Brandon and I were talking in the kitchen at lunch time today and Sophie was playing with the phone. She'd push the talk button and hold it up to her ear saying, "Hi." It was really cute so we just let her keep doing it. If I saw she pushed some buttons I'd hang it up and let her keep playing. I heard a voice on the other end of the phone, so I picked it up thinking it was the operator telling you to hang up and try again. It wasn't. I glanced down as I was hanging it up again and saw she had dialed 9114683. Yup, you saw that correctly, the first three numbers were 9-1-1. I couldn't believe it and set the phone on the counter hoping nobody actually picked up b/c she dialed them too quickly for it to register. I was wrong. The phone rings and it's the 911 operator asking if everything is ok. He starts asking where we live and our names and other info. As a precaution they have to send a patrol car out to the house just to make sure. Yup, the base patrol shows up a few minutes later and he laughs when he finds out what has happened. I am completely embarrassed and tell him thank you for being concerned. I'll be more careful next time she wants to talk on the phone.

My birthday is coming up and this past weekend my husband told me that he knows what he wants to get me, that it's kind of expensive and he knows I would love it. Since our budget is usually about $30 (we're cheap, I know) and I hadn't even told him what I wanted I was extremely curious what he'd come up with. Last night as we were going to bed he told me what it was, new flat iron. The only reason he did was b/c he saw the one I currently own sitting out and was wondering where it came from. That alone should tell you how much I've actually fixed my hair in the last year+ b/c I've had it for years and hate it. It's a cheap one and all that I could afford, so it had to make do. I've never been much of a makeup/hair/jewelry/clothes person, but I'm trying to work on it since I'm now a mother of two and can't pull off the college look anymore. (Finally having a paycheck helps too!) Now, my hair has always given me trouble. The top half is straight, the bottom half is curly (and not the pretty kind) and all of it is frizzy!! Living in FL does not help it either. Back at Christmas, I borrowed my sister-in-law's Chi flat iron and fell in love. My hair was so smooth and silky and not frizzy. And it stayed that way for 3 days! (Please don't be grossed out, remember I am a mom of 2 and bathing is a luxury!) It always felt that way when I'd leave the salon, but I figured it was the stuff they put on my hair, which I'm sure helped too. I didn't realize Brandon was even in the room when I talked about how much I loved it, but apparently he was b/c he told me last night that when he heard me saying this he thought he'd store that info for my birthday. He continues to tell me that he has spent quite a bit of time researching flat irons to find out more about them so he can get the best one. He goes on about the metals that are typically used, the brands and the pluses and minuses of each, the temperatures they'll reach, and on and on. My mouth hit the floor. What man would take the time to research a hair product for his wife??????? I fell in love with him all over again. He knew WAY more than I did about all of this. The only reason he told me was b/c when he saw the one I had sitting out he was afraid he'd have to come up with another idea. The funny thing is, this is the only thing I wanted for my birthday and was just going to use whatever money I got to buy it! Do I have the sweetest husband in the world or what? I love him!!

Here are more photos from the party. I forgot to mention that she has icing all throughout her hair, that's why it looks greasy. Don't worry, I at least wash my childrens' hair!


Sophie and her new bracelet from her new purse.


Sophie and her new nail polish, which turns out, wasn't meant to be in there!


Sophie and her new dress, that was meant to be in the gift.


Sophie in her party dress. Grammie made it for her! You can't tell, but it has little snowflakes on it. This was only worn up until cake time.


Sophie made this face every time she opened a card. Not sure why.


Sophie playing with her minivan. She loves it!!


Sophie enjoying the icing.

Here's the icing recipe I used. It's from the Williams-Sonoma kids parties book. If you are icing a chocolate cake I'd recommend doing 1 1/2 the recipe. I had to do a second layer on the bigger cake b/c flecks of chocolate came up with the icing while spreading it. It looked pretty like that, but if you want it to be "fleck-free" you'll have to do a second coat. It is so smooth it doesn't take any time to spread it around. Unless you are eating it! I'm telling you, this is the best icing you will ever make!!!

