Welcome 2011!

Well, it has been almost a full year since I have posted to this blog! We had such an exciting 2010 filled with a pregnancy, selling a house, buying a house, a trip to Disneyworld, birthdays, first days of school, and Walker's arrival in October. I am disappointed in myself for not documenting it all, but one of my goals for 2011 is to keep up with all the wonderful memories we are making! Goodness knows, I'm having a hard time remembering where I put my keys every day, so I know I won't remember in 20 years which kid did what if it isn't written down! I think I am going to try to do more of a "Weekly Wrap-up" on Friday to keep myself accountable and not get so far behind!

We celebrated our New Year with our tradition we established last year. We head to the bowling alley when they open for some family fun and then come home to watch football and eat a delicious meal of pulled pork, black-eyed peas, and cheese grits! I'm so lucky to have a husband that cooks much better than I can! I didn't have to do a thing except enjoy it!

The girls got hot pink vampire teeth with their tokens from the bowling alley. The rest of the attire (princess dress up clothes) is the regular look at our house most days!

The girls--you probably can't see the score, but the winner was John, followed by Audrey, Ella, and Mommy at the end!

Happy New Year!

We had a great start to 2010! We enjoyed a fun dinner on New Years Eve with some of our friends (and the girls best buddies) and then woke up on New Years Day for some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls followed by some friendly family competition at the bowling alley--one of our new Wedemeyer New Years traditions. The girls had fun, but unfortunately I was beaten by a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old--pretty pitiful! John smoked some delicious pulled pork for dinner along with a generous helping of black eyed peas. They were so yummy that I am sure we will have tons of good luck in 2010!

The embarrassing scorecard.

Happy Daddy's Day

Oh how Ella and Audrey love their daddy!

My girls are so blessed to have a wonderful daddy who loves them so much. He is the fun one who still has the energy at the end of the day to chase them around the house after bath time. He is their hero and still their most exciting time of day is when they hear the garage door start to open and they squeal with delight and scream "Daddy" as they run to meet him. I am so lucky to be on this crazy ride called parenting with him!

To honor John, we started off the day dragging Daddy out of bed to do a scavenger hunt. The clues brought him to various spots around the house where he and the girls have shared special moments. Each spot had a small gift (mostly homemade stuff from the girls) and a new clue to bring him to the next clue. Finally, he ended up at the kitchen table for breakfast with all his girls. We headed to church and then lunch at his choice, Uncle Julios, then home for Daddy and the girls to get in some long afternoon naps. One of John's gifts along the scavenger hunt was tickets to the Frisco Roughriders baseball game that night. We got lawn seats for the first time and were a little hesitant as to how the girls would do in the heat and without a spot to actually sit, but it was perfect! We had the best time as the girls enjoyed all the yummy snacks you get at the ballpark while at the same time running all over the place. I don't think I would ever want to buy the real seats with the girls--they just had too much fun the way we were! It was a late night by the time we got home, but I think it was a fun day for John. I know the girls and I had a blast!

Sporting the free baseball caps
Daddy and Ella - with Audrey snacking in the back

Ella with a glimpse of the outfield

I don't know if the girls ever faced the field.

It was hot!

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.

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!