First Daddy Daughter Dance!

So while visiting our sweet cousins in OOOOOKlahoma where the wind blows gently off the plains... sorry, I cannot help myself!  While visiting our girls got the chance to go to a Daddy Daughter dance together!  The girls were so excited they were jumping up and down at the thought of it.  Us Mommas got them gussied up and ready... I think the pictures below show you several things:

 

(1) Our girls are beautiful!

(2) Our girls sure aren't shy about posing for us now are they!

 

First, here is a shot of our Daddies and their little princesses:

 

 

Now while the boys were primping (you know you were Cuz), the girls had a little fun with us:

 

They loved to pose "sassy"

Rock Star Pose

 We did manage to bribe the little brothers to jump in!

 

 So cute!  Too bad sweet Kins was napping through all this

 

My sweet girl (and the photo bomber in the back haha)

Best friends for life

Daddy came out to take a few shots - he had to kiss his oldest Best Girl

We had to get a shot with all of Daddy's princesses in it - don't worry Kins, you will get your chance in a few years

So cute together!

Kins got a few kisses from her Daddy before they left

 

 

So here they are - ready to PARTY

The boys might have thought all these pictures were overboard.. I don't know what they are talking about.  This is our version of prom (at least for the next ten years)...

 

At last they were off.  While they danced and dined, us Mommies took the boys and Kins out to dinner for a Mommy-Son&Kins Date.  We too had a great night (and yummy food and drinks hehe).

 

While we dined, the boys did send us some pictures to show us what they were up too:

There was a limo they could ride around the block in (and they did several times and told me later they were like rock stars 'cause rock stars ride in limos haha)

They were given tiaras and wands for the night as they were princesses (note no eyes were poked out with those wands, despite a hundred girls dancing like crazy with those pointy objects in their hands - God was watching over them I would say)

Daddy and KK at the dance - they danced, ate dinner, KK made Daddy a homemade colored on tie for him to wear, and they even got to bring home balloons from the dance.  As KK said afterwards "Best.Dance.Ever."

 

Daddy even taped her dancing to Beat It (gotta have some Michael Jackson if you want to dance and break it down) - see below.  Daddy said she danced all night long and just laughed and smiled.  He siad you couldn't get her to leave the dance floor.  :-)

 

 

Daddy and KK had an amazing time!  Here they are after coming back home - she was all smiles.  I love that he did this for her and that they had so much fun together!  She's got a pretty amazing Daddy (both the girls do)!

 

Sweet Dreams Y'all!

See my post about the rest of our trip below:

OOOOKKKLAHOMA TRIP

OOOOOK-lahoma where the wind comes sweepin off the plains

That's right!  Our first official trip to Oklahoma to visit our amazing cousins.  They moved away from us after six years together.  We had our baby girls together, then our baby boys together, and Aunt A was there when baby Kins took her first breath... there wasn't more than a day at most that went by without us getting together and playing with one another.  So last fall we got some hard news from them (and that is saying something given the year we had thus far) about how they were packing up and moving to Oklahoma.  They did ask that we join them hehehe.  (And yes, every time I say Oklahoma I start singing the dang musical song.  I'm wondering if they had picked California so I could be singing "California girls are incredible, cowboy boots bikinis on top" but no... I have western musical in my head all the time now.)

 

Anyway, as always I digress.  We braved the roads and went to spend some much needed time with our sweet cousins.  Miss Kins wasn't all that pleased with the road trip (she prefers the front seat when in the car and doesn't seem to understand that she had several years before she can call shotgun) but she was a trooper.  The minute she saw her Aunt A she was all smiles and coos - the whole trip she would find her Aunt A in the room and just stare and smile at her until Aunt A was forced to come snuggle her.

 

Well we made it!  We were greeted by four excited faces that we missed SO MUCH!  They were standing in the dark on their driveway, waving and laughing.  (Mommy might have gotten us a little lost in their neighborhood opps).  What a greeting, these Texas-born Oklahomians are pretty great!  The kids were together in seconds, laughing and hugging and chasing each other.  They were so happy, it took us a few hours to calm them down and get them to bed.

