Happy Always Merry Everything

Merry Christmas  and Happy Holidays to all 10 of you out there that read my blog!! :)  Here is this years Christmas card.  Isn't it getting sooooooo expensive to mail them out?  I ordered 25 less this year than last year, so my apologies to those of you that did not receive one.   

Although it's been said many times many ways....Merry Christmas to YOU!! :)

 

I am thankful this morning for the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!!  I am so Thankful for all the blessings He has given me in my life.  Sometimes life is hard, but through is atoning sacrifice, I know that this life is only temporary.  I know I have eternity to Praise him and forever be with my family who I love and adore!!

My parents are here with us and we are having some families over for Christmas dinner that don't have family that live here either.   I JUST LOVE Christmas!!  I'm sad that's it's over as of tomorrow.  But I still have my Christmas decor for one more week.  We take it down on New Years day. :(

And now for some Holiday funnies:

Audrey and I were in Publix one afternoon and a woman who worked there asked her to sing her a Christmas Carol.  She began to sing, "Last Christmas I gave you heart, the very next day, gave it aways".  The Woman looked at her and then me confused.  She wasn't sure what she was singing.  I had to explain she was singing "Last Christmas" by WHAM!  I love it!  That's my girl! :)

Tonight while wrapping presents, I said to Wade, "I can't believe the girls haven't gotten out of bed, they usually get up like 3 times." to which he replied, "That's b/c I locked them in their room.  Will you remind me to unlock it before we go to bed?"  LOL!  He just cracks me up! But, you have to admit, it's genius.  

This one may not be about Christmas, but it's about Jesus, so I feel it fits...

Audrey was telling Nora that she wasn't the boss.  Nora said that Mommy is the boss.  Then Audrey said, "Mommy's not the boss, Jesus is the Boss!"  She said it with such attitude that is was too cute!! I can't decide if Jesus was proud of her for saying that or a little disappointment because, well, it was said with TOTAL spite!  hahaha! :)

AS we were opening gifts this morning ELise wanted NOTHING to do with her own gifts.  She tried to grab and fight with EVERY gift her sisters opened.  Good thing we didn't buy her much anyways!  LOL!

I think all 3 girls had a GREAT Christmas.
 Nora's favorite was her little fairy  doll Santa brought her.  She lost her other one during our summertime travels.  Audrey's Favorite gift is her Rapunzel doll from Uncle Steve and Aunt Kieko. Elise is having a LOT of fun with My new set of pots and pans (Yes, I asked for them, LAME I know, but I LOVE them!!).  Wade's gifts were equally boring.  He got clothes, but totally needed nonetheless.  I did however get an AWESOME external hard drive.  Dorothy Nicole Photography has needed it in a BAD way! :)

Hope your Christmas Morning was equally wonderful!!  And I hope you didn't have to wake up at 5:45 am like we did! :)

One more thing, As we all enjoy our joyful Christmas morning with our families and loved ones please remember  Karlie and the Gill Family in your prayers as their precious little 3 year old lay in the ICU at Children's hospital in Birmingham.  Prayers are needed and appreciated!  I pray Jesus' spirit is felt strongly today upon them as they celebrate this day and comfort their daughter!

Christmas Fun

The girls have had a lot of fun around the house the past couple days.  Of course they get to play non-stop, but Christmas bring a whole different kind of fun.  They Spent the better half of a day making Christmas sugar cookies with Grandma.  

First they made the dough, Grandmas' special recipe!  Then they rolled it out and cut out shapes.  After they cooked and cooled they frosted all the cookies.  Grandpa joined in on that fun.  I was just so thankful I didn't have to do it...hehe!  

Another day they made santa hats and beards with cotton balls.

Nora used her creative side of her brain and made this little piece of artwork.  She cut out the snowmen and used the cotton balls as snow.  Sounds simple, but I would have never thought of it.  Her creativity always amazes me!

And they have LOVED playing outside together!  You'd think we had some fun stuff out there, but no!  They just ride their bikes and color with sidewalk chalk and do who knows what else.  But they have a BLAST playing together!  Nora is always such a sweet big sister to Elise!!  Having an (almost) 6 year old is AWESOME!  They just really mature so much while in Kindergarten!

