Ella's First Dance Recital

Ella had her first dance recital today and it was such a special moment for John and I. We watched as our oldest baby took the stage and danced her little heart out. She was sweet, precious, maybe not always following the beat, but smiling! We were so proud of her and how far our Ella has come. After her big performance, we greeted her with a big bouquet of flowers (which she quickly told us she only wanted to carry one), took a few pictures with Madelyn and then headed off to the ice cream shop for a special treat with just the three of us.

We're working on trying to upload the video, so keep checking back to see the big performance!

A Morning on the Farm

This morning I took the girls to Grisham Farms in McKinney. It is a cute little farm on the outskirts of town. The kids spent the first 30 minutes inside the barn getting to pet lots of different animals. The teacher walked around with a hedgehog, a turtle, a bunny, a ferret, a lizard, a guinea pig, and a few other little animals for the kids to pet. Then the kids got to head out to the farm where they were able to hand feed the cows, sheep, goats and pigs. Ella loved getting to feed the animals and wasn't even scared when the sheep would rip the bread right out of her hand. Audrey on the other hand didn't mind the animals, she just didn't want to share the bread (or in her mind her morning snack). I didn't get too many pictures because I spent most of my time chasing Audrey around to try to get bread meant for the animals out of her mouth!

Ella feeding the sheep.

Max the cow. (Audrey with bread in her mouth).

No way you're getting this!

Another fun day and gorgeous weather to go along with it!

Dress Recital

Ella's first dance recital is this Sunday! This week, she had her last class before the big show and the girls had to be in their full costume and makeup. Yes, they are supposed to be in makeup at 3 YEARS OLD!! Toddlers and Tiaras here we come! Our instructions stated they were supposed to wear foundation, powder, blush, eyeshadow, eye liner, mascara and lipstick (lip liner optional). I don't wear all this so I sure wasn't going to be putting it all on Ella. I think she looks beautiful just the way she is. We're hoping Sunday will be lots of fun for her!

Running through the room with BFF Madelyn

Listening to her dance teacher before the big number.

The sea of tutus!!

Ballerina girls

Kid Funnies

I just had to write these down so I could have it for the kids one day.

Ella--We use the term "freeze" quite often as she gets too close to the grill, tries to run out in the parking lot, or wanders too far away from us. Yesterday as we were walking through Target, a lady came out from one of the aisles and turned right in front of our cart. Ella put her hand up to the lady and said "Freeze!" We had to have a quick talk that telling a complete stranger to freeze is disrespectful, but I couldn't help but laugh...and the lady did too!

Audrey - Our little one is definitely developing her own mind and has begun to throw little fits when she doesn't get what she wants. In the past few days, every time something doesn't go her way, she starts to whine and cries either "Cookie" or "Cracker." It doesn't have anything to do with her being hungry, but it sure is hilarious to see her fall down or drop a toy and the first thing she cries out is "Cookie!"

Letter L

Lots of fun with L. We collected leaves around our yard to make an L, used shoestrings to Lace some L's, made a Ladybug, made a Lion puppet, and used cottonballs to make a Lamb. We did our picture collage of "L" items, enjoyed a trip to the Library, and best of all got to Love on Lincoln twice this week! :) Ella loved this letter because "She has 2 L's in my name!"

Memoral Day Staycation

As friends headed out of town to lakehouses or to visit family, we decided to have a fun filled weekend and plan our first Staycation! I prayed for good weather and we got it! After a run to our favorite donut shop on Saturday morning, we loaded up and headed to the Fort Worth Zoo. We met Ella and Audrey's best friends, Madelyn and Harper over there and had a great time seeing the animals. Ella's favorite was again the flamingo which John quickly asked me "Who likes flamingos?" It seems Ella does!

This was Ella's mood as we made our way to the first exhibit. It looked like it may be a LONG day! But....it just lasted a few minutes and then fun began!!
Riding a little elephant before we got to see the real thing!

Audrey petting the tiger...okay, there was a piece of glass between, but it's still pretty close!

Shaking hands with a little kangaroo.

Audrey was so happy!! She loved being able to see things this time (versus being stuck in her stroller). We could barely keep up with her!

Best friends, Ella and Madelyn, enjoying their carousel ride.

Big enough to get her own horse...she was loving it!

