My Three Girls...

It's been nice to just be home for awhile! We didn't do too much this past weekend, and it was great! We had some friends move to Abilene (actually right down the street from us!), and were able to watch their boys for awhile on Saturday while they got some unpacking done. It was fun having little boys in the house for a few hours!

Since there is not many activities to write about, I thought I would catch up on the girls and what they are saying/doing these days.

KaItLyN :

She starts First Grade on the 24th. Crazy! She has stayed pretty busy this summer, which has been good. She loves her friends and wants to invite someone over every single day. She is still a little smarty pants and surprises me every day with the things that she says that just seem too old for a 6 year old to be saying. I love spending time with just her. I know she craves my attention a lot because during the day most of time is focused on Cora and Claire. So, she and I go on bike rides in the evenings a couple times a week. We love riding our bikes around campus, or to Cajun Cones for a yummy treat. I love doing this with her and hope she grows up to have good memories of it. I took her to the Drive-In movie the other night and she seemed to really enjoy that. (Even though my car battery died and we couldn't hear the movie as well. Not one of my finer moments) Let's see...some other things she has been into lately:

She loves infomercials. The other day she ran into the living room and said, "MOM! Did you know that for only $19.95 and a snap of your fingers your car and your house can be sparkly clean?!"

She is constantly on the look-out for homeless people, or people in need on the streets. We have given food to a handful of them, but she's never satisfied with just this. She always asks if they can come home with us and spend the night.

When she grows up and becomes a Mom, she wants to name her daughter Madelyn Jane and her son Jonathan Root. You read that right, Root. I have no idea where she got either one of these names.

She used to HATE brushing her teeth, but I bought her an electric toothbrush and now she brushes them like 4 times a day.

She has started wanting to read books by herself, which I am LOVING! She is really into Junie B. Jones right now. I have found her sitting on her closet floor just reading away.

She wants to take Hip Hop dance lessons. James and I have vetoed this for now.

She knows every word to every song and every artist who sings it on Radio Disney. She also loves her Praise music at night.

CoRa :

I am loving the stage Cora is in right now. She is talking so much and her little personality is just so sweet. We have almost mastered potty training, so she should be good to go by the time school starts in a couple of weeks. She has become quite the swimmer this summer! We just strap her arm floaties on and she is off! She will jump off diving boards, so down slides, and can hold her breath for such a long time! She watched Kaitlyn in swim lessons and really picked stuff up I think. She loves her sisters. She has a very "nurturing" side of her. If either one of them are crying or upset, she is quick to comfort.

She has the BIGGEST country accent. It completely cracks me up. My favorite thing that she says is "I THANK!" If you ask her a question, she just thinks about it for a second and says, "I thank!"

If I am having to get on to her for any reason (which doesn't happen often), she will respond with, "Don't worry 'bout me" or "Don't get me in trouble!"

The other day I just picked her up and gave her a big hug, squeezed her real tight and said, "OH, I just LOOOOOOOVE you Cora!" This was the rest of the conversation:

Cora: (looking at me with a little smirk) "Are you gonna buy me somethin'?"

Me: (laughing) "What?"

Cora: "Are you gonna buy me somethin'?"

Me: "Well, what do you want me to buy you?"

Cora: "Chicken."

Cora loves chicken and would eat it for every single meal.

She refuses to drink milk of any flavor and gets her share of dairy from yogurt and cheese.

She stays with me so well when we are out shopping or going places. But she does love to occasionally hide in the racks of clothes.

She is not a big TV watcher.

She's almost completely potty trained!

She loves getting dressed up for church and going to Bible class. She looks forward to it every week. She also makes sure that we remember to pray before every meal.

She still loves her lip gloss and has to have it for nap time and bedtime. She just rubs it on her lips until she falls asleep. It's like her pacifier. She also likes to sleep with her flip flops. Preferably on her feet, but she'll hold them too.

I love listening to her sing. She has the sweetest little voice.

