One of my favorite things ever! {Videos}

Hey guys! i have an exciting post coming up!! Our sweet neighbor gave us tickets to the circus for London's birthday and last night was the big night. Most exciting day of her life. She had an absolute blast and is still all giddy today that she saw real live elephants, lions, and doves (??) In the meantime, here's a video of her doing one of my favorite things: singing the Veggie Tales theme song.

You may have to turn the volume up a little. Here's the line you should be listening for: "If you like to waltz with potatoes up and down the produce aisle....'


Here's London singing it. Adorable! "If you like walk with 'tato up and down the todu MIIIIIILLLLLLEEEE!'


And a few pictures from our week. Here's my new favorite picture ever. I love that sweet smile!

 Amazed at an airplane flying by...

 One of our favorite places to eat in Birmingham. The taco truck that parks in a Texaco parking lot. Authentic mexican that will stuff you full for $5. Yes please!

 Our backyard. Not at all what it really looked like. It was lovely, but I put all of these filters on this picture and came out with this AMAZING sunset! Totally a lie, but beautiful none the less!

 London had pajama day at school last week! Here she is in her candy canes all ready for school! I was so jealous of her!

I'll update more later and will tell you all about the circus! She was so excited yesterday (i assume giddy about going to the circus) and absolutely wore me slap out. I said that in the battle of energy of a 2 year old vs. energy it takes to parent a 2 year old, London annihilated me yesterday. I was PLUM WORN OUT by 3:00 in the afternoon! She was great, not throwing fits, just AMPED UP all day long! I was exhausted!! This parenting stuff is serious business!

Love you all! Happy Monday!

The photo perks of a new phone

So I got the new iphone through work. I have really been trying not to be prideful about it. I keep telling myself that I had a phone that only texted and talked for 2 years. I don't need this supped up new toy. HOWEVER. It is completely awesome. I don't think Im being prideful in saying that, am I? I would still be fine without it, but I do love it. It is like it can read your mind. It's so intuitive. My fav part? The PICTURES of course!! What good stalker doesn't like a million apps that make your pictures look cool??

Here are my first batch with free apps. I think Im going to bite the bullet and buy an awesome app soon though! I love these pictures!! :)

London (and her rocking side pony) playing with my best friend Jill's kid-o's

 Eva Claire: isn't she beautiful? She smiled the whole time we were there! Darling child!!

 Testing the new apps...

 Ms. Gail and Renny at Renny's bday lunch

 I've mentioned our incredible neighbor on the blog before. He is awesome. He and his family are so generous.  He has stolen London's whole heart. She adores him! He dropped by the other day with this: tickets to the circus for London's birthday. Plus a whole sack of presents that we haven't opened yet. The presents are circus themed so we're going to open them next Sunday before we go to the show!! How much fun?!? I can't wait! London is going to love it!

Bumped our head but these poor little faces were too cute not to snap...

 They moved London up to a big girl bed at school but they have to have nap mats and pillows. I went shopping for one the other day and those suckers are like FORTY DOLLARS!!! So I found this precious one at Walmart for $15. She loves it. Win.Win. 

 Guess who won the spelling bee competition at school?? Yup! Renny Cakes. She won THE WHOLE COMPETITION!! She had already placed 2nd in her grade and the top 2 went on to the school competition. She won!! Out of all the grades!! She goes on to the regional competition in the middle of next month. So very proud of her! I called and gave her this super cheesy 'you can do anything you set your mind to' talk this week! She was so goobed out! I asked how it felt and she said 'Good.' So enthusiastic, right?!?! I asked for some further explanation and she said 'you know, kinda... Good.' So there you have it! Being a super big deal feels... good. :)

Bath Tub Fun

Check out this adorable outfit from Nanna and Poppi. So cute, right?? We wore it to church the other Sunday and she looked like a little doll in it! Please disregard the hair... I promise it looks darling for the first 5 minutes after we fix it! :)

 We babysat the twins a few weeks ago and I stuck them all in the tub together... because it's their favorite thing ever! The 3 of them are so much fun together! London LOVES being around them. She copies every little thing they do which is so funny to observe!

 Movie night!!

A tribute to our MOST redneck friend, David Coleman.

Heartstrings

My sweet mother gave me a daily calendar for Mothers and Daughters for Christmas. I have loved it. I've either teared up or sat in contemplation after reading each days quote. Today is my favorite so far:

"Pride is one of the seven deadly sins; but it cannot be the pride of a mother in her children, for that is a compound of two cardinal virtues- faith and hope."

Charles Dickens

Lovely. And so true. 

Lane Family Christmas

The Lane's came a few days after Christmas to celebrate and help babysit! I know our house is small, but I absolutely loved having it full of this family. We ate well, played well, visited well, and just all around had a great time! I took AWFUL pictures. I was so disappointed that I 1. didn't get many pictures and 2. didn't get many super cute ones! Oh well. I'll try to do better at our next visit! We loved having the Lane's here and are always so thankful for our time with them! London LOVES to snuggle with her Poppi, so she was super excited her buddy was here to visit!!

My angel playing with her new computer!

 Renny and London wearing fake 'Bubba' teeth!

 London got a closet full of super cute new clothes!!

 She loves her super sassy pink jacket!

 Pretending to sleep! They love each other so much!

Rhea Family Christmas

This Christmas was a little different. Powers had to work over the holidays so London and I packed up and headed to Columbus a few days before Christmas, picked up Renny on Christmas Eve, then the whole fam headed to Birmingham for Christmas morning. It was wonderful! I got to spend good quality time with the grandparents, London was really cute and in a precious mood, then Christmas morning was so much fun! London loved Christmas, but she got a little overwhelmed. She opened 3 or 4 presents then had the general attitude of 'I have new toys here... why would I open 30 more?" She was very cute, but it was a lot to take in for her!
The twins were flippin' adorable! They both opened new dress up outfits, immediately stripped all of their clothes off except for their underwear... in the middle of everyone.. and dressed up in their new diggs! It was so funny! Naked pictures and new outfit pictures are below! We all laughed about Caden and Elizabeth getting the game 'Operation' for Christmas and Andaddy ended up at the dining room table testing his skills! Renny and Charley made the 2 prettiest elves you've ever seen.
We were so thankful for Barry and Lauren opening their home to all of us and were so blessed to have been able to celebrate Christmas with Me Mommy and G Daddy!

 Caden opening his tickets to the Monster Truck show!

 My little chickadee stopped at a gas station on Christmas morning and got BOILED PEANUTS as a snack!! Yuk! Boiled peanuts at 8:00 Christmas morning!! She housed them though!!

 We all decided to cut back this year.... crazy amounts of presents! Next year we are FOR SURE cutting back!!

 Caden got all his trucks ready for Christmas morning too!

 Lizzy opened her Super Woman outfit, got naked STAT...

 and VOILA! She's transformed into a super hero!!

 Annnnnd.. Caden opening his Police outfit... getting naked...

 and Officer Friendly at your service!!

 Yes. She is that beautiful in real life. 

 Series of super huggy pictures...

 ....

 then there's this ole pal hand on the shoulder that my parents pulled out! :)