Easter eggs

The girls had fun dyeing Easter eggs with Trey and Granann.

Sisters

Cookie Cutters

Trey and the girls made special Easter cookies this week. We used cookie cutters for the first time.

Easter egg hunt

Saturday was busy and filled with lots of fun things for the girls. First, we had an Easter egg hunt at our church. It was raining, so the hunt took place in the gym. This was Anna Grace's first egg hunt. She picked up a couple of eggs and then sat down to play with those eggs for the rest of the time.

Brooke had fun too.  She knew exactly what to do. 

Then all the girls opened their eggs to see what was in them. 

After the egg hunt, we took the girls to their grandparents.  They got their easter gifts early. Here is Anna Grace looking at her gift.

 

We went home for lunch and then had a little down time before the next event. Both Anna Grace and Brooke were invited to a joint birthday party for two little girls we know.  Anna Grace was in the middle of her nap, so Brooke and I went to the party.  They had a large slide and bouncy house and another birthday game. Brooke had a great time going down the slide.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of her going down the slide.

 

Towards the end of the party, Trey showed up with Anna Grace and Audrey. Trey then took Brooke to her next birthday party at Pump-it-Up.  Brooke fell asleep on the way to the party.  Overall, she did a great job at both parties.

Back to the high chair

Anna Grace took a tumble out of the booster seat today. Her only injury is a small bruise on her eye as you can see in the picture below. I am not taking any chances, though, so back to the high chair for now. 

 



She doesn't seem to mind.

Ice Cream

Brooke enjoying an ice cream cone after her bath.

Bye bye high chair

Anna Grace is growing up too fast. We decided to try the booster seat tonight instead of the high chair. She did great.

Playing outside

We are all finally healthy, so we played outside after dinner. The girls had fun playing and swinging. We are so thankful for the nice weather.

Anna Grace dancing

Sick little girls

The weather was so nice today and we had high hopes of spending lots of time outside. Unfortunately, we have two sick little girls.  The stomach virus has once again hit our house.  It already went through our house in January, but it is back and is worse this time. 

Anna Grace actually started on Tuesday. We thought she was better Wednesday morning and sent her to daycare.  Trey got a call towards the end of the day and picked her up. Again she seemed better and went back on Thursday.  She ended up doing fine Thursday and Friday.  Well, we got the call early Friday that Brooke was sick and had to pick her up.  It is Saturday night and she is still battling it, but not as bad as Friday.  To top it off, Anna Grace woke up on Saturday morning having issues with it again.  They have both slept a lot today so that has made it easier on us.

Trey has been feeling bad most of the day, but so far is still ok.  I'm feeling fine.  Praying that it somehow misses us or at the very least hits us at different times so that at least one parent can take care of the girls.

 

They are still cute and sweet even when they are sick.

 

Favorite Family Vacation

I'm linking to Kelly's Korner for Show us your life - Favorite vacation spot

My favorite family vacation so far has been our trip to Disney World in July 2011.  We had been warned not to go to Disney in the summer, but it really wasn't that bad.  The lines were not terrible and we all had a great time.  I was about 8 weeks pregnant at the time, but luckily I felt pretty good.  I am so excited that we get to return in a few weeks.

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was so much fun and neat to see the animals right outside our room.  The girls loved it. I highly recommend the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

 

 

Brooke was only 20 months old for our first Disney trip. We were a little nervous about how she would do with the schedule and the characters. She did great, though.  She napped some in her stroller and never had any meltdowns.  She also loved meeting all the characters.  It was so much fun to watch her interact with them.  I think Anna Grace is going to be scared of all the characters.



One of the highlights for the girls was lunch at Cinderella's Table.  Trey and I were a little disappointed with the food, but the experience was wonderful.  All the princesses come by each table and spend time with the girls. We got a lot of great pictures. 

 

Our favorite meal was breakfast at the Tusker House.  It was buffet style, but not too crowded.  The food was great and the character experience was great as well.  We got a family picture before we went in to the restaurant.  Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy were all part of the experience.  The girls also got to dance around the restaurant with the characters at the end.

 

I think Brooke's favorite character was Minnie Mouse.  She hugged her for so long. It was hard to get her to turn around for the picture.

The girls also had fun posing with Chip and Dale.

I would also recommend the meal plan.  We booked our character dinners ahead of time.  It was nice to have some of our meals already planned.  If you have little ones, don't over do it.  We never stayed from opening to closing because we knew the kids could not handle it. 

