Easter Weekend! (Part 2)

Here are my girls straight out of bed and digging through their Easter Bunny loot along with other gifts from Papa, Nana, and Great-Papaw. They were so excited to find some movies and books for their enjoyment as well as some candy. (You can see how crazy my curly headed girl's hair is in the morning.)

Next was the token family picture. Amazingly we were all ready, ate breakfast, and had time for one family picture before church. (and one of the girls together too)













Here are some pictures of Papa and Nana with the girls as well as Great Papaw which were taken after church. Notice we are all a little bundles up because it was in the forties this morning:)
At church we got to have a little interactive time with our children because the preacher put a slide presentation up of the death and resurrection of Christ. He wanted the parents, grandparents, or children to tell the story as the slides changed. It was such a meaningful time I felt to get the children of all ages involved in the service in this way. What an amazing teaching moment for them! It was awesome to see all the children's faces as they were listening or speaking so intently.

After church we came home and enjoyed a delicious Easter lunch in the dining room which was a real treat for the girls since we never have all eaten in there together. I even managed to use their dyed Easter eggs from Papa and Nana's house to make the centerpiece for the table. They thought that was really neat! We also had a delicious Bunny cake that Kaylee and Campbell got to pick out at the store with Nana on Saturday. I was very pleased with how quickly the meal came together and that we all were able to enjoy a good meal with even more good memories. Thanks again for all the spoiling, food, and goodies Papa, Nana, and Great Papaw. The girls are already looking forward to the next holiday so we can eat another special meal in the dining room:)


Happy Easter to all our friends near and far!!

Happy Easter Weekend! (Part 1)

Well, we had a wonderful weekend of Easter fun! It all started on Saturday when we went to Eggstravaganza at our church which is a Big Easter Egg Hunt with a bounce house, train ride, and blow-up slide for the kids. Both girls had so much fun this year. Of course, we did not get to go last year because it was snowing on Easter weekend so the event was cancelled.

Campbell's hunt was first and she was very excited to be able to hunt eggs with her church friends. I just loved this picture of her which showed the pure joy that she felt. She definitely had fun running all over the place but as soon as all the eggs were gone she was ready to move on to bigger and better things which for her was the train. Unfortunately, we had to practice some patience and wait until we could watch Kaylee do a little hunting herself.

Here is my big girl in action. Was it really that long ago that I was watching her wander around a field wondering why the eggs all over the ground were such a big deal? When I look at her it is so hard to believe that this was her 6th Easter to celebrate. I love the determined look on her face in this picture and the way that she is taking off to find her next treasure. During her egg hunt she found some friends to play with which left her sister without a train riding partner.

Luckily Campbell's favorite boy "J" was not far away and he does not mind being drug by the hand quite yet to ride the train. I always tease that I am taking "future wedding video" pictures because Campbell has remained pretty sweet on this cutie since we moved here two years ago. His parents are some of our friends so I am not complaining at all:)

Here is Kaylee with one of her good friends "M" riding the train. They both seemed to have a lot of fun and all Campbell kept saying the rest of the afternoon was that she liked that "bump, bump". I have to say that the train was a bit bumpy but no one seemed to be worried and everyone was laughing so I would say fun was had by all.

The next activity was the inflatable slide. As you can see both girls had a lot of fun with their friends and Daddy. I lost count of how many times Kaylee went down the slide and was surprised to see Campbell come flying down once all by herself.

After a little more sliding and some train riding with another one of Campbell's sweet friends, Morgan, we were on to some more fun. (Don't you love Campbell's new smile?) Too funny!

I was a little shocked to see that Campbell followed Kaylee into the Jump House and actually stayed in there. We have been to several parties where there were bounce houses and Campbell was much happier to watch from the outside but this time was different. As you can see from the pictures both girls had a great time jumping and playing together. Campbell did not even seem to mind that most of her time was spent on the floor of the Jump House. Once we were done jumping it was time to go home and take a well earned nap.

I am so thankful for days like these when we can just enjoy the two precious daughters the the Lord blessed us with and some time with family.

Spring has Sprung!

