More Holidays...

Just thought I would share some more Christmas pictures with everyone. Here are a few of CP and Gracie playing the part of Cute Little Elf in front of the Fireplace.

What a cutie!

Here's one of Me and Gracie at the parade. What a fun memory.

And finally one of Mags looking full of Holiday spirit.

I do have one funny thing to share. The other night Gracie and I were hanging out on my bed watching TV. Somehow through conversation (remember with a 3 year old) I called her my Little Sweetheart. Gracie hates anything with the word little in it. So, she proceeds to tell me that she is not a little sweethear but that I am. So I play the game and say, "Yes you are." Well little Grace took more offense to this than I thought and hauled off and clocked me on the arm (something we are "working" on these days). So I go into MOMMY mode and give her a real stern explanation that she is not to hit me or anyone. THEN, my sweet Gracie looks at me and shrugs her shoulders as if she is 12 years old instead of 3 and says, "Mom, I'm not perfect!" I guess she told me.

Christmas with Al's Family

Al's family came over Christmas Eve to celebrate with us. We had a great time. Here's Baby Park enjoying some time at the keyboard. What a cutie.

Santa came to see us on the front of a Firetruck!! He was a few hours late but hey he was a busy guy that night. Mag's and Gracie even talked to him. That's a big accomplishment. He was giving out candy so that might have been a small incentive for them.

Jackson loved getting his gifts. He got some really good stuff. He can probably operate his new MP3 player better than I can mine I'm sure.

Here's my girls. I think this is what they wore outside to wait for Santa to come by. We had a great day with family, presents, friends and a great meal to finish it off.

Merry Christmas to All........

And to All a Good Night!

Hope your dreams are filled with sugarplums and you have a Jolly old time with your family and friends.
Happy Holidays from our house to yours!

CHRISTMAS PARADE-CROWD FAVORITE!!

Here are the promised pictures from the Gardendale Christmas Parade a few weeks ago. It is a night parade so all the lights make it so pretty and more fun for the girls.
We were the last parade entry before the BIG guy came rolling in on a huge Firetruck! The girls loved it but the siren was a little loud. It was actually a rather cold night too despite our tropical December we have had this year. We are riding a cute Train that Alex's dad made out of an old Mail Jeep and flatbed trailers. It really is quite a nice parade ride especially with all the cute train occupants.

I am very proud to tell you too that we were the Crowd Favorite of the night! I mean who else would they have picked?? The cutest little elves in the counry were riding it!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

You better be good, Santa's still watching!

Christmas Blues!!

Well, Ok it's been a few days or so since my last blog. I've kinda been out of the Christmas spirit and Blogging mood lately. To recap the last few weeks, I wrecked my van, my dad had a wreck the same day, Alex got a speeding ticket, we had some minor repairs done to the rental van and I had to drive a 1996 Explorer that requires some TLC to get it going. Everyone involved in the wrecks were ok and that is most important but it can put a damper on Glad Tiding and Cheer. I would like to send out a Great Big Thanks to Vince and Cil Trapeano for letting us borrow the Explorer!!


These pictures are just some random ones that I thought were pretty cute. Mags is dressed up like the Queen she thinks she is. Gracie Goose is ready for the cold weather we've been waiting for. And CP is dressed as the aspiring Ballerina she wants to be. Well, she really just likes to get dressed up.

I hope everyone is having a much better and safer Holiday Season than we are. It's getting better though. I'm ready for presents and eggnog and candy canes so I guess my Spirits are getting better!!

I'll try to post some pics of the Gardendale Christmas parade we were in last week soon too!!

God Bless and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Kids and Christmas Card Pictures!

Well here are some of our attempts at taking pictures for our Christmas card this year. It's always a wonderful and delightful experience for all involved. Ok so I am soooo using sarcasm right now. We did get a couple of cute ones out of the bunch but you'll just have to wait to see our card for those. I think Gracie is actually sneezing in the picure above. Nice huh?

