Days in the life of the Hays

A Penguin Thank You

2012-01-25T09:58:00.002-06:00

We were a bit late in getting our Christmas Thank You cards out, but we made it with in a month of Christmas, so it's within the socially acceptable guidelines, right? If not, I've got plenty of excuses! :)

Carli and I decided that we would make "feet" penguins. I wasn't sure she would want to b/c it involved putting paint on her feet. She didn't mind at all and actually had a blast doing it! Ava, who I thought would have a blast doing paint on her feet, totally freaked out on me. Melt down, major melt down that didn't stop until all the paint was washed off. So, we had to do plan B - which was more time consuming and maybe not as cute...but it's the thought, right?

We traced the girls feet, and cut out the outline and went from there. I printed "Thank You" on the front of the card and Naggy helped in encouraging the girls to color them all...all 18 of them. Which they accomplished with no melt downs much to my relief! Ava even colored a few!

While they colored I cut and assembled the penguins. Then Carli came and did a really good job in adding their eyes and beaks...

And then Ava came and added her two sense of artistic interpretation to a few cards...
Ava actually did a pretty good job for a 20 month old! She came in with a grey marker and attempted to add eyes just like Carli did! She'd color away, and push the card away when she was done and say "Nother one?" Listen close...

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Here are some of our finished cards...

Some people have asked me why I bother, and stress about getting Thank You cards out...so let me get on my soap box for a second because one day I hope my children will come back and read this and know, it wasn't just one of those silly things Mom made them do!

No one has to do anything for you. And if you have earned it, you still should be thanking the good Lord above for the blessing of receiving it! Yes, it is true, many folks do give out of love and the desire to give and expect nothing in return. And for those folks, we are very thankful! So, if someone goes out of their way, spend their time, money, effort and much thought and care on doing something for us - why would we not take our time and effort to let them know we appreciate not only what they gave or did for us, but that we are thankful for the blessing they are to us? And so, one day Carli and Ava, when you are a teenager and you are complaining about your Momma making you write thank you notes before you can go off and do what you want...take a minute to stop and think about the love and thought that that person put into giving you something, because they thought you deserved it. They sure do deserve to be acknowledged and thanked for it.

By the way, I have to take a minute to thank my Mom for instilling that in me. I remember thank you notes. I remember trying to figure out how to not write them. And I remember my Mom explaining why we needed to write them. And let me tell you...I sure appreciate that lesson she taught me!

**This was in no way directed at anyone...please don't take offense. Just like we teach our children to pray at meal time, say thank you, your welcome, etc...this is just a value I want my children to learn. Nothing more.**

Okay...off soap box now...

Rainbow Cupcakes

2012-01-24T21:36:00.004-06:00

Naggy and Pappy came this past weekend and the best part was that they came for Naggy's birthday! Carli was so excited. She has been ready to make cupcakes for Naggy ever since we came home from Amarillo at Christmas! Saturday morning we got to work...

Carli was a big help mixing the colors.

Pretty, huh?

After mixing the rainbow colors, Carli decided Naggy really needed her to play. So Momma was left to "build" the cupcakes...

Half way through!

Carli was quick to come back and show off her hard work!

And perform the ever important taste test!

What big sister does, so must Ava.

Naggy's birthday rainbow cupcakes.

Funny how Naggy managed to not get in a picture AT ALL!

Even the wrapper was pretty cool!

Happy birthday Naggy! Thank you for spending it with us! We enjoyed having you guys here and hope you enjoyed your cupcakes. Carli took one to school today to show everyone the cupcake that she made just for you...and ate it all! :)

Grammy's Sewing Room

2012-01-22T12:59:00.006-06:00

In Christmas of 2007, Keith and I gave my mom the promise of building her a window seat unit with a bookcase in her sewing room. Then in January 2008 we found out we were pregnant. So, four years, two kids, a new floor and new windows later, we finally came through on our promise!

The actual "gift certificate" we gave my Mom four years ago...she saved it!

Grammy and Pa went to Hawaii on January 7th and we got busy! We actually all spent the night at their house the night before under the pretense that we would get a jump start on a drive to Houston for my cousin's baby shower. The girls and I went to the shower and Keith stayed in Alto to measure, go buy wood and start cutting!!

**In the pictures below, you can double click on them to make them bigger.**

Here is the room before.

Everything in there belonged in there, just no storage!

Monday was the first official work day. I cleaned out the room and spent the day sorting fabric while Keith started building! He got the bottom shelves done on Monday.

Tuesday I had to work and stay home with the girls, so Keith worked alone. He made good progress by finishing up the bottom shelves and facings as well as getting the top bookcases built.

Wednesday was a detail day. Though you may not see it in the pictures, a lot happened on this day! Keith finished up the facings on the the bookcases and got them all secured to the wall. He also got the top piece (between the two bookcases) built. I finished sanding and cleaning the PVC pipes that Grandma had started that would be used for storage.

Thursday I had to work again so Keith worked by himself. He got all the trim finished and the top piece installed, including lights!

Friday we started the day caulking...lots and lots of caulking but man does it make a difference! We got that done by 10:30 and put a coat of primer on. We ate lunch at 2:30 and made the decision that we would go get the girls and bring them to "Hotel Grammy" so that we could do another coat of paint that night.

Saturday we finished the second coat of paint and declared the main piece of our project finished! Keith loaded up the girls and took them home about 1 pm and I stayed to put everything up! I finally got home at 9 pm.

Here is the "BIG REVEAL!" I thought it turned out awesome! I think the fabric closet is pretty cool looking! The only thing that could have made it better was to have seen Grammy's reaction in person!

We owe a HUGE thanks to Sassy and Kayla for watching the girls for us most of the week. Kayla even came to Alto on Saturday morning so we could finish painting. Thanks also to Grandma, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Johnny for coming Saturday afternoon. Without your organization skills and help we could not have finished getting everything put up!!

Thanks also to Pa for helping to keep our intentions a secret and answering our random texts and questions throughout the week all while not letting on to Grammy what we were doing!

Grammy, we hope you enjoy your new sewing room. Sorry it took four years for us to come through, but we think it turned out better this way b/c Keith's skills in building have greatly improved over the last four years! :) The cherry pie was fabulous! Thanks!

Christmas in Alto

2012-01-17T20:03:00.002-06:00

We got home from our trip to Amarillo on Thursday evening and were up and ready to go to Alto on Friday morning. It's amazing to me that Carli didn't collapse from exhaustion as she went from being so excited about seeing and playing with Naggy and Pappy to demanding and begging to see Logan!

Grammy had a special story planned for the kiddos....you'll have to check out the video in the previous post to note the awesome memories there!

Logan, Carli and Ava in front of their Christmas Tree covered in tinsel from their spiders and the big snowman!