 

 

 

 

Our weekend was spent playing mostly while the Mommies and Daddies chatted and spent time together.  I somehow managed to ignore my camera through most of the relaxing times, but I did take some pictures when our Cuz took us to the Aquarium.  See below:

 

Here is our four smiling faces - they did not let go of one another the entire trip!

Mommy and Kins - she loved the fishies

You could actually touch some of the fish and shells - this is AJ getting brave (well Mommy wasn't touching them - I grabbed the hand sanitizer instead. Someone had to be the health inspector on this trip).

Kins and a fish staring down - I think they made a real connection

The girls... notice someone photo bombing like a BOSS?  I said girls only and he decided to show me who's a boss.

Daddy and Kins checking out the sea creatures

So another cool thing in the Aquarium was the SHARK tank.  You walk under the tank and can watch them swim right over you.  Here are the girls showing me how very tough they think they are!

Kins wasn't impressed, she decided it was her feeding time.

The boys posing with the sharks - they loved this place.

So we had some fun in the tank - here are the girls pretending to be scared... I'm not sure they will be nominated for any Oscars this year.

The boys were too busy checking out the cool sharks to even pose for me

Yes, this is what we do when surrounded by sharks.  Like logical people we pose for a self taken picture.

Me and my little man

 

The girls and Cuz petting a sting ray - how cool (and a little creepy for me) is that! 

 

So one of the cutest things that happened at the Aquarium was when Kins found a little friend and fell in love... While I was playing with the big kids, Daddy and Kins found a little tank made just for her, full of colorful fishes.  There was one little fish in particular that she couldn't get enough of.  We called her "Dorie" even if she was yellow.

 

Here is Kins and Daddy, watching for her yellow fish Dorie to come back.  Kins just watched her go back and forth across the tank forever. 

 

Clasping our little hands together as we see Dorie coming closer to our side of the tank - she was so excited.  It was adorable!

 

Our sweet girl just about fell over when Dorie swam by - I was laughing so hard I almost didn't take the picture in time to catch our Dorie (that is one fast fish).

 

 

There are so many pictures I should have taken while at home.  The girls had to match every time they got dressed (next time A and I are planning what I pack so its easier to accomplish for them) and every time I checked on them in their room they said they were having GIRL TIME and to go away.  They listened to music, danced and giggled all weekend.  So sweet.  The boys were no different.  They tore up the play room playing legos and super heros and then went to their room to play trains (or sit on top of the train table and destroy things together) and jump on the bed illegally.  All the kids were sweet with Kins and would sit by her on the floor as she played and talk to her.  They loved on her so much.

All in all it was a great weekend!  As I was telling the boys it was almost time for us to get in the car to leave.  Will told me I couldn't take AJ. I said that I had to take him ,that he was mine.  Will gave me a fierce look and said "NOOOO, he is MINE"!  It was so cute and almost made me tear up.  We hated leaving but we will be back in no time to visit again.

 

So here is my last shot - the cousins (minus Kins)... inseparable, even with several hundred miles between us.  We love you guys!  Counting down the days until we are back.

 

P.S. See my post about our girls and their Daddy's breaking it down!

Daddy Daughter Dance Post

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from my little loves!

 

 

We had a great Valentine's day!  We went to KK's school and partied with her class.  We played bingo with red jelly beans, make Valentine cards and heart-shaped ornaments and decorated Valentine cookies together.

 

AJ hanging at the girls table, he already thinks he's a player at three... oh dear.

KK and a few of her friends being silly during the party - we had lots of fun food.

Another goofy shot, she has such sweet and silly friends.

KK's teacher and sweet Kin's

Now you can't get ready for Valentine's without a box for all your cards and treats.  As a mommy, I didn't realize until this year how much work goes into Valentine's day for mommies and daddies.  Find a shoe box, help decorate it (okay that part is fun to do together with the kids), get valentine cards ready for their classes, pack some treats for the party, put together extra treats or candy to go with your valentine cards, show up to the party and help out.... whew!  I needed a nap after all of it, but it was fun!

