Father's Day

Since we are so blessed to live close to both mine and Scott's parents now, we had the pleasure of enjoying 2 Father's Day meals this year. Saturday night we met my parents at Riscky's BBQ in downtown Fort Worth for some all-you-can-eat ribs. We did miss having Amy (my sister) and her husband along this year though since they recently moved to Tennessee. After taking a few family pics around Sundance Square, we came back to the house and enjoyed some silly entertainment from Avery and Kendall. They both decided to put on leotards and were doing all kinds of silly poses, dances, and tricks. Then on Sunday we met Scott's family at Kincaid's burgers after church. We both really enjoyed spending some special time with our Fathers this year on (or close to) their special day. And this post wouldn't be complete without saying a special thank you to my wonderful husband who is the absolute best Daddy in the world!!!

Avery, my Dad, me, and Kendall

Scott and his girls

Mimi, Poppi, Avery and Kendall

silly poses (excuse Kendall's saggy diaper under her leotard!)

Scott and Tom

4 year and 2 year portraits

Over Memorial Day weekend we had Avery's 4 year and Kendall's 2 year portraits taken by my friend Kerri at the Grapevine Botanic Gardens. It's a great little spot for pictures with pretty grass, beautiful flowers, benches, rocks, a pond and more. I convinced Scott to be in some of the pictures too. I told him it was so he could have some of him and the girls for the office-- which was true, but i wanted to do something special with the pics for Father's Day. I framed 3 of the pics and then made something called a photo panel on the Creative Memories website. It stands up like a frame, but the whole front surface is just a big photo that you can add text and other things to. It turned out great and I already gave it to Scott, so it was safe to go ahead and mention it. Here are some of my favorite pics of the girls.

Last Day of Young Children's World

Last Thursday was Avery and Kendall's last day of school at YCW for the year. The last day is always fun, but emotional. I always get so attached to their teachers and I'm never ready to give them up and move on. But now that Avery's been going there for 3 yrs, I know that I'll grow to love the next set of teachers just as much because they've all been great. I'm excited for Kendall to move up to the 2's and for Avery to start Pre-K there next year. Kendall's class got to go out and fly a kite on the last day, but Avery said they didn't really do anything special-- who knows? It's always so much fun though to go pick them up and to see their end-of-year gifts from the teachers and to get their "Me" books with all their precious little pictures of things they did during the year. This year Avery got a "YCW friends" t-shirt with a picture of her and about 1/2 the kids in her class on it. Kendall got a sand pail decorated with her name and filled with bubbles, playdough, sunglasses, a beach ball, and more. I took a few pictures of Avery and Kendall with their teachers and of them playing at the "little" playscape after school. Now they are off to what I am calling "Mommy Preschool." I decided that since there is no summer session at YCW this year, we are going to do a sort of homeschool preschool 2 days a week to keep us busy and give us fun, interesting things to do. Wish me luck! I'm sure there will be a post on that later :)

Kendall and her main teacher, Ms. Sarah. These 2 loved each other!

Avery with her outstanding teachers, Mrs. Patty and Mrs. Christi

Kendall loves to go down the star slide

Sliding together. I don't know what Avery was looking at so intently!

Kendall had fun looking all the pics of her and her friends in her "Me" book

All the big kids like sitting on the stars more than sliding, Avery included. But she spends most of her playtime now in the big 2 story playscape and running around with her friends.

