photo 303...

taking pictures with a toddler....

...is an absolute WHIPPIN'. She doesn't want to sit still at all! Today we went to see Santa Claus and let me just tell you that this picture should give you a hint of how that went!

This is one stage that I will be happy to see come to an end.

photo 302...

Our BG...

Today we went to take some pictures hoping to get a good picture for our holiday cards. This was a fun picture that Ashton wanted Daddy to take of her in front of the tree....it looks like Ashton was "photoshopped" into the background. I can't believe how grown up she is looking these days. Geeeeze!

photo 301...

waiting....waiting....waiting....

The Olsons came up to the Big D for Thanksgiving and spent a few days with us. We had a get together tonight so they could visit with some friends. The Leonards were the only ones who were able to make it with it being Thanksgiving weekend and all.

The girls were standing at the door waiting for the Leonards to get here. This a regular occurrence when we are expecting company!

photo 300...

Black Friday....

I love this day...it is one of my many favorite days of the year! I actually get really, really excited about Black Friday! I wanted to take pictures of my clock in the car to show what time I pulled out of our driveway (which by the way was 4:42 am) but the battery in my camera was dead.

So I took a picture of some of the bags I accumulated from the day. It wasn't as successful as years past, but I was able to get some good stuff and some great deals!

photo 299...

I am thankful for...


...these two little girls of our who are so precious to us!

(plus numerous other things today and every day...Happy Thanksgiving!)

photo 298...

every little girl needs a full length mirror....

Every once in a while Landry loves to dress up....she brought me the top to Ashton's dance recital costume from this past summer and wanted me to put it on her.

She was admiring herself in the full length mirror we have hanging in the playroom. After a few minutes she came running to me and asked me for "mooo-na" which translates to "music". The CD that was in the CD player was Ashton's 7 favorite songs. It was so hilarious because Landry was totally jammin to the tunes and singing away.

I love little girls!

photo 297...

two little girls...and their dog....

Landry is in love with our dog, Buster. She loves to pet him and point out his body parts...she especially loves when we lift up his skin so she can see his teeth. She prefers to have someone else pet him with her.

Tonight just before bed, she wanted to rub Buster's belly and she wanted her Big Sis to do it with her. Both girls and Buster were totally enjoying the belly rubbing!

photo 296...

Reesey P came to play with Lan-Lan P....

Today we got a super special treat....we (I mean Landry) got to see Reese twice in one day! First we had My Gym this morning and then after nap, Reese's mommy brought her over to play so she could get some major Thanksgiving grocery shopping done for all the cooking she will be doing while they have company in a few days.

We loved having her....the girls had fun....and we can't wait for Miss Becky to bring Reesey P over again soon to play (maybe for a little longer next time...time sure flew by). Ashton even had fun playing with them.

photo 295...

this is one of the things I really dislike about laundry....

I have to hang up most of the girls' clothes and it takes a long time and it is a beating! It takes up my kitchen chairs, and the shower rod in the guest bathroom and really just isn't so much fun!

oh and this is just one load's worth of clothes minus the jeans!

photo 294...

Landry's Baby...

Landry is OBSESSED with babies...real or fake it doesn't matter to her. She loves to play mommy to her babies! She has even gotten to the point where her babies need to go to bed with her.

Tonight after several attempts on my part to get her to put her baby to bed on the boppy she wouldn't have it. She got very sad....not mad....but sad that I would make her put her baby down. We decided to let her baby sleep with her as long as she wasn't playing. As I was putting her to bed she said, "Mommy, dolly night-night me. I sleep" . And she did. She didn't play, she just wanted to sleep with her baby.

photo 293...

A Surprise for Mommy...

My darling husband came home from his meeting today with a suspicious and sweet smile on his face and an explanation to go with it.

He told me that since he got a new job and he bought himself a "new job present", and the girls got a little present from his trip, he couldn't not get Mommy a "new job" present. He said I am the one that has to deal with everything when he is working and is gone and he knows it isn't easy.

So he walked out of the room and came back in with a huge bag. I immediately knew it was way too much of a present and he should take it back. When I looked in the bag, and saw it was the boots I have been wanting (and have on my birthday and Christmas list) I told him to take them back. After trying to convince him for a long time, he wouldn't budge. So at this point I figured I wasn't going to win this battle so I just needed to be grateful.

