Princess Heaven

Saturday we headed to My Party Palace for our good friend Finley's 4th birthday party. This place is made only for princesses! The girls were in heaven!

You start by choosing your dress, shoes, tiara, necklace, ring, bracelet(s), and wand.

Taylor (outfit #1)

Then you head over to have your make-up and nails painted while the lady ask you questions about yourself.

Kendall

Then it is off for the fashion show while she announces your name, what you want to be when you grow up, your favorite food and color, etc.

Then you have a tea party with real china!!

Next, a story Pinkalious (a big hit in our house) followed by a craft project (another huge hit). Then it is time for goody bags and change back into your clothes.

All the princesses

The whole party was fabulous and very calm, amazingly! Thanks Huston's for having us, the party was a big success and Happy 4th Birthday to sweet Finley!

Soccer Game- Round 3

We made some progress in the soccer department this past Saturday. We had a delayed start with the rain and then only one player from the other team showed up. But the BIGGEST delay was Taylor not wanting to take her earrings out!! She has played the first two games with them in and so it slipped my mind. But of course this week when we have my mom and Ryan's parents are here to watch the game one of the refs chose to actually enforce the rule. Now I understand that it is a rule but lets be honest here she is four and she has been more interested in doing spins on the field than chasing and kicking the ball.

After ALOT of coercing I finally got her earring out and she was out on the field!!!! Taylor stayed with the pack, ran after the ball, and even kicked it a few times. We were so proud of her. It is progress!

Kicking the ball!

Staying with the pack

Sassy

For those of you who don't know Kendall doesn't play sports because "she doesn't like to get hot and sweaty". So this is what she does at the soccer games. It makes me laugh!

Extreme Makeover- Backyard Edition

The dream team moved in this weekend to help Ryan and I (and I mean mostly Ryan) do a small makeover on our backyard, they just thought they were coming in to watch Taylor play soccer (more on that later) and a relaxing weekend. Ryan's parents better known as Mimi and Poppy have an amazing backyard, it could be featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Ryan's dad is a "jack of all trades" when is comes to doing things around the house or yard and his mom has the greenest thumb on this planet and I do not.

After a trip to Home Depot to buy out their garden section Ryan and his parents spent the better part of Saturday planting plants in the new beds that Ryan did last week. His dad installed post to hang our swing on.

Sunday, Ryan installed lighting and finished mulching the new beds and his dad stained the swing to match our fence. The girls (my mom, Mimi, Kendall, Taylor, and myself) took a trip to Wally World and picked up some new pots and flowers so the girls could plant themselves. Mimi so patiently gave them a lesson on how to plant flowers correctly in a pot and water them. They were so excited to have their own flower pots! As I mentioned earlier flowers and I don't go well together but I am going to try my best at keeping these alive.

We had a playscape installed also last week, which they kids are crazy about. It is totally worth the investment for all the hours it entertains them without making a huge mess in the house. Don't get me wrong I love playing with the girls but these days "playing" with them means we have to set up house or school or babies , which means the WHOLE playroom and their rooms have to be transformed in order to play.

So here are the results!

One side of the backyard-

yes I know the swing is sideways but we didn't want the girls

to sit on because the stain wasn't dry yet

Ryan installed 1 light in this bed

Up against one side on the back of the house

Ryan installed 3 lights in this bed

For some reason I didn't take pictures of the back fence or the

patio but I am sure you get the picture by now.

Hours of endless fun! The new playscape!

The girls waiting for their gardening lesson

Listening carefully to Mimi- learning all about flowers!

Their finished products!

Thanks Daddy, Mimi, and Poppy the backyard looks awesome!

Ya'll did a great job.

Poppy and the girls finally getting to relax!

Capital 10K

Last Sunday I took part along with 20,000 others in the Capital 10K (6.2 miles). The whole course is around downtown Austin and parts where really hilly! It was a lot of fun even though the weather was not the best. Ryan and the girls came down to cheer me and my running partner and co-worker Jessica on.

Jessica in green and me in black

The other 20,000

Downtown pic and the lovely weather

Our goal was 58 minutes and we finished in 55 minutes 24 seconds!

Jessica and I after the race

The family

Bluebonnets

A couple of weeks ago we had pictures take in the bluebonnets by my bestie Carly, or better known as Cherry Blossom Photography. Jennifer and Avery came to join in on the fun as well so we got a couple of group shots.

I'm up to no good!

All the girls!

So sweet

Pinkalicious

On Saturday, the girls and I headed to San Antonio for a play at The Majik Theatre. We met my mom, sister, and niece Avery there to watch Pinkalicious (one of the girls favorite books). It was super cute and the girls were totally zoned in the whole time. This is our second time going and would totally recommend it it's awesome!

The stage

The cast

Taylor and Avery

After the play all the cast members lined up and sign autographs and take pictures with the kids. They are totally patient with all of them and the girls were starstruck by them.

Taylor, Avery, and Kendall with Pinkalicious

After the play we took the girls to walk along the river walk. Of course, Taylor wanted to touch the water and Kendall was worried about getting wet so I had to explain that this river was not like the lake or the beach we don't get in we just look. They didn't like that to much but seeing the barges and ducks go by made up for it.

The three little heads are the girls on one of the bridges.

It was a quick day trip but lots of fun. Thanks Grams for a nice afternoon and the super cute dresses!

Courtesy Queen!

Today at school Kendall was named "Courtesy Queen" of her class for the week! Each Friday at 8:30 they have a song service where the kids sing their bible songs, the teacher reviews their bible story that they have been learning all week, and the "courtesy queen or king" is named. They are given a crown and a ribbon to wear the rest of the day. Before the teacher announces who the person is they tell alittle about why this person was chosen. Mrs. McKinney talked about how big this persons heart was, how she was always willing to help out her friends, how she is very helpful and loving towards the smaller children in the morning, and hard she works during lesson time on her work. That is Kendall in a nut shell. I am usually not able to make song service because it not on my conference time at school but I have a student teacher right now so I was able to seek out and go this week!

Courtesy Queen Kendall

She was very proud of herself and so were we.

Sorry the picture is not great it was taken on my phone.

Easter

This weekend we headed to The Woodlands to celebrate Easter with Ryan's parents and his sister. On Saturday Ryan, the girls, and I headed to the mall to run a couple of errands. We ended up doing a little shopping, eating lunch, and of course riding the carousel in the food court area. Then we headed back to his parents for a nap. That afternoon Aunt Casey let the girls paint her fingernails! They tried so hard and wanted to do flowers on them like the ladies at the salon. Lets just say they need some practice but Aunt Casey was a good sport and just let them have their fun.

Then it was on to dying eggs. The girls were so patient and took turns and loved drawing designs on them and seeing them come out after they dyed them.

Sunday morning we got up and got ready and the girls were super excited about hunting for eggs. They hardly looked at the stuff in their baskets just emptied them out and stood at the door waiting to go outside. The Easter bunny left a bunch of eggs and other goodies for them to find outside.

Their baskets!

Then it was off to church. It was so nice going back to our old church and hearing a great message. After church we all headed to The Woodlands Country Club for brunch. We met Ryan's uncle, Neal there and his new wife Karina. Congratulations to both of them, they just got married on April 1st. We had a nice brunch and the girls were well behaved. After eating the girls and I slipped out to get some energy out and I snapped a couple of pictures of them. They were being so cooperative and loving it was great.

Family Pic!