Random updates on a Monday

1. Water loving

These sweet sisters love the water, which works out well because Neal and I do too. The beach is going to be so much fun this year. We got a membership at a local community center because they have an indoor pool/waterpark so that they would keep up their swimming skills all year. Last year they were both a bit rusty once summer began. This year that will not be the case and I couldn't be more excited for summer!

2. Easter
Easter was low key and very enjoyable this year. We went to church, made the bunny cake & had sweet friends over for dinner and an egg hunt. It was fun to celebrate His rising with my family at home again this year.

3. Carrie's 30th
Last month I was able to go home for my younger sister's 30th birthday. I was there for 5 days so I got to spend some good time with my mom and my youngest sister too. We went to dinner and a piano bar to celebrate Carrie's 30th. It was some good, needed time with my family.

4. Nail painting
I recently let Ella paint her toes all by herself, for the very first time. She was very disappointed at the job she did and surprised by how hard it is. I think she did pretty well for her first time. I told Reese she could do it too if she wanted and she didn't have any interest after seeing Ella's results.

5. Neighbors
I'm really thankful for the great neighbors that my girls are getting to grow up with.

6. Tball
Reese is playing tball this spring. She is playing on a team that is mostly made up of kids that Reese went to daycare with. She is having so much fun. She seems to enjoy competitive sports more than dance and we are all having a lot of fun watching her.

7. Dance costumes & pictures
I adore the costumes that both girls will dance in their recitals in. I knew I would want dance pictures for the memory but I never imagined how much I would love them. Precious!

8. Sunday school teachers
Reese and Ella both have the most amazing Sunday school teachers this year. We are all so blessed by them and I am so thankful for the love of Jesus and our church they are instilling in them. It has been a great year with these amazing people that give so much to the kids at our church.

9. Writing award
Reese recently won the writing award at her school. She was so proud of herself and we were too. You can see in the photo below that she is beaming.

10. 2nd lost tooth
Reese lost her 2nd tooth at school. Her teacher pulled it out for her! So she now has 2 pretty funny tooth stories to remember.

11. Puppy love
These girls love their puppies and the puppies love them back. We are all definitely crazy dog people!

Reese 6 yo stats

Somehow Reese is 6 years old and has been for a few weeks now! Yesterday we went in for her 6 year old well child exam. I'm happy to report that she is a healthy little girl that is growing perfectly. She weighs 54 lbs., which is the 90th percentile. She is 49" tall, which is 98th percentile. He said she is perfectly proportionate 😊. She is fully in the big girls clothing section and wears a size medium top, size 7/8 bottom and we went shoe shopping last week and somehow she wears a size 2 😮! 

She eats like a bottomless pit and keeps growing taller and taller. She still sleeps with Lyla and brown blankie every night. Both she and her sister now sleep downstairs in the guest bedroom. They have slept together for a long time. She absolutely loves kindergarten and has the most amazing teacher that we all love. She was a terrible sleeper as a baby and since lightning struck our house has never slept through storms until about 8 months ago. She now sleeps though most anything, goes to sleep pretty easily at night and is a pretty great sleeper. She is such a sweet, compassionate, eager to please (but still strong willed), precious little girl. I love her and am blessed to be her mommy!

Reese's 6th birthday party

Reese is a planner like me and has had her 6th birthday party planned for about a year now, a rainbows & unicorns party at hopes and dreams gymnastics. 

Before the party we took our 4th annual family birthday party day photo in front of this window.

I love that the girls made Gigi and Pop Pop take a funny face picture with them. This is one we will treasure!

Sisters before the party started. 💜💛

Sweet kindergarten friends.

These 3 have been together since they were just months old and I adore this picture.

This one is a fun shot!

I think we got most of the group in this one.

Cake time.

There are many other friends I wish I'd gotten pictures of her with but its hard at a party. There were multiple groups of friends (kindergarten friends, preschool friends and a few neighbors) so I hoped she'd be able to have fun with everyone. She seemed to have a great time and so did all of her friends.

I really cannot believe that 6 years old is already here, tomorrow! Everyone has always told me that it flys by, and I believed them, but I never imagined it would go this fast. Reese you are such a kind hearted, sweet, strong willed, beautiful, artistic, amazing and lovable little girl. I am so lucky to be your mom. Happy birthday, I love you!

Reese 6 year old questionairre

What is your favorite color? purple and teal
Who is your favorite friend? Ava, Reagan Dust and Juliana
What is your favorite snack? cookies
What is your favorite thing to do with Ella? play with her on the dollhouse
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? lunchable
What is your favorite drink? milk
What is your favorite thing to do outside? gymnastics
What is your favorite sport? basketball
What do you want to be when you grow up? a baby nurse
What is your favorite animal? unicorn, sheep and otter
What is your favorite book? Junie B. Jones, Barbie and Fancy Nancy
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? go on dates
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? read
What is your favorite song? twinkle twinkle
What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? macaroni, avocado and tacos
What do you like to have with you at bed? Lyla and brown blankie
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
What makes you happy? When we do silly stuff
What makes you sad? When people be bullies to me
What do you think about before you go to sleep? That Ella might wake up
What is your favorite thing to do as a family? Go to church

Spring Break 2016

This year was the first year that I experienced a true spring break with kids, since Reese is now in kindergarten. We made it a fun one!

The week prior to spring break I decided to join Neal in New York this year for a long weekend and my mother in law and mom graciously agreed to splitting the  time up with the girls so that I was able to go. Neal had to work most of the time while I was there but I had a great time. I got some good time with him, some good time alone, some good shopping time, great food and some fun time spent with my best friend from high school.

