Sing Song 2013

Keith and I had not been back to Abilene since before Carli was born.  He seems to remember us going when I was pregnant with Carli, but I don't remember that...could be my mom-brain though.  We thought that the girls were old enough to enjoy the show and were excited when both sets of Grandparents agreed to go with us!  We carpooled with Grammy and Pa on the drive to Abilene and Naggy and Pappy met us there.  The girls did awesome on the long drive there.  Even though we got there after midnight, they were awake enough to remind us that they would be sleeping in Naggy and Pappy's room!

Saturday morning we took our time getting ready and then headed out to beat the lunch crowd at Sharon Allen's BBQ.  It was good stuff!  Then we went to check out the ACU Campus.  It had been so long!  The campus had totally changed.  Not only was there a running track, but the rec center...ummm, wow!  They had a Welcome Center, the Campus Center was not even remotely like it was when we were in school...and Vera Bradley in the Campus Center?!  Are we sure this is where we went to school?!

There were some old favorite places that we enjoyed seeing - like Chapel on the Hill...

And the Amphi-theatre with the Tower of Light...

And then of coarse there was the bell tower...

Sing Song started at 2 - so we found our seats and settled in.  The girls watched the first two or three acts and then Carli kept asking if it was almost over.   Guess we thought wrong on the enjoyment the girls would experience with this piece of our history!  Ava actually went to sleep and slept through most of the show.  At intermission, Carli jumped up and excitedly asked if it was over!  The look on her face when we told her there was still more to see was not one of happiness!

But then we found Logan just a couple of sections over and went to visit him.  They gave each other such a big bear hug they almost fell over!  Pure joy at seeing each other.  That helped nullify the lack of joy at watching the show!  After the show was over, we let the kids play for a bit out in the lawn before we had to go our separate ways.

 

 

One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to see two very special ladies.  Carolyn and Grandma were a integral part of my college years at ACU.  They even drove down to East Texas for my wedding 6.5 years ago.  I hadn't gotten to see them in over five years.  They met us back at the hotel after Sing Song.  It was so awesome to sit and talk with them and catch up.  I had missed getting my "Grandma" hugs!  She is such a very special lady!  And Carolyn immediately won the girls over with bubbles, coloring books and crayons.  :)  She always knew how to make everyone feel special.  I could kick myself for not getting a picture with them.  Guess that means we need to schedule another visit soon!

 

We went to University church of Christ for Sunday morning service.  Ava slept through the whole service...something I am pretty sure she has never done.  Not even as a newborn.  It was weird.  Then we grabbed lunch and headed home.  We got to meet Uncle Danny in Arlington for a nice visit and still got home at a decent hour.  The girls did amazingly well on such a long trip.  Keith and I both agree it was weird being back at ACU b/c our memories there are so different.  Since we really don't have any memories of it together.  But the trip was worth it for the time spent with our parents and getting to see some special people.  It made me wish for others to have been with us...

Pretty Please?!

That is what Carli begged from Naggy when she really wanted Naggy to bring snow with her to Abilene last weekend.  She actually said, "Mom take my picture and send it to Naggy.  This is my pretty please picture!"

 

Naggy responded with, "She would see what she could do."  To which Carli promptly responded, "Tell Naggy to do her best and God will take care of the rest!"

 

Awesome!

Carseats

Work well for both children and dogs...

A Saturday Morning with Logan

My Christmas gift from Andy, Michelle and Logan included a gift certificate to get a massage and an offer to watch the girls while I redeemed the certificate.  So a couple of Saturday's back, I got scheduled for a 90 minute deep tissue massage and the girls got scheduled to spend all morning with their favorite boy, Logan and his Momma and Daddy.  Keith got to spend the morning working on school work! 

Carli, Ava and Logan got to go to the Discover Science Center where they played really hard, or so I heard! 

Logan was a good sport about playing babies for a while, but then it was time to move on to other more fun things!

Three little goobers 

Michelle said the mock court room was a big hit.  Logan was the judge, Carli was the jury and Ava was on trial.  Aunt Chelle asked the questions.  When asked how old she was, Ava replied "FOUR!"  The judge and jury decided she was not telling the truth!  :)

They worked awhile on Uncle Andy in the ambulance.

 

They ended their morning at Chick-fil-a where despite Ava's pitiful expression in the picture they had a blast.  Aunt Chelle actually got Ava to eat a chicken nugget!  That may have been the first time Ava has ever eat anything worth calling lunch at Chick-fil-a!  Playing with Logan and Carli was simply that important!

 

 

Thanks Logan, Aunt Chelle and Uncle Andy for the fun morning of play!  We miss you guys!