On Sunday, we headed to church, enjoyed a delicious lunch and got some good naps in before we headed over to our friends, the Berthelots for dinner. Ella and Jack who are just 6 months apart had a blast playing together and Ella got to play with Jack's stomp rockets and boy did she have fun! We could barely drag her away from it to eat dinner. We had a great time catching up with them and seeing their new home.

Monday morning we got up bright and early and headed down with the Blakes to the Children's Museum in Fair Park. It was the first time I had been down there since I have had my own kids and I was so impressed with all the fun things preschool age kids could do there. The girls loved basically having the place to ourselves for the most part and getting to experiment with a variety of activities. Plenty to keep them occupied...even though Ella still gravitated towards the house with the baby dolls in it!

They had a fire truck for the kids to climb on and fireman costumes to dress up in.

Going down the slide.

Climbing through the tunnels of what was supposed to be an ant hill.

Audrey and Lincoln taking a horseback ride while Ella chaperoned.

Aren't I just the cutest?

The kids got to dig for dinosaur bones. Ella was on the look out for Rexy (aka T-Rex).

As lunch time approached, the kids were done and everyone was getting hungry. Rather than eat the overpriced hamburgers/hotdogs at the museum, the Aggies in the group got to relive the glory days and enjoy Freebirds on the way home. John even suggested it, so I know he is really an Aggie at heart.

To wrap up a fun filled weekend, John decided to get the swimming pool out and after naptime, we all hung out in the backyard playing and enjoying the perfect weather. John grilled a great dinner and we celebrated a great weekend together as a family.

Despite the water being freezing, Ella could have stayed in the pool all day!!

What better way to welcome summer than with a slice of watermelon?

Audrey cruising around on Ella's Dora car. We were so impressed because it took Ella forever to learn how to push the button down and keep it down for it to go. Audrey picked it up right away and was driving all over the back yard. I'm thinking she is a genius.

Out of my way!

We had a perfect weekend. There was very little talk about work, very few timeouts, and lots of hugs and smiles. We made some great memories this weekend and I really enjoyed being able to just have fun as a family and with our friends. I'm so thankful for the great weather, the good food, the dear friends, and most importantly our family.

Boo-ca-Boo

Audrey is really into the board books that have the flaps to lift on each page. She can't seem to get "Peek-a-Boo" down when we lift a flap up. Instead we hear "Boo-ca-Boo" on every flip of the page. It is adorable!!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Today was Ella's last day of Mothers Day Out for the year. It truly is amazing to me how much she has grown up and changed over the past year. It seems like only yesterday I wrote this post and I was barely surviving with a 2 month old and a 2 year old at home! Before we headed off for the day, we snapped a shot of our big 3 year old (won't be long until 4).

Excited for the day!

"Yes! I made it another year!"

Ella got to wear her swimsuit to school and she spent all morning outside playing in the sprinklers, water tables, making a mess with shaving cream, and just enjoying giggling and having fun with her friends. This year, Ella is old enough to really have "friends" at school that she talks about and looks forward to playing with each year. I think that is so sweet and special.

At lunch time, the parents were invited to come join in the party and we had hot dogs, chips and fruit cups.

These are the fruit cups I made which added a fun twist to just a plain fruit salad.

The kids having a picnic on the floor.

Ella sitting next to one of her favorite friends Micah.

Ella was determined to get every last bit of the push pop out!

The kids got to decorate beach balls and then the fun began!

Watch out!

It really has been a fun year for Ella. She had great teachers--Ms. Kylie and Ms. Christin who were so kind and loving to her. Next year, Ella will be going 3 days a week which makes me a little sad to realize she is growing up so fast. Next thing we know, John will have to be dragging me out of the school on her first day of kindergarten. We are so thankful that Ella had such great friends and a great school to be a part of this year. As Ella asked a few days ago, "When is it going to be summertime Mommy?" I informed her, "Summertime starts when you get done with school on Thursday." Let the fun begin!

Letter K

Another week, another letter. For K, we made a Kangaroo, colored a Kitten, made a paper Kite and decorated it with stickers, created a Koala bear out of a toilet paper roll, made a "K" collage, ate a Kiwi for snack and practiced our Kicking! Oh, and we spent lots of time being a Kid!