Young Children's World Spring Show

Monday night Avery and Kendall had their YCW Spring Show. The theme this year was "Down on the Farm." Kendall's group sang the school song, "So Glad That God Made Me", and 5 little songs about scarecrows. The teachers painted all their little faces like scarecrows and they wore these precious sunflower hats. I have to brag a little because Kendall's teachers told me that she would be front and center because she knew all the songs and hand motions. I was kind of nervous that she would freeze up on the stage with all the commotion, but she did great! She smiled, sang a lot of the words, did hand motions,and clapped after every song. It was precious! Avery's group also sang the school song and "So Glad That God Made Me", and then sang 5 songs about farm animals. They all wore farm animal hats-- Avery chose a duck and insisted on wearing it low "like Daddy wears his hat." She just acted like an old pro (which she is since this is her 3rd yr to perform) and sang all her songs really loud and did most of the hand motions . . . until she started doing a dance because she had to go potty. I made the horrible mistake of believing her when she insisted before the program that she DID NOT need to go potty, and sure enough, she really started feeling it during the next to last song. After a minute or two of trying her best to hold it, she started crying and I knew exactly what had happened. So she ran over and sat on her teacher's lap during the last song and then I quickly ushered her out of the auditorium to the bathroom to get cleaned up. It was heartbreaking because in the bathroom she asked me, "Well Mommy, are you still proud of me?" Talk about guilt trip! But I guess it was a good lesson for her on why she should always try to go instead of arguing. We reassured her all the way home that she still did a great job, we were still proud of her, and we still thought she looked cute-- even when she was pee-peeing on stage! Definitely a night to remember!

Our two little performers

Avery and a good friend from her class

the Toddlers (Kendall is front and center in the skirt w/ white trim)

My precious little scarecrow

Our duckie performer

Waving at her Mimi who was up front taking pictures

Avery is on the front row, 4th from the right

Mother-Daughter Tea Party

Last Sunday Avery and I got to attend a Mother-Daughter Tea at Richland Hills Church of Christ, which is where she and Kendall go to preschool. The event was entitled "Lemon Drops and Lollipops," both of which they used for table decorations. It was too cute! They had 2 picture stations set up where you could have your picture made with your daughter, a refreshment table w/ cookies, fruit, cupcakes and lemonade, and a candy 'bar' where the girls could choose what kinds of candy they wanted to fill up a treat bag. After doing all of that, we sat at a table with 3 of her friends from school and their Moms to enjoy our treats and then watch a skit and listen to a little talk on manners. A lot of the little girls, including Avery, really enjoyed wearing the tiaras and purses they received as party favors and licking their big lollipops during the entertainment. It was a really fun afternoon and we are already looking forward to going next year and bringing Kendall along!

my sweet princess

watching the entertainment and eating her treats

sugar high!

Avery and a friend from school (this little girl waits at the classroom door every day for Avery and won't go play until she gets there!)

playing with friends by the playscape

Ft Worth Children's Museum

Saturday my parents and I had planned to take the girls to a strawberry patch in Granbury, but it was closed due to the rain. We opted to go to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History instead. They have an actual Children's Museum inside, plus several other exhibits geared toward children that we were able to see. We built things, did crafts, played with shadows, did mini science experiments, saw dinosaurs, and played doctor's office and grocery store. Kendall's favorites were the blocks, dinosaurs and the pretend grocery store. Avery's favorites were the shadow box, the TXU Energy blast exhibit, and the pretend grocery store as well. It was a fun (and popular!) way to spend a rainy day!

playing with blocks and marble run materials

Avery enjoyed making designs in the sand on this rotating wheel

checking out at the pretend grocery store

Kendall insisted on getting as many apples as possible. She practically climbed right in trying to get every last one in the bin!

Easter 2010

This year for Easter we joined my parents for church over in Coppell not only because it was Easter Sunday, but also because it was my Dad's birthday. The girls really enjoyed seeing the live bunnies they had on the lawn at their church, and they also really liked helping their Poppi eat his birthday cake and ice cream after a delicious lunch that my Mom fixed. Sadly, we didn't get any really pretty pictures outside or anything. We just snapped what we could really quick inside before the girls wanted out of their shoes and dresses. I guess it was for the best since we all kind of clashed!

Avery and Kendall with their Poppi

The weekend before Easter a couple in our class at church had everyone over for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. We enjoyed a great meal out on their patio with friends and then the egg hunting began! Avery and Kendall both ended up with full baskets. Actually, Avery was really good at finding eggs this year and hers was overflowing! She was sweet enough to top off her sister's basket, although Kendall did pretty well on her own too. The couple that hosted the egg hunt has such a great backyard for an egg hunt and it is so fun every year.

Avery ran around filling her basket as quickly as she could

Kendall completed wiped out one flowerbed

Avery and Kendall wanted to share a chair while they ate