ClAiRe:

Claire requires the most attention these days. She gets into all sorts of trouble. She is an expert climber and explorer. This is where we recently found her - just to give you an example:

She is VERY into music. She loves to dance and sing (or hum) along to songs that she hears. My favorite thing she does is play her harmonica. I tried to upload a video, but I couldn't get it to work. She is SO good at playing her blue harmonica. She even dances along with it. It's hilarious. One sweet story - Claire was born with a little heart murmur. She's had a couple of Echo cardiograms and everything is fine, but the doctor ALWAYS comments about it when they listen to her heart. We recently switched doctors, and the first time the new Pediatrician listened to it she said, " I do hear her little murmur, but it's totally benign. In medical school we were told it is called a MUSICAL HEARTBEAT." How cool is that?! I got a little teary eyed when she said that.

She loves her big sisters, but can definitely hold her own with them and let them know when they are making her mad.

She's figured out how to get out of her crib. Makes going to bed a little bit harder. I'm refusing to believe she is old enough for a big girl bed. She's my last baby!! I can't imagine a day with no more cribs!

She hates her car seat. It's pretty much a struggle every time.

Here are some of the things that she says:

"See-um" (Sam, the puppy)

"Gane?" (when she wants to play her GAME on my iphone)

"Nouse" - (her minnie mouse that she sleeps with)

Anytime you call her name, she responds with, "What." It's hard to describe what it sounds like, but it's pretty cute.

She loves to swing outside. She could do it for hours, I'm sure.

Being the baby, she has mastered the words, "Don't", "No", and "Mine."

I could kiss her sweet cheeks all day long!!!!

My mom asked me one time how I could stand all the sweetness of my three girls. I just love and kiss on them all the time. I don't know how I stand it. I just do! I am blessed beyond measure.

Shower Time!

I was glad to help host a wedding shower for James's sister, Jennifer on Saturday in Dallas. It was neat to get to meet some of her friends and be a part of such a fun time for her. We stayed up in McKinney so that the girls could take full advantage of the pool at Grandpa and Grandmere's house. Puppy Sam made the trip with us and enjoyed a few dips in the pool as well!
I LOVED watching Jen open this gift. She has always collected Barbies and has SO many of them still safe in their boxes. Her grandmother, who passed away years ago, left this Bride Barbie for her. She was surprised and got so emotional. It was sweet to watch.

Jennifer and her bridesmaids.

With the Bride and Mother of the Bride!

June, me, Jen and Jan. Lots of J's!

Pool time! We found a floatie that Claire would sit in for longer than 1.7 seconds. Kaitlyn is cracking me up in the background.

What fun is a pool if your Daddy doesn't toss you up in the air?!?

Claire...

Cora...

And Kaitlyn...

Girls Trip to Lubbock!

Last Sunday I packed up the girls and headed to Lubbock for a few days. We really loved being there. We enjoyed a fun back yard with a tree house, a trip to Joyland amusement park, a play date with some friends, playtime at the one and only South Plains Mall (are there SERIOUSLY tattoo parlor's there now?! crazyyy), a fun hour at Texas Water Rampage where we didn't even touch the water because right after we cleared the gate someone saw a slight flash of lightening about 100 miles away and made everyone get out of the water, lots of good food, and tons of love from Mamaw and Pappy. We had a blast!

I was SO proud of Kaitlyn for going down this water slide. I was always to chicken to do it. Even in high school! But, I did it after she did and then we both went on it about 4 more times. Unfortunately on the last time, I flipped completely off my board into the water. I don't think I've ever heard Kaitlyn laugh so hard. I'm so glad that happened right before we left though, instead of right when we got there.

Just wishing they could get in that wave pool. Too bad....

Kid Quest!!

Kaitlyn has had back to back camps the past two weeks. This week she got to go to Kid Quest at ACU. It was all day Monday through Friday. She has been talking about this camp since about the middle of the school year. Today at breakfast she got a little teary wishing she could go back already! There were over 100 kids total at the camp, but they broke them up into smaller groups. They got to swim, go bowling, do fun outdoor art activities, play lots of games, memorize scripture, learn lots of new fun songs, and learn about how Jesus is the ONLY WAY. Yesterday all of the parents went up there to watch them sing their songs, say their memory verse and watch a slide show of pictures and video from the week. I have to admit, I was taken back to all of the camps I went to when I was growing up and thinking about all of the lasting memories and friendships I made there. I know she will remember this forever, and I hope she continues to want to do church camps every summer!

Kaitlyn and Emma

One of her group counselors..

Another group counselor...