We decided to hit the ground running today since it was the first day of Spring and enjoy the weather. My Papaw came back from Waco with us so we all went to the zoo. Since we have not been to the zoo since they opened the new entrance and changed a few exhibits it was a real treat. It started off a little bit cool due to the wind but within about 30 minutes the weather was gorgeous. The girls were so excited to be at the zoo and have their Great Papaw enjoying it with them. I lost count of how many times I heard the words "Papaw come here, stand by me, hold my hand", it truly was priceless for me. I remember so many times at their ages going on vacations and doing fun things with my Papaw and Nannie, it is nice to see them getting to experience what a wonderful Grandfather I have too.

Since it was such a nice day all the animals were well fed so by the time we got around to all of them they were full. However, the girls did not seem to mind at all because they were having too much fun just running around. We even ran into a few good friends while we were there. Campbell really loved seeing her friend "J" who is a precious little boy that she adores and so do I.

After the zoo we were treated to Chick-fil-A by Papaw and the girls got to play in the play area for a little while. Then we went home and enjoyed playing in the backyard before naptime. I would say that we definitely made the most out of the first day of Spring.

I just love days like today when the weather is nice and the memories are too. I will cherish today for all of my days. In closing I am going to post two more of my favorite pictures from today. Thank you Papaw for spending the day with us.

Spring Break Part One

On Friday evening we headed to Waco to kick off Spring Break with Papa and Nana! Since my sweet husband is in his busy time of year at work it is nice to get away and have some adult conversation before 10:00pm. The girls were both so excited to be heading to Waco. I think Campbell asked at least 10 times when we were getting to Papa's house, that is much better than the 100 times she asked the last time we made the trip. We got there in time for the girls to play a little bit before bed. It is always so much fun to watch them together.

We filled the next few days with trips to Target, Kohl's, The Children's Place, Gymboree, I'm Yours, Rack Room Shoes, Marshalls, Compass, and Coldwater Creek (they were having an amazing sale). Some of the shopping was done with the girls in tow and some was done with just me and Mom. It is always good to have some quality shopping time epecially when my parents spoil each of us. Thank you again for everything Papa and Nana!

Besides all of the shopping we also managed to go see Horton Hears a Who, eat some yummy food, make cupcakes, and dye Easter eggs. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the girls decorating cupcakes on St. Patrick's Day. The first ones are of them concentrating very hard on their decorating.

In these two you can see how excited they are about thier cupcakes. I just love these two precious girls. I am so blessed!

Thanks again for letting us have a few days of spoiling and fun with you Papa and Nana!

Easter Egg Hunt #2

I left the first hunt just in time to make it for Campbell's School Easter Egg Hunt. Here is her class kinda lined up at least for a bunch of 2 to 3 year olds. This picture was taken moments before they all heard an airplane and were turned around pointing to the sky not caring at all about the many eggs spread all over the ground for them to hunt. Once the teachers told them they could start hunting it did not take long for all the eggs to be in the baskets.

Most of the children did not care which eggs they got but there were a few who wanted the eggs that they brought or who were searching for a specific color. Campbell started out being a little picky but when she noticed some of the others picking up any egg they wanted she decided to join in the fun by filling her basket. This is the token action shot, of course it would be better if I could have seen her face but good luck with that. She was definitely having too much fun running from one side of the walkway to the other picking up eggs. I just loved seeing all of her sweet friends in action.

This is by far my favorite picture from her hunt. The teachers and parents were trying to get a decent picture of all of the class together without one crying or moving around. After about the tenth picture taken this was Campbell's take on things. I thought it was too funny that she finally just put her face in her hands as if to say "Come on already". I am so glad that I got to document her Easter Egg Hunt too.

I love you too, sweet girl!

Our First Ever Kindergarten Easter Egg Hunt!

Well, Thursday was Kaylee's first time to go on a school field trip and ride on a real school bus. At her school they have a big Easter Egg Hunt at a local park for one of their field trips and then they stay there all day eating picnic lunches and enjoying the play area. I thought that the teachers were a little crazy to do this since it was the Thursday before Spring Break and there are 12 kindergarten class with 22-24 children in each class. It was so much fun to watch the buses pull up and see all the excited faces on the kids when they saw all of the Easter eggs they were going to get to hunt. There were eggs everywhere! As all of the children were lining up I could see there eyes scanning the ground for the best eggs. Of course they all looked the same to me.

Kaylee had the best time running all over the place hunting for eggs. I did get her to sit still for one shot though so I could document the front of her body because up until this picture all I was getting in the frame was her back side running all over the place picking up eggs.

