Growing a Small Horse

I loaded up Sadie on Friday and took her to the vet for her last round of shots.  She does not like confined spaces so riding in a car is not her most favorite activity.  I rigged up a leash around the seat to keep her confined to the front seat.  After whining halfway to Alto, she finally gave up and rested.

In the three weeks it had been since Sadie had been weighed last, she gained 10 lbs.  She is now 27 lbs at 2.5 months old.  The vet estimates she will be at a minimum 150 lbs.  We are growing a small horse.

Belated Hays' Christmas

Originally we had planned to meet up with Naggy, Pappy, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan in Granbury on New Years weekend to celebrate Christmas.  But then they all got iced/snowed in at Amarillo and Midland and we had to postpone our plans.  Naggy & Pappy found a cool vacation rental house in Granbury and the guy was very nice to let us roll over our reservation to the weekend of Jan 17th.  By that time the weather was so much nicer and the girls were so anxious to see everyone!

We left Friday after school and got to Granbury around six.  The house was awesome.  Everyone had their own room and it was on a great piece of land with a pond.  There was plenty of room to run and play.  The girls spent a lot of time outside!  We managed to eat dinner before Naggy, I mean the girls, couldn't wait any longer to do gifts.

Carli is so easy to get a good picture of...

The girls gave Uncle Kevin, Aunt Megan, Naggy & Pappy new picture calendars and coffee mugs they had decorated.  They were pretty proud to show them off!

 

Santa had made a stop in Amarillo and left some gifts for the girls there.  Carli and Ava were quite excited to get rabbit cages and a microphone stand!

Ava specifically asked Uncle Kevin and Aunt Megan for some pads to wear with her new roller skates.  She was ecstatic when she opened them up!  She also got some brand new light up shoes.  Between the pads and the shoes, everything else was forgotten!

Carli got some new pink cowgirl boots much to her Daddy's relief as well as a new sweatshirt and Elsa braid hat which she wore all wkd.

Since we did gifts Friday night, we got to spend Saturday and Sunday just hanging out and enjoying the company.  The girls really liked going down to the pond and poking at the water between resting on the hammock.

Sunday morning before church we managed to take a few pics in our Sunday best.

 

 

And here is Carli in her new dress with a belt that she was very proud of!  :)

 

 

I pretty much spent the weekend doing nothing.   I was trying to wean myself off of taking the anti-nausea meds and it left me with not a lot of energy.  The girls and I went on a few excursions outside and Sunday afternoon I enjoyed a nice long nap!

 

The rest of the family worked faithfully on a 1000 piece puzzle where half of it was the sky and all one color.  They were proud to have finished it before Kevin and Megan had to leave Sunday afternoon!

We headed home Sunday with a truck full of new goodies and lots of new memories.  We all had a great time!  

We Got Rabbitts

When we were debating about moving into a smaller school district, one of my reasons was for the girls to be able to be active and many different activities so they could figure out where their niche was and pursue it.

My brothers and I were very active in 4-H in elementary and Andy actually pursued showing cows up into high school.  He still enjoys raising them.  I wanted to expose my girls to the livestock show and a little bit of responsibility and so this weekend...we go rabbits.

Meet Addy Hoppy Hays - Ava's Broken Blue Otter Mini Rex Rabbit.

Meet Raven Miley Hays - Carli's Black Mini-Rex Rabbit.

 

Wish us luck on our new adventure...

 



Ava's First Sleepover

Grammy & Pa invited Ava over for her very first solo sleepover.  I had never really thought of the fact that Ava had not stayed anywhere without Carli until she was invited.  At first Ava was not so sure, but when it dawned on her that she would be the center of attention and go on a "Grand Adventure," well, then she couldn't hardly wait to go!

Grammy & Pa had to go to Dallas on a Friday which is when Ava usually spends the whole day with Grammy.  We met Grammy & Pa in Jacksonville on Thursday night and handed off Ava with her bag of goodies and Frozen Blanket.  She barely gave me a kiss good bye she was so excited.

