Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Chris' birthday. Our wonderful friends, Stefanie and Jeremy actually planned out the evening for Chris. I had a busy week as I ended up taking a last minute trip to Dallas to be with my brother. My week was more than a little crazy and I wasn't even sure I would be back for his birthday, so my friends stepped in and took care of the birthday details. I did end up making it back for his day. I am glad I did as we had a great evening.

Who's ready to play on the slip n slide??? We are!

Our wonderful chef...Jeremy was actually on duty that night, but came by for a few hours to cook us dinner and eat. What a guy! He cooked us steak, potatoes and zucchini. It was very yummy!

Playing in the tent

The girls helping daddy blow out his candles

The birthday cake. Stef said she picked it out because it had Tennessee orange on it.

Stef had to relight the candles again because Katie blew them all out and Bree didn't get to help. Oh, the important things to kids.

Little Lydiah enjoying herself some cake. I love this little girl.

Saturday Fun!

Saturday was nothing but a day of fun for the girls. Chris wrapped up his summer school, so Saturday was a little bit of celebration for that as well. Chris only has one more class left for his MBA...Whooo Hoooo!!! The summer has been brutal for Chris with his school. It is nice that summer school is done and he had the whole day free to focus on us. So we decided that Saturday we would do only stuff the girls would want to do...no running errands, no cleaning house, no doing laundry. Just fun!

We started the day out by going to the zoo. Even though it was going to be 110 on Saturday we decided to still go but go early. We got there as soon as they opened and lots of the animals were out before it got to hot. As soon as we got there the girl ran up to their favorite thing. The big globe that floats on water.

Checking out the elephants....they were all out eating and roaming.

My two little monkeys

Petting the animals. Bree wanted to look at them but did not want to go close to them.

The zoo has a nice play area for the kids that is in the shade. So we took some time to play in the shade.


We left the zoo around lunch time because it was getting seriously hot. We headed home to eat some lunch and rest. After naps we headed over to one of the community pools we have in our town. The one closest to us has a great area for kids. It has a zero entry pool and two small kids play areas. It was the best way to spend the rest of our day with 110 heat outside.


Katie and Bree racing each other down the water slide. Bree wouldn't walk up to the slides by herself because you basically get dumped on by all sorts of water coming out of the pipes around the slides. By the end of day Bree was going up on her own and even going down the enclosed green slide. She was so proud of herself and each time she went up on her own and came down the slide she came over and gave us a high five. I told Chris it is so cool to see your kids triumph over something they were afraid of doing.

The lifeguards called time out in the pool so adults and parents with kids under two can swim in the big pool, so we took a break and got some snow cones.

After we were done swimming we headed back home and Chris grilled us out some steaks. Yum! We had a fun day with the girls and some good family time.

Nana and Papaw Come to Visit

My mom and dad came to visit with us and the girls. They didn't get to stay with us as long at they normally would but the girls had fun with them the few days they were here. Katie and Bree made sure they fit in as much fun as possible.


The girls sharing their Nana...they both were so excited to have them here. They couldn't wait to start the cuddling.
Katie had Nana's and Papaw's visit all planned out. Thursday was a trip to Chick-fil-a for lunch and the girls asked them to go to Target to go shopping, of course they came home several goodies. Friday was movie day, we took the girls to see Toy Story 3. Katie was beyond excited to go and all she wanted was the movie snack pack that has popcorn, candy and a drink. She was so excited to be able to sit in her seat with all her little snacks to munch on. After the movie, Bree went home with Papaw for naps and Nana, Katie and I went back out for some girl time. Nana wanted to get Katie and Bree some back to school clothes. Of course Katie didn't pass up the chance to shop. This girl definitely has the shopping gene. She picked out all these outfits at Target and then would model them for Nana in the fitting room. So cute! She would then pick out her favorites.



Saturday the girls had a birthday party to go to. Our good friends little boy Braeden was turning 5 so we all went over to the party, Katie got to introduce her Nana and Papaw to her friends. It was nice for my parents to finally get to meet some of our good friends here. After the party Mom and Dad took the girls out for bowling and one more last trip to Chick-fil-A. Chris and I took advantage of the free night and got out to celebrate our 11th year anniversary. Even thought it was a few weeks ago we decided to wait until we had free babysitting. Thanks Mom and Dad for the night out!


The above picture is on Saturday afternoon. I realized I don't have too many pictures of my parents with the girls. Even though mom and dad's visit wasn't as long as we would have liked for them to stay it was good to see them and the girls enjoy every minute of it. We miss you already.

Lovin the Wind

The other day Bree and I were out and we stopped and got a milk shake. When we got back in the car she asked if we can roll the windows down. She loves the wind in her face. We rolled down the windows and played some of her favorite songs. I snapped this pics of her enjoying the wind.

Little Dollhouse

Last night one of Katie's friends Lauren had her birthday party at a place called the Little Dollhouse. It was such a neat place for little girls. They have a big dress up closet where the girls can dress up in a a many outfits that they want, they do their hair, make-up and nails. Then do a fashion show and also teach them a dance. The girls had so much fun.

Lauren... The Birthday Girl!

Katie said this place was like Bibiddi Bobiddi Boutique at DW....except smaller. :)

Pretty girl....nails and make up done...just waiting for hair.

Two beautiful girls....Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. At least for the time being. They changed outfits at least four more time.

All the girls after their fashion show

This is the fashion show of the girls. It was too funny as the girls weren't sure what to do when they came out. Katie and Bree definatley don't like all eyes on them. They both were on and off the stage very quickly.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the 4th at the Rockets over Rhema event with our good friends the Roberts. We have been going to this even for 3 years now and we just love it. They have inflatables, games, food, free concert and an AMAZING firework show at the very end. We had such a good time with our friends, it has become an new tradition I believe as each year we have gone with Jeremy and Stef and their kids, but this year we were missing Jeremy as he was on duty with the fire station.

The girls waiting patiently in line to jump on the inflatables.

The girls and I killing time while waiting in line

Katie and Braeden....they have become such good friends

Daddy and his little girl

Lydia and Bree....hanging out and being silly.
The family

Bree with Sydney....Bree had headphones on because she doesn't like the loud sound of the fireworks. I thought she would be scared but she sat on Syd's lap the whole time and watched them.

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.