April already?

How can that be? Not sure where the year has gone.

But I am sure that it is time for a random post to catch up on miscellaneous events in our lives that I failed to blog.

Like this…

Avery Grace made these bandana dolls with her church group called Mission Possible Kids. It is a group of kids (1-5 grade) that do local and national mission projects. I love it because the whole “club” is about helping others. What better way to teach about the selflessness of Christ than doing nice and helpful things for others? These bandana dolls are going to orphans in Belize. Missionaries in our church are taking the dolls with them  on a mission trip this summer.

  Jackson went to his first dance in February. He went as friends with a sweet girl named Katherine. Aren’t they just adorable?

The “men”.

  He went with a big group of his friends. It was a country theme which Jackson was not too thrilled about. I did buy him the flannel shirt but he refused the cowboy boots. He does not have a “country” bone in his body.

Avery started playing Upward basketball this winter. She did great for her first year playing this sport. Lucky her, she is a natural athlete. Very fast and aggressive.

She loved that she had a couple of good friends on her team….the Lady Hurricanes.

There were only 6 games, so it was a short season.  The girl next to Avery in the picture below was about an inch shorter than me (I am 5’ 4”) and in 4th grade. Crazy!

Here are Brent, his dad and brothers celebrating his dad’s 65th birthday in January.

Avery went to her first church camp in February for 2 days. Here she is about to leave the church with friends. Unfortunately it rained most of the weekend. Here she is in front of her cabin when I picked her up.

She wanted to show me where she slept…

I guess she had a blast as this is what she looked like on our drive home.

Brent and I with our little girls before going out to eat on Jackson’s birthday. The only time my girls want their photo taken is if you are taking pictures of one of the other siblings.

The other day we woke up to a duck swimming in our pool…

My girls are REALLY into knitting and weaving.

Their friends come over and they sit around knitting with each other. Brent and I laugh because they are like little old ladies sitting on the couch with their yarn.  All they need are a couple of cats.  Lol!

What would make the girls stare into the oven like this?

Shrinky Dinks of course…all the rage.

Every time I go outside to grill us some meat, this is what I see in the window as I head back inside. She just props her little head on the ledge and stares me and the meat down. Silly puppy!

Another thing the girls have been “in” to as of lately are these type of purses worn across their chest.. Avery got one for Christmas and wears it almost daily. Then Savannah started to do it and then of course Caroline joined the fun. I took this picture after church on Sunday; they each brought their purse with their bible in it. Makes me giggle.

When Pigs Fly. . .

That is when I though Nana would get her ears pierced.

The girls have the option to do this when they turn 5. Savannah declined. She declined again when she turned 6.

I was convinced that she would be a teenager before she made that leap. Until….

Out of the blue the other day Savannah decided she was willing to suffer through the “pain” to have her ears pierced. She asked me every day if I would take her. So on December 9th I took her. We put some numbing cream on her ears to take away a little of the pain. As you can see in the photo above, she was nervous and appeared to have hives….but she pressed on with her plan.

We went on a Friday night when there were 2 girls working to pierce her ears at the same time.

She came close to backing out after watching a teenager have it done before her.

But she DIDN’T!!!!

She was so proud!!!

I will preface this brief video I have posted with a disclaimer ….please disregard the annoying squeal that escaped my mouth after the ear piercing. Apparently I had no idea how obnoxious I sounded. UGH! 

 

So happy to be one of the big girls with fancy ears now!

Speaking of 5 year olds….we have a new one in our house today!!!

Good Gracious. . .

Avery came home last night from a friend’s house with this book.

She wants us to read it together this afternoon. (gulp)

Oh please Lord, don’t let this lead to a discussion I am not prepared to have quite yet with my 9 year old.

I am about to pick her up.

I know she will ask about it immediately.

Pray for me. LOL

Got Jeggings?

Are they jeans….are they leggings????

No one knows for sure, but my girls LOVE them!

Randomness. . .

Without further ado and in no particular rhyme, reason or order….
So this just might be how this Bama girls sends her Texas raised daughter to school!! ;-)

Lo and behold, hubby bought me a new computer. A Mac. Will I ever get the hang of the 4 finger side swipe or the 2 finger up and down swipe? Geesh! Blogging is taking me forever as I figure everything out…

Jackson is quite thrilled that he has transformed the whole house into an Apple empire. He was more than happy to transfer my info from my PC to my Macbook.
He also introduced me to photobooth. Oh my!!!!

However, Avery might have had the most fun of all with it…little sprite.

In my blogging hiatus, Avery Grace has gotten sick twice and missed 3 days of school. Her first bout was with a stomach bug that had her hovering over the toilet every 10 minutes. The second time she had strep. :/  Our precious Lulu was so sweet to keep watch over our little sickie. Avery is her best play buddy.
Brent felt horrible for Avery and made her this get well card that he left on the couch while she was sleeping. Awwww! (He calls her Grace by the way…or Gracie….not to mention Avery Gracie Poohie Woohwie)



I skipped my twice yearly consignment to attend a Rangers game with friends. Once again, we has AWESOME seats!
Here are the girls at the new Spy Kids movie. I must really love them. Lol.

Here is a new game the kids invented. They hold on to the hose and Dad pulls them across the pool as fast as he can. They could do that ALL day!


It must be really fun because they are both smiling under the water!



The girls after a their swim….


Some of our trees have really taken a toll from the drought. Compare the difference below. :-(


Hmmmm….wonder if Caroline partook in a little rocking that night? I am thinking yes.
Here are the big girls at the Taylor Swift concert.
Cowboy Stadium has huge screens, which is how Avery captured this picture.

This is the view they had from their seats.
Unfortunately, Avery started to not feel well half way through the concert. Here is Savannah comforting her in the bathroom. She came home with a fever that we eventually found out was strep. :(
Look what the tooth fairy brought Little bit!!!
Apparently we have a ginormous lizard that lives under our outdoor shutters. It freaks me out every time I am out there. It just stares at me.
I went to an Art party not long ago. It was so much fun!! We had wine, cheese and delicious cupcakes while we all tried to paint some Picasso. I photographed my process. Waaaaaaaay harder than it looks.


My final project below. My head is too small and my colors too bright. I also skipped the boob as to not have to listen to the giggles of my children as they ask me why I drew a naked lady.  



Savannah and her best friend Alexa take gymnastics together on Wednesday’s. They crack me up that they want to wear matching leotards every week.

Alexa got this one for Savannah for her birthday. Aren’t they adorable? :)


Avery had to have 2 of her teeth pulled at the dentist because they were crowding her bottom teeth and were no where near ready to come out on their own. She was super excited to get the laughing gas. However seemed less than impressed afterwards.
In August we said goodbye to our buddies the Walden’s. They got an awesome promotion and moved up north to Connecticut. We were so sad that our Russian girlies would not grow up down the street from each other. :(


There you have it….randomness from the last month or so.
Please continue to pray for my friend Victoria who is less than 2 weeks away from her brain surgery. I really appreciate it!