velma

My girls are both OBSESSED with Scooby Doo. The old ones that I watched growing up. The ones where there was never a real ghost or monster--it was ALWAYS someone in a costume. They love it and are supposed to be having a Scooby party tomorrow, but because of the snow, who knows? Anyway, Mamie usually wears sunglasses around the house to play the part of Velma, but with the magic of Bendaroos, she now has her very own Velma glasses. Lilly is always Daphne, and Mamie is always Velma. She says "Velma is cooler." Who could argue?

easy bakin'

We got out the easy bake oven again tonight and I have decided that from now on, I will ignore the directions completely. The cookie on the left was baked according to the time on the mix. The one on the right was baked a little over half as long. When we finally got the time right, they were actually really good. Of course you get to add the white frosting and the pink sugar crystals that come with it. That was definitely the best part. We got to have a tasty dessert tonight made by the girls--and there's no worry of overeating :) One cookie per family member.

Scole got the burned one. He didn't mind :)

I have heard that there are ways to use regular cake mixes and portion them out to easy-bake size. Does anyone know the recipes or amounts for this? It would be a LOT cheaper.

my big girl is FIVE

I still can't believe it, but Lilly turned 5 last week. That seems so old. To top that off, she went to have her teeth cleaned and they told me she has a loose tooth. Already? I have never been sad or emotional about a birthday for the girls until this one. She just seems like she is getting so BIG. She says such grown up things, is such a good helper, can't wait for kindergarten in the fall, is starting to read, and can do so many things by herself.
She and Mamie are having a combined bowling birthday party at the end of the month, but we had Jon's family over for dinner to celebrate, AND had cupcakes at school, AND went to Puffy Muffin with Sassy for lunch, AND got Krispy Kreme doughnuts for her birthday breakfast... I think we had more than a full share of celebrating last week :)

I made the girls these birthday shirts--Mamie's has three little candles on it :)

Jon had to work late on the night of Lilly's birthday, so we opened presents that morning. It was pretty early when Lilly decided it was time to open her presents. You can see Mamie's arm on the couch. She was cuddling with her bunny and blanket and watching cartoons. It was too early for her to even care what Lilly got for her birthday. She takes after me a little bit :)

Lilly's scooter from us and CJ and Pop. Don't you love the choice of PJ's here?

The kids' table. Lilly was showing us that she is 5 and apparently everyone else is too.

Aunt Kellye and Uncle Jeff

Sassy and Papa Al

Silly Lilly and Aunt Kristin. Lilly acted pretty goofy all night.

Mamie "sharing" her ponies with Hollis.

Hollis needs a scooter! And a fairy hat and a wand, too :)

Happy Birthday my sweet little Lillybug!

snow!

Finally! I just wish it had been about 10 more inches. I was so excited about the snow, I went out and bought a sled on Wednesday, sure we were going to wake up to at least a couple of inches the next morning. I was so disappointed when I looked out Thursday morning and saw absolutely nothing. Not one flake. Anyway, we finally got enough to at least play in. We took the sled over to Sassy's house to play on her hills. We were able to "sled" even on the first day when there was only a dusting on the ground.

I love little kids bundled up in snow clothes. Mamie threw a fit about having to wear all of that, but once we got outside, she loved it. My sister handed down my nephew's old ski bibs (on Mamie) and boots (on Lilly) from when he was little and the girls were each able to wear some of it. Thanks Dylan!

Hollis loved the "no" and would have stayed out in it all day long.

Aunt Kim and the 2010 winter olympic toboggan crew

Lilly dumping snow on Hollis's head. He'll get her back...

Christmas 2009

We drove late Christmas Eve to Huntsville (in the worst weather ever). Luckily, the girls slept the whole way and we were able to carry them in and put them in bed so Santa could come. It had been 2 years since my brother-in-law had seen Mamie, so she had changed quite a bit. Unfortunately, she had an ear infection just in time for Christmas and felt terrible Christmas morning. When we brought her downstairs to see her presents, she just fell over and laid on the rug. It took about an hour and a dose of Motrin before she even wanted to look at her toys or open any presents. It was pretty pitiful. Aside from that, we had the best time and the girls played with Dylan and their Aunt Sissy from the time they woke up until they went to bed. The poor kid could hardly go to the bathroom by himself. Now I know what it's like to have a live-in nanny :) I'm trying to figure out a way to get him to come stay for the summer...
Here are pictures from our Christmas. I promise this will be the last Christmas post!

Aunt Sissy checking out Lilly's loot from Santa

Santa brought the doll Lilly wanted--she's named Lily Anna

Do you think we had enough presents?

