I don't mind. So anyway, back to this whole bedroom thing (man I can lose control of my subject sometimes! LOL) the new bed was supposed to be for Christmas because we won't normally be doing birthdays this big. However, Dan wanted to get the bed out of his basement so we went ahead with it now. It's quite cute, shaped like a house. I had prepared for, I thought, everything for Daniley's birthday. The house was clean on time, the popcorn was cooked perfectly, we even had ice from Sonic. I thought I had prepared for every possible scenario, but I was caught really, REALLY off guard when Daniley exclamed, "MOM!! I'M SLEEPING IN MY NEW BED TONIGHT." I mean, yes, that WAS the intent, but I had not even spent one second preparing for that moment. The first night in 3 years she would sleep upstairs all alone. I looked at Dan with that "What do I do now?" kind of look. So...I got the extra mattress (they are BUNK BEDS) and bedding that I bought for Sarah Katherine :-) out of the attic...and slept cozy on the floor beneath...and we christened the room the first night together.
She has slept up there every night since. It was no problem getting her out of our room. Furthermore, she has came home each night and played in her room, all by herself, with all her wonderful new toys, including books, stickers, jewelry, tutus, mermaids, Dora toys, barbies, an entire Tinkerbell collection, NAIL POLISH (heavens don't forget that!).......she loves it all! Thanks everyone for a beautiful birthday!! Love to you all!

(I wish I could put these pictures in a better order. I haven't figured out yet how to take control of the order. A couple of the pics are of Daniley waking up after the first night in her new bed!)

Last year we went to Habenero's and they sang Daniley a Birthday Song. She loved it so much we decided to make it a tradition. The whole time we ate she kept saying, "When are they gonna bring me a song?"

It's amazing how much she's grown in just a year. She's grown from big baby to big girl. We've made a lot of memories this year. Thank you God for blessing us in so many ways! If you want to compare the clip to last years, look on my side bar and go back to August 2010. You'll find the clip by clicking that link.

Hodge Podge... We've been busy. Here's the proof. ;-)
Katie's birthday. Katie, we had a SUPER FUN time! Thanks so much for having us over!
Rachel, realizing the bow actually has a clip on it. LOL.


Have you been in my makeup? No? Well how did your arm turn white from the shoulder to the hand??? :-O
Alabama Adventure with Sarah Katherine and Mia. You gals are AWESOME! SK surprised me when she rode the wild rides. :-)

Here's a little clip of The Little Darlin'. Hopefully it will make you smile!

Here we are at the end of Bible School at Parents' Night. First Daniley totally caught me off guard. I think the preacher was on the stage saying a few words when all of a sudden she shouted out "THANK YOU GOD!" loud enough that the WHOLE church heard her, very clearly, and punched her fists up in the air, apparently just like they had practiced. The preacher just stopped, then everyone clapped, and I nearly fell off the pew laughing and crying all at the same time. You just never know what you're gonna get with her. Then her little class went up on stage to do their song.
If that wasn't enough for you, I can post the next minute where she lays down and makes snow angels on the stage. This is why I love being Daniley's mom. Cause she's AWESOME!!!!!!! :-)

I'll briefly say...Happy Birthday Katie; SK and Mia, we had a blast hanging out at AL Adventure with you; Little Darlin' you are the cutest thing that's ever lived....blog readers, I'll get caught up soon. Until then, I know the family is anxious to see the dance pictures, so we're breaking in line. :-)

I picked her up from Mom's, and mom dressed her in hopes of no meltdowns (we don't do so well with tight clothes!). It wasn't too bad. This is her "I'm not so sure about this" look.We made it to the studio, and here we are outside, before going in and seeing all the other little ballerinas running around.
Now we've made it inside. The excitement is growing!
Lacing up....
So tired of waiting (it's been all of 10 minutes)
We made it in....
I watched outside on the screens as she danced and twirled. She did pretty well...and no one cried....and it wasn't her who peed in her pants...so it was a GREAT day. I was so excited about dance class Thursday I could barely focus on my work. Here we are all finished up.


I love this kid more than I ever knew was possible. Even though sometimes I think I might strangle her. LOL.

Sisters. That's who we are. After the baby tea we had a little scenario that left us all three rolling in the floor. I'd write it here...but you just wouldn't understand. ;-)

WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!
Daniley can write her name all by herself. You don't even have to tell her the letters. She writes them in order (First the D, then the A....) but they don't always "appear" in order, because if she runs out of room on the chalkboard she just puts the next letter wherever it will fit. LOL.
Might I add (to mom's who may be interested!), MMs are GREAT learning tools. First she used them to learn her colors (when she got the color right, she ate the MM). Then she used them to count. Group. Patterns. And....if you use them as bribes they can even help teach them to use the potty, and even write. I'm not admitting to any bribes, I just sayin'..........

