Today we made our Thanksgiving tree. We cut out our leaves and everyone got 6 or 7 of their own and wrote what they were thankful for. I often think of how blessed I am, but it's extra special when I can get the girls involved. It was fun to watch them think and write down things they were thankful for. I thought I would share a few of them... they were very sweet and some were very funny....

Regan - food, family, her bed, sisters, animals, toys

Abby - whole family, teddy bear, best friends, flowers, mom & dad, sisters, snow

Taylor - family, apples, bananas, deer (I have no idea where that came from), her bed

Bryan- 4 beautiful girls, music, our home, Sunday football, quiet nights, good food, good drink, good fun

Bella - our loving home, my wonderful daughters, laughter, date nights with Bryan, family, my pictures, and on a funny note, my coupons ( I love to save money)

This was just a handful of things, but the list is endless. There really is SO much to be thankful for every day.

Regan's first day as a second grader.

1st Day of Pre-School

The day finally arrived, pre-school started for Abby and Taylor. The girls have been very excited, especially Taylor. This is actually her first year at pre-school. She waited patiently as she watched Abby go a couple days a week last year. She picked out her "pretty d-less" all by herself before she went to bed. My girls are growing up so fast that it overwhelms me at times. They are so wonderful, funny, and full of life. I asked Taylor what she did today. Her reply: Uhm.. I sing, I draw you a special picture, read a story, and played in the dirt outside. I believe that is one of the best days ever!

11 Years!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Wow! Bryan and I have been married for 11 years now. This year we celebrated the occasion in Charlotte, NC. it just so happened that a scrapbooking convention was being held that very weekend. And because my husband, the wonderful man that he is, encouraged me to sign up, I did just that. It was really fun. Now don't feel too sorry for Bryan because it's not like he was alone all weekend on his anniversary. I was only there for a few hours at the most. I took a couple of classes and shopped at the vendor faire. If you know me at all, you know I love my pictures and scrapbook them so we can reminisce years from now. The girls love to get them out and look at our pictures. I try to keep a journal in which I will just jot down random things I want to remember, because I am so afraid I won't remember all the important moments (big and little) we share as a family. Anywhoo, for those of you who like to scrapbook, the Creating Keepsakes scrapbooking convention is a wonderful opportunity to get some pages done, shop, and as Bryan always says, I got to play with my pretty papers. :)


Now like I said, don't feel sorry for Bryan, we were able to enjoy our anniversary like a normal couple. We had some very romantic dinners and enjoyed some quality time together. I love you very much Bryan and look forward to many more years together.

Yard Sale 101

Considering the size of our families, and the fact that we both have too much stuff and not enough house, the Phipps' and the Austins decided to have a monster, 4th of July yard sale extravaganza this past weekend.

As depicted by the picture above, the girlies had a great idea and decided to set up a lemonade stand. They would have made a profit if their store would have stayed open for more than 10 minutes. I basically had just enough time to take this picture...then they started to drink their product, hide the proceeds from one another, and use up all 150 plastic cups among the 5 of them...all within twenty minutes.

Now, on to the grown ups...we learned a lot as well. We are not yard sale professionals by any means, but we stumbled upon a few pointers that will be helpful in the future, or to whoever else would like to have a yard sale.

1. Offer free delivery!! People ate that up...It was the hardest part for Bryan and Chris, but I have a sneaking suspicion they didn't mind getting away for awhile.

2. Salt does not taste good in coffee, even if it does look like sugar.

3. Put a futon in the yard...it adds ambience and serves as a great place to chill during the slow periods.

4. Kim LOVES!! cherry-limeades. We will make sure that is on-hand for the duration next time.

5. Put a jump-o-lene in the yard....it entertained the kids for awhile. Kiddies do not like yard sales.

6. One man's junk is another man's treasure, it's always the things that you don't expect to sell that go first, such as a box full of a bachelor's unused kitchen utensils, or a diaper genie full of three-year old diapers!

7. After a few hours, just go inside and put out a sign, "Ring Doorbell for Service." It gives people an opportunity to steal stuff, and getting rid of the junk is the objective anyway.