Later we had a Funky Christmas photo session.  I took out all the clothes they had that were Christmas colors and told them to go crazy with putting it all together.  The funkier the better!  Well, when I went to check on them, they were all matching!!  These girls dress crazy ALL the time when I tell them to get dressed.  I guess they just didn't understand that I was ACTUALLY giving them permission to dress weird.  Anyway, with a little encouragement we put together the perfectly awesome crazy outfits.  They helped me pick out what we should dress Elise in.  

We attached our Santa hat and beard to some skewers and used them as props.  I thought they were just adorable!!  It was a family event.  My Mom and Dad held the garland in the background and Wade helped the girls smile!  Fun times! :)

Switcheroo!!

We decided to let Elise in on some!!!

Crazy girl!!  She loved to stick the tongue out!

Nora is such a  lil' model!!  She decided she wanted her ponytail on the side.  Kind of looks like an 80's Christmas as well, huh?!

sweet sisters!

Seriously, can that Elise get any more Crazy!!  Just when I didn't think our girls could have anymore character, she comes along!

All I want for Christmas is just ONE picture of all my girls cooperating!  Oh well!!  I'll settle for this! :)

Nora and the tale of the great big huge good for nothin' tonsils

Nora had her tonsils out the other day.  She hasn't really had a lot of ear infections or anything, but they were HUGE.  The first ENT we went to just wouldn't quit talking about how big they were.  I got the feeling she was  a freak of nature or something.  Even Dentists have commented about how big her tonsils were.  Poor  girl!  They did effect her hearing and her voice is VERY nasal sounding.  Recently, her right tonsil was so swollen it was taking up literally HALF of her throat.  I don't know how she was breathing or swallowing.  I was checking her every night until her surgery to make sure she was still breathing.  I know, such a motherly thing to do.

She was pretty excited about getting them out since she was told that she would get to eat all the ice cream she wanted.  She totally ignored all the other fun stuff we told her such as how her throat will hurt and she'll be asleep for a bit.

She was laughing and smiling and singing beforehand.  But during the hour she was in surgery she went from THIS...

To THIS...

You know your child must be pretty miserable when they frown in their sleep!  She woke up pretty confused and fussy, but calmed down when I laid in the bed with her (and got a dose of pain meds in her IV, hehe).  She pretty much slept the rest of the time we were at the hospital.  She rested a bit the remainder of the day, but by the next day she was up an at 'em!  She didn't even want to take her pain meds anymore b/c she didn't like the taste.  4 days later she is still eating soft foods, that's to be expected, but she hasn't even really complained.  I am TOTALLY shocked by this!  I was expecting BIG time complaining and crying.  Maybe I should just always have low expectations and then will always be pleasantly surprised.  Just kidding...maybe!! :)  All in all it wasn't a bad experience.

Has it already been a year?

    

Elise turned 12 months old about 2 weeks ago.  She's just getting so big!  It's amazing how fast the third child picks things up.  She's been walking since about 9 months.  she only ate jar baby food for about 2 months before she was screaming for what we were eating.  Just the other day she straddles a little scooter and was pushing herself.  She was trying to keep up with her sisters riding their bikes.

She is now 18.5 lbs. and 30 inches.  So basically Tall and Skinny!!  She probably wouldn't look so tiny walking around, but she is seriously SKINNY!  But a cute skinny, of course!

Also, she is not red headed.  She does have some Auburn highlights that apparently light up in the sun/light!!  I wouldn't be surprised if it became more red as she gets older.  Wade has a couple brothers and sisters with red hair.

  

 fun facts:

-You can't eat in front of her, she will literally yell at you until you give her some.

-She is a total girlie girl.  She loves to put on necklaces and scarves.  The other day she put Audrey's panties on her head and was SO PROUD of herself.  It broke her heart when we took them off.  WE had to, they were dirty panties!!  LOL!

-She loves us all, but I am her TOTAL favorite!  Her first word was ma ma. Hehehe, I love it!

-She loves being outside

-She HATES milk! I've tried everything, chocolate, strawberry, silk.  She just won't drink it.  

-She has mastered the stairs

-She loves to give Wade a hug when he comes home from work

If she doesn't like something she WILL let you know, she will push it away and EVEN take it then through it on the floor.  She has major attitude.

