Where are we?

In case you have been wondering where we have been I can pretty much guarantee it has been at a ballpark somewhere watching Kaylee play. There is nothing she would rather do than play softball. I have to say that there is nothing like watching your children do something that they enjoy with every fiber of their being. She is really good this year, it seems like everything just clicked. Kaylee loves playing first base because she says "that is where the action is." Batting is going great too. The past three weekends she has even been piked up by other teams to play with them. The most important thing is that she is having a great time. Even though I was never an athlete on a sports team I really love being a Softball Mom.

If you do not find us at the ballpark then you are probably going to see me running all over town for all of the end of the year activities taking place at both of the girls' schools. I remember as a teacher cramming every possible fun activity I could think of into the lesson plans the last few weeks once testing was over. That is when all the fun began;-) Here is a picture of Campbell from Cowgirl/Cowboy Week at her school. She was so excited to get to dress up and also ride a horse. Her school really has made learning fun over the past few years that she has attended. We are going to miss all the familiar faces when she is in kindergarten next year. Well I am off to the races or so it seems. Hope you are all enjoying the end of year activities too.

A Weekend of Family & The Little Mermaid

The weekend after Tax Season was over ended up being a busy one for our family. Cary got April 16th off so he and Campbell had a Daddy/Daughter Doughnut Date that morning while I went to Ladies Class at church. After their date they ran some errands and went to the Elementary School to have lunch with Kaylee. Then when school was out we surprised the girls by taking them to see "How to Train Your Dragon" which was a really cute movie and that was just Friday.

Saturday morning Kaylee went to a Kidquest reunion at the ACU bowling alley and I thought when Cary went to pick her up they were not coming home. Evidently they decided to go tour the ACU library and play with the iPads in the bookstore. Who could blame them for that? Once they returned home it was time to go to a birthday party which happened to be at the bowling alley on the Air Force Base here in town. The girls and Cary had a blast bowling while I I caught up with some friends I had not talked to in a while. That night we played a little Wii as a family and enjoyed a good night's rest.

On Sunday the girls had a date with their Daddy to see The Little Mermaid at a theatre here in town.(Thanks Cary for taking the pictures and being such a big help.) Since I am on the Children's Performing Arts Board, I was helping some friends set things up for the fun after party with the cast so I missed the actual production. Speaking of the cast they were great to work with. Each member of the cast stayed at the after party until each child had a chance to get their picture taken and visit with them personally. There were over 100 people at the party!

The girls had a great time meeting the princess and sharing in the fun with their friends. It looked like all of the children had a great time which is what we had hoped for.

Thank you Lord for a great end to a wonderful weekend!!

May Farm

Over a week ago we were invited to a Birthday Party at May Farm. We never pass up an opportunity to go there since Ms. May is one of our favorite people. She is so wonderful with children and the animals she takes in alike. This woman has a gift. The girls enjoyed feeding the animals, holding the animals, going on a hay ride minus the hay, riding a horse and of course celebrating with Jaxton.

Here are some pictures to re-cap our fun day!

Can you tell she loves horses?

Easter Sunday

Today we have enjoyed a wonderful day celebrating Our Lord with a great church service and some more family time. I am blessed in so many ways because of Our Savior dying on the cross and being risen from the dead all for my sins to be washed away. Thank you Lord for the gift of your Son, the gift of family and the gift of friends. Blessed be Your Name!

Our Family!

Great Papaw with Kaylee and Campbell

Papa, Nana, Oliver, Kaylee & Campbell

Two of my greatest blessings!

Saturday Easter Fun!

Well today has been a fun filled day for all of us except Oliver. He decided to jump out of Kaylee's arms when he heard Papa, Nana, and Papaw enter the house and landed incorrectly. After a trip to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic, he now will be sporting this for the next 8 weeks. Poor boy;-(

I am happy to report that the rest of the day has been accident free. We went to the church Easter Egg Hunt after lunch where Kaylee and Campbell had a blast as usual. Kaylee insisted on wearing her sunglasses and they actually matched her outfit. Haha. My little Miss Hollywood is pictured here.