Ava quickly found a nice cup holder in her new plasma car!

A very special moment between Grandma and Ava

Logan's new grill!!

Pa's new bat!

He had made some passing comment to Keith about wanting this Jackie Robinson 33 bat. I was pretty impressed that after six months Keith remembered and found one - I think it is a 35, but close enough! We knew he liked it when he said, "I think I may sleep with this!"

Uncle Tone's new tablet

We all had to go in to get this one for him, and he loved it!

Grammy's growing ruler

We made this for Grammy to put at the lake house to mark the grandkids growth!

Ava wasn't in such a sharing mood with her new puzzle!

Andy and Michelle's gift was really neat. Mom and I got together and planned six date nights for them. We made up six envelopes and put a date in each envelope and made sure to include a gift certificate, brochures, etc so the hard part of the planning is done! They can enjoy each others company and take a break from reality!

Christmas in Alto was great! The kids loved spending time with each other most of all and you really can't beat seeing someone smile from ear to ear with happiness when they open a gift you gave them! That is the best gift of all!

A Christmas Story with Grammy

2012-01-15T17:20:00.002-06:00

A bit late, but we had a good excuse! Set aside 10 minutes and watch this awesome video of Grammy reading to her Grandkids. So very precious, and will be treasured for years to come!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Many thanks to Uncle Tone for putting the video together for us!

Our Alto Christmas post to come soon!

Christmas in Amarillo

2012-01-09T08:48:00.001-06:00

We spent five days in Amarillo and I'm pretty sure we wore Naggy and Pappy out! :) We flew in on Christmas Eve. It was by far the easiest travel we have experienced with the girls. We had no crazy long lines at the airport and there were no delays. It was a huge relief.

Carli had been so excited about going to see Naggy and Pappy. It was all she could talk about for weeks. She was also excited to get to stay at a hotel the night before and go swimming. We are pretty sure that the thought Naggy and Pappy would be at the hotel as well but the distraction of swimming got us out of that potential melt down. We scored a sweet deal at the Hilton Anatole in downtown Dallas for the night before and "enjoyed" taking the girls swimming. We headed out by 6:30 to the airport to "go way up high in the sky to see Naggy and Pappy!"

Carli was so happy to see everyone! I should have video taped the reunion b/c I missed taking a picture of all her hugs! She was so cute running through the airport when she saw Naggy and Pappy. I captured one hug she gave Aunt Megan.

I'm pretty sure Naggy and Pappy were just as excited!

The girls played the whole week on Naggy's treadmill. Naggy helped them excercise and they even used it as the converyer belt for their luggage when the played "airport."

Ava hanging out with her Daddy.

We pretty much got off the airport and went straight to the house to have Christmas. Naggy was so excited! :) Santa (and everyone else) was super nice to Carli and Ava this year!

One of Carli's ever famous poses...

Ava checking out her new book.

M&M's...thanks Santa!

Carli opening her stocking.

In the middle of opening presents, they needed a snack...on their new plates...and of coarse it was M&M's!

After presents were over, we just got to hang out with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Megan, Naggy and Pappy. We had lots of fun playing in the snow, playing with Henry, playing with our new toys and eating lots of yummy food!

Ava all snuggled up and ready to brave the cold!

The most played with toy was of coarse a box! Aunt Megan let the girls have the box one of her gifts came in and with the help of Uncle Kevin even cut some window holes in it for the girls.

They played and played....

And played!!

At the extended family get together, Ava got a little doll that when you push it's belly it giggles. She was instantly in love! She slept with her new baby the rest of the time we were there!

Our gift to Naggy was a "growing" ruler to put up to track her grandkids height. It's the same concept of using the door jam but we wanted to make sure she could bring it with her when the moved to Tyler... :)

We had an awesome time in Amarillo. I had a momma break and read three books! It was really nice! Ava must have been working on a tooth b/c true to form she had another nasty diaper and got sick the night before we were to head home. The girl likes to make me stress! But she did fine on the plane and the long drive home. We detoured through Fairfield to see our cousins who were in from Washington before heading home to our puppy dogs!

A White Christmas in Amarillo

2012-01-05T21:10:00.002-06:00

We got to Amarillo on Christmas Eve...and the weather was cold but clear and sunny. We woke up Christmas Morning to find snow! My kids have experienced so many things in their short lives that Keith and I only experienced as adults...a white Christmas, flying more times than you can count on two hands, watching baseball games for air conditioned suites....

But anyway, the snow fell and fell and fell and was so pretty. Monday morning while Ava was taking a random morning nap, Carli convinced all her "menfolk" to take her outside to play!

Making a snowball

Building a Snow Man

Laughing so hard because she hit Uncle Kevin with a snowball!

The laughter and complete joy of watching and listening to Carli play in the snow was enough to make Christmas in Amarillo so special!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

More on actual Christmas festivities coming soon!!

Carli's First Day of Preschool

2012-01-04T09:33:00.001-06:00

Carli started preschool yesterday. I started looking for a preschool program about November when we found out that Sassy wouldn't be able to watch this girls this semester. I didn't want to start all over with the girls having to adjust to someone they didn't know. Plus I had planned to enroll Carli is a preschool program in August. I figured I might as well start looking. We got very lucky to find out our good friend, Kayla, had the perfect schedule for stepping in to help us out. And the same week, we heard about Oak Tree Academy Preschool. After asking around, and touring the school, we decided to go ahead and enroll Carli to start in January since they had an opening so that it would guarantee her spot in the Fall as well as guarantee Ava a spot if we were ready to start Ava in a program as well.

So all that said, today was the big day. Carli was excited most of the morning. She would make little comments like:

"Momma, you stay close to me so I won't be sad."
"I'll go to school and so will Ava and we will have lots of fun!"
"Logan will be with me at school and I will learn lots."
"I'm going to a Princess School!"

So I wasn't sure what to expect when we got to school. I think I was more nervous than she was. We walked in, and Carli had a death grip on my hand or maybe it was the other way around. I turned in our paperwork and we went to her little classroom. There was only one other little boy in the room when we got there and I think that was a HUGE help! Carli looked around and saw the puzzles on the table and told me she was going to go do those puzzles and she would see me after school! That was that! Ava and I left, and no tears were shed!

Carli and her new backpack from Naggy and Pappy

She'll grow into it!! :)

The school starts at 9:30 and is over at one. It is perfect timing b/c Keith takes a late lunch and swings by to pick her up. He said she must have done well b/c the teacher didn't say anything about her having a hard time. It helped that her friend Kenzie came by about 11:30 to say Hi while she and her Mom were having a tour of the school!

I was worried about Carli eating her lunch but she did a fairly good job eating what we packed. Score one for Mom! They got home about 1:15 and Carli was all smiles!

