He's a lefty for sure

Look at my little boy practicing writing his letters.  He doesn't actually get homework from school but he does from his Mommy.  We always call it learning time and here he is practicing his letter of the week.  He hasn't been as interested in learning the letters and sounds as Julia but lately he's been doing great!  His fine motor skills are coming along.

Julia Turns 6

I know I say it every year but it's hard to believe I have a six year old!  It's amazing how fast each year goes by and I'm just loving the time I get to spend with sweet Julia.  Thomas and I woke her up and let her open two presents before school.  One was a necklace with a J charm on it and a beautiful new dress from Nana and Papa.  She was excited to wear her new outfit along with her necklace on her birthday.

Mondays are the days I volunteer in Julia's classroom which was perfect since that's when her birthday fell this year.  I brought her lunch from Chick-fil-A and then volunteered afterwards for Math Centers.  I love that I got to spend this extra time with her on her special day!

Once Daddy got home from work it was time for presents and boy oh boy was Julia excited!

She was all excited about getting a horse from American Girl which she named Hearts!

The other horse she got from American Girl she named Cinnamon.

Giving Cinnamon some love!

In addition to the horses she got the stable too!

Hearts turn for some loving from Julia.

A piece of leftover birthday cookie cake from her party sure was a yummy treat.

Making a wish!

I absolutely love that smile!  Happy 6th birthday beautiful girl!

Sawnee Mountain Hike

We always get some nice days here and there in the month of January and we decided with the nice weather it would be a perfect day for a hike up Sawnee Mountain.  We invited Julia's friend Haleigh and her family to join us.  Two girls leading the way up the mountain!

Andrew, Julia, Haleigh and Case at the top of the mountain with their hiking sticks.  The view from the top is awesome!

It worked out great hiking the mountain with friends since they kept each other going rather than anyone saying I'm tired and we were actually able to make it to the top!

Love doing things together as a family!

The boys on our way back down.

The kids all loved having their own hiking sticks!  It was definitely a beautiful January day in Georgia!

Julia's Birthday Party

After much discussion we decided to have an American Girl birthday party at our house for Julia's 6th birthday!  It was definitely a ton of work to get everything ready but I had heaps of fun doing all the girly stuff.  After looking around on Pinterest we decided to have the girls make a tutu for their dolls and make flowers to fill up a vase.  In addition to a snack along with cookie cake and opening presents.  We all had a fun day celebrating our American girl Julia!

Dining room table all set up for 10 kids.

Kitchen table set up with the cookie cake and every one's vase.

After everyone arrived we first made the tutus which definitely required the girls to be determined.  I'm so glad a few of the moms stayed so they could help out with making the tutus.

Everyone hard at work making tutus and Andrew playing with his truck in the background.

Sweet Haleigh from Julia's class.

Julia met Jennifer in speech last year and was lucky enough to be in the same kindergarten class.

One of the twins, Peyton or Presley, that Julia met in dance class last year.

We love Sweet Grace who Julia met in her 3 year old preschool class and still continues to be friends.  They don't go to the same school but they are in the same dance class so we still get to see her each week.  

Jennifer and Lily enjoying a snack.

Julia having fun at her party.

Time for singing and birthday cake.

My sweet girl!

Making a wish!

All the girls with their dolls wearing the tutus they made for them along with the hats for the dolls and the girls that I made.  Don't they look cute?

Lily and Lucy making flowers.

Opening presents!

Julia was definitely excited to see an American girl box.

More presents!

Oh, what's in there!

Just a photo of my sweet girl at the end of her birthday party.  Love her!

Me and my little girl!  Feel so lucky to be her Mommy.

Monster Truck Jam

 Every time we would ask Andrew what he wanted for Christmas he would say a monster truck you could hold.  So for Christmas he got 4 different monster trucks you can hold and carry around in one hand.  Right around that time I saw advertisements for the Monster Truck Show coming to Atlanta and we thought we'd get tickets for Thomas and Andrew to go see the show since we thought Andrew would enjoy it and boy were we right.  At the beginning of the show all the trucks drive around and you get a chance to see them all.

 Good thing Thomas had ear muffs for both of them since it was quite loud with all those monster truck engines.

 Daddy and Andrew having a blast!

 Looks like it's time for some stunts.

 Andrew and his popcorn.

 Another truck doing a jump.

Looks like a wipe out by Grave Digger which happens to be Andrew's favorite monster truck because it's green of course.  So glad the boys got to enjoy this special time together!

Syracuse Basketball

One of Thomas' Christmas presents was tickets for Andrew and him to see Syracuse basketball play here in Atlanta verse Georgia Tech.  It was a chilly night to be heading downtown but that didn't matter to these two boys!

Ready to cheer for the Syracuse Orange.

Boys are ready to go!

 Andrew loves popcorn!

Andrew and Daddy at the game!  So excited these boys got to go see the game and Syracuse even won right at the last few seconds which made for an exciting game.  Thomas said when he was cheering and saying things like defense, Andrew would copy what he said and would yell defense!  I would have loved to see him cheering for Syracuse...I'm sure it was super cute!