Madison's new profile pic

Self portrait of Madison while trying on clothes at Forever 21 in the dressing room.  Could she get any more beautiful?

Laundry Room Makeover

Yea! It's finally done!

Before:

After:
I'm not normally a fan of yellow, but I figured in a laundry room, anything goes. If you want to see more (and you know you do) go to my inspire blog.

When I get my phone back...

these are the sorts of pictures I find on it.

I have no idea.

Even the scriptures uses texting winky faces.

Gotta love Rylee's background pose.

This is how Madison looks about 50% of the mornings, and not because it's cold. She only wishes to protect her hair from the inevitable humidity frizz! Her friends at the bus stop must think she's cray-cray.

Rylee's 12!

My baby is 12.  Hugh sigh.  Rylee is such a cool kid.  She's so fun to be around, she can laugh at herself, is spunky and outgoing, makes other people feel good about themselves, is uber responsible and loves life.  We love having her in our family!  Now don't change!

She finally got the Barbie cake she wanted for years - it never quite fit into her theme/decorations.

Steve and I took Ry and her friends to a super pretty shopping area and had pre-arranged a scavenger hunt.  We split them into teams of 7 and they had to follow the hunt according to the paper I pasted below.

Maddie and her friends came with to supervise.

Rylee’s birthday party scavenger hunt

Aspen Leaf:

Your group will buy a cup of 20 gummy bears and using an I-Phone, record a skit using all 20 gummy bears.  Find a table in or outside of the store and record the skit there.  The group with the most creative, funny skit will win. 

Bath and Body Works:

Using the money provided ($2.00 per girl), buy something in the store that begins with the first letter of your first name.  The team with the yummiest scents (judged by Madison and Alyssa) wins.

Party City:

Using the money provided ($1.00 per girl), buy bubble gum balls and try to fit as many in your mouth as possible while still being able to say “Chubby Bunny”.  Record the number of gumballs and the girl with the most wins it for her group.  Make sure to take a picture!

Target:

Take a picture of 1 girl from your group with the ugliest outfit you could collectively find.  Remember to hang all the clothes back up and give them to the attendant.  The team with the ugliest outfit wins!

Claires:

Buy as many items as you possibly can with the $10.00 given to your group.  The team with the most items wins.  No pictures in Claires!

Game Stop:

Take a picture with a boy who is closest to Rylee’s age.  This means you will have to ask him his birth date and write it down so you don’t forget.    The team who took a picture with a boy closest to Rylee’s age wins!  Remember to be nice!

When you are finished, come to Starbucks.  My cell phone (Rylee’s mom Ms. Cammie) is 503,312,8749

Auntie Sagie and baby Mia

I had planned to go out to Colorado after baby Mia (or Millie, or miss mia) was born so I could meet this sweet girl and help Sagie out, but Sage decided instead that she wanted to come to SA and see our new stompin' grounds and spend time with all of us. Even though it was only 3 days, it was exactly what we both needed and I loved every minute spent snuggling on Mia.

I had this awesome picture as my screensaver on my phone for a while and every time I see it, it cracks me up!

Mia was just starting to get sick when they flew in and by the second day, she could hardly breath. It was the saddest thing to see. The only way she could sleep was sitting up, and I didn't mind at all cause I got to stare and that beauty for hours.

Both girls were in love with her and so sweet - minus the fighting over who got to hold her part.

Steve also got in on the action and even watched her while Sage and I went to dinner. He was so cute with her! We ordered up some beautiful 70 degree weather (it was snowing in Denver) and did all we could to convince Sage that the Pierce's belong in San Antonio (or Austin). It's just never enough time...

Happy New Year!

Meanwhile...the parents were away watching the Utah Jazz get creamed by the San Antonio Spurs. Booo.

San Antonio Food Bank

The girls were super excited to go to Six Flags over break so I made a deal with them that if they would volunteer with me at the food bank for a few hours, I would drop them off at Six Flags, sans parents, and they could stay until dark. They thought that was a deal!

This was so random - we found a package of sweet crisps from the Corner Bakery. Who in their right mind doesn't eat sweet crisps? They are pretty much my favorite thing in the whole joint, someone I know (me) even eats an entire bag on their birthday every year.

Ry and Laney

Mads and Hannah. Madison chose to sit down inside the large box and sort food. Too bad she didn't see the busted syrup jar or loose macaroni noodles.

Christmas morn' 2011

Rylee, reading the letter from Cammie the Elf. She found us in San Antonio!

All of Madison's gifts were wrapped in Justin Bieber blue and Rylee's in Justin Bieber's green & red.

Guess who we saw?

While Christmas shopping, we saw JUSTIN BEIBER!! The girls were so excited!

Christmas cookies and more

As tradition would have it, we held our 4th annual Christmas cookie decorating party, only this year Madison opted out. Something about being too old for that? These girls are so much fun, and are such good girls, I'm always so proud of my girls for the good friends that they choose.

Too bad I didn't take any pics of the final product cause these cookies were beauties! My idea of pretty, martha-esc Christmas cookies that the girls could take home quickly turned into the more frosting, sprinkles and candy the better. Easter maybe?

...meanwhile, Madison and her cute friend Kaily were playing with makeup and taking self-portraits
and Sadee was staying far away from the chaos, sleeping peacefully on the couch like a good little cat.