New Year’s Eve is always such a blast!  

 

Noelle got temporary hair chalk for Christmas from one of our good friends, but we didn’t see that the bottle said, “Do not use on blonde hair.”  This picture was taken a week after she put it in!  It lasted for a little over a month, and she thought it was the best present ever!  Right pic: Right as we were leaving to go out of town (car was almost all loaded), I spilled the salsa I was bringing for my dad all over the kitchen floor and cabinets.  We laughed it off, but I just couldn’t believe my luck that day!

 

I love girl power!  Next pic: I read this comment on a news feed that I was reading about the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack last month.  It really touched me, and I wanted to share.  It’s so terrifying when radical Christians do things like bomb abortion clinics in God’s name, and I know peaceful Muslims are just as horrified that this attack was carried out in the name of their religion (I personally know 3 Muslim families that feel this way).  Although I know very little on the subject, I know the majority of us want to peacefully coexist.  Before the attack on this newspaper agency, they averaged 60,000 newspaper sales.  After the attack, their following publication sold over 7 million copies in 6 languages.  Violence will never silence the pen.  Je suis Charlie!

We love shopping the end of season sales!  I have big plans for this sweet little number!

 

Rose had to have gloves and a bucket on her head in order to draw one night last month.  She always cracks me up!  Next pic: Jaalisa wrote this next paragraph on her Instagram account, and I wanted to remember it here for my girls to see.  I surely don’t give myself enough credit, and that’s something I need to work on!  Aren’t we the hardest on ourselves?  I think this is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me, and it means so much!  For the record, I feel the exact same way about her!

One night, Anna Kate spontaneously decided it was her doll Julie’s birthday.  She passed invitations out to all of us, and we followed her to her room for Julie’s birthday party that she coordinated.  We sang happy birthday, had tea and cake, and a dance party, of course!  Little girls are so much fun! (the pretend cake stand was the stool from Anna Kate’s vanity with a tutu around the legs)

Another day this winter, Anna Kate invented her very own version of a lie detector test.  She called it the “Lying machine!”  I have no clue where she heard the concept of a lie detector test, but she knew exactly what she was doing.  When she and Rose got into a little disagreement, she asked Rose to put on the hat.  Then, she pressed her pom pom buttons and asked Rose a question.  When Rose answered it not in the way Anna Kate wanted, Anna Kate immediately made loud noises like an alarm going off, pressed the buttons and said, “It says you’re lying, see?  This is proof you aren’t telling the truth!”  She is so clever and thinks outside the box, if you will.  We have the most entertaining lives getting front row seats to all of this!

 

Lots of freezing dance days so far this winter.  Anna Kate is doing such a great job dancing, and more importantly, she LOVES it! 

 

I bought this infinity shirt thinking it would be a cute cover-up this summer, but Noelle had better ideas!

 

Rose and I have a blast hanging out together on her dance days too!  She doesn’t love it right now, but she likes it.  She does LOVE the idea of the costumes and the big stage.  She’s just into being a ham!  I think that’s what keeps her coming back for more! 

 

Noelle loves to make breakfast on the weekend.  She always has the sweetest set-ups.  She was trying to keep the sisters out of my breakfast until I got a chance to see it first.  Silly girls!  Next pic: When we stayed with my parents over the holidays, this was the scene looking up from my pillow on the bed.  The first time I laid down on the bed and looked up, I was like, “Whoa… you know you’re in the country if…”  I love my parents!

Another day, another clever idea from Anna Kate.  These were our voting cards.  She passed them out to all of the family members.  She did a dance to a song from each season listed on the left side of the paper.  At the end of her recital, we had to circle which dance we liked the best.  Since we all voted for the Halloween dance, she let us all get up and do it with her.  She’s such a fun kid, and we all love going along with her truly bright ideas.  

 

 

I finally found a sturdy kids’ table to set the sewing machine up for the girls to begin learning sewing basics.  They are excited!  And yes, Noelle had a face mask on while sewing this night, lol!

 

Anna Kate’s favorite pretend play is to be a doctor, that has never changed.  Tonight, she decided to be a patient with a broken leg (the movie cases were her cast).  She had pretend buttons and her hospital bed set up just right.  You can tell she thought she was clever.  Then, I turn around, and Rose is wearing the Wii remote covers as jelly shoes.  Front row seats, right here!

Rose said she needed to moisturize.  Ya think?  Rose hasn’t been making messes like she did when she was two years old, but occasionally she’ll find herself in a pickle!   