Wow! It's been an eventful weekend. Saturday after yard sales I came home and was going about my business when Dan's cell phone rang. He had been cutting grass and was laying down resting. I saw him stand up and get a sense of urgency about him. I saw his eyes well up and initially my mind went to one of our parents, and perhaps they were calling him to sheild me. Then he hung up and told me, GPaw had a heart attack. We didn't know anything at that point. Was he going to be the same GPaw we used to know? Was there going to be a GPaw at all? Dan went to the hospital while I stayed home with the girls. It wasn't too long until he called me and told me he was ok. I went with that, until he called me back and said GPaw was shocked five times while they were putting a stint or two in. He had 100% blockage in one of his main arteries.
So, what went right? GPaw's decision to go to the hospital at the onset of chest pain and sweating ultimately saved his life. After breakfast he told Honey "I've never felt like this before" so off they rushed. If they had waited any longer, we'd be at the funeral home right now. It's crossed all our minds....Honey and GPaw are new to Alabaster. If they had been in the Grove, would they have made it in time? Would the ambulance they would have called responded fast enough? Could this be an unforcasted blessing of being forced to move? To these questions we may never have answers.
Gpaw's prognosis is good. It's just been reported he has little to no damage to his heart. His arteries are pumping blood like they haven't in years. Every time you lose a loved one you always say "If I could just_________ one more time." Well I'm getting my one more time. We all are. I'm not ready to give up ANY of my parents. Praise God for a happy ending!!!!!!!!

I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I'D DO WITHOUT MAWMAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(please note LeLe and Honey are the bomb too...whoop whoop!!!)

Here are some excerpts from an email I got today from Brooke. Enjoy!

...she [Daniley] walked in the door and handed me her switch and said, "Brookie, here's my switch, let's try not to use it." LOL!!! Danson and I both died laughing. Then while I was cooking supper she had to bake a cake. So I let her sit in the floor with a bowl of water and a whisk. She added salt, pepper, flour, and sugar to it. I looked down and she was licking the whisk! I asked her if it tasted good and she said, "It tastes like a cake." We ended the night with a bubble bath...We took her back to Mawmaw's butt naked [because they didn't have any clean clothes] and you should have seen the look on Mawmaw's face when she came barreling through the door with only shoes on. She told Danson on the way there to put her dress on so nobody would see her boobs. He said you're too little to have boobs.... [We'll just stop the email here. Her reply was outragous.]

When we got back to Mawmaw's she asked if she could watch Sleeping Beauty and Mawmaw told her, "Not right now because you have company." Daniley walked over to me and said, Brookie I think it's time for you and Unc to go home.

[LOL]

It seemed I wasn't that far behind blogging, but when I looked through my photos I realized I really was. We've been trying to do a recreational activity every day after work, and of course that just multiplies on the weekends. It's a non-stop fun house around here. You can interpret that however you wish. :-)

On the way to Alabama Adventure with the Morris family. That's Daniley asleep in the back. Would you like to see a close up of that? LOL.
Will add a slide show later. Come back for more!

We went to Mrs. Ruby's to swim and Dan still had the wagon hooked up from taking the lawn mower and cutting the right of way on the driveway. (He is HOT when he cuts grass. I love a man taking care of business!) So anyway, since it was hooked up we just threw Daniley in it and went on our way.
Little Darlin' took her first real swim. She liked it...a lot! She was so relaxed, she just laid there relaxing for the longest time.

Here we are swimming last Sunday afternoon with Jill and her gang. The girls have a lot of fun together. They are so sweet. The gave Daniley two little mermaid dolls that she hasn't put down since. One came named Blueberry. The other one got named Bakery. :-)Little Darlin' was there too. I don't go too many places without her. :-)

We picked up the I and L. We've made it to the E (not shown). When we get the Y, we'll have DANILEY. I'm trying to reach this goal before her third birthday at the end of the month. She's really a smart girl. We're already looking at colleges. Bahahaha. That's a joke, people. But we are looking at private vs. public school. It's just two more years. :-(

Daniley uses this camera ALL THE TIME when I'm not looking. The stories she tells with her camera are pretty funny, because Dan and I usually don't know she's capturing our every move. Can't you just see him here about to snatch that thing up and say "GIMME THAT CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!"

I would wear my panties EXACTLY like this if I didn't have to hear what Dan would say about it. If I was just a tad more gutsy I'd put the one on here where she pulled them up her crack. But I don't believe exposing my kid's buttcheeks on the internet is really all that smart.

Saturday night date night is usually accompanied by, or controlled by, our kids ....here we are at Pizza Hut. Daniley got her a little kiss.
Followed by the Merry Go Round at the Galleria. I saw her lick that pole. Good thing I'm not a germ-a-phobe. Hahaha.

Just found these on my camera card. I see exactly the story that was going through Dan's head when he took these pictures.
See deer.
See cat and dog not bothered by deer.

See dog looking at pretty deer.
See cat chilling by deer.
See why deer eats garden.

What have we been doing lately? SWIMMING. A lot. At Alabama Adventure, at Ruby's, at the Alabaster Rec Club, and points in between. Here is a video where I got a wild hair and decided to see what happened when we took Daniley's "floaty" swimsuit off and threw her in. Yes, I know, we're skinny dipping in Ruby's pool while they were out of town. I didn't do it on purpose, but I wanted to see if she could swim and the floaties are built into her other swimsuit, so when we lost that, we had nothing. The only way you will ever learn to swim, as I've told Crystal R. Burkle Lovelady many times, is to get your feet off the bottom. So, we gave it a shot. I was shocked how well she did, since she's only been ALIVE for two summers. Dan stood on the sloped part of the pool, so one step too many, and it's sink or swim. Do I think she would drown if she fell in the pool? Absolutely. Do I think that could change by summers' end? Absolutely!!

Life....as seen from the backseat.

Daniley LOVES taking pictures with my camera. And she's fairly accurate capturing her target. So the other day, I gave it to her to hush her up a little on the ride home after work and Mawmaw's Daily Adventures. When I got home, the story she told through the lens made me smile, so I wanted to share it with you.