While Carli was off being a big girl at school, Ava was home wearing Kayla out while Momma crammed in some work. Ava seriously enjoyed being the center of attention. She played so hard she took a 3 hour nap for Kayla! Not too shabby for our first day in our new schedules. On Thursday's, while big sister is at school, Ava and I are going to have some good one-on-one time and go to a kindermusik class. She really enjoyed the one we did last semester, so I think she will eat up getting to go again and having my undivided attention!

Man, where did the time go...

Christmas at Home

2012-01-03T13:36:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve Eve, we had our Christmas at home. It was an eventful morning. The girls were in matching Christmas night gowns, only we woke up to find Ava had had her first, and I pray, her last blow out diaper. No fun. :( But we got her cleaned up and found some more Christmas PJ's so we could get to the important part of our morning...PRESENTS!!

Ava found cookies in her stocking and she pretty much was satisfied for the remainder of the morning. I'm not sure where her sweet tooth comes from! :)

Ava modeling her new toboggan and eating a cookie.

Carli opened this gift and immediately started drawing. I asked her to hold it up and show me what she drew. It's Naggy and Pappy's house all the way up in Amarillo! Do you see it?

One of Ava's homemade gifts, a fabric pull. If I could just get her to put the fabric back in the box when she pulls it all out! This was one of my first "sewing" ventures with my new machine Grammy and Pa got me for my birthday. Turns out sewing in a straight line isn't too had! :)

Carli LOVES the rainbow rice. She has played in as long as an hour at a time. She does a really good job at keeping it in the container too. Ava on the other hand tends to get more on herself than in her cup, or spoon, or container!

Carli and her Leap Pad

Rainbow Rice, a Cookie and a Baby...not a bad combo

Logan comes over to play a lot and Ava LOVES his little cars. She was happy to get her very own cars in her stocking!

Carli got some cars too...this is her "pink" car. And also a preview of our latest project, rebuilding our mantel!

Carli bought Keith some pajama shorts. She really did decide that is what he needed and this was the only pair we could find since it was the middle of winter!

I got a treadmill!! I am very excited. It's even new! :) Keith got it put together for me Sunday night and yes, I've already used it.

Our Christmas at home was really good. I do have some rather dramatic children. Carli ended up sitting at the table for a good hour b/c she didn't want to eat her mini cinnamon roll b/c I made the mistake of calling it a baby cinnamon roll. Nice. Then after we got all our Christmas cleaned up, bags packed, house picked up and almost ready to go - Ava got sick, in the kitchen, all over the island. Blah. Really a bummer since we were about to drive 2.5 hrs, stay in a hotel and fly the next day. But we got her and the kitchen cleaned up again, lined the immediate vicinity around her car seat with towel, crossed our fingers and headed out for our next Christmas in AMARILLO!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

Just one Present

2011-12-22T21:19:00.002-06:00

We finally gave in, actually we bribed the girls to cooperate by the promise of opening just one present. It was just a preview of what tomorrow morning is going to be like...so much FUN!!

Carli opening her new pink ball and glove...

Her first comment was, "Oh good Daddy, now I can play ball with you and Logan!" She wouldn't try on the glove b/c it is an outside toy. Duh!!

That did not keep Ava from throwing the ball around the house though!

We pulled out a gift for Ava and this is immediately what she did...

Once it was unwrapped, she actually sat on it correctly and played for a good three minutes - which is record time for her sitting still! :)

Even Momma and Daddy opened a gift at Carli's persistence. Daddy got one of "those" shirts, so he is officially a Tylerite. Momma got some awesome snapware containers.

Tomorrow is our big Christmas at home with the girls before getting ready to celebrate with our extended families! It'll be a busy busy day! Can't wait!

Christmas Art

2011-12-21T10:04:00.001-06:00

After having Thanksgiving/Christmas with my extended family we needed to send out some thank you's to all the sweet relatives who blessed us with a wonderful day! So, it was time to make our annual hand cards!!

Carli was much more excited to participate this year! She did a wonderful job on all 18 of her hand prints!

She had to take a few rest stops...

Ava thought we were nuts at first but then she really got into it and was not very patient for us to reapply the paint on her hand! Thus a lot of her little hand prints were a bit smudged and mis-shaped!

Our Santa and Rudolph!

An up close look at our creation...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Sweet Sisters

2011-12-20T09:57:00.001-06:00

The girls do really well at sharing a room. Our biggest complaint is that Ava is a very early riser. We were worried that this would mess up Carli's sleeping habits, but it turns out that it just has brought the girls closer together! :) We've consistently gone to get the girls up in the mornings and found this...

Ava wakes up early and starts talking or playing. Carli in turn wakes up and promptly joins the fun in Ava's bed. I rarely wake up smiling, but to hear two giggling girls through the monitor brings a smile to my face every time!

Adventures with Santa...

2011-12-19T21:42:00.003-06:00

We were very hopeful that this would be the year that Carli would go see Santa.

They got off to a rough start when she was 14 months old...

At 2 things were a little better, but she still wasn't so sure about things and refused talk to him...

And at 3, we just knew this would be the year! She has talked about him for quite awhile now. Our mail man actually looks like Santa, and she loves to wave to him and yell hello! We even snagged a "session" with Santa at our church thinking that he would be in a familiar place and Carli would warm up to the idea of talking to and taking a picture with Santa...

Instead, we got a family photo...
She did talk to him, but he got in trouble when he attempted to pat her arm. Ha! She told him she would be flying high up in the air to go see Naggy and Pappy, she would stay in a hotel and come home to see Grammy's snowman. Santa just smiled and nodded!

On my birthday we went to eat and decided to check out Santaland. We thought we would give Santa another shot, b/c Carli was so excited that he was going to be there. She was going to hold Ava's hand and take her to see Santa...Ava took one look at him and figured out Carli's intentions and immediately started crying. And so, I was able to capture my 30th birthday photo with Santa, just like I planned!

Maybe next year Santa...

Rainbow Rice!

2011-12-11T10:02:00.001-06:00

Keith and I aren't really buying the girls Christmas this year. Instead we are making most of it. I did get some clothes and a few toys from the CCC Sale, but mainly we are sticking to the homemade gifts. Pinterest has helped a lot with ideas. We figure we don't need a ton of new toys and that the girls will most likely have just as much fun opening the present as they would discovering what is in it!

So on my list of Christmas Gift to-dos, was rainbow rice. I've been wanting to get the girls a sandbox, but the Cicada Killers are very popular here and they tend to lay their eggs in the sand. I found this idea with rice and it was much cheaper and added an extra element of fun...color!