This was our silly face picture. Nice tonsils Clara Paige.

I do like this one. Gives the illusion that I have 3 quiet and demure little girls that are just gently putting ornaments on the tree. Ha! Looks can be so deceiving. Especially on this day! They have been pretty good to not destroy the tree this year I will have to admit.

And I think Gracie just might have seen Santa flying over in this one. Either that or she's catching flies! What a bunch of cuties. I love 'em to death no matter how hard they are to photograph together. Maybe next year I'll just do single shots and collage them together or something.
Love to all and Happy Holidays!!

THANKSGIVING FUN!

We were brave enough to have Thanksgiving at our new home this year. It went exceptionally well and I loved having so much family in my house all at once.

I think everyone enjoyed it. At least I hope they did. Here is my mom and my great-aunt Mary Alice working hard in the kitchen. And seated at the table are both of my grandmothers. I couldn't ask for more! I love being with my family.

And here is a rare glimps of one of the twins touching my Uncle Roger. For some reason they are super shy when he comes around. Now Clara Paige on the other hand loves him to death, as you can see. It was a great day. Thanks everyone for making it so great!

Dear Santa!!

It has been requested that I share with you the new pagan tradition in our house hold to pray to Santa! As I have stated, Clara Paige really seems to be grasping this Santa Claus deal this year. So, Oh I guess around the beginning of November the sale papers and commercials really started to roll in with all kinds of cool new toys and gadgets for the girls to want. Every time CP would see a commercial she would tell me she wanted whatever was on it. If it was girly, she wanted it. So I pulled out the good ole' end of year excuse that Christmas was coming so she needed to ask Santa for it. Well, we had also started the very religious tradition of praying as a family every night too. So my smart-as-a-whip little 4 year old figured that if we pray to God for things then why not Santa. One day I saw her bowing her head and whispering to herself about something. I started paying more attention and figured out that she was PRAYING to Santa for almost everything she saw that interested her. She didn't want to miss out on anything!
Here's how the conversations with Santa go, bow your head, put your prayer hands together (you know how) and repeat, "Dear Santa, Please let me have (toy of your choice). Amen" Well we have explained that she doesn't need to actually pray to Santa but she still "asks" him out loud to be sure he hears her.
What a hoot!!!!

It's A Miracle in Brookwood!

I don't have any pictures that I can post to prove it but we witnessed a small miracle last Saturday in Brookwood Mall. My three precious angels who are terrified of anything in a costume decided very hesitantly to take the plunge and try going to see Santa. I do have a picture of it but not sure how to get it on the computer yet. Anyway, Clara Paige even SAT IN HIS LAP!!! Will wonders never cease?? This year the girls really are starting to grasp the concept of Santa and that he brings them the toys on Christmas morning. I think Clara Paige was a little worried that if she didn't tell him what she wanted then he might not know. I had to hold Gracie and Maggie stood on the other side of me but we did it. We got a picture with Santa and no one was crying. Santa even sang "All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth" to CP. Too Cute!!

Anyway, Santa gave each girl a little candy cane. As we were paying for our pictures my Maggie looks up at us and says in a very disappointed and matter-of-Fact way, "I Thought Him was going to give me some toys!!!"

She thought she had been ripped off by only getting the candy cane. I'm sure she was thinking this Santa business was for the birds! She didn't understand that you have to wait til Christmas day to get the toys. It was hilarious!!

My babies are 3!!!!!

Well these pics are a few weeks old but we had a BLAST at the twins' birthday party! As you can see we even got PawPaw to pull out the Christmas Parade Train. The kids loved it.

Gracie and Maggie loved all of their gifts and thanks to all who took time out of their day to spend time with us celebrating my little angels' party day. They also had some extra special help opening their presents from sister Clara P and cousins Emma and Abby Claire!!