I love surprises....even though it was not necessary....and I think he spoils me when he shouldn't....I do love these boots. They are the most comfortable and snuggly and soft things I have ever put on my feet! I am in love...with my new boots!

photo 292...

$51 ...

...is how much money Ashton saved all by herself!

Ashton has been saving her money for a long time to buy a "Just Like Me" American Girl Doll. If you are familiar with American Girl dolls, you know they are expensive. The one she wanted was $100.

We knew it would be extremely difficult for her to save that much money seeing how she only able to earn a maximum of $4 a week for her allowance and she has to put half of whatever she earns into an envelope for her savings account. So we told her she needed to save half of the money for her doll.

She got a gift certificate for her birthday which she saved to go toward her doll. She has saved every bit of money she has earned and she has even done extra things to earn money. Today we counted her money and she had 51 dollars!

I was almost in tears because I was so proud of this girl! She was beaming with the most ginormous smile ever! She was so proud of herself and Landry was super excited even though she didn't have a clue why! She couldn't wait for Daddy to get home so she could tell him!

It was such an awesome day...not only is she proud of herself, but we are just so darn proud of her too! This is a HUGE deal for a seven year old. I even told her that it might take her until after Christmas to earn enough money...boy was she happy to prove me wrong!

*We took her after school on Friday to get her doll....she was so excited! I will have a post on that fun event!

photo 291...

Daddy's Home!

Daddy got a new job out of the blue a last week. He was hired on Tuesday, his official start date was Friday and he had to leave early Sunday morning for a Team Meeting in Orlando.

It was a long few days without Daddy and we sure did miss him. He got home a little while after the girls were in bed tonght. While my bunco ladies were here, the girls made Daddy a "welcome home sign". Ashton hung them on our bedroom door so he would see it when he went to put his stuff away.

We are so glad Daddy is back...and I think Daddy was really happy to back home with his girls!

photo 290...

bunco baby...

This month it was my turn to host our bunco group. Today after Landry and I went to the gym, we ran by the mall real quick to pick up some Harry & David stuff to make a dip and bumped into Carly and Jodi at the Gap while getting Ashton some leggings. (That was fun and super random)

Anyway, after were finished at the mall, we went to the grocery store to get the stuff for my bunco meal. I did a "random" theme. I made Harry & David dip and a super yummy baked potato dip for appetizers. I borrowed a new white chicken chili recipe from my friend Becky which was yummy, and made the most delicious frozen brownie dessert ever!

It was a fun night with lots of yummy and not so good for you food!

photo 289...

Mission: Organization!

Ahhhhh!

I feel SO.MUCH.BETTER now that Ashton's closet is organized!

Her closet has been a a mess for a loooooong time. It has been hard for her to keep it clean and organized because she had so much stuff in there. {When Landry came along, we had to baby proof the playroom which meant that all of Ashton's toys that had small pieces had to be moved into her room.}

Well...yesterday we fixed it. We got rid of a bunch of things (stuffed animals and stuff she has been collecting/keeping forever and for no real reason) and reorganized some other stuff and now it looks so much better. She had a ton of "stuff".

Today I finished the labels and she is set to go! Hopefully it will be a ton easier for her to keep it organized. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw her room in the "it gets worse before it gets better" phase. It was priceless and I only wish I had snapped a picture of that for my 365! She didn't really enjoy spending so much time with me...doing this project!

photo 288...

Baylor Pizza...this is a first for us!

Today was a fun day for us Bryce Girls. The Lady Bears had their first regular season game today and it was ESPN2 which means we got to watch it. (We also got to see Grammy a bunch of times which is always fun)

We made pizza for dinner and part way through the game Ashton said,
"Mommy, what if we put a big BU on our pizza. Wouldn't that be cool?"

So that is what we did. It was yummy and the best part was that she helped me make the BU. She did the sauce and the cheese all by herself and we used some teamwork to make the BU.

I love that how her mind works and I love that she loves Baylor just like I do.

photo 287...

Family Game Night (minus Landry)

Saturday night is "Family Game Night" in the Bryce house. Ashton so loves this night just as Mommy and Daddy do. I think she likes it so much right now because Landry isn't old enough to participate yet and this is some good one-on-two time for her.

