Mardi Gras in the Snow

I decided, since Page was not here with me to go to the Mardi Gras parades, the girls and I would take a trip. I have some very dear friends, the Littletons, that I met in Rome, GA while in college. I babysat for their son, Caleb, who was 1 at the time. He is now 13.

Anyway, they are now living in Sevierville, TN. Eric, Julie, and Caleb had not met Thia yet, so I decided this would be a great opportunity for us to go see them and for them to meet Thia. The girls did great! We split up the trip by spending the night in Montgomery with Page's parents which is almost exactly half way. We left on Thursday, before Mardi Gras and got to Montgomery that night. As we were going to bed, the weather reports were predicting that we would wake up to several inches of snow. I was a little nervous about that and decided to wait to see what the next day would bring. When we woke up there was no snow, but as we were leaving it had just started snowing. I was so excited that the snow had held off until I could get out of town. Little did I know that it would snow on me the entire way up to TN. I decided that I would much rather drive through snow than rain any day. The snow kept the girls entertained as we drove.

As soon as we got to Sevierville, the girls climbed up in Julie's lap and made themselves at home. Julie has already planned for grandchildren by thinking to keep the toys Caleb had when he was little. The girls thought they were great!

The girls had some really fun opportunities while in TN. They got to see some snow. They were able to go sledding, which I did not get any pics of because I was taking a shower at the time. They were trying to get in the sledding before the snow melted and apparently Grandma Julie used it as a distraction while I was taking a shower. I do have pictures of them getting ready to go sledding.

After the sledding craziness, we realized that the girls do not have any clothes warm enough for this type of weather. So we decided to try to find them some in expensive snow gear. We were very blessed to find this outlet with really cute clothes having a HUGE sale on their winter gear. We got the girls snow suits which will last them this season and next (we got them a little too big). Karis was very excited about her suit because it had gloves and a hat that matched. I thought I had a picture of these suits, but I couldn't find it. If I do, I will put it up later.

The girls loved getting to spend time with the Littletons and their dogs, Hobbs and Louise. This is Hobbs in this picture laying on the kitchen floor next to Karis.

Grandma Julie gave Karis her first Oreo and taught her how to twist it and lick out the middle. No one realized that since Karis does not get much sugar that we were in for a real treat later that night as the sugar kicked in.

Julie also made her famous chocolate chip cookies with Karis, which EVERYONE enjoyed too many of.

Caleb enjoyed playing with the girls too. I think he enjoyed Thia the most though. She attached herself to him and forced him to walk her around the house a number of times. She started standing up by herself for the first time while we were there. She has not started walking yet, but I am expecting it any day.

We had a wonderful time renewing friendships and watching the girls get loved on by this sweet family that I love very much.

Dressing Up

A few weeks ago we had dinner with a few other moms and kids whose husbands are either in class or studying on Monday nights. The moms really enjoy the fellowship and the experience is a great form of community. We all bring food for dinner and watch as the kids are too excited to eat. Here are some pictures of the fun.

Ava helped all of the girls into one of her many princess dresses she had just received for her birthday. Ava helped Karis into her Sleeping Beauty ball gown.

Here are all of the girls in their gowns. Beginning on the left, Lillian LePointe (Tinker Bell), Ava Robert (Bell from Beauty & the Beast), and Karis (Aurora from Sleeping Beauty).

After the girls were dressed, they put on music and spent a long time twirling in the living room. They had a blast and they all slept well that night.

Drew Bree's Testimony

I am really sorry I have not made any posts in a while. I am taking lots of pics and have a lot to tell you about how we are doing. I wanted to share this clip with you in light of the Saints victory in the Superbowl. I am very proud of our team, but I extremely proud of our quarterback and the example he lives on and off the field. I thought that y'all would like to see this as well. I am having trouble getting the YouTube video to embed, so I am going to leave you with the URL address. Hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0buCfbFuHw

Sleeping Issues: Day 26

Overall, or family's transition to Page being gone has been smooth. Last year when Page was gone for several months, Karis acted out and expressed anger in other ways. This time, she has not had the anger, but she is having trouble sleeping by herself.

For the first few nights, Karis would wake up around 1:30 am crying out until I came in to reassure her. This would continue almost every hour. This problem only lasted a few nights....thank goodness. She quickly moved to wanting to come sleep with me. She would start out in her bed, but around 1:30 am she would wake up and either climb in bed with me or call me to come get her.

I soon gave her permission to come to sleep with me if she woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. After I gave her permission, she quit wanting to sleep with me. I thought we were through the sleeping woes until I walked in the girls room one night to check on them. This is what I found.....

Karis is sleeping on the floor in front of the gate blocking their door. I put the gate up until I go to bed so that she does not get up and play in the bathroom or my room (which she has a tendency to do when she "can't sleep.")

A few days later I walked in the room and could not find Karis anywhere. She was not in her bed. She was not in the floor. Nor was she in my room. I finally went back in their room and looked in the bed with Thia. There they both were, curled up next to one another.

She has climbed in Thia's bed almost every night since then. On most nights Thia yells at her and I have to come get Karis out. However, somehow Karis climbs back into the crib after Thia is asleep and falls asleep next to her. I fought this for about a week and then realized... they are both sleeping well and I am getting a full nights sleep. Why am I fighting it?