Bree's song of the week

This is a song the kids are learning and they love to sing it often. It convicts my heart and hope it does the same for you.

Mud

I've been spending quite a bit of time in the garden lately. The garden wannabe bug has bitten me again but more on that later. I just wanted to show you what can happen when you allow two little girls to water your garden for you. All of this occurred in less than ten minutes even! They claim the earthworms "need'n a dwink"...mamma thinks they just wanted to make sure they got another bath!

Sweet Prayers

When I walked into the kitchen with a load of laundry in my arms this is what I found. Abby and Bree had every.single.little people toy they own gathered in a circle. They were teaching them to "pway".
They were taking turns saying "wepeat after me...dear Jesus...fank you for this day..."
Today I am reminded of His goodness and mercy to me.
Psalm 66: Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!  So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you; they sing to you, they sing praise to your name."

Germ-in Chocolate Cake

Today is my daddy’s birthday. The girls have been fighting off the sniffles though so instead of doing our usual Friday run to town we decided to cuddle in mamma’s bed a bit this morning. We called my dad to sing him Happy Birthday and I asked him what kind of cake he would like me to make. After a bit of pondering he decided on German Chocolate Cake. Perfect! I thought. After lingering in the bed longer than usual, we made our way to the kitchen. I checked the cupboard for the cake mix and whatayaknow, no German Chocolate cake mix. Hmm, there is no way this Chinobilly is going to Safeway in her pink ducky pajammies for an overpriced cake mix. Uh uh! You may now Praise the Good Lord above for the internet. Trust me I wouldn’t have been a pretty sight. Anyway, I found Tricia Yearwood’s recipe for German Chocolate Cake and decided to go for it.

A good Southern gal like Tricia should now how to make a tasty German Chocolate Cake. A good Chinobilly like me knows how to make a lopsided cake.

I had all the ingredients except buttermilk; mine was
s-aaa-o-u-r.

While making the cake with my sweet girls Bree asks, “Mommy- since I’m sick can I put the germ in the cake?” It took me a second but then I was laughing hysterically! Get it? Germ-in Chocolate Cake?

 She kills me!

Oh how I love this girl.

Oh my word this is an ugly cake, sorry dad, I can explain, really...

Valentine P-a-r-t-y

Today I took the girls to the library for story time and a Valentine Party.

hosted by the dearest librarian, Mrs. Darlene.

We played games.

Just look at the joy on my girl's face! (above)

Grace was diggin' it too.

Cupid's hearts were everywhere.

We exchanged Valentine's.

And enjoyed the company of really great friends.

Softy

Once upon a time, in chinobilly land, there lived two little girls who dreamed of having a playhouse. A playhouse with pink walls, a shady porch and a flowerbed like the one mommy has. Their handsome chinobilly father was kind, loving and couldn’t say no.

I just love that man!

Their first hair cut

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My oh my! The twins got their first hair cut and style on Monday. Both of the girls were thrilled to pieces to get pampered in the big girl salon. After a few tears I was thrilled too. Our girls are just beautiful inside AND out.

Slick

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I just love our kids sense of adventure. Very little deters them from trying something at least once. But they live and breath to ride horses (gee, I wonder where they got THAT from?). Slick was the cooperative subject at my in-laws church harvest party this year. They are two lucky little girls.

Just too cute

Our girls love to play dress up all year round. It is a normal sight around here to see Abby in her princess dress and shoes (thank goodness she hasn't asked to wear it to the store YET). After church on Sunday we took a trip to good ol' Wal-Mart and let Abby and Bree pick out a costume since all the Halloween garb was 50% off. Bree choose a super girl costume and Abby chose an angel costume (no surprise there). They pretty much haven't taken them off since then and they are just too cute!

Toads

Some Day Her Prince Will Come

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I was just browsing through a bunch of photos from the summer and found these little gems. I had to scrapbook these because they make me smile every time I look at them. Our yard is taken over by toads during the summer. They love our pond and it becomes quite the gathering place once the sun goes down. *wink It is our tradition to let the kids catch toads for a bit each evening to run off that last bit of energy. They both love it but Bree started a NEW tradition of kissing all the toads goodnight. Nothing would stop her.

Squeekers!

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Abby wasn't so much into kissing the toads but she did love to name them. Her favorite one she named squeekers. He was the only one that would make a funny little squeaking sound when he was held. Abby would delight in holding the toad up to my ear and ask me what he was saying. I'd make up silly things like "he wants some anchovy pizza" and she'd just giggle and giggle. I love these memories and I'm thankful God has allowed me to be their mommy!

Today Abby

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Raided my cupboards and announced she was going to be me. Does that mean I get to take a nap this afternoon while she folds the laundry? One can only hope...

Goldwater Lake

*click on photo to see larger image*

Today was a beautiful fall day. Just a little chill has crept into the air over the last few days and it has been wonderful. There is something about fall that makes me want to go fishing so fishing is what we did. My friend Stephanie and her daughter joined us for a little fishin', a little hikin', a little playin, and a little picnicin'. Oh and check out Stephanie's not so favorite part of the day...right next to the "Day Trip" label is her friend Mr. Snake. Poor girl about turned white as a ghost but all the kids wanted to touch it. Bree even argued "but mamma, it's not a rattlesnake...". Yeah I still don't think so Bubba Lou but your daddy sure would be proud of you. (and you held it together well Miss Steph as I know how much you loath snakes!)

I just love these last lazy days of summer. I praise God for allowing me to experience life again through my children. He is so good!

