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.

Highlights From Disney

We did so many things this week outside of just going to the parks that I thought I would give you the highlights of the week. Sorry....lots of pictures, but more will be posted on Picasa these are just a few.

Chef Mickey
Monday morning we went to eat breakfast at Chef Mickey's. It was a delicious breakfast and it was so nice that Katie got to met so many characters. Micky, Minne, Donald, Goofy and Pluto all stopped by our table to say hello and sign their autograph books. It was so nice to have them come to us and not have to stand in long lines at Magic Kingdom to meet them. Well worth the money for the breakfast. :)


We had a great view of Cinderella's Castle from our table....you can barely see it in this photo.

As I mentioned earlier Bree is was not a fan of anyone in a costume...she didn't realize Mickey was right behind her and when she did...man she cleared two chairs trying to get away from him. It was so funny...not to her but to us. Mickey tried to make amends with her, but she was not having it.

So she did the next best thing....stay safe in Nana's arms.

Katie had no problems meeting all of her new friends. She loved it
Donald was a funny little guy...he kept knocking Katie's Mickey ears off of her head and she would just laugh. She wasn't sure why he was doing that then daddy told her it is because Donald always aggravates Mickey. Donald heard Chris tell Katie this and he came over and gave us two feathers up

Downtown Disney
Tuesday night we headed to Downtown Disney to check it out and to get some dinner with the entire family. We decided to eat at Planet Hollywood.

Chris and I at Planet Hollywood

Tried to get a family photo but Bree wasn't being to helpful

I learned that when Bree goes without a nap for a few days she gets super, super silly. She kept sticking out her tongue and making faces all night long during dinner. The music was really loud at PH and she kept standing up dancing. She had us all and others around us rolling with laughter. I am thankful that silly is what happens when she missing naps and not total meltdowns.

The girls outside Planet Hollywood

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Wednesday afternoon had made a reservation for the girls to go to Biddidi Bobbidi Boutique at Cinderella's Castle. They get their hair, nails and make-up done to look like a princess. Before we went my mom bought the girls a Cinderella dress and shoes, since we would be eating dinner with them later that evening. When we arrived at the Boutique the girls got their "royal invitations" and then were led to a changing room to put on their princess dress and shoes. Then they each were taken to their beauty chair were wonderful ladies fixed their hair. They got to choose from three different hair styles, Fairy Tale Princess, Diva Princess and Pop Rock Princess. Both of my girls went for the Diva look.....I laughed because I knew as soon as I saw the choices they both would go for that. The Diva look, allowed them to choose hair extensions so they go to pick what color they wanted. Bree went with Belle's color, brown and Katie picked pink. I have to say that it was well worth the money for the experience they had while they were there. It was so much fun watching them get pampered princess style and I have to say they looked absolutely beautiful when they were all done.

The first thing they do is they have to get their hair in a ponytail on top of their head and then they braid their hair so they can pin it down to put the hair extensions in. It is amazing to me they can get their hair on top of their head like they did.

Getting her make-up on before you go to the ball.

Hair in and time to tease and spray
Our very own Cinderella
The back of Katie's hair

It was amazing to me they were able to get all of Bree's hair up on top of her head. They kept brushing and pulling it up. I thought for sure she would want them to stop and get down but she sat there being so patient and let them finish.
Can't go to the ball without your make up on.
The hair is in and time to tease and spray.
Bibbid Bobbidi Boo dust....to make all their wishes come true.

The big reveal.....they made her close her eyes and then they turn her around to the mirror. She just kept smiling and looking at herself. I don't think she knew what to think of seeing herself all dressed up and her hair that way. The back of Bree's new do.....she looks so funny with long hair like this as she has never had much hair in the first place.

The girls all dolled up in front of the castle before we head off to dinner.

Dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming....oh yeah and those other mean step sisters and step mother.
Wednesday night we went to the Grand Floridian to have a character dinner. The girls go to met Cinderella and Prince Charming. They also had the mean step sisters and step mother. Everyone was saying how beautiful they looked all dressed up as Cinderella.





Bree didn't like to get to close to any of the mean characters from any of the Disney movies, so she opted out of getting her photo taken with the Step Mother.

The girls who play the step sisters were so funny, and had their personalities down. They had the girls laughing when they came to our table.




Bree has only had one nap so far this week, remember when I said she gets super silly when she is tired. This is just a little glimpse of how she can be.



Katie decided to join in on the fun....they had everyones attention in the lobby.


Pool Time

We had a pool and hot tub in our back yard at the house we rented for the week. So of course each day we had to take use of it. The girls loved being able to come home and put on their swim suits and go outside and swim. I have to say it was so nice to have it, as we didn't have to walk to the clubhouse pool each day.

Matthew, Kevin and Brandy doing what they do best.....making our girls act silly. Katie and Bree loved having their cousin Matthew and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Brandy with us for the week.

Matthew and my silly girl Katie

More swim time...we had beautiful weather each day. Hot, but beautiful.

Bree became a little fish during this week. She has no fear of the water. She will run and jump in. She had so little fear that I told her she had to make sure she had her floaties on before she did that. She didn't even care if anyone was there to catch her, she would just jump in and take off swimming.
Katie loved the waterfall from the hot tub to the pool, she just kept saying how "cool" that was. Here she is just chilling in the water.