I actually let the girls help me color the rice. It was part of the fun after all! I bought a $5 bag of rice and the food coloring and we spent a good 45 minutes "making colors" as Carli liked to repeatedly say! Ave spent that 45 minutes attempting to out maneuver me and sneak up on the table. :)

Carli helped me measure out 8 bags of rice with three cups each in them. Then I added 4 tsp on rubbing alcohol, and then the food coloring to each bag. Carli's job was to "SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!" And she took this task very seriously!

Ava even joined in a time or two!

Carli had to show her exactly how to shake, as it is a very skilled task.

After we got them all mixed together, we laid them out to dry on the table. I didn't quite think this one through b/c it was very near lunch AND I had not had any caffiene all morning. By the end of the project and asking Carli to not pull the paper and Ava to stay off the chairs I was needing a Sonic run real bad! :) But, Whitey Tighty is notorious for getting on the table. Have no fear, I just took them all with us to Sonic - two kids, three dogs and a Momma with little sanity. A good mix! :)

After surviving Sonic, and eating lunch in the living room on TV trays. I got the girls down for a nap and thankfully the rice was nice and dry. I put them in 4 separate plastic containers so I could wrap them and put them under the tree later. What's kind of crazy is Carli hasn't asked where the rice went! It was fun and I'm glad I got the girls involved, sanity loss and all!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-10T09:50:00.001-06:00

We got our Christmas Tree up last weekend. So far, we've broken two Christmas balls. The girls have done really good at just looking and not touching. We hear a lot of..."AVA NO!" and peek around the corner to see Carli attempting to lecture Ava on why we don't touch the Christmas tree! So I decided to give them a little tree of their own to decorate. I thought it turned out pretty well. I like the ornaments - the tree itself has an issue of staying on the wall. My command strips aren't doing their part! Of Logan, Carli and Ava, Ava loves it the most which is good because she has heard a lot less lecturing from Carli, at least when it comes to touching the Christmas tree!

I made ornaments with each letter of all three kids names. Carli picked out each color for each kid. Logan got camo, Carli got pink and Ava got purple. Maybe next year, we will actually put these letter combos together to spell their names. For now, Carli just makes sure to tell me that the camo and red ornaments are Cousin Logan's!

On and off, on and off and throw them all on the floor, repeat!

And when Ava completely empties the tree, Carli comes around and exclaims, "Oh NO!" and starts picking them all up. If only she'd do that for all the toys she throws around my house!

The decorated tree, Ava and Carli style!

A thru G Memory Verses

2011-12-09T09:15:00.001-06:00

I've made a real effort to stick to our consistency board that we started a while back. We've had a couple of weeks where I didn't hold up my end and a few more where we would do the same letter twice just to make sure we got the memory verse. We are mostly focusing on the days of the week, the weather, our address, the memory verse and our purposeful prayer. I figure the next time through we can work more on the letter writing and such. Uncle Tone took my amateur video and edited it for us so that it is much easier to follow Carli as she recites her verses. I'm very excited to be able to have this memory on video!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Painting - in the Bathtub

2011-12-08T08:56:00.002-06:00

Yep, you read right! Last week when we picked up Logan from school, I got the notion to let them paint. And then I remembered seeing a very simple recipe for bathtub paint on Pinterest. It took me all of 3 minutes to whip up three colors - and it took the kiddos even less time to get ready to start painting!!

No worries, everyone wore their skivvies while we painted, we do have some modesty here. :)

Logan drew Spider-man and Captain America

Ava pretty much painted herself and sang "wee-wee!"

Carli really liked the red paint!

Pretty sure this is the best picture I have ever gotten of all three of them...
notice my girls covered in paint and Logan had scarcely a spot on him! It was pretty entertaining to watch him try to make sure he didn't get any paint on him either by his own doing or Ava's!

Serious business, this painting stuff...

We will definitely do this again! It was so easy and kept all three kids entertained for a good 30 minutes! We had lots of laughs and smiles!

A Christmas Painting Adventure

2011-12-07T12:54:00.001-06:00

On Wednesday of last week, I watched Kenzie and Hayden while their Momma had to visit the dentist. I was adventurous and decided to let the girls paint some Christmas Trees. Actually, my status that day on Facebook was:

Brave? Why yes I am! A 3 year old, a 2 year old and an 18 month old painting Christmas trees while a 2 month old and I supervise...yeah, stupid may be a better word for it!

But I should have had more faith in the girls. They did really well and had a lot of fun! Ava wasn't so sure about me sticking her hand in paint but she let me help her with her hand print Christmas tree and was quickly done!

She'd rather hang out with Hayden! Who, by the way, is one laid back little fellow!

Both Carli and Kenzie were very serious little painters, but they take more of the abstract view of painting. I was impressed that Carli didn't freak over getting her hands in the paint! But each hand had to have it's own color!

Kenzie is much more at throwing caution to the wind and diving into projects! She painted her tree with intense concentration. At one point she even told me to stop asking her questions, she was working! She did a really good job and didn't get a lick of paint on anything but her hands, arms and paper. I was impressed!

One things for sure though, once they were finished, they were done and deserted ship!

Here is their finished artwork, maybe I'll start taking pictures of their artwork for an album rather than trying to keep up with all the originals...

Carli

Kenzie

Ava

Ice Cream? Yes, Please!

2011-12-05T09:06:00.001-06:00

Carli has become a picky eater, much more so now that she likes to assert her opinion. And like the wonderful parents that we are, we resort to bribing a little occasionally just for the small victory of getting a little decent food down her! The other night we were eating at the Jalapeno Tree and Carli knew they had free ice cream. She held up her end of the bargain for the most part so she got to enjoy an ice cream cone before we left for home. Like the wonderful big sister that she is, she offered to share with Ava...

Keith and his girls. Ava was not happy here b/c she wanted to hold the ice cream cone...

Her Daddy of coarse obliged!

Carli at 3 Years Old

2011-12-04T08:59:00.001-06:00

Carli turned 3 on October 1. Two months later, I finally am posting her stats. Oops. Actually in my defense, Keith filed and the pediatricians paper ended up in a random file. But I couldn't complain, b/c, well - Keith filed! :)

At 3 years old, Carli's imagination has really started to fly. She loves to watch Dora and Diego. She still loves Minnie Mouse as well. She is really into playing games on her daddy's phone and nook. Her favorite stuffed animals (froggy and piggy) sleep with her every night and occasionally make a special trip with us out of the house. As of the day she turned 3, Carli has been without her paci and has accepted that she is too big for one like a champ. We were prepared for a long battle so this was a nice surprise! She is an amazing big sister and loves Ava so much. Carli is very opinionated and knows what she wants. She loves to wear "princess" dresses. Her two favorites must be washed and worn at least once a week. She lets me know if I haven't gotten the laundry done in time. It is a battle to get her to wear regular pj's now, because princesses must wear night gowns to bed. We have been officially potty trained for a few months, much to the relief of her momma. Our big girl will start half day preschool in January for two days a week. She is so excited, her Momma isn't so sure! :) Carli is loving having her cousin Logan so close and enjoys playing with him often. Wow...3 years old already!!