 

I wish I could say I made this snack for us, but I’d be lying!  Where’s that lying machine!?!  Noelle is da bomb!

 

Love finding these little gems around our house and on our phones.  Noelle is awesome, there is no doubt about that!  Next pic: Although we pick on Rose for being our hot mess, she is also such a sweet, gentle, tender-hearted little girl.  It’s looks like these that give you a glimpse into her sweet-natured soul. 

For every picture I take, there are at least 50 others I wish I could document each day with these amazing little girls.  The bottom line is, we are thoroughly entertained and love each one deep down to the core of our beings, as I’m sure you do with yours.  Isn’t it amazing?  Enjoy today; It is such a gift!

I love watching the girls go on a date with their Daddy each year to the Sweetheart Dance at school.  They even thought to coordinate wearing the necklaces Mike gave them last Valentine’s Day with their birthstones and engraved names.  It’s such a sweet, memorable night all the way around!

 

 

 

 

Their principal took the best pictures of all of the kids at the dance and sent the parents the album to download.  That was above and beyond and a fun surprise to find in my inbox.  Love these fancy little ladies and celebrating the day of love!

 

 

Totally in her element, backward boots and all!  Love you to pieces, Roro!

 

 

She’s rockin’ it, oh yeah!

 

 

Noelle has the sweetest friends in the whole wide world, and they have such a blast together!  Happy birthday, awesome Ava!

 

 

 

 

We absolutely loved watching Anna Kate at her first school play earlier this month.  She did such a great job, and they were all so cute!

 

 

I forgot to post these super sweet pictures of Rosey Posey!

 

Two of the reasons the Ziemkes came were to help cure the winter blues we’ve been having and to teach Noelle how to ride a bike!  We are not the least bit shy to say Noelle hadn’t learned to ride a bike until this point.  We knew she could do it, but she wouldn’t even try because she was absolutely terrified at the thought of falling.  If something fun stresses a kid out, to us, it ruins the experience and simply isn’t worth it.  So, we waited until she was mentally ready to face this challenge.  It took all of about 20 minutes using the Ziemke belt method, and she was officially riding her bike solo! 

 

  

 

 

And she’s off!  Isn’t life such a ride!?!  Go Noelle! 

The Ziemke family came to Texas to hang out with us two weeks ago tonight.  It sure was time for a visit, and we had a blast!

Mike set up a group text for all of us called #partyintexasyall.  This was our first group picture, and throughout our vacation together, everyone texted pictures and comments back and forth.  That was such a great idea and sooooo much fun! 

 

One afternoon, we went to the Stockyards to do the Texas thing up!  Everyone had a good time walking around and hanging out!

 

There was a cowboy skit in the middle of the train station that was entertaining.  Rose wasn’t sure what to think of the fake guns going off and grown men pretend fighting!

 

When it rains in Texas, it pours!

Sweetheart picture!

The girls looooved spending time with Clarissa!

 

 

 

We’ve heard a lot about Sweet Sammies, so we had to try it out.  I think it was a dud, but it looks good anyway. 

Our long weekend went by so fast!  Here we are about to head to the airport after we ate at our favorite hamburger joint.

 

I remember holding this kid when he was a baby; I was in the 9th grade!  Love them all sooo much! 

Clarissa and I had fun trying out some fun hairstyles one night, and the kids loved jumping on the trampoline! 

 

Cayden rescued me from my pile of crepe paper I was trying (unsuccessfully) to turn into fun streamers for Rose’s party next week.  He figured out the sewing machine in less than 10 minutes!  I was so impressed as he was threading and working the machine all by himself after I showed him one time!  The rest of our nights together were filled with late night games and lots of laughs!

 

The Ziemkes brought us edible crickets for fun.  Noelle was the only one brave enough to try one.  She just put it right in her mouth, chewed, swallowed and gulped some water, just like that.  She’s such a brave little girl!  Clarissa picked Noelle’s room to call home for the weekend—I always pick hers when I go to Cali!  

 

The gang got barbecue one night while Cindy and I went to take pics at Ava’s spa slumber party.  They were adorable and so silly and fun to watch!

 

Rose and Corbin are our cute little family babies in the bunch!  The Ziemkes brought us such a fun party light (not sure what it’s called) that we will enjoy from here on out!  Thanks, Ziemkes!

 

 

More scenes from the stockyards.

Fist pump for the best weekend ever!  Miss you guys already!  xo