-She LOVES animals.  Whenever an animal is around she just yells and screams and laughs and follows it around.   Then she cries if it walks away.

Some of you have asked about her little monthly onsie's.  It's just a regular onsie with THESE on it!  Get you some! Great for gifts too!

This is her grabbing her blankie.  She just LOVES it, seriously won't go to sleep without it!

We had a Birthday party for her week!  IT was a lot of fun.  Here is the bday girl and her sisters!

The Bday girl and her family!  Wait...something seems off, what is it?  Oh, that stubborn little Audrey didn't want to quit playing.  Oh well!  Now we have a family picture for when we disown her or when she becomes emancipated...whichever comes first! :)

Aren't babies so cute with a bday hat on AND eating cake with their hands!  It's like a perfect mixture of cuteness!

She had a grand ole time.  If I had no other picture's, I think this picture would sum it up!  and I gotta give a shout out to my friend Amber, who made this dress outfit for her.  She is an AMAZING seamstress!! And even better, she has an embroidery machine!

Elises' Bday theme was CIRCUS!!!  I claim absolutely no credit for coming up with or designing it!!  This is not a DIY blog.  More like a CIY blog.  Copy it yourself!!  haha!  I got all these ideas and printouts for free HERE.

The Cake!!  This was also made by another talented friend of mine!  I'm a lucky gal! :)  

The "set up"!  And really, this is a TOTAL copycat gig!!  

Pretty much everything is a free printable and I bought all the other paper goods at the dollar store.  WE do things on the cheap around here! :)

 

Free printable for the invite!  Boom!

The popcorn boxes and the tickets I did buy at party city, but seriously only spent about $8.  

I just loved this picture of Elise.  IDK why!  She's playing with the door while kids are raiding the food!  

All the kids enjoying their cake and ice cream.  I thought it was so cute how they all sat in a line on the step.

The kids enjoyed climbing the trees. I don't thing my backyard neighbor did though.  She yelled at Audrey the other day for being in it.  This is the same neighbor that came to our house when we first moved in and said (in a way that only an old southern lady could),  "I hope y'all aren't planning to put up a fence are ya?"  I bet she's rethinking that now!  hehe! :)

Again, I don't know why I love this picture.  I guess it's just adorable watching Elise walking away from all her friends playing behind her.

This is Audrey and her sweet little BFF.  Audrey was showing her all the ornaments she hung up.  They are adorable together.  Quick story about her friend.  She wears her jacket over her head all the time b/c she says she Rapunzel! I love 3 year olds!  Well, as long as they're not throwing fits! :)

The next day we had a little smash came session!  I really wasn't in the mood to take more pics, but the only cake left in the house was her little smash cake.  Well, I needed IT!!  So we did the session and then the girls and I got to dig into the remains!  YUMM!!!

I think this might be my most favorite picture EVER!  Period!  ok, I'll say my most favorite of HER...for now! :)

November iphone Chronicles

Ok, time for another exciting round of the "iphone Chronicles" (echo, echo,echo)!!  Exciting, I know!!

Recently I started using this iphone app called camera+.  I love it!  It's a lot like instagram, but WAY better.  It does more "photo" things and has WAY more effects! YAY!

I fed Elise some ravioli this past week.  She ATE it up!!!!  Seriously, It's like I gave it to her, walked away, and when I turned around it was ALL GONE!  Except on her face!  Isn't that messy face adorable?

We put up our Christmas tree!!  This is the BIGGEST tree we've ever had.  But with the tall ceilings we have, why not?!! Nora picked it out and I LOVE a big REAL Christmas tree!  Who could resist it? This picture is WAY too light.  I did it with camera+ but didn't mean too.  Oh well!

I  (Dorothy Nicole Photography) participated, with a couple other vendors, in a Holiday Boutique at a local neighborhood Clubhouse.  I thought it would help me get my name out in the community and generate some business.  And that is did!  YAY!  It was a fun night.  This was my "Booth"!

Grandma (and Grandpa) sent the girls a package for Elise's bday.   They also sent some fun stuff for the girls.  This is a Tinkerbell outfit they sent along with some other princess dresses.  Audrey and Nora LOVE to play dress up, so they will definitely come in handy!  Don't grandparents ROCK?!