Carli's 3 Year Stats:

38.75 inches (85%)
32.2 lbs (64%)

My Princesses

2011-12-03T09:10:00.001-06:00

Carli's Princess Twirl

Ava can yell cheese and run...and thus most of her pictures are blurry!

Princess Carli

Little Princess Ava - the one and only decent shot

My new favorite picture

Thanksgiving in Rockwall

2011-12-02T10:31:00.001-06:00

Saturday we headed up to Rockwall to celebrate Thanksgiving with Keith's extended family. The cousins on this side of the family are a little older than Carli but after about an hour she warmed up and played hard all day! Cousin Logan and Isabella have a trampoline in their backyard. The girls thought it was the best thing ever created! Perhaps we should visit more often!

Carli almost got air under her!

Just one step at a time! Ava giggled the whole time she was on the trampoline!

Giggling non stop!

The little kid table with only half the kids!
Ava, Isabella, Cadence and Carli

The stairs were a big hit for Ava! She played on them half the day!

Oh Carli...

I think Carli's favorite part of the day was getting to stay at a hotel with Naggy and Pappy. She has a fascination with hotels for some reason. She was very excited. She even had a sleep over in Naggy and Pappy's room. Turns out Keith and I sent the wrong kid over for a sleep over since Ava was up and ready for the day at 3 am. :) We enjoyed church with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Robert, Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Barry and a good visit after. We even managed to randomly find a really awesome little puppy (half yorkie, quarter shihtzu and quarter maltese) for Uncle Charles. And he was free!! Naggy was pretty excited to find such an amazing little dog so unexpectedly. Carli will be disappointed when the puppy isn't there at Christmas!

It was a great Thanksgiving week! We all really enjoyed the time with our families! Can't wait for Christmas!

King Thanksgiving/Christmas 2011

2011-12-01T08:58:00.000-06:00

Every other year we celebrate Christmas with my extended family at Thanksgiving. The grown ups do a White Elephant gift and the young kids get to open gifts from everyone. We had a good time visiting and catching up. Carli and Ava really enjoyed playing with their cousins. Ava pretty much attached herself to Allison the whole day. It was really cute. Neither girl got a nap so it was no surprise that they were asleep before we even left the driveway to head home!

Getting there is half the fun, right? The girls had a good time "playing" with each other and holding hands on the way to Fairfield.

Carli was really excited about her gifts! She got a mixer and coffee maker for her kitchen, a tutu, some books and a Minnie Mouse countdown till Christmas!

Ava got a tutu, books and a new baby doll (which she LOVES). She had a blast with the boxes too!

Grammy and Pa sporting the princess tiaras that the girls got for Christmas.

Carli enjoying one of several "turkeys."

I didn't get as many pictures as I normally do, but can you blame me? I was visiting and enjoying myself since Allison, Jake and Logan had the girls entertained for most of the day! :)

Our Thanksgiving Cookies

2011-11-30T09:00:00.001-06:00

I've fallen on the pinterest wagon and for the most part I keep the addiction under control. It has been a huge inspiration for ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had two family get togethers this year for Thanksgiving and Carli and I decided we would make cookies for both.

First we were going to make the cutest little turkey's ever, but despite all the reviews, this is not a friendly activity for a 3 year old! So Momma made a few of those and Carli helped me make the Pilgrim hats. She loved it! And did a great job throwing the marshmallows in the chocolate...

She may have eaten a few marshmallows...like six, and then I lost count.

While Carli LOVED making the hats, I think she enjoyed eating the turkey's the most.

Our cookies....we made a lot and had a lot leftover, but that's okay. What a fun memory Carli and I made in the process of creating them!

Ava at 18 mths

2011-11-16T06:47:00.001-06:00

Ava Ruth turned 18 mths old on November 14. The time has simply flown by! She is such a little character and smiles all the time! What an amazing gift and blessing she is to our family.

We love you Ava-Boo!

18 month Stats:

31.25 inches (39%)
22 lbs 14 oz (28%)
Head: 18.5 inch (63%)

**Ava had quite the growth spurt in the last three months! She went from being in the 8th and 7th percentile to close to the top third! She gained 3 lbs and grew 2.25 inches! We are finally in the 12 mth clothes. :)

**Ava is still smaller than Carli was at this age. She is catching up though! She's only 3/4 inches shorter and less than 2 lbs lighter. Another growth spurt and she just might catch up! :)

Growing Way to Fast!!

2011-11-15T15:24:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while when we are early on Sunday mornings, I like to attempt to take the girls picture. Key word here is ATTEMPT! But last week, the girls were in a cheesin' kind of mood just didn't want to stand! Hey - I'll take what I can get!

A true smile - kind of...

Woohoo!! A miracle!! Sweet girls!

Such a happy kiddo!

Did you do a double take? Yep, this isn't Ava any more - this was Carli in the same outfit!

We Are Such Morning People...

2011-11-14T07:23:00.001-06:00

Actually, Ava wakes up laughing...the rest of us not so much!

We Took Christmas Pictures....

2011-11-13T08:54:00.001-06:00

...last weekend and the girls did really well! Every year Grammy has the grand kids pictures taken, and this year we were all on top of the game and got them done in time to perhaps even have Christmas cards! Yes, miracles do exist!

Here is a sneak peak at the girls outfits...

The dresses were actually gifts from Ms. Jamie. They had purple flowers on them, so we switched the flowers out with red ones. I bought them red tights and black boots at Babies R Us. I actually spent the money and bought the bows b/c I didn't have time to make them this year. They will wear those bows a lot! :) We topped off the outfit with a black necklace and put red feathers on their boots!

We think the photographer got some good shots of all three kids and we have our fingers crossed that she got one with all three of the kids together! The important thing is that at least this year, all three kids would sit together for the same picture - last year they would have none of that!

Sisters Horsing Around

2011-11-12T14:41:00.000-06:00

I was folding clothes in one room and heard uncontrollable giggles in the living room. So I had to go check it out and this is what I found...

What especially made me laugh is that they were taking turns as to who got to climb on who. Ava looks squished in this picture, but really, she was laughing so hard she couldn't take time to smile for the picture!

Birthday Video for Grandma

2011-11-11T20:40:00.000-06:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

2011-11-11T08:50:00.002-06:00

Happy 84th Birthday an amazing, Godly woman who we are so very, very blessed to call ours! We love you so much Grandma!!

If only these pictures could tell the whole story of attempting to get a decent picture of two little girls who would rather be playing than sitting still smiling!!