We heard about this sweet little boy, Dakota, ALL week long. His older brother has actually been in our huddle, but they moved to Alaska last year. They came back to Abilene just to do summer camps. Kaitlyn looked forward to seeing him every morning, and was with him every afternoon when I went to pick her up. He is so sweet. Kaitlyn said she wants to be pen pals with him now. How cute is that? This is Megan with them in the picture. She was one of the camp directors and Kaitlyn and Cora are flower girls in her wedding in January!

Art Camp!!

My friend Summer put on a FABULOUS Art Camp for kids this week. She has done this a few times in the Ft. Worth area, and I am SO glad that she brought it to Abilene! Kaitlyn absolutely loved it. They learned about a different artist each day, and learned different techniques and art styles. I was very impressed with the art work she did! Today was the last day, and there was a little Art Exhibit to showcase all of their work. Summer did a fantastic job and even awarded each child a certificate. I am SO MAD because all of the pictures that I took today turned out blurry (I think my flash was switched off). However, I'm still going to post them - so sorry in advance!

I think this was my favorite. I think I'll even frame it.

For this, Summer had a real vase with fruit at the front of the room and they had to draw it. Not bad!

A little abstract art..they paint on one side of the paper and then fold it over to make it identical on the other side.

This is her paper mache (sp?) bowl decorated with tissue paper. She said she wanted to attach some straps to it and make it her bicycle helmet. Yep.


A stepping stone for the beautiful garden that we have. I mean, our front porch that is a slab of cement.

Her self portrait. Hers are to YOUR left. The first is on the first day of camp with no instruction or direction, and the second is on the 4th day with a little more knowledge of what to do.

Kaitlyn and Mara... (btw..aren't their aprons soooo cute? they got to keep these along with their bucket of art supplies)

Also, please note that I dropped Kaitlyn off right after we had been swimming and she refused to let me put her hair in a ponytail....

Summer handing out their certificates.

Thanks Summer for such a FUN week! Kaitlyn is already talking about going next year!

As soon as we got home Cora and Claire wanted to get right into Kaitlyn's art bucket and use some of her new supplies!

Such a serious artist...

And speaking of creativity...I NEED A BLOG MAKEOVER!!! I am so bored with the way my blog looks. Everyone has such cute ones now and I am just not up with the times. Can anyone out there do this for me, or know of someone who can? Do all these fancy schmancy blogs cost money..or is there a free way to do it? I'm clueless..help a girl out.

Top 10 Things (in random order) that made my 30th Memorable...

10. I was woken up by Kaitlyn who was wearing a Home Depot apron with a note pad in the pocket, and a nice napkin draped over her arm. She said "Good morning, Ma'am. What would you like for breakfast?" I thoroughly enjoyed my fruity pebbles, banana, and Sunny D.

9. Kaitlyn also sang a song for me that she wrote. It was SO sweet and a really pretty tune! She later told me that she heard it on a TV show awhile ago, but I didn't care. It was sweet hearing it from her voice.

8. James got into my Google Reader and emailed everyone who's blog that I faithfully read. He asked them to post a Happy Birthday blog to me...and so many of them did it! I was SHOCKED when I woke up and saw that all of the titles were about me. Crazy...It was so thoughtful of everyone to do that! I will print them out and keep them forever!

7. Cora decided to tell me (many times throughout the day) all of the things that God made. I just loved her list:
* trees
* birds
* coconuts
* Barbies
* Sprite
* lemonade
* dogs
* fish
* lip gloss

6. My mom called me at 9:05 AM. The exact time I was born. She does it every year and I love it.

5. I got to keep Ava and Pierson for the day. I LOVED listening to Ava sing all of her Annie songs. She said some HI-LARIOUS things throughout the day that literally made me laugh out loud. We set up a tent and she crawled in there by herself and just starting singing (at the top of her lungs) "DESPERADO!!!!!"

4. My friend Holly brought me a TON of balloons! I don't remember the last time I had balloons on my birthday! I loved it!

3. I got to spend some quality time with Halsa and left with a great new haircut. (Not much different, just trimmed up a bit)

2. Some shopping time by myself, thanks to a generous gift card from my parents!

1. Got to see The Proposal with a couple of fun friends. Great movie...go see it if you haven't!

It was a wonderful day, and I feel ready to face a new decade! Thanks again to all of my blog friends for your sweet words yesterday!!!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY LESLIE !!!!!!