Vanilla Frosting:

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tbl. heavy (double) cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

In a bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together the butter, sugar, cream, vanilla and salt until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Use frosting right away.

To color the frosting, proceed as directed, then beat in food coloring, a drop at a time, until the desired color is achieved.

For lemon frosting, proceed as directed, but reduce the vanilla to 1 tsp. and stir in 1 tsp. lemon extract and 1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest.

Enjoy!!

This weekend we celebrated Sophie's 1st birthday. Grammie and Pop and the Khans (stayed with friends) were able to come down from Alabama to join us and it was so fun to have them around. I thought a few months ago it would be funny to have a "snow themed" party since we are living in Florida now. It's January and what else do you think of other than cold weather? (I also had some inspiration from a kids party book my father-in-law had given me.) I went to the Dollar Tree before Christmas and bought snowflakes to stick on the windows and foam ones to hang from the ceiling. I had these huge ideas of how to decorate the house, the cake, the goodie bags, games we could play, but I knew I was crazy for trying to tackle that for a child who won't even realize there is a party going on. So I simplified. We had a small party around lunch time on Saturday (still used the snow decorations I'd bought) and I didn't realize until the week of the party that all the little kids that were coming were boys. But that's what Sophie is used to being around, so it was quite fitting. Since I made Christopher's first birthday cake, I thought I'd do the same for Sophie. We made pizzas for lunch, had birthday cake (I forgot to serve the ice cream) and then opened presents. Christopher was really tired so he actually asked to go take his nap and crashed on our bed during lunch and missed most of the party! Sophie had so much fun eating cake and did a great job opening presents. She got some wonderful gifts, including clothes (for herself and one of her babydolls), books, a toy purse, new chair (used to help climb over the couch earlier in the week!) and get this.... nail polish!!! (Thanks Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trey!) We had a wonderful time with everyone and thank you to all who remembered her special day and called, emailed or sent cards. I'm working on getting other photos, ours didn't turn out as well. I'll post them as soon as I can get them.

Sophie's cakes were chocolate on the left and a yellow "smash" cake on the right. They were boxed cakes, but they were delicious, the icing was homemade. I'm not an icing girl, but this stuff was amazing! If you want a simple and yummy white icing recipe, let me know. I have always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, so this was my first attempt at it. It was so easy! Of course I did probably the easiest decoration known to man, so there's nothing to brag about!

Sophie wearing her new tutu from her buddy William. It was so cute!! She loves wearing these. Hopefully we have a little ballerina in the making.

Sophie not liking her hat, but loving her icing. She really didn't care for the cake, until the chocolate one came out. She's a chocolate girl!! (Just like her mommy!)

Sophie and one of her biggest fans, "Uncle" Matt. Our kids love the Ramages!! (But who doesn't?)

I don't know if I've talked about what a climber Sophie is or not, but she is insane! She makes you think she wants to sit in your lap, but really she wants to climb onto the side table or over the back of the couch onto the window ledge. She will climb up onto Christopher's PBK chair to get to the big chair to grab the tree and try to pull it over. The other day at the store I had her buckled in the front of the cart and this one had a strap between the legs that snapped to a strap on either side. She got out of it. She also was able to climb up on the chair outside that is used to get onto the trampoline. Now don't panic, she couldn't get onto the trampoline and the only reason she got onto the chair was b/c the legs are dug into the ground to prevent it from tipping over. Last Saturday night we were watching our friends' kids while they had a date night (we went the night before) and found Sophie on the top shelf of the little cabinet in the kitchen.



This morning I was doing the dishes and caught her and Christopher using her new chair (Land of Nod, I love it!!!) to climb over the side of the couch over and over again. (They didn't know I was taking their pic, they both just happened to turn around at the same time.)