Campbell also had a lot of fun hunting eggs and playing with all of her friends. We managed to jump in the Jump House, ride the Barrel Train, and see the Easter Bunny all while at the church Eggstravaganza.

My two sweet girls riding the barrel train.

Campbell with Abba

Kaylee with Matthew

Once we had completed all the activities at Eggstravaganza at least twice we went home and play croquet with the new croquet set Papa and Nana bought for us to enjoy. We have had so much fun playing with it too as you can see from the photos.

After Cary got home from the office (it is tax season you know) the girls had another Egg Hunt at the house. Then since we had all worked up such an appetite Cary grilled some delicious hamburgers and we ate a yummy Easter Egg cake for dessert. You would think that would be enough for one day but since we still had not decorated cookies for Easter or dyed eggs so we got that done too before going to sleep. Whew! What a busy but very fun day!

Last YCW Easter Egg Hunt

I am sad to say that yesterday was the last Egg Hunt we will get to experience at YCW. I cannot believe it! Campbell's teachers decided to try to stretch the hunt out this year by placing numbers on each of the eggs and each child just hunted for the eggs with their assigned number on them. Aren't they clever? Campbell got number four which she thought was perfect since she is FOUR. It was so funny to watch them searching for their number. Campbell's friend Ella found almost as many eggs for her as Campbell hunted herself. I thought it was so sweet of her to be looking out for Campbell;-)

Look at all those sweet kids running around hunting those eggs.

I did manage to capture a few pictures of Campbell with some of her sweet friends.

Here is Campbell with Mallory.

Softball through Pictures

I just had to post a few of my favorite shots I captured of Kaylee's first official game of the season.

Kaylee in her hitting stance. She looks like such a pro;-)

Kaylee ready for the ball as her best friend Anna runs to second base. Later in the game Anna hit the ball and Kaylee tagged her out on second base. I asked Kaylee what she said to Anna and she said "I told her I was sorry, I was just doing my job." (hahaha)

I love this picture of Cary giving Kaylee five while he is coaching first base. They get to have great one on one bonding time during softball season and I love watching them!

A quick story: At the end of each game the coaches get the girls together to talk about the game and give a pep talk before snocone time. Last night all the girls were very excited about the snocones and were not focusing on what the coach was saying. I heard Kaylee say "Listen it is not about the snocones people, it is about the game!" I had to chuckle a little inside. That's Cary's girl!

Softball Opening Ceremonies 2010

Well we are off and running with our busy softball season. The official opener was last Friday night at 6:00pm and that is when the gusty West Texas winds decided to show up too. After the opening ceremonies we had an hour wait until our first game of the season. Kaylee was beside herself with excitement. When the time arrived for Venom to play all the girls were shouting with glee. You would have thought it was Christmas morning for Kaylee. I am glad she has found something that she loves so much. This year she is playing first base which is great because she gets a lot of action. I could tell after her first hit that this year is going to be great for her. She has her first year under her belt, she understand the game better, and her hitting is great! Each time she got up to bat she made at least base hit and I was so excited for her. The smile she gets on her face is worth a million dollars.

The first night they played two games back to back and Kaylee did great all night long. Doesn't she look ready to hit the ball out of the park? I am looking forward to a wonderful season for Kaylee. After the first two games she said that she was going to make the All-Star Team this year because she was "that good", nothing wrong with her self-confidence ;-)

Some how Campbell and I managed to not get blown away by the winds either.

However, we did look quite windblown as evident in this picture of Campbell.

In closing, if you need us for the next few months you can catch us at the ballpark.

The 50th Day of School, 50's Style

Here is Campbell all dressed up for 50's Day for the 50th day of Pre-K at her school. I do not know who was more excited about her wearing a poodle skirt her or me. I thought she looked adorable!