Time for the Cake! It was so colorful and good!! We're still working on the blowing out the candles issue. Had to have some help on that one too!! But hey they are princesses we shouldn't have to do it themselves should they???? Hahaha

Happy Birfday to us!! Gracie is on the left and Mags is on the right!!

Here's the pretty Princess Party table before the kidos got to it! We really do appreciate all the help everyone gave. The kids enjoyed time riding golf carts, jumping in the cinderella castle, riding the train and eating cake!! I just can't believe my Gracie Goose and Maggie Mae are actually 3 years old. Their actual birthday was Saturday (iron bowl day)! We took them to see the movie Enchanted and to my surprise they loved it and made it all the way through.

I posted some different pictures on my Myspace page if you want to check those out too!!

I have several other events to blog about so be on the lookout for those.

Love to all and a BIG WAR EAGLE to my Auburn family and Friends!!!!

War Eagle!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, NEWSFLASH!! Clara Paige lost her second tooth. Two in one week!! She's gonna be rich if this doesn't stop soon!

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Here's just a cute pic of CP that I wanted to share with you guys!! Isn't she growing up. Pictures of her minus her tooth still to come.

This disaster is compliments of my girls!! I went to pick them up after work last Thursday and this is what I came in to at Mom & Dad's. It's packing peanuts!!! Thousands, no millions of them. But as Nana and Pappy said, "but they had loads of fun!!" I bet mom didn't when she was cleaning them up. I offered to but she insisted that she would clean it for them. What a good Nana we have!!

Lost: CP's first baby tooth!!

Well I don't have any pictures yet but today Clara Paige lost her first baby tooth. Both of her bottom front teeth were loose which seems a little early for me but apparently it was her time. She came running up the stairs today to tell me she lost her tooth. Literally she LOST it in our garage. We still haven't found it but we did leave a note for the Tooth Fairy. Hopefully she'll go for it till we find the real tooth. My baby is a snagletooth now but she is the cutest one I've ever seen!!

We're all moved in and out of batteries!!

Well it's been a long weekend but we are now moved in and trying our best to unpack. There are boxes everywhere but I am just so thankful to be here. Thanks to all our family and friends who helped us in anyway throughout this adventure. We love you all so much. Friday when we were waiting on the big moving truck we were cleaning up at the new house. The girls found a little dead ladybug in one of the windows. I got it out and told the girls that it had died and put it in the garbage bag. Maggie looked in and looked up at me and matter-of-factly said,
"Dat ladybug just runned out of batteries!"
That sums up how we all feel. We are just all runned out of batteries!

Technical Difficulties!!

Ok I'm posting a picture from a few weeks ago because well we just plain forgot the camera last night for Halloween. I'm just not as good as Kim Lawson. Kim is always "have camera will travel." We went to the new house to trick-or-treat so we could get more acquainted with the neighborhood and meet new neighbors. Well we still have lots of painting and work going on there so it was very chaotic. Mom did her best getting the girls to the house with all their costume garb and the candy to hand out. When I got there from work, we realized that we didn't have the face paint and you just can't have 3 little kittens w/out whiskers. Well ok they were a Tiger, a Black Cat and a Leopard. But they are still my little litter of kittens in my opinion. Anyway I had to run back out to the drug store to hunt down some face paint. So in the midst of all that the camera did not make it. However I did get a few pics of the tired and worn out kitties. I'll post those soon.

The girls had a blast and we did too. Clara Paige called all the trick-or-treaters that came to the door our Customers. It was so cute. The doorbell would ring and she would run and announce, "We Have Customers!!!"

Hope everyone else's Halloween was Fun and Safe!!

It's Official!!

