YAY...for Visits from Family!!!

Josiah(brother-in-law) had a work conference in Dallas last week, so Momma(sister) and Baby(Brooklyn) flew in with him. Since they were within a few short hours of us, they rented a car and came down to see us for a couple of days. 

Tenley was singing Patty Cake to Brooklyn...they both LOVED it! It was very sweet...I got it on video, but I'm having trouble getting it to upload to the blog.

 

Miles of course had to get his turn in too. Look at that sweet sweet smile.

Sleepy time...babies are precious, but they are EXTRA precious when they are sleeping...it's a fact! So sweet!

Sweet hugs. Sydney already loves her cousin.

I'm not sure exactly what Syd told Brooklyn, but she looks like she's making sure Brooklyn understood.

Bye sweet family, thanks for coming to see us. We love and miss y'all everyday!

side note: you get bonus points if you counted how many times I said "sweet" in this post. 

Dallas Trip

When Miles and Sydney had their 6 month check ups with their VL-CADD specialist in Ft Worth, all 3 kids and I loaded up and made a weekend of it. On Friday after we got the Dr's appointments out of the way, we went over to Aunt Cara's and Uncle Beaubie's to hang with Ian and Mackers.

Sweet Mackers...just sitting there enjoying the beautiful day.

Boys...they are so sweet. I think Ian is more interested in what Ten & Syd are doing than playing.                                 

Tenley and Miless have decided they need a cool swing set like this one...oh yeah, and a backyard to put it in.

I think she's asking who wants to play catch.

Well, Hellooo again, Markers!

My kids play hard...this means that they get dirty. Most days I don't think about it, but as we were leaving Aunt Cara's I noticed Miles had a stain, but not just any stain...it looks like the "stain fairy" walked across Miles' shirt. What do you think? Does it look like a foot print to you?

We headed to Nic's about supper time on Friday night. We hung out there until Sunday when we headed home.
My kids do love to be outside. I caught Miles taking his toys out to play on the patio. He later tried to fry up some mud patties on the grill...real sorry about that Nic  :)

"What? It wasn't me that played on your computer, how dare you accuse me!"

On Sat Nic and Jeremy(Nic's boyfriend) thought we should get out. They wanted to let the kids get out and play.
Look how long this little girl's hair is getting. We can actually put it in piggy tails. Aunt Nic fixed Sydney's hair for our big day

Back view...

First we started at Chuck E Cheese...a big surprise for the kids.

I know the picture isn't that great, but it was so funny. Syd really did like Chuck E...she just liked him from a distance. She's trying to crawl up onto the table.

Then we headed to a real cool playground that Aunt Nic knew about.

As you can tell...during the car ride from Chuck E's to the play ground the piggy tails came down.

This was a LONG, TALL slide. The kids weren't sure about it at first, but once they wentt down they were hooked.

Wheeeeee!

Syd found a slide more her size, and Aunt Nic was there to catch her.

The kids had a blast...Thanks Aunt Nic and Jeremy for taking the kids and me out for a great day.

It was worth a shot...

You have all heard(or read) about what a pain it is to fix Ten's hair...she HATES even brushing her hair. Some of you have actually witnessed me trying to fix it. It's horrible and I dread doing it for that very reason.

So...in an effort not to have to "fix" it every day I had a thought...If I rolled it then I could probably get two days worth out of it. I'll wash it, then roll it on the "sleep-in rollers". Because the best time to brush her hair is right after it's washed and still wet). Then the next morning all I have to do it pull a little section back. In theory this plan is invincible!!!

Rollers check...No tears...so far...SUCCESS!

She thought this part was pretty cool...she kept wanting to look in the mirror and see them.

Her hair is pretty short, so I knew some of the rollers would come out while she slept...when actually about half of them came out.

We made do...covering up the pieces that didn't curl as well as others

I was so excited with this plan. I sent her in feeling pretty pleased with a job well done...that is until I picked her up and every ounce of curl was gone. You couldn't even tell that it had been curled.

So...If you know of any ways to get a 5 year old girl to like having her hair done, I'm all ears...just let me know.

Chocolate Surprise...

I am an advisor with Student Support Services(SSS) at Western Texas College. We work with low income, first generation, or students with physical or developmental disabilities. I love it! These are students that have the odds against them...but with our help they persevere. I show them what's possible and how they can achieve it! Our program is federally funded to serve 160 students each year. Of the 90 graduates that walked in this years 2011 WTC Commencement ceremony 32 of the graduates were part of our program. 

All that to say this...Our office planned a party to celebrate our students that were graduating and/or transferring to a 4yr university. I saw a picture of the cutest little candies and I thought...I CAN DO THAT! 

                     

It was fun...and they were super easy! Oh yeah...and they were yummy!

Mother/Daughter Tea 2011

Our Church hosts a Mother/Daughter Tea before Mother's Day every year. It is a huge hit, ladies come from all over to enjoy a lunch with the special Moms and Grandmas in their lives. Calvary ladies pull our their best china and dish ware to honor mothers. daughters, grandmothers, granddaughters, great grandmothers alike. Our Husbands and sons(the ones that are available) come and serve us. 

"Ok, let's get this party started. I'm ready to eat!"

My beautiful girls...

We even ran into some familiar faces. Alanna brought the girls to have lunch with her Mother at the tea. Tenley was so excited to see them. Miles was excited because this meant he got to play with Luke and Wade at Grandnanna's during the party.

Dear Father, Thank you for this wonderful cupcake...it is DELICIOUS!!!

It was at about this point that the fatigue took over my child and she became a little monster...seriously...she was terrible. She practically screamed though the rest of the tea. It wouldn't surprise me if we were asked not to attend next year.

This was the only picture I was able to take during the program...she was THAT bad!

Here was our table...can you guess who decorated it? Ding Ding Ding...if you guessed Aunt Terri, then you WIN!!!

Even with the all the screaming I still had a great time, and I'm even thinking of hosting a table next year.

Everything comes to an end...

They started off a little slow, but I think it would be safe to say that every single kid on the "Wildcats" this year improved over the course of the season. Although I wasn't sad to see this season come to an end, it was a lot of fun to watch them play.

Coach Gray did a great job with the kids. He had amazing patience with them, considering half of our team were 3 years old.

Since the kids played in the 5 and under league, all the kids got trophies. Tenley was trying to be modest, but she was really excited. Coach Gray made the trophies a little more special by putting charms on them to represent each of the kid's unique attitude and spirit throughout the season.

Coach Gray put a sunflower charm on Tenley's...he said she was always smiling and ready play.

"Go Wildcats!"

Feeling pretty special for a season well played.

Miles' charm was a shoe for 2 reasons...Coach Gray dubbed Miles the "big kicker". He earned this title for a kick that just almost landed the soccer ball in the Towle Park pond(I think the wind that day might have helped a little).  Secondly, he got the shoe because at each practice he ran easily 2-3 times more than the other kids, but this was just because he didn't stop once we got there. He would even run circles while Coach was giving instructions. 

It was a great season, and I think they are both ready for Fall Soccer...Me?...not quite yet, but I will be when it gets here.

Oh So Cute...

Such a little stinker...but oh how I love her!

If you know me at all then you know that I hate...I mean HATE pink. Also, I don't really think I'm a flashy or "blingy" type of person. But I have to tell you, when I saw these shoes, I just couldn't resist...even though they were PINK & BLINGY!

and I think the adorable little feet just make them look that much better!