Daniley loves chapstick. The other day we took a quick nap (me included) and when I woke up, I saw where she laid her chapstick. She balanced it there for 2 hours!

Few things in life are more precious than sleeping babies.

So Brooke had the baby and we haven't missed a football game yet. She came home from the hospital and a few hours later, ROLL TIDE it was! Most of us watched the baby, not the game. We tried to take some pictures of the girls and you can see, this is complicated. I couldn't pick out just one to share.... Danslen just wanted to get Bentley. She was grabbing, poking, pulling hair, kicking, all that, yeh. Daniley just wanted to get up...AWAY FROM THOSE DUMB BABIES!! Hahaha. I guess the only innocent one was Bentley. Just give her a couple months. She'll come around. :-)

Here we are just as Bentley arrived. Bentley is our newest cousin, my brother's daughter. She is precious and then some! Daniley has already talked about Bentley more than Danslen. She's pretty excited about a new cousin, but still not kissing any babies at this point! ;-) She told someone this weekend: "Brooke had a baby in her tummy. Bentley. She's my little cousin." So sweet!

It's hard work learning to sit up.

Whoever sent me 4 packs of crackers in the company mail...you made me laugh out loud! Thanks for the crackers! LOL.

Happy BIRTHday to Bentley from Danslen!!

People often ask me, "How is Daniley adjusting to the new baby?" My typical answer is "Just fine." She pretty much ignores her all the time until Little Darlin' screams at the top of her lungs, and you'll hear Daniley say "Hutch Up Little Darlin!" (I find the comment entirely cute!) So I got word...yesterday Mawmaw was trying to get Daniley to give Little Darlin' a kiss. Mind you, Daniley just turned 3, and she doesn't sit very still for very long (if ever, sigh). So Daniley wouldn't give her a kiss. So Mawmaw told her she'd have to sit on the couch with no TV and no toys until she gave Little Darlin' a kiss. So she sat there. And sat there. And sat there. For an hour. She never did give her a kiss....

This morning, while waking Daniley, I laid down with her in her bed. She said to me, "Little Darlin' needs Mawmaw." I said "She does? Who do you need then?" She replied, "Mom, I need YOU!" And that was fine with me too. :-)

Oh yes, oh my, how did I forget? Me, JoAynn, and Brooke and our dates went to the Comedy Club, a few weeks ago, and Danson (my brother) and Dan went up on stage and got hypnotized. They were pretty funny, basically we laughed our HEADS OFF! I'll leave the details a mystery but we had a good time. Here's a quick video. Dan is in the blue hat and we weren't supposed to take video so I wasn't too slick in capturing everything, but he just yelled OH MY GOD THEY KILLED KENNY and Danson, who was Kenny at that moment, fell off into the floor. Then some music started playing and Danson got up and did a little dance. Enjoy folks...I'm still laughing!

A couple of weeks ago Brooke took Daniley to Build-A-Bear for her birthday. Mommy sat out and gave them some time alone (and I took some time for the Little Darlin). Brooke took me some photos though. Daniley loves "Fluffy Tinkerbell" and she sleeps with her every night in her new room. Thank you Brooke for being such a wonderful Aunt to my girls!

Speaking of aunts...I'm about to be one again. I'm getting my first niece and I couldn't be more thrilled. Danson and Brooke's baby is due in less than two weeks!!! I can't wait for Bentley to arrive and it's going to be interesting to see how soon they'll let her stay with me. :-) I've thought of all kinds of ideas, like swapping kids one night a month so we can each have a date night. Whoop whoop! I can't wait to see if Bentley looks like Daniley (who looks like my dad, and so does my brother!). I'm not sure if the Thornburgs could actually handle two Danileys. That would be A LOT!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA.

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.