Dallas Day 2

On Tuesday morning we woke up and headed to the Original Pancake House for breakfast. (Thanks to Kristen I remembered eating with her and Kevin there before kids.) Their crepes are fabulous! Then we were off again to the Stonebriar Mall in Frisco for a little more shopping till we dropped. It seemed like even though our goal was to purchase some new spring clothes the girls were sidetracked by all the other well placed stores in this mall like Build a Bear and the Disney Store. They even managed to talk Nana into a ZhuZhu pet and Webkinz while in Justice shopping for clothes. We did walk away with several new outfits for each girl and most of all managed to have a lot of fun in the process. I did think it was funny that everywhere we went someone asked if we were getting the girls pictures made. No, I dress them alike quite often and so do a lot of my other friends so I do not think it is an unusual thing to do. Just one of the joys of having two girls;-)

Of course no trip to Stonebriar would be complete without a ride on the carousel. Love those precious smiling faces!!

The only thing I wished was that we had a little more time while there to see some friends but the trip was fast and furious so we just had no time.

Thanks again to Papa and Nana for all the spoiling. I even managed to shop in a few stores for me ;-)

American Girl Experience

Well as usual for Spring Break the girls and I packed up and headed to my parents house in Waco for a few days so that Cary could work all the time and not feel guilty and we could get a little spoiled. The joys of being married to someone who has to be a slave to the tax deadline.

What I did not tell the girls was that we were all going to make a quick trip to Dallas to experience the American Girls Store. Nana, Kaylee, Campbell and I all left Waco around lunch time and headed to Big D. We decided it would be easiest to stay at the Westin Galleria so we could do some shopping and be close to the American Girl Store for our reservation. Upon arriving we checked into the hotel. The girls have stayed in a hotel before but you could not tell from Kaylee's reaction. I felt a little like the Beverly Hillbillies came to town. Here are a few of my favorites; "You said the hotel was fancy but not this fancy!", "Campbell soak it all up because we are going back to reality tomorrow.", "There is a mall here too! and an elevator, and an escalator!!", "Wow Mom you can see the whole city out our window, I know why you love Dallas so much." (In Kaylee's defense we do not have an elevator or escalator in our hometown mall and she had just turned four when we moved from Dallas.) After settling in to our room we took on the mall and got a little tasty goodness from Orange Cup while we watched all the people on the ice skating rink. I guess the trip wore Campbell out, along with the time change, so she and Nana went back to the room to rest while Kaylee and I shopped.

After about two hours we went to get Nana and Campbell so we could surprise the girls by going to the American Girl Store. Look at these smiling faces. Do you think they are a little excited?

Kaylee decided to bring Molly and Campbell brought Julie along for some pampering and good times. I am so glad that Nana got to share in their excitement and the spoiling. Each doll came away with new wardrobes and books for the big girls too. While we were there we conquered everything the store had to offer.

Here are Molly and Julie getting their new hairstyles and ears pierced. Kaylee and Campbell getting to watch the professionals at work. I tried to take mental notes but am not so sure that I will be able to copy them and I am sure I will not be as quick. It was pretty funny that I paid more to get the dolls' hair styled than I do to get Kaylee and Campbell haircuts. I have a feeling real life ear piercing with be cheaper too.

Here are the girls with their dolls in the Bistro waiting to be served. Even the dolls got a menu! I think it would be cute if the dolls were served some pretend food along with the girls real food but that would probably be too much. Notice their dolls have on one of their new outfits. Kaylee ordered fruit and yogurt for her appetizer along with the Picnic plate for her entree. Campbell ordered the salad skewers for her appetizer and pizza for her entree. Nana of course spoiled us all with dessert too. The banana/carmel crepe with marshmallow was delicious!

After the meal was over we all headed back to the room to play dress-up with the dolls and get a good nights. I do not know who had more fun Nana, Kaylee, Campbell or me! Thank you Nana and Papa for all the spoiling and memories at the American Girl Store.

Priceless!

Kaylee has been in full form the past week with two stories I just had to document for the future. I love that sweet girl!!

