Weekend With The Kitties

Adalyn now has a pet cat. Kind of  

When we visited my mom’s mid-May, their cat had just had kittens a few weeks before and Adalyn fell head over heals in love. She immediately picked one out and named it “Happy” and begged to bring Happy home. 

DJ is nothing a cat person. At all. Just ask his mom and his sister. 

Cats are not welcome at our house. 

So, Adalyn spent every minute she could with Happy. 

When she wasn’t with Happy, she was playing. This summer, we have a huge, 6 family camping trip planned and one evening, we got together to go over trip finalities. These girls (and Megan) are going to have so much fun! 

The next morning, Adalyn put Happy in the stroller, covered her up, gave her a bottle, and pushed Happy around all over the house. 

Adalyn loves guacamole about as much as she loves kittens. 

She gave Happy lots of cuddles before we left!

Happy is currently staying at Gee and PaPaw’s house but according to Gee, she’s started hitch-hiking and is trying to make her way to Texas. Twice, Gee has gone to town to run errands and has heard a “meow” coming from her car.  

Somehow Happy has used up 2 of her 9 lives because she has ridden under the undercarriage of Gee’s car!

Thankfully, she’s been safe each time, but We just know Happy is trying to get to our house. 

Adalyn would be thrilled if that happened. DJ, not so much! 

 

Once Upon A Time: Sip & See

A few weekends ago, Gretchen, Adalyn, and I headed off to Arkansas to host a sip & see for my niece and her precious new baby, Allison. 

Allison was born in January in Hawaii, and just recently made it back home to Arkansas and we couldn't be more thrilled to celebrate her and Shelby (her momma!) Shelby loves books, so we wanted to throw a super girly book theme sip & see!

These girls were huge helpers and made the best road trip buddies. 

Megan stayed behind with DJ so she wouldn't miss gymnastics, but we sure did miss her! Here's Gee ( my mom) with 3 of her 5 granddaughters. 

The entry table was all set and ready for our guests to arrive. We bought the book "Guess How Much I Love You" for all of the guests to sign and for baby Allison to keep. 

My talented mother made corsages for Shelby and her mom to wear. We used gorgeous flowers that my mom had on her dining room table to complete the entry way.

We also had a jar of hershey kisses for the guests to guess how many kisses were in the jar; the winner was ble to take the kisses home with them. 

My mother also made bookmarks for party favors, and I made lavender bath salts. 

I mean, you can't get much better than a good book and bath salts when you need to relax! 

We opted for a naked cake, and it turned out gorgeous! My mother baked and decorated it and we added fresh flowers, and we designed a book cake topper with Allison's monogram. 

Lots of yummy food! 

We stacked a few of our favorite children's books around the table to add varying heights to the table, and to touch up our book theme. 

My sister and I are obsessed with my mom's cheeseball, so we had to have it at the sip & see too! 

Aren't Little Golden books the best! They make a cute stand all stacked up too! 

Our punch was pink with gold specks, and it was delicious! 

We served chicken salad sandwiches that everyone devoured. 

My sister, my niece, and my grand-niece! 

The girls were big helpers when it was time to open presents. 

We used a balloon arch and banner to decorate the present area. The kit came with everything you need to put it together and it was a huge statement for not a lot of money! 

And, let's face it, the entire point of the sip & see is to pass around the sweet baby! Allison was spoiled with lots of loving and cuddles while her mommy opened presents. 

My brother came in at the end of the shower, so we had to have a sibling picture- we don't get these often enough since I live out of state, but man, I sure do love these two. 

And then I had to squeeze in lots more cuddle time with Allison! 

We are so thankful for the guests that took time out of their day to spoil Shelby and Allison. The book theme shower was so fun and sweet. 

 

Megan's 10!!!

Today, Megan Claire turns 10!!!! Megan is our middle and I can't even imagine what our family would be like without her. She is a shining light, beautiful inside and out, and such a joy to be around. There's not a day that goes by that this girl doesn't make me laugh. 

I feel like I've really been able to get to know her so well over the last year that we've been homeschooling. She's always been shy at school, and rarely would talk above a whisper to her 3rd grade teacher when she was in public school.... it takes a lot for Megan to open up and when she does, she will have you rolling with laughter! She does a killer "old lady" impression that has us all doubled over. 

