Pretty Ballarina

Katie had her first ballet/tap class at Miss Kristy's Dance School. She has been looking forward to this class for the past two weeks. We went two weeks ago and bought her the ballet outfit, ballet shoes and tap shoes. She has asked me everyday since then when she is going and she wants to wear her ballet outfit everyday. So this morning I told her we were FINALLY going to her class and she couldn't wait to get out the door. The class is an hour long and she paid attention the entire time and listened to her teacher. There were only two other girls in her class so she gets a lot of one on one time with the teacher. I was able to watch her through a window and every now and then she would look back at me with a big smile and wave. Here are few pictures from today.

Weekend of Animals and Paint

On Saturday we took that girls to the Tulsa Zoo. The weather was so nice on Saturday. It has been in the 100's almost everyday but on Saturday it was overcast and was in the 80's so it was a wonderful day to go to the zoo. This is the first time we have taken Katie or Bree to the zoo. Katie was very excited to get to see all of the animals. She kept running around yelling out all the animals she would see. Bree would just wave at them all and say "hey". The zoo was very nice they have a lot of their exhibits inside which is nice so you don't have to be outside the whole time. The girls loved the monkeys the best, but the most memorable moment was when we got a front row seat to a polar bear. The exhibit they have for the polar bears allows you to see him swimming in his habitat. They have a big glass wall and he kept swimming right up to us and just looking at us. Katie loved it but Bree got a little scared. He had some big ole teeth, which I think she wasn't to fond of. Overall we had a great day and enjoyed it. Below are some pictures from the day.

The other first this weekend was for Bree. She is all about doing whatever Katie is doing so this weekend I let Bree dive into the some paint. Katie loves to paint and draw so Katie was painting away when Bree started pointing and grunting so I put her in her seat and let her go. She had so much fun. By the end of the night she had herself covered in paint. Thank goodness it is all washable. :) You can see her all painted up below.

Polar Bear that scared Bree

Bree waving at the animals

Katie with the giraffe

Bree having fun with her paint

Chris' Birthday

Yesterday was Chris' 32nd birthday. If any of you know Chris, he is not big on birthday's so it makes it hard to find things to do for his b-day that he will enjoy. The guy doesn't even like deserts so he doesn't even find enjoyment in a birthday cake. So to say the least it can be difficult. So we kept things pretty low key by just taking him out to eat to a local steakhouse called Angus Inn. The one thing that Chris does love is a steak, so I knew I couldn't go wrong with that. We had a nice dinner and then came back to the house to give Chris his gifts. The girls gave Chris a black UT hat and UT sticker for his car. The black UT hat has funny story behind it. When I was in TN with the girls Katie picked out this hat for Chris for his b-day. At the time I didn't tell her not to say anything because I just figured she would not think about it again. Since we have gotten back to OK she has mentioned this black hat to him about four times. Chris not know what she was taking about and just thought she was making up a story just blew it off. Last night when he opened their gift, or I should say when Katie and Bree opened the gift for him. He finally realized what she was talking about. She told him "see daddy, there is the black hat I bought you." It was very cute. Chris did enjoy his birthday, he was happy to just have a low key day. I told him to enjoy it because when the girls get older and want to do more on his b-day he is just going to have to go along with the activities. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Back in Oklahoma

After a nice visit with Nana and Papaw it was time for me and the girls to get back to daddy. We are back at home now and the girls were so excited to see their daddy. They both have been his shadow for the past couple of days. Katie and Bree had to get back to real life which was going back to school during the day while Chris and I are working. Katie was ready, all of her little friends greeted her and she was off playing. Bree on the other hand was not ready to. Bree's new thing now is to shake her head no. Once we went into her room she started shaking her head no. She did cry when I left but before I was out the door I could hear that she had stopped. Katie and Bree both have seemed to changed so much over the past couple of weeks. Katie has learned to snap her fingers so we hear that about all day now. Bree's personality is getting very much present in everyday life. That 18month mark is coming up and that just seems to be the time where your little baby goes away and the toddler part starts coming out. Bree is all over the place and whatever Katie is doing she wants to do to. Luckly Katie is such a great big sis. She loves Bree so much and does anything she can to make her happy and include her. It is really quite sweet to watch them to together. They now will just randomly start hugging on each other and giving each other kisses. It really just melts your heart to seem them together. I just hope they stay that loving to each other..... ok, I know in reality there will be way to may fights to count, but let me dream right now.

