Busy October Weekend

This weekend was busy. It started with a twin club play date and ended with a Sunday school party. It was a mix of busy and relaxed.

Playing on the dragon

Gracie on the top

Lizzie Climbing up the dragon

The girls at the pumpkin patch

 Every year, we go to the same pumpkin patch. It's at a Lutheran church by the house. The girls love it! On Saturday, we went to see the pumpkins.

Little scarecrows

The pumpkin picture

Saturday was nice but breezy..... Look at our hair!

Lizzie loves pumpkins! They are her favorite color.

Gracie loves them too.

 After the pumpkin patch, the girls wanted to play. We took them to the new playground. Of course, everyone in town was playing at the new playground too! The girls had a blast.

Playing

 On Sunday, it was performance time. Lizzie and Gracie started choir practice this year at our church and today was their first performance. They did really well and loved it!

In their choir robes.

 It brought back many memories for me. I sang in the children's choir at my church growing up. Love those memories.

Sunday evening, we had a Sunday school party! It was really fun and we stayed out until dark! The girls loved playing and we enjoyed visiting.

Gracie enjoying a cupcake.

 What a great weekend! October looks like it will be busy for us! More fun to come!

Summer Fun!

This week has been a busy one for us, Nana is visiting, we had swimming lessons, work at the church and a yoga play date with our twin friends. The girls really loved their swimming lessons with Ms. Marci. They did really well and had fun. Lots of summer fun!

Getting ready for swimming lessons

In our swim suits ready to go

Listening to Ms Marci

Walking with their hands around the pool

Still walking with their hands

Yoga Play Date with Ms Cheryl

VBS

We just finished our second year of VBS at our church and we had a blast. The theme this year was Operation Overboard, which was an underwater theme. I helped out all week and we came home beat! The girls had a full week of crafts, puppet shows, singing, praying, learning about God, water day and of course snacks.

It was fun to see how much they had grown compared to last year, participating with the hand movements in the program and no crying at drop off. Gracie even went down the big water slide. Lizzie climbed to the top but was too scared to go down. So, she came back down.

Also during the week, it was Pastor Dennis's birthday. Funny story, Gracie was asked by one of the ladies if she was going to sit by the birthday boy. So, the entire car ride over that's all she could talk about. Of course, we were the last ones there and both of the seats next to Dennis were taken. I said that Gracie wanted to sit by Dennis and sure enough, two people moved so Lizzie and Gracie could sit by Dennis. What a special and sweet group of people to work with!

Gracie at crafts

Lizzie at crafts

Learning all the fun songs

The girls and I

Gracie at the top of the water slide

Duck Pond Field Trip

Today was field trip day at the girls preschool. The girls only have one more day of school this year. We arrived at school and then walked a few blocks to the duck pond.

Waiting at the church to start walking

 The girls girls walked like this with their little friend all the way to the park. It made it really hard for us all to fit on the sidewalk. Their teacher gave them all duck hats. The kids all loved them and put them on immediately.

At the park

 As soon as we got to the park, all the kids started running for the pond. The ducks all hightailed it to the other side of the pond. These ducks decided they weren't hungry enough to mess with these crazy kids in their yellow hats. The kids didn't care. They took their bread and threw it at them anyway. If there weren't any ducks, the kids threw the bread on the ground, water or each other.

This pond also has a wonderful playground. After the kids were done harassing the ducks, they moved on to play.

Apparently, preschoolers love to put the entire bottle in their mouth

 The kids stopped playing for a bit to have a snack. After snack, they ran back to the playground to play some more. While we were at the playground, I ran into one of my fellow twin mamas with her sweeties. So fun!

Snack time

Wes and I tag teamed this adventure. I had a meeting at work so he came to the park and walked back with the kids. We both enjoyed being with the girls. I did worry the entire time that the girls were going to fall into the water. The girls also loved running into two different directions.

What a Saturday!

Today was a busy day for us. In the morning, we had a play day with our twin group, MPOM. I was hosting so I ran to the store this morning to get the snacks. We had a great time and the girls played well.

The girls waiting patiently

 Each time we have a big play date, we try and get a picture of the whole group. This is always a challenge because at least one kid isn't in the mood to get a picture taken.