You'll almost always find Megan outside and tumbling. In April, we switched her to Level 3 gymnastics versus XCEL and she is thriving!! I swear in the last 2 months, she's picked up more skills than she did at her previous gym and the switch has been SO good for her. 

She loves being outside. Frequently throughout our homeschool days, she'll take breaks and head to the trampoline to practice her back handspring, cartwheels, and roundoffs. 

She also loves hiking!!! It's kind of a new love that she found this year. Although she's been hiking before, in January, she really started to enjoy and asks to go hiking on the weekends. When Gretchen, Adalyn, and I headed off to Arkansas a few weekends ago, Megan was thrilled to stay behind so her dad could take her hiking! 

She also loves when she gets 1:1 time, because she's the middle that doesn't happen often, but she lights up when it's just her and DJ or I. 

Megan has two speeds- very quiet and still or full steam ahead and active.

She is obsessed with pigtail braids. Every day, she asks for braids, and she has to have them when she goes to gymnastics. 

Right now her favorite restaurants are Cabo Bobs and P Terry's. 

She is the best sister. If you see Megan, you know that Adalyn will be right there attached to her hip, and Megan doesn't care at all. They've actually slept in the same room since March of last year, and only recently (like last weekend) did Megan realize that maybe she enjoys sleeping alone. 

Megan and Adalyn love to dress the same (when it's their idea) and will even fix their hair the same. They will randomly have on one outfit, and then come downstairs in matching outfits and they'll be so proud of themselves! 

She is dedicated to gymnastics and currently spends 12 hours a week at the gym, and this  summer will bump up to 15 hours. Not one time does she complain about going and missing out on play time. 

As much as she loves gymnastics, she also loves art and being creative. She asked for paint and paint brushes for her birthday, loves getting messy and crafting. 

She's also enjoyed the camping we've done over the last year, and in a few weeks, we'll be having a camping theme party for her because that's what she loves the most. 

Megan Claire, I am so freaking proud of you! I love that you're an awesome big (and little) sister. I love that you light up the room. I love your quiet personality and your big over-the-top, loud one! I love that you're always moving, and I have loved being your teacher over the last year. But most importantly, I love being your mom and watching the world through your eyes. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! 

 

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's day weekend was perfection around here. I felt lots of love from DJ and the girls; they spoiled me well. 

Friday evening started with some cuddles from Adalyn. 

And then Saturday morning, I told them that I really wanted a clean house for Mother's Day, and one that I didn't have to clean! I layed in bed watching Outlander, while DJ and the girls got the house clean. I finally got up around noon to get in a workout, and have lunch, before we headed to.....

McKinney Falls! We've been wanting to go to McKinney Falls since we first heard about it, but with all of the restrictions in place it was hard to get in to! You have to have a reservation and spots fill up fast! 

We started off with a small hike down to the Indian bluffs. 

The area was closed off so we couldn't explore too much. 

So we hiked over to one of the Falls area. 

Lots of people were swimming and jumping off, and there was a large rat snake crawling up the walls! Yikes! 

We made our way over to a "beach" area and the girls got right in! 

The water was cool which was perfect because it was hot outside! 

Eventually, DJ and the girls made their way back over to the falls..... and to where the snake was spotted. I happily sat and watched from my spot. Can you spot DJ in the red shirt? Gretchen was brave enough to jump off the edge! 

Eventually they made their way back down, and I kid you not, that snake was in the water so close to them, they finally came back over to where I was sitting. 

The girls swam some more far away from that snake! 

I loved spending the day with them outside. 

Eventually we hiked our way to a different set of falls, and no snakes were spotted. 

This area was much less crowded, and we opted to stay at the top. 

Saturday evening I came home and put on a new set of nail dashes. 

Sunday morning, we opted for late service so I could sleep in. After lots of presents and homemade cars we headed off to church. 

Adalyn had a soccer game Sunday afternoon, and afterwards we got ice cream. She may be the messiest ice cream eater ever.

Just look at this face! 

We finished the evening with a steak dinner. I was able to watch more of Outlander, get my workouts in. It was a wonderful weekend.