Campbell's 1st Ballet Class

Well not to be out done by her sister, Campbell had a first yesterday too. It was her first day of ballet class. She took a Cinderella dance camp this summer for a week but this is our first official class. Excited does not begin to describe the way she felt about taking ballet. She practiced ahead of time by wearing the ballet shoes and dancing around the house all day the day before. We got to class a little early so she had a chance to look around a little bit. Once Mrs. Karen opened the door Campbell came walking over to give me a big hug. I was a little worried for a moment that she was going to cling to me but she just walked right up to the teacher and stood in line without looking back. I had to remind myself that she is four now and growing into a big girl quickly. I am happy and sad at the same time about this transition into a big girl.

Once all the children were in line Mrs. Karen invited the parents in for a little orientation. Again I thought , Campbell is going to want me to sit with her and assure her a little. Again I was surprised when I went to take a seat along the wall and she only looked my way to smile a smile of pure bliss. She was finally in a dance class and loving every moment of it. My heart was happy and for a moment some tears formed in my eyes to just think about my baby being old enough to take dance.

Once the orientation for the parents was over we went to take our places outside the closed door. The studio use to have an observation window you could look through and I so longed to watch her yesterday just for a moment but alas I will have to wait. I am so thankful that Campbell has a chance to experience something that makes her heart dance. I am already looking forward to the recital!!

Second Grade Here we Come!!

I cannot believe Kaylee is in second grade this year! She is so excited to see all her friends, learn more, and be the oldest group in the building. (Where we are the elementary building holds grades K-2nd.) After attending Meet the Teacher last Thursday she has been counting the hours until today.When I walked into her bedroom this morning I only had to call her name once and she jumped out of the bed shouting "First Day of School!!" It was so funny and cute at the same time. I am so glad that she has always loved school and learning. After her feet touched the floor it seemed like she was dressed, bed was made, shoes were on, teeth were brushed and she was ready to fix hair in about 5 minutes. This does not happen every day that is for sure. It took a little bit longer to get Campbell excited about being up so early. She is not a morning person. Once we were all ready we walked out the door at @6:35am to get to IHOP for breakfast. This is the second time we have gone there on the first day of school so I think it may be our spot going forward. I love this tradition and look forward to it almost as much as the girls. By 7:20am we were done with breakfast and walking out the door. Since we were early we drove around for a little bit listening to the girls sing their church songs CD. It was a precious moment. At around 7:35am we pulled into the school parking lot ready to take our firstborn to 2nd grade! Ugh!! That sounds so big to me.

Campbell had to take her new backpack into Kaylee's school too.

After taking several photos in her classroom we were out the door and on our way home. Just a few minutes and the day has begun as has a new school year for all of us.

Kaylee with her adorable teacher Mrs. "C"

Mommy and her girls!

Dad and Kaylee

Here is a little recap in photos over the past three years...

Kaylee on her first day of kindergarten.

Kaylee on her first day of 1st grade.

Kaylee's 1st Day of 2nd Grade!!

Once we got home I began to get a little sad about all the silence. We had a wonderful summer and both girls are at really fun ages right now. Campbell already misses Kaylee a little, so I think we will both be eager for 3:05pm to get here. I cannot wait to hear all about Kaylee's first day! Praying blessings on a great year of school.

Last Day of Our Beach Vacation

The Last day of our family vacation came on Friday. We took the girls to a local Fun Park called The Track. We had passed it several times that week and had promised we would go before we left town. Kaylee could not wait to drive the go-carts and Campbell just wanted to ride the Merry-go-Round. We do not have a picture of us riding the Go-carts because Kaylee was not tall enough to drive on the bigger tracks by herself and she would not even attempt the smaller ones because she thought they looked too little. So we made go-cart racing a family affair and all joined in on the fun. After a little putt-putt, riding the swings, driving on two different tracks, and having a great time we decided to go on to the next stop for the day.We went back to our favorite place The Hangout to eat lunch there one more time and enjoy the view of the ocean. Something we definitely do not have anywhere near us in Abilene.