Just so you know this is James. I wanted to do something special for my wife today because she deserves it.

As I write this she is watching the Bachelorette.

One of the many things I find cute about her are her little quirks. She has to watch this show on Monday's, it doesn't matter if it's 11:00pm at night. Another thing is her ability to buy barbecue sauce. We must have about 15 bottles at our house right now because she always thinks we're out. I love that because we won't be out till 2020 but its funny to see a new bottle in the pantry.
Diet Dr. Peppers. We love DDP's with a passion. I've had two tonight.

But that's not what this blog is about. It's about how a special women, mother, daughter, friend is turning 30. She has been on this earth and her impact will be felt for generations. I love this. I love that she also thinks I'm checking fantasy baseball scores right now.

She is a special person and God put her on this earth over 10,000 days ago and she has not wasted one of them.

Tomorrow will be no different. I hope she has a wonderful day and I hope she is able to enjoy such a joyous milestone in life.

I love you.

P.S.

Another one of her quirks is reading blogs. I mean big time reader of blogs. However, if I was her, I would check these blogs below out.

Hannah
Kristen
Sara W.
Kara
Meredith M.
Meredith C.
Ann
Alyssa
Summer
Ashley
Sara H.
Jordan
Amanda F.
Courtney H.
Lindsay H.
Martha
Jackie
Brenna
Annalee
Erica
Amy B.
Becky H.
Holly F.

Hope you have a great day.

Angel Fire!

Do you ever feel like you need a vacation from your vacation?! We have been gone for about 10 days and I am exhausted! We had such a great time though. My parents took us and my brother and sister in law on a wonderful week long get-a-way to Angel Fire, NM. It was so nice to be away from this Texas HEAT and up in the mountain air. We did lots of fun things and had plenty of time to hang around the house and relax. It was the perfect mix. I'll let the pictures tell the story. True to form for my blog, the pictures are not in order of occurrence...or any order for that matter. And, WARNING - there are a lot of them!

Neil and Claire checking out the lake in Eagle Nest.

Mom and Dad. It was so fun to watch my Dad during the week. The mountains truly are his happy place.

There was a really fun little park near our house that we took the girls to play at. Most of my pictures here turned out blurry, but I'm sooo glad this one didn't. Neil had a blast jumping out of the swing! I'm pretty sure he had more fun at the park than the girls did.

Sweet Cora...

One of our deer sightings. This one was just behind our house.

Kaitlyn in deep concentration while fishing.

This is Claire's scrunchy nose face that she has been making lately..

Paddle Boats! Cora loved leaning over and dragging her hands in the cold water.

Neil, Brittany and Kaitlyn. We had a race between our three boats. This was the team that CHEATED!!! They totally turned our boat around.

Claire gettin' ready to get on the boat. I am SO glad adult life jackets don't have the butt crack strap.

We also got to go on a long horse back ride! Kaitlyn was so excited that she got to ride all by herself. She did SO great with it. She only got a little scared on our way back down the mountain. (It was a little steep) But we had a wonderful guide that helped her feel comfortable. I know she will have great memories from this. Her horses name was Willy Wonka.

One night James and I got to go out with Neil and Britt while my parents watched the girls. I'm pretty sure we hit all of the restaurants in Angel Fire. All 3 of them.

"Fine food and LIBATIONS?" Why can't you just say drinks?

We went into Taos earlier that day to shop around the square and eat lunch. We all got some souvenirs and yummy food!

View of the ski slopes.

Our house was awesome. There was a deck outside of every room! One of the decks we had a great hot tub! The girls used it as a heated pool during the day, and at night it was no nice to relax in.

The house all nestled in the trees.

Pappy and Claire checking out some sticks.

It was obvious that other kids play in the woods by the house. Kaitlyn found a couple of forts, a swing, and even a ladder going up a tree.

This was in Taos on the square. (Told ya my pics weren't in order)

My dad wanted a picture with the girls in front of this random gorilla. I just love what each of them are doing. Especially Claire's arms.

The friendly bear on the porch.
Another view of the house.

Thanks Mom and Dad for such a wonderful trip!!