 



Haircuts & Birdhouses

It is a well known fact in our house that God has a sense of humor.  Not only were we blessed with two children 19 months apart, but they are both girls...who love all things pink, princess and girly.  Not exactly their mother's cup of tea.  So I have had a lot to learn.  I have learned to make bows, I even have made some skirts.  I am considering redoing the girls bathroom in pink.  Yes, pink.  Little girls have a way of converting their mother.  So along this learning curve, is the issue of hair.  Carli's hair is very fine - nothing like my thick curly hair.  I may not know much about hair styling but I can calm some thick curly hair!  After much urging, I was able to convince Carli to get her hair trimmed last November.  They trimmed off about 2 inches, which still left it half way down her back but got the wispy ends off and that helped a lot with it looking more healthy.  Ava had maybe a tenth of an inch trimmed off her hair because if Carli was going to do it, so was Ava.  Now, it is almost three months later and both girls hair seems to have grown twice as long as it was before but to me they both looked stringy and unkept no matter what I did.  When Carli asked if it was time for a haircut, I jumped at her suggestion and took them to the lady that worked a miracle on my hair.  She was able to even their hair up a lot and make it look so much better.  She made me feel better about all their wisp saying it was new growth, not b/c I was breaking off their hair pulling it back.  Shew.  So, all that to say...we got another hair cut.  Carli's hair now frames her face, and Ava no longer has a mullet, although the picture below doesn't show that very well.  Ava's hair cut look more like a bob.  Maybe I can get a better picture soon.  Hair crisis avoided for now.

The same day we got our hair cut, we painted some bird houses we picked up at JoAnns this wkd on the way home from Abilene.  The girls enjoyed painting and the houses turned out cute!

Presenting: Puppy Dog Valentines!

I thought they turned out really cute!  I had them laminated b/c a 4 yr old and 2 yr old gluing job may not have held up very well.  :)

The girls worked really hard at signing the Valentines.  Carli did most of them.  Ava added her version of her name to a few lucky ones.

Our Grandparent/Kayla Valentine's turned out pretty well too! 

 

Carli and Ava worked hard on decorating the backs of each one we made.  They got really creative on Grammy & Pa's.  Their drawings included a dino foot, flower and zebra.  :)

 

And finally, I had my first adventure in decorating cookies to include with the girls Valentines.  It was a challenge.  My friend Sarah gave me lots of pointers, supplied the recipe and lots of encouragement.  They turned out pretty good - but man it was a lot of work!  I was relieved when the icing dried hard and though they were far from perfect, they were cute in their own right!

 

The girls earned another surprise on their sticker chart on February 13th.  So when they came home from school on the 14th, their surprise included two pots of red, pink and white tulips.  Carli was pretty excited about the real flowers.  Ava just wanted a cookie.  :)

 

I sent Keith a little scavenger hunt around the house for his gift.  In the end, he found a really awesome card that I made him.  It was pretty simple, but it was fun.  I think he enjoyed it.  :)

 

 

Keith gave me a slushy Dr. Pepper and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - which I lovingly shared with my children. 

 

Valentine's Day seems to be more work than Christmas and Halloween!  But it was worth it!  :)





Making Valentines

The girls made puppy dog valentine's this year for their friends and family.  I was very thankful for the Cricut I got last year.  It was put to good use for this little project!  It took a couple of afternoons to get them done, since they did not want to sit still to make all 30 at once!  They did a really good job.  They would pick out the pieces and Keith and I helped them glue them in the appropriate spot.  Pretty sure no two Valentines looked alike!



For our Grandparents and Kayla, we made a special Valentine with our hand and footprints.  The girls are getting pretty good at making things out of their prints!  They were old pros when it came time to make them!

 

Our goal was to have the girls make a Valentine that would mean something to them when they gave it to a friend or family member.  Because they worked hard to make them, it would mean more.  I figure in a few years, they will be content to sign their names on the ready made ones, so we might as well capitalize on making memories now!  :)

 



Great Wolf Lodge Vacation Part 2

Are you ready for a picture overload?  Pretty much The Great Wolf Lodge was a huge hit.  The girls loved it!  I think we may have to go back!  We all got up and were waiting for the waterpark to open Tuesday morning at 9.  We played for 1.5 hrs before having to pull the kids out of the water and get back upstairs, showered and packed to check out by 11.  It was worth it. :)  Now for pictures...

Ava and Keith relaxing in the wave pool, during "off" wave time.

This is happiness.

I was attempting to coax the girls down the slide.  They eventually went without me.

The girls watching the big bucket dump its water.

Group picture of all four kids:

Hayden, Carli, Ava and Kenzie

Relaxing in the wave pool.

It almost put them to sleep!

We tried to get Carli to go down the blue slide the whole time we were there.  It took a promise of ice cream to get her to do it on the last morning.  Once she started, she didn't want to stop.  It was her most favorite part of the whole park!

 

Headed home after an awesome mini-vacation!