Nora had 3 little girlfriends spend the night during the Thanksgiving Holiday.  They had a BLAST.  They made and decorated cupcakes, sang Barbie Karaoke, and put makeup on each other.  This is Nora with her Beautiful makeup! It's like you can't even see it, huh?  I think they were going for the natural look!

Here are the crazy little foursome!!  They really had so much fun together.  They didn't go to sleep until about 13:20 am.  They just stayed upstairs in the playroom giggling and putting on makeup.  It's like they were 16 already.  It's really so enjoyable to watch how they interact with each other.  It's a lot of work having little girls spend the night, but it's really interesting, uh, I mean FUN!

Those sweet girls even let Audrey in on the fun!!  Again, the makeup is so subtle! :)

We went to the "Lights of the South" last weekend.  It's just a bunch of light displays with a hayride, and Santa, and a HUGE play area.  It reminded me of "Christmas City" back In day.  All my Troy readers know what I'm talking about! :)  The girls had a blast!  I took the picture under a HUGE bridge the hayride went under.  It was very Pretty!

The End...For now!!!  Bahahahahahahaha!!

Most Thankful For...

These guys!!

There's a million other things I am very thankful for too, but these guys top the list.  If everything fell apart tomorrow, I think I'd still be able to cope as long as I had them with me.    Yes, even their little attitudes.  I really can't even imagine a world without their attitudes, LOL! :)  The Lord knew what he was doing when he blessed me with 3 little girls and a Husband that "get's" me! :)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!  No matter where you are and who your with, I hope the Spirit of Thanksgiving (an hopefully a little laughter) will be with you! :)

Fall is in the Fair

Last weekend we went to the fair.  We were supposed to go to Troy for Homecoming since it's my Alma Mater, but a certain baby (not naming any names) got a fever and diarrhea the day we left.  We decided it was best to be home so we turned around after a night in Hotlanta.  BTW, not so "HOT" when you're up all night with a sick little baby!! ;)   Saturday came and she seemed a bit better so we thought we could take a quick trip to the Columbia County fair since it was all of about 5 minutes away from us!!  I had some cute little shirts made for Troy's Homecoming so I made sure we got use out of them and the girls sported them to the fair!  GO TROY!! :)

After the fair, Wade requested some fall pics of the girls so we pulled into this cute little neighborhood and took some pics. Usually i take the time to put pics in a chronological order, but not feeling it tonight!!  So, you get what you get!  LOL! :)

My cute Audrey waiting in line.

You know you've got a little girl with an attitude when she doesn't even smile on a roller coaster!  LOL! :)  We love our Audrey!  Can't imagine our family without her! :)

Wade and the girls on the carousel

Our fall pics.  I just love this picture b/c I feel like their legs even show their personalities.  I know you Mom's out there know what I mean!

Elise wasn't feeling 100%.  Wade held her most of the time, but she was LOVING the carousel!!

I took the same type picture for some clients a couple weeks ago.  I just had to try it with my own kids. Aren't they cuties?  Nora was proud of the toy she won or rather the toy she got for trying!  ;)

Wade is such a fun dad! He'll do anything with the girls.  Don't you just love Audrey's expression...again!  

Fall is in the AIR!!  So cute how kids just LOVE fall leaves!!  It can put a smile on even Audrey's face...haha, Just teasing! 

Loving leg warmers on the girls this year. Elise started the trend with her green leg warmers I bought a couple years back.  I bought a pair last year for me that I never really wore.  Turned out this 33 year old woman can't really pull them off . But tall sock with boots...a COMPLETELY different story!  Love that look! :)

The carousel was pretty much a big hit with all the girls!

Nora and I rode the big swing together.  It was a challenge taking this picture with the swinging and all, but glad I got it. I just love how much she's enjoying it and I even LOVE the shadows of the people swinging.  

 My girls!  They really do love each other.  And they Especially love it when Daddy makes silly faces and noises from behind the camera.  Thanks Wade-o for the adorable smiles!

Wade and his little girls!  Sometimes he has the nerve to count me in as another one of his girls...I just go with it, b/c well, I guess I can act like a 5 year old too! :)  How did he get so lucky to have us all?!  haha! :)