Papa and Nana sent the girls some money for souvenirs so we hit a few of the local shops to find the perfect treasures. Kaylee got a water globe, a small bottle of sand and shells, a shell bracelet, and a mood ring. Campbell quickly found 4 rings, a shell bracelet, water globe, and a bottle of sand and shells. I walked out with a Christmas ornament for our tree which I try to remember to do each time we go somewhere new. It was a very successful shopping trip.

After all of that we returned to the condo to take in the amazing view one more time and get our bags packed a partially loaded in the car. By that evening we were all ready to get home so we made the 16+ hour trip all on Saturday. The girls did great in the car and I had saved a few surprises for them so that helped. It was so nice to sleep in our own beds that night and wake up the next morning in our home. I am definitely ready to be at home for a little while. We all decided to try a family vacation in a cooler place next time, like Colorado.

Our Beach Photo Session

I decided that a slide show of the Beach Photos would be the best idea so sit back and enjoy our session at Orange Beach. I thought all the pictures turned out great considering we took them ourselves with the help of a tripod at times. You will notice there is not a family photo because I am saving that one for the Christmas cards.

Beach Vacation Day 7

Thursday turned out to be a very busy day for us. We got up early and dropped Cary and Kaylee off to do some deep sea fishing. Kaylee could not wait to get on board. They left at 8:00am and returned at noon. When I asked Kaylee how she liked it she said it was okay but they did not catch anything. If you know Kaylee at all you know that she has a competitive spirit so coming back empty handed was not the fun part. The Captain was nice and did let Kaylee help drive the boat back a to ease the defeat a little.

Since Kaylee and Cary were going to have their fun I asked Campbell what she wanted to do together. Her answers made my heart happy. All she wanted was to eat pancakes and go to Target. We found Island Pancake House on the beach so we enjoyed watching the waves while sharing some delicious pancakes. Afterwards we hopped in the car and when to Target for a little retail therapy and a Starbucks. Once we were done we still had some time to spare so we shopped at The Wharf in Orange Beach.

After we had picked the sailors up from their excursion we went to the Build-A-Bear we had found at The Wharf so both girls could make themselves a treat. Campbell picked a puppy and named it Scruffy because the people we rented the condo from had some old children's movies and one had a dog named Scruffy in it.

Kaylee picked a Wildcat and named it Willie because that is the name of the ACU mascot. We love that she thinks ACU is the best already!

The rest of the day was spent getting cleaned up for beach pictures. I will post them by themselves since threre are so many.

Beach Vacation Day 6

When Wednesday came around we decided to try another day at the pool and then the beach. It was so nice to just relax and have fun as a family while listening to the sounds of the ocean. Kaylee had the most fun riding the wave boards with Cary while Campbell still preferred the sandcastle on the beach. She also found seagull chasing quite fun. It was pretty hilarious to watch Campbell trying to chase all the birds off of her area of the beach. After a few hours the storm started rolling in so we decided to call it a day.

Beach Vacation Days 4-5

When Monday came the girls were ready to hit the beach again. They had so much fun!! Kaylee spent most of her time in the ocean while Campbell spent more time on the beach playing in the sand. We promised Campbell a trip to the pool on Monday so after about two hours on the beach she was ready to try out the pool. We did talk them into eating lunch and resting first though. Both of the girls took their tubes to the pool to play in and had the best time. Kaylee was content to play with us while Campbell went around the pool talking to all the other people and "meeting some friends" as she called it.

I thought this picture was hilarious of Campbell by the pool with her goggles on.

After spending the rest of the afternoon in the pool we took a trip to Lulu's for dinner. Since we are Jimmy Buffett fans and he and his sister own the place we had to check it out. It is a fun place with sand for the kids to play in and various games to play outside. The food was good but you go more for the atmosphere than the food. By the end of the day we were all once again worn out.

