Sunday, January 30, 2011

Meeting Baby Philip

We got to take a trip to Birmingham this week to meet Anne & Michael's sweet new baby boy
"Philip Andrew"
he was born November 22
8# 9 oz
(he is now 8 weeks old)

Big sister Elizabeth holding her new brother Philip and Milla sitting close by so she can touch his toes!

I got my turn to hold Philip!!!! He was so peaceful and easy going!
My mom and Philip
Milla and Elizabeth were go-go-go. They got out every single toy in the house and their favorite game was "ring around the rosy". They would laugh and laugh when they tumbled to the ground! Elizabeth was nice to share all of her things with Milla!
two little ladies busy in the kitchen!!!
I love this picture!
My Mom was actually on an 18 hour layover in B'ham (she is a flight attendant)--so, we got to stay with her in hotel downtown. Milla thought it was fun to change the scenery from her nursery and have a "girl's night out" at the hotel!!!

Beau's 2nd Annual Birthday Cornhole Tournament

The Benichs know how to throw a party...they go all out...and it is always so much fun!
Here is a picture of BEAU...the man of honor for the evening!!

The temps were in the 30's--but we stayed warm with the multiple bonfires and heaters that lined the cornhole tournament area!

There were 6 cornhole playing stations.
Here is the trophy table....this is serious business!!! They draw names at random--boy/girl teams....and who did I get placed with....the reigning CHAMPION...!!! Lucky me!!
There were at least 40 or 50 people there...and we played a bunch of games....but our team WON!!! We got the 1st place trophy!!! (all because of Stephen's Cornhole Skills!!). Unfortunately we had to bump out the Birthday boy in the final round!!! Sorry Beau & Brooke!!
The trophy ceremony!! Ha Ha!
Tell me that this picture doesn't make your mouth water!!!! YUM!! A Krispy Kreme donut tower! Kriya did an AWESOME job thinking up great food for a chilly winter night. The menu included: lots of good appetizers, chili, chili dogs, chicken noodle soup, hot chocolate, cider, and the delicious donuts to top it all off!!!
They even had a hot dog machine!!!!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Snow Covered

January Snow!!!

Hank was a HAPPY DOG all week long! He had his whole family home and fresh powder snow to roll around in for an entire week!!

Thank goodness Brandon and Hank went to cut up a bunch of wood the day before the snow came...we enjoyed a lot of fires!

Brandon and Hank headed down the driveway. Brandon also went down on water skis!!! (...didn't turn out too well---almost broke his ankle!!)
Grand Mum and Milla bundled up!
Me and Milla at the top of the hill about to sled down!
Despite the freezing temps...Brandon was determined to do something outside--so, later in the week he headed to a river to do some fly-fishing!! COLD!!!
Perfect Timing! After a week of being snowed in---Milla had Emily TenKate's Birthday party to go to at Monkey Joe's (her first time there) ...where she could run wild and free!!
Riding the pony
Milla and I got to take a few trips down the slide together!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

December to the New Year

We had a FUN office Christmas party this year. One of our Dr.'s- Dr. Hempel planned the whole thing. For those that wanted to meet early to do some Christmas shopping--he had us meet at a cute shop in Brookhaven called "Davonshire Home & Garden"...then gave everyone a gift card for a nearby shop. I got $50 for Pottery Barn! YAY!!!

some of my coworkers--
Andy(Tiffany's husband), Tiffany, Tina, Dr. Hempel, Bri,
Cheryl, Sherrie, & Hilary
***Neat Christmas Idea*** Dr. Hempel and his neighbors all go together to the local Waffle House on Christmas morning and fill the whole restaurant-- then, each family leaves at least a $20 tip--so, the staff ends up with a big pocket of cash by the end!!! Makes having to work on Christmas Day not seem so bad!

Sherrie, Me, and Elizabeth
The Powell Family--- the sweet family that takes care of Milla on Tuesdays when I am at work.... Dan, Kara, Lindsey, & Lauren
After shopping, Dr. Hempel and his family hosted the party at their house. They had it catered by Maggiano's..yum...one of my favorite things was the Rigatoni D!!!! Delicious!
(Tiffany-Dixie-Me-Ashley)
Look how HAPPY Milla looks in her Dad's arms as we waited in line for our 2nd annual trip to "Bass Pro Shops" for our free picture with Santa!!!
Didn't feel quite as comfortable in Santa's arms as she did in her Dad's!! This picture is a little hard to see---but she SCREAMED and SCREAMED!!! She was in his lap for a total of 5 seconds!
after the traumatic experience of sitting on Santa's lap-- Milla wanted to take a look at the awesome fish tank they have at Bass Pro. She is doing her "fish face"!
Got to go to our small group Christmas Dinner at Chase & Tiffany's house...
here are the guys....back: Brad, Duran, Brandon, Austin front: Jake, Chase, Ben & Asher
The girls....Jessica, Anna, Lindsey, Audrey, Me, Elizabeth, and Tiffany. Tiffany made a wonderful ham....she said it was from Trader Joe's...it was already seasoned and cooked--you just warm and serve...and was 1/2 the price of Honey Baked Ham. I am going to try that next year!
The Benich's hosted a great Christmas party!!! It was definitely the fanciest that we got to attend...with valet parking and a wait staff!!! FUN!! Beau was a hit when he made his Santa appearance! (Mandy,Kriya, Santa, Me, Becky,& Liz)
One of Milla's many EXCITED faces as she opened her Christmas gifts!!! The hits were...we lucked out and 2 different people that I work with passed down really neat play houses....(one is an outdoor one that looks like a log cabin-and the other is for inside--a "Rose Petal Cottage") and she got a Radio Flyer Wagon that she LOVES to ride in. My mom got her a big stuffed Hippopotamus...from the song..."I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas--only a Hippopotamus will do!"
***Sometimes it Pays to Wait***One week before Christmas we STILL did not have our tree!! We went to Lowe's to just get a little tree--but, when we got there we saw a sign that said "CLEARANCE, all trees $10"... awesome!! We got a 9 ft tree that normally was $70!!! and, a wreath for $2.50!!!! What a deal!!!
Due to all of the Christmas activities we didn't get any time to play in the snow on Christmas day--so, we were ready by Sunday to get out there! We drove up a little north to just outside Helen, Ga. Here is Brandon pulling Milla on the sled.
Sweet little Milla in the snow

Got to spend New Year's Eve Eve with my High School girlfriends!! It was wonderful! We met at a delicious Italian restaurant in Alpharetta called Luciano's. We were going to eat dinner and then go to a movie---but we were at the restaurant for over 3 hours and ran out of time to catch a movie!!! (Allison, Brittany, Blakeley, Becky---we missed Carrie in Nashville!)

We enjoyed fondue at Tiffany and Andy's house on New Year's Eve. Since we both have kids--we did an "early party" and got back home in time to get everyone in bed by their bedtimes...including me!!!...This year was the first year that I can remember that we were asleep at midnight! I was kind of sad about it--but then woke up fully rested and ready to start 2011 the next day!!! One of my many new year's resolutions for this year is to not procrastinate... hopefully I will be able to put that into action and start to blog more frequently. Here's to a FABULOUS 2011! Happy New Year!