8. Yes, some women do still prefer to have a whopping chaw of 'baccer in their mouths while shopping for treasures!

9. It takes $20 worth of gas to drive to the lake, even if you don't drive.

10. Oh yeah, did I mention that Kim loves cherry limeades....yeah, I did.

8 Things!

Kim tagged me, so here goes:

8 Things I Did Yesterday!

1. Dusted

2. Printed pictures off our computer

3. Held our 2 month old niece, Cambden

4. Missed my girls being that little

5. Enjoyed cookout with good friends and family

6. Watched kids run, play, laugh, cry, squeal, (& loved every minute lol)

7. Kissed my husband

8. Laughed ALOT!


8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. Lazy Days at the Pool

2. Regan's 7th Birthday!

3. Nice, sunny weather

4. Anniversary Trip - love you Bryan :)

5. Getting hugs and kisses from my girls

6. Taking days off from work

7. My next Scrapbook magazine to arrive in the mail

8. Traveling with Bryan after retirement (yes I know it's quite a long ways away)


8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Be More Patient

2. Play an instrument

3. Win the lottery

4. Own a restaurant some day

5. Be more creative and artsy

6. Get front row seats to a Dave Matthews Band concert, (For Bryan)

7. Sometimes... Make Time Stand Still

8. Keep ALL children in this world safe and in a loving home!!

8 Shows I Watch On TV:

1. Greys Anatomy

2. So You Think You Can Dance

3. Whatever, Martha

4. Today Show

5. Everyday Italian with Giada (Food Network)

6. Two and A Half Men

7. Hell's Kitchen

8. Disney Channel, depends on what time in the day

Busy Busy!!

The last month or so we have had lots going on. I think we will start with our Cincinnati trip, we went with our friends, the Austins. We went to a ball game, which the guys and the girlies loved. I think the highlight for them was seeing the fireworks after a homerun.

Then Sunday we went shopping at IKEA. This was our first time at this store and I absolutely loved it. It has everything under the sun for your home. Way Cool!!

A few weeks ago, Regan had her gymnastics show. She practiced very hard to perfect her cartwheel. At the start, she could barely get her feet off the ground. But slowly but surely she got the hang of it, and after 30 cartwheels in our living room just about every night, she could finally do one. She was so excited!! All of her hard work paid off....

The weekend after was Abby's night to shine, her dance recital. Like Regan, she practiced her dance moves for weeks. From the looks of things, I believe she liked being on stage. She is quite the performer! We were so proud of our little Abby.

The day after Abby's recital, we were off to Virginia Beach. Bryan has a conference there almost every year, and we always tag along. This year was a good year, usually we have one that doesn't like the water, or that doesn't want to get in the sand, but this year they liked it all.

Weekend Visit

 We had such a wonderful time this weekend.  Our dear friends, Sherry and Jon, (Sherry is a friend from college) and their kids, Lacy and Izaak, came to visit us for the weekend.  Last time we visited with them, we went to Martinsville for Sherry's baby shower, just over a year ago.  We finally got to meet little Izaak.  He's such a happy baby, always full of smiles.  And Lacy has grown so much, so much taller than when we last saw her.  As you can see the kids had so much fun.  The girls played, played, and played some more.  They had a ball camping out in Regan's room.   It's always tradition for our guys to go for a round of golf during our visits.  The weather did not cooperate as well as they had hoped, but despite the cold weather Sunday morning, they went out anyway.  Must be a guy thing!  We can't wait for another visit, hopefully it won't be an entire year this time.  

Abby's Three Birthdays

Abby turned four today. She was very excited to learn that her official birthday had finally arrived, since we technically celebrated it two weeks ago. Seeing as how we never miss a chance to have a party, we provided birthday cupcakes for Abby and her classmates at EduCare. As you can see, Abby was very interested in her treat!



The fun part for me was having the opportunity to take the girls to Applebee's (at Abby's request) to celebrate her birthday yet one more time. Bella had to attend a meeting, which is the position that I usually find myself in. So, it was nice to be able to have a Dad's night out with the girls for a change, even if Mom had to sit this one out.



Abby was thrilled to have the opportunity to enjoy her favorite food, dessert! She was very cute when she looked up at me and said with a mouthful of ice cream that she was soooo happy to have had three birthdays: one at the hotel, one at her school, and one at Applebee's...that's going to be a hard combination to repeat.