Then this afternoon we were at Walmart and I strapped her into the seat, but she kept trying to turn around to see Christopher. I thought I'd try putting the two of them in the big area, but once we got to the food section she kept trying to open everything so she had to go back to her seat. We are almost done shopping and she's trying to turn around again and making some progress. She is now facing backwards, on her knees and suddenly flips over the back of the seat and is hanging upside down still strapped in, legs kicking in the air!!!!! A teenage girl came over to see if I needed some help b/c I was having a hard time unhooking Sophie, but was more mad than anything. How horrible of a mother must I have looked? Thankfully the girl's mother said her daughter was the same way when she was a child. I had to carry her the rest of the shopping trip, which wasn't easy b/c she didn't want to sit still. I finally had to put her back in the seat and pull the strap as tight as it would go. Next time I can't forget my cart cover. It's the only way to contain her. Tie he down in every direction.

Thank you so much to those of you who gave me some lunch ideas. I feel like they should be downing fruits and veggies all the time and get that "Mom guilt" when I give them chips instead. Christopher won't touch fruit and only eats like 2 veggies. Sophie would eat grapes and bananas all day long if I'd let her! (Sometimes I do!) We did have quesadillas the other night and they liked them. I guess I should make them more often! Thanks again for your help!

Does anyone have any good lunch ideas for kids? I'm running dry and need some help. Our days seem to consist of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, mac and cheese or a PBJ sandwich. Sophie still can't have peanut butter, so that's out and she doesn't like lunch meat. Other than that, she'll eat pretty much anything.Today we didn't make it to the store so they are having popcorn, don't worry, it's the 100 calorie kind. I know, it's not the best meal but we are out of everything (except chicken nuggets and she won't even eat them anymore). But she did have some grapes and wheat crackers. If any of you have some ideas, PLEASE let me know!

It's been a long hard week here at the Hemphill household. Brandon was on call last Sunday so, he was home all day Monday. To be honest, I don't even remember what happened that day b/c it feels like 3 weeks ago! I think I ended up waking him so we could go grocery shopping, but he told me he wanted to go and I couldn't start dinner until we got back. (For those of you who don't know me very well, when I have it in my mind that something needs to be done, it has to be done right now. Not in 5 minutes, 3 hours or 2 days, NOW!) So I felt bad about waking him, but we desperately needed to go. This can be a good and bad thing, taking your husband grocery shopping, b/c you know where everything is, he doesn't as well. You have a system for attacking the store, his isn't as planned out. So when he asks what he can do to help all I want to say is, take the kids and I'll see you in 30 minutes. BUT we are there together, so I look at my list and give him 3 items that are in the cold section (thinking it's easy enough for both of us) and off he goes with a kid in tow. We get home, have dinner and honestly, the rest of the week is a complete blur. I don't even know how I remember that day! Maybe b/c it's the last time I feel like I saw my husband. Here is how the rest of the week went:

Tuesday - MOPS in the morning. Sophie falls asleep on the way home. I feed Christopher then put him down for a nap. I shut his door, Sophie wakes up. I play with Sophie, put her down for nap #2, then Christopher wakes up.

Wednesday - We run to Target in the morning. Sophie falls asleep on the way home. I feed Christopher then put him down for a nap. I shut his door, Sophie wakes up. I play with Sophie, put her down for nap #2, then Christopher wakes up. (Are you picking up on the pattern yet?)

Thursday - Christopher and I have a dentist appointment that morning. Sophie falls asleep on the way home. I feed Christopher then put him down for a nap. I shut his door, Sophie wakes up. I play with Sophie, put her down for nap #2, then Christopher wakes up. Sophie wakes up just in time for us to rush to the post office to mail birthday gifts.

Friday - Christopher has Mother's Day Out. Sophie falls asleep on the way home. She naps, I'm terribly upset to see that Ugly Betty didn't come on the night before. Now I have nothing to watch while I fold clothes.

The best part of the week was that Brandon and I got to go on a date Friday night. Our "new" best friends (we make new ones every 2 years when we have to move) here have kids that get along extremely well with our kids. We try to find a weekend once a month to have "date weekend" and take turns watching the kids so the other couple can go out to dinner. We got the first night and I thought we should go to Panera to have dinner and search online for where we'd like to go for our 5 year anniversary this summer. (We thought we'd like a cruise, but decided to use our season passes to Disney instead and go without the kids!) It was the most perfect night!!! Brandon and I were able to sit and talk about so much! I forgot just how much I really loved him and it made me miss him even more for being gone so much lately.