She chose to play a little Wii and some cards. We played Baseball and Tennis on the Wii then we busted out the cards and played "Crazy 8". Ashton is learning to shuffle the cards and I remember how long it took me to learn to shuffle the "grown up" way.

I couldn't help snapping a picture of her cute little 7 year old hands trying to shuffle the cards.

Game Night Rocks!

photo 286...

Brusha-Brusha-Brusha

Today Daddy, Mr. Bill, and Mr. Nathan headed down to Austin to watch Uncle Chris' Bastrop Bears play in their first playoff game in like a gazillion years. We all wanted to go down for the game, but since it was on a Friday not Saturday, that would have meant taking Ashton out of school early and we decided to be "good and responsible" parents and pass on that option.

So...instead, we had the Scheers and the Leonards come over after school for some playing, a movie night picnic dinner in the living room, and a sleepover. The Scheers couldn't sleep over this time because Grayson has an 8:00 soccer game in the morning. {We have decided we need to do this again when all of the kids can stay over}

I will post more pics and details on our family blog when I get to that post. I snapped this picture of the three big girls brushing their teeth before they headed off to bed!

photo 285...

my "November" fall decor...

I usually put pine cones that my parents brought back from the Sequoia National Park in my decorative vase for the month of November, but for some reason, I couldn't get them to look quite the way I wanted them to this time around. So....I decided to try something new!

I decided to use real cranberries...I love the color and Landry has learned a new word. During breakfast the morning after I did it, she looked at them and said "wut dat?" I told her they were cranberries. She smiled and said, "I like doze" I wish I could type how she says cranberries...it is too funny!

Can you tell I am on a "real" food kick for decorating? Weird...I know!

photo 284...

gettin' my craft on~again

I don't know what has gotten into me lately...but this is the latest "crafty thing". Ashton has a ton of chokers and her most favorite is the "Bottle Cap" choker. She has several caps to go with it and they get stuck together and tangled into a mess. Ashton had seen how one of her friends keeps her bottle caps on a magnet board. The lightbulb came on and I decided I could make one that matches her bathroom for all of her chokers.

This girl loves anything that is pink, black, white, and zebra which means she is tickled to have this new contraption! I love that it makes her chokers easy to find and somewhat organized.

*I know that picture isn't great quality because I had to use the flash and there are a bunch of shadows everywhere...but you get the idea.

photo 283...

"Hands Are NOT for Hitting"...

...is a phrase I feel like I say about a zillion times a day and it isn't for Ashton this time!

{We bought this book when Ashton was a toddler because we had a problem with her hitting when she was mad or didn't get her way. Thank goodness I kept it....boy do we need it with Landry! She seems to get mad a lot faster and hits more than Ashton did.}

She loves this book and wants us to read it all the time. I am just waiting for it to sink in and take effect!

photo 282...

TWO girls looking AND smiling = a rare picture these days!

Tonight...Bobby and I were fixing dinner...when all of a sudden Landry had crawled up in Ashton's lap and they were coloring together. I can't even believe I was able to get a picture of both of them looking AND smiling! I only hope they both do this again when it time for holiday pictures!

photo 281...

Sunday Morning Sweet Treat...

Usually once a month or so we make a special treat for the girls' breakfast on Sunday mornings. They love it and never know when we are going to have it.

This morning Landry was watching the Wiggles when she asked for some "milk and beck-nis". I told her we would have cinnamon rolls after her show was over and I will tell ya....these two girls were super excited! When the cinnamon rolls were finished, Ashton said " Yessss....these are the GIANT ones...my favorite!"

They were totally delish and so not healthy, but you gotta splurge every once in a while!

photo 280...

Hold My Hand...

Tonight we had dinner with some really great friends of ours. Since they live in Keller now we don't get to see them very often so this dinner was a nice treat for us! Cash is a month and a few days older than Landry, and Emily and I just love when these kiddos get to play together.

After the kids were finished eating, they were getting restless so Emily, Ashton, and I took Cash and Landry outside to walk. As soon as we got outside, Landry wanted to give Cash a hug then he said, "Hold my hand" and grabbed Landry by the hand. They walked all over the place and were having a blast. All the people waiting for a table ooohed and aahhhed over them.

This was such a cute moment that as soon as Daddy came out with the diaper bag, I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. It isn't great since it wasn't with my "good" camera and it was dark but still cute!