After all the eggs were gone the children counted out a certain number to keep and then got to enjoy one before lunch. It was too funny to watch them decide which to keep and which to pass on to other children who did not have as many. They all have such different personalities and you could see some of that through this process. I just love Kaylee's teacher this year and all of the sweet children in her class...it has been such an amazing year!

Once they were all lined up I had time to get one picture of Kaylee and I together before heading to my second Easter Egg Hunt of the morning.

I am so glad that I got to be at Kaylee's First Kindergarten Easter Egg Hunt! I love you sweet girl!

A Party Here, A Party There, A Birthday Party Everywhere!

The title describes this past weekend for our house. All the baby showers I have been running to lately were replaced by Birthday Parties. Kaylee had two to attend and Campbell had one on her agenda.

The first two parties started around ten in the morning on Saturday so Cary went one direction with Campbell and I went the other with Kaylee.

Kaylee's party was at the Teddy Bear Connection at the mall. Since Daddy went with her to a party here last time she thought that I needed to go experience it with her this time. Being as it was at the mall it did not take a lot of arm twisting to get me there. We walked right in and Kaylee picked out a Dalmation puppy within 2 minutes. She thought that he would have fun keeping the rabbit she got from there last time company. Of course, she picked out some camping clothes and a sleeping bag for him, no girly stuff for this dog. All the kids had so much fun picking our their animals clothes, eating some delicious cupcakes, and running around the store. The hour and a half went by very quickly because they stayed so busy and Kaylee was happy to spend some time celebrating with one of her favorite friends. (Cary took the camera with him since Campbell only had one party so no pictures of this one.)

Campbell evidently had a great time and I think Cary did too considering it was a party for a boy. Evidently, Campbell was out numbered by boys at the party which was a switch. In all the pictures she seems to be having a wonderful time. Being my non-sugar eater for the most part Cary said she was most excited by the fruit that was served with the cake. She also got to play pin the tire on the John Deere tractor. The rest of the time she was either taking care of her baby doll which goes everywhere with her or taking pictures with our camera. I thought the blind folded picture was so funny as well as the picture below where she is with two of her favorite boys and one of my dear friends Stephanie. Why is it that Stephanie is the only one who looks excited?

Once both parties were over we loaded everyone back in the car and went to eat chili at a funraiser dinner here in town. By the time we got back home I had two tired girls who needed naps before the next party.




For the next party that evening Kaylee decided that Daddy should go to be fair so each of us could have some "good time" with her as she put it. That was just fine because when they left Campbell was still napping so I got to rest for a few minutes. This party was at the Gymnastics Sports Center so Kaylee was very excited since we have not been there in a while. Here is an action shot of Kaylee giving it all she has got trying to jump as high as possible.
Then there is this cute picture of her with "R" her favorite boy friend from church and school. You can see that it was taken after the chocolate cupcakes had been eaten.


You could definitely say that we had a wonderful weekend of celebrating soem of the special friends in our girls' lives.

An Action Packed Weekend

Well I am finally going to post about last weekend. We were so excited to have our friends Chris and Holly come to visit us and bring their precious son, Wyatt. Our girls were so excited to have company coming and we were too. Once they arrived we had a chance to visit for a while because my girls were napping. It is always nice to catch up on life with dear friends that you do not get to talk to very often. After everyone was awake we had a delicious dinner from Sharon's Bar-B-Que and then got cleaned up to go to Sing Song. This is the second year we have gone with our sweet friends and we have so much fun. I was a little unsure about taking all the children to an 8:oopm show but they did great! We even got compliments from people around us about how good they were which always makes a parent proud. As soon as the lights went off and the show started they were mesmerized by all the action and the box of popcorn in their laps. Wyatt told Holly what he thought about different parts of the show, while Campbell kept asking where the lights went each time they were turned off (Do you know how many times they turn the lights off in one Sing Song production...a lot.), and Kaylee just sat in her chair processing everything. It was clear to see that Campbell most enjoyed the "stomp act" because she had to get in the aisle and stomp her feet to her own beat too. We got a kick out of that. I am so glad that the girls got to attend their first of many Sing Songs to come and hopefully one day we will be watching them up there performing. Kaylee did inform me in the parking lot that she was not sure if she would do that or not...we will see. I love the feeling I still get when I step on to the ACU campus, what wonderful times.