Its a little blurry.

After the play date, we had lunch and all of us took a nap. After nap, we had dinner and then ran out the door again to a concert at church.

The concert was a benefit for Imagine No Malaria. It's an organization from the United Methodist Church that wants to eliminate malaria in Africa. Its a great organization and is already making huge progress in just a year or two. Emily Elbert, who grew up in our church, played an amazing concert. She has such talent and such passion. She has traveled the world and experienced much in a short time. At one point, she had her dad come up on stage and play the keyboard while she sang. It was so beautiful.

The girls were in the nursery and the workers brought them in to hear a couple of songs. Gracie was mesmerized. After it was over, she wanted to meet Emily. Emily was so sweet to her.

Emily Elbert

Emily with Wes and the kiddos

She was so kind and sharing. It was an awesome concert. So glad that my job allows me to do such fun stuff!

Here's a video off of You Tube.

Weathering the Storm

Yesterday, some severe storms blew into the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It was a school day for the girls and a work day for me, so we were all at the church. Being a weather person, I am always checking the weather and have nine weather related apps on my phone with three of them for Oklahoma stations (yes, I am a little obsessed). Anyway, I was keeping an eye on the sky but went to lunch with some people. I looked at my watch and told them we needed to head back to the church for me to pick the girls up from school. When we got back to the church, we were told that the sirens were going to go off soon and the school kids were taking shelter.

Our pastor, Dennis, had the TV on with the weather so I watched for a few minutes and then decided to get the girls. I picked them up and brought them back to Dennis' office. Two other moms decided to stick around there too with their kids. So, the kids spent the time eating candy and having fun. I was very thankful to be around others and my church family. They are a great group of people to work with and very sweet with my little monkeys.

5 kids in Dennis' office plus 3 mommies

So, while we were in here doing this.

Can you see the broken windows on the cars?

This was happening outside. Hail ranging from quarters to baseballs was falling out of the sky busting out windows and denting cars.

At one point, we moved down to the school part of the building just so that everyone was in one place. Once the storm had passed, we stuck around the church because Wes said a second wave was coming. He was at his office with a huge warehouse where they put all the employees' cars. Thankfully, his car was saved!

While waiting for the second storm to slow down, we ran into Dennis again in the church. He was so sweet, he gave each girl a kiss and said he loved them. For some reason, that calmed me down a little.

Who needs a back window?

When we got outside, this was the state of the van. My seat was covered in glass but the girls seat was ok. The UPS lady that was "hiding out" with us had the idea of putting a trash bag over the seats. I was so glad that I grabbed one too. It helped my booty not get shredded. I did get a couple of glass splinters.

Front Window

 Wes left work early to come help us with the van. Both of our nerves were shot. I was so revved up all night.

The leave literally beaten out of the tree

Wes covering the back window with a trash bag

 Apparently, there were about 14 tornadoes that touched down ranging from EF2 to EF3. From what I have heard so far, there haven't been any fatalities and just some injuries. Now, we just need to get our van fixed.

The Hunt Is On!

In the last two days, we have been lucky enough to go on two Easter egg hunts; one for my twin group and one for church. For the twin group play date, we dyed eggs, did a craft and had an egg hunt.

Easter craft

Getting eggs

More eggs

The whole gang

The girls with Reese and Riley

Today, was our church egg hunt. Wes was on a plane coming home from a business trip so he missed the actual hunt, but he did get to come for other fun stuff. We were so glad to see him, he was gone for a week. The church had popcorn, face painting, cookie decorating, balloon animals, bounce house and a train. The girls liked the train so much, they rode it twice, in a row.

Waiting outside the church before the fun starts

My friend Janine took this of us

Even more eggs

Getting eggs and something in her shoe

Sweet girls

Riding the train

Face painting (Lizzie loves carrots because they are orange)

Cute bunny and cute smile

The weather was nice, but hot! We were all sweaty. I'm glad I remembered sunscreen for the girls. Lizzie takes after my sister and when she gets hot, her face turns red. Now, I just have to keep the girls (and myself) from eating all this candy.