It will be interesting to see how our next trip goes with 3 kids.  Look for updates in April!

Mickey hamburgers

A few months ago, I came across a work related conference in Orlando. I requested funding to attend the conference and my request was approved. Trey and I decided we should take the girls and go to Disney around the conference schedule. Trey may even take the girls by himself one of the days.

So last night was the night Trey told the girls. He made hamburgers in the shape of Mickey Mouse to reveal the big surprise. The girls are super excited. The first thing Brooke asked me this morning was "are we going to disney world?" I'm sure I will hear that question a hundred times before we go in April.

First trip to the dentist

Brooke had her first dental check-up yesterday. Overall, she did pretty good. She was a little wiggly at times, but she opened her mouth when asked and did not cry. She has 20 teeth. She picked strawberry toothpaste. At the end of the appointment, she asked if she was going to get a toothbrush. She was so excited when she found out they have princess toothbrushes. She picked Ariel. I forgot to take pictures during the appointment, but here are a couple I took when we got home.

Picture Day

Today is picture day for my girls. They both wore polka dot dresses. Here is a picture of Brooke this morning.

25 pounds and counting

Somehow I managed to lose 2 pounds last week.  I'm really not sure how I did it since I had Red Lobster for lunch on Friday, Buffalo's for lunch on Sunday and a butterscotch and chocolate chip cookie for dessert last night.  That brings my overall total to 25.6 pounds lost since November.  I am only 13 pounds from my goal weight!

Cookies for Christ Part Three

We had a great day on Sunday with lots of family fun. We attended church this morning as usual. Then we went to Buffalo's for lunch. I ate way too much and will probably pay for it today at weigh-in.

After lunch, we made a quick trip to Plato's Closet for Audrey.  Then we headed home. It was a beautiful day, so the girls played outside a lot.  We took at family walk after Anna Grace woke up from her nap. 

Trey and the girls had another cookies for Christ lesson.  Trey focused the lesson on Noah and the flood. 

Consignment sale clothes

This morning the two little girls and I are all wearing things I bought at the consignment sale. My dress cost $3. Brooke's dress cost $4. Anna Grace's shoes cost $1. I love saving money.

Brooke's new haircut

Brooke has only had two haircuts in her 3 1/2 years, so we decided it was time for a cut on Saturday. It was getting pretty long and almost to her bottom. I loved her long hair, but knew it would be easier to manage if we cut off a lot. So she now has shoulder length hair. Brooke was good during the appointment and did not wiggle too much. She looks so grown up now.

Trip to the library

Brooke has been asking about the library, so today we took all three girls. It was Anna Grace's first visit to the library. Brooke and Audrey got to pick out three books. Anna had fun playing with the toys and puppets. Brooke even put on a puppet show for us.

Brooke loves to sing

Brooke has really gotten into singing lately. We listen to Christian music in our home so some of her favorites songs are by Chris Tomlin, Newsboys, and Jamie Grace.

Trey caught her singing "He Reigns" by Newsboys the other day. Here is the chorus to the song:


It’s all God’s children singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns
It’s all God’s children singing
Glory, glory, hallelujah
He reigns, He reigns


She had all the words correct except instead of "He reigns" she says, "It rains." She is at such a fun age/stage right now.  She keeps us smiling and laughing most of the time. 

New Stroller

I love consignment sales! Yesterday, I bought spring/summer clothes for the girls at one of our local sales. In addition, I saw the stroller below for $20. I couldn't pass up that deal.

As soon as we got home, we decided to take a short walk before dinner since it was so nice outside. Both girls enjoyed the ride in the new stroller.

Cookies for Christ Part 2

Trey had another cookies for Christ lesson on Sunday evening.  I thought he might skip a week since Audrey was not with us, but he had a specific lesson for Brooke.  He wanted to talk to Brooke about praising Jesus at all times. 

So Trey started out by asking Brooke the following question, "Now why are we making cookies tonight?"  Brooke responded, "Because we ate the other cookies."  So I guess she hasn't quite caught on to the devotional part of this process.  Trey then said, "Yes, but we are making the cookies to praise who?"  Brooke responded correctly with, "Jesus."  Then Trey asked Brooke if she thought they were going to make cookies without Audrey. She said no. Trey told her that we still need to make the cookies and praise Jesus even when Audrey is not with us. 



I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. This recipe made over 60 cookies!  So Trey and I both took some cookies to work this week.