Saturday - Brandon is off to a yard sale he's working. (Raising money for medical trip to Peru in a few weeks.) The kids actually sleep until 7 and 7:45 (NEVER happens!!!). We have breakfast and then head over to yard sale. We stay longer than I thought we would and so we have to stop and get lunch on the way home. Christopher is screaming (can't catch his breathe crying, which he never does... just shows how tired he is) all the way to Chick-fil-A b/c he wants his Daddy and the only thing that makes him stop is telling him he can have his very own lunch and there might be a Franklin book inside. We get home, (not without another meltdown) the kids crash into bed and I take my first shower in 3 days. I'm not lying. I hasn't washed anything but my face in 3 days! I actually let the hot water run out. I'm exhausted and fall asleep in the bed with wet hair. I wake up at 4:00 and thank the Lord that my husband has picked up and been playing with the kids. I haven't seen the floor in our house in days. (mostly b/c of the tunnel that keeps getting pulled out, the only way I could get ready in the morning) The Newells drop their kids off at 5:45 and we play and have a blast until 7:45 when Chrisotpher has his 3rd meltdown of the day and we just put both of our kids to bed and play with the 2 still awake that aren't even ours. (But we'd claim them any day!)

Finally, Sunday - Brandon is on call (again!) and I'm am taking the kids to church even if we have to wear pajamas. I'm desperate for a break and some time with God. I drop Sophie off, she's crying and I just Chrisotpher to run b/c I know she'll stop any minute. I drop Christopher off and he could care less b/c he's found a box full of cars to play with. Church was just the break I needed and (here we go again...) Sophie falls asleep on the way home. Christopher plays in the back yard, I finally get to try my Christmas gift, Bissell Little Green cleaner, and then he comes in b/c he's tired and hungry. He can't decide whether to eat or sleep and thankfully our neighbors, and dear friends, the Ramages come walking up. William and Christopher take off playing. I have some adult convo with Matt and Tiffany and Sophie wakes up. After they leave (another meltdown by Christopher b/c he hit Tiffany in the face with a plastic sword and wouldn't apologize - I'm still embarrassed!!) I feed the kids, put Christopher down, play with Sophie and then she acts tired so I put her down again. I can't believe it. I'M ALONE!!!!! I watched Monk, Psych and started Wii Fit and then they woke up. I didn't care. We played on it together before heading up to see Brandon.

If you think that was a long one, just imagine how I feel. I do find peace in knowing that God never gives us more than we can handle, but like that saying goes, I wish He didn't think I could handle so much! As I look back I realize no matter how frustrated, exhausted, angry, mad, whatever I get, I am truly thankful for 2 very healthy children and a wonderful husband who loves us more than I even realize. I told Brandon at dinner the other night I wonder what our lives would be like if we didn't have kids yet, to which I immediately said, "Boring." He laughed and started naming all the things we could be doing, but we both know we wouldn't do any of those things. I told him I had no regrets and wouldn't change a thing. I AM exhausted and headed to bed to disappear into another book, but I want to end by saying, I love my life!

Sophie and I went to the commissary (on base grocery store for those unfamiliar with military, like I was until 6 months ago when we moved on base) to grab a few things and it took forever! Never go to there during lunch hour. I had to wait forever to check out of the quick, self-checkout lane. Thankfully I didn't have much to pick up b/c Sophie, our little climber figured out how to get out of the seat belt while it was still buckle between her legs and wanted to stand up the rest of the way. This was fine while we waited to check out, but once it was our turn it became a problem b/c I was at the back of the cart and she was at the front. The woman running this area even tried to come help, but Sophie yelled at her and scared her away. So, I just picked her up and set her in the big part of the grocery cart thinking she was trapped. I'm stupid b/c she immediately stood up, put one foot on the 12 pack of Cokes and threw the other leg over the side and started to climb out. Thankfully I caught her before her butt went too far over sending her straight to the floor, but this just made her mad. My older brother was known for being a daredevil climber at a very young age. I loved hearing the stories, thankful that my son didn't scare me like this, never thought my daughter would.