We decided to take a break from swimming and go to the local outlet mall for some retail therapy in the form of "back to school" shopping. I made the poor decision to wear my cute new pair of Volatile flip-flops which rubbed blisters on my feet about half way through shopping. Once I could take it no more I ducked into a shoe store and bought a pair of shoes so my feet would not continue to die a slow death with each step I took. After that we were back on track. I managed to find several things for each daughter, mainly for fall/winter season. The best store was the Sketchers outlet. Kaylee loves Sketchers so in turn does Campbell since she wants to be big like Kaylee. Each girl got two pairs, the Twinkle Toes were their favorites. It was so funny! After a full day of shopping it was time to refuel and what better place than Lambert's Cafe "Home of the Throwed Rolls". Both of the girls loved being able to raise their hand and have a roll thrown to them by an employee walking by. The food was plentiful and delicious. If you are ever near one you have to stop. Thus ended another day in Gulf Shores.

Beach Vacation Days 1-3

Well we survived the trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. I hope you survive the recap here in blogland;-)

We left Abilene on Friday, August 7th at about 9:30am with a loaded vehicle and two very excited girls in the backseat. Luckily, I had bought a few surprises for the girls to have along the way since the drive was going to take us 15+hours. Each time we stopped to get gas or eat thegot a treat! They were very excited and had something new to occupy their time till the nextstop. Our first stop was in Dallas for some lunch and I randomly ran into my sweet friend Ginger who was on her way to Houston to get a new car. I just love little surprises from God like that! On Friday we made it to Jackson/Pearl, Mississippi. After checking into the hotel we had a yummy dinner at O'Charleys (which brought back some Memphis memories) and went to Baskin Robbins afterwards for some yummy ice cream. The girls were pretty tired so we did not have to wait too long for them to fall asleep.

On Saturday morning we got up and ate a delicious breakfast before striking out again. We made it to our condo by 4:00pm and unloaded all of our belongings before striking out for dinner. The girls were very excited about the built in bunk beds they were going to get to sleep in for the week. I was excited about hearing the sounds of the ocean and seeing its beauty from our balcony. My friend Robyn had recommended that we got to a local restaurant called The Hangout so that is where we went. The place is fabulous!! It is located on the beach, with a huge sandpile for the kids to play in along with

various other games, and a bubble blaster. It was by far the girls favorite place we ate all week. Cary and I liked it too. If you ever go there get the Shaka-shaka shrimp on the appetizer menu, it will not disappoint. After dinner we went to the local Wal-Mart, along with everyone else vacationing for the week, and bought some groceries. It took a while but in the end we achieved our goal and went to bed very tired after a brief stroll on the beach.

Sunday brought us a beautiful day to have some fun on the beach. I was a little worried when Campbell was ready to hit the pool before she had even been in the water, but she warmed up to the idea and ended up enjoying her first swim in the ocean. If you asked her though she would say that her favorite part of the day was building a sand castle with Kaylee. It was so great to just sit and watch the girls enjoy the beach and all the treasures that it had in store for them. By that night we were ll tired and ready for a good night's sleep.

Happy Trails to Us!

Today we are off to enjoy a little bit of this...

A Sweet Surprise!

Over the weekend we had the joy of attending the wedding of a college friend. It was a beautiful wedding that was made even sweeter when we got a call to say that some of our dear friends, The O'Rears, were coming in town for it. We even managed to get a few pictures before the wedding.

Can you tell that Campbell was not "feeling the love" of getting her picture taken??

Since the wedding was at 2:00pm we were on our way home with some yummy Sharon's BBQ by 4:15pm and ready to enjoy a meal with our precious friends. We actually got to visit quite a bit since our daughters became fast friends and had the best time playing together. Lauren wanted to spend the night and Campbell was calling Cameron her best friend after just a few hours of playing together. It definitely made me wish that we lived closer to each other so they could play together often. Well they will just have to stop by when they are in town and definitely spend the night next time;-) Thanks for making our day even better O'Rears, we love your sweet family!