Story number one:

Last week they had the Book Fair at Kaylee's school. I do not know about the rest of you but the children at Kaylee's school are brainwashed for about a week before and during the book fair to come buy books. Notes are sent home daily, announcements are made, and the marque outside the school has it advertised. I am a former elementary school teacher so I understand that the school gets money out of the high priced books and we do want to support our school within reason. Well the big night to have families shop was Monday night. I had Bunko so Cary being the good Dad that he is took the girls to the Book Fair. They even had coke floats to entice the shoppers a little. Each of the girls got some books and life was great! Evidently Kaylee decided to take some of her own money to school so the next day she got in the car with a book for her and told me how she bought several of her classmates some bookmarks. I commented on how that was very sweet and we went on with the conversation to cover her day. Tuesday rolls around and Kaylee gets in the car with a hand pointer and a book for Campbell. Again I complimented on her generosity towards her sister. Wednesday Kaylee gets in the car with another hand pointer, this time it is for Campbell. Again compliment on thinking of her sister. That night Cary told Kaylee that he appreciated her giving to her sister but that she needed to leave her money at home on Thursday because she had bought enough. Well evidently Kaylee stocked up her wallet with her money once again and took it to school. Come to find out some of her classmates benefited from her generosity on Thursday because she gave one friend $20 and another friend $5. Luckily the friend she gave $20 has a Mom that I am friends with so she called to let me know what had occurred because Kaylee did not say a thing to me because she knew she was not suppose to take money to school that day. When I questioned her about the money she said that her friends wanted to go to the book fair but they did not bring any money and if you did not bring any money then you could not go. Therefore she gave them some. Then she realized that she had disobeyed her Dad and got upset. She was never upset that the money was gone. I explained that it is good to have a giving heart and I was very proud of her for that but she did not need to be handing money out at school. If she wanted to buy her friends a bookmark or pencil that was fine but $20 was way too much. There are people in this world who could really use the $20 and her friends all have parents who provided money for them to go to the book fair. Of course her Dad explained further when he got home. I think she understood, I am sure we will find out next year when the book fair rolls around. I remember doing things like this but I always used my parent's money;-) One of the funniest parts was when we went to her music program on Friday they plugged the book fair one more time. I just look at Cary and laughed, I think they got enough from our family this year. It is so hard to teach on giving, especially when you have a child who gives so freely. I want her to give freely, we just need to fine tune where it goes in the future. Why is her money never with her when she wants me to get her something at Target?

Story number two:

On Wednesday morning we were awoken by our girls. Kaylee had gotten up, made her bed, picked up her room, gotten dressed and awoken her sister. That girl was ready to take on the day! Too bad when Cary and I looked at the clock beside our bed it said 3:00am. Therefore we got to get the girls back in their beds and pray they went back to sleep so we would not have two grumpy bears the next day. Luckily for us they did return to sleep quickly and so did we. Needless to say the next day I bought Kaylee an alarm clock that glows so she can look at the time at all hours of the night;-)

Hopefully I will have a few Campbell Grace stories next week. Happy Spring Break to you all!!

Papaya Saves the Day!

On Friday morning we got to go watch the 2nd Grade Music Program titled "Papaya Saves the Day." The stage was decorated really well because all classes completed the artwork hanging behind the bleachers which I though turned out great! All of the children sang, danced and played their hearts out!

It looked like many if not all of the children got to take a turn either singing a solo, playing an instrument or dancing. Kaylee really wanted to sing a solo but got picked for the dancer instead. I thought she did a great job and even though it was not her first choice she put her whole heart into it. You can see her in the "conga line" dancing away. They were all so cute! I am so glad that Cary has a job where it is possible for him to be present at all the important things in the girls' lives. Kaylee loves seeing all of us there to cheer her on. I love seeing the smile on her face when she sees her fan club there for her. This is Kaylee's last music program in elementary school since 3rd-5th grade is considered intermediate in our district. Kinda sad for Mom.

A little sisterly love.

Kaylee with two of her precious friends, she is truly blessed with some great friendships.