Before I end this second post of the day (I know, I can't believe it either) I have to share with you my ultimate deal of the week. Remember my post about all the baby and maternity items that I dropped off at the consignment store? Well, apparently some of them sold! I went by there to pick up some things that couldn't be sold, not knowing that I'd actually made some money and so I thought I'd look around a little. I had $18 and some change credit plus, everything was 40% off. I ended up having to pay $3.64 and here's what I got:



An apron for Christopher, a dress and skirt (pink and white stripe) for Sophie, What To Expect With a Toddler (had very detailed potty instructions) and a gift for my sister who's expecting her first in July. I was quite pleased!

Here are a few more photos from the week:

Nothing like a tutu and a truck! She still loves Christopher's trucks. I think it's cute!

Here they are having milk and goldfish for breakfast while watching Franklin. This is Chrisotpher's perfect way to spend the morning and I thought I'd see if Sophie could handle it, she did pretty good.

This year we knew we had to do something about our finances, as everyone else in the world is too, and we knew we couldn't trust ourselves to just write it down and follow it. We need very strict rules. So, we decided we'd try the envelope system. For some this may not work b/c spending cash is much easier than not, but for us we hate to see it go. So far we have done really well. I spent about $65 at the grocery store the first week and $75 the second. Now, I'd already stocked up on meat, which is always my down fall when it comes to grocery shopping. That and not planning meals well enough. I was completely surprised at how well I was doing. This has been very hard for me b/c groceries are the one place I can't say no. I don't go in without a list, but I do tend to buy something b/c it looks good, which is never on my list, and that's where I fail. This time I stuck to the list. Unless it was on super sale (like the premarinated steaks I got for $.99 a lb.!). Today was hard though. I went to Target. (dun, dun, duuuuunnnnn!!!!!) Like most women, this is a source of weakness for me. I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars in there if ever given the time and money. And I could do that every week! When we lived in Huntsville there was a Super Target 10 minutes from my house and I would go twice a week, sometimes just to walk around. But now that we live in FL I have to drive at least 25-30 minutes away to get to one. You would think this would help our budget, but no. I just buy more thinking I won't get out here for another month. But this time I was going only to buy a few things, what was on my list. Let's just say I failed. But in my defense, I am about to show you why I did and what I got. Now, Sophie's birthday is next week and we are having a small party, so I needed a few party favors. Thanks to the dollar section I got these items there. (Not bad, it's the dollar section after all.) Then I go past the clothing, I knew this was dangerous, but I just couldn't resist. I did grab one of those pretty, light weight scarves that you see people wearing, and I don't feel guilty about that. I have a budget set for clothing and I hadn't spent one dime yet, and this was only $13. Then I grab another tank b/c I loved the first one I got, but I'm going to take it back. I don't need two, even though I want two. I went to get the diapers and of course, the sale was for the small packs. Now honestly, who need a bag of only 30 diapers? That's a week's worth! So I bought the store brand box with 92 in it. Next I go to the kids clothing section to hit up the sale section and this was where I got excited. I found a tutu (really it's a skirt and a 3T, but whatever!she'll grow into it!), a sweater and a coat for Sophie, all to wear next year. Now this is why I'm excited, the tutu was $2.50, the sweater was $2.25 and the velvet coat was $6.25!!!!

I dug and dug and dug for more goodies, but didn't find anything I liked. Christopher kept trying to help and was grabbing bathing suits and pj's saying they would be cute for Sophie or that he needed them, but I kept putting them back. I also grabbed a b'day gift for my sis-in-law and b'day cards for family (everyone on both sides, except 2 people ,were born between October and March, it's crazy!) and a pan for making quiche (so I don't have to keep buying frozen crust, you know the whole spend money to save money thing), some face wash and makeup remover. It was a lot for me, considering my shopping trips have been small lately, but it's been done. It hurt handing over that cash, but we survived and then went to Chick-a-Flay (as Christopher calls it) for lunch. It was a good day, but this budget stuff is hard. I'm trying and it can actually be fun, but let's be honest, we all know it would be fun to have an endless supply of money and never have to worry about making payments, wouldn't it? Or would it?????