After a quick nights sleep we were up and off to church. Since our regular preacher was in Uganda with Compassion International we had the pleasure of hearing Rick Atchley who is the senior minister at my friend Kristen's church home. What was the most funny thing to me is that this title went up on the screen "Leap Year" I immediately knew I was in for a treat because I had read Kristen's blog about this very sermon. Funny how the blog world works sometimes. It was indeed a wonderful sermon and I definitely left the service feeling convicted. After church service we had a few minutes to catch up with some more friends, Zach and Denise, before heading to Abuelo's for a yummy lunch. Once we returned home our sweet friends left, I left to help hostess a baby shower for my precious friend Candice, and the girls got to take a much needed nap. As the shower was coming to a close I hopped in the car to come home and get Kaylee for our second Princess Club meeting. I just love that we are going to be blessed with this time together each week. They got to see the story of Adam and Eve in the garden be acted out, make journals to be used each week, and practice being a good hostess for the table where they were seated. Next we were running back to the house so I could finally change clothes and go back to the church for Small Group that night. It was a very blessed day, but also one where I was looking forward to a good night's sleep.

I am so thankful for good friends, laughter, our many blessings, and the Lord who made all things possible.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well we started off the morning with a bang around our house. It is amazing how quickly a 6 year old will get out of bed when you tell them there are Valentine's doughnuts waiting for them in the kitchen:) Kaylee was very excited to be wearing her new Princess shirt and cute polka dot tights. She even did not seem to mind posing for a picture too much. After gathering her Valentine's goodies for her classmates, her gift for her teacher, and the usual backpack stuff she was out the door with a big grin on her face. I can still remember being so excited about special days at school...now I get excited about making them special for our girls.




Campbell was my next Valentine to wake up. She was so excited about wearing her heart shirt and pants that she did not even whine this morning while getting dressed. As you can see in the picture she would not put her baby of choice for the moment down for the picture. She is such a little Mommy all of the time. After taking about 5 minutes to pick out two doughnuts which she only ate about three bites of we were off to her school. As always lately she just walked right on in with her lunchbox and Valentines and started playing with all of her friends. I am so glad that school makes her so happy.

While the girls were at school I ran a few errands and then met my sweet husband for a delicious lunch at Copper Creek. It was so nice to be able to visit and just spend some time together in the middle of the day over a great meal. Thank you, Honey, I am so glad you are my forever Valentine!

In no time it was already 2:30pm, time to pick Campbell up. She was so excited to see me and show me all of her Valentine loot. I do not know what excited her more the candy or one of her friends who gave Valentine cards with her picture on it. We had a whole conversation on the way to pick Kaylee up about how Lizzie was smiling at her, how happy she looked, and that she was a sweet girl. I just love the conversations that Campbell and I are having these days. They always make me smile.

Kaylee hopped in the car next telling me all about who gave her which Valentines and how her teacher loved her card that she gave her and the gift. It was a most exciting day she said. I love hearing all about the drama of kindergarten each day when she gets in the car. I would like to be a fly on the wall during the day to observe her in class and just see what she is thinking about things sometimes. She did tell me that they got to eat a delicious cookie but she only ate about four bites because she was still full from lunch.

Once we arrived home I put Campbell down for a nap and got busy baking a heart shaped cake for desert and ordering a heart shaped pizza from Papa John's. I even decorated the table with a red table cloth, a candle, and some cute hearts spread out in the middle of the table. The last touches were the heart plates and napkins. Kaylee was so excited to see all of the special decorations but Campbell just kept asking me why they were there and if she could blow out the candle. Funny girl! Kaylee had already asked me this morning if it was a "gift day" and I told her maybe so. As you can imagine she was glad to be done with dinner and ready to open some treats. Here is Kaylee with all her fun gifts from us as well as a movie from my parents.

Campbell on the other hand would never let us take a good picture because she was too busy. My sweet husband even surprised me with a few gifts. I think we surprised him too.

I really thought this year was a perfect Valentine's Day for us. We all went to sleep with smiles on our faces.

Here are my three favorite Valentines!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all my blog friends!! I am going to close with the perspective of a 2 1/2 year old when she has control of the camera.
