A Birthday Message

2011-11-10T22:13:00.002-06:00

Just for Pappy!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

**It is 10:15 at night, so pls excuse any misspellings, etc in the video, between a sleep deprived mother and a sleep deprived uncle - feel the love between the grammar mistakes! Maybe tomorrow I can get around to doing a transcript of the video just in case you can't understand her!

Happy Birthday Pappy!

2011-11-10T17:28:00.001-06:00

Hey - we tried...

Three Amigos

2011-11-09T13:11:00.001-06:00

Aunt Chelle and Logan have officially been in Tyler/Whitehouse about two months. We know it hasn't been very easy with Uncle Andy still having to stay in Waco until the house sales or he can find a job here. But we have been thoroughly enjoying having Aunt Chelle and Logan close by! The girls are LOVING that Logan can come over and play. We even get to take him to school twice a week! It has been lots of fun watching the kids play together and love on each other. What a blessing they are to our family!

What is funny about this crew is that Ava thinks she is just as big as her sister and cousin are. It is amazing what this little girl thinks she can do, and does accomplish! Gives her momma and Aunt Chelle heart attacks more often than not!

We can't wait for Uncle Andy to make it over this way so that we get to see him more often too!

Carli or Ava

2011-11-08T08:28:00.001-06:00

Ava is starting grow into some of my favorite outfits that Carli wore. I think I remember these outfits a lot more than the small ones b/c I was nine months pregnant with Ava when Carli was wearing these. For some reason, I remember Carli better at 18 and 19 months than I did between 15 months and then. Can you guess who is who? You'll figure it out by the last picture.

Trunk-R-Treat

2011-11-07T14:42:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday we went to Trunk R Treat at the church building. The girls had a lot of fun seeing all their friends and collecting candy.

Ava, Kenzie and Carli

Perhaps the best costume of the night!
Baby Hayden

Carli wasn't so sure about the whole collecting candy business. She is still pretty shy around big groups and folks she doesn't know.

Ava on the other hand had no fear! She ditched her bag, and walked around holding her hand out for candy. If she didn't like the way it felt in her hand, she'd give it back and dig in the bucket herself!

After we made our rounds outside, we went inside to check out the little festival our friend Leigh Ann had organized for the special needs kiddos. Since most of them had headed home, we got to check out all the cool things they had set up!

Almost got all three of them!

Painting our white pumpkin orange with our good buddy Riley.

Kenzie worked very hard on her pumpkin and didn't get a lick of paint on that white shirt - I was impressed!

Carli really enjoyed the fishing game.

The balloon room was the biggest hit of the night. We literally had to drag them out of it to head home!

Trunk R Treat 2011 was great fun! Thanks for all who made it happen and thanks especially to the Cooks, Manleys, Mays and Onkens for the little carnival - the girls thoroughly enjoyed it!

ETCA Fall Festival

2011-11-06T12:45:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday, Cousin Logan invited the girls to go to the ETC Fall Festival with him. They all had a blast! It was so funny because this was the first time that Ava put on her costume and had to leave it on. The poor girl, she was not a happy princess. I think she would have been more comfortable being a pumpkin or something like that! She eventually got used to wearing all the gid up and had a good time though!

Aunt Chelle bought the kids some tickets to play games with. Carli's favorite prize was her princess ring!

I think Carli's favorite activity decorating her STRAWBERRY cupcake, with STRAWBERRY icing and then covering it with sprinkles. She was a good big sister and let Ava have one bite of it!

Carli refused to play basketball with Logan, it's not something princesses do after all! But Ava was another story. Where Logan and the ball went, so did Ava! She giggled the whole time!

Ava melts her Uncle Andy's heart every time she sees him! She let Uncle Andy carry her around on the basketball court b/c he could get her closer to the action a lot quicker!

CAKE WALK!

Enjoying Aunt Chelle's chocolate chip cookies. They all get their sweet tooths honestly.

Princess Ava hiding from Momma

A semi successful picture of the princesses with Cousin Buzz Light Year

Thanks Logan for letting us come to the Fall Festival with you! We had a lot of fun!

Naggy's Halloween Package

2011-11-02T21:24:00.001-05:00

Naggy sent the girls a Halloween Package a couple of Saturday's ago. Carli was very excited to have gotten a package in the mail. She carried it all the way to the house, all by herself, even though it was very, very heavy!

Naggy sent lots of Halloween goodies - Ava loves the Pumpkin Straws, AKA the Ball Straws.

This is as good as a October "pumpkin" picture as we got this year!

Since Naggy sent cookie sprinkles, we had to make cookies!! Ava took her job of shaking the sprinkles very seriously.

Carli showing off our handy work!

Thank you Naggy for all the goodies. The jumping spiders are a big hit as well as the Dora coloring book. Ava's favorite is still the straws! :)

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T08:18:00.004-05:00

From:

Princess Carli

(and a reluctant)

Princess Ava

Booed!

2011-10-19T08:49:00.001-05:00

When Naggy was here for Carli's birthday she left instructions with Keith about leaving a cute little poem and coloring page for Carli to find and color. You've Been Booed coloring page is found by clicking on the link. It is a really cute idea. Keith kind of forgot for a couple of weeks, but alas, he remembered and Carli and Momma got to work (with the help of Sassy!)

First we made a trip to the store and stocked up on some Halloween goodies....

And then we decided who we were going to "BOO!" Cousin Logan was an obvious choice! The girls were super excited to leave him some goodies at his front door...(I promise, they really were!)

And then we sneaked over to our neighbors houses and left them some goodies too!

After "sneaking over," Carli ran back and said "Take my picture Momma!"

I'm not sure anyone else participated, but we had fun with it all. Sassy helped Carli color her ghost and we put them on the front door. Carli helped me pick out all the goodies and put them together. Ava simply helped undo a lot of what we did - but hey, she tries! :)

A Gift from Monica

2011-10-18T08:47:00.001-05:00

The girls and I go to Alto once a week. If Pa is not traveling, we more than likely make a stop by his office in Rusk to say "Hi!" Monica works with Dad, and she was so sweet to remember Carli's birthday and got her the most awesome little gift.

Carli was so funny because she had to tell Monica all about her birthday. She was kind of excited to be getting another gift! She thought all the festivities were over!

This is a Barbie dressed like Cinderella. She has the same exact dress that Carli is wearing for Halloween!

Ava thought she was pretty neat!

How blessed we are to have so many people who care about our girls! Thank you Monica for the sweet gift for Carli. She uses her new markers every day and the "princess" Barbie is a new favorite!

