Reece Spoils Daddy...

Today Tony woke up to Reece cuddling with him and rubbing his arm.  She later left our room and came back with a paper fan she had made.  She started fanning him and told me to rub his arm.  She then made breakfast for him, with the help of her sisters, which included a bagel with peanut butter, peanuts and a carrot in the middle and a bowl full of peanuts and chopped up cheese stick.  She even put battery operated candles on the table.  We asked Reece what was the special occasion and she said, "Daddy is not going to work today."  We did have a fun day as a family organizing some rooms in the house, talking to the grandparents on Skype, exercising as a family and then we went out to dinner.  It was a fun day and rumor has it my day of spoiling is tomorrow.  Can't wait!!!

Daddy enjoying his breakfast by candlelight.

The girls presenting Daddy's breakfast to him.  Reece covered the plates up with bowls and then removed them like they would do at a fine dining restaurant.  Not sure where she learned that, probably from the Food Network Channel.

Welcome Home Daddy...

Last week Tony went down to Georgia to be with his parents.  His dad was having some testing done and Tony went down to support them when they received the results.  Tony was gone for 5 1/2 days and the girls and I missed him lots but we were also very thankful he was able to be with his parents.  We were so excited when he was coming home that we cleaned the house and the girls made him presents, cards and a welcome home sign.  They also planned a concert for him when he arrived.  I also want to say I am very blessed with a wonderful church family and friends.  Everyone was calling, emailing and facebooking me to see how we were doing and I had many dinner invitations.  I was overwhelmed by all the support, love and prayers during the week.  

Happy New Year 2012...

On New Year's Eve we celebrated with our friends, the Stepp's.  We always look forward to ringing in the New Year with them.  This year we had to cut our night short because we all had church the next day.  We enjoyed eating a lot of good food, catching up, the kids played lots of Wii, and the adults booked our beach house for this summer.  Before the Stepp's left the kids did their traditional New Year's toast with sparkling apple cidar.  Our kids wanted to stay up to see the stunt show and the NY apple drop.  So, we let them and the stunt did not take place until after midnight.  The girls were exhausted and right after the stunt was over Reece and Riley were both conked out on the sofas although Regan was still rearin' to go.  

Cheers to good friendships!

 Riley conked out...

 Reece conked out...

 But Regan is still wide awake!

The next morning Reece climbed in bed to cuddle with her daddy and this is what I found.  It was very difficult getting this child awake for church. 

Cleaning Floors Cinderella Style...

On December 30th I was cleaning house and the girls were wanting to help me.  So, I put them to work cleaning baseboards with toothbrushes and warm soapy water in our bathroom.  They had so much fun that they started cleaning baseboards throughout the downstairs.  Then the next thing I know I turned the corner to see all three of them cleaning the foyer hardwoods with soapy water, sponges and toothbrushes.  Reece put up these caution signs that say, "Kids At Play, Wet Floors."  Now if they would just do this all the time my house would be spotless.  Unfortunately, they are not always this eager.   

A Family Getaway...

On December 29th, Tony took a day off so that we could do something fun as a family.  We needed a getaway so we headed out to Winston-Salem and Pilot Mountain for the day.  We started our morning with hot Krispy Kreme donuts which the girls loved.  They begged for more, in fact Reece's exact quote was, "If I have one more donut I will be hyper enough not to whine on our hike today."  Good try Reece but that did not work.  We headed to Old Salem after our yummy breakfast and walked around the town and visited the Old Salem bakery and got some of their sugar bread.  We grabbed some lunch at Subway and then headed to Pilot Mountain for some fun hiking.  The girls LOVED all the rocks and were quite the rock climbers and adventurers.  We did one trail twice because it was so much fun for them and then hiked along another trail and saw some rock climbers repelling.  We sat and watched them for a while and the girls were fascinated.  We hiked about a total of 2 miles and the girls did great.  Tony and I had visited Pilot Mountain this summer by ourselves and although it was very nice, Tony and I agreed that this visit was much more exciting.  We ended our day with dinner at "The Depot" restaurant in Cody Creek (this was a place Tony and I visited this summer and loved) and then drove through a light show in Winston Salem.  It was a great family day and was much needed by all.  

The bridge leading to Old Salem.

The baker making fresh sugar bread, YUM!

We saw this billboard and had to go back and take a photo.  It is a gun shop advertising that liberals are welcome.  We got quite a laugh out of this.

Then further down the road we saw another billboard for the same gun shop.  Again, Tony turned around so we could take a photo. 

Reece determined to climb up on this rock by herself.

She made it!

 Reece trying to do some rock climbing of her own.

 Forging their own trail....

 Tony and the girls enjoyed forging their own trails and got pretty high in some places.  Can you see them in this photo?

 Tight Squeeze...

 How low can you go? 

Please rocks, do not fall!

The girls holding this rock up...

 More forging...

 Hello up there!

 Regan looking for some pet snakes. 

 

 Tony hid up in this ledge and the girls could not find him.  I told them he went on up the trail.  So, they started plotting on how they could scare him and then Tony yelled "boo" and scared them all. 

Regan on the ground laughing after daddy scared her good!

 Our little monkey....

 Right after we posed for a picture a rock climber came up over the ledge.  It was quite startling.  It would have been funny if he came up right when we were taking the photo.

 Tanglewood Park Light Show

 They had the Carol of Bells playing while you drove through this section.

Chick-fil-A used to sponsor a light show near where we used to live and we made it a tradition every year to drive through the light show.  But, the light show was discontinued about 5 years ago and we have not had anything local since.  So, it was nice to take the girls through this light show.