Gymnastics Buddies

Since Carli no longer does gymnastics, she gets to watch Ava with me during gymnastics class.  Sometimes she colors, sometimes she plays with the other kids and sometimes she insists on sitting in my lap and taking pictures...

Making Valentine Shirts

Someone had sent me a cute, simple project idea on making a Valentine shirt.  The girls and I went to Hobby Lobby with the idea of getting the things in order to complete this project.  We walked out with tie dye stuff instead.  Carli got in her head the perfect kind of Valentine shirt would be one with lots of fun colors.  So instead of making a shirt with a cute heart on it, we tie dyed instead...

The girls made Keith a tie dye shirt too.  He should thank me for digging up an old undershirt that I knew he didn't wear much.  Now I have a very colorful work out shirt...I mean Keith does.  :)

Gifts from Naggy & Pappy

The girls are always thrilled to get mail just for them.  So when a package from Naggy and Pappy arrived last Monday they were beyond ecstatic!  Naggy and Pappy sent Valentine's Day gifts for the girls.  Ava got a Tangled Barbie doll and a Sophia swimsuit coverup (we've started wkly swim lessons).  And Carli got a Disney Princess coverup and an Aurora Barbie doll. 

They both slept with their dolls that night and would have slept in their new coverups too had I not intervened.  :)

Celebrating Valentine's Day

Keith was gone all of Valentine's Week so the girls and I busied ourselves making gifts for everyone.  We started off on Sunday by handing out our pumpkin bread to all their Bible School Teachers.  We usually do this at Christmas but since we pretty much missed every Sunday in December because someone was sick or we were out of town, we had to make it up on Valentine's Day.  Got to make sure those teachers know how much we truly appreciate the things they do for our family!  :)

We spent Tuesday of Valentine's week making sugar cookies and frosting them for the girls to hand out at school.  The girls were all about helping to "clean up" AKA "lick the bowl."

Ava really didn't have the patience to frost all her cookies and she ended up eating more frosting than got on the cookies.  :)  Carli was very particular about frosting the cookies and would get a little frustrated when the frosting didn't do what she wanted to do.  It is kind of funny to watch them take one task and have such different approaches to it!

Both girls agreed...the more sprinkles the better!

They worked hard at signing all their Valentine's and in Ava's case, she signed the ones for Carli's class too.  This is because they are all her friends as well as Carli's.  Duh, Mom.

Their finished masterpieces.

We gave cookie Valentine's to all our friends at school and some of our other friends at church as well.  We made some big cookies to share with Uncle Tone, Deborah, Uncle Andy, Grammy & Pa.  We would have mailed some to Naggy, Pappy & Uncle Kevin but they wouldn't have survived the postal service very well.  :)

We also made some Valentine's to give and mail to a lot of our family.  The girls have the whole hand print artwork down.  Practice makes perfect!  :)  We used paper we already had and tried to make it as Valentine festive as possible.

We made snowmen.  The Valentine says, "Love never MELTS!"  Pretty fitting since it was freezing the whole week!  The girls mailed these to a ton of family members and also got to give some in person.  They were excited that Kayla was at church on Sunday and that Sassy stopped by to see them too.  They are a couple of blessed little girls who sure have lots of folks that love them.  We try to make sure everyone knows how much they appreciate and love them too! 

As I pointed out to my cousin the other night.  We may do well at holiday's and getting cards out and crafts but I am not so good at remembering birthdays.  :/  So pls don't feel bad if we spoiled you last week with goodies, hugs and Valentine's, and you didn't do anything for us b/c we do love you all dearly and we know you feel the same.  Likewise, pls don't take it personally if we don't get cards and well wishes out on your birthday and I promise to try not to feel bad when I realize last week I missed two birthdays and forgot to call or send a card.  We do our best and we love you all dearly!  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Carli & Ava are really getting into holidays now.  Now that Valentine's Day is over they are counting down to Easter.  :)

The girls made their own Valentine outfits.  More on that in a later post.  They look like are two kids from the 80s.  And they look good!  :)

I took the girls to Hobby Lobby with the thought of getting their teacher's a gift card as a gift.  Neither girl would have anything to do with such nonsense!  We finally all agreed on these letters and flowers.  But then we went around and around about the kind of flowers.  I finally gave up when I successfully convinced Carli not to get the spray of flowers meant to go on a headstone at a graveyard and instead settled on two fake roses.  I even offered for her to get her teacher real roses but she informed me real roses die and these would last forever.  Couldn't argue with that!   So, we got an 'L' for Mrs. Lena and a 'C' for Mrs. Chrissie.

Carli informed me she had outgrown pigtails even if they did have hearts in them.  So we had to settle for one big heart...

Ava's hair was finally long enough this year to do pigtails with hearts...woohoo!

Mrs. Lena spoiled Ava something rotten by giving her (and her classmates) a big heart balloon and teddy bear for Valentine's Day.  I took Ava to the donut shop. :/  I think Mrs. Lena won for best gift!  :) 

God bless Mrs. Chrissie b/c I kind of clued her into our headstrong Carli's gift.  Her reaction was priceless.  She oohed and aahed over her flowers and gift.  Carli was so plsd.  She got in the car after school and told me it is so fun to give Mrs. Chrissie gifts b/c she just loves them so very much.  That making Mrs. Chrissie happy makes her happy.  And that made it all worth it.  :)

The girls and I spent our Valentine's night out with Sarah and her kiddos at a softball game in Troup.  Good times.  :)  The girls had a blast playing with Riley and Reagan and I got to have an adult conversation and watch softball.  I can't complain!  Our Valentine's Day ended with Keith finally coming home at midnight after being gone for a whole week in St. Louis.  He was a very welcomed sight!  He sent the girls and I 18 red and pink roses.  They were beautiful.  It was a day full of blessings.  :)

Fingering Painting in the Bathtub

With all the cold weather, the girls were getting a little stir crazy staying in the house.  So we decided to make up some finger paints and decorate the bathtub.  Ava was so, so excited.  She played for 30 minutes by herself while Carli stood on the other side of the bathroom telling her what to draw.  Ava pretty much just made a mess.  :)  Carli finally couldn't handle it and decided the risk of getting covered in paint was worth it.  By the time they finished their master pieces, Ava was covered in paint, she even had it in her hair.  Carli didn't have a drop on her anywhere except on her hands.  Such different personalities...love it!

 

 We followed up our painting adventures with a good shower for all.  If you look closely at Carli you can tell by her eyes she isn't feeling 100%.  This was the night her pulse was up to 146 and she got really lethargic on us.  After spending 30 minutes talking to an RN they think she was dehydrated and probably had a touch of the virus that simply caused her to run a fever.  When her fever broke, her heart rate came down and she was fine.  Made for a stressful evening though.  :) 

Going Away Present

Mrs. Brooke moved last month.  Her husband got a new job up in Michigan.  Ava was pretty bummed that Mrs. Brooke was leaving.  But if I had to pick which one of my kids had to switch teachers in the middle of the school year, I would pick Ava.  She's pretty easy going when it comes to new things, as long as Carli isn't around to make her nervous.  :)  Ava helped me put together a going away bag for Mrs. Brooke.  We went with a Dr. Suess theme.  We gave her a book, a container of tea cakes  with the recipe, a new scarf and her favorite sodas.  Plus a new bag that we put a Dr. Suess quote and hat on...

Thanks Mrs. Brooke for a great semester.  Ava really enjoyed being in your classroom and we pray that you and your family are enjoying your new home in Michigan!