Giddy Up!

One of Kendall's birthday presents was an hour and half horseback riding lesson.  She LOVES horses. So Saturday morning we loaded up and drove to Bel Canto Farms in Wimberly for her lesson and Taylor got to get in on the fun also.

Before they got to ride they got all suited up in riding boats, helmets, and some legs things that I don't know the name of.

Next up was cleaning the shoes and brushing the horse,

learning to put the bridle and saddle on and now it time to ride!

The instructor was amazing with the girls and taught them to start, stop, turn all directions, walk over things, and much more.  

They got lots of freedom on their own.

Then it was back to the stables to learn how to take the bridle and saddle off and give the horses some carrots!

This is Kendall and her horse Brandy

Taylor (she had to wear her cowboy hat) and her horse Buttons

Taylor's horse was the craziest horse I have ever seen.  Buttons loved to smile!

You can see all her teeth, so funny

It was a great experience for the girls and they loved it.

A few hours later that day we had a neighborhood crawfish boil.  All the kids decided to "play" with the dinner and have races.  Kendall didn't want anything to do with them but Taylor was brave enough to hold one.  She even put one in a cup with water and wanted to keep it!

Crow's Nest Farm

Taylor had her field trip on Friday to Crow's Nest Farm. I think she was more exciting about getting to ride on the bus with her friends than going on the field trip.  I honestly was not to excited about it, I thought just another farm but I was totally surprised at how much fun we had!

Here is Miss A (Taylor's teacher) and some of her classmates.  All wearing green so that they can be spotted.

We took a hay ride around the farm, Taylor and one of her best friends Miss M

We toured the vegetable garden, they have a farmers market on the weekend.  I had never seen how artichokes grow and I thought it was really cool looking.

They had peacocks that roamed free around the farm and they were beautiful.

We saw chickens, lambs, donkeys, horses, cows, turkeys.

Taylor and one of the peacocks, she just stared at the them forever.

Entering the Butterfly House

One landed in her hand!

The pigs were putting on the best show for us by wallowing in the mud, GROSS!

We also learned about dairy cows and one of the farmers demonstrated how it is done.  They also had tons of snakes, lizards, turtles, and bugs/insects that we got to have an up close look at.  It was a really fun day exploring.

Starting to feel like summer

Sunday afternoon we were joined by our good friends The Caswells' for some fun on the lake!

Kendall, Miss A, Mr D, and Taylor ready to head out

Taylor all decked out and her side kick Mr Drew

The water was still a bit cold, especially for me :) but the kids were tubing fools

Miss A and Taylor tubing

Even Mr Jamie got in on the fun!

Daddy and Taylor driving

Kendall and Miss A hanging out

All the little fishes swimming

We docked and had dinner at Shades and I took this picture on the ride home

It was a really relaxing and fun afternoon, can't wait for the water to warm up so I can join in on the water fun! 

Little Legacies

The girls participated in a dance clinic at the high school this past Saturday. The learned a dance, got a t-shirt, and had a bunch of fun. Ryan and I went to go get them at the end and to watch them perform their dance, which was really cute. It was to hard to get a good picture of them while they were dancing but I got one after with their friends.

Miss K, Taylor, Miss T, Miss A, and Kendall striking a pose!

Bluebonnets

Before we headed out for Easter weekend we had a mini bluebonnet session our fabulous family photog Carly with Cherry Blossom Photography.  

My sweet girls!

Taylor

Kendall

We had Marley in the car since we were leaving straight from the photo shoot and the girls brought her out for some action.

When we were leaving our neighbors The Clinks and their precious boys (one is pictured) were just getting there and they were too cute not to snap a picture together.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

That is the song that the girls and I walked out singing after we saw Mary Poppins!

To say we enjoy the play is an understand, we loved it! The singing, the dancing, watching Mary Poppins fly and Bert walk on the walk and ceiling! It was fabulous!

A super special evening!

Dolls

When we were at Ryan's parents house this weekend the girls got a special surprise. Carol or better known as Mimi has been collecting dolls from all of her travels since she first found out I was pregnant with a girl and she was ready to give them to the girls.

Here is Mimi explain to the girls what she had done. Sorry the lighting is bad :(

She took the dolls out one by one and explained why the dolls looked this way and about the culture and country it was from. The girls were amazing and just sat and listened and asked questions about their clothes. She had them separated them into a box for each girl and the dolls were all from the same place but didn't look exactly the same.

Here are Kendall's dolls (she has one more doll than Taylor because she got one from somewhere before she knew we were having another girl). They are beautiful and all have their own stand!

Taylor's dolls

The dolls are from Ireland, Jamaica, Columbia, Alaska, Spain and I can't remember the rest.

So now Daddy has a new project! To put shelves up for all these wonderful dolls!!

Easter Weekend!

Friday we took a road trip to The Woodlands for Easter Weekend. Since we didn't have school on Friday we got there early enough to enjoy the pool for awhile.

Taylor was the queen of flips! She is my little dare devil.

My more cautious one just choose to stand on Daddy's shoulders.

The girls really haven't swam (with the exception of a quick swim in Dallas a few weeks ago) since last summer but with a few reminders and some time they were little fish in no time.

Daddy and girls

Saturday morning we dyed some eggs and swam some more. We all know that I am a wimp when it comes to water temperature but I did get in for a bit. After lunch and a shower all the girls (Mimi, Kendall, Taylor and I) headed to one of the girls favorite places Sweet and Sassy for some manicures and pedicures. It is their traditional Valentine's Day present from Mimi and Poppy.

Kendall's zebra nails (she choose colors to match her Easter dress)

Taylor's nails

(you can't see but she had the lady paint eggs on her thumbs, they were really cute)

That evening Uncle Neal and Aunt Carina joined us for dinner!

It is always great to spend some time with them.

The girls love them and so do we!

Sunday the girls were up bright and early ready to see what the Easter bunny left.

Ready for hunting

Going through all their loot, the Easter bunny was good to them this year!

After a beautiful church service with the whole family we went to the Country Club for brunch. As always it was wonderfully yummy.

There is a roadrunner that has been walking around the club for years and Poppy took the girls to go see him out on the course.

Family Picture Time!!

Mimi and the girls

The Official Gillenwater Gang

We actually got a good family picture