She had a great day, convincing Grammy & Pa to buy her donuts for breakfast and Braum's for lunch.  She apparently talked non-stop and thoroughly enjoyed her day! 

Friday's we usually get up a little early and stop by the donut shop before school.  Carli insisted on sending Ava a picture, "Dear Ava - I hope you are having fun on your adventure with Grammy & Pa.  I can't wait to see you tonight!  Gotta go to school now...love you - Carli."

Ava, with the help of Grammy replied, "I miss you too Carli.  My donut is yummy.  You are the best sister ever!"

Christmas Mugs

Carli and Ava wanted to make gifts for Uncle Kevin, Aunt Megan, Naggy and Pappy.  Since they are drink hot chocolate, coffee or apple cider we thought perhaps some new mugs would be a good fit!  Ava made Pappy and Aunt Megan's mug and Carli made Naggy & Uncle Kevin's mug.

They were pretty proud of the end results!

Round 2 Kindergarten Treats

We had snacks for Carli's kindergarten class on my birthday.  Carli had a very specific request - please bring Grinch fruit snacks.  I was pleased she wanted fruit and not something full of sugar.  But then I went to the store and had to spent $20 on strawberries...they aren't in season!  Oh well, Ava and I had fun making them and taking them to school for Carli's class.  We made enough for each kid to have at least two each and a few leftover.  We came home with none, so I guess they like them okay!  :)

Ava's Going to be a Big Sister!

So, we let the cat out of the bag.  We are expecting Baby #3 in July.  We have prayed for this baby more than he/she will ever realize.  I'm pretty sure Carli and Ava have matched our prayer efforts word for word.  They've been asking for a baby for the past two years.  There have been many occasions where we have found ourselves in an uncomfortable situation having to explain to family, friends and strangers that no we are not pregnant especially not with twins.  :)  At least now we can smile and nod and confirm a baby is on the way...just one though, not two!

We struggled about when to tell the girls a baby was on the way.  Not only when but how.  When the opportunity came up for us to have a free mini session with the photographer who took our wedding pictures we decided it would be as good of a time as any to let the girls know.  We meet Casey Jay Benson at a really cool Victorian house out in Flint.  He immediately hit it off with the girls and wow is all I can say about his ability to capture amazing pictures!

We tossed around the idea of balloons, or shirts, or signs.  Really, Keith and I aren't the most decisive of people.  We finally made a couple of "chalk board" signs using an idea we saw on Etsy, and bought the girls new shirts.  Casey took pictures of the girls with the signs first...

 

And then snapped away while we read them the signs off camera...

 

 

I was hoping for Ava's reaction.  Carli's reaction was summed up with, "Well, that's not fair, how come she gets to be the Big Sister and I don't?!"

 

 

So we had to explain that Carli would be a Big Sister too and all was well once more.  :)

 

We gave the girls their new shirts and they were more than cooperative the rest of the photo session.  They are beyond excited about a baby on the way.  Smiles all around.  Casey did such an amazing job getting real smiles from them.  I can't say enough about how amazed I was by the amount of good pictures he got in just 30 minutes.

This is one of my absolute favorites.  You just can't stage that! 

 Keith and I were not suppose to be in the pictures.  I did not dress to be in pictures, but I lost that battle.  I am glad they made me take a few, we got some cute shots.

These are shots from the end of the shoot.  Literally we were walking to the cars.  God has truly blessed me with two amazing little girls, I am so humbled with this pregnancy.  I cannot put into words how blessed and joyful I am to have another child join our family. 



Grandkid Annual Pictures 2014

Every year we try to document the cousin's growth and take a group picture together for Grammy and Pa.  (2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, plus two other yrs not documented on here).  We managed to squeeze in the annual grandkid picture despite the cold and rain.  Grammy made the girls ponchos and Logan dressed to coordinate! We opted to attempt to take the pictures ourselves and I think we did a pretty decent job.  We took a TON of pictures...here are some of my favorites.  A few of them I like just because of the shining personality coming through!  :)

*You can click on each picture to make them larger and easier to view.

 

Logan (7), Carli (6), Ava (4), Eady (1)