Alyssa turns 2!

My little girl is growing up so fast!

Most of her cousins came over to help her celebrate such a lil milestone for her.

Haylee had on her adorable tu tu.

She actually stood still for a photo.

Lil Eila was trying to keep up!

Bristin turned 2 as well. He is 2 days older than Alyssa.

The Pennington cousins.

Alyssa racked up on the gifts. Mom & Bill re-did the pink babydoll high chair on the left that was mine as a lil girl. She's really into baby dolls now.

Yummy cupcake! Happy Birdday to you!

Zoo

Ashley & I took the girls, Alyssa, Alexia, & Haylee to the zoo in Atlanta. It was my and & Alyssa's first time. We have a membership now so we can visit as often as we'd like!

Alexia & Alyssa are anxiously waiting for the next siting of animals.

Haylee is lovin the ride!

We stopped at the petting zoo. Alexia jumped right in to get a brush. She went around to as many animals as she could to get a brushing in.

This is about as close as Alyssa would get to the animals. ha! She liked looking at them, but was not about to get close enough to touch them.

This is the cutest picture! They were mezmorized by seeing a panda.

We definitely got our work out in! Picking up the girls to see some of the animals. Pulling them around the whole place. They loved it!

Behind the girls, you can see a zebra and giraffe.

This is hilarious. Alyssa has already found her own nose and does this every time she thinks something may be in there. It was funny that she poked her fingers up the gorilla's nose as soon as she walked up to the statue.

Us big girls had just as much fun as the little girls with our visit to the zoo. We'll definitely be going back!

Easter

We had friends and family over on Easter day for a scrumptous lunch by Chef Candace, who unknowingly left the pasta salad and rolls in the fridge. None the less all was full. Our delectable dirt cake was complete with Easter decor by mom. The Easter Egg hunt was a hit with the kids. It got quite hot out, but we enjoyed being outdoors anyway.

Alyssa was pretty competitive with the hunt. She didn't care that she had eggs spilling over the top of her bucket as she walked, she still wanted more!

She enjoyed her flower headband from her Easter basket that morning.

The kids dyed and decorated eggs with their cousins which was a first. They had a great time & were very creative! Even Alyssa wanted to color and dye an egg, but she didn't make it to the dye before she bit right into the shell.

Slide

Alyssa loves being outside! Even when the weather was still too cold to play outside, she wanted to go. Almost everyday we get home from daycare now, she starts the chanting, 'outside!, outside!'. She got this slide or as she calls it 'house' from Aunt Marci about a week ago since Landon had outgrown it a bit and she loves it! Thanks Aunt Marci!

Christmas in Mississippi

We went to the coast (MS) the day after Christmas to go see Grandma & family.

Grandma was trying to snap photo's of the kids opening their gifts.

Here are Andy & Sonya's twin girls, Allie & Emma, in their outfits that I made them for Christmas. I made them for my other young neices as well. It was quite the project to get so many sewn for Christmas. They turned out cute.

We took a trip into New Orleans to take a look around in the quarter. This is Andy & Sonya, my brother and sis-in-law.

We ate at a cafe in near the French Market. Yummy Muffaletta!

Sonya had a hard time believing this 'statue' wasn't real. After she gave him a tip, he winked at her. She was tickled!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning anxiously waiting to open gifts! The boys actually didn't wake us this year. They waited downstairs playing their DS's with their games from their grandparents the weekend before. They enjoyed opening gifts one by one. Even Alyssa helped everyone open theirs. She liked taking off the paper.

Alyssa actually tried to show one of her gifts for the camera. Those have to be snapped quickly.

We went to Mom & Bill's for the afternoon to spend the day with my siblings and the kids cousins. They took a great photo together!

The Pennington Christmas Party

Rick's parents hosted their mostly annual Christmas party for family and friends this past weekend. We enjoy getting to see and catch up with most of the family that we don't get to see during the year.

The kids were almost ready when I realized they all matched. That was such a fluke. I looked for holiday colors in each of their drawers and somehow they all turned out in red and black.

We even managed a family photo with every smiling.

Everhett played Santa's for the second year in a row. He even liked it this time. The girls Abby, Amy, & Bailey even made it into the Santa parade this year.

All of Rick's siblings made the party. We were able to get a group photo of them for the 2nd year in a row as well. We'll have to make this a tradition!