We have been trying to teach Sophie sign language. We did a little of this with Christopher and it was fun, so we thought we'd try again. It's funny b/c "milk" is the first one we tried to teach Christopher, but the last one he picked up. We tried it with Sophie and within minutes she got it. (Probably b/c it has to do with food.) I thought "more" (point finger into other hand which is open) would be a good one to teach next, but she kind of claps so you never know if she's just excited or actually wants more. Maybe both. I tried to teach her "please" (pat your chest) the other day while she was in her booster seat and I could tell she couldn't quite figure it out. Later when we were on the floor I tried again and she actually crawled over to me and pat me on the chest instead of herself. I laughed so hard! No wonder she was confused before, she couldn't get to me to say it! Every now and then she'll get it, but if you are holding her and ask her to say "please" she pats your chest instead of her own. Tonight I was reading her a book and I thought she'd lost interest so I closed it when we finished. I was speechless when she opened it back up and started signing "please."

Here are my two favorite photos that were taken today while the kids were playing outside.

I want to thank Lindsay (a.k.a. Ole Miss Mom) and Lori for helping with my blog! I could not have figured this out without you! I'll be using the info you gave me from now on to help with with any future problems I know I will have. Thank you ladies!!

VH1 has a show that I love called "Best Week Ever." They talk about the funny and crazy things that happened in entertainment that week as told by comedians. I think it's hilarious! We had a very good week at our house, so I thought I'd share some of what happened. I don't have photos of everything, but in my defense, I knew that I'd miss the moments if I ran inside to grab the camera.

Monday morning Christopher wanted to ride on his tractor, surprise! It was really nice out so I didn't mind. He rode around for a while and Sophie was in the swing, so I thought I'd put him to work. I had a bag of mulch that needed to move from the front yard to the back and I asked him to come help me. He was more than willing to haul some "dirt" in his trailor! He wanted to keep some in his trailor, so not all the mulch ended up where I wanted it to, but that's fine. He's happy and so am I.



For some reason, Sophie is always trying to put Christopher's underwear on her head. Whenever we put it on there she starts snorting and laughing. She was trying to put his pj bottoms on her head the other night so we helped her out and Christopher ran to grab another pair for his head. We still had our tree in it's box b/c we weren't able to move it yet (due to Bran's surgery) and they chased each other around it for like 20 minutes laughing their little heads off. It was great! The next two days Christopher would come up to us saying, "Me and Sophie be silly around the box!" We finally put the tree away last night, but that didn't stop them from trying.



Sophie went poo poo in the potty! Yes, our 11 1/2 month old pooped in the potty. Christopher is not at all interested in doing this, so I have a lot of poopy underwear to wash. After dinner the other night, Sophie was trying to go #2 while sitting in her booster seat and well, there's not a whole lot of room down there to add anything else when you are strapped down, so we thought we'd just put her on the potty and see what happened. She pooped! Yup! We'd heard of people potty training babies, but never thought we'd try it ourselves. The best part was, Christopher wanted to try. No luck, but at least he tried.

As you learned from our previous post, Pillow Island has become a part of our lives now. It lasted all day the other day b/c I didn't really care to put it away. I knew it was free entertainment and I was out of ideas, so it stayed. Christopher loves to stand on the chair and fall into the middle of it. Sophie climbs on top, gets on her knees, puts her hands in the air and falls over laughing. It's adorable! After we put Sophie to bed Christopher trying climbing up on the arm of the couch and diving off. Thankfully he hasn't tried that anymore. It was a special treat for that point in time.

One morning I walked in to see Christopher had colored on my rug in the kitchen. He said he wanted to make it pretty for me. I really appreciated the thought b/c it IS very boring. It was meant to go somewhere else and didn't work, so I just stuck it in the kitchen b/c it fit and was inexpensive and I didn't feel like dragging the kids all over town looking for a new one. Thank goodness for washable markers and indoor/outdoor rugs!

