12MAR10

I was SOOOO excited when my friend from Germany, Britteny, told me she was coming to Atlanta for a few days!! She asked if we would be able to come for a few days and I didn't even have to think about it! We got there on Sunday evening and got home late Tuesday night and I swear I barely sat for the entire time we were there!

Our first stop was the Atlanta Zoo. It was a great time. The weather was beautiful and the kids were great! Britteny's friend Cindy came also with her 2 girls so we had quite a bit of estrogen going on! You wouldn't believe how many people stopped to talk or watch us with our parade of girls! I, of course, didn't get enough pics of Britteny and I but we took a TON of the kids!! We enjoyed being with our friends!

Watching the flamingos. (Ryan, Alexis, Noel, Alexia, sweet baby Taylor not pictured! :) )

Our little kangaroos

I love my girls!

RAARRR!!!

Ryan's turn!

Baby birds!

Baby birds ready to eat!

All the 2 year olds had a blast getting into trouble! :)

Talking to the goat.

NEIGH

She loves being like her big sister!

Playing with Britteny.

Her favorite the panda (you have tolook hard behind the glass!)

Brushing the goats.

02MAR10

HAD to shout out to Cristine!! I love this girl. For lots and lots of reasons BUT today it's b/c I wrote her an e-mail saying I can't for the life of me figure out how to change my blog layout (I'm not usually so technologically challenge but this for some reason has gotten the best of me!) So I send her my password and not even an hour later she calls me saying I think you'll like it. Purple and green?? Simple but cute?? Yep I think this girls knows me huh? So THANK YOU CRISTINE!!!!!! You rock! And finally after almost 3 years of having this blog it's not boring and the same as everyone else's anymore!!!

01MAR10

Alexis had her first soccer practice last week and she did so GREAT! Her age group is 3 and 4 years olds so it's different seeing her as one of the bigger kids. I was so proud at how well she listened to the coach and how well she picked everything up. She loved it and I think she's really going to enjoy playing soccer!

Before we left making funny faces. Yeah her outfit isn't traditional Monica but there are just some things that have to be sacrificed for warmth! :)

Waiting to do "big kicks."

Dribbling. I know I'm biased but she did really well keeping control of the ball. I'm sure practicing with daddy ahead of time helped!

Huddle up!

GOAL! :)

28FEB10

Ryan is TWO!!!! This little red hair, blue-eyed beauty lives up to her name AND hair color. She is feisty, full of energy, slightly dramatic, knows what she wants, sweet, innocent, and for the most part a complete JOY to be around. She is a very happy, content little girl, for the most part. :) She loves her family and her big sister. She loves when Alexis gets home and especially loves going to pick her up at the bus stop. I am so happy she came into our lives and can't believe she is now a true 2 year old toddler!

Her actual birthday fell on a Sunday so we celebrated by letting her open a couple presents other people had sent and somewhat following an old McBride tradition of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream (the tradition is waffles but I have never owned a waffle maker can you believe it!) We also had them for dinner instead of breakfast since we have 9 a.m. church and Sunday breakfast is ALWAYS good old cold cereal!

We had Ryan's party yesterday and just invited a few friends (funny enough everyone we invited we knew from Germany! ) One of our friends has been sick for the last week so they weren't able to come but we had a blast with our small group and Ryan thought it was a great party!

The set-up

Not sure what to think yet about the candle... I LOVE her expressions!

She knew just what to do!

Big smile!

Kiera and Ryan playing the piano!

A new BABY!!

Sand toys! We haven't gotten it yet but we are going to get her a sand table. We're just trying to find the one we want.

All the kids. (Dak, Ryan, Alexis, Caed, Kiera)

Note Ryan copying Dak! Too fun!

21FEB10

Happy Birthday!! Our baby girl turns TWO today!!! She is such a blessing in our lives and we love so much about her. She is always trying to make us laugh and carries all the spunk needed to live up to the strawberry blonde hair! We decided to have her party next Saturday which is going to be more of a small get together with some friends. I will definitely post pics. Happy Birthday Ryan we love you!

14FEB10

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!! Yes, I love to dress my girls in matching clothes. Yes, I like to then take a million pictures of them. Yes, I love to then blog a few of the million pictures. Yes, I then take some of those and scrapbook them. Yes, I am okay with knowing you think I'm silly!

This is CLASSIC Ryan these days. If she doesn't like something she hangs her head and "pouts" it's hilarious!

Copying her big sister.

Blowing Kisses

13FEB10

Snow Day!!!! On Thursday evening I got a phone about midnight. It was a recording saying school was canceled. I was like wait huh? Why? I knew it was supposed to snow on Friday but not till around 8. I talked to Travis and he said one time he was in Atlanta and there was like an inch of snow and the whole airport shut down!! I guess the South just doesn't know how to deal. So Lexi stayed home even though it STILL hadn't started snowing. Around 9 the snowflakes started. Nothing started sticking till about noon (she gets OUT of school at 11:30!) By early evening we had about 2 inches (MAYBE) on the ground. HAHA! By the time the last flake fell, if we had been in Germany, they STILL wouldn't have canceled school. It was hilarious to me. I even talked to a friend who is from Idaho and she said last year it snowed Saturday and there was not a single flake on the road by Monday but they still canceled. I guess I shouldn't say too much b/c pretty sure if Mesa ever got REAL snow the same thing would happen... So we got a snow day. Lexi told me when it snows in GA she's going to call it Germany! Sweet girl. Anyone think she misses Germany a little??

They both had a blast and actually stayed out for an hour even thought it was still snowing. I made them come in b/c neither of them had actual snow suits on and I didn't want them to get too wet. We had a lot of fun in our Southern snow! Oh and if you're wondering YES those are plastic bags taped around Ryan's shoes. Lex had snow boots but I didn't want Ryan's toes to be frozen and hey it TOTALLY worked. Ghetto or not!

And here they are after some nice hot chocolate and changing into warm jammies!!