A Quilt From Naggy

2011-10-17T09:06:00.002-05:00

I am not really good at telling people to buy my children things. But I have learned as a parent, if you don't want your house to fill with tons of toys, if someone asks, you better have an answer ready! So, I was ready with Naggy asked me what Carli wanted/needed for her birthday. I told her she needed her big girl bedding. We needed a quilt, b/c eventually I wanted to get Ava one to match. Since Ava will have a trundle bed, a non bulky quilt was a necessity. And I wanted it to have the purple and greens in it to match their room. After we looked a bit, Naggy decided she wanted to just make the quilts. AWESOME! I picked out the fabric and Naggy did the rest. They turned out AMAZING! It is such a special gift from Naggy to both the girls and one they will use forever.

A couple of pictures with the quilts side by side.

Thank you so very much Naggy for the AWESOME gift for both Carli and Ava! They are beautiful!

Our Consistancy Wall

2011-10-16T06:16:00.001-05:00

I try really hard to be organized, but usually if I plan it, something else happens. :) But with my girls I really wanted to get on a small schedule to where they would expect to do at least something the same every day. I was struggling with what to do and how to do it until a friend shared this with me: Cassie & Co.

I thought that seemed simple enough and I really liked the idea of intentionally praying for a person every week. So I printed and cut and laminated....

I cut out paper shapes and arranged them on the wall to make sure I knew what I had pictured in my head....

Keith cut wood for me...

And I glued batting to it....

I took my leftover fabric from another project, that I have still yet to post on, and covered the squares. I tried to use a staple gun, but it was too "powerful" so I went through a ton of hot glue!

Finally, we got to put it all together. God bless my patient husband who did a lot of the hanging.

On the far left, we have the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow chart and below it is our weather chart (this has been Carli's favorite so far).

In the middle, is our address and phone number page. I did fill this in finally but we really haven't got over it a lot. It'll come with time.

On the far right, is our Alphabet Memory Verse.
This is one of my favorites. I also have a copy of these to keep on the table to go over while we eat. We are now on "B" and Carli can say them both very well, she just likes to whisper them!

In the middle, we keep a picture of the family or person we are praying for that week. This is really neat. Carli already is more aware of other people and what they might need God to help them with! Pretty cool how kids teach you things.

The far right, our calender...

To finish out our "space," I finally got around to cleaning up a project I had screwed up last December. These are from Pottery Barn and I got them on Craiglist. I had gotten two and sanded each down and painted them black. I then put a crackle on it and when I woke up on Christmas morning to go out and wrap them up - the crackle had dried flaky and cloudy. I was very upset. So nine months later, I got over it and re-sanded one to put to good use in our play room!

The final product

We have done really well sticking to this. We started three weeks ago. We stayed on the letter "A" for two weeks b/c I had to work out of town all week one week so I was afraid the "circle time" wouldn't get done. But with the help of Sassy it did! Overall, I have to say that I am pretty pleased with this wall in the playroom and even more so now that Carli sometimes asks if we can go do "circle time!"

The Piggie Zoo

2011-10-15T10:33:00.001-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Keith really wanted to take the girls to the East Texas State Fair for the sole reason of watching the pig races. Carli is a bit infatuated with pigs right now. We think it stems from her stuffed pig that she got at the Build-A-Bear in Amarillo. The races were suppose to be in the morning which was perfect, before nap time and before the rides opened at noon. We had no intention of battling the rides and the crowds.

So we got to the fair and walked around a bit before heading over to the show. Carli was super excited to spot these really big hay bale pigs...

I'm not sure who was more disappointed, Keith or David, when the guy comes out of the "barn" and tells us the races are postponed until 1:30 so he could get a bigger crowd. We were pretty bummed. But the guy was kind enough to bring out one of the pigs so the girls could pet it.

The lack of pig races was quickly made right by the awesome petting zoo they had. They had the usual farm animals, but they also had a baby giraffe and a zebra!

The giraffe was by far the favorite!

Amazingly enough, Carli was not at all shy about petting any of the animals.

Ava squealed with glee every time an animal came near her.

Kids are so funny. Of the three girls, Kenzie is usually the one who is fearless and does whatever you ask her to do. But she was not in the least bit excited about touching the animals. She was quite content to look!

Word is that Yesterland Farms in Canton has pig races...we just might have to make a special trip!

Kickball Swinging

2011-10-14T10:53:00.001-05:00

The cooler weather has given us the opportunity to play on our play set a lot more in the evenings. Carli and Ava both LOVE to swing. Ava LOVES balls. So Keith combined the two and we now play Kickball Swinging. Ava gets the biggest kick out of it. She just giggles the whole time.

Carli tries to kick it over her Daddy's head or simply catch it. Which we learned really fast was a bit of a challenge to do if you let go. Odds are you won't catch the ball, but the ground will catch both you and the ball. Ouch.

Book Time!

2011-10-13T11:01:00.001-05:00

Yes, this was first thing in the morning, thus the crazy hair. But they did this all on their own and spent a good five minutes "reading" to eachother. They've grown a bit from last year...

Carli's Party

2011-10-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

We had Carli's party at the Sonic in Bullard. It turned out great! Very low key, very easy to get to and the kids LOVED the play equipment! We had lots of friends and family that came out to help Carli celebrate. Get ready for a ton of pictures, it was hard to choose just a couple. I failed in some respects with the picture taking b/c I didn't get the annual family pictures of the birthday girl with her Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles.

Carli helping carry some of her gifts!

Three little angels! They all actually were saying CHEESE!
Allie Tyer, Carli and Kenzie Keown

Carli LOVED Kenzie's gift!

The birthday girl with her strawberry princess cupcakes.

Really not digging being the center of attention...

Ava had a blast being a "big kid!" The play equipment was awesome in that Ava could climb on it and we could easily follow her and see her wherever she went. I'm pretty sure she wore Uncle Kevin out!

This is how I expected Ava to look on her 1st birthday...

Carli LOVES her Grandma. She noticed that Grandma didn't have a cupcake and had to take her one!

Thank you all so much for coming to help us celebrate Carli's 3rd birthday. She is still talking about it!

Carli's Birthday Morning

2011-10-11T09:17:00.003-05:00

If you know me, you know I don't like big get togethers (unless it involves family and a lot of food). So the thought of doing a party was really not what I wanted to do. I had hoped to do a family day birthday type thing with Carli but it turns out somehow she got clued into the whole party bit. So despite this Momma's grand plans of a Chickfila breakfast and a trip to the zoo followed by a family dinner, it was party day at our house on Oct 1st. And I survived. :)

To start off Carli's birthday morning we took her to the donut store and let her actually go in and pick out what she wanted...you'll never guess. She picked a strawberry donut. Apparently her love for Strawberry Shortcake goes way beyond the television...

She has her little nose pressed against the glass making sure that the lady gets the strawberry one just for her!

She couldn't wait until we got home to eat it!

After breakfast, it was time to decorate our cupcakes - they were strawberry.

Ava had to test them out for us.

All in all the morning of preparing for the party went very smoothly, and I was relieved! Next post - party pictures!!