Well, it is finally official. The Hicks family Circus has a new home. We couldn't be more excited and relieved that it's all finally over. Well the closing is anyway. Now Alex has the grand task of painting most of the rooms. We plan to move into it the weekend of Nov 3-4 or so. It will be so nice to have so much room. The girls love their playroom and have already started to tell us where they want their toys placed in it. I guess I have 3 little interior designers on my hands. Mom and Dad have been so overwhelmingly good to us while we have occupied almost every square inch of their home. Thanks Mom, Dad and Jonathan.
I am very happy b/c we found a house in an absolutely FANTASTIC neighborhood for our girls. It has a playground and pool and lots of kids. We will actually get to go there and trick-or-treat next week!!
Well everyone have a great rest of the week and thanks for all the prayers!!

Thoughts and Ponderings

Words of Wisdom By Maggie: "Happiness is Alive." --I really needed to hear this today.

Ponderings by Clara Paige: I was singing a church hymn the other day and the lyrics "washed in the blood of the Lamb" came up. Clara tells me, "I don't like that part." I explained to her that it was a good thing and of coarse she asks why. So I tell her that it means that we get baptized with Jesus and that is a very good thing. She then asks, "Are you?" and I say yes. Then she sincerely with her big puppy dog brown eyes asks me, "Have I been Advertised with Jesus?" It was just too cute and sweet. I explained to her that one day she would be. Ahh the minds of children never cease to amaze me and put my heart at peace.

Love to all!!

Punkin' Pickin'

We went Punkin Pickin last weekend with The Dodson's, The Halls and Nana/Pappy and Meme/Papaw. It was a big occasion. We celebrated Papaw's birthday and had lots of fun. Just thought I'd post a few pictures for everyone.

The Princesses of the House

Well this is part of our attempt at taking pictures for Mags and Gracie's Birthday party invitations. Just thought I would share a few of these pics with ya. After the photo session I was assigned the job of pretending to be the Mean Step-mother or as Gracie says "steffmotha." I didn't take it too personally though. Have a great week and hopefully I will be posting more soon. Gotta get those Auburn game pics downloaded first.

just an update

This is just an update for everyone. I hope to be publishing some pictures soon so I'll get more detailed then. We took Rachel and Emily Dodson with us to the Auburn Game last weekend and had a blast. I can't wait to share the pictures with you.
The twins birthday is coming up soon and I just can't get over the fact that they will be 3 years old next month.
Halloween is fast approaching and we are in need of a costume for Clara Paige. Can you believe it's already that time of year?
Oh and we are in the process of getting a new house. Just everyone please keep their fingers crossed and keep us in your prayers that it continues to go smoothly for us.
Love to all!

The Hicks Family Dictionary:

Mazageen - something you read-you know like Southern Living or Sports Illustrated

Fingertails - those things on the end of your fingers- according to Gracie

Nonails - same as fingertails but on your toes

Nanny Nanny - what you say when you are really mad at Nana

Shurch - Where you go to worship God - according to CP - pronounced with same beginning sound as Shruck (truck) and Shicken (chicken)

TO BE CONTINUED...........

Latest update

My beautiful girls!

Not too much to update everyone on right now. I have started my new job. This will be my 3rd week. It's going well. I only work about 20 hours a week so I can't complain about that at all. I'm pretty much going to be doing similar work to what I was doing in Ttown. So at least its familiar territory for me. Although I was only home with them a month before I went back to the land of the working, I was really sad and weepy that first day. But we're all getting into the swing of things. We have not officially started to look for a house yet but we are getting closer. I'll be sure to let everyone know when we do.

We actually went down to Tuscaloosa today for a few hours. Mom had to pick up a new rear view mirror for her van and we dropped off some clothes to sell in the Children's' Closet consignment sale. We dropped by Kim Lawson's work for a few minutes too. It was great to see her.

And by the way, Maggie does not have two boo boos on her legs. She's just addicted to band aids at the moment. :)

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Gotta show our spirit!

WAAAAAAAR EAGLE!!!!!!

We love each other so much. And we love our AUburn shirts.

2 Bits, 4 Bits, 6 Bits a dollar! All for Auburn stand up and hollar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! War Eagle
Maybe we can play a better game this weekend! Go Tigers!