Busy Busy Busy

That's the best way to describe my Ava girl. One of her new favorite things is sneaking out the back door to jump on the trampoline.

Over,

and over,

and over again.

Sometimes she'll even drag a friend along...


He doesn't mind though!

These two are good buddies and I love seeing them laugh and have fun together.

But in case you are wondering, strip jumping is the best (you know you were!)...

I love the silliness that exudes from this chickie! She keeps me laughing every day! So happy she is mine!

Dallas World Aquarium

I was so glad I got to chaperone the 1st grade field trip to the aquarium. More than that, I love that I got to see how well Ella has adjusted to a new school and class and new friends. I also love that it gave me the opportunity to meet some new moms. It was a great opporunity for us both and I sure loved spending that time with my girl!

I had no doubt that she would make friends. She's outgoing and fun. She's such a light. And she really cares about people. I had 3 parents come up to me at Open House a couple of weeks ago and ask for our phone number to set up play dates because their child comes home every day talking about Ella. After playing at one new friend's house, the mom praised her up and down telling me what a joy it was to have her over to play. I really admire her ability to make friends so easily and her desire to include everyone. I hope that sweet innocence where there is no judgement about how people look or dress or where they come from, everyone is treated the same and everyone can be a friend stays with her. It will serve her well. I've learned a lot from Ella and I'm thankful for the example and blessing she is to me. What an angel she is.

Goofy boy!

This goofy little kid climbs everywhere and on everything. However, he has recently claimed a new spot. This is how he participates in family scripture study....every time! Whatever keeps him in one place for more than a few seconds at a time!!

No more babies climbin' on the stairs!

It's taken Drews some time to get use to living in a house with stairs. It's been great for him to explore them all kinds of ways. Apparently, he wasn't too fond of this way, although that really didn't stop him. I was relieved that he tried this one only one step off the ground, until I found him on step 3 doing the same thing. This boy doesn't stop!

HOLY SNOW!

It has snowed more in Texas this winter than I can ever remember in my whole life of living here. In fact, we actually had record snowfall, of anywhere from 8-12 inches (depending on where you were.) It was CRAZY! But the best thing about Texas snow is that you usually only get/have to enjoy it for a day at a time before it all melts. We actually got to enjoy 2 days in a row this time. But not everyone was excited about that...

Day 1: The kids couldn't get out there quick enough. Ella walked to and from school (willingly; for the record, yes, I did offer to drive her, but it was much more exciting to get to walk in it!)

They spent HOURS outside playing...

Making snow angels,

snowball fights,

eating it,

and some weren't really sure what to do with it! If this little turkey would have stayed dressed he may have enjoyed it more. He kept pulling his clothes, mittens, and hat off (I guess he didn't like being bundled up). This picture was snapped just as he stood up from falling hands down!

And the fun continued when Dad got home from work. He jumped right into a snowball fight!

Day 2: We woke up to this glorious sight...

But some had no desire to freeze on day 2 and enjoyed the snow this way...

I love this boy!


Others realized that this really was perfect snow for building a snowman (a first for most of them) and got busy...

It was beautiful while it lasted and we were glad when it was all melted on day 3! My kids suffer for a couple days each winter because we don't have any snow gear...boots, pants, really heavy coats or waterproof gloves (I refuse to buy these items for one or two days a year). But near frost bite doesn't seem to stop them and they have a blast!! So snowy day, thanks for coming this year. Thanks for making your visit short and sweet and really giving us a reason to cook up some hot cocoa and snuggle in! Til next year...

Sock Hop!

We had a rockin' good time at Ella's school's annual sock hop! On just a couple of days notice, my awesome mom made poodle skirts for the girls (Ella and Ava each picked out what color they wanted). They were so excited about them. The best part was how they flared out when spinning! You can imagine that is what most of the night was spent doing!!

This girl was shaking her booty all night long!

And this cute little dude spent most of the evening in the stroller watching all the chaos. He seemed content to kick back and avoid getting lost in the crowd. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of him while we were there but here's one before we left...isn't he cute with his hair all slicked back?! Such a stud!!

I didn't have a cute poodle skirt, but I still wanted to dress up a little...I would totally wear these glasses if they came back in style!

We put on our blue suede shoes and rocked around the clock til our feet hurt then went home and crashed hard!! It was AWESOME!

Three reasons why this momma loves making spaghetti for dinner...

It's really the only meal Ella doesn't mind getting a little messy with because it's fun!

These perfectly precious puckered up lips!

And the boy that LOVES it and has just as much fun playing as he does eating!