Sunday Morning Pictures

2011-10-10T06:27:00.000-05:00

Grammy made the girls' dresses for them. They are so cute! I was very pleased to have gotten good pictures of the girls in them. Next year we will wear them as long tops with tights! :)

Grandma is HOME!

2011-10-09T10:52:00.002-05:00

Back in late August, early September Grandma took a long trip up to Washington to see my cousins. She had an awesome time and got to see some of God's amazing creations. She said her favorite was seeing the Badlands. We were glad she got to go and visit but we were so happy when she came back home! She had gotten the girls little dolls from her trip. Carli was so happy to see Grandma and loves her little Indian doll too!

Grandpa Herb is on the Money!

2011-10-03T06:15:00.002-05:00

Grandpa Herb sent Carli a birthday card and some money. She was very excited to get to open her very own mail. The fact that he gave her money too was a bonus!

She was showing her Daddy the money and Keith asked her who gave her that money. She replied, "Grandpa did Daddy. See, he is right here!" And points to Jackson on the bill. Ha! She and her Daddy went and put it in her little bank, in the "spending" section so we can take her to the toy store later on and let her pick out what she would like.

I had to get her to show me where Grandpa Herb was so that he could see how much she enjoyed getting something in the mail!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

To My Princess Carli -

2011-10-01T13:23:00.001-05:00

Today you turn three, I’m not sure how that really came to be. The time has flown by when I look back on the past year. You have grown so much, yet you still seem like the tiny little chubby cheeked baby I brought home from the hospital. I am sure you will always be my baby in my heart, but today you are a princess.

Three years ago, I made many of these promises to you as I gazed in those precious little eyes. I wouldn’t change a one of them, but I did add a few.

Carli Lynn, I hope that you will always know…

I promise to always sing “This Little Light of Mine” with two lights, so God can see us better.

I promise to always smile when I hear you say “I Love You.”

I promise to always stop and make sure you know I love you too.

I promise to always kiss you goodnight and hug you good morning.

I promise to always wipe away your tears and kiss your boo-boos to make them better.

I promise to always take the time to listen because the emails, phone call and television show aren’t that important.

I promise to always be your Momma first, and your friend second.

I promise to teach you to pray when times are tough and when times are good.

I promise to always give you my best, even if it isn’t good enough.

I promise to never let you forget about your PawPaw and how special he is to us.

I promise I am not a perfect mother, but God is perfect and He will make up for my failings.

I promise to not always ride to your rescue when things go wrong, you need to figure it out yourself.

I promise to let you experience the amazing blessing of having wonderful grandparents, and even let them spoil you a bit now and then.

I promise, you aren’t always right and neither am I.

I promise to always feed you vegetables, even the yucky ones.

I promise to always take you to church and teach you about God.

I promise to always love your Daddy, till death do us part.

I promise to always give you a place of comfort, peace and love – even when it seems like life isn’t fair.

I promise I will treasure every minute, hour and day, because God gave me such an amazing little princess to cherish and love.

I promise to love you forever and always, even when you wake me up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning.

Happy Birthday Carli Lynn!

With all my heart -

Momma

Happy Birthday CarlI!!

2011-10-01T09:21:00.001-05:00

So excited that Saturday finally made it! Can't wait for our party!!

Today Carli is TWO -

2011-09-30T08:54:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow she will be THREE!!!

Two More Days Until Carli is THREE

2011-09-29T08:57:00.003-05:00

Isn't that how you interpret this picture?

Our conversation this morning:

Me: Carli, it is only two more days until you turn 3!

Carli: No Momma, I am three on Saturday.

Me: Yes, that is in two more days.

Carli: Momma, I am two, Ava is one and I'll be three in three days.

Me: Right, you are two. Ava is one. But you will be three in two days.

Carli: Mom, today is Monday....

And she left the room. Hmmm...we got a bit a ways to go on the days of the week. Ha!

Three Days and Counting...

2011-09-28T13:41:00.002-05:00

Three more days until Carli's birthday!!

Carli thought the monkey needed is picture taken with her sign.

See Mom...three days...now lets change it to two....

THREE MORE DAYS! Is what she is yelling, while riding the giraffe.

Four More Days

2011-09-27T11:07:00.001-05:00

Carli is so excited that her birthday is this weekend. She is constantly asking if it is her birthday yet? Let's sing the birthday song to me!! And where are all her friends!

We have told her that her party and birthday are on Saturday. She has tried many times to make today Saturday and for that matter any day Saturday so that her party will be here!

This morning we made a count down. I wrote, she colored and maybe, just maybe she will be able to wait until Saturday for her party! :)

Homemade Fun

2011-09-25T15:17:00.003-05:00

Way back at the beginning of the month we went to the lakehouse one Saturday afternoon to "help" pick pears. Actually Keith had spent the whole day there working on the deck and the girls and I joined him later that afternoon. A picking pear post will soon follow but blogger didn't like me posting that many pictures on one post!

The kids did awesome playing together and they even got creative with their playing! Keith had built a ramp on one side of the deck for Grandma to use. It is a little steep but maybe when he gets the rails up she will be able to use it. The kids on the other hand seriously thought Keith built them a slide!

They used floatees to make a train!

All three had no fear about sliding head first!

Michelle even got some footage of the fun...

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Hopefully I'll get caught up soon with the blog. I have lots of pictures and stories, just not a lot of time and energy. However, I will persist b/c I promised myself I would keep this going if nothing else so my girls would have something to look back on and read later on. Here's to a new week full of new blog updates! :)

Play Room Trundle Bed

2011-09-15T06:09:00.001-05:00

Since Ava was born, we haven't done many new projects at the house. The playroom has been in a constant state of change over the last year and we are finally getting it to where we are happy with how it functions and looks!

Some folks thought I was crazy to be so determined to have the girls share a room, instead of giving them each a room. But I wanted the girls to have a room which was dedicated solely to sleeping and another that was for play. I didn't want the two to mingle. I was determined but even I had doubts given Ava's sleep habits early on. However, persistence has paid off and our plan is working well! The girls both sleep well in the same room, even during naps now.

Our plan for the play room was multipurpose. We needed a room dedicated to playing but also needed it to function as a guest room. I had a vision and my wonderful husband had the skills! we took the two bookcases that use to make up our entertainment center in the living room and put it on each side of the windows. Then I scavenged Craigslist and found an awesome deal for two pillowtop twin mattresses for $40 - for both! Next I convinced Keith to build a trundle bed to go between the two bookcases.

Keith built it, and I sanded and stained it. I'm not sure my Grandfather would have approved of the staining job but it works well for our purposes! The final result turned out really well. Perhaps one day soon we will finish out the rest of the room and I'll share more pictures! Ha!!