Thanks for meeting us for dinner Emily, Josh, and Cash!

photo 279...

"pooooop...my dolly Daddy"

Let me just warn you that Bobby and I ALMOST needed a diaper after this event today!

This afternoon Landry was in the playroom playing by herself...Bobby and I were messing with something on the computer {ya know since we had the dead hard drive and all} when Lan-Lan P came in. She handed Daddy a baby doll diaper and said "poooooop...my Dolly Daddy". We looked over and couldn't believe what we saw!

She had taken the black foam mouth stickers off of her little pumpkin and put them IN the baby doll diaper. We looked at each other and through the laughter said "Did our almost TWO year old just create a dirty diaper with poop for her doll? Are you kidding me?"

Oh.my.goodness.gracious! This child never ceases to amaze us!

photo 278...

I LOVE Jammies!

Yesterday I scored big time on jammies for the girls...well really my Big Girl. I was able to get her FOUR new pair and I got Lil Sis one new pair since I already had to buy her some new ones a while back. Ashton wanted to wear her new ones last night, but I told her I needed to wash them first and she could wear a new pair tonight after her bath.

So of course Landry wanted to wear her new jammies too. Perfect picture opp for my 365. Well we started out sitting nicely in the chair with both girls and this is how they ended up.

I love that they are rolling around laughing and just having a good old time even though I didn't get a really good pic of the jammies.

photo 277...

are you kidding me?!?

So.
I have a folder on my computer called "365".
It is where I put every single picture I do for my 365...all 277 of them.
When I opened it tonight to put my 365s from November in there...
This is what I found....not backed up to the external hard drive basically since I started.
I thought this whole time when my hubby was backing things up...this folder was included.
I was so wrong.
Are you kidding me...seriously?!
At least I have my blog...and I will have to go back and put them all back in the folder.

When I saw this almost empty folder, this became my new 365 for today.

Ugh.....I really really don't like when hard drives die!
Hmpf!

photo 276...

It's Tough Being the Lil Sis on a Tuesday...

Today was a really long day for Landry. With all the rain we have had and the fact that most of Ashton's softball games had to be made up, we had one tonight.

Not only was it on a Tuesday when Ashton also had dance, it was at 6:00 which means we had to go straight from dance to softball. And on top of that, we were "Daddy-Less". It makes for a long day on both girls. {I snapped this pic at the end of the game when Landry was ready to go home, have a bath and go to bed}

However, this was the last game. We have the Post Season Tourney this weekend, but after that we are done until spring ball starts.

photo 275...

Are you surprised?

I was at first..but then not so much. Landry has a stuffy nose and cough that she randomly woke up with on Saturday so that means no My Gym for Lan-Lan P and no Gym for Mommy.

Since she was kind of crabby and tired, and she wanted to watch a "moo-nee" I thought that would be a good time for me to vacuum. I put her up on my bed with her blankie and turned on Sesame Street Sings Karaoke for her.

I did my usual vacuuming...I did both girls' rooms and the hallway to their room. Stopped went to check on Pea...she was still comfy and watching her movie. I did the office and the living room. Stopped to check on Pea...still watching her movie. I finished with the area by the kitchen and backdoor. I finished and checked on her...not on the bed.

I went in to see where she was....and I found her sitting on the floor in front of my sink with my eyeliner. I walked in and here is our convo...

Landry: Hello. {in her sweet little I am pretty sure I just did something I wasn't supposed to and maybe I won't get in trouble if I am cute voice}

Mommy: Oh Landry, what are you doing {trying really hard not to laugh}

Landry: I mate-up. My eye. I mate-up.

Mommy: That is Mommy's and not a toy. We don't play with Mommy's make up.

Landry: I pit-tee. My eyes. I mate-up.

Mommy: Can Mommy take your picture?

So being the stellar mom I am, I grabbed the camera because of course we need to show Daddy and it would make a great 365! After I got the camera and came back in, she was demonstrating {without any prompting} for me how she did her "mate-up".

This was only the beginning of how her day was going to be...she was full of it today! Between her and the stinkin' computer dying it was a doosey of a day!

photo 274...

Halloween Costume~Day Two

I think it is safe to say that Ashton L-O-V-E-D her Halloween costume...I mean she wore it ALL day today over her jammy pants.

I love days when jammies and dress up are appropriate attire for the entire day...especially if you are little girl!