Happy anniversary to us!

Saturday was my 11th wedding anniversary!! Gary and I had a great night out with dinner at Elfo's in Germantown followed up by a good movie, Duplicity. I truly can't believe that we have been married for 11 years and hope for a lifetime of happiness ahead of us! Thanks for Victoria Martin, a sorority sister of mine at Auburn for setting Gary and I up on a blind date for my pledge formal....wish we could send her a shout out but have lost track of where she is these days....happy anniversary to us! Thought I would try and find an old picture of us to post as well....our scanner has gone bye-bye, so this is the oldest digital pic I could find....1999 in Eufaula, AL at Gary's grandparents' home. We really have not changed much....what's up with that???

The happy couple on 3/28/09

The happy couple in December 1999

Western Day

Today was Western Day for the kindergarteners at Harding Academy. Anna has been talking it up for weeks because 1) it is fun and 2) it is a non-uniform day. I was resourceful and found some awesome red boots just her size on e-bay and the rest of the outfit was from her closet. She was very excited to get dressed this morning. After braiding her hair, Caroline piped in and asked for a ponytail. Poor thing barely has enough hair at 2 1/2 for a pony tail. It was a valiant effort. I did have to disppoint her because even though she wanted it braided, that just was not going to happen. Anna make her own stick horse and participated in stick horse races, a roping game and a search for "gold" in the hay bales. What fun! Yee-haw!!

The cowgirl before school

Posing with her stick horse

Stick horse race!

Posing on the horse at the entrance to Western Day!

Anna learning how to rope cattle from a real cowboy.

I roped her in for a quick picture!

Artist in training?

We returned from the park yesterday and while Gary and I got dinner on the table the girls went upstairs to play. Anna yells out to us that Caroline is playing with the markers. We then asked them both to come downstairs and found that Caroline was quite the makeup artist!!! I have seen emails where kids I don't know have done this but to get such concentration on such a little body in such a short amount of time warranted a few pictures!!

Spring is here

We had a dreadful week weather-wise last week which was spring break for the girls....they attended "camp" at school since this is my super busy time at work. They had a great time and enjoyed all the special times at school. We had clouds, rain and 40's which made me pine for the beach!!! This week is much better. Tonight after dinner we got the girls outside to enjoy the daylight (thanks daylight saving time!!) and run off some more energy. Anna chose to ride her new scooter she won at school for collecting so many pledges during the Boosterthon Fun Run at school and Caroline drove her Cozy Coupe. Both had fun and we had a nice evening outdoors. Looking forward to many spring and summer nights OUTSIDE!!! Bring on the 70's for more than a few days!!

gotta love the crown and the outfit anna picked out


caroline in her cozy coupe

Big girl bed

We have been wanting to move Caroline to a big girl bed for some time now but she has not been interested until this weekend. On Saturday afternoon during her nap, Gary heard lots of commotion through the baby monitor. He decided to wait and see if she settled down. Before he could wait any longer, Caroline walked in the kitchen and said "Hi Daddy". To accomplish this feat, she had to climb out of her crib, open her bedroom door and walk downstairs. I believe she is ready for a big girl bed. Today we shopped for a mattress at Costco having already bought her bed on a super special at the Pottery Barn outlet last year. All was assembled by mid-afternoon and she was excited....until bedtime arrived. She did not want us to read books in her bed but rather in Anna's. Finally she told me that the bed was too big and she wanted to sleep in my bed instead. I asked her if I could lie down with her for a while and sing a few songs. She obliged and within 2 songs, she was snoring. Hopefully she will stay in her bed all night with Mermaid Dora there to proctect her. Only time will tell!!

Caroline in her big girl bed

the sweet sisters

all ready for bed with dora

Boosterthon

Anna's school chose a fundraiser for the spring that I really, really liked. The kids (instead of selling stuff that no one needs) asked for sponsorships to run laps in the Boosterthon Fun Run. Anna really got into it and ended up with some great sponsorship money that goes toward supplies for the classrooms in the kindergarten area. The people that run the fundraiser are with the Boosterthon out of Nashvill and they are super fun and really know how to get the kids motivated. The most number of laps the kids were allowed to count was 35. We were told to expect 20-25 laps for the kindergarten kids. Of course, Anna ran as fast as she could, only stopping for water at the water station once (after lap 19) and ended up running 35 laps. Gary and I walked a victory lap with her. She was worn out but really had a great time. The fundraiser had a theme of teaching the kids character and it really was great. I would highly recommend this type of fundraiser which promotes physical fitness and character over selling tupperware or wrapping paper any day!!

Anna on the early laps....going strong!!

At the end of the victory lap with Mommy and Daddy.

Showing off the back of her shirt where they marked her laps....all 35!!

Snowy Saturday

On the way home from the basketball game on Saturday we started to get some snow. The National Weather Center had predicted 3-5 inches early in the day, which is what we ended up getting at our house. We had snow for a few hours in the afternon and then several hours overnight. The girls took a 3 hour nap after the basketball game and did not really want to play in the snow much when they got up. On Sunday morning, however they decided to bundle up and play outside for a while. They made snow angels and threw some snowballs at Daddy. I can tell my girls and my husband are all ready for Spring/Summer. We would much rather be in the sand at the beach than then snow and the cold temperatures. In fact last night as the snow was falling I was looking at condos for our August beach trip!! It was nice while it lasted. The streets are clear so hopefully all will be good for the morning traffice on Monday!

Anna making a snow angel.
Anna and Caroline throwing snowballs at Daddy.
Gary and the girls.

Go Tigers Go!

We took the girls to the U of M Tigers game on Saturday.....we sat in my company's skybox, so they had lots of room to run around and play and of course eat snacks. The girls had a great time. Aftewards our friends stopped by to check out our view of things. The Tigers have now won 56 straight conference games and hopefully will finish out the season undefeated in conference play next week. On the way home the sleet and snow started and you can check that out in my next posting. All in all a fun Saturday for the Zyrieks.

Caroline in her Tiger blue.
Anna celebrating a Tiger victory.
Anna and McKayla in their flashing blue sunglasses...can't tell they light up in this picture.