The day I shot my first GUN!

Mike and I finally went on a long overdue date night, thanks to my parents being in town for Thanksgiving.

Mike suggested that we go to the gun range and I agreed. We had never done that before and I needed/wanted to know how to shoot a gun. We went to a place right near our house...Bulls Eye Indoor Gun Range in Downtown Lawrenceville.

We were able to rent 2 guns...a night hawk(shown above) and a desert eagle. .

It was pretty crazy shooting a gun. I will try to explain it the best way I can..but it is something you should experience for yourself.

I could actually see the explosion. It's really loud, and your whole body moves when the gun goes off. I enjoyed it, but know that the only time that I would ever use one would be for mine or my families protection.

South Eastern Railway Museum

Karlie's School had an auction style fundraiser. Mike and I bid on a couple of items but only won 2 auctions. One of our winning bids was a trip to the South Eastern Railway Museum. We wanted this trip for a couple of reasons. Janie's first word was choo-choo..and lately the girls favorite show is Dinosaur Train, so we thought taking them to see real trains would be a very exciting way to spend a gorgeous Saturday.

Their favorite part was NOT the huge steam engines, or the actual ride that we took on a real train, nope....it was the small train set that had a train going in a tunnel and coming out the other end. Go figure!

I was not expecting it, but much to my surprise...I hold a special place in my heart for trains. Seeing all the old passenger cars and envisioning how the elite traveled back then was really interesting. I also learned how to do morse code. Very Cool!

Lake Lanier Night of Lights

Oh What A Night..

Usually we are all in bed by 7:30, but last night we decided to do something different. We all packed into the car and went to Lake Laniers Magical Night of Lights. We enjoyed a wonderful evening of hot cocoa and gooey roasted marshmallows that we made ourselves at the outdoor firepit. Karlie and Janie's dreams came true as they rode on pony's and trains. ") It was so amazing to see the smiles on their faces.

Here are some pictures from our night.

Halloween '09

This Halloween turned out to be really fun for the girls. I wasn't even going to dress them up this year, but Mike talked me into buying them costumes. I went to Toys R' Us and found them the cutest little outfits ever...and they were on sale.

Lion Costume...$2
Poodle Costume...$5

You can't beat that! What a treat!! ")

We started off by going to Chick-fil-a on Thursday night where they had .99 cent kids meals, clowns, and kid activites.

Friday we had Karlie's School Halloween Party which turned out really great. We ate more chick-fil-a, made halloween bags and went trick or treating.

We finished off the holiday by going with Lee and Amy Dawkins to the Church Trunk or Treat party. It was really fun. We ate Chile, danced to halloween music, and got lots of good candy from Trunk or Treating.

Here are some pictures of the girls in their costumes.

Mike gets the Swine Flu!

It happened! I was terrified of this moment!! I have become obsessive complusive because of the fear I have of this virus coming into our home, but on Sunday October 11th...it defeated us!

I didn't believe Mike for the 1st couple of days, but he finally went to the Doctor on Tuesday..and it was confirmed. For Mike to go to the Doctor really meant something was diffently wrong. I have never seen him like this..and never want to again. All he could do was lay in bed..he would go from freezing to sweating over and over again. He kept a fever of 102 for almost 4 days. He lost 8 pounds and had no appetite at all. His fever finally broke on Thursday, but he still not feeling great.

Luckily none of us girls have shown symptoms, so hopefully it will just pass us by. I have scheduled for us all to get flu shots on Wednesday!

Jennifer and Justin August 22, 2009

My sister, Jennifer and her Husband Justin Redmon got married on August 17th 2009. Here are some photos from their wedding reception.

Orlando Vacation and 6 year Anniversary

At the beginning of this month we went down to the Brown's Florida home for a much needed vacation. My mom and sister joined us. We all needed it. Jennifer got married at the end of August... 2 days later my grandmother passed away and 2 weeks after that my grandfather followed. We had been going through a rough patch and needed a time out. This vacation was such a blessing!

While we were there, Mike and I celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary. We spent the day in St. Augustine, Florida getting a couples massage, taking a sunset sailboat ride, and then going out for a nice dinner. It was perfect!


We took a little trip with our girls to Wonder Works. They loved it!! It was kind of like a little interactive science museum. I highly recommend it.










Mike did a little fishing...but other than that we didn't get out much.
The Browns home is so comfortable and it takes a lot of will power to get up and go once you get settled in. Thanks for letting us stay there again. ")

Karlie's 1st day of Preschool

Karlie's first day of preschool was today and it was both exciting and sad. She was happy going in this morning, but Janie cried when they took Karlie in and I cried a little bit too.

When I came to pick her up..she said "Momma!!!" I said.."I missed you Karlie"...and she looked back at me and said.."I missed you Momma" . It was the greatest.

Here is what her teacher said in an email to me this afternoon...

