The life of our sunflower

So I thought I took more pictures than this, but I guess not. Anyway, over the summer we planted sunflower seeds. It was fun to watch them grow and document their life. Here is the first sign of our sunflower!

A few weeks later, they were really growing.

They eventually got taller than Gabriella.

The flower is starting to open up.

It's almost time to harvest!

Here is where I thought I took more pictures. The actual harvest. We cut the sunflowers off and put them in paper bags so the could dry out. Then we took the seeds out of them. Some of the seeds were too small to use, but we still got a good amount. Next year we will plant more seeds!!!!! Until then, we will enjoy eating eating what we have!

Birthday Girl

My baby girl turned 10 this month. I was super sad! :( She really is growing up on me. She got some birthday money. So she was able to go to the bank and deposit it into her account. This is her first bank transaction. She really looks so grown.

She had on her sun glasses because we just left the eye doctor and her eyes were dilated.

Transaction complete!

We went home for a couple of days to celebrate Gabriella and Papa's birthday. I love moments like these.

Gabriella and Papa are two peas in a pod! She really loves her Papa.

She had some presents to open.

My sister got her, her first Lego set! It was a hit! Everyone really enjoyed playing with the Legos

Ice cream cake for Gabriella and Papa!

I even enjoyed the Legos. Heh heh I made an apple tree, a sail boat and a horse pulling a cart with flowers on it.

She also got a really nice connect four game and talked Nannie into playing it with her.

After we got back to NC, Gabriella's grandparents on her Dad's side came to visit her. She really enjoyed the weekend with them. They took her to all kinds of fun places!

"Sisa" also had a surprise party for Gabriella! She had so many presents to open there! For some reason this is the only picture I took of the party! :( There was so much going on, I just didnt think to take pictures. Melisa has called her "Fat Cat" ever since she was 8 weeks old!

We were truly blessed this year and Gabriella had an amazing birthday! Thank you to all who helped us celebrate!!!!

Christmas in the Park

Today we went to see the lights at Christmas in the park. It was really neat. They had train rides, crafts, marshmallows, and of course Santa....but we did not stop to see him.

The lights were very pretty.

A beautiful angel

Gabriella said "Here are all of Papa's deer" LOL she's funny

They had FUNNEL CAKES!!!!! YUMO

Gabriella LOVES funnel cakes....well, I do too. ;) We dont get them very often, but we sure do enjoy them.

And they had crafts for the kids to do.

Some hot chocolate to warm up with.

You canot see Gabriella, but we are roasting marshmallows.

This is one of our favorite things to do, but strangely enough, neither of us like to eat them!

I LOVE giraffes!!!!!! Isn't he cute?

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!

I'm baaaack!

Hello guys!!!! It has been a very long time since I have been on here. Life has pretty much gotten in the way. Who would have thought I was too busy to blog. Heh heh. Alot has happened in the past 6 months. I will try to update pictures slowly. I'll start with the last few days. Yesturday Gabriella and I went to the mall in Raleigh so she could spend her birthday money. We had a great day together!

We tried on silly masks. LOL Thankfully the picture that Gabriella took of me is blurry! LOL

Gabriella is definitely a shopper!!!!! After 4 hours of shopping I was completely worn out! She loved the Lego store and "built" some new people for her village. Here she is showing off some of her loot! She has been wanting these Russian Nesting Dolls for years now. Today she decided to use her money to get some. And of course she had to buy a chair for them. lol She is such a silly girl. She loves her nesting dolls.

Then we had some Cheesecake Factory. Gabriella's favorite is the Godiva chocolate. It has 6 different chocolates on it!

And of course lots of whipped cream!

Such a silly girl!

Godiva Chocolate bar! Yum! We LOVE the Cheesecake Factory!

One the way out we ran into some of Gabriella's family! LOL

She loves her monkeys! ;)

We really had a great day! It was nice to spend the day with her.

Lactation Cookies

I thought this was interesting....

Simply {Un}Organized: Lactation Cookies: "I had a chance to go to bed early today but then I decided it would be the perfect time to try to make Lactation Cookies! I was even able to..."

You don't own me!

Here is the other song God has laid on my heart. God's mercy is new every morning! Do not let your past creep up on you! You are forgiven and your sins are forgotten!

"Suitcases"

I normally don't post things from you tube, but God has really put a couple of songs on my heart lately. I don't know if this was meant for someone else to hear or not, but I know that it gave me some perspective. Enjoy! ;)

Day 171

Fourth of July celebration at rockfish church! There were so many things for the kids to do.....water slide, jump house, paint ball, food, music, sno cones, playground, and face painting. Of course the only thing Gabriella could do is eat and face painting.

Such a beautiful girl!

Even the adults took advantage of the face painting! Shanie is such a good sport! I had some things painted on my arm as well. the funny part was that I got sunburnt and now my "paintings" are permanently on my arm! ;) Good times! 

Mmmmm, sno cone!

By the end of the day, I think she had five of them!!!!

I'm not sure if you can see this very well, but she is trying to catch a dragonfly. She came pretty close to getting him a few times.

Gabriella took advantage of the paintings! She got four total.

Whew, time to take a break and cool off with the McVickers girls.

These girls are a mess! All three of them have different personalities! It's really fun to watch them interact with each other!