I think Campbell might just have a future in photography:)

The Princess Club

Today has been a very busy day around our house. We had church, a quick lunch, I went to help hostess a baby shower, Kaylee and I attended the first Princess Club meeting, and then back to church for small group tonight. I am tired after just typing it:) It was a good busy though because they were all activities that I love!

Today a few sweet ladies from church started the Princess Club for girls in grades K-2 and their Moms. They wanted to start the club to give the girls a chance to form a close bond before they get to middle school which is when typically there starts to be activities for their age group outside of Bible class. We have never read any of the Gigi God's Little Princess books but Kaylee has seen one of the DVDs. Basically the books title is stating that all girls are Princesses because we are all daughters of the King. The club is going to encourage girls to develope strong Christian friendships, while encouraging the love of God's word, God's creation, and God's people. We are going to follow the God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. During the study the girls will get to do hands on activities as well as some application in the form of service to others. They will learn the royal truths which are honor, charity, fairness, purity, truth, honesty, caring, and faithfulness. As these truths are mastered through different ways they will have the opportunity to earn a charm for their charm bracelet, with the ability to earn three per semester. The bracelet will also give the girls a chance to talk about the Bible when asked about it by their friends. What a great idea!

I am looking forward to having this time each Sunday afternoon to further nurture Kaylee's relationship with the Lord as well as others. What an amazing opportunity! We are so thankful that the Lord placed this opportunity on the hearts of the women starting this program. (Thank you for blessing us Holly, Stephanie, Kristi, and Autumn.)

A Birthday Weekend with the Girls!

Well the big weekend finally arrived...not only was Friday my Birthday but I got to go on a girls trip to Canton for First Monday Trade Days with some of my sweet friends. Kelly picked me up bright and early and even had a present for me! I thought that was so sweet. Then April gave me a cute card she made. It was such a wonderful start to my Birthday! There were 5 of us who left on Friday morning at 7:00am with Starbucks in hand to begin the journey, what could be better than that? Well, maybe having some Birthday cash to spend:) It was so much fun to spend the 3 1/2 hour trip having adult conversation uninterrupted. Whitney and I were even armed with a shopping list of things we were determined to get and I think that we both exceeded our expectations. It was so nice to be in Canton on a Friday because there were not many shoppers and you actually had time to form a plan of attack without people stepping on you which is how it can be sometimes on a Saturday. I managed to get the three main things on my list the first day. It is amazing how much room 4 floral sconces and one floral arrangement can take up in the back of a Tahoe. (Not all of those were mine.) Around 5:00pm we headed back to downtown Dallas to pick up three other girls who were coming that evening and check into the Hyatt Reunion Tower which Allison pricelined and got our rooms for $60 a night. You cannot beat that! The hotel was beautiful and once we got cleaned up we went to dinner at a great Tex-Mex Restaurant Melissa recommended. I had a pulled pork burrito which was delicious! Once we were all full we made a few detours on the way back to the hotel. First we went to Lori's cousin Amy's cute apartment in downtown Dallas, then we got gas at a very questionable gas station where some men offered to wash our car at 11:30pm (that would be a no thank you), and then we went to a local Wal-Mart market to get some sinus medicine for Whitney. I felt so tired once we arrived back in our room but that did not keep Kelly and I from talking till around 1:45am.

The next morning we got up and had a delicious breakfast at La Madeline before heading back to Canton for a second day of shopping. We decided to have the divide and conquor approach since it was a little more crowded than the day before. It was so nice to take our time looking and making sure we had seen all that we wanted. Julie, Kelly, April, Whitney, Lori, Allison, Melissa, and I all ended the day with sacks in hand and smiles on our faces at our bargains. We left Canton around 5:00pm and headed back home after making a stop in Arlington at PeiWei for some good food. After filling our tummies one more time we were on the road with one place on our minds which was Home. We did discuss extending our trip at least one more night next time so we could shop Dallas one day...I may be saving money for the next year for that trip:) Thanks girls for all the laughs, great talks, and fun. It was so nice to return home with a rejouvenated soul.

Here are a few of the things I purchased:

I got two of these to hang on either side of the mirrored dresser in our room.

This cute rug is going in our guest bath which is red. I thought it would add a fun touch...thanks for the idea Honey.

Then there was this sweet plaque which found a home above my girls pictures. We are truly blessed!