Fun Fest

Fun Fest is a week long of events and activities for families to do in Kingsport. The past couple of years we have been at mom and dad's during the week of Fun Fest and each year they kick it off with a parade downtown. Last year when we went Katie loved it because most of the floats throw out candy to the kids and some give out the mardi gras beads. Bree was too little last year to really enjoy it so I wasn't sure how into the parade she would be this year. Katie was into the parade from the beginning and Bree sat on my lap for about 20 minutes and then she got the hang of what she was supposed to be doing. She started waving to all of the people on the floats and finally she was down on the ground dancing with Katie to the music. It was so cutie seeing them both waiving to the floats and grooving to the music.

Tuesday evening Mom, Dad, Katie, Bree and I all joined Brandy and Kevin for a Fun Fest Putt Putt event. This was the first time Katie has every played putt putt so when we got there and she saw everyone hitting balls, she said "Mommy, it is golf" I told her it is a lot like golf we just don't hit the ball as hard or as far. I wasn't sure how she would do or how her attention span would hold up during the game, but we were all impressed with how well Katie did. She was patient and waited her turn , she played all 18 holes and never gave up on one hole. She even got a hole in one and on a couple of hole she got the ball in the hole in 2. She was so excited everytime it would go in. On the last nine holes Katie did so good I only beat her by 5, so I don't know how sad that makes me sound but she was excited.

Well, Fun Fest is coming to an end this weekend, so I am not sure if we will get to do to much more but the girls seemed to enjoy events we took them too.

Getaway to Charlotte

During our visit to mom and dad's last week Chris and I decided to get away for a few days to Charlotte, NC. The visit for Charollotte was for two reasons, one was our 9 year wedding anniversary and the other was so Chris could cash in on his b-day gift from last year, which was a Richard Petty Driving Experience. So we headed Charlotte and last Wednesday we celebrated our anniversary by going to Carowinds Theme Park. Chris and I had the rude awaken of our age and how our are age plus fast rollercoasters don't mix anymore. By are fourth or fifth rollercoaster we were done with the rides because we both felt like our bodies had been beaten to death so we were off to the waterpark to relax the rest of the day. We finished off the day by going out to eat at a Brazillian resteraunt called Braza's. If you have never eaten at a Brazillian resteraunt I would recommend it. The dinning experience and the food are amazing. Be sure if you go to have a very empty tummy because you get a lot of food. It is hard to beleive that we have been married for 9 years, it already seems like a lifetime, just kidding. In todays world were marriages break up almost everyday I am so thankful that Chris and I have managed to keep our together. I am looking foward to the many years to come.

Now, as for the part of our trip were Chris got to live out one of his manly fantasies, well it was exciting for him but boring for me. Last year for Chris' b-day I got him a certificate that gave him the chance to go and drive an actual race car 8 laps on one of 26 raceways. Since we were going to be in Charlotte he decided to head over to Lowe's Moter Speedway and cash in his cerficiate. The whole thing lasted about 4 hours, this is where it got boring for me. I had to sit in the heat for these 4 hours. Things you do for your husband. :) He got very minial training on how to drive the car, about 30 minutes and they were suiting up and putting them in race cars. Chris was one of the first 4 up to drive. He hopped in an took off and a few minutes later it was all over. After everyone is done driving they have a closing ceremony he gets a certificate and a sheet that gives him his laps times and his average speed. His average was 123mph, which was fine with me. I didn't want him crashing into any walls trying to go 180. He said he has a new respect for race car drivers. He was about to sweat to death after being in the driving suit and inside the race car for only a few minutes. He said he couldn't see how drivers did this for 3 plus hours. I guess all the money they make helps motivate them.

All in all we had a great few days away. We were glad to get back to the girls and spend the rest of our vacation with them.

Finally on Vacation

Chris, the girls and I all left for our vacation in TN on July 4th. We weren't sure if we were going to make it out the door that day because we had a bad stomach virus making it's way through our house. Katie and Bree both had it all week long and then Chris got in on Thursday so it was up in the air if we were going to be able to leave on Friday. After lots of prayer that everyone one would get better and that I would not get the virus we were able to head out on Friday. We drove to Jackson, TN the first day, which took us about 8 1/2 hours. The it was off to Knoxville, TN on Saturday. We stayed the night with our friends Jim and Tammy. They have two boys so it was fun watching our girls hang with bigger boys. We went to church with them on Sunday and then we all went swimming at their pool Sunday afternoon. After a long afternoon of swimming it was time to leave and make the last leg of our trips to Nana and Papaw's house. Katie and Bree both slept the whole way to Kingsport and were so excited to wake up and see Nana and Papaw waiting to give them big hugs and kisses. They have spent the whole day today hanging out with them and not wanting anything to do with Mommy and Daddy, which is to be expected. :) We are looking foward to the rest of our week here.