Fish Fun

We have had so much rain over the past month and it especially tends to always fall over the weekends. The girls were going stir crazy and so were Mommy and Daddy, so we packed the girls up on Saturday morning in the downpour and headed down to the Dallas Aquarium. This was the first time Audrey has been when she actually can get out and see what is going on. Needless to say, she pranced her way all over the place, eagerly looking at the fish and enjoying her new found walking freedom. Ella's focus was on seeing the penguins, the crocodiles, the octopus and the jaguar. (Yes, for some reason they have a big jaguar at the aquarium). We had a great day as a family and enjoyed getting to experience it through the girls' eyes.

Sweet sisters checking out the sea turtles.

Audrey was on the move the whole time--forget about the stroller or trying to hold her!

I think Audrey licked every glass wall in the joint.

Cutie Ella

Audrey loved the bright fish!

Audrey attempting to climb into the crocodile tank.

Our Little Hawaiian Princess

Today was the last Spirit Day for Ella at Mothers Day Out and we ended the year with Hawaiian Day. Boy, does it make Mommy long for the days of her honeymoon in Maui! Ella was dressed like a perfect little Hawaiian princess with her grass skirt (in pink of course), and flower leis for bracelets, a necklace and headband.

Here's Ella practicing her hula dancing...So You Think You Can Dance, here we come!!

Crazy, Silly, HEElarious!

We were having a happy day at our house, so when Ella asked if we could head to Celebration Park after nap time, I didn't hesitate to answer yes. Celebration Park has a huge playground and during the summer they open up the splash pad. It was pretty windy and I didn't think the girls would want to get in the water (Audrey never had), so I decided to just keep them in their clothes and pass on the swimsuits. Mommy was mistaken! Right when we got there, Audrey headed for the water--this child has no fear! The girls had a blast running around in the water and Audrey just could not get enough of it. We all laughed so much and Ella kept blurting out, "Mommy this is crazy, this is silly, this is HEElarious!!" I was cracking up! So much fun!

Soaked but it sure was Heelarious!!

Bad Choices

Each night, we've been reading with Ella a story from this great book called "My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions." Each story is about a different animal and after explaining a little bit about the animal it then relates it to God's love for each of us.

There are questions that go along with each story and it is a great time for us to talk to Ella and get her to respond more than just "I don't know." Each story always asks the question of "Why does God want us to do...." depending on the theme of the story. Ella's answer is always "Because God loves us." Can't argue with that right?

This morning, Ella blurted out, "Mommy, when I make bad choices, it makes Jesus want to cry doesn't it?" I don't know exactly where she came up with that, but I had to smile when I realized that she is getting it despite not always making the good choices. I told her that Jesus just wants us to obey because it is the best thing for us and because He loves us. So precious.

Muffins with Mommy

Each year, Ella's school celebrates Mothers Day by having a "Muffins with Mommy" event. It is the chance for the kids to show us what projects they've done at school and they provide breakfast for the moms and kids. The real event was scheduled for this past Tuesday. Unfortunately, Ella was still not back to 100% so I kept her home that day. We were both disappointed to miss it, but due to the fact that so many kids have been sick right now, they did a makeup event today. I loved getting to share it with my oldest baby! :)

The kids performed a special song they had been working on called "Happy Mothers Day." It was to the tune of Happy Birthday. Ella's voice could be heard above all the others, so I was so proud of her!

Butterflies and Ice Cream

Today, I brought the girls to Collin Creek Mall where we got to see the Butterfly Exhibit. It is put on each year for a few days and is sponsored by the Plano Kiwanis Club. They set up a big tent full of butterflies, give the kids Q-tips with gatorade on it and then you watch as they land all over the kids. It is lots of fun, and Audrey definitely got into the chasing! Unfortunately, Audrey's mobility resulted in the death of one butterfly when Audrey's shoe crushed it on the ground. Ella was sure to inform everyone that "Audrey killed a butterfly." Audrey was also willing to put them in her mouth, so we didn't get to spend more than about 30 minutes inside.

Hard to see--but the butterfly is on the orange flower. Audrey was amazed!

Ella proudly showing the butterfly she "caught" on her Q-tip.

Nothing better!

We headed up to the food court for an afternoon snack and Ella chose an ice cream cone that was practically as big as her head. This child barely eats anything, but managed to take down the whole thing--that's my girl!!