Friday, Christopher had MDO and didn't wet his pants the whole time. I was so proud! Sophie and I ran a few errands and had some great Mommy/daughter time. She was in the best mood all day. We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and she just laughed and ate and tried to talk to the other babies that were there. She always seems to draw attention to herself, which I don't mind. I think she's pretty funny too!

Saturday, Brandon decided to wash the cars. They needed it really bad, so I was excited about this. Christopher always wants to help b/c water is involved. About halfway through the process he got distracted with the puddles that had formed. We didn't have anything to do later, so we didn't care. Sophie woke up from her nap a little while later and once she realized what was going on she wanted to join in. I took her pants off and let her walk around a little. The water was freezing, but they didn't care. Before we knew it, she was crawling around in it. Sort of. She wouldn't put her knees down and walked on her hands and feet like a monkey. It was too funny! They had so much fun, but once Christopher started shivering we took them inside for baths.

It has been a really great week! For that I'm incredibly thankful!

Ok, I've been trying to figure out how to put a picture on our header for weeks and can't seem to get it to show up? Is there anyone out there that can help me????? I go to the Layout page and click on the Edit part of the Header section, select a photo from our computer, save it, yet I still have no photo on there. WHAT'S THE DEAL???? I love all the fancy ones people have, but I change my mind so much on the background that I know it'd be a waste of money to pay someone to make it for me. I'd change my mind a month later and have to do it all over again! SOOOOO... I decided I'd just put a photo on there with our name in front. I begging, will someone please tell me I'm an idiot and then tell me how to fix it? Even if you dont know me and happened to come across my blog and know how to fix it, PLEASE HELP ME!!! This is driving me crazy. I'm not THAT computer challenged, but I'm obviously doing something wrong.

We went back to Montgomery last weekend to go to our best friends' son's 1st birthday party. They are very special to us and do so much for us and we didn't want to miss the fun.

When we got there Saturday morning, Christopher and Nicholas ran around playing with all the cars and toys and Sophie just tried to figure out what to do first. Joshua, the birthday boy, was napping, but not for long. The rest of the party guests arrived later and everyone played outside before coming in for pizza and cake.

Joshua wasn't sure what to do with his smash cake at first, but then he got into it. It was great! Then it was time to open presents and all the kids wanted to help at that point. No surprise. I did everything but sit on Christopher to keep him from unwrapping the presents. After everyone left we but the kids down for naps and the grown ups (if we can be called that) played Wii. We finally had to wake up Christopher so we could put Sophie down for a nap and Melissa woke up Nicholas so he'd go to bed that night and the dads decided to take the boys for a walk to explore. Nicholas grabbed his new scooter and Christopher was on the tricycle. It was really cute! I remember when they were just born and all they could do was lie on a blanket and stare at each other. Boy, how time flies!

Burt started grilling the steaks for dinner and we gave the kids some snacks and waited for dinner to be ready. Sophie saw Joshua had some raisins and quickly crawled over to join him. (Have we mentioned how much she loves to eat?) She recently learned to give kisses, but would only give them if you mentioned the persons' name. We told her to give Joshua a kiss to see if she'd do it, she tried, but he wasn't having it. They decided to hold hands instead. It was adorable!

After eating, Nicholas and Burt wanted to show us what they do most evenings to burn energy, it's called Pillow Island. We ran around grabbing pillows from all over the house, threw them in a huge pile on the floor and the kids took turns jumping and diving into the middle. Brandon and I even took a turn. The kids weren't the only ones who enjoyed it!

The kids were all sweaty so we threw them in the tub, opened Christmas presents and then hit the road. It was the perfect day! We love spending time with the Khan family and it's never a dull moment when we get together. Hopefully we'll see them soon and do it all over again!

8:00 pm, child #2 went to bed: Great

8:40 pm, child #1 went to bed: Even better

9:15 pm, parents are in bed with lights out: Awesome
(or sad, depending on who you are)

11:30 pm, wake up to go to the bathroom and realize you still have the rest of the night to sleep: PRICELESS!!!


That is how we brought in the new year. In our opinion, it was perfect! We haven't felt that rested in a really long time. Now we're ready to face another year together!