Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day, we spent it in Oklahoma. We had a great time with family. So much fun, Gracie said she didn't want to go back to Texas. We did eventually get her in the car and head back home.

Saturday was spent shopping with my grandma, sister and mom. Meanwhile, the kids were building a fort with all of my mom's clean blankets. We ate great Mexican food for lunch and noodles for dinner.

Chatting with Great-Grandma Susie
The fort
Sunday, my cousins Chris and Angie came for lunch and brought Dawson and Kassidy. As usual, the kids all played and had a great time. Lunch was terrific. It was fun!

Waiting for lunch.
The "moms"
The kids
The dads, my brother in law hates to have is picture taken
Close up of the guys that  would let me take their picture.
It was wonderful Mother's Day weekend. So glad, we were able to spend it with my family!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Easter 2014

We spent Easter in Oklahoma again this year. It was very fun. We saw lots of family, ate a ton of food and had fun! On Saturday, we dyed Easter Egg. The kids had a blast making them.
Eggs!
Cousins dying eggs
 For dinner on Saturday night, we had Great-Grandma over. It was nice to visit with her.
Great-Grandma with Gracie and Lizzie
 Easter morning, the girls excitedly hunted the eggs from the Easter Bunny. After the hunt, we had breakfast and got ready for church.
In their beautiful dresses

Wes, Melissa, Lizzie and Gracie

Nana, Grandma, Papa, and the girls

My parents, my sister's family and our family

My sweet sister's family
 After church, my cousins came over for lunch and to hunt more eggs. Also, we celebrated Dawson's birthday! He loved his cupcake!
Angie and Dawson

The kids after hunting eggs
 Before we left town, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Potter's house for a visit. It was good seeing them. Grandpa gave the girls their ride in the wheelbarrow. They love the rides and they ask him for it!
Grandma Potter and the girls

Grandpa and Gracie

Lizzie and Grandpa
 It was a great weekend seeing family.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Easter Egg Hunt and Palm Sunday!

What a busy weekend! Yesterday, we took blue bonnet pictures, had the Easter Egg Hunt at church and today is Palm Sunday. It was a fun weekend.

First, we woke up early yesterday and dressed the girls for pictures. They were great! After pictures and lunch, we went to the church for the egg hunt. It was really fun. I worked and the girls did all the activities with Wes. They had a blast!
Lizzie dancing in the bounce house
More bouncing
These girls love to bounce
Gracie bouncing
Train ride!
Finding eggs!
Gracie's face painting
Lizzie's face painting





































































Today was Palm Sunday. The girls waved palm branches as they came into church with the other kids and sang with the choir. They were did a great job.  

Sweet choir
It was a really fun and busy weekend! Next week is Easter!


Monday, April 7, 2014

End of March

The end of March was busy. In one day, the girls had a hockey camp and an Easter egg hunt. It was a busy but fun day!
Practicing their hockey

Gracie finding eggs
Lizzie getting eggs

Love this!

Then here is the one random but cute picture. We had a large cardboard box that is the girls new toy. It's been a boat, bed, airplane and more. It's been fun to watch their imagination work. 
Girls in a box


Spring Program

The girls had a spring program at school. They have been working on learning the songs for a while at school. Leading up to the performance, they reminded me at least once a week that they had a program coming up.

The girls picked out their animal costume and what they would wear. Lizzie found tiger ears, so she was tiger and Gracie found a leopard hat. It was really fun to watch. The girls were lucky that Nana, Grandma and Papa all got to see their performance!

Their fierce face

After the performance
We were so proud of the girls, they were excellent. Surprisingly, they were more nervous about performing at school than church.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Weekend Get Away

This week is the girls spring break from school. Wes and I decided to take a couple of days off and have some family time. We spent the weekend in Glen Rose, TX seeing some of the sights there were to see. Saturday, we had fun hiking to find dinosaur tracks at the Dinosaur Valley State Park. To get to some of the tracks, we had to cross a stream of water by hopping across rocks. Lizzie loved it and said that was her favorite park of the whole trip. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our trek.

After our dinosaur hunt, we went into Granbury for lunch and to see the downtown. After that, we decided to see what Cleburne had going. We learned, not much. We headed back to our hotel after that and took a nap. For dinner, we found a great BBQ place.

On Sunday, we headed to Stephenville on our way home (it's the opposite direction from home). We drove around Tarleton State University and a flea market. For lunch, we decided to have a picnic. We bought some sandwich fixings and search for a picnic table. The girls loved it!

Sweet girls

Waiting for dad to finish making lunch
 After lunch, we made our way back home. We took several detours to see whatever we wanted to see. We happened upon  a giant U, a motor track where cars were racing, and a different way to go home. Our trip was very laid back and relaxing. It was fun seeing the differences of the towns and what made them unique. The girls had fun and so did we.

On Monday, we continued our vacation with horseback riding. Wes had been waiting to take the girls on a ride for a long time. He found a place outside of town and we headed that way. The girls had a blast. They rode with us. Gracie said it was her favorite part of the vacation.

Getting ready to get our horses

Lizzie riding with me

Gracie with Wes
Today was the end of my vacation, which meant a trip to Oklahoma for the girls to spend time with Grandma and Papa. We met at the Chickasaw Cultural Center. Apparently, we chose just the right time because they were having special events, such as storytelling, dancing, throwing spears and traditional crafts.

The girls were excited to get their faces painted like a woodpecker. The woodpecker is important to the Chickasaw because the story goes, when he Creator flooded the earth, the woodpecker flew above the water and was brave. The Creator was so impressed that He made the woodpecker the guardian of the Chickasaw people.

After the face painting, the girls made a clay pot and got a corn husk doll. They loved the doll. Then, we toured the village, ate lunch and toured the museum. It was really fun and interesting.

Hanging out

My brave woodpecker

Making the woodpecker

Playing a game where you throw spears. Gracie is the smallest one out there.

Lizzie's turn

Grandma showing the girls something

Something about water attracts these girls

Grandma and Papa with the girls

Wes and I with the girls.
We had an excellent time on our vacation and much needed time away. We forgot about work, school, stress and focused on our family. It was all about family time and how to make the most of it. During part of the trip, I told the girls we were going on lots of adventures and that each day was a different one. At the end of the day, I would ask each person what their favorite part was. At the end of the vacation, I asked Wes what his favorite part was. He said the hiking and horseback riding. My favorite part? I can't say it was one thing, but I know it was the special time we had as a family.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Dr. Seuss Day

Tuesday was Dr. Seuss Day at the girls school. It was supposed to be Monday but it turned into a snow day. The girls were really bummed when I told them there was no school. Sure enough, we got an email saying Dr. Seuss Day was back on for Tuesday! Gracie was The Cat in the Hat and Lizzie was Sally from The Cat in the Hat. They both loved their costumes.

The Cat in the Hat


Sally

So excited for the day!
It was a fun day for them. They said they can't wait for next year. Gracie said, we had to keep all the stuff so she could be The Cat in the Hat next year. Lizzie loved her dress and because it was cold, I let her wear tights to school. I usually don't let them wear tights because they come home shredded.