Dylan's new air-soft gun from CJ and Pop

and his new trumpet from "Santa" (he did a FABULOUS job playing along :)

Now Uncle Tim can finally cut all that hair he has :)

Here was the only thing Mamie asked for (pre-scooter discovery) for months. CJ got it for her.

A blue crawling baby. She was so excited.

My mom got Lilly an easy bake oven. She was so excited. I never had one when I was little, so I had no idea what to expect. She started out wanting the princess oven that "cooks" with ice, and when I read reviews, I told my mom she had to take that thing back to the store. It sounded so disgusting--everyone described the stuff that comes out as "congealed jelly-like inedible goo." The easy bake stuff actually tastes pretty good.

Opening stockings. Lilly gets so excited about everything.

Last year, I had the picture of Jon with the beads the girls had put on him. This year, I think I've topped it. Here he is modeling his new PJ's and Lilly's new pom-poms. I love you honey!

Lilly and Uncle Tim

A very handsome turkey carver :) I don't know why I always get a picture of my dad carving the turkey. It was delicious.

My mom had the table set so pretty with special plates and jingle bell napkin rings for the girls.

Dylan helped Lilly set up the entire oven, read the directions, washed the pans, made the mix with her for the sugar cookies, and helped her cook them. Such a sweet cousin.

Dylan and Sissy with the girls before bed. My sister put them to bed the last night we were there and read 6 LONG books to them. They usually just get one from me. They were in heaven.

christmas eve (aka "scooter day")

Jon's family always celebrates on Christmas Eve night. This year, Santa had all of his presents ready for the Carman girls, and I was all finished with my shopping, when we went to play at Livi and Grant's house about 2 weeks before Christmas and they had a scooter from learning express. It just happened that the very next day we were going to see Santa at the mall. For months Lilly's Christmas list read, "American Girl doll, Barbies, Tag books, etc." and Mamie's was, "crawling baby and baby stuff." What do you think they both told Santa they wanted? A SCOOTER like Livi and Grant's. They were OBSESSED. Anyway, Sassy saved the day by getting one for Mamie for Christmas. Lilly is hoping for one for her birthday--we'll see. I don't know if I can handle 2 scooters doing laps in our little house. They literally take tuns riding it around the house constantly. They love it. It really is neat and so easy to maneuver around on. So anyway, back to Christmas...

Mamie and the infamous scooter

Lilly and Sassy

Aunt Kristin and Uncle Branson gave Mamie a HUGE coloring book and set of markers. She LOVES to color. She was getting more than a little bit stressed about having to share her coloring book with Hollis.


Opening presents with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kellye

Mamie showing her new robe to Hollis and checking out his new wheels.

Aunt Kellye helping Lilly with her new Barbie make-up set

still on the scooter... we had to make her stop to open her other gifts

Look what Papa Al got! :)

Jon's mom got all the guys some new Christmas PJ's. Notice who the real Grinches are...the Carman men wouldn't model theirs for us ;-)

Christmas with the cousins

This year, we celebrated Christmas with all my cousins at the farm on Christmas Eve. This was the first time that all of my aunt and uncle's great-grandchildren were here at the same time. Also, my sister was in town from Tampa along with my parents, so everyone was there. There were 18 kids--15 great-grandchildren and 3 great-nieces/nephews. When I was growing up, we put on a play every year for the grown-ups and sold tickets. This was the first year that they were old enough to attempt it. Sweet Emma (8) spent days making signs, tickets, a script, name tags, etc. and assigned everyone a part. She had a hard job trying to get a bunch of toddlers to cooperate :) It was so much fun to watch them all.

The three kid tables.

Emma's sign for the play :) The money really did go to the "needy" in case you are wondering.

Are you tired of seeing these pants in every picture yet? :)

They were my first sewing (clothes) project ever, so I was pretty proud of myself. Just don't look at them too closely :)

This was hilarious. Baby Tate stole the show as Baby Jesus in the play. Haley laid him in the doll cradle and he literally didn't move a muscle. He just stayed still with his little legs poking up out of the end.

Dylan's part of the play. Definitely the oldest one there (13), he was a good sport to play along. Can you tell from this picture how much my girls ADORE him? We wish you lived closer, Dylan!!!

I guess you would call this the finale of the show :)

Time to open gifts!

And the most amazing feat--getting all 18 kids in ONE picture! Sure, they aren't all looking, and one may be crying on the arm of the couch :), but they are all in the picture!

Our family (minus Jon, who was WORKING! of course)

Dylan, Tim, CJ & Pop, Lilly and Mamie, Deborah (my sister), and me