Allie is so 80's!

She likes to wear her t-shirts tied at the waist in true 80's style...

She's still up for the taking if anyone wants her... she's so sweet but HATES it when we leave her alone...

Our snow pales in comparison...

We'll, if we didn't love mel so much, we'd totally be upset that her snow pictures KILLED ours but, we LOVE her and we were just excited to see snow! How exciting!
It snowed all morning here yesterday! It was awesome! It was just enough to make snowmen, have some serious snowball fights, then melt off by the end of the day when everyone had had their fill!

Fun husband powers went military game plan on all the kids at church! They didn't have a chance! I had no idea where he was most of the day but all the soaking wet kids would run through squealing his name so I knew he was having fun somewhere! Poor charley had to sit through church soaked to the bone! The babies didn't get out and play in it, but they were totally intrigued and asked about "no???" all day! (Were still working on S's!) It was an all around awesome day!

Incredible!

Ok, lets get to it! We've got lots to update!

First off, a post from Melanie Beyer, Powers's sister. The snow BOTTOM fell out in arkansas this weekend! Holy Cow! Here's an email and pics that Mel sent to everyone...

"Some pictures from our snow yesterday/last night. It started snowing about 2:00 yesterday afternoon and snow pretty hard for several hrs. It was still a very light snow when we went to bed at 11:00 last night.

In one of the pictures you can see our table on the patio. In another picture, you can just see the top of the ruler sticking out of the top of the snow on that table. In the shallowest spot we measured in the yard, it was still 6 ½ inches deep! It is beautiful but very bright! It’s not supposed to get much above freezing today, so we’ll see if it melts enough for school tomorrow. Of course, it will be in the low 20’s overnight, so whatever melts may very well freeze on the roads. I hope the kids don’t have to miss another day of school. At this rate, we’ll never get out for summer!!!!"

Derek, Ashley, Andrea, and Brooke

Mel and Brookey!

Can you believe that? That's incredible!!

When the weather's gorgeous...

go to the park! We had a spend the night party this weekend with sweet Gracie Harris and we had a blast! We had a slumber party in the living room friday night... our poor dog was tortured with all the "loving" they did! Poor Allie looked miserable most of the weekend! She had no lack of attention tho!

Then Saturday we parked it! It was beautiful outside! We ended up running into a bunch of our friends, so it was great!

BFF....we hope! She's so sweet!

This was what I got when I said "Smile, Gorgeous!"

After the park we went to hang out with the Rhea clan for a little bit. We played the "even tho you can see me, im going to scream and scare you out of your wits" game. Always a crowd pleaser! The babies were terrified! It was so funny! Charley and dad just chilled and watched some antiques car show. Boring!

My word. They are both gorgeous. Im speachless...

Welcome to the World, Clyde Hollis

Please join us in celebrating the birth of Clyde Hollis Fenstermacher!

Born Feb 19th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
7 lbs 10 oz and 20.5 inches long

We can't wait to meet you, Hollis! We love you already! Congratulations, mom and dad!

Booper babysits... and the kids get locked up!

Mom babysat a few weekends ago while Barry, Lauren, Powers, and I got away for a mini-vaca. Nothing like Valentine's Day at the FloraBama. Seriously. The music definitely took over some of the patrons bodies... it was somethin' to see! Of all the times I forget my camera.... Anyway, thanks for babysitting mom!

All Im saying is that when we babysit, no one gets locked in the dog pin! There is totally a hotline they could call for this kind of stuff! Child slavery... at such a young age... I know it looks like they're having a blast, but its all for the camera!!
Speaking of dog pin, our super hero dog (all 35 lbs of her) has somehow managed to mangle this metal cage into a warped mess. She has bitten and torn a number of the bars off and somehow managed to squeeze under and out from an area about 4 inces tall. She is a circuis animal.

She's the Most Beautiful Girl in the World!

If you're like me and my mom, you'd rather most anything happen than have your picture taken. Non-photoginism (yes, i made that word up) is in our genes! I finally have the chance (and permission) to post some gorgeous pics of my BEAUTIFUL mother!

They don't make 'em much better than my mom... she's kind, and loving beyond belief, and selfless, and humble, and funny, and wise, and the greatest hugger ever. I still need her when I'm sick or when something hurts. I need to hear her sweet voice on the phone and need her homecookin' when I'm hungry and homesick! She loves everyone who steps into her life and they cant help but love her back! She is a woman of great faith and is my mentor and counselor. I could go on for ages, but will leave it with this... we are blessed to have a woman like her in all of our lives. She encourages us and gives us all something to shoot for...

They make a handsome couple, huh?!

The true king of the house... our beloved Rudy! The rest of the rugrats are rather questionable breeds but we love them too! Maybe they'll make the blog one day and you can help us figure out what mix-breeds they are!

Ridin 'em and Ropin 'em!!!

Powers and I were in Jackson this weekend the whole family went to the Dixie National Rodeo! F-U-N! I haven't been to the rodeo since I was a kid... I've been missing out! Voted best outfit: white denim shirt, cut off at the shoulders with Dixie Flags flying high. It was beautiful. The sweet people next to us bought renny a darth vadar glowing sword which made her day!

Powers preparing his outfit...

The big 6-0

The patriarch of our family, Chuckles Andaddy Rhea, has crossed the second hump in this hill called life. We have ushered him right on in to the big 6-0! Wow! 60! I still can't get used to that! The whole fam (minus Charley bug who was severely missed) went to Columbus for the weekend to celebrate.

60 years old and he's still got it!

We're really into tractors right now!

Getting on this horse was entirely ungraceful. He's so round, i tried to jump on and bounced straight back off! We got it on video, so if I can ever figure out how to post videos again, ill get that one on here!

Hanky Panky from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.

Real Cowboys chew hay!

Check out Powers's wave! Haaaaayyyy!!