Kendall's first haircut

Mimi, Avery and Kendall

Yesterday my Mom took the day off work and came over to Ft. Worth to spend it with the girls and me. We did a little shopping at Target, had lunch at Cheddar's, and then after nap time, we took went over to Southlake to get Avery and Kendall's hair done at Sweet n' Sassy. After debating about it for a couple weeks, I finally decided to get Kendall's hair trimmed so it wouldn't look so scraggly and would maybe thicken up a bit. She was a little unsure about the whole thing when we first put her in the chair, but she sat very still and was smiling and enjoying herself after a few minutes. She even got sparkle spray, glitter stars on her face, and a Twinkle Pop at the end, just like Avery.

looking a little unsure in the mirror

all smiles now

getting a cool style

the finished product- 2 beautiful girls

girls day coming to a close

After we finished up at the salon, my Dad joined us and we killed a few minutes walking around the Town Center while we waited for Scott to join us for dinner. The girls had a good time throwing pennies in the fountain, running around in the gazebo that overlooks a pond, and playing on the steps of the courthouse.

playing outside the salon and waiting for Poppihugging on Poppi

looking for ducks in the pond

in front of the courthouse

For dinner we decided to go to Kobeya and let the girls have their first Hibachi experience. They both got a little anxious watching the chefs light the big fire at the other tables, so when it was our turn we requested "no fire". When our chef started making a bunch of noise and doing tricks at the beginning, Avery started crying and jumped into Scott's lap. Thankfully we were able to calm her down and she ended up really enjoying the whole thing. She was even OK with the chef lighting his onion volcano on fire. They were both pretty mesmerized by the whole thing. As Avery was attempting to eat her plateful of rice grain by grain with chopsticks, she said, "I think this is a pretty good restaurant!" I think Kendall liked it pretty well too considering the manager gave her 3 suckers and a fancy straw in her cup of milk. Next we are off to our church Halloween carnival tonight for more fun and treats!

Fall Portraits

At the end of September, my friend Kerri who owns Freckle Face Photography took some fall pictures of Avery and Kendall at the Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens. It was a gorgeous day, maybe a bit too sunny for picture taking, but perfect temps and no wind. In fact, after Kerri was finished, the girls and I spent another 30 minutes or hour out there exploring and watching all the turtles around one of the ponds. Kerri did a great job and we ended up with completely different shots from the last time we had pictures taken out there. So here are some of my favorites of Kendall at 19 months and Avery at 3 1/2 yrs.

This one was kind of a blooper, but I thought they looked cute being silly and it captured their natural smiles and laughter so well that I had to include it.

1st homework assignment

This afternoon I was getting Avery's things ready for school tomorrow since we will be busy w/ church tonight and I remembered she had a "homework" assignment in her folder. It is her first official homework assignment, so she was excited about it. The assignment was to draw a picture of something she did on the fall break. So I set her up at the desk with her crayon box and her paper while I changed her sheets and was cleaning in her room. I decided I was going to let her do it completely on her own unless she asked me for help, which she didn't, and this was the finished product. It is a picture of her and Scott fishing at our church camp-out last Saturday.

I was so impressed! I knew she could draw a person, but she had never drawn people with quite this much detail before. She even got Scott's eye color right and added curls at the end of her hair! I was also surprised that she was able to draw the fishing pole, water, sky, and sun all in the right places.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera to the camp-out, so we don't have any "real" pictures of it. But thanks to Avery, we at least have something to help us remember it! We had a good time throwing rocks in the lake, exploring, sitting around the campfire, watching the kids play with their friends, and Scott took Avery fishing for the first time.

We also had my Mom's birthday lunch at our house last weekend, and I did get a few pictures of that. My aunt, my sister and brother-in-law came over (although you'd never know from the handful of pictures I took),and we had some family-style entrees, bread and salad from Macaroni Grill, some sweet tea from McAllister's, and strawberry cheesecake from La Madeline--yum! Thanks for having a birthday Mom!

Mimi and Poppi w/ Avery and Kendall

Avery enjoyed helping my Mom open her cards and presents

Kendall and Poppi

Kendall's silly spoon trick

Cousin Mason visits Texas

At the end of September, my sister-in-law, her husband, and my precious nephew Mason made the 3 day trek from San Diego down to Texas to visit and let Mason meet all his relatives. Mason is 5 months old and we had only seen him via webcam so far, so this visit was a real treat for all the aunts, uncles and cousins. We were able to eat several meals with them and hang out a couple of times during the week they were here. Avery thought Mason was really cute and enjoyed holding him. Kendall, on the other hand, was no too excited about Mommy holding another baby. Scott's aunt and uncle were kind enough to have his whole family over for a swim party and cookout one night while Amy, Mike and Mason were here. You can see from all the "cousin" pictures that Mason is completely outnumbered, poor guy. We really enjoyed having the whole family together and we are all looking forward now to our trip out to San Diego for Christmas!

Cousins-Kendall, Avery, Bailey, Mason, Brooklyn, and Braden

in order from oldest to youngest

Mason's "the man"!

Avery got to stay up late one night just so she could see Mason for the 1st time

Mason and Dedaw (Scott's Dad)

swimming at Travis and Elaine's

Kendall taking a dip with Daddy

Braden, Bailey and Avery playing with Mason