Here is Miss KK's box - so cute

And finally I had to get my Valentines together for one (or ten) pictures.  Sweet Kins was a trooper, as it was about this time that she started running a fever and not feeling so good. 

I surprised the kids by hearing the ice cream truck (it's Texas people, do you not see the flip flops we are wearing in February, of course the Ice Cream Truck is making rounds) and chasing them outside to flag said truck down and letting them pick a treat to spoil their dinner.  I shamelessly bribed them to be my Valentines by doing this, I am not afraid to admit it.

 

So there was our crazy Valentine's day!  Pizza for dinner with Daddy and kisses before bed was all we needed to make the day complete. 

 

Hope your day was great too (even for a made up holiday as my hubby calls it)!

Sweet Dreams!

 

Our 100 Year Old Lady

So when in Kindergarten, you celebrate achievements.  And making it 100 days in school for the first time every is a huge achievement.  So in our school (that we love so much), the Kindergarten teachers recognize all their students hard work with a PARTY.  But not just any party, a party in which the number 100 is in everything.  Crafts using 100 cheerios, counting games to 100, food like 100 pieces of popcorn... and the best part: dressing up and showing everyone what you think you will look like when you are 100. 

KK had been talking about this day for weeks beforehand.  It wasn't until the day before that I really understood that I needed to have a game plan for how she would get dressed up.  She and I worked for awhile finding just the right old lady dress, borrowing glasses from our sweet friends, finding a string of my pearls and digging through my sock drawer looking for some knee high stockings to complete our outfit.  Here is our little 100 year old lady, isn't she adorable:

 

 

We are rocking the old librarian look!

 

Full body shot of our outfit

 

 

I did her hair in a sock bun - it blew her mind that I used a sock to make her bun.  (Thank you pinterest).  As we looked in the mirror before taking pictures, KK kept saying "I still don't look old yet Mommy".  That's where luck and brains came into play.  I drew some wrinkles around her eyes with my makeup and found baby powder to sprinkle in her hair to make it white.  I'm so proud of me too!

Do note our knee highs, they really give our outfit a final touch!

 

When we arrived at school we were greeted by six classes of Kindergartens that just looked old and creaky.  I will give the other parents credit, everyone got into this.  Boys had mustaches painted on with mascara and old men hats and ties, KK's best friend had rollers in her hair and a bathrobe with slippers... even KK's sweet teacher was dressed up.   Dressed up so well I did not recognize her for a moment. 

 

The 100th day of school was a huge success!  The kids played, crafted, ate and laughed at one another.  It was a party I'd never heard of before but KK ran to the car laughing at the end of the day, showing off all her 100 days crafts she made during the party.

 

 

So there is our little smarty pants: 100 days smarter, 100 days bigger.  I love that she goes to a school that can let them kick back and have some fun while recognizing how hard they work.  Blessed!

 

Sweet Dreams Y'all!

AJ the Fish

Here is my sweet big boy, ready to go to swim class!  Our Oma and Opa gave us a great Christmas gift: swim lessons for him and KK this spring.  As we our water babies in this family, any pool time is fun time.  But improving our swimming is not just fun, it will also help out us parents as we will have our hands full with THREE kids at the pool this summer. 

 

1

 

AJ has been doing amazing and we are only halfway through class.  Our little man can dive into the pool and swim 3/4 across while pausing to take a break before continuing on.  Wowzers!  He also got to use the big red slide (not the baby blue one) at the end of a few classes 'cause "I'm big now Mommy".   He is also learning how to dive for toys at the bottom of the pool, breath control and floating (soon swimming) on his back.  So much in just a few weeks, we are so proud!

Here he is with his teacher getting ready to take off into the water

 

Here is a video that KK took of AJ showing us his moves :

 

 

He is our sweet little fish!  Just had to brag about my baby and show Oma & Opa how much we enjoy swim class.  I will post KK's progress soon, she is just as awesome.

 

Sweet dreams!