Ok, she is so cute-I love everything about her!!! Miss Donna (she teaches a 3 yr old class) came down and took one look at her and said, "You tell her mom that I get her next year. She is adorable." She had a really great day until she was tired out. SHE LOVES THE PLAYGROUND!

I signed up to be a room mom and can't wait to help plan all of the holdiay parties. Wish us luck!

Orlando Trip '09

Our summer vacation has come and gone. We left on a Friday and didn't come home until the following Sunday..so needless to say, we took our time. 10 days to be exact. Uncle Bill and Aunt Brenda have an amazing,comfortable, relaxing, state of the art home down there..that could not have been more enjoyable. Thank you guys so much for letting us stay there! If we were not at Disney parks or the beach...we were in the house either in the pool or the hot tube, playing rock band upstairs in the game room, watching a movie on the 60+ inch HDTV or just reading magazines and resting on the enormous couches and chairs. Ahhhh...So relaxing!!

We did decide to leave the house once or twice...")

Early in the week we visited Melbourne Beach. Karlie and Janie both love, love, love the beach. They love the sand, the waves, and the people watching.

Monday was my 30Th birthday..so Mike and I got dressed up and went to the House of Blues at Downtown Disney. I had never been to the House of Blues and loved the atmosphere. Mike and I also love all of that Cajun soul food. We got the BBQ sandwich w/sweet potato fries and the Seafood Jambalaya..and ate off of each others plate. It was yummy!!

Tuesday we took the girls to Sea World. Karlie and Janie loved it. Everything except for the Elmo show, which was one of the major reasons for us going there. They are both obsessed with Elmo at home, but seeing him up close was just too much! Here is a picture of Karlie in front of one of the aquariums.




PS...all of the pictures were taken with the new camera that Mike got me for my birthday. I love it!! Thanks baby!

Wednesday we celebrated Janie's 1st birthday. We went out to eat..which I know...was more for us then her, but still! ") Here is my favorite picture of her..we were singing her Happy Birthday and she was acting shy!



Thursday we took the girls to Aquatica. The water park associated with Sea World. That was great because it wasn't busy..and the heat didn't bother us.. being that we were in the water most of the time. The girls couldn't do much because they are so little..so we rode around and around on the lazy river at least 100 times. My favorite part of this day was when it started raining. We decided to take a lunch break. Mike had packed some snacks...Cheese Whiz, crackers, beef jerky and Oreo's. This is what we feasted on. I just know all of the people sitting around us from other countries were thinking..."Americans" as they ate their grapes. ")

We love the spring!

This weekend couldn't have been better. We spent Saturday at Laura's parents grilling some hamburgers and hotdogs and spending time with them before they head back to Texas. As always the food was great and it was sad saying our byes. Today we took a trip up to Highlands, NC with Stacey and Robert. The weather was perfect making it a beautiful drive. I love passing by the private school in Rabun Gap which has to be the nicest school in the southeast. There is a long windy road that twists up the side of the mountains heading into Highlands which is always fun to drive up. Laura had to remind me more than a couple times to drive within the lines. Highlands is a small mountain town with lots of antique and art shops. It sits next to Lake Sequoyah which is just a small serene lake that is created by a georgous waterfall dam. Just past the dam is a little waterfall that falls over the road. It used to be that you had to drive under the waterfall to get into Highlands but now they built a road around it. You can still drive under it if the weather isn't cold. In downtown Highlands we walked down the mainstreet looking in the shops and just enjoying the weather. Our favorite stops were the "Sauce store" where you can sample all types of salsas, sauses, and jellies. The icecream parlour and an antique shop which has a fun Ring game we like to play. It was great having Stacey Robert, and Lucie to enjoy it all with us. Here are a couple of videos of the trip up to Highlands, and Bridal Veil Falls. It is a little long but didn't feel like editing it :)

Karlie's 2nd Birthday

Karlie celebrated her 2nd birthday party with family and friends on Saturday February 28th. We loved having everyone over..and Karlie got some great new toys! I had fun decorating the house PINK..and dressing Karlie up in Her Special Birthday outfit. The theme was pretty much anything and everything girly. I had Genna Harris make the cupcakes and included some beautiful pictures of the finished product.

Texas Trip '09 Hail Storm

Mike and I took our little family on an early vacation to visit relatives in Texas this year. We ended up all getting sick and coming home early, but I was still glad that we got to spend some time together..sick or not. While we were there we witnessed a massive hail storm. I have, and probably will never again see something like this.







Here are some pictures of the girls from our picnic in the park, while in Texas... as well as some from the car ride there. Yes we drove all the way to Texas with 2 babies!

Family Pictures 2008

Uncle Bill took pictures of us for the fall. They turned out great..and we thought we would share them with you guys. Enjoy...and hope you all had a great holiday season. Happy New Year!!