The week prior to spring break here was my mom's spring break. So when I got home from New York she spent a few more days up here and then we let Reese skip 2 days of school and made a long trek down to Houston. Along the way we spent the night with my cousin that lives north of Dallas. She has 2 girls that are older than my girls and my girls adore them and had so much fun playing with them. Her girls are really sweet, good girls that I am glad Reese and Ella enjoy so much. I regret that we didn't take any pictures with them. We also spent the night with my Aunt and Uncle at their ranch. This was a lot of fun for all of us. We took Polaris rides, fed cows, ran around in the country, made a fire and spent fun time with family. My sister Carrie and nephew Jacob met us out there and the girls always enjoy doing anything with Jacob (Carrie too).

We then drove the last 2 hours to Houston. We spent 3 days in Houston and had a great time. Neal attended his first rodeo and Brad Paisley performed, we ate lots of good food, had fun at Aunt Maureen's house, went to my parent's new church and played outside. 

On our way home we stayed in Dallas at a hotel with an indoor pool and the girls thought this was a great addition to the trip. The rest of the week we spent at home. We relaxed and spent some time outside. The end of the week was Easter so the girls participated in a couple of egg hunts and we made a bunny cake. It was a great 1st Spring Break!

Dear Reese and Ella

I've decided to start something new and to do it regularly on here, similar to the "random updates on a Monday". It will be called "dear Reese and Ella". I want them to know what I am thinking (Neal too if I can get him to write a few lines) and feeling about them on a regular basis, maybe yearly.

So here goes the 1st one.

I recently read a Jen Hatmaker book and she does a whole chapter called dear kids, this is what inspired this. I loved every part of it and thought about how much her kids will love looking back on it one day. Her number one goals for her kids is to be kind, be you and love Jesus. I am going to shamelessly steal that as my ultimate goals for you Reese and Ella.

Without kindness we have failed as parents. I desperately want you to be kind to everyone. I want you to win people's hearts for the Lord because they see your kindness and know there is something different about you and want that for themselves. I want you to love the lonely, hurt and afflicted as you grow up causing them to feel valued and appreciated and in return gaining so much yourself from those relationships. Growing up years will be hard. Being a girl in the midst of a "mean girl" culture we seem to live in will be hard and the last thing I want is for my children to be the ones making it harder for anyone else. You both are such kind and empathetic souls. Reese is often reporting of helping someone at school and Ella recently asked why some people don't have homes and if we could just let them all come live with us since we have a house. Oh sweet, sweet girl how I wish it was that simple. I hope and pray that you continue to grow into kind people who see hurting people and do not ignore them. I also hope that I do a better job of this as well.

I never want you to try to be anyone other than who you are. You will never be happy pretending to be something other than yourself. The desire to be liked and popular during the growing up years will likely be there. You both have so much to offer just as you are and I really hope you do not attempt to change who you are. You are both so amazing and most will love you just as you are...you won't need the others if they are trying to influence you to be something you are not.

Love Jesus with everything you are. You are His and He has your future in His hands. I trust this fully and hope that you will too. There are so many things I worry about when it comes to you two but I too need to and try to give these things to Him. He loves you more than your dad and I do and that absolutely boggles my mind because we love you two more than I ever imagined was even possible. 

Reese, you are so loving, caring and full of life. You are so stubborn and I know exactly where you get it from 😬. You are incredibly passionate and you love your friends so well. You are a bit dramatic and you don't often pick your battles, you fight them all...although you are beginning to pick more as you are getting older. You have lots of dreams and plans. You actually love to plan. You are completely unreasonable when you are hungry or tired and I definitely know where that came from. You are so much like me it isn't even funny and I believe that is why we butt heads at times but I love you more than you can imagine and these things will all serve you well one day (once you learn to be a bit more rational in your reactions).

Ella, you are so funny. You have comedic timing and wit that probably came from your dad more than me. You are sweet and funny and you love to snuggle, please always love to snuggle. You have such a tender spirit and we hardly have to discipline you for doing something wrong. When we do you often beat yourself up for what you did for far longer than you should. We are working on how to navigate this because you are such a sweet tender hearted girl that doesn't deserve the punishment you often put on yourself. You love your family (including the dogs) better than anyone I know. You are very prissy and princess loving but have recently become very interested in superheroes. You are so laid back and easy going and it is very easy for most anyone to get along with you. I am so in love with you and thankful for your sweet spirit.

You are both amazing and I am blessed to be your mother!

Little daters

Neal tries to take each girl on a date a couple times a year. These girls look forward to this time with their daddy!

Ella's date was last night and she has been talking all week about how excited she is and how her date is going to bring her flowers. He did not disappoint and rang the doorbell with yellow flowers in hand, her favorite color. She picked her clothes and I put a little make up on her and curled her hair, for the very first time. When she came home she was beaming and had so many details to tell me about. They went to Chick fil a, Chuck e cheese, Big Lots and Maggie Moo's for ice cream. They did all of this in Fayetteville so even though CEC and CFA are places she normally goes these were new locations she had never been (Neal reports the Fayetteville CEC to be much different than ours and a bit scary).

Reese's date is tomorrow night and she is super excited as well, but maybe not quite as excited as her sister has been.

I am so thankful for this husband of mine that is teaching our girls what they should look for in a man one day. He is showing them that they are precious and should not be treated any less than like an absolute treasure. I am also SO thankful that even though this wasn't necessarily modeled for me growing up through His grace and provisions I have been blessed with a husband that treats me like a treasure as well. :)