City Girls With Country Hearts

The chinobilly girls were invited to a birthday party for our very favorite neighbor friend Ella. Ella's party proved to be the party of all parties in Abby & Bree's book. Oh yes, there was a real-live-horse. They couldn't have been more excited. These chinobillies might not be growing up as country bumpkins like Matt and I did but they are pretty darn lucky to be country at heart.

Princess Party For The Birthday Girls

We hosted a princess party for the twins over the weekend. What fun we had! The girls invited six of their friends over for games and crafts and food and cake and fun! Abby was tickled pink that her daddy got to be there (Abby thinks daddy's don't get to go to parties) and Bree was tickled pink because...well...she got to wear pink.
I am truly blessed not only with amazing daughters but I have amazing friends too. Thank you all so much for spending time with us!
Enjoy...

Materials: Adobe PSE7, The Story of the Day Layered Template Set, Celebrations Journal Blocks, Everyday Brushes, Remember Brushes by Ali Edwards, Little Princess Kit by SMJDesigns and Ali Edwards Font.

Now I'm off to work on Ladies Bible Study, thank you notes, upload my photography assignment and catch up on lessons, make a recipe card for a blog post and I'm behind in changing my blog background. Thank goodness for naptime and the chorse being caught up for today. I get to play.

You might be a chinobilly...

If yur buckit

kin hold more of yur yungins

thyn yur pool

ya might be a chinobilly.

Thanks for the laughs, Korell family! We're taking up a collection down at the Alco to get you all a bigger pool or smaller kids, whichever's cheaper!

Dr Hinton would be proud

The girls are really getting the hang of imagination. I guess spending a few days in the woods with no TV will do that for a kid.
Today Bree was enjoying the fact that it was too hot for daddy to be outside for any length of time. Matt was trying to cool off and take a little rest on the couch when Bree brought out what we fondly call the Dr. Hinton kit (they L-O-V-E their pediatrician).

First she checks to "see if ya' have a hawt" (heart).

Uh-oh, daddy has a cough...tsk tsk

Now, let's see if he has a fever...

Oh dear this can't be good, he needs some "stwawbewy medicine".

Open wide...

Ok daddy this will only hurt a "wittle bit".

Daddy, your just not "gettin' any better, I'm gonna have to cut ya open to take the sick out"

"Twust me...I've done this before...I'm Dr. Hinton"

That's my girl...future MD!

A Chinobilly Playdate

What a super fun day we had last Thursday with our sweet friends. I had the best time watching all ten kids cool off in the tiny chinobilly pool, visiting with amazing friends and of course eating tasty food. My girls loved every minute with their friends and even wanted to know if they were coming back for another play date the next day.
Have a great week everybody!

Playdate with Grace

Hello bloggy friends. I've been meaning to post this layout for a while now....So stinkin' cute! Thanks Stephanie for the super fun day. Hope to do it again really soon.

I get to scrapbook with my friend Jen today then I'm off to bible study tonight. I'm very excited about it. I should be in my garden weeding today but I'm up for some much needed girl talk and scrap therapy (the only thing that keeps me paper scrappin' is the girl talk). Weeds, like laundry will always be there. I do have a bunch of veggies beginning to look promising so I'll try to post pictures soon.

Happy Monday!

Of princess pedicures and cupcakes

When Matt and I got married, he had his sights set on starting a family sooner rather than later. I was slightly more ambivalent; I knew having a child would probably wind up somewhere in my future, but I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to procreate. Still, we decided to take a "let nature take its course" approach to family planning—an interesting strategy for a woman who just married a man with 6, count them 6, other siblings. After 5 years of “letting nature take its course” we decided to get serious about starting our family and no one was more excited than Matt. After another year of fertility treatments and heartbreaking let downs we knew the Lord was telling us to stop beating our heads against a wall and adopt so we decided to travel the road of adoption. Again, no one was more excited than Matt – he’s an excitable guy! I was excited too!
So after Kim announced, "You need to meet us in 5 hours to pick up your twin daughters!" and it was determined that all fingers and toes were present and accounted for, I could feel the fear hovering so thick in the air, I could have cut it with a knife. Though I was beyond ecstatic, praising God for His blessings, I was also scared stiff, in one single instant, my life, my love, metamorphosed into something completely different than what I had imagined it would be.
So when I called my friends to share the news of our amazing blessing, all I could really say was, "So, what do you do with girls?" They all knew the answer, of course, "what you do with girls" is the same thing you do with boys!
During these last few short years, I gained and lost a total of 56 pounds, went through about 16,000 diapers and made approximately 6,840 bottles. I lost 2,523 hours of sleep and did 31,392,847,287 loads of laundry. God help my poor washing machine. And somewhere along the way, something miraculous happened: I figured out exactly what to do with girls:
We play together, we learn together, we pray together, we work together, we talk together…we make a dang good team! We do this together…

The girls had requested I make cupcakes "for daddy"~ yeah right ~ and we play princess and paint their nails (Bree had been coloring her toenails now for weeks and I was trying to avoid the inevitable).

We baked cupcakes before breakfast so they would have plenty of time to cool. After we got home from MOPS we ate lunch while wearing our tiaras. And had a great talk about princesses and how the girls are God’s princesses. It was a very sweet time just hangin’ with the girls. After lunch we realized the girls needed to wash their feet before I could paint their toenails so we soaked their feet in the bathtub for a bit. Then the nail polish was chosen and the fun began. After the girls toenails and fingernails were all dolled up I frosted the cupcakes, got out the sprinkles and let the princesses go to town decorating "daddy’s" cupcakes.

Life is good, very, very good!