Girls Weekend

Over the weekend my best friend Joy and I were able to get away for a girls weekend. It has been awhile since we had a weekend away just the two of us, I think the last time was before either of us had kids. It had almost been a year since I had see Joy so I was excited to have so time to catch up.

We met in St. Louis on Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday. We had a wonderful weekend. We were able to do lots of things that we don't normally get to do...at least without kids. We enjoyed dinners out, a movie, pedicure, some shopping, sleeping in (the most important), and just lots of time to talk and laugh.

Friday night we decided to try out some facial masks....don't we look pretty?

Saturday after we woke up...around 10am...I have to brag because I can't remember the last time I slept that late. But our room had amazing dark shades, so all light was basically blocked out. Anyway, once we got up we decided to go to downtown St. Louis and see the Arch. It is 680 stories high and you can actually ride to the top. We decided to try and ride up, even though we both are not a fan of heights. When we got inside to buy tickets the line was extremely long...who knew so many people wanted to go up inside the Arch. So we decided to not waste the majority of our day standing in line and went on to do some shopping.
Joy and I outside...part of the Arch behind us.

The weekend went by fast and before we knew it was time to head back home. Even though the trip was brief it was so nice to see one of the most important people in my life. Joy and I have been friends for over 10 years and to me what is so amazing about our friendship is that for at least the last 9 years of that friendship we have always lived in different states. But we have always maintained our friendship. Her friendship is truely a blessing from God and I am so thankful for her and can't wait until we can have our next girls weekend. I also want thank our wonderful husbands for taking care of the girls while we had a our weekend away. As moms we know it is not easy to have them on our own, so it is nice the have husbands that don't mind doing it all as well. So thank Chris and Jeremy for being supportive husbands.

Father's Day

Chris had a great Father's Day...at least that is what he told me. :) I hope he did. The girls were very excited about what they got him, so much so they couldn't wait until Sunday to give it to him. On Saturday he got to open his gift.

Since they sprung it on me to want to give him his gift a day early he got it all unwrapped.
The girls and I got him a couple of things. He wanted the new Toby Mac CD, I found a little book that is call God's Wisdom for Fathers. It has lots of bible verses about being a father.

The last thing...and the one they wanted him to open so badly. He has been wanting this picture for awhile and I found it on sale, so he would have been proud. It is two worlds together with the verse Matthew 28:19. He thought it would look good in his "office" whenever the girls give him the room back from being their play room.

On Father's Day it started off with some normal humor. We actually slept in a little late and were running behind for chruch. I kept asking Chris to get up and go ahead and start getting ready. I got the normal "five more mintues", so since it was fathers day I was going to be gracious. :) Finally I walked in and said"Babe, we have got to get going, please come on and get up...oh yeah by the way Happy Father's Day" LOL he just laughed at me and said thanks. We made it to church, had some lunch with great friends and then went back home to relax. The girls played outside on their new "slick -n-slider" as Katie calls it. :) I cooked us some dinner and then we headed to Cherry Berry for some frozen yogurt. Yum!

I'd like to brag on Chris for a minute. Chris is a wonderful father to his girls. His is always supportive of them, encouraging them, playful with them, showers them kisses and hugs, all the time telling them how beautiful they are and how smart they are. There is nothing he would not do for them. He loves them so much and it shows to me on how much he puts his focus on family. Chris is a great example of a loving father, who is seeking to raise his girls in the will of God. I am so thankful and blessed to have him as the father of my girls. It is a blessing I count daily. Chris we love you and thank you for all your hard work that you do to provide for your family.

Puppy Graduation

For the past 8 weeks I have been taking Samson to puppy training. Last night was our last training and he had to prove he could obey all the commands he had learned over the past 8 weeks. He learned watch me, sit, down, off, leave it, take it, and stay. He made his momma proud and passed with flying colors. He even did his trick I taught him outside the class, roll over. He got lots of praise, his puppy certificate, and several treats to take home.

He wasn't a big fan of having the graduation hat on...he has a look of fear in his eyes. Poor guy.

Bowling Night

Tonight we helped the youth kick off their summer with a bowling night. We took Katie and Bree with us as they have never bowled before. They both had fun and Katie actually did really well. She bowled an 82 with the bumpers, but I thought that was great for her first time. Bree had fun pushing the ball down the ramp at full speed. I also found out a really cool website from one of my friends, www.kidsbowlfree.com this is a program that allows kids to bowl two free games a day at participating bowling allies, all you have to pay for is shoes. This is not an Oklahoma thing it is all over the US. So if you have kiddos that need things to do this summer, check it out and sign them. I think this is a great deal, two free games a day...can't beat that.

Last night I forgot my camera so Chris snaped a few pics on his phone.

Big Girl Bed

On Friday night, Chris finally transfered Bree's crib into her toddler bed. Bree is almost 3 1/2 and we have not been in any big hurry to get her out of her crib. For those of you who remember, Chris and I had a nightmare of a time when Katie moved from her crib to a big bed. It was a year and half of night time struggle with her. So that made me a little weary of upsetting the lovely sleeping child I have, but we knew it was coming to the time to make the change. Bree was very ready for it. She has been talking about a big bed for a few months now. Chris and I talked and decided after our disney trip we would make the change. On Friday evening Chris changed the crib, it was funny to think that we have had that crib for over five years now and this was the first time it was changed to a toddler bed. Once Chris was done with the change, Bree looked at me and said "that's not a big girl bed". I told her it was her big girl bed, she said "no, like sissy's". I thought uh oh...we are going to have a struggle here. I explained to her that this was her temporary big girl bed and that if she sleeps well it in then Mommy and Daddy would let her get a big girl bed like Katie's. After that conversation I was a little uneasy as if she would actually sleep in her toddler bed......

So after snack and cartoon, it was time to go to bed. We did are normal routine, potty, turn on the birdies(her music) and we rocked for a few mintues. I laid her down in bed, covered her up and left her room. Thank the Lord....she stayed in bed and went straight to sleep, not even waking up on time that night. She even slept to 8am the next morning, which was so nice for us. She has offically been in her toddler bed for two nights and has done wonderfully. She even slept until 8am this morning. What a blessing that she has not skipped a beat in her transfer. I think the Lord knew I couldn't handle another struggle like we had with Katie. So I guess it is offical...besides still being in her car seat, she has moved on from all things baby/toddler.

I was trying to get her to look my way, but she was making it challenging....I love how you can see Samson peaking out from under her bed.

I had to stand above her to get her face....happy in her new big girl bed.

Disney Parks

Each day, except for Friday we went to a Disney Park. We spent three days at Magic Kingdom, one day at Animal Kingdom and one day at Hollywood Studios. Friday was our rest and relax day as we were traveling home the next day.
Everyone said that when you go to Disney don't try to do it all because you won't be able to...I would agree. I think Chris and I tackled the parks in the best way possible. I did my research before we left and we had 3 must do's each day we went to a park. If we got other stuff done then great if we didn't then we were good with what we did. I have to say it worked out well for us and the girls got to do everything they wanted, plus some. We were very thankful for that.

Day one we headed off to Magic Kingdom. They were excited and ready to met Mickey and the princesses. Here is a little video of them heading to the park. I have to say the best part about this trip was their facial expressions. They were precious and priceless.


thought this was a sweet photo of Matthew holding Bree's hand and walking her into the park.
When we got to the park there was so much to look at and do. Right away we we saw Daisy and Pluto, so we got in line to meet Pluto.

Trying to talk Bree into going up and meeting him. No convincing here. She would just wave from a distanceAs soon as we were done here we were starting to make our way back to the castle when the Move It/Shake It Parade started. I have to say this is an awesome parade and so much fun for the kids. The parade is very interactive for them and they get to dance out in the streets with them. Katie was a little shy so momma got in the groove also and got out there and danced with her.

Katie dancing with Nana
Bree enjoyed watching everyone dance, but she was fine not participating.

Once we were done with the parade we headed back to Fantasy land to check out the rides. We rode Dumbo, the carousel, the pooh ride, small world and had a some lunch. We went home for a few hours and then headed back that night to see the Spectrometric Parade and the fireworks. Our first day was a long one with no naps...as we walked out of the park both of them were asleep on us before we got to the monorail.


We spent two other days at Magic Kingdom riding some other rides and going again on our favorites. I asked the girls what their favorite rides were. Katie said she loved Peter Pan ride and the Goofy Rollercoaster. We rode the coaster 3 times, Bree loved this ride as well. Bree said her favs were Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan and the horses (the carousel).

Tuesday we spent some time at Animal Kingdom. This day was hot so we actually didn't stay to late. We got there early to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride to be able to see all the animals. It is really cool, because you ride in a open jeep and see all the animals, they are just roaming with no fence between you and them. A little scary, but the animals are very used to people driving through they don't even give it a second thought. The girls loved this ride. We also saw the Lion King Festival show which was really good. Very colorful, and lots of music and action.

I love the girls faces here as they see all the animals on the safari ride.

Thursday we went over to Hollywood Studios. Not too many rides here for them but they have lots of shows the girls wanted to see. I actually loved this park day the best as it was lots of time in air condition rooms seated watching shows. Here we saw High School Musical 3 show, Katie has all three of the movies and loves them. I laughed because I caught Chris and I singing along to the songs. :) When then saw a Live Playhouse Disney show, with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and My Friends Tiger and Pooh. We then went on to see a play of Beauty and the Beast and finally The Voyage of Little Mermaid. I have to say all of these shows were amazing. The girls loved them. Not a lot of pictures from this park as the girls were pretty tired this day and not in a photographic mood. I did manage to have the take one family photo in the Street of America part. The reason I wanted the photo taken is that I have one of Chris and I on this same street 9 years ago when we went to Disney with Matthew when he was 4. We didn't have kids then so I thought it would be cool to put this same picture beside the old one.


I honestly can't say enough how much fun we had with the girls. They were the best little girls on this trip. We had long days and many without naps, especially for Bree, but they loved every minute of it. I have to say my favorite part of the trip was how special the Disney employees make the trip for girls, and all kids. It is so cute how they address little girls as princess, they are all super friendly. They really do make their trip to feel as if they are in a magical world, where anything